Chapter 16

  To Survive What Could Come

  Tiers upon tiers of worlds, and my tower will bear witness to them all. They will freeze over, burn to embers, and crash under the weight of rising seas. Galaxies will drift, and stars will fade—yet my tower will remain. ~ An excerpt from the notes of the Architect Ascendant

  * * *

  He couldn’t have possibly heard the Burrow Lord correctly. What he thought they had said didn’t make any amount of sense. No, my hearing must still be damaged from the Flame Burst. I’m sure I didn’t hear that right.

  The only problem with the theory that he’d misheard her was the fact that she repeated herself.

  “I said you are going to lead and protect them as their new Burrow Lord while you help them search for a place to build a new burrow. Then, as agreed, you will establish a tradin’ post.”

  Well, that explains why Pearl's smile looks so sadistic. She seems to enjoy it when I’m uncomfortable. How in the tower am I supposed to lead a group, though? I have no experience leading.

  “I have three questions.”

  “You may ask them, and I will answer each in turn.”

  “How am I supposed to lead a group of your people when I don't know how?”

  “You said you wouldn't abandon my people. This is how you hold true to that statement. You proved that you would deny ambition and cruelty. You lead with care and consideration for what the people want and need. Next question.”

  That didn’t feel like it gave me the answers I was looking for. I guess it’s too much to ask for lessons, he thought.

  “What about the fact that non-goblins are not even allowed to know the location of the burrows?” he asked.

  “This will remain true in every burrow but your own. You will be allowed to accept whoever you wish, but none but the goblin-kin will ever travel between yours and the others. What is your final question?”

  “I cannot sleep for fear of the king I saw when I dreamed. How am I supposed to be what you need when I’m unable to find even a moment of rest?”

  “That one. I am already searchin’ for answers to that question and more. You will stay within the Brekk Burrow for a time while research is being done. Take this as an opportunity to train and get to know your clan, but do not forget to call for the healers before you sleep.”

  “Yes, Burrow Lord.” He’d said this while at the same time having offered his best imitation of a bow to her.

  “It is my pleasure, Burrow Lord Stormclaw,” she replied in return.

  “I’m sorry, but where’d Stormclaw come from?”

  “It is the name of your clan. You belong to them now, as they belong to you and you will share their name. Your companion Pearl said it would suit you, and I agree. So, be honored by it and bring honor to it, Nik Stormclaw.”

  A small smile fought to force its way to the surface of his face. I’ve always just been Nik. Well, that or ‘little kobold,’ he thought. The smile broke free and he beamed at the goblin lord.

  “I will try my very best to do so. Thank you for honoring me with this name.”

  A bang sounded across the space. The crowd stilled and Nik’s heart leapt so high that his feet momentarily left the ground. They all eased at the realization that the Burrow Lord had simply slammed her fist on the arm of her seat when she’d stood. The rest of the room remained where they were until the lowerguards and most of the upperguards, had escorted their lord up the stairs.

  The moment Lord Cril had vanished from sight Nik was knocked off of his feet by Pearl and Ryan. The embrace was welcome. The licks on his face from Ryan, a little less so. Pearl held the tiny dragon back long enough for Nik to sit up.

  “This whole thing is going to be a lot to process, and I really wish I could sleep that fight off.”

  “That is understandable. I am proud of how you handled yourself down here during the trials. What you did with your flame and wind skills was impressive. We should talk about that later.”

  “Thank you, Teacher. That means a lot. For now, do you have any ideas where we are supposed to go from here?”

  “I suppose we should ask your clan about that one, but I believe it is safe to say that we are not going to be returned to the cells, thank the tower.”

  “My family size just got bigger more quickly than I ever expected it to. This is going to be an adventure of its own kind. I’m going to have to learn a lot more names. Unless… How do you think some of them would feel about being called Bonesy?”

  “Somehow, I do not think that would work out very well.”

  “Eh, it was worth considering. I guess we should talk with the elders first, and then go from there.”

  Nik looked from Pearl to where the Stormclaws were still sitting, and they were all staring in his direction. I really hope they couldn’t hear that whole conversation.

  Elder Pliegs was the first to speak. With a wide smile on her face, she said, “I won’t be goin’ by the name of Bonesy, but that is for each goblin to decide for themself. So far as where we go, this is goin’ to be our place until we leave. We’ll be loaned some tents and sleepin’ mats. I know you are worried, so we’ll be keepin’ shifts so that some of us are awake at all times to keep an eye on things for you.”

  “Okay, so, I didn’t mean for anyone else to hear the Bonesy thing. That was just a joke, and I’m sorry if that was rude. I’m grateful to have your help.”

  “I’m familiar with the idea of inside jokes, my lord. You are the Burrow Lord, and we voted in favor of that. We owe you our lives and we haven’t forgotten that. This has never been done before, but the goblins have never been so in need of change. Our clan is an experiment, and we will need to work together for all of this to succeed.”

  “Thank you, elder.”

  “Remember that we wanted you as our leader and as our kin. We knew what we were agreein’ to. Finish healin’ and allow us to see to the preparations, my lord. Enjoy a moment of quiet with your friends, I offer that as my official recommendation as one of your clan elders,” said Pliegs.

  “Advice I will follow. I’ll speak with you and the other elders soon. There’s a lot that I don’t know about your culture, and I want to learn it all.”

  Elder Pliegs gave a far more natural looking bow than the one Nik gave her in return, and then she left to attend to the needs of their people. Nik returned to a still smiling Pearl, and a very energetic Ryan.

  “So, I think it is safe to say that you should not call Elder Pliegs, ‘Bonesy,’ as a nickname.”

  You and Pliegs must’ve been made from two different sizes of the same mold, he thought, looking into her grinning face.

  “Pearl, I know you might not understand the feeling I’ve experienced that makes this such a cruel wish, but I hope Ryan eats all of your coins. Maybe not all of them. That might have been too much. I’m sorry, I’ve been under a lot of stress with everything going on, and I think I might be getting cranky.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Yeah, I could see why you feared turning into some sort of rage monster with how malicious your words have become of late.”

  The room felt awkwardly large for Nik, a smaller space would be much more comfortable, and yet it made sense to use such a space to temporarily shelter a whole clan. No, he thought. I can’t let myself close up. I need to get to know my new people.

  Straightening his jacket and clearing his throat, he walked over to the nearest group. “Ahem, hello, my name is Nik. Thank you for accepting me as one of your own.”

  Before the mixture of elderly and teenaged goblins could respond, they were interrupted by the chaotic roil of playing children. The children seemed to be of two types, the children running around on all fours and doing their best creepy laughs at one another, and the others who pretended to be the brave heroes fighting against them.

  “I’m probably going to have bad dreams about what I saw, and they are play-fighting. Kids can be so resilient, can’t they?”

  “Especially goblin children, they have to be with how dangerous this world is. Half of the creatures above ground would sooner eat them than ignore them and you don’t want to see the creatures that hunt below the surface,” said one of the elder goblins, his voice a surprisingly heavy bass.

  “Really? What are some of the beasts we might have to deal with?”

  The teenagers started shouting over each other about every nightmare imaginable. Nik wasn’t sure if he had kept them separate or if he had combined some of them into even more nightmarish entities. For all of the things they shared, the older goblins among them never argued that any of the given beasts were only a tale or being made-up on the spot.

  Nik considered that it might be better to assume they were real for now, and said, “Well, that’s disturbing. I’m going to need to ask the warriors how to fight each of the spider-pillars, thunderworms, and all of the others you brought up as well. Tower help us all.”

  They started chuckling to themselves and one of them took the lead of the conversation and said, “Ha, yeah. Have fun tryin’ to fight the spider-pillars, they are really fast and strong. The thunderworms, you should just try not to get in their way.”

  “To be fair, none of us have ever tried to flame explode a worm, though. Speakin’ of, how’d you learn that ability?” said the youngest looking of the group.

  Nik held up his index finger with blue firelight shining from the tip of his claw, and motioned with his other hand, in an imitation of his newest ability.

  “I created it in the moment from flame and wind, and if it hadn’t worked then the strange copy of me would have killed me.”

  The one who seemed to be the most outspoken of the group said, “No, it wouldn’t have really killed you, but you might have gone insane. I heard about one guy who failed his trial and now he just talks to the corner of his prison cell at all hours,” said the more outspoken goblin child.

  “Oh, yeah… It’s really sad, but I think I saw him there. Only, I thought maybe loneliness had brought him to that point. It’s hard to believe that every one of the lowerguards have gone through that?”

  “Yeah, but yours was so much more scary and creepy than usual at the end, even if it did start out a lot more whiny and pathetic,” said the young one.

  “Yeah, well, I do know what it’s like to be weak and pathetic I suppose. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been that whiny, though.”

  The clearly unkind leader of the goblin children said, “Then why is your faery friend behind you nodding her head like you really have been?”

  This kid and Pearl are both more cruel than any of the underground beasts that the kids spoke of, if the beasts even exist.

  He shook his head and said, “I should probably go talk to the few warriors our clan still possesses after meeting those adventurers.”

  A couple of the kids tried to do a fun handshake with Nik, but it was awkward and after multiple attempts they let him leave, having been unsuccessful in teaching him their unique sequence of gestures.

  Three warriors sat together, deep in conversation as Nik approached them. They quieted as he drew near. They each bore the scars of their recent brush with death, and they had a determined look in their eyes. Each of them bowed, and one of them stepped forward.

  She seemed like the type of person who wore determination like it was a permanent feature. Looking him in the eyes, she said, “Burrow Lord Nik Stormclaw, I, Kath Stormclaw, bind myself to you as a member of your upperguard, and I ask for your permission to undergo the trials to become one of your lowerguards.”

  Each of the other two then stepped forward to stand by her side

  “My Lord, I, Stics Stormclaw, vow and ask the same,” said the goblin with arms the size of a dwarf’s

  The goblin with a scar running parallel to his jaw, moved his weight to one side, crossed his arms, and said, “As do I, Worik Stormclaw, vow and request to take the trials.”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t know how any of that works. I do trust the three of you, though, you nearly gave your lives trying to defend the clan. You don’t need to prove yourselves to me. I would like to train with you, though. Firstly, let’s go over our skills and preferences, then we can try sparring. I’d like to see how your skills match up to mine, and what we could learn from each other.”

  Kath responded for all three of them, saying, “None of us have any elemental skills, but we each specialize in a different weapon. If we can teach you anythin’, or learn anythin’ from you, we are willin’ to put in that time. It would be our honor, Burrow Lord.”

  “During my trials you saw what I can do. But in case you haven't heard about it yet, I can also level up and get stronger… like adventurers do. Does that change anything for you?” His voice shook slightly as he added the last bit of information.

  The three of them were stunned into silence.

  So, they hadn’t heard about that detail yet. Hopefully they can still accept me after that, he thought.

  “We gave you our vows in all but ceremony, and that’s ‘nuff. We are bound to serve and protect you,” said Kath who stood tall with her shoulders squared.

  Stics and Worik nodded their agreement and Stics said, “We will stand by your side, and help you grow. Your strength can only bring our new burrow success, and we want to see our clan thrive again.”

  “I hope that is true, but it might also bring us more enemies. As my lowerguards, I need to make sure you understand. There is a ruler somewhere out there who is powerful. He hurt me, and then he threatened to find and hurt my friends. He could come for us at any moment. That is part of why I need to get stronger.”

  And why I need to make sure the people around me are strong enough to survive what could come, he added in his head.

  “Well, then ain’t it time we get to trainin’?” Kath asked.

  “Make sure everyone knows to stay away from the center of this pit, and we’ll get started on it,” he said.

  * * *

  Even in the dim light before early morning, when the sun had yet to relieve the moon of its duty to guard the stars, she could see that the area had been home to an interesting battle. It had been a while since they’d discovered the charred corpse of the chimpanther in the wake of the wildfire, and it had even been some time since they found the dead bramblestag beetles days after that. The fire had thrown off the trail, but her master was still the leader of the hunt and he’d been able to find it again.

  Purple and yellow colored the line of her jaw. That’s what she got for losing the trail in the first place. He’d shown her his disappointment with a stern fist, but Mor anticipated her master’s approval once they had caught up to their quarry. The target of their pursuit seemed to have a knack for surviving a lot of battles for someone who left such small footprints.

  While the others stood aside to watch their master’s favorite student work, Drutha stood over her shoulder to watch her study the area where adventurers had held some goblins prisoner.

  Broken twigs and trampled foliage trailed a path away from the clearing. Scraps of braided rope littered the ground around a mess of goblinoid footprints.

  “The creature we’re tracking somehow drew them away from the goblins, and then they were set free. Then the small clawed feet came back here, around the other side. They all returned and followed after the goblins. It looks like less than a week ago. We’re getting closer,” Mor voiced her observations to her mentor.

  What in the tower is this little creature doing? This doesn’t make any sense, she thought.

  “Every other fight looked like it was fighting to survive another creature's attack, but this time it was the aggressor. Why rescue the goblins, when they aren’t one of them?” she asked halfway under her breath.

  “All good questions to keep asking, there is something strange going on here. The green bricks in the tower, and now this strange behavior. We must be cautious and vigilant. Lead on to where they went next,” said her master Drutha.

  When I find this creature, I will be one step closer to taking Drutha’s mantle. I can almost taste the title on the tip of my tongue, she thought as she led the group down the trail the goblins had fled down.

  The forest went quiet, the occasional call of owls or steady string of chirping crickets had vanished. From one moment to the next, the air around them had grown colder.

  Ice cold breath brushed against her left ear as a low, foreign growl rumbled through her bones. She dove into a roll away from its source. A black shape lunged past her and at Drutha. None of them had seen it coming, not even her master who had barely managed a shot into the creature’s chest the moment before it collided with him.

  Blood splattered across her cheek from the direction of her master as she’d turned to look towards him.

  His arm was already gone. Lying on his back, the shadows poured over him like water. He locked his eyes to hers as the shadows raced to swallow him whole and screamed out one last order.

  “Run!”