The Goblin Nation

"Yes," Olhos answered, "Olhos failed protect tribe."

"What do you mean? We beat the troll.

"But Chief dead, Cloud dead, Dolce dead, Cancer dead, and Salacity dead. Olhos can"t stay. Must exile because Olhos fail." Olhos tightened his bag around his shoulder. He turned to Sum, who was sitting on a log and looking down at the floor. "Sum, you coming?" Sum nodded while keeping his eyes away from the rest of the goblins. "We go now. Sun, you new Chief now. Good luck."

Olhos and Sum left the morning after the troll attack. Some of their followers followed them to the woods. They headed to the large city the brothers saw when they were scouting the western side.

The goblins that saw Sun defeat the troll venerated him, treating him like a G.o.d. The rest of the tribe was skeptical. Sun was not as strong as Tama, but the ma.s.sive explosion that killed the former Chief and most of his retainers meant that no one in the tribe is strong enough to challenge Sun"s claim to the throne.

Sun rejected the t.i.tle of Chief at first, but the goblins that revered him pressured the t.i.tle on him. He eventually accepted the t.i.tle after some convincing from Smoke. As the Chief, he has the highest authority goblin in the tribe, and as a redskin, he is the strongest goblin in the tribe. He towers over Stick, nearly twice the size of Smoke, and surpa.s.sed Rock"s height. And paired with his past life"s experiences, not a single goblin could challenge him.

Three days had pa.s.sed after the troll attack. The goblins were rebuilding the eastern wall under the vision of Smoke. Stick was left in charge of Cloud"s followers and took the duty of maintaining and creating new weapons. Meanwhile, Rock and Sun were training the goblins at the meadow.

The two sat under the tree, discussing their plans for the tribe while watching their goblins do light sparring against one another. The goblins wore helmets made out of felt and leather stuffed with soft fur and hair. Sun and Rock taught them some boxing and wrestling. Watching them spar reminded Rock the times when they learned martial arts inside the cold, dark barn. "Rock you listening?" Sun asked.

The question took Rock out of his daydreaming, "I"m sorry what?"

"Bro, pay attention." Sun took his pen, dipped it in ink, and circled the list he wrote on a piece of parchment. "Tomorrow, all these goblins will be joining us on our daily exercise routine. And this list of exercises should be easy enough for them to do."

"But what is this for, though? They"re plenty strong already. They just need to know better-fighting techniques."

"It"s not about their ability to fight. I"m planning on organizing our followers into a unit and fight as one. This list is supposed to help them get the discipline needed to work as a cohesive group."

"Shouldn"t we punish them too? That should help discipline them. Hit a goblin flying here and there to keep them in line."

"Cala did that a lot, and he died." He took out another piece of paper. "Killed by Cloud no less. But maybe we should also reward them for good behavior along with punishing them for any misdemeanor." He wrote down a list of infractions and the different consequences of the crime. After writing everything down, Sun placed the papers inside a makeshift envelope.

"That looks like a pain in the a.s.s to explain to them."

"Unfortunately, yes, it is." Sun stood up and stretched his arms. In the distance, he saw Dawn walking towards them. "Looks like your knight in shining armor is here."

"Hey, she only knocked out him out because of me," Rock said while pointing at himself. Sun started laughing hysterically.

"Dawn see Rock doing well." Dawn said, "How are you, Chief?"

Sun waved his hands, "You can just call Sun. No need for formalities between us. After all, you saved my dear little brother. You are practically a sister to me. Better yet do you want to be my sister in law, I can get this guy to.."

"Shut the f.u.c.k up!" Rock shoved Sun to the side. "Don"t listen to him. He"s just stressed from work."

Sun laughed, "Ok, ok, I"ll leave you alone. I need to get back to the soldiers. Take care, and Dawn, please be gentle to him."

"Dude, get out of here!" Rock yelled while kicking the air in front of Sun. Dawn giggled at the brother, acting silly. "Sorry about that."

"No is good," Dawn said while shaking her head. "Seeing brothers not hate each other is good. Dawn sees brothers fight for women before. Dawn likes brothers not fight. Also here," Dawn handed a basket of berries and steamed mushrooms to Rock. "Dawn make this. Rock eat well, ok."

"Thank you!" Rock sniffed the basket. "Mmm. This smells delicious."

Sun left the two together and stopped the goblin"s sparring. He ordered one half to help with the construction on the wall and the other half to patrol the tribe. These goblins were the ones that witness Sun kill the troll. Their loyalty can are second only to his brothers.

After the training, Sun made his way to the barn. Sun reinforced the barn and redesigned the interior to make life easier for the slaves living inside. When their mothers saw Sun after his transformation, they panicked, thinking that the former Chief found out about their plans to escape. Most of them were on the ground in a fetal position and crying on their knees. Sun"s mother was the only that was composed. She remembered what Cala looked like and his mannerisms. The redskin in front of them was not like him.

She looked past the colors and saw her son in front of her. His long hair and his soft but commanding voice were distinct for Mari, although it was not hard to recognize. Mari just took the time to know her son and the goblins around her. Was it because she cared for them? Not necessarily. Her of the possibility of getting **** again pushed her to befriend the goblins around her if it could protect her. She hated her caretaker, but luckily, she doesn"t need her. What she needed were Flute and her influence.

But then there is her son. Mari had mixed feelings for him. At first, she found her son"s promise to protect and rescue were stupid, funny even. Then he did just that. He fought one of the goblins attempting to **** her, and he won. Her heart opened little by little for the young goblin. When he returned, broken and unconscious, after a dangerous hunt, she hesitated to heal him. But when she faintly heard Sun"s apology, her heart burst open.

She risked her life, revealing the healing spells she learned and healed Sun. Luckily, her cordial and obedient att.i.tude towards Flute paid off.

Her life was taken away from her when she finally freed herself from the land forced upon her family and friends. But she is slowly regaining that freedom again, through her son. Does she love him? It"s hard to say. The trauma and scars on her body are fresh, but she knows she will move on. For now, she distracts herself with the books Sun found lying around the town.

She read many stories and learned many things. The other slaves would listen to her read at night the stories inside these books by the fireplace. It helped them regain some semblance of peace.

The barn turned from a cold, dreary place to their only sanctum. Mari sat next to a bookshelf. She sat on a short stool in front of a crude coffee table. She would spend hours sitting there reading and a.n.a.lyzing her books. "Could you read to me the book about the fairies again?" A timid voice said.

Mari looked behind her and saw Cyrus with her cat ears pointing to the ceiling. "Of course." Cyrus did not know how to read because the country she lived in did not teach their serfs to read. But she is clever just like her child Stick. "Let me get up and get the book first." Mari stood up and reached to the top of the shelf. Once she got the book, she turned around and saw the barn door open.

At the door was Sun, "Do you mind if I listen too, mom?" He asked.

"Not at all. How about you, Cyrus? Is it alright if he joins us."

Cyrus looked at Mari then at Sun. She nodded with hesitation.

Only the women slaves were left after the attack. The male slaves escaped during the chaos. Salacity"s followers were too busy defending the tribe to notice the slaves escaping their warehouse.

Sun viewed that as a blessing. He doesn"t know how the men would react if they were suddenly with his mom and the other women. Maybe they will work together to escape or use them to release their stress. But he doesn"t need to worry about that. They"re gone now, and nothing but better days are ahead.