20. TOWN OF TUNES
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In stark contrast to the cramped prison cart which brought the crew into Falberin, the gang left the city in style, riding as passengers of a cozy longwagon prepared by some of the queen’s servants. This stylish vehicle was 120 feet long, with an interior covered in silk fabrics even smoother than 27’s attire. Although it was camelmule-drawn, the front of the longwagon had been adored with an assortment of flowers, which both visually blocked the passengers from seeing the camelmules, as well as fragrantly covered up any smell that might be coming off the animals.
Along the roof of the longwagon sat twelve elven guards: six non-magical warriors sporting weaponry and armor, and six robe-wearing elves with their innate magic at-the-ready to protect the goblin king inside. As the dozen guards mumbled to each other in Elvish, Colb toyed with the glowing Yiklar Amulet of Open Ears around his neck, pleased to see none of the elves assigned to this longwagon had the ability to block magic.
As the long vehicle traveled out of Falberin and towards Reli, the team was treated to a fine meal of elvish delicacies. They enjoyed bisonquail steaks, lettuceshrimp salads, and brassleaf tea with rabbitbee honey and cowmammoth milk mixed into it.
After eating, Stibs and 27 took the remainder of the trip as an opportunity to get some rest. Drek, Colb, and Kashmir sat awake a bit longer, however, surveying the brass-tinted leafy shrubs of the Elvish Kingdom passing by.
As Drek polished his crown against a silk pillow, he looked at Kashmir and tilted his head. “Rrghegh… what is Quilliva?” he asked after a moment.
Kashmir looked up from a window. Colb’s ears perked up, and he scootched himself closer to the two, ready to translate her Elvish responses for his friend. “Queen elf-lady called you Quilliva, but you called yourself Kashmir,” Drek clarified.
“I am Quilliva Kashmir. That means Kashmir is my name, and Quilliva is my family name,” Kashmir responded.
“Rrghegh, goblins don’t have family name,” Drek replied after listening to Colb’s translation.
“Hmmm, I’m just Colb, yes?” Colb added. “I have sister, but she is just Vrel. Our bond is just called sister and brother, yes?”
“As a name, Quilliva represents my family in Tarso,” Kashmir explained. “Along with myself, it refers to my older sister Quilliva Vekoona, my mother Quilliva Feshminnah, and my father Quilliva Marinoe. We’re bound by the name Quilliva, because anything that one Quilliva does will reflect upon all four of us.”
“Hmmm, what are they like?” Colb asked.
“Kind of like me, I suppose,” Kashmir responded. “My father was brave and decisive. He was working as a guard in Tarso when he met my mother. She fell into a sacred lake south of our town, and didn’t know how to swim. He was nearby, pulled her out, and the rest was history.”
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“Hmmm, but the water would’ve frozen when your parents touched it, yes?” Colb asked.
“No,” Kashmir replied. “My father never had any innate magic. My mother does have power over cold, but not enough to freeze something. She passed her ability down to Vekoona and myself, but I’m the only one that destroys everything I touch. Feshminnah and Vekoona both just make things a little colder.”
Colb continued to translate Kashmir’s words as the conversation went on.
“Rrghegh… you said you dislike royalty,” Drek reminisced. “Do all Quilliva feel this way?”
“Well, obviously executing my father didn’t improve our opinions of Queen Eylbella,” Kashmir huffed.
“Rrghegh… what about other royalty?” Drek asked.
“Even before my father’s passing, our whole family felt uncomfortable with the idea of an elf being born into power,” Kashmir answered. “My father was the most outspoken against the concept of royalty, but all four of us would sometimes joke about moving to the Dwarven Republic as a family. We wouldn’t know any of their customs, or even their language, but at least the leaders there must prove themselves to be elected.”
“Rrghegh… what about very first elf ruler? They weren’t born into power,” Drek pointed out. “They couldn’t have been, if they were first. They must’ve proved themselves by uniting your people?”
“That’s true… but as soon their child succeeded them, a millennium of unworthy, born-into-power rulers began,” Kashmir countered. “So, still not very good.”
“Hmmm, you said your family thought about leaving the Elvish Kingdom, yes?” Colb threw in. “Why didn’t they?”
“My mother says that moving away without a valid reason would be frowned upon,” Kashmir huffed. “We would be shunned by our own people if we ever wanted to come back.”
“Rrghegh, queen elf-lady said Quilliva are mine to deal with,” Drek recalled. “Does that just mean Quilliva Kashmir, or the whole Quilliva family?”
Kashmir poked at a nearby silk pillow, ripping holes into it with her frosty touch. “Knowing the queen, she meant my whole family. She views her subjects more as family units than as individuals.”
“Rrghegh… couldn’t I order your family to move anywhere you want, then? Other elves can’t frown at you for following orders of mighty king.”
Kashmir smiled. “You aren’t really a king, though,” she replied. “Once you’re found out, the queen would demand we all move back or be banished forever. Come to think of it, one she finds out about you, she might even retract her forgiveness and restoration of my family’s honor…”
“Rrghegh, well that’s not going to happen, because I’m not going to be found out,” Drek countered. “I will make myself real king before queen elf-lady visits Ratter next year. I will become rich, bring my fortune to Ratter, and unite the tribes with my great might before she even realizes I lied.”
Kashmir let out a worried sigh. “If you think you can do all that before you’re found out, then yes, I’m sure the rest of my family would enjoy an amicable excuse to move out of this place. One that doesn’t result in us all being exiled or killed.”
“Rrghegh… I will do all that,” Drek promised. “Rrghegh, and you know what? I won’t have child, either. My system will be better. I’ll choose the most worthiest goblin to succeed me. Someone who came from the guts of Ratter, just like I did. I’ll find a lowly thief that knows they could be something more, and take them under my wing so they have a chance to prove themself.”
“Your dreams are even bigger than mine,” Kashmir observed.
“Rrghegh, my words are no dream – they are facts of what I will do,” Drek challenged. “Rrghegh, watch: Colb, would the Skaal tribe like to join the Ratter tribe in my goblin kingdom?” Drek pitched.
“Hmmm, I could bring the idea to the elder, and put a good word in for you, yes?” Colb replied.
Drek smiled, his yellow tongue gliding across his razor-sharp teeth. “Making progress every second,” he announced, getting a small smile out of Kashmir.