The Goblin Nation

"I honestly don"t know," Smoke surveyed the area—first the wall and its many rocks and cracks, then he rubbed his finger on the wall. "We could try to climb it. The surface isn"t slippery, and it looks like there"s a lot of places we could hold."

"But what about the ones that can"t climb. We have some injured ones from the cave in earlier that Ms. Mari couldn"t heal after exhausting her mana."

"Oh yeah. That"s going to be a problem."

"I brought some ropes with us. Maybe we can use them with the shield."

"Are you suggesting,"

"We carry them? Yes, I am." Smoke and Stick climbed the cliff with four legions following them. Once on top, Stick took his sickle and carved out holes on the legion"s shields and tied a rope around the hole. Then they tied the rope around a stalagmite before lowering them with a legion riding on top to see if it can carry a goblin. Once the brothers confirmed they could carry goblins up with the shield, they ordered the goblins below them to form a line. Those that were too injured or weak to climb the cliff were to wait for the platform to bring them up, and those that can climb should do so.

The goblins insisted the brothers" mothers should go first. Mari insisted they should go first because, without her, they won"t have any light. But the goblins refused, believing it is their right as the bearer of the most powerful goblins in their tribe to reach the top first. The mothers gave in after getting surrounded by the goblins with their worried expressions so visible in the dim light.

Sam and Cyrus went first with their respective children pulling them up the cliff. Cyrus reached the top first. Smoke extended his hand for his mother to grab on. "What a gentleman," Cyrus gently whispered, making Smoke blush.

Sam reached the top shortly after. "Thanks," She said while pulling her self up.

"Mom, let me help you,"

"I"m fine. Save your energy for the rest of the goblins." She said in a cold tone. She stood up and brushed off the dust on her tattered gown. "And make sure to don"t drop them."

"Yes, mom, I"ll do my best."

Mari and Natasha reached the top next. Mari sat by the edge with the brothers, using her light from her palm to illuminate the bottom. She concentrated all of her mana on her hands to create light strong enough to reach them. The veins on her forearms grew larger, and sweat dripped down her arms and forehead. The goblins cheered and praised Mari"s light, pushing the darkness away. The brothers gave the ropes to the legions and joined her to light the way for those still climbing.

After what seemed to be hours, they finally finished scaling the towering cliff, and the group entered a large chamber filled with giant crystals protruding out of the ground and glowing light blue mushrooms growing on the ceiling. "This must be the see-through rocks Tie told us about," Stick said.

The goblins marveled at the ma.s.sive crystals reflecting the light, brightening the large room. "I think after climbing that wall, we can take a rest," Mari said before leaning against the cold crystal then falling on her b.u.t.t. She grabbed the hand she used the light spell on and gave it a ma.s.sage.

"Let me help you," Cyrus sat in front of Mari and took her hands. Her thin and fragile fingers pressed the bulging muscles on Mari"s hand. Smoke sat down with them to check if everything is ok. "Would you like me to give you a message too?" She asked.

"Oh, no, mom. I"m good."

Sam stood across them, leaning against a boulder. Stick paced towards her while scratching his forehead. "Mom, sorry I couldn"t pull you up faster. I"m not as strong as my bro,"

Before Stick could finish, Sam flicked her fingers on his forehead. "Don"t say that. You"ll regret calling yourself weak. That implies you can"t protect anyone. Plus, I gained weight after all of that, and I"m heavier than my sister, so if anything, your strong, for a goblin. So don"t call yourself weak. And shouldn"t you be helping your goblins."

"Oh, right. Thanks, mom!" Stick said while smiling, "Well, I"ll be on my way." He ran towards the legions as they organize the group and designate areas for them to empty their bowels.

Natasha sat next to Sam with a mischievous smile. "You"ve grown to care for your sp.a.w.nling."

"What?" Sam looked at her, stunned from hearing those words.

"Usually, you would just ignore him or glare at him. But ever since we left that old rundown village, you"ve been talking to him more and more."

"He promised me, no, us that they will get us out of there out of our shackles. Now that they"ve proven they can uphold their promise, and I know at the very least I can trust them. That doesn"t mean I care for him. I"m only telling him those things so they could get us out of here. He sp.a.w.ned from me because I was raped by those,"

Natasha hugged Sam before she could finish those words. "I"m sorry, I didn"t mean to. I just thought its nice that you"ve been more open with him."

"I"m fine. I"m just tired and frustrated."

"We all are after traveling through the tunnel."

"No, that"s not the reason why I was frustrated, back at the cave-in, when we were stuck under the rocks. When Stick and that brother of his tried to get us free, it reminded me of, well, me. Specially Stick, he kept apologizing for being weak, but he kept trying. He didn"t realize his power comes from how clever he was. When he took that large glowing log from the giant mushroom and used it as a lever, I felt so jealous. If I was smart and clever like him, maybe my sister wouldn"t be in this situation." A single tear slowly ran down her left cheek. "I promised my dad I would protect her, but no matter how strong I could be, It was for nothing. They would just trick us."

"Is that why you didn"t talk to them."

"Its why I didn"t talk to any of you. Back when we were at the camp, it was my sister that was open, but I got backstab too many times to ever trust anyone right away."

"But you still cared about us. I remember you would help us when we needed it even if we don"t ask for you."

"Thanks. I just wished my, I mean, Stick could see his true potential. He is smart, maybe even smarter than any of the other goblins, including his brothers. He just needs confidence."

The women continued to talk among themselves while Smoke left to join Stick with the other goblins. While they were organizing the goblins, Stick a.s.signed White to be the lookout. He climbed up to the top of the largest crystal and immediately spotted something moving across the room. It was the scouting party that traveled ahead of the group. The legion yelled down at Smoke and Stick and notified them of the scouting party.

The two ran across the chamber and met up with them. Root and Mist greeted them while Spat did his salute. "Who is that?" Stick asked.

"It"s me, Spat, Master Stick. I turned into a conqueror after defeating a foul deer-like beast with wings that could challenge any eagles."

"Spat!" They both yelled in surprise.

"Yes, it"s me. Um, if you don"t mind masters, but I"d like to talk to Mabel once I finish giving my report."

"Oh. I"m sorry, but Mabel is not with us. She"s not with us. She"s with Rock"s group. We had to take different tunnels to travel through."

"I understand. I just wanted to show her my new self. But I have a more pressing matter to speak of. The beast I mentioned, there are more of them. And I believe they are heading here."

Stick and Smoke looked at each. They asked what the creatures could do and how many were they. Spat told them that there could be twelve of them flying to their location. Smoke sat down, trying to think of a plan. "They fly right?" Stick asked one last time.

"Yes."

"And we still have those ropes," Stick said while looking around the large pillars of crystals looming over them. "I think I have a plan."