Chapter 44

Fighting the goblins was anti-climatic after the fun and games that Corinth and I had gotten up to down by the lake, but it was something that we still needed to do or to be specific, I felt we should do. My mates thought otherwise.

The goblins had mounted guards at intervals all around the plateau upon which Arlberg stood. There were two goblins per sentry and one of each team of sentries was mounted on a warg. In total there were twenty-six goblins watching the walls of Arlberg and the surrounding terrain and nobody could get in or out of the village without being seen. As for the remaining goblins, they were camped below the ridge of the plateau in a broad ravine that ran off into the forests north of the plateau. Here things were a lot more relaxed with the goblins mounting only a single guard to watch the top of the ravine and the plateau beyond it, in order to alert the main body if anything occurred out on the plateau. It made things real easy for us.

We hit them with ranged weapons first. I'd brought a few surprises with us from the bounty taken from Wang Chow's expedition. One item that I was sure would cause mayhem in the goblin ranks were fire arrows. These had small powder charges tied to their shafts and once lit they exploded like giant firecrackers. While the charges weren't big enough to kill a man indirectly, I was certain that the explosions would cause considerable confusion amongst the goblins and that was something I wanted to encourage. We opened with them.

The goblin camp was still asleep when we struck. A dozen fire arrows dropped into their midst from all directions landing helter-skelter amongst them. Amazingly none struck any of the slumbering goblins and the first flight went without notice until the powder charges detonated. Then there was chaos. Startled by the rapid explosion of one charge after the next all the goblins jumped from where they'd been curled up, grabbing for the first weapon that they could lay their hands upon. As they did, they anxiously looked about wondering what was going on. Even as their leaders started barking orders, a second flight of arrows dropped on them, this time without powder charges. These struck targets left and right and within seconds bodies started dropping where they stood. That was when Nimue fired a pair of rockets into the encampment. The rockets were off Chow's flagship and they packed a wallop. One flew after the other and landed with a massive bang in amongst the confused mob that constituted the goblin horde. When the smoke cleared dozens of goblins lay dead and those still standing started to run. Frantically they grabbed what they could and headed down the ravine towards the forest below them. As they ran, arrows pelted them from behind and those struck fell quickly to their deaths.

The goblins really didn't have a chance. Those who tried to get away ran right into Corinth who was hiding in amongst the tall pines. One spit ball of acid back up the ravine took care of most of the survivors of the initial attack. Of course it still left the goblin sentries. The sentries had heard the explosions and they'd come running, wondering what was going on. The first couple ran into a hail of fire arrows that took them completely by surprise. The fire arrows proved especially effective against the goblins' worg mounts. The shafts sank deep into the animals' hides and then the powder charges exploded blowing holes into their flesh. The wargs cried out in agony as the charges tore at their flesh and injured them in ways that they hadn't expected. In the confusion they never saw the arrival of Corinth. The dragon had hurried up the ravine as he blasted goblins left and right and when he reached its top he had continued. On seeing the approaching goblins on wargs, Corinth spat a couple of acid spit balls in their direction and that was the end of it. Any goblins left standing and there were only a few of them, hightailed it out of there. The battle was over in less than ten minutes and we hadn't lost a single man or woman. I smiled at that and then got to work preparing the next phase of our plan.

The next step of my plan took a strong stomach. Knowing this I called for only volunteers. Thankfully none of my mates wanted any part of it. I ended up with the six men from Oak Hall and my two outworld soldiers. With their help we got to work gathering up the remains of the goblins and their mounts. The big job was tying the bodies and body parts together with rope to make a bundle that Corinth could carry. This took us some time.

When we were done, I mounted up on Corinth once more; this time with his permission. Then Corinth grabbed hold of the bundle and with a spring, he leapt into the air. Beating his wings, he flew us up over the ridge of the plateau and towards Arlberg. By now the village was well aware that something was going on. The watchtowers were manned and guards stood at the ready by the two main gates. Still the occupants of the village were surprised to see Corinth beating a path towards their walls.

Corinth flew over the village unopposed. Archery isn't a skill that the dwarves have mastered and as such they had no ranged weapons except for a few spears and everyone knew that they were useless against the great wyrm while it was in flight high above them. As Corinth passed over the square in front of the longhouse, he dropped the bundle of dead goblins and wargs. The bundle hit the stones with a splat startling everyone who'd gathered there. When Corinth sailed back over the village he spat out a ball of acid into the heap of dead and set it ablaze. Within seconds a cloud of smoke was darkening the sky over the village.

Corinth and I settled a good distance from the front gate of the village. By then, those not busy trying to put out the fire had mounted the walls of the city to see what we would do next. Out of spite I told Corinth to spit ball the main gates of the village. Chuckling a bit, the old dragon did exactly that. The spit ball hit the gates dead centre and in seconds it was ablaze as well. We waited and watched while more dwarves scurried about trying to put it out. It took time but eventually they got it under control. That's when I called out to Daghout.

"Lord Daghout," I shouted at the top of my lungs, "I demand to speak to you."

This time I didn't have to wait for him to make his presence known. He was already on the ramparts of the city, fuming to his advisors over what we had done. On hearing my voice call his name, he glared out over the stone defences and barked a curse at me.

"Damn you human," Lord Daghout shouted back at me, "and all who stand with you. You are cursed and forever marked by my people. One day we will take our revenge against you."

"Perhaps," I shouted back to Daghout, not wishing to get into an argument over what would and wouldn't happen in the future, "but not today. Today you will listen to my words of warning. You asked me to kill Corinth the Solitary and I refused and then you threatened me and my people. In response I went and spoke to Corinth and learned that your greed and avarice was the only reason that you sought his death. In response I have allied myself to Corinth and now call him friend. We have routed the goblins that encircled your village. Their carcasses we delivered to you as a warning. Stay away from the land claimed by Corinth the Solitary or you will suffer the same fate as the goblins. You may hew stone and raise it as walls about you to protect you from lesser creatures but Corinth is not to be trifled with. Respect his rights and he will leave you in peace. Do otherwise and pay the price."

With that Corinth launched himself into the air taking me with him. We flew back to his valley and home where the rest of my party waited me so we could return to our own home. Before leaving I had another quick chat with the dragon.

"Corinth," I said to the great wyrm, "I know these lands have been yours for many years and that they are your home, however I will tell you that there are other places upon this world where no man has walked or other being has set foot upon and these places may be claimed if you so desired them. Many are in warmer climes and most are surrounded by bountiful seas that teem with fish. There is even a large island near where I currently reside that in the summer is baked by the sun and while it is a bit wet during winter it is probably warmer than here. It is yours if you want it. What do you say to that?"

"I say that your offer is tempting human," the dragon rumbled in reply, "but it is not for me. I am old and set in my ways and I know these mountains and lakes and forests and desire not to see any other. Go in peace my friend with my gratitude."

With that I left the dragon to get back to what it liked doing best, sunning itself on its mountain perch. I did tell him that if he ever changed his mind or just wanted to visit to say so and I would hear about it and I'd make his trip easy for him. He just snorted at that. With that said I quickly turned and left him, moving to rejoin my companions.

"So," I said to Tina, once I'd gotten back, "I assume that you don't want to stay with Daghout and his people."

"You're right," Tina replied with a shake of her head. "I found their hospitality lacking and now, considering the animosity that you have created between them and us, I think it would be best to return to Oak Hall."

"Sorry about that," I said apologetically.

"Don't be," Tina chuckled heartily. "That pompous fool brought it upon the village himself. He should have taken your initial offer for help and then wooed you to his cause. Instead, knowing his own strengths in the matter, he allowed his arrogance to influence his judgment. Daghout was not a good leader."

"And you Damien," I asked the tall Elf, "do you want us to drop you somewhere here about so that you can find a place for your people to call home?"

"Not yet Charles," Damien replied with a sigh. "This trip has been a bit of a disappointment. I think we need to reflect on our options a bit more before moving away from Oak Hall. I might have to visit this region a bit and acquaint myself with the surroundings and the other denizens living here before I make a final decision."

"A wise thought," I told him, giving him a smile, "considering the diversity of your community. In the meantime you will be welcomed at Oak Hall as you already know."

Then I turned to Nimue and spoke to her.

"Tell me my little elf," I said to my mate, "have you sensed Dindraine's presence here about?

"No my husband," Nimue replied in a heavy voice, "I have not. I have sensed other Elves and interestingly, other men and women both near and far from here, but I have not sensed my sister."

"Well," I responded thoughtfully, "for now we will accept what we know and work from there. I think that you and Felicity should get back to doing your reconnaissance trips. If you get another tingle we'll come and have a look and if you don't, I'll have Mai Woo drop you somewhere else on this planet so you can try from another spot. Eventually we will find Dindraine, one way or another. After all, I still intend to make life miserable for the Onyx Network.

The day was spent by the time we got back to Oak Hall. We all had lunch together and then people headed off to either finish unfinished tasks or to visit with friends and to relax. I ended up talking to the three unwelcomed guests once more. By now they had things to tell me.

The first person to report to me was Sydney White. The man told me that he had four prospective networks lined up that wanted in on the consortium. The good news he told me was that the four networks were willing to agree to my terms and conditions. The bad news was that a couple of the networks had their own terms and conditions; principally they wanted to send their own representatives to Game World to liaise directly with me. Their intention was to manage my activities in a manner that would garner their networks the best ratings possible. They also wanted me to do some product placement for them. That suggestion just made me shake my head in utter disbelief.

"So the bastards think they can dictate terms to me," I snarled in response to what Sydney White had told me. "Well they can't and you can pass that on to them and anyone else interested in joining the consortium. There is only one person in charge here and that is me. If they don't like it then they can stick to doing things the old way and when all their viewers move over to watching what we have to offer them and they go out of business, then it will be on their heads and not ours. As for sending representatives here, they can do so if they want, however you can tell them that any person they send to Oak Hall will instantly become my slave and that the person will no longer represent their networks interests. I work with three people from your world and that is you and Mai Woo and Angela Kent and that is it. Anyone sent here from another network will work for either you or Angela as an assistant and if they don't work out in that capacity, I'm certain that the chamberlain has plenty of chamber pots that need cleaning out. Is that understood?"

"Yes my lord," Sydney White replied, bobbing his head in acknowledgement while trying to suppress a smile. It was immediately clear to me that the man was happy with my response, especially since it elevated his status as my liaison with the other networks.

The four networks that Sydney had been talking about were Bronze, Isanti, Madera, and Black Pearl. I was familiar with two of the networks. Bronze Network was the largest of the four applicants. In our region the network had claimed the proprietary rights to everyone living between the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. These were the guys who'd hired Lord Barnabas to kill me and they were also the bastards that had tried to kill Lord Barnabas because he failed to do what they had wanted. To make matters worse, they were also the bastards responsible for kidnapping Rory's and Caitlin's family, which made them responsible for the twins' parents dying. They weren't my favourite people and in truth I wasn't theirs. My coup in Oak Hall and my subsequent actions in the region had stripped them of any rights they thought they had and that had left them very pissed. I was certain that they were one of the networks pushing for control over me. As for the other three networks, I knew that Isanti Network controlled the Black Forest region as well as a couple of other sites on Game World and that they were responsible for people like Dork and Tina and creatures like Corinth. That left Madera and Black Pearl. As it turned out Madera Network claimed Izmir and Araknis and the entire Gulf of the Twelve Cities as well as a few other places including what I knew to be the Nile Valley. The Black Pearl Network operated in what Sydney White called the Spanish Sea. This turned out to be the Caribbean. They also operated in the Indian Ocean but mostly from Black Island which was the island of Madagascar on my world.

Angela Kent reported next and what she had to tell me pulled me out of my sour disposition. The woman had come up with three programming ideas that, while not totally out of the box in thinking, were revolutionary to what the networks had done before. All her ideas called for recruiting volunteer participants from other Earths who needed to fit certain criteria before they were selected. One of the criteria was physical condition. There would be no more pulling old people or physically unfit people or kids into Game World. Any new participant needed to be able to survive the conditions that they were going to be exposed to and not die within minutes of arriving here. Another criterion was morality. Amazingly Angela wanted to recruit only people with high morale standards. This would hopefully weed out the psychopaths and the serial killers and the rapists that were commonly grabbed and dumped onto Game World in an effort to spice things up. As well as setting criteria for the volunteers selected, Angela wanted to establish a basic commitment of support for the volunteer. This would ensure that the volunteer wouldn't end up on Game World with the clothes on his back and nothing else. To me it was a bold step in changing the way Game World was run.

Angela quickly described her three program ideas to me. The first one, Pirate Quest, was inspired by my adventures to-date. Angela informed me that my ratings had started to grow when I had taken on the two pirate vessels in the eastern part of the Black Sea and it had continued to climb every time I had gone up against a pirate vessel or enclave. It appeared that people on her world loved watching pirates getting their asses handed to them. As such, Angela proposed that a volunteer or two from another Earth be given the opportunity to do the same thing as I'd been doing. The region of the Spanish Sea contained roughly six dozen city-states. Most dotted the various islands of the region but some existed on the mainland as well. These city-states traded amongst each other and as trading nations they were plagued by pirates from time to time. It was Angela's plan to equip a pirate hunter or his team and let them loose in the region with the goal of ridding the area of certain prominent pirate bands just as we had done in the inland sea. Personally, I thought it was a great idea and I told her so. I also told her I wanted to see her completed prospectus before she passed it up to the networks to implement. Again I reiterated that I had final say on what happened on Game World.

Her second idea was called the 'Challenge'. This program was set in the Rhine valley area and it called for each member of the consortium to recruit a volunteer from another Earth to participate in the 'Challenge'. The objective of the program would be to pit the various volunteers against each other as they travelled from one city in the region to another, completing tasks along the way and having adventures. The ultimate goal of the program was for one of the recruits to complete a difficult challenge, such as storming a castle or rescuing a damsel in distress. Naturally, only one recruit could win. Again I told Angela that she had a great idea and that I wanted to see a complete prospectus on it as soon as possible.

The final idea put forward by Angela was certainly not my most favourite, but from the enthusiasm displayed by all three of my unwanted guests, I knew that the people on their Earth would probably love it. The third program was called 'Sex Talk' and unlike the others it was centred on people already on Game World. As Angela put it, the people on her world had loved my little chat that I had had with my mates, prior to me introducing them to anal sex. Angela felt that such a show would draw a huge viewing audience on her Earth because, as she told me with blushing cheeks, most people didn't get out enough on her world to know even the basics of sex. In fact, most people on her world learnt the basics by simply watching Game World. Now that little piece of information left me completely stunned. Again I told her I wanted to see a complete prospectus before it got bumped up to the networks for implementation.