Chapter 9

The town of Ridgehill deserved its name. Ridges surrounded it, providing a suitable defense.

The three armies camped outside the town used those Ridges as cover. However, as Vix and his two companions sneaked past the camp and into the town, it was clear their natural defenses bred a lack of security.

The town brimmed with activity and desperation. Women haggled with street vendors and the homeless hustled used goods on street corners.

It reminded Vix of a poor city instead of town in a small region. He supposed all those burnt-out villages and farms had to do with the influx of bedraggled people.

Goblins were responsible for that. For that reason, Vix stayed cloaked as he wandered the busy streets of Ridgehill.

Vix hardly had to worry. Hunched over as he was, he appeared as a child. The townspeople were too busy to bother paying him any attention. Only the beggars bothered him.

Vix sent Mulch and Krack to find the town’s leaders in order to broker a peace. It gave Krack a reason to use that goblin lord’s cloak.

But the word on the street so far was that the armies were disunited.

It may be to Vix’s benefit if no one force could fight him or it could make peace impossible. There was no point in negotiating with leadership who couldn’t make lasting deals.

He came upon temples that gleamed white but before he could check them out, Mulch returned to tell him they had been invited to a brothel of all places.

At said brothel, the Madam named Grace greeted them warmly as if they were not a trio of goblins stinking up the fine establishment.

She ushered him into her office, leaving Mulch and Krack with her girls. They seemed fine with that.

Vix helped himself to a seat, plopping down on it. Grace didn’t mind.

Taking her own seat behind her office desk, she spoke, “Vix, is it? I want to hear your intentions from your own mouth. Your companions tried to communicate their desires, but I had trouble understanding.”

“Probably because they were looking at your tits.” Curses, he hadn’t meant to say that.

Rather than offended, Grace looked pleased. “Still got it,” she whispered to herself. “Well then, I want you to know that I’m also a council member and am able to negotiate with you.”

“Then you can speak to the rest of the town leadership on my behalf?” She nodded. “Those two must have already told you about the prisoners.” Again, she nodded. “OK, so I will skip that part. My intention is to reach a peace agreement. I have spent the last month killing the old goblin leadership in the Alea and Alis regions. As the only remaining leader of the goblins, I have cut ties with the Inimi for their abuses against goblins. I can end hostilities between our species.”

Though he suspected Grace already knew his purpose here, it didn’t stop her eyes from growing wide and lips to part in shock. “That is ... that would be ... beneficial.”

“I would hope so.”

She collected herself, playing with the frills of her bodice. “How do we reach such an end?”

“I have information about the Inimi that I will freely give. No conditions.”

“A sign of good faith. The other council members will like that.”

“They better because I want a couple goblins to stay in town with me, for protection.”

“A hard ask but information on the Inimi is worth it. I offer my establishment for you and your goblin guard to stay.”

That caught Vix off guard. “You want me to stay here, around your girls?”

“I don’t see why not. Better than some of the men these girls hang around,” Grace chuckled at her own joke.

The entire scenario began to put Vix on alert. Mulch had said Grace found him, not the other way around. Something also told Vix she planned to have him stay here from the start.

Instead of stewing about it, he came right out and asked her. “What do you really want?”

“Position, power, prestige. What most women want.”

“And you get that by cozying up with a goblin.”

“I get that by being friendly with a goblin that has taken over his fellows in a month’s time and likely has an army waiting around town if anything goes wrong.”

She had the right of it. He did have an army camping in a woodland near Ridgehill. A band of bandits occupied it prior to their arrival.

If he failed to send a signal in an allotted amount of time, they would attack Ridgehill.

“Ah, so I am correct,” Grace said, having read his face.

“I do not plan to force peace on you. The army is insurance to protect myself.”

“I understand. You are only being prudent. I can respect that in a man. So why not a goblin? Drink?” She pushed a glass of devil’s water to him.

At least this hadn’t changed from his past. He and his old crew had wasted days sitting in the caves or lying on hills drinking the stuff.

But he pushed the drink back; he needed to be sober for the meeting.

She shrugged and took the drink herself and wiped her mouth in a way that didn’t smear her painted lips. “What of you, Vix? What do you really want? And before you tell me an untruth let me bring forth some points of interest.”

“Please do.” Vix leaned back in his chair, interested.

“You don’t want to force peace even though you can. You seem to be the most mild-mannered, well-spoken monster I have ever met and ever will meet but that does not change who you are. You chose not to force peace for some other purpose than kindness.”

“Thank you, I guess.”

“You’re welcome. It wasn’t a backhanded compliment,” she said in earnest. “You are likely aware of the disharmony of the armies and could use this to renegotiate with the desperate Inimi.”

“The whole reason for my rebellion is because of their abuse. I would not go back to them like a dog.”

“Still, you could, and it would not be as a dog but as a powerful ally that has proved an ability to strike back against them. Hells, you could just go on a pillaging spree and disappear to some cave.”

Vix sat impressed and felt she deserved an answer for her critical thinking. “I wish for a goblin civilization. Not just a society of tribes. To that end, I need peace with the humans.”

“More than peace you need the legitimacy that provides,” Grace nodded in understanding. “You are trying to get humans used to dealing with goblins. That is...”

“A difficult path. I know. I was banished, tricked into a hell of miasma for even suggesting things should change.”

Both took time contemplating the other’s stated goals. He’d been honest with Grace but Vix believed while she told no lies, there was more to her plans. As long as it did not interfere with his, he didn’t mind.

Creaking hinges announced the entrance of a new occupant of the room. He turned to see a shocked Coalition knight. Her blond hair was tied in a thick ponytail and she wore a well-fitted, smooth armor. As she closed the short distance between them, her armor moved with her like leather.

Grace rose from her seat. “Hold, Leyla. He is an ally.”

“It is a goblin.”

“He has your knight, Vera.”

The admission failed to mollify the knight. She withdrew a sword that shone white. Even through Vix’s squinting eyes he saw the cracks of battle peppered the entire length of the blade.

He’d never traveled out of Alta but he knew of Coalition knights. Almost all of them worshiped the goddess of victory, Vara. A goddess that granted them skills related to illusions and light.

With effort, Vix kept calm enough to tell this Leyla the truth. “I already released the prisoners.”

The light dimmed but Leyla’s sword remained out of its sheath. “Explain.”

“Any agreement made with you humans with a knife to your throat would be pointless. I released them as soon as I was in range of Ridgehill.”

“I saw no prisoners. Vera is not here.”

“She is your girlfriend, I know. Pride prevented her from leaving right away.”

Leyla muttered something about her girlfriend’s pride but she did put away the sword. That was progress.

“You are no goblin lord. Do you truly lead the goblins?”

“Every goblin that said otherwise is dead.”

“Then I will treat with you goblin, but know this, cross me at your peril.”

Vix detested being threatened, but he had prepared for it. He would have to swallow some bitter soup to accomplish his goals.

“Grace, I wish you had warned me she was coming,” Vix said.

Leyla took a seat next to him, to his surprise. “She did not tell me of your presence. I came to talk about another issue. I wish to know of two young men named Axel and Rayner.”

Vix choked. “How do you know them?”

“How do you?” said Grace.

“How could you?” said Leyla.

The room’s occupants looked at each other. It seemed they had more to talk about than they thought.

Vix shifted in his seat. He knew he should have killed them.

Rayner returned with even better news than Axel could have hoped for. Rayner obtained a written recommendation allowing them entrance into the dungeon.

This would double their chances. Colin had already contacted him confirming that the worshipers were interested in at least listening to them as well.

Mari delivered the recommendation for them and Axel waited for the reply nervously.

“Stop pacing around like that. You’re making me antsy,” Rayner said, sitting calmly in the side of the room.

They waited for Mari in her room, one of many in the large tent. It always smelled better than their own rooms, so they found excuses to hang out there. She must have known, so she kept her scented candles burning all the time.

“I can’t help it. We have been here longer than we planned and Grace hasn’t contacted us yet. Ridgehill could have already been burnt to the ground,” Axel said.

“That’s going a bit too far. I’m sure they can hold out against the kobolds for longer than this.” Axel looked to Rayner skeptically. “OK, maybe not. But we have to hope they can handle themselves because we can’t run back there to help. We need to stay focused on the task at hand.”

“You’re right, of course, you’re right ... hey. What happened to the goblins?”

“Now that you bring it up, I haven’t seen one in a while. The ones I did see when I was out with Evans were marching and completely ignored us. Don’t worry about it. We have enough on our plate.”

Oh, how true. Currently, they were on a mission to find the God Rock, grow their strength and variety of skills, learn more about the game-like magic system of this world, learn about monsters, the various cultures, the Coalition and Inimi government structure ... etc.

Axel felt like fainting just thinking about it.

“We need to get a handle on what we don’t know. That list of yours was made to keep track of our progress and curiosities. Instead, it has turned into a list of our ignorance. I feel that we’re stuck, man. The only reason we have moved forward is because Ridgehill was attacked and Grace and the other councilors gave us this quest. I need to be in control of my fate.” Axel slumped in his chair.

Rayner put his hands on his knees and stared at the ground for a beat. “I feel the same way. To be ambushed by some random kobolds and almost lose my life is embarrassing.” Rayner opened his palms when he looked toward him. “What else can we do?”

Axel thought of using the God Rock for themselves but it would be useless for them. He held the title Godless and couldn’t be blessed or cursed and Rayner held the title Faithless and couldn’t worship. It was the reason why they were cooking up a plan to create a deity of their own somehow.

The plan wasn’t very fleshed out, but they did have the miasma ball that held a ton of power trapped in it. If only they could find a way to harness it safely.

Mari walked in, a smile on her plain face, waving a letter. “You two are in! The worshipers are having a meeting of the camp leaders on how to proceed into the dungeon. This is your entrance letter.”

“This is good news, Mari, thanks. Hey, anyone think it’s strange that they are still having trouble getting farther into the dungeon?” Rayner said.

“Well, yes. I guess the dungeon is at a higher level than they are. Too much mana for them to overcome with the items they brought.”

Rayner looked to Axel, seeking permission. “Go ahead and tell her.”

“Oh, more secrets. Boys of mystery.”

Rayner tried to put on an expression of seriousness. “We are responsible for the half-formed dungeon. We traveled through the miasma as a shortcut and fought a creature that we called the Purple Man. Then, with the help of a goblin freed from the influence of the miasma, sealed away the miasma that was coalescing into the dungeon.”

“That’s ... wow. If you two wanted into the dungeon, you should have led with that.” Mari’s tone was grave, matching Rayner’s.

“We like our privacy,” Axel said.

“There is privacy and there is cloak and dagger.” Then she added., “And hammer.”

“We are beginning to see the restrictions of secrecy,” Rayner said.

“This is why they can’t go deeper inside it. This dungeon has basically had its malice removed from it. I’m not that worldly but I have never heard of such a thing. I know miasma is a precursor to a dungeon appearing, but that takes centuries. Something must have triggered its forming in the first place. Do you two have any idea what?” They both shook their heads. “OK, then my theory is that the reason the worshipers can’t go deep in the dungeon is because there is not a consciousness letting them in.”

Then it all made sense to Axel. “If the malice of the dungeon was there, it would want worshipers to go deeper so that they could meet their deaths. The malice would lower the pressure of mana for that purpose.”

“Alright, but why not just bring the pressure back on and crush the worshipers?” Rayner said.

“Because malice is cruel. It would want to drag out the suffering. In addition, the world has rules. The world god restricts its behavior,” Mari informed them.

“One mystery checked off.” And then Rayner actually pulled out his notes to check it off. Mari tried to peek but Rayner used his big body to block her. “What role will this Colin play?”

“He has a contact with the leadership that will speak for us,” Axel said.

“Good, I don’t want to be ganged up on if the conversation doesn’t go our way. Let’s get him and go.”