Delver Magic Book VII: Altered Messages (13 page)

It was clear that, whoever the pest was, it wasn't going to let Okyiq go back to sleep. The large goblin crawled out of the thick grass and into a clearing to get a better look at the annoyance.

A serp stood defiantly between two large tree trunks. He glared at the goblin with his arms folded across his chest. He appeared without escort, but he showed no sign of fear in facing the large and angry monster.

"You move slow," the serp snarled, annoyed at being made to wait. "We'll have to work on your obedience and your mobility."

The insult did nothing to make Okyiq move any quicker. The goblin peered about the forest to ensure they were alone. Once certain there was no one else about, the massive beast inspected the face of the serp with greater care.

"I recognize you," the goblin growled.

The serp was not surprised or even concerned by Okyiq's admission. If anything, he felt recognition would assist him in his task.

"I am Samk," the serp hissed. "I am on the council. You didn't return as you were told to do so."

Okyiq almost laughed. Serps were by no means physically imposing specimens. Watching the scrawny creature try to lecture him was rather amusing. What was not funny was the expression on the serp's face. Samk clearly believed he had authority over Okyiq, and the large goblin decided to burst that ludicrous assumption.

"Since when do I listen to you?"

"When you decided to join us."

"Join? Fah! We had bargain. Bargain complete. Did what I said I'd do. Don't have to do more.

"You'll do what we tell you to do."

Okyiq finally did laugh.

"Sounds like snake face is ordering me, maybe even threatening me. Too funny. Not under your control and not worried about you. Don't care what you have planned or what you want me to do. No more bargains. Don't need to go back to coast. I stay in forest...
my
forest. Now you go back to other snake faces before you get in trouble."

The goblin's insolence surprised the serp, but only for a moment. Samk's tail twitched angrily as he made his intentions clear.

"I will go back... with you on your knees behind me. I misspoke before. You're right, you didn't join us. We decided to
use
you, and we will continue to use you. Your service will be complete when we say it is complete... and not a moment sooner."

The serp's tone continued to aggravate the goblin, but Okyiq still did not view Samk as anything more than a stubborn pest.

"Fah, I
used
you. Got you to round up goblins for me and all I had to do was deliver message and lead stupid half-delver to dwarf tunnel. Enjoyed delivering message, would have done same thing on my own."

"Be that as it may, we are not through with you."

Okyiq shrugged. He didn't care what the serp thought. He wanted to go back to sleep. He turned to go back to the thick brush.

"Go away, snake face. I have my own plans."

The dismissal enraged the serp. Samk was not a powerful spell caster by any means, but he could utilize the magic for certain minor castings. The serp's eyes glowed amber and a orange chain of misshapen segments formed around Samk's wrists. He thrust his hands outward and threw a small orb of flame directly at the goblin.

The power of the fireball was almost laughable even as it exploded across Okyiq's back. It was merely a flare of light that barely singed a few hairs on the goblin's hide, but it got Okyiq's attention.

"You do not turn your back on me, goblin!" Samk decreed with a snarl that almost vibrated with anger and frustration. "You will do as I say, or you will be punished!"

Freezing in his tracks, the huge monster didn't know whether to laugh with delight or roar with anger. The pathetic casting of the serp was about as threatening as a human child with a matchstick, but the audacity behind the assault plucked at Okyiq's tolerance.

Rather than twirl around and rip the serp into pieces, the enormous goblin showed amazing restraint. He grumbled one warning loud enough for the serp to hear.

"You're alone here, snake face. I can tell. No guards. No shags hiding in the weeds to protect you. I can sense it. Nothing between you and me. Nothing to save you. If I turn around, you die."

"You're actually threatening me?" the serp questioned as he broke out into a laugh of his own.

Okyiq stood perfectly still, his back remained turned to the serp. Any amusement he gained from the serp's stance faded away. The snake-faced creature had turned into more than a pestering annoyance. Samk had become an aggressive disturbance, and Okyiq didn't tolerate that kind of trouble. Despite his building anger, the goblin decided to give the serp one last chance.

"Made promise to captain and delver of human town. Told them I would kill every goblin that ran away. Every goblin is now dead. Not a threat. Promise. Make same kind of promise to you. Like I said before, if I turn around, you die."

The serp was not impressed with the goblin's boast. He saw it differently.

"Is that supposed to impress me? That you killed some goblins? You wouldn't have killed them without our help. We brought them to you. We took over their minds. It is what we do. They came to you willingly."

"Would have found them without you. You just made it quicker. Doesn't matter, snake face. Promise still kept. You leave now, and I won't have to turn around. You stay... you die. You understand?"

"I think it is you who doesn't understand. Remember what I just said? Those goblins you killed? We took over their minds. It is what serps do. You are goblin. I am serp. Think about it."

Okyiq didn't give great weight to the veiled threat of the serp. He only thought of his own promise. Continuing to display far greater patience than he thought the serp deserved, Okyiq stated the obvious.

"You're not leaving."

Even though it was much more of a statement than a question, Samk answered just the same.

"No, I'm not. I'm here to bring you back to the council. We have more work for you, whether you like it or not. I also made a promise. I said you would return with me, and so you shall. And also as I said, you will be on your knees behind me like the pathetic servant you are."

That was all the large goblin needed to hear. The serp had passed well beyond being an irritation and directly into becoming a challenge that required an immediate response. Okyiq turned slowly about to face the serp, an action that revealed a decision. He would keep his promise; he intended to kill Samk.

He didn't leap immediately upon the serp. He wanted Samk to appreciate the helplessness of the moment, to swim in the fear of impending disaster, and to see the determination that filled Okyiq's expression. The choice had been made and there was no turning back a page that would soon be filled with remorseful agony.

Samk did not cower, did not step back from his place. He remained resolute, standing firmly between the two tree trunks. He defiantly stared back at the enormous goblin, made it clear that he also intended on carrying out his own promise.

Okyiq's prodigious size and strength meant nothing to the serp, for Samk operated on another level. There would be no physical confrontation. He wouldn't allow it.

The serp folded his arms back across his chest and stared deeply into the face of the exceptional monster. There was no need to cast a spell. Samk only needed to let the magical influence flow from his serp mind. He expected little resistance, believed he was in no danger whatsoever. Manipulation of a goblin at that distance was as simple as plucking the petals off a rose.

Samk's resolve followed the waves of magic, reached deeply into the mind of the creature that stalked slowly forward and was ready to tear him apart. To the serp, the thoughts of the goblin were like loose feathers wafting in a light breeze. All he had to do was grab them and pull them together. Samk took greater and greater hold of the goblin's consciousness, began to place his own desires in the violent mind of the monster.

Okyiq immediately felt a slight burn in his forehead, as if he was suddenly hit with a very strong fever. His tongue felt thick and he blinked uncontrollably. His legs and arms became heavy, would not move as he demanded. His body seemed to betray him, each limb fought against his wishes.

He slowly lost his focus, wasn't sure about his surroundings. Okyiq could see the serp before him, but that was really all he could view clearly. The trees seemed to blink in and out of existence, and eventually were replaced by an engulfing emptiness. The large goblin felt as if he was being pulled through a hole in reality. It was almost like traveling back and forth between Uton and the dark realm, standing in the midst of a dimensional portal, and then ultimately becoming trapped in the space between the two realities.

His vision became more fuzzy, even the face of the serp twisted into strange contortions. He couldn't smell or hear anything, until Samk's voice bellowed through his mind.

"Get behind me!" the serp demanded.

Okyiq felt his feet begin to shuffle. He wasn't certain, but he believed he was walking forward. He couldn't see anything else around him, only the serp's face filled his vision. There was nothing he could use as a reference point, so he wasn't sure how fast he was moving or even in what direction. It didn't seem to matter. Something else was guiding his steps.

He struggled for substance, something to focus upon beyond the face of the serp that grew larger and more contorted before him. He tried to look to the ground, but he couldn't move his head. The nothingness continued to surround him, but only for a moment more.

Slowly, the trees and brush of the forest came back into his sight. A sense of reality had returned. He had moved behind the serp, was standing at arm's length from Samk's back. Despite the return of his senses, the goblin lost control of his intentions. All of his anger and belligerence had been washed away. He became docile as he stood without a care and also without a will of his own.

Samk had taken full control of Okyiq's mind. He had grasped all the strings of consciousness and tied them into one easily managed knot. He could pull upon it at will, make the large goblin dance, if he so desired.

It was not necessary. Though he still wished to humiliate the goblin, Samk knew that his time was growing short. There was much that still needed to be done, and retrieving the monster had already wasted too much valuable time. He needed to return to the coast, to the town of
Portsans. He would bring the goblin back to the council as he promised, but for that he would need one bit of assistance. He used the magical links between himself and the other serps to communicate his situation.

"I have the goblin
. I will need a magic caster."

Before making a request for a teleportation spell, he remembered one last detail. Okyiq was
standing
behind him, and that wasn't what Samk desired. The serp might not have made the goblin dance, but he would fulfill his own promise to the goblin.

"Get on your knees," Samk demanded as he looked over his shoulder.

Okyiq heard the words, even understood them. He began to sink lower to the ground, but as he did, a spark of awareness broke from the serp's control and rebelled. The immense goblin started to question what he was doing and the vast array of thoughts that Samk tied together slowly began to pull apart. Okyiq saw where he was, knew what he was about to do... and he stopped before his knees touched the ground.

"All the way down!" the serp ordered, and then pressed his will deeper into the goblin's mind.

As Samk's control tightened, Okyiq's knees dropped ever so closer to the forest floor, but they still did not brush against the dirt. The goblin trembled with fury as he fought first against his own body and then against the will of the serp. Slowly, he began to rise back up.

The resistance surprised the serp. His orders were clear. There could be no confusion, and yet the massive monster defied him

"What are you doing?" Samk demanded.

Okyiq did not answer. He continued to fight against the very presence of the serp. His mind twisted into enraged havoc as his thoughts flailed in rebellion. He would rather go insane than allow the pathetic snake-faced serp to rule his actions. But it was not insanity that lifted his desires beyond the reach of the serp, it was naked hostility.

Samk reeled about in confusion. He could feel the monster's mind pulling away from his grasp. Such an action was beyond belief. He tried to reassert his control, but the beast was struggling with a viciousness he could not believe.

"You can't win," the serp asserted. "You're just a goblin!"

The statement was only partially true. Okyiq was a goblin, but he was not willing to surrender to the will of another. He did not simply lust to become one of the horde. He held greater aspirations. To give in to Samk would be to deny who he was.

In a battle of pure will, Samk might have ultimately conquered the goblin, but the conflict quickly turned on emotion. The serp could not counter the blistering rage that sent Okyiq into a frenzy. Even as Samk tried to collect the strands of Okyiq's consciousness, the rolling waves of fevered passion ripped through his own mind. The land blurred before him and desperation ruled his thoughts.