Chapter 48: The Generals’ Meeting

The passage of time inched onward so slowly that it was as though I could see each grain of sand individually slip through an hourglass. We perched in the rafters for minutes that became close to an hour–waiting for some kind of sign, or a burst of yearning and courage, but eventually it was my profound sense of boredom that urged me into action.

“I’m going to go check it out,” I said, earning a confused look from Autumn and Ivy. “On your own?!” Autumn hissed the question.

I nodded, pressing a finger to my lips to urge her silent acceptance. “I’ll be fine. I have the enchantment on this cloak–invisibility!”

“Lesser Invisibility,” she pointed out.

Ivy grabbed my shoulder to get me to look at her. I did. She was pretty as always, but the flaming red of her hair was drenched in sweat from huddling shoulder to shoulder in the sweltering turret attic. She looked as ragged as I knew I’d feel if I had to sit there another minute worrying about Darkmaw and the success of our mission.

Also, the queen was definitely badass and I was pretty sure she liked me, so that was a motivating factor, too.

“Take this with you,” Aldon said, conjuring a tiny golden hexagonal token. Before I could ask, he explained its purpose. “Rub it and I can hear your thoughts for thirty seconds at a time.”

“Can I hear yours?” I asked.

“No. But you can let us know which way you’re headed, what you see, and if you need backup or a distraction.”

I patted him on the shoulder and leaped down from the rafters, nailing a three-point landing like a superhero. Looking back up at them, I flashed a thumbs up. Autumn smiled awkwardly back at me, giving me her own gesture of approval.

I pinched the metal clasp that kept the cloak around my neck, activating the enchantment. I could still see myself, but I looked slightly translucent–I worried that it wasn’t working at first,but when I looked up at my companions it became plainly obvious from the awestruck looks on their faces that they had lost track of me. Only Aldon looked vaguely unimpressed, and for good reason. The bastard could probably flick his little wand and produce a similar effect on himself.

I creaked the door open and stepped outside, closing it behind me as lightly as I could–practically soundlessly. It emitted the tiniest of clicks as it shut behind me, inspiring in me the slightest hesitation, but as I looked around from side to side, I saw no goblins or orcs.

What I did see were twin stairwells curving downward at opposing parallel trajectories. I would have to be like Robert Frost and choose a path, though it would be arbitrary as I didn’t have much to go on.

Or did I? I activated Sniff and hoped that it wouldn’t be too big of a play to dispel my invisibility–thankfully, I remained translucent to myself, so I figured that meant I was still invisible to anyone else who happened upon me as long as I didn’t make any big moves or go for a weapon. With my lance dismissed, and my movements slow and steady, I could maintain the enchantment for a while even with Sniff activated.

I took a deep, profound whiff, inhaling enough to fill my lungs completely. From the left direction I smelled fire and mold. From the right, there was the scent of food and the undeniable musk of the goblin queen–and Darkmaw.

Their combined smells triggered a lot of feelings inside me–most of them inappropriate–but I banished them along with my trepidations and followed that path down, down from the turret’s entrance into the upper level of the castle.

I found myself in a long corridor that extended in two new directions at the base of the stairs. Sconced torchlight provided enough atmosphere for me to discern that the each end of the hallway turned in one direction.

I followed the direction that I got the stronger impression of Darkmaw’s scent from. I took a brisk pace at first until I noticed my enchantment flickering. I almost gasped aloud at that. Thankfully, though, when I stopped dead in my tracks, my invisibility seemed to remain intact.

I took that restorative pause to drink in the sight of my surroundings to a greater degree of appreciation. This was structurally similar to a medieval castle, but the walls were made up of massive stone slates that were fixed together with clay. It was primitive and savage–what orcs could manage–but it seemed to have some degree of structural integrity. I placed my hand on the wall, tracing the transition point where the boulder merged with clay. It was solid–but I bet I could fuck up that clay if I had to.

The corridor was hauntingly empty–the queen had done her part, undoubtedly. I felt almost entirely free to meander around the corner, tempted to let my guard down, but I didn’t. I was in hostile territory after all, and I couldn’t afford to forget that for even one instant.

My scars still hurt–the dragon blood burns on my neck and arms were a constant reminder of what could happen when I got too cocky or went into a fight without any thought for preparation.

I turned the corner slowly, as silently as I could–and thank the gods I did, because two ogres were standing at the stop of another stairway. This one descended directly downward into a room I couldn’t see from my vantage point–but I heard low, guttural voices speaking to one another.

I thumbed and rubbed the token Aldon had given me, updating him on the situation. The space between the two ogres was narrow, and killing them would certainly sacrifice my invisibility. I also had to assume that these weren’t slouches when it came to ogres, or they wouldn’t be left on guard duty for such an important event.

It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, them being there. There wasn’t any other entrance that I’d seen other than through the windows of the high turrets. It seemed strange that ogres would be guarding a second-level stairway into the room where the generals meeting–unless I was somehow suspected.

Was this a trap? Would I have to make an all-out fight of it? My understanding was that these generals were rather powerful–probably as powerful as the undead troll I’d faced before, if not even stronger than that. There were five of them, not including Darkmaw. Autumn and Ivy were strong, but they weren’t as strong as that on their own. Having the Goblin Queen available to fight would be ideal–but at the moment she was down one heart. No, wait. She mentioned before she would be healed within the hour.

I listened carefully to the chorus of voices coming from the room beyond, but the stink of the two ogres almost overrode all my senses.

After several minutes of eavesdropping, though, I became fairly sure that I couldn’t hear the voice of either Darkmaw or the Goblin Queen–and that realization sped up the thumping of my heart considerably.

Had they already been captured? The Goblin Queen they’d have to keep alive, but would they kill Darkmaw? I couldn’t forgive myself if I let that happen.

I gritted my teeth at the cursed thought, straining to listen, trying to make out words, but I couldn’t. The sounds of the generals’ voices were muffled by distance and the echo of the corridor that shuttle their words to me.

I sent another round of updates to Aldon and the girls. I was very near to making a move, fearing the worst. Just as I was about to summon my lance, though, I heard a husky laugh sound up the stairs at me. She was alive–and laughing. The Goblin Queen was laughing. Certainly that meant Darkmaw was fine, too, and the generals hadn’t made their move yet.

I wondered if they would. With me present, they may decide to cut their losses and treat this as the meeting and inspection of the troops it was originally meant to be.

But I couldn’t hope for that. No, I needed to get back to the numbers. It was six of us–counting the queen and Darkmaw–against five of them plus two ogres. Ivy and Etherea weren’t at the levels of power that a general could aspire to, not by a long shot, but Darkmaw, Aldon, and Marrow-Heart all counted for something. Six of us… it would be enough.

Enough to win, I realized. But enough to win without casualties? That remained an unclear question. I couldn’t stand to lose a single girl. I needed to be sure that the fight was in the bag before I made any sudden moves.

Suddenly, though, I heard the sound of chair legs dragging across a stony floor and voices grumbling among each other even louder, and I realized they were coming closer. They were coming up the stairs.

I hugged the wall and stood perfectly still. The two ogres stepped aside, allowing a throng of powerful troll and ogre warriors in full armor with plenty of distinguishing features pass by–on their way to the turret, I guessed. Darkmaw was among them, too. So was the queen.

“They assaulted me in the southwestern turret.” That was the alluring voice of the queen, still living the lie. She had changed into an identical dress with no hole from my lance and no bloodstains. She looked... fine. She passed through my corridor with the rest of them, and I almost shit my pants when she made direct eye contact with me and winked as she walked by–she could see through my invisibility! Mercifully, though, the others apparently could not–Darkmaw included, though I noticed her smirking as she inhaled through her nose.

One of the generals was a green-skinned ogre with a voice so deep it was almost comical. In addition to that, he wore a brassy looking breastplate with nipples on it, well-polished, with matching bracers and shoulder pads. His tattered loincloth covered little and exposed his tree trunk legs, ripped and powerful to an inexpressible degree. When he spoke, he said, “I want you two to lock down the keep! I suspect the Apex Hero is still in here, and I won’t have him escape. We will eat his flesh and drink of his blood tonight, mark my words.”

The others uttered grumbles of approval as they all walked past me like idiots–apparently their sense of smell wasn’t all that hot.

I understood immediately that they were on their way to the turret. They were on their way to Ivy, Aldon, and Autumn. I transmitted a warning to them–praying they acted in time to preserve themselves.

From what happened next, I could guess what the brassy-armored one meant when he said ‘lockdown.’ The whole castle shook, and what few windows there were glowed and closed, the parallel stony edges of the window frame coalescing until the windows all vanished like they’d never been there at all. They were trying to stop me from escaping.

The joke was on them, though. I had no intention of running. They had just trapped themselves in here with me as far as I was concerned, rather than vice versa. I wasn’t sure what the catalyst was going to be, but I could tell things were going to come to blows between us very soon.

Following them up the staircase in perfect silence, I prepared for the fight of my life.