Where am I? My arms-
The pain. A shocking wave of absolute misery opens my eyes wide open.
I can notice only darkness.
My head feels like somebody threw metal shards inside, clanging between my ears.
“Stop.” I growl, as if by instinct, saliva running down my jaw.
Bursts of blue light as the shock invades my body. What magic torture is this?
“Finally.” A snarling voice says.
Please, do not be Snaray.
Do not be Snaray.
“Who are you?” I shout.
My eyes feel weak. Too weak. I can only keep them open for a few seconds before feeling like I want to sleep for hours. My breath is shaky, probably because of- Well, everything.
Focus. Try.
“Finally. The little lamb is awake. I say lamb but… No fat on those bones.” The voice cackles.
My right arm is in searing pain. I can see it. The shoulder wound is still there, cauterized. My arms are locked tight, above my head.
The space around me slowly takes shape, revealing a table right next to the voice talking to me. There is an echo to my screams and its cackles. Probably inside a cave.
“You.” I say, inspecting the goblin carefully. “I do not know you.”
Red goblin, no armor, only animal skin clothing. Not Snaray.
“Why would you? I do not leave the mountain. My expertise lies here.”
“Can you at least put me down? My arms are hurti-”
Another flash of blue light interrupts me. I scream in pain as lightning runs through my body. The goblin digs its nails in my leg, releasing its magic.
So. Much. Pain.
“What do you even want?” I scream, tears running down my face, mixing with the sweat and blood.
I try kicking my legs around but they are locked in chains as well. My boots are on, my trousers as well. Anything from the waist up is gone. I look for my belongings on that table. They are not there.
“For now, nothing much. Just your screams.” The goblin says.
“The least you can do is light a torch, so I can see your face clearly.” I growl.
“Normally, I would not. But you do not seem to fear the dark.” The goblin steps away.
I can hear a few clicks. Sparks confirm that the goblin is trying to light up a torch.
More clicks.
“Having trouble?” I chuckle.
No answer.
The torch finally lights up, revealing the place I am held in. Chains in the walls, meant for more people in my situation. The shadows dance around, responding to the sudden appearance of light. The table is filled with all sorts of different blades and nails.
Some of the instruments have blood on them. I look down on my body, noticing the various cuts and holes.
They have already been used.
This cave opening is rather wide but the hole in front of me connects to an even wider area. The shadows make it impossible to see further ahead. I can only assume what the pathway behind this goblin leads to. A camp. A village. Maybe the Queen.
“Nice place. I see you have effigies here as well.” I say.
“No need to talk.” The goblin raises its hand, lightning jumping between fingers.
Distant thumping sounds interrupt the goblin, who looks surprised.
“That was fast.” The goblin says.
Finally. Some time to breathe. I just want to relax.
“Now, now…” The goblin shocks me awake once more.
I growl.
“Got it. No sleeping.” I say.
Every time this red torturing monster comes close, I notice a few more details. The skin clothes look roughly stitched, probably put together a couple of times before the final form they now have. The eyes have no distinctive features like the ones I know.
How did Julie call them? Irises and pupils.
Instead, there is one color inside the entire… Socket, right. The eyes are yellow. Creepy yellow, not like the flower yellow.
I cannot remember what the rest of the goblins’ eyes look like.
Have I not ever looked at them? Have I not paid enough attention? For all of Sylvar’s lessons, I seem to not be paying attention.
The sounds approach us, footsteps feeling increasingly heavy. The image of the enemy that carried me around in a hook floods my mind. Please do not be that hobgoblin, please do not be that hobgoblin. I do not want to get impaled again.
Is that a stick, hitting around stone? I think I can hear some rattling as well, like small wood parts hitting each other. Or bone. My senses feel sharp and dull at the same time. I think I can hear distant noises but my head can never be too sure that it is not my imagination, or the ringing from those punches I took earlier.
Always had a wild imagination. Wanted to fight dragons and all that.
A thick, purple hand with elongated nails scratches the upper side of the entrance in this rocky room, making the effort to pull the rest of the body inside.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
I take it back. Please be the hobgoblin, please just be the hobgoblin.
Of course not.
A purple skinned figure enters, with more clothing on than I have ever seen. It is not so much that every part of the body is covered. More so in the sense that there are multiple slightly changed clothing parts in the same areas. Given the fact that this being has difficulty managing its size inside this area, I think that it can probably beat me in terms of pure strength.
Necklaces with different materials and sizes of trinkets, all rattling, almost fighting with each other. More bracelets than I care to count in every arm and leg, showing off feathers and animal trophies.
This figure carries a large staff, larger than the one that is now parts of my armor and weapon. The hobgoblin magician I slashed up. Damn, how the days pass by.
Instead of trousers or shirts, there are patches of animal skin. Deer, hog. I can barely remember the rest of the animals. These patches cover even the stomach, a bloated part that the enemies I face usually leave exposed. This one is clearly different.
Maybe they are all offerings and the hobgoblin, at least, I assume it is, has to wear those.
But why would it have to wear offerings?
No.
No.
Not like this.
Shit.
“Let me guess. The Queen?” I spit some blood, even though more is quickly taking its place.
I must have bit myself during this whole electrocuting thing.
Modesta explained that one. Painful, paralyzing, possibly incinerating under the right conditions. Electrocution is truly destructive.
“Insolence.” The goblin conjures flame in its hand, burning one of my wounds.
I scream. I scream so much, I finally notice that my voice is way more raspy and broken than yesterday. This must be how my dad feels.
Ean. Dariy. Dads…
“Enough.” The hobgoblin says, with a voice clear of the usual snarling and guttural tone I am so used to.
This commanding voice almost connects with the rock, the sound carries through the exit to distant echoes. The clear feeling of terror is running through my veins as I remember that I am quite deep inside some unknown mountain area.
I have to make it out.
“Right.” The goblin says.
“I have been looking for you. Ever since you killed one of my prospect guards.” The Queen says, basically confirming guess.
“G… Gabor, right? Could just ask to meet me.”
I look around, trying to figure out. I heard a stick. The Queen does not carry one. Where is the person that carries it?
The Queen interrupts the red goblin before it can burn any of my wounds. The more frightening thing is the way she does so.
With a wave of two fingers, a flaming orb appears in front of the red goblin, scaring it into taking a few steps back and tumbling on the ground.
Silence fills the room, if it can be called that, as the goblin and I both wait patiently for the Queen to say something. Anything.
“You know the name.” The Queen acts surprised.
“A hobgoblin told me. Before it died. Big plates of armor, huge sword. Something like that.”
“My lover.” The Queen says, no longer amused.
“I mean, I was not the one who killed him.” I mumble.
Shit.
“What do you want?” I gasp, feeling overwhelmed by the pain surrounding my body.
“The sword. Where do you keep it?” The Queen says.
“Do you not have swords? I know you have one hu-” The worst choking pressure interrupts me.
The Queen raises a finger, as a vibrant red ring starts crushing my throat.
Gurgles and gasps. This is all I can express. My eyes probably betray the terror I feel. I truly need to find more ways to express my feelings. So far, my day is pain, terror and a desire to piss.
The Queen releases her hold on me.
I try to breathe in all the air at once, as if doing so will heal my wounds.
“Do not waste my time nor my patience.” The Queen says.
Who says nor? This is weird.
“I have to admit, I was scared with the whole choking thing. You took care of my shoulder injury. You do not want me to die. So, how about we st- stop the torturing.”
“We wish to keep you alive. For now. Evade any more questions and…” The Queen conjures an icy dagger, slightly pressing my neck.
“Ask away.” I say, intent on keeping nothing to myself.
All this hanging has left me sort of numb.
“The sword. I know it is in your hidden village.” The Queen says.
“About that. I do not know of any swords, other than the iron sword I use. Honestly.” I say.
“I can make him talk.” The red goblin says.
The Queen raises her hand, an act that the goblin sees as an incentive to keep its mouth shut.
“Shut up, you creepy piece of shit.” I growl.
Maybe I am more angry than I initially thought.
“I see there is some fight left in you. We will have to wait until you completely give up.” The Queen says, conjuring lightning in her hands.
“Wait, please. Plea-” The paralyzing effects of the Queen’s magic interrupt me.
My entire body shakes violently. I have to make it. Think of something else.
The fight.
What was wrong in that fight?
My movements. They betray my actions.
Eadwald taught me how preparatory motions work and I already forg-
The Queen releases her magic, as my body finally regains some semblance of control.
“How strange. We barely use any magic on you and you are in so much pain.”
“I told you, my Queen. This kid is too weak to handle my techniques. He knows nothing. He was in an almost comatose state from the moment he was brought in.”
They talk to each other. In a way I can understand. Why?
“Trying to scare me? Really? You think I am not already terrified?” I say, realizing a wonderful fact.
Yes, I am pissing myself right now. Great.
“You should not worry yourself with such brutal works, my Queen. If that kid knows anything, I will find out.”
I can feel the warm liquid running down my legs.
My legs. I used magic when I fought with that hobgoblin. Shit. I sacrificed my legs and I failed.
Wait.
I look down. I am barefoot. I wiggle my toes.
No pain.
With all this torturing, I forgot to check on my legs. My knees. My ankles. All working.
“I cannot believe this.” I whisper.
“What was that?” The Queen asks.
I laugh. The room is filled with my laughter, happiness mixed with shocked giggling. The sounds carry through the exit, echoing my feelings all throughout the caves. I hope the entire mountain can hear me.
The Queen seems to not know how to react. Or she just does not care. The red goblin on the other hand, is scared enough to shit himself.
The sentiment does not last long, as shoulder pain becomes so intense that I can barely breathe properly. I have to keep taking shallow breaths.
“That is more like it.” The goblin says.
“Come on.” I say, frothing at the mouth. “You want to talk? Take my arms out of these chains and just let me rest my back somewhere. Your- Your hobgoblin ruined my shoulder.”
“Will he die?” The Queen looks at the goblin, as if he has all the answers.
“Maybe.” The goblin chuckles.
“Take him down.”
“But- But he could-”
“Now.”
“Of course.”
What is the goblin going to do? Climb up my face to open the locks on my hands? If he does, I plan on biting his neck. The thought fills me with a weird sense of expectation. I want him to come closer. I want to separate his head from the rest of his thin body.
Wishful thinking. Instead, he just releases the chains from a lever, near the place the chains run inside the rock. I drop on the ground almost instantly, chains clanging on the ground messily. A part of them lands on my body, hurting my legs. These are heavy chains.
“You think I am going to make a move in front of the Queen? I am not risking getting blown apart by magic.” I growl.
Having my arms move again only brings more pain. I have to keep my right shoulder from moving. The wall of the cave is still too far away for me to reach, given the fact that my legs are still chained. The parts where my ankles and wrists meet the chains, are bleeding. There is tearing around my locked limbs.
I must have been moving erratically all this time.
“Good to know that you can laugh, though.” The Queen says with no emotion. “We did go to extreme lengths to bring a friend of yours. Shame for her to miss it.”
“Come in.” The red goblin snarls.
Did they get someone? Julie? Meuko?
No.
No.
There is no way.
The sound of a wooden stick. Through the shadows enters another goblin. This one is gray. Small, clothes covering only the genital area. Missing one leg.
Shit.
“Goblins that cannot perform out in the wild need to find other ways to make themselves useful. Building, butchering. Sometimes, torturing.” The Queen says.
Snaray’s daughter is using a weird instrument to keep herself balanced. Instead of the walking stick I am used to, she has one with three thick ends. Probably to be able to find solid footing in caves. Smart.
Still. Snaray’s daughter. Shit.
“I will teach her all I know. And you are the perfect subject. Lots of flesh to cut.” The red goblin says, mouth salivating at the thought of harming me.
“I am going to kill you.” I say, my voice broken to the point that I cannot even recognize it as my own.
Snaray’s daughter cannot look me in the eyes, instead focusing on the ground.
The red goblin picks up a small blade, looking at the Queen.
“Where will we keep him if we cannot lock his arms?”
“He only has one ruined shoulder.” The Queen says.
I look at my captors, trying to find a way out of this disgusting mess that is my situation.
I guess it is also terrifying.
This is bad.