Vevic sipped her wine as she inspected the empty skull. Lord Sott, of course, had chosen to fight her. After an hour of flying around the fortress, torching soldiers and burning some of the more useless looking outbuildings, she shape-changed into human form and strolled into the grand hall to find the skeletal mage standing in a pool of black flame. He had spouted off something about her impudence and some very trite threats before starting in with his magic. Unfortunately for him, he did not know how useless his magic was against dragonscale. Before the first spell even hit her, she had shape-changed back into a dragon, watched a few of the magical bolts bounce off her hide, and then focused the full fury of her breath weapon right on his undead person.
Now here she was with the lich’s skull in one hand and a chalice full of wine in the other, as she sat in the most regal chair her minions could find here. It was an old wooden thing with a high back and red cushion on its seat and one of its legs was shorter than the other, so it tilted just a bit, but she had it mounted to the dias at the front of the hall. So for the first time in her brief life, she was starting to feel like the queen she really was.
One thing was for certain, this beat the hell out of working for her old master. In fact, in the hour she had spent sitting in the chair contemplating her position, she had come to the conclusion that those two silly adventurers who had stolen into her step-father Severin’s dungeon and killed both him had done her the biggest favor she ever could have imagined. She was free. She was emancipated. She was now empowered to make her own way in the world and what a world it was.
She had arrived less than a day ago and had already accomplished so much. She had assumed control over a small tribe of goblins and then rallied them into assaulting a fortress inhabited by an undead wizard. So far, life was good.
The skull had an allure to it. Two purple gemstones filled his eye sockets and his teeth were some kind of silvery metal. As she saw it, she had little need for wealth at the moment and so she was considering turning it into a chalice or perhaps a goblet.
She took another sip of her wine and thought on it.
Just how far could she climb in this new world? How many other races could she subjugate? Could she have her own kingdom? Her own empire? Perhaps the entire world? As a dragon of considerable ability, she felt it was her moral and ethical obligation to lend her leadership skills to as many inferior beings as possible. A prospect which, the more she thought about it, likely included anyone and everyone she could find.
The goblin slaves here at Rumadrane had been easy enough to convert. She had already heard they were mistreated and overworked. She had simply offered them a better deal. When they had asked her what that better deal was, she had responded by telling them they needed to organize, draw together a list of demands, and bring them to her. She thought this might teach them a bit of initiative, while in the meantime would provide entertainment for her.
Then the hall’s double doors swung open and in walked a trio of goblins, one of which held a long piece of paper with some poorly written words on it. Vevic crossed her legs and took another long, intimidating sip of her wine as she watched them walk the length of the hall. When they settled at the foot of the dias, the goblin with the paper attempted to hand it off to one of his fellows, but they both pushed him away as one of them whispered, “Go on. You can do it.”
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The goblin with the paper shook his head in protest. However, as his two fellows backed away, he was left alone before the dias. Shaking with fear, the goblin looked up at Vevic with a face full of fear and awe as his mouth fell open.
The woman he was looking at was not, at first glance, someone you would conventionally be afraid of. No, she was a slim girl in her mid to late teens with raven black hair and a slim figure covered in a black riding dress over a white shirt. However, anyone within earshot of her would be unnerved by two very peculiar things. First, she had deep purple eyes that had a way of boring into one’s soul. Second, she was actually a dragon and so produced a magical phermone that spread fear in anyone who could sense it.
And this goblin was a mere twenty feet away.
“Err …” the goblin started.
She waited, staring at the little green thing from over the top of her wine chalice. She took a moment to let out a long sigh, then asked, “What’s your name?”
The goblin was having a hard time looking her in the eye. “G … Gundak, your worshipfulness.”
She leaned forward just a bit. “Grundak. Look, if you don’t start in soon, I’m going to have to either eat you or roast you for wasting my time, so if you want to live you need to get on with it.
“Ah … right.” He looked down at the paper. “Uhm … as you ordered, your beautifulness, we all gathered together with our new brethren here at Rumadrane and discussed, as you suggested, a new bill of rights that we might collectively bargain with you, your most Elegantness.”
She made sure to look down on him with the most bored look of disdain she could muster. “Right, now get on with them. I have many things to do.”
She actually didn’t. She had actually been looking forward to this all afternoon as she had slowly begun to discover that the one drawback of her current situation was that it was, as they say, lonely at the top.
The goblin gave her a sheepish look. “So, as you know our negotiating position is that if these demands are not met, that we’ll probably all be very upset and disappointed for a while and a few of us might sneak off into the woods for a night or two as they think about deserting before morning comes and they get hungry and wander back, so just … you know … keep that in mind.”
The little goblin then did his best to stand up straight as he held the paper before him, squinted at it, and began to read. “The representative of the goblin people gathered herein request … no, demand the certain specific rights we now put before you, oh Benevolence. First, that we might gather together and decide amongst ourselves a target for a raid at regular intervals not exceeding two weeks but never more often than once every three days as that’s just too much work carrying all the loot and prisoners. You, yourself may carry veto power over certain villages and towns we might request as your tactical wisdom is thought to be superior to ours and so we might present said proposals to you at regular intervals to be determined in future negotiations.”
So far, so good. She liked where this was going.
“Second, we might request … no … yes, request that recompense is paid for any and all warriors who are wounded on the field of battle in the form of the following payment system: Loss of right arm – ten silver. Loss of left arm – eight silver. Right leg – fifteen silver. Left leg – twelve silver. Eye – five silver and an eye patch. Both eyes – eighteen silver and a funny hat. Finger – two silver.”
This was reasonable. She had inspected the lich’s horde and knew she had more than enough gold to cover the costs. Motivated and loyal goblins were worth far more than cowering, fearful goblins.
“Third, we want three square meals a day, four for the women with children.”
She nodded her ascent. The more goblin children they had, the more warriors she would soon have under her control.
“Fourth, we want any and all humans taken to be worked as thralls under your command. No goblin slaves.”
Easy enough. She shrugged.
“Fifth, we demand regular wages of four coppers a week and ample housing for all goblins.”
So long as you build it yourselves or have the slaves do it. She again nodded.
“And finally, we want a kennel for the dogs.”
She frowned. Goblin dogs stank worse than their owners. She had been discovering this the longer she spent with them. She looked down on the trembling figure below her.
“I suppose I can tolerate these requests, so long as the kennels are built far away from my palace.”
The little goblin nodded enthusiastically. He was very obviously ready to be free and away from her presence. She swirled her wine as she looked down on him.
“One last question before you go,” she said. “Just when do your fellows expect to conduct the next raid?”