[v2] Chapter Thirty-three – In which Ark endeavors to keep his promises.

[v2] Chapter Thirty-three – In which Ark endeavors to keep his promises.

The situation with Crow is heart-wrenching. Do I dare to think I can comprehend what she’s going through right now, being so young and becoming disabled? I dare not. Berry may have broken my arm, and somehow it became a goblin arm when Lumi healed it, but at least it’s functional. The same cannot be said about Crow’s leg. There is no modern science to repair it. Between Dara and I... we could probably somehow create a prosthetic, but that would also mean her leg would need to be amputated. There was also the matter of a leg brace, but I wasn’t completely sure about how to go about creating it.

I stayed by Crow’s side whenever possible over the next week, receiving help from Toy and Lily, stating that they were my Clan, and that if I wished to make Crow’s troubles my own, then they would help me shoulder the burden. Diana Artemis also helped out, doing a little extra hunting so that Crow wouldn’t need to worry about hunting her own food.

For the first couple of days, Crow was in and out of consciousness thanks to Truffle’s color-spin-think powder. What caused Crow to refuse taking any more of the drug was when Button, Glace, Figurine, and Nova all came into the room on the third day afterwards to deliver a message to Crow when she was awake.

I had assumed Magpie was avoiding seeing her mother like this. Or maybe she didn’t want to see me because I was in Crow’s cave-hole for long periods of time.

I was wrong.

The message my daughters delivered was to inform Crow that Magpie had run away.

While there were words left behind for Crow. There were none left for me.

Before I could feel any anger or guilt at her actions, my children informed me that Magpie’s decision was something they all supported. If any goblin among them had the knowledge and skillset to survive outside of Goblinhome without support, it was Magpie. Now that the Bloodmaw were increasing in number, my gathered children felt that it was a smart move to have Magpie see if she could make a place for herself among the many civilized races that I have spoken to them at length about. If it was possible that she could be accepted, then there was a chance that Goblinhome wouldn’t need to remain isolated forever.

I also hoped for something like this, but not so soon. Not with a goblin so young. Magpie was still my daughter, and I still thought of her as a child. Obviously, I was extremely worried. Crow, on the other hand, seemed satisfied with the decision our daughter made.

“Crow taught Magpie the way of the Sneaky Clan. Magpie is cautious and won’t die easily.”

I want to believe that as well. It was just that seeing how easily Diana Artemis... handled her the other day. Then again, Diana Artemis is also something like a massive wall for my other daughters to measure themselves up against.

Not just them, but me as well. I haven’t forgotten how easily she subdued me during her Blood Fury, and how even if Glace hadn’t shackled me to Diana’s bed with magic, I still might not have actually been able to avoid what happened to me that night...

I guess, as a father, I have to just trust and believe that Crow and I have taught her the most important things she needs to know and that it will have to be enough as she makes her own way into the world.

What didn’t get mentioned with any specifics was how she left Goblinhome, but I’m fairly certain it involved Cobi and those Kobolds in some manner. I felt a strange kinship with him, as if he and I weren’t entirely unalike in how we dealt with the overbearing women in our lives. For him, six Kobolds. For me, a menagerie that will only continue to grow. If she went with them, as I figure she had, I felt confident they would see her safely to whatever town they ventured from.

With any luck, it might be Thorn.

Though, that might also be a bad option. Remembering what the Great Protector said to me about not having killed Kairos... it’s entirely possible she might come across him. If she somehow mentions my name or that I’m here in this forest...

No. I’d rather not think of what would happen were she to find out.

And by she, yes, I mean my dear old mother in this world... Salondra Wyze.

Sigh.

The day after my children brought news of Magpie’s departure, Prima had come to visit Crow. The matter was exactly what I expected it to be about. Crow’s... disability.

Crow was also one of the few goblins not pregnant currently... I think.

So, Prima came with an ultimatum for her.

“It would be stupid to die when you could still make many strong-ones for the tribe. Even if you cannot teach them to hunt, there are others who can. In that way, you will still be useful.”

I hadn’t considered that Crow thought to die so that she wasn’t a burden, but that’s also because I wasn’t thinking like a goblin. I mean, Prima’s mercy for Vera back then was to have me forcefully breed her, thinking her incapable of contributing to the tribe... or being able to take care of herself in any meaningful way other than that. So, it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise that she would say this to Crow.

I could even see the look in Prima’s eyes, as if she was expecting me to challenge her right now on this, what is clearly a basic matter to the Bloodmaw, and intrinsic to the goblin way.

I didn’t.

“Not going to call me a monster, Ark? Or threaten to bring our home down?”

I shook my head.

“No. I think I’ll be the monster this time.”

“You?”

“Yes. I’ll keep her belly full of goblins, even if she wants to refuse me. However, I will also need to make some changes to Goblinhome. She might not have use of one leg anymore, but she still has another perfectly good one, and I intend to make a way for her to be mobile again.”

She was curious about my life and how it led me to becoming the goblin War-chief that I apparently am. I opened up in exchange for learning about the art on her mams. We slowly drained the jar of blue water as we told each other our stories. Krushka, having been a war-bride multiple times, is domestically-oriented. She has given birth and raised a number of children. She’s skilled in cooking, making clothes, and child-rearing. While she can fight, she’s not formally trained in anything. It’s more like, she can grab a branch and give someone hell with a few whacks with it.

Of the people she was a war-bride to, she said most of them were tolerable. The worst one was her most recent. He was too arrogant for her liking, and not good enough in the sack to warrant it. He also eyed one of her daughters lasciviously and sent her youngest son who was still rather young to a war-camp to be taught to fight for a lesser chieftain’s army who he was aligned with. While it sounded terrible, it was rather standard where orc society was concerned.

I spoke about my life as the son of a famous magician, not going too in-depth about how famous she was, growing up in her shadow, learning magic, often being a disappointment to her. My time spent at the academy never making much progress in the realm of formulaic magic and spending my time learning the ins and outs of being a force magician, which I enjoyed immensely.

She asked if our child when it came would know how to use magic.

I didn’t have an answer, but I said there was a good chance it might. That seemed to please her. There weren’t really orc magicians. Orcs became Shaman, and that was it. Whether their magic was of a divine or arcane origin wasn’t of particular importance.

Being a Shaman to an orc was like having a guaranteed career as a civil servant. She spoke much like a mother who wanted her children to have a good shot at success in their lives, and I couldn’t help but think of her as being far from uncivilized, as orcs often were thought of as.

We both became rather tipsy. I wasn’t very good at consuming alcohol, but I think Krushka was worse. She was quick to get naked and we had an egregious amount of violent and sloppy sex. But that’s her nature, I suppose. She was able to vent whatever frustrations she must have accrued recently, and after a few healthy doses of my liquid calming agent, she was soon comfortably out cold.

I stayed with her for a while, not wanting to just abandon her right away, but as was the case, I inevitably had to go. This had all happened the first night after Crow had been brought back.

Rushk was willing to wait for the next day, at which point the reward she wanted was a little more practical. Rushk, while having been partially goblinized as well as showing a bump indicating she was for sure carrying a goblin strong-one inside of her, was looking for something to do to feel useful.

She had lived a somewhat sheltered life, with her only real interest to be found in learning spearplay. When spears are involved, my immediate thought would be to point her in Prima’s direction. Turns out, that was exactly what needed to happen.

Rushk is by no means a hunter, but Prima was more than willing to teach her the ropes.

I had even gone on a hunt with them, though the only thing I had to offer was the limited land-based magic I could use with the Topaz stone, since my Quartz Focus Orb had been integrated into my youngest daughter, Selene Hecate.

After a successful hunt, nothing too crazy, just some blue-haired foxes, the two of them tore right into one almost immediately after securing the kill. Rushk seems to enjoy both cooked and raw meat. The latter being an adjustment due to her becoming part goblin.

I didn’t judge.

I also didn’t judge when Prima helped instigate a post-meal rape.

Rushk was a little apologetic afterwards, but she was also in a much better mood. Seeing that, I also was happy. After that, in the early mornings that followed, Prima could be found sparring with Rushk with spears, not being too overbearing.

I actually got an earful from Nova about how Prima never let her off easily when it came to sparring.

But that’s how it is sometimes...

Mint, who was reclusive ever since the incident where I turned into the Monster, had begun to show herself more often now that the field had been planted. Maybe it was due to her position in the tribe as its [Bloody Druid], but she was often found there just... doing things.

I worried that whatever trauma I caused her was long-lasting, but she assured me that she would be fine eventually. She also said she had acquired some... ability that would allow her to cultivate the field and that she hoped it would produce some beneficial results soon.

I would have expected to find Ebony by her side, but no. Ebony was busy with other matters. Matters in the form of one young goblin strong-one with far too much destructive power on tap.

Yes.

Ebony was teaching Selene Hecate how to use magic.

I figured for sure it would have been Glace getting involved with the matter at Diana’s behest, but no. Ebony, as it turns out, possesses true Bloodmaw Magic. Selene Hecate apparently doesn’t need to use Runes or Formulas to cast magic at all.

I feel like there needed to be someone with a rational mind to oversee this strange mentor-mentee relationship, but Ebony assured me that she was a very capable big-sister goblin, and that she had it all under control.

Naturally, I didn’t believe that for a fucking second.

But, true to her word, Selene Hecate seemed to look up to Ebony and along with Bitey and Beastie, those four went out into the forest on a hunt, with Diana occasionally keeping an eye on things after all.

With all the business of my days in the past week now coming to a head, I found myself visiting Truffle at long last. I wanted to keep my promise to repay her for her help with Crow. She had been working on a new strain of her mushroom powder, and with a small bit of reluctance... we indulged.

Unlike with Button, I didn’t experience anything too... strange. It was quite enjoyable. I had become a mushroom, and Truffle was a mushroom... even Button was there, and she was a mushroom! I somehow did a spore-dance and all the mushrooms were happy.

When I came to, Truffle was in my arms, caressing my face and grinning.

“Husband. It’s time again.”

Yes. Another mushroom-goblin was about to come into the world.