Delver Magic: Book 05 - Chain of Bargains (14 page)

"It sounds like
you
would like it to be something
else."

"I want only to be useful. He
is training me to be a sorceress, to use my magical abilities. I do so in a way
that will increase my effectiveness as an elf guard. That is all I have ever
wished to be."

Their chatter ceased as they
closed on the outskirts of Ashlan. They had successfully avoided contact with
patrols, but their proximity to the city forced them to move with greater care.
They came to a stop on a hill near a dusty road that snaked through vast grain
fields of outlying farms. They made one last survey of their objective together
before making their final approach.

The city was substantially larger
than any either had ever seen. Six wide roads led to Ashlan's borders from
various directions surrounding the city and appearing like spokes on a wheel
with a massive collection of buildings forming the center hub. Even from a
great distance, both Holli and Ryson could see the tight cluster of structures
that lined every street. Space was not to be wasted.

"It's big," Ryson
acknowledged the obvious.

"Big enough to get lost in a
crowd," Holli stated, balancing advantages against possible drawbacks.
"But first, we have to enter. Do you see any guards stationed along the
main roads?"

Ryson pulled the spyscope from his
pouch. Peering through the lens, he searched the roads for checkpoints and guard
stations. His attention, however, quickly focused upon oddities beyond the main
roads and within the city. He moved slightly about the hill to change his
position and alter his perspective. The spectacle before him engulfed nearly
every portion of the city he could see.

"This just keeps getting
stranger," he muttered. "There are goblins again, but this time
they're not hiding. They're just about everywhere. In the streets, walking in
and out of buildings. And no one's running from them. They're like... part of
the population. This is bizarre."

"How many?"

"I don't know. Too many to
count. Hundreds. Probably thousands."

The elf guard did not doubt
Ryson's observation and she did not ask for the spyscope to check for herself.
She contemplated the meaning of the new information and put it in context with
everything they had learned.

"The humans are otherwise
acting in a normal fashion?" she finally asked.

"I guess. They seem to be
minding their own business. I don't see any of them mixing with the goblins. They're
all staying apart. No scuffles, but it's not like they're trying to distance
themselves from each other, either. Don't see how they could. They're all
over... both goblins and humans."

Holli frowned again, a deeper
scowl that revealed her growing misgivings at each finding. She looked up into
the sky to gauge the position of the sun. It was just after
midday
.

"Not only walking about the
city, but doing so in broad daylight." She shook her head, but then
refocused on their needs. "What about guards?"

"There are soldiers, but
they're just mulling about. They don't seem to have any purpose. They're
certainly not doing anything about the goblins."

"Any other dark
creatures?"

"None that I can see from
here, but like you said, it's
midday
.
There may be others that don't come out until night."

"Any checkpoints that need to
be passed to enter the city?"

"No. No restrictions.
People—and goblins—are walking in and out of the city from every point I can
see. No one's being stopped or questioned."

"That will make things easier
for us." She took another look at the sun before continuing. "These
longer days of sunlight will prove to be both a blessing and a curse. I will be
better suited for movement in darkness, but the daylight will benefit your
endeavors."

Ryson placed the spyscope back in
his pouch and looked to Holli. "So what's the plan?"

"You go in now, alone and
without your sword. Use your senses. Discover everything you can. Try to
discover why the goblins are allowed to enter the city and what they do here.
See if you can find the offices of the land councils that are distributing
farmlands to goblins and see what information you can obtain. Most importantly,
find Prilgrat. He should have a home and an office. As a regional steward, he
is most likely powerful and wealthy. Search near the center of town and look to
more prosperous homes."

"What about you?"

"It will be harder for me to
remain inconspicuous. I will be holding your sword and I will not relinquish my
bow. Though they will be looking for two travelers as opposed to one, I will
still stand out. I cannot hide my ears without a cap and wearing one in the
heat of the day will surely earn attention if not raise suspicion."

"You're going to stay out of
the city?"

"Only until night. I will use
the darkness and I will utilize the rooftops. I also have many spells to help
conceal me in the shadows. They will not see me." Holli paused as she
bowed her head and began searching the ground. "Once we separate, we must
come up with a way to find each other again."

"Do we setup a meeting place
and time?"

"Yes, but we will do more as
well."

Holli picked up two stones, each
smooth and roughly the same size. She could hold them both easily in one palm
and did so. She pressed her free hand over the top of the stones and whispered
strange words. A flash of green light burst between her palms. She then held
out the stones for Ryson to take.

"Take both of these."

"What did you do to
them?"

"They are beacon stones. Enin
usually only creates one, but his perception over magic is much stronger than
mine. He could sense what is happening to you with a single stone. For me, I do
something a bit different. I create two stones. When they remain together, I
sense them as a single entity."

"So if I put them in my
pouch, you'll think there's only one?"

"Exactly, but if they are
separated by any measurable distance, I will sense both. If you are ever in
need of me, whether you have important information or are in need of
assistance, take one of the stones and cast it away from you. Hold on to the
other. At that point, I will sense two beacons instead of one. I will track
them until I find you."

"Impressive."

"The spell only lasts for six
days. After that, the beacon will fade. We must meet again before that
time." Holli cast a quick glance back at the city in the distance.
"Do you see the tall building at the southwestern outskirts? The one that
lines up beneath the sun?"

"Got it."

"We will meet on the rooftop
of that building just before
midnight
four days from now. That should be sufficient time."

"Looking at you!" the
goblin hissed.

"Not!" another goblin
reacted almost violently.

"Staring right at you!"

"Looking over my head!"

The goblin that made the initial
accusation spat and snarled. Strange words came bubbling out of its
mouth—nothing intelligible to the ordinary human ear—but to another dark
creature, they formed a stream of angry curses.

A third creature entered the
debate, quickly made its own observation clear, and sided with the cursing
goblin.

"One looking at you. The
other looking at the wall. You pay half."

"Not paying any."

"You pay half."

Ryson had just entered the tavern
when the commotion started. Immediately recognizing goblin scent within the
room and hearing the familiar guttural tones of their voices, he knew the dark
creatures were the source of the uproar. He kept his distance, but found the
growing clamor too loud to ignore. He stepped slightly closer toward the
animated conversation and gained a clear view of
 
a round table set back in the corner. He was
thankful no one was watching him. Despite witnessing hundreds of goblins
throughout Ashlan, the scene before him simply defied reason, and he couldn't
hide his expression of astonishment.

Upon wooden chairs with blocks on
the seats to give them a boost in height, seven goblins sat around the table
with small stacks of coins in front of each filthy creature. Three of the
goblins gnawed on a strange substance that the delver could not identify. It
looked very much like seaweed—leafy and colored in various shades of green—but
it was very stiff and apparently extremely chewy. Mugs of ale wobbled
perilously at the table's edge. One even fell over and clanged about on the
floor. Thankfully, it was empty, but the monsters showed little care one way or
the other. They all were engulfed in the growing dispute.

The rest of the tavern patrons—all
human—ignored the argument, as if they had heard it all before, many times.
Instead of glaring at the goblins with disdain for the disturbance, they kept
their attention elsewhere, mostly on their drinks or their plates.

In direct opposition to the
growing quarrel of the goblins, the humans sat subdued and disinterested,
devoid of passion. Those that engaged in conversation did so in hushed tones.
They whispered and nodded, but not much more. There was no enthusiastic banter,
no telling of grand stories, no cheerful drinking songs, no levity of any kind.
The only true source of liveliness came from the back corner where the goblins
continued their outlandish debate.

As Ryson's glance swept over the
center of their table, he saw two large, round eyes resting in the center. They
appeared like the eyes of a shag—Ryson had enough encounters with those hairy
beasts to recognize their distinct pupils—and they appeared real, as if they
had been carefully plucked out, but not so carefully cleaned. He almost turned
away, not wanting to focus further on the spectacle, but the argument
continued. His delver curiosity burned, and despite his misgivings, he kept his
attention on the table and its grisly contents.

"Not looking at me!" the
one goblin continued to object, but the others disagreed.

Like a grouping of the undead
turning toward a human cry, the other six goblins glared at the protester with
growing malice. They growled out their decisions without the slightest hint of
sympathy.

"Looking at you!"

"You lose!"

"Pay half or quit game,"
a final goblin screeched out an ultimate ruling, "and won't be let back...
ever!"

The creature that argued the
initial verdict didn't wish to be banned, and with spit frothing at its mouth,
reluctantly threw a coin to a goblin across the table.

With the bet finally paid off, yet
another goblin snatched up the shag eyes and shook them in one clawed and
disfigured hand. With one swift flick of the wrist, the pint-sized monster
threw the two round objects into the air above the table. It was just a small
toss, meant to lift the two orbs slightly toward the ceiling and then bring
them down upon the center of the table in a random position

Every goblin watched the detached
eyes with delight as the orbs twirled in the air, bounced upon the table top,
and then rolled about before coming to a rest. The goblins themselves were very
animated during the toss, twisting and turning in their seats as if trying to avoid
the gaze of each eye. When Ryson began to understand the point of the ghoulish
game, it became clear that this was exactly their intention.

As the eyes rolled to a halt, the
goblins examined the directional view of each lifeless pupil. They gestured at
each other, grunting and snorting with both delight and contempt. One eye had
come to rest looking directly into the table top—a lost throw—and so there was
no debate as to the outcome. The second eye, however, seemed to stare directly
at the goblin that didn't wish to accept the outcome of the previous roll.

The other goblins shouted with
glee

"Two in a row!" they
roared.

The goblin being stared at by the
one dead eye cursed, but did not argue the result of the toss. Refusal would be
useless. Even from halfway across the room, the fateful direction of the shag
eye was clear. The defeated goblin took two coins from his dwindling stack and
flipped them to the goblin that made the roll.

The winner looked first at the
coins, as if counting to two was a difficult procedure, then turned an angry
glare at the loser.

"Two more!"

"Why two more?"

"Two in a row. You pay double
this time."

While the losing goblin would not
debate the direction of the gaze, it objected to the amount lost.

"I did pay double. I paid two!
Everyone saw."

As the dispute grew in intensity,
Ryson could not believe what he was hearing. He never knew goblins to concern
themselves with rules of any sort, and yet here they were arguing about the
betting rules of a twisted game in the back of a tavern filled with human
patrons that seemed utterly oblivious to the ghoulish scene and the raucous
debate. He almost wondered if he had lost his sanity.

Sane or not, the goblin that made
the roll demanded greater payment.

"Double is four! You paid
two. You pay two more!"

"Not four! Just two."
The goblin then pointed to the eye that had rolled with its pupil down into the
tabletop. "One eye staring down, not at me."

"But two in a row, so
double!"

"Double one eye, not double
two. One eye pays one. Two eyes pay two. One eye doubled is two."

The other goblins turned their
heads in obvious confusion. Math was obviously not their strong suit, except
for maybe one other.

"Two in a row is double full
bet," a rebuttal voiced out. "Doesn't matter how many eyes. Full bet
is two. Double is four."

The other goblins quickly agreed.
They didn't understand the calculation or the logic behind it, but they
certainly comprehended the conclusion.