Alice was on the edge of the camp, her face frowning till she saw the Prince carrying El behind him and a huge block of ice that had frozen her inside out had suddenly melted away, making her feel suddenly so positive again, even having the sense of exhilaration as she saw El move freely in the back.

She was going to give El an earful but as he rode into their camp and she saw his weary face and lost stare, she knew not to give him a hard time.

“How many men did we lose?” he asked her as he got off the horse.

“So far, five soldiers and six of the villagers,” Alice said, giving him the number that Trim had told her.

“Six villagers? That many?” he asked, not liking the number at all.

Alice nodded her head. “So far. There are a lot of wounded, but the Healer is here and she might be able to save most of them, if not all.”

“That’s good,” he muttered, his voice quiet and flat, as if they did not win a battle.

Alice tilted her head and said, “We live… to fight another day.”

“I heard you got hurt,” El said as he approached her. and put his hand on her shoulder, reading her health.

“Elma and the Healer helped me,” Alice started to explain, but El knew no explanation was necessary as he put his hand on her shoulder, reading her health.

{Life Force: 6/12

General Health Condition: 3/12

Energy Supply: 4 / 24

Mana Supply: N/A

Analytics: Health: Stable

Infections: 1 percent

The ability of the body to fight infection: 100 percent

Loss of blood: Sever

Time needed to restore the balance: 48 hours.

Recommendations: 1. Drink a lot of nutrient-full liquids

2. Rest and recuperation for the next 72 hours

}

“Good, you got stabilized now. Don’t think I can give you 72 hours break, but, you’ll get some break.”

“What were you doing up there? Don’t you -”

“I tell you later. Now, I need to get something to drink. Isn’t there any honey brew?’

Trader Jack and his sister who were moving the bodies of dead goblins to a pile to be burned had dropped what they were doing and ran to him. Then, as he pointed to them that he needed something to drink, they ran to fetch it for him.

“What happened with the third one?” El asked, watching them.

“He is nowhere to be found. Probably ran away,” one of the village folks answered.

El looked downhill toward the dark forest there. “Well, I guess he chose his destiny. For two of you, I hope you know now the evil that resides here and that we are all just a snack, just dead meat for them. So, you keep on fighting. That’s the only thing you can do anyway. What else is there left to do?”

“And what are they doing there?” El suddenly asked, pointing at the captured goblins.

Alice did not like how El asked that question. He should have known better. “We captured them. Need to get some answers from them,” she said, not liking it one bit she needed to explain it.

“You think they would tell you anything useful?” El asked, and then swiftly added before Alice could say anything. “They were bread for one and only one purpose.”

Alice would normally probably handle the situation very differently, but instead of getting, ‘good job’, ‘you did great’, ‘I wish I thought of that’, or any of other possible compliments, she got a cold shower. So she just snapped. “And you know that how? Have you examined them? Talked to them? Know their inside out? Know how they are thinking and what is driving them? Know their weak points and how to deal with them most rationally?”

El stood there too tired to argue, not understanding why Alice got so worked up over this. But then, he gave up trying to figure it out and scratched his head as he said, “I’m too tired. Maybe you have a point.”

That gave Alice a chance to exhale a long breath and relax a bit. “If they prove useless, we can always kill them. But let’s find out what we can do first, and then make a decision. Doesn’t this make the most sense?”

EL sighed and nodded his head. “You’re right. I’m actually embarrassed I did not think of that. Could have at least captured one of them. And now he is dead. You did great, Alice.”

“I mean, what’s the use in killing them if we can get something out? Not like we know everything. Killing them is such a... dead-end street,” Alice said with frustration, knowing they probably did not understand her, but she was just so wasted she could not find better words to express her ideas.

“It's true," Trim finally said. "Dead mouths don’t talk. No use in killing them now.”

Scarface growled out his opinion, “But they die so good.”

“So… how do you want to go about that? Burn them first a bit to show them we mean business,” the Prince offered right away. “Or you want them to wait till the morning.”

“You better ask the questions you have for them fast,” said Prince bodyguard Bib who was guarding them. “This one won’t last very long.”

As the light of the torches showed them, Alice could tell, Bib was right. It had a nasty cut across its chest and was bleeding some slimy greenish liquid that Alice figured for its blood.

The other two were in better shape. One was missing an eye, the other a nose, but they did not lose them in the battle. It seems they were created that way.

As they approached them, one missing an eye hissed at them with its long black tongue as if it was a snake.

“Well, we have some questions to ask from you,” the Prince, carrying one of the torches, came forward and asked them.

When none of them offered not even a sound for an answer, he pressed the torch against the one that was wounded, burning his skin and making him shriek in pain. “Oh, at least, you feel pain. So, should I continue??”

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All their eyes instantly turned to the Prince, but other than the one shrieking in pain, the other two mouths were well shut.

“Well, okay, let’s try it a bit harder,” the Prince said and was ready to burn the wounded one all over the face, but Alice touched his shoulder and pulled him back.

She just could not believe how they could not see that they had a potential gold mine of information in front of them and were going all the wrong way about getting it out. Maybe she did not know shit about interrogation, but she was certain that none of them even thought possible that these goblins had any value.

They are just going to blow it away, Alice thought with disappointment, seeing how even El was all disinterested in the task. No, I just can't let these brutes screw it all up.

“Let me try,” she whispered in his ear, her hand still on his shoulder, and he stared at her surprised. But then, without a word, he took a step back.

She examined them carefully, waiting for them to look at her, not really knowing which way she should go. But then, she decided to approach it with no plan, just winging it, and she said, “Can you talk or you can behave only like dumb, merciless creatures that we might as well burn alive and be done with? Because, if you can’t even talk, what good are you? Even that wood is of more use then.”

“We can talk. Of course, we can talk,” one without a nose said quickly.

“Okay. That is a start. So, what is your name?”

The creature let out something out of its throat that could be interpreted as laughter. “We don’t have names. Only our commanders do. Don’t you know nothing of us, you…”

“Don’t insult me!” Alice snapped at him right away then took a torch from the Prince’s hand. “Or I’ll freaken’ burn you piece by piece, and cut you at the same time, and you’ll beg me to kill you! You understand??” Alice burst out at them, getting very mean. “You’ll beg me to kill you! And I won’t do it! So, you better be nice! And that, whatever that was, a laughter or something. Better not do it again. Now, you better say you're sorry.”

They looked at her not fully comprehending her.

“I’m not hearing it!”

“Yeah…”

“No, ‘yeah,’, you answer, yes, ma’am. Do you understand?”

Only one of them, the one without the nose, said, "Yes, ma’am."

So, she took the torch and put it next to the wounded one’s feet, making him scream, then she looked in the face of the second one, and asked, “Do you understand??”

He looked at her full of fear and nodded his head and she lifted the torch up to burn him when the nose-less one swiftly urged him,

“Say, yes, ma’am, you fool,” and the terrified one-eyed goblin swiftly repeated it.

“Now, that we got that straight, let’s see what you can tell us.”

“We know nothing.”

“Of course you don’t. If you did, you would not attack us, you idiots. Don’t you know, you cannot win?? Did the creature that made you not tell you that?” El said, suddenly realizing what Alice was doing and deciding to step in and join her.

“Our master is wise,” said the one-eyed.

“Of course he is,” Alice added. “He is sitting inside his cave, right? Eating something nice now. And you, you who came out as a mistake, he sent to fight in his stand, sent you guys to the first line, didn’t he? And look at your sorry ass? You missing an eye, you…missing a nose, and what is the other one missing… brains? Probably all of you are missing that to be conned to come here and fight us.”

“We, we, we are not missing the brains,” the noseless one stuttered out.

“If you are not missing brains, why not use them? How did you ever think you could stand against us?”

“The master said that we’ll kill you easily, that there are only a few of you, that then we could…”

“The master, he is not your master anymore. So, stop calling him that!” Alice said, getting upset.

“No, no, no, we were not told nothing.”

“How many of you are there in those caves?” The Prince suddenly asked, not liking how long it was taking them to get some answers.

“A lot. So many, so many of us,” one-eyed said.

“Good. I love to slaughter you all,” El said swiftly. “But tell me, how many of you were left behind when you attacked us?”

The goblin looked uncertain of what to say. “Did many goblins stay behind or did all the caves clear of them and then you all came here?”

“All the caves cleared,” the noseless one said, and the answer was enough for Alice and El to exchange a quick glance full of satisfaction.

“So, you all came here and no goblins stayed behind??” Alice asked to make sure.

“Only the Praetorians, and Grogro.”

“And Praetorians are more or less than what you see around here?”

“Less,” the noseless one said. “Half of them were sent to guard Two Horns.”

El and Alice again exchanged a quick glance, glad that they were finally getting somewhere.

Suddenly El wanted something else to know, “How old are you?”

“I’m not very old,”

“Are you more than a moon old?” El reformulated the question.

“Yes. But less than two.”

“Where do you sleep?”

“In the tunnels, where else?”

“So, how many steps does it take to walk from one end of the tunnel to another?”

“Many steps?”

“As many as to the top of the hill?”

“No. About halfway.”

“And how many tunnels are there?”

“A lot. We are only allowed in the ones going down. The other ones that have stairs climbing up, we’re not allowed to.”

“Who is the oldest of you?” El asked. “Of you goblins that you hang around, who is the oldest?”

“I do not know. But new ones are brought in every day.”

“How many? More than there are horses tied to that post there?” El asked seeing a half dozen horses there.

“Sometimes, sometimes twice that many.”

That made them all think about it for a while, El drinking ale with honey inside that Trader Jack brought him.

Then he remembered what he wanted to know, just to make sure his suspicions were correct. “How is the Dungeon communicating with you?”

“What?”

“How does the one who created you talk to you? How do you know what he wants?”

“He talks to Grogro. Grogro listens and talks. Two Horns listens. Then Two Horns talks and everyone else listens. Or else, he whips the flash of goblins bones.”

El took a long swing at his glass and then, satisfied wiped his mouth and said proudly, “Two Horns can’t listen no more. Can’t talk either, and certainly can’t whip the flash of anyone’s bones. I sliced his head straight off his shoulder. It will not give orders to anybody ever again.”

“The Master can build another. And Two Horns will live again.”

“Again,” Alice said and hit the one-eyed goblin with her boot, right across its nose, sending its head to bang against the tree trunk. “He’s not your master any longer. Do not call him that. You can only have one master. And if he is your master, then, we might as well kill you now. For if you will not serve us, what good are you?”

Seeing what Alice was implying opened up a whole new line of thinking that El did not see before.

But the Prince could not see it and only protested, “They can’t serve us. They’ll betray us the first chance they’ve got.”

“Of course they will. In that sense, they have that in common with us humans,” Alice said and looked at him. “How many times you’ve been betrayed in your life by those closest to you?”

The Prince’s face darkened. “They are hideous. Monsters. Goblins.”

“So, don’t marry one. But, let’s see what they can do. If they can’t do nothing, well, then, what good are you?” Alice said as she cast them a penetrating glance, and both goblins quivered.

Seeing it all, El smirked and started to think that maybe Alice was way more intelligent than anyone he ever met.

What happened with that spoiled little brat who was crying about how cold it was just a few days ago? He asked himself, smiling at her and happy that she was here.

“Oh, we can help, we can help. We can do so much,” the noseless one started to speak.

“I’m not so sure,” Alice said, playing it. “I’m not so sure at all.”

“I can show you, can show you to the tunnels. There is a back entrance, there is…”