The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Twenty Six: A Meeting of Queens

The Hollow's arena swarmed with goblins. Their bodies twisted and mingled, thrashing in the throes of battle. The air rang with their cackles of glee as they tore each other to shreds, honing their inborn talent for killing and aiding their god with his own.

Knut sucked in the stench of sweat and blood and exhaled contentedly. "Ah, I love the smell of battle first thing in the morning. Don't you, Precious?" The Goblin King stood at the very edge of our mushroom seat, his hands behind his back in a kingly pose as he smiled back at me over his shoulder. Beneath us was gathered but a tiny fraction of our assembling army. Each day, he created as many warriors as he could without overtaxing himself again and each day, he found he could create more than the day before.

"You're enjoying this way more than you should," I said, restraining a smile of pride. He was powerful. Far, far stronger than he thought he was. More than I think he or any of his predecessors fathomed. I had tasted my own power in Mab's prison. I couldn't wait to witness Knut's when it would be exposed in its full grandeur. I still hadn't mentioned my little conversation with The Hollow. I wasn't entirely certain it had ever happened. I'd asked Agi about it, but he'd just looked at me like I was stupid.

"What are you talking about, My Queen?" He'd asked, tilting his head at an odd angle. "I've been on patrol since you left. I definitely didn't go into the hole. I'd remember that." Maybe I'd just imagined it and it had just been Knut's power that had freed us. I didn't know.

"It's been ages since we've had a proper war. And for the first time, we're not following someone else's orders. I actually get to plan my own strategies." He said, giggling happily. "I've never had so much fun!"

"At least one of us is enjoying themselves." I sighed, cringing as I shifted on my seat. My healing baths were either starting not to work so well or Llinos was hitting me harder than before. "Speaking of strategies, what's ours?" I asked.

Knut sauntered over to a silver cart some servants had brought up. On it was a steaming teapot and a selection of sweets. Knut had acquired an addiction to sugar since he'd created the bakery for me. "Knowing how pissed she is, Mab's bound to rush into our first battle with some half-baked plan. For now, we wait for her to make the first move. Tea, Precious?"

"Yes, please. And a lemon cookie if you haven't eaten them all already." He poured me a cup and handed it to me with a small yellow cookie on a saucer. His hands were ugly, knobby and clawed, but his movements were always strangely graceful. "What if she attacks the Underground?" I asked, nibbling on my cookie as I watched Llinos slice a willowy-limbed goblin's legs off at its knees. It toppled over like a tree and bit off another goblin's head as it did. A soul returned to Knut's belly and a new goblin leaped from his brow and rejoined the fray below us. Knut didn't even flinch. The more he used the power of the seed, the less he reacted to the pain it caused.

"If she attacks the Underground, we'll all come swarming out like wasps from a kicked nest. We'll decimate her forces. If only she's stupid enough to try it. If she plays smart, she'll be cautious and take her march on our territory slow and try to take over the boundaries of my land to draw us out, to force us to march north. If that happens, we'll have to leave many to guard the Underground, while the warriors fight her forces, splitting our hoard. Until then though, we'll do just as we've been doing. Keep building our army and testing my limits." A sudden gentle wind blew through the Underground, stirring his dark gray hair, making it dance around his shoulders. His eyes snapped to the side, gazing upward towards the abysmal darkness of the inner tree. "What was that?" He said lowly, tossing his teacup to the ground below.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I tossed my tea away and hastily climbed to my feet.

"Someone's here that shouldn't be." He answered. His eyes shifted as if watching something move across the sky.