Goblins' Rise Ch. 06

She makes a sexy pose and grins at the flabbergasted enemy. Three of them just drop their axes. The others are quickly disarmed and tied up.

"Simpletons." Hanatal grins up at me. I nod with a smile. My ears still faintly ringing.

We follow some larger tunnels. Leading further in to the twisting warren. They are easier for me to navigate.

"Holy shit!" I gasp as we enter a warm, damp cave. There are webs everywhere. Big thick ones. Lots of goblins fight scattered across the cave.

And there are spiders...the size of large dogs. Some of which the enemy ride.

A shiver of horror and disgust runs through me. I'm not actually afraid of spiders, but they give me the heebie-jeebies.

We move into the room. I rush to support a couple of my boys before they get overwhelmed. Hanna takes aim at an enemy riding one of the monstrosities.

Her booming shot echoes through the room. Blasting the Goblin off his mount and sending the spider scurrying away. Neither were close enough to be killed by the blast. Just shook.

I stab a goblin and pin him, squirming to the ground with my boot. The boys seem emboldened and we press forward. Gathering more men and advancing across the room.

We fight through Goblins and giant spiders that seem trained to attack. Chopping off arachnid limbs and spilling their foul ichor on the ground.

I panic when a furry black spider leaps some fifteen feet to land square on my chest. Knocking me on my back. I cry out as I use my sword to block its quivering fangs.

Three of my boys turn and run the foul beast through. Splattering my chest with its guts.

A bit dazed I stand back up and rally. Pressing forward with the rest of the gang.

I'm a little surprised. These enemy goblins fight with a bravery I haven't seen outside my own.

Not with the skill or precision though. Soon we have taken the spider cave. Hooray.

"How long have we been down here?" I ask Hanatal, as we slump for a rest against a cave wall. The cute green girl just shrugs.

"You should make one of your speeches." She suggests moments later. Looking up at me with eagerness in her one good eye.

I look out at the room. At tired green men binding up those prisoners left alive. I nod and stand.

"Boys! Listen up!" I declare. "I know you're tired. I know you are hurt. This is dirty, demoralizing work. We will get through this. What we do here is just. It's right. Goblins weren't made to toil in the dark. Slaves to an uncaring Brood Mother."

I can see that twinkle appearing in my men's eyes. And no small number of the prisoners.

"Goblins were made to breathe fresh air." I continue, my voice rising. "To create great works with their bare hands. We will make the world stand up and take notice. And when we are done, we will have changed the world."

A cheer goes up from the goblins. They hustle with renewed energy. Even some who I had thought completely out of the fight.

Hanatal grins up at me as we move into one of the tunnels.

"Goblins don't give speeches." She tells me.

"No?"

She shakes her head. Her short green hair seeming to shimmer in the dark. "It's always 'go do this, or I hurt you.' Never doing for yourself. For your own pride." She looks thoughtful as we move on.

We stop at an intersection where I have to kneel to stop my head bouncing off the ceiling. There are a trio of my boys who are badly wounded.

I am giving them words of encouragement and using that strange power to heal them when a soldier comes running up.

"Sir! Sir!" He calls. He wears the toughened leathers of one of Crom's personal guard. Lost his helmet though, and has a bloody cloth covering his head and one eye. The opposite of the one Hanna lost.

"What is it, son?" I ask.

"The Sergeant Major requests your presence, sir." He makes another salute. I reach up to heal his wounds, but he shakes his head. "Is important, sir."

I nod and follow him. Stooped over as we move down the tunnels if the dark warren.

We emerge into a decent sized cave with a pool in the center. A score of Goblin bodies lay around the entrance. Crom and his squad stand guard. Some holding shabby blankets acquired from somewhere. The little man looks relieved to see me.

In the far corner huddles some eight or nine human women. Naked and abused and obviously frightened of my men.

"I thought it best if you speak to them, sir." Crom tells me. I nod. He's probably right. Those girls aren't going to be happy to see more Goblins.

I slowly approach the huddled slaves. My hands open and held out. "Ladies, my name is Captain Nicholas. We are here to rescue you."

"Ruh...rescue?" A blonde woman asks. Her voice almost a whisper.

I nod. "That's right. These goblins are with me. They have some blankets for you to cover up with. Then they will escort you out. We are taking you home." I assure them.

They take a little coaxing, but seem to get more confident when I give them the blankets. Crom details a handful of men to escort them out. We stand together watching them go.

"How are we doing?" I ask him. "I haven't seen Kara this whole time."

He shrugs. "Hard to say. We don't know how many there were to begin with." He turns and grins at me. "I've heard a demon woman slaughters all who stand against her. And has taken the armory. I've had Goblins surrender to me, rather than fight her."

So Karagoth is having fun at any rate.

"How do we end this?" I ask him after a moment.

"Kill their Brood Mother." He advises me with confidence.

"And kidnap their princesses." Hanatal chimes in. Crom nods, giving her a grin.

Bats.

Hannah, Crom and I are down a couple levels. Along with six of his soldiers and a few from other squads.

I'm starting to feel claustrophobic. Tons of earth settled just above my head. Waiting to crush me.

When have entered a cave with a high ceiling. So high we can see a point of light hundreds of feet up.

The cave is also filled with bats. Big ones.

I lift up a harness. "Could they actually ride them?" I ask.

Crom shrugs. "I've heard of it before. Never seen it though." He looks around at the big furry beasts hanging from the cave walls. "I don't think these have been bred big enough yet." He declares.

Now it's my turn to shrug. We had only met a timid resistance here. In fact we had seen few enemies through the last bit of tunnels and caves.

The reason becomes clear a couple caves further on. The floor here is wood and the walls set with bricks. Like a little building underground. The stucco ceiling is actually seven feet overhead.

We come to a room blocked of by a barricade made of tipped over furniture. Goblins fire short bows at us from relative safety.

"We are close now." Crom declares. Hanna nods.

His men bring up some floorboards they lashed together as a shield, and we press down the hall. Arrows desperately thinking into the other side.

When we reach the barrier we swarm over it. Right into a mass of some two dozen goblins. These guys are wearing actual armor. Mostly chain. Nearly a match for Crom.

They aren't as disciplined though. Not working as a group, like us. We begin to pick them off one by one. "That's it boys!" I declare. Hoping to give my men some of that inspiration. "Onward to victory!"

I may need to get a speech writer.

I bring my sword down with a CLANG! Bouncing it off a Goblin's helmet. He reals in a daze and I kick him down. Stepping forward I jab one of his brethren in the chest.

Soon we have broken through. Beating a group twice our number.

The passageway beyond is even more ornate. The walls are covered in stolen tapestries and silk curtains. Lamps hang from the high ceilings.

Rooms are spaces down the hall with real doors. Dark oak. Behind which are well appointed bedrooms. Boudoirs, really. All frills and lace.

Empty though.

We find the princesses at the end of the hall. What seems to be an odd sitting room. Full of padded benches and potted plants. And an odd hole in the middle of the floor.

The girls, six of them huddle in a corner. Frightened. They look like a nightmare vision of a little girl's princess. Puffy neck to floor velvet dresses. Covered in lace and frills, and bows. Pinks and white and light blue.

Someone had decided that if a little was good, a lot was better.

Hanatal steps forward before Crom or I have a chance. "You are all now the property of Captain Nicholas. The great and powerful Hobgoblin." She announces. I look at her in shock. That word again. Crom has used it, but I'd forgotten to ask what it meant.

"Serve your conquering hero well, and you will not be mistreated." She finishes. The huddled girls look at her with a mixture of jealousy and disdain on their faces. Oddly enough, her words seem to work. The boys are easily able to herd them toward the door.

"I'll go too. Keep them out of trouble." Hanna informs me. She reaches up and pulls my head down for a deep kiss. I can hear some of the princesses gasp at our display of affection.

Then the Goblin girl looks at the hole. "Besides, I don't want to be here for the next part." She shivers. Then hustles off.

"The next part?" I ask Crom when all the princesses are gone.

"The Brood Mother." He tells me as an explanation.

I look at the hole. "I'm not sure I can get down there."

"It will be tight." He offers. Looking at me in that way that seems like I'm preforming a test for him.

A few of his men scramble down it like it was nothing. Like they were born to it.

For me, they lower a rope. It's tight. And dark. I can't take the lantern that Hanna had brought.

I nearly panic half way down. Thinking I've gotten stuck. I take a moment and close my eyes. I think of Kara. Naked on my bed. Her long white hair spilling about her on red silk sheets. My breathing calms and I am able to continue on.

Finally I reach the bottom. A short tunnel opens into a large humid chamber. Something grotesque squats at the far end.

She has to be five hundred pounds. Bloated and greasy. A huge bag of green flesh. She sits(...lays?) on a large padded throne. Her foul bulk heaving with every wheezing breath.

"Hail the conquering hero." She grins down at me.

Tiny goblin...children scamper out of our way as we stride across the room. I notice four more Brood Mothers bear her. Maybe half as big. Though by the looks on their faces I suspect they only have a tenuous grasp on reality. Driven to madness by their fate.

Not the big one though.

"I didn't expect a human." She grumbles. Her voice like a bowel of pebbles in oatmeal. "Have mercy in a helpless mother?" She tries to ask sweetly.

Sweat drips down her face and neck. Not from fear. Just from being what she is.

I almost do. She can't lift a hand to defend herself. Helpless in her home.

Then I think of the human slaves we freed. Frightened and abused. What they surely suffered at this monster's behest.

"End it." I tell Crom. Turning away from the horror.

"The sows?" He asks. I look at him and raise an eyebrow. "Brood sows. It's what a princess becomes if she isn't to be a Mother."

No wonder all my girls wanted to flee their warren. I look around for a moment. I realize this room is the most opulent of all. Fancy art on the walls, chests of gold and gems, fine oak chairs. I even see a whelp playing with an ivory scepter.

It wouldn't have been worth it, to have become that.

"Can we do anything for them?" I ask. He just shakes his head sadly. "Them too." I order.

"And the whelps?"

"Gather them up. Bring them with us. They had no part in this." I tell him.

"No! No! Wait!" I hear the Mother plead. Then a crunch. Sword? Axe? I don't know. Don't really want to know.

Some how I make it up the rope in a daze. Through low tunnels. Goblins step back as I pass. My men? The enemy? I don't know. Only that no one challenges me.

Finally, somehow, the m out under the purifying light of the sun. Someone takes my hand and leads me to my tent.

I'm sitting on my bed and she is taking off my boots before I realize it's Hanatal. "How...that place..." I'm not sure how to start.

"You saw her then?" She asks. Looking up at me with a kind look on her face. I nod, dully. "You see what we were all afraid of. Why we are like we are?"

I'm not sure if she wants assurance or to drive home a point. "What makes a Brood Mother? Could it still happen to you?" I ask clumsily.

Hanna pulls off her top, revealing her perky tits. She shrugs. "We don't know. We just don't." Her shorts follow as she climbs up behind me. The Goblin princess rugs off my shirt. "Lay down." She orders gently pushing my shoulder.

I do. She straddles my ass and begins massaging my back. I don't know what else to say.

Eventually we fell asleep. The Goblin girl's naked body snuggled up to me. Comforted by the sound of Karagoth barking orders to my soldiers muffled by my tent.

In the morning I wake to her light green fingers slowly stroking my hard cock. Hanna grins at me when she notices me awake. Then she pushes back the sheet and straddles my hips.

We both groan as she settles on my dick. She reaches up and runs her fingers through her short hair. Her dark green locks a contrast to the lighter shade of her fingers.

I reach up and cup her tits. Gently squeezing and rubbing her nipples with my thumbs. I thrust up slightly every time she comes down. Fucking the cute princess deep. Causing her to grunt each time.

"Yes!" She hisses as her little body trembles. Her tight pussy throne around my dick. Desperately milking me for my human seed. I gladly oblige. Clenching my eyes as I cum. The stress of yesterday flowing out of me as I fill her with my jizz.

Afterward we rest together. Until I smell gravy and biscuits. Hanna is off me and out the tent like a shot. Still nude, her cute ass wiggling as she goes.

The goblins really seem to like gravy and biscuits. Especially in the morning. They are not as squeamish about eating animals, though I have insisted the gravy be made of pork.

Soon she is back in the tent with two heaping plates and a huge smile on her face. "Breakfast." She announces. Setting them down on the small table. I move to sit, and eat. I have to admit, whoever cooked this morning did a good hob. I finish off all of mine.

Soon I'm dressed and out of my tent. Hanatal looking serious next to me with her oversized gun. Ready for any trouble.

"Sir!" A Goblin salutes. I recognize his face. One of the boys that seems to be getting more and more of an administrative role.

Necessary, I guess as our force gets larger. Messengers, record keepers, paymasters. Bureaucrats.

I nod. "The Sergeant Major requests your presence in the command tent." He points to the big tent with the conference table.

I step in to find Crom puzzling over some papers. I can see him sounding out words as her tries to read.

"Good morning, sir!" He says brightly.

"You seem happy." I offer as I sit. Happier than I've ever seen him. Hanatal takes a chair at the end and busies herself with cleaning her thunderbust.

"I've never been involved in such a glorious victory." He answers.

I can't help thinking of the cramped tunnels, the desperate Goblins, the frightened women, and that thing at the end. Glorious.

I let him enjoy his moment. After all, it could have gone down another way. None of us could have made it out.

"What do you have for me " I ask.

"A small list, sir." He assures me. "First the loot." He gestured under the table. There are four chests at his feet. I stand and move around to his side to watch him open them.

They are filled to the brim.

"Mostly silver and copper, truth be told. Still a good haul. Plus we are stripping anything of value we can carry or put on a cart."

I nod. "Let's not take it into town with us." I tell him as I ponder out loud. "The Magistrate may think he deserves a cut. Let's take just one chest, filled mostly with copper and bury the rest a few miles out. We can get it later if we need. Or bring in a bit at a time as we send out patrols."

He nods.

"We have nearly a hundred prisoners." He tells me next. "Not counting the whelps."

What would you have us do with them?"

"Can they be trusted?" I ask.

He sighs. "Some may break off. Given the chance. Become a small band of raiders. The rest?" He shrugs.

"Let them know that if anyone tries that, they better go far. There will be no mercy for any that raid around here." I order. He nods.

"Some are asking after the spiders. And the bats." He tells me. I just shake my head, confused. "They are like favored pets."

My skin crawls thinking about it. "They can bring them with. If they are able. Just keep the spiders away from me." I allow.

He nods. "We should be able to pack up and be moving by lunch." Crom announces.

He was right. By mid morning we are marching back toward town. I lead Sheriff. Not yet ready to ride. Hanna marching next to me.

She keeps looking back over her shoulder. "What's up?" I ask.

"You should take those princesses. Soon." She tells me. "If we are going to have any trouble, it will be from them."

Then she grins up at me. "Getting ravished by a handsome conqueror, should put them in their place. You know, like you did to Amanatia."

"Hey! That's not quite..." I start, but she is giggling at me. I nod, embarrassed.

"What's a Hobgoblin?" I ask a little later.

She looks up at me with her good eye. A serious look on her face. "Goblins used to have magic. Powerful, and primal. We used to be fierce and bold. But we angered the gods. Our courage and our power was stolen from us."

She reaches out and gingerly touches the small of my back as we walk. Like a worshipper night touch an alter. She looks lost in reverie.

"Our most powerful shamans were called Hobgoblins. They could do things." She yanks her hand back, like I was suddenly hot to the touch. "Amazing things." The last was barely a whisper.

She turns back to the road ahead. No doubt thoughts of Goblin magic swirling in her head.