Revenge of the Sorcerer King 2 - 9

Having a lot of fun writing this now that I have gotten back in the groove of the story. I know its wednesday and I need to do a DR chapter but I didn't want to inturrupt the flow I had going with the story. I plan to finish a fourth of the book tonight I'm having that much fun writing it. Cross your fingers!

Chapter 9

Alessa

Retracing our steps, we found a rocky outcrop that was partially buried under sand. With a bit of terra magic, I moved it all to expose the outcrop completely. After one or two dozen meters, we found an ancient looking doorway. Doors made of stone with ruins carved on their surface blocked passage.

“Score!” I shouted pumping my fist into the air. I hopped up and kissed Sarius on the cheek. While he had technically been an enemy at one point, he was part of my Familia now. He literally couldn’t betray me. 

I moved forward and placed my hand on the doors. The thrum of mana that was still very much active pulsed under the surface. I pushed with a bit of strength, but it didn’t budge. Even after I punched with all my vampire strength fueling my fist, the sand surrounding the passage was more disturbed by the blow then the door itself. I concluded this was some high-level stuff. 

“Must be Oberon again. Something he left behind to make us mortals feel puny,” I mumbled with some annoyance. I wanted to check out the first bit of the dungeon before going back. As foolish as that was.

“Let us head back mistress. The sun might not bother you but I would prefer not to turn to ash today,” Sarius said pointing at the sky.

I followed his gesture and nodded. It would still be dark to mortals, but as vampires we could see the threatening light of the sun nearly an hour before it crested the horizon. I channeled my mana into the area around us and turned the sand into solid stone. The desert constantly shifted, and I didn’t want to lose the place.

“Let’s go.” I hopped from the depression and sped off towards the city. There were so many people there now that it glowed at night from the goblins and fairy races. As we grew closer to the city, undead patrolling the outside of the city were constantly in sight. A larger quarry had been started outside the section of the city we approached from. 

With the undead, it was constantly working. Stone moved like a river. It that was being funneled into repairing the walls and other important buildings of the city. With Oberon at the helm, I felt the city would be back to its glorious state in a matter of months rather than years. 

As we reached the gate, one of the specters dived down and seemed to inspect us before it sank through the ground. I really did feel sorry for any army that attempted to attack this place. They would need to have the backing of at least three or four churches to be a threat. 

I came to a stop at the gatehouse and moved inside. “Guard, where is Oberon?”

The skeleton looked up at me before he pointed to a spot on the map that hung in the gate house. I followed it to see he was pointing at the goblin district. Oberon had left to undo the curses earlier in the day. I guessed he was still at it if he was still there.

I grabbed Sarius and we moved in that direction. The undead miasma rolled through the street. Taking a deep breath, it reminded me of something sickly sweet. According to Helena, she smelt copper. It changed depending on the person and who was the created of the miasma. 

Stopping at the entrance to the goblin district, I had to do a double take. There was a mixture of different beings walking the streets. There were the yellow goblins I had grown used to with a almost human sized brown-golden skinned goblin that dwarfed all the others. That must be the ones that had their curses taken from them.

“I didn’t believe it when I heard it, but this is amazing,” Sarius said looking at the goblins.

“Makes you wonder what will change when we get our curses pulled from us,” I commented pushing him forward.

“I was a soldier for thirty years before I went bandit. You have no idea how much death has been caused by one of the sins reaching a hundred percent. Wrath is the worst of them. They become almost unstoppable.”

“Sounds like a handy weapon that some noble would have tried to exploit,” I mumbled as we walked through the goblin streets.

“I won’t lie. It has been done in wars before.” 

“Then who is the real monster? The one that fell or the one that pushed another to fall?”

Sarius didn’t reply. I asked one of the uncursed goblins and we were directed to where Oberon was working. All around him Goblins were signing his contracts while threads of mana flowed into him from their curses. Looking from the distance, I really felt he looked like an evil overlord.

There were a number of undead in the streets helping keep order as the unchanged goblins pushed to be the next changed. I was a little worried by the fact that all the undead were new from the mana signatures I was getting from them. Maybe his little walk hadn’t been completely bloodless.

“Oberon!” I shouted over the noise of the hundreds of goblins shouting and cheering as another of their brothers was changed. The goblin grew nearly twenty centimeters and looked like a completely different being when the magic was finished. Oberon waved us forward even while he worked on the next goblin. We made our way around the mass of bodies and finally got into the clearing formed by the undead. 

“Alessa. Judging from your expression you have beaten me in our race,” Oberon said with a grin.

Caught off guard by what he said, I tilted my head to the side. “I found the dungeon, but I didn’t know we were racing.”

Oberon laughed loudly, his eye flames lighting up the area around us for a second. “I saw that look in your eye when I left. You wanted to be the first to find it.”

I let out a breath of air. “I guess I can’t fool you.”

“Not yet, but I think you’ll get there. Tell me what you found.”

“A passage way. The entrance is blocked by ancient ruin magic. Given how much magic I felt in the door I think it is what we’re looking for,” I explained.

A goblin moved up and signed the contract. I wasn’t really paying attention when he suddenly ballooned out and exploded with a spary of gore. I channeled my water magic to keep myself clean while Oberon created a barrier around himself. “Pity. Another one failed.” Oberon waved his hand and quickly created an undead from the corpse.

“I was wondering why there were so many new undead around you,” I said as I let my magic fade back to mana.

“Yes. This is why I don’t want to try to pull the curse off of you yet. The goblins only have a single curse and I still run into problems every now and then. Humans and the creatures that spawn from them are just going to be a plain headache to keep alive.”

Oberon

The fifteenth goblin of the night had died. While it was about what I expected, it was more than I rightfully wanted to go. The fairies had been easier. They were essentially made from mana and while they had a flesh and blood body it was more of a place holder. 

The goblins were all different down to the smallest building block. Even the way one goblin was raised compared to another caused it to be different. I was managing to work the curse through all those components, but I was still getting a failure every now and then. But waste not want not. 

“Return to the castle and let Helena know if you see her. Also, choose a few of the women that you want to test the waters with about becoming a vampire. When I finish up here I’ll be along.”

“Alright. Don’t take too long. I’m excited to explore a dungeon!” Alessa said with an excited grin before she grabbed Sarius’s arm and they took off toward the castle. 

It took me most of the day to finish the goblin population. I finally had all the elements of the goblins down by around noon and stopped killing them. Much to the relief of the surrounding goblins. Feeling more comfortable working the magic, I got to pulling the curse off of a dozen at a time.

I had thought I was pulling the mana into my own pool, but I actually found it was going into my experience bar. I gained a level while removing the curse from all the goblins. I still had a long road a head of me, but at least I was making headway on it. 

“Gobluke, gather fifty of the best goblins and meet me at the gate at sundown. We’re going on a bit of a quest.”

“Yes, master.” He turned and started to shout at the nearby goblins. 

I was about to leave the spot in front of the tribal hall when the elder came out with expectant looks. “What do you want?”

“We want to be changed.”

“Why would I do that? I have what I wanted,” I asked checking my claws.

“They’ll listen to us! If we tell them to ignore you or be lackluster,” the older elder shouted.

“Maybe before while they were still normal goblins or should I say corrupted goblins. I have made them all sign a loyalty pack. To refuse me or to go against my goals would literally cost them their lives.”

“What… No! We’re their elders! Have you no respect for the history of the families!?” the old goblin shouted his face turning purple from anger.

I looked the six elders over then grinned as an evil idea came to me. “How about this. I’ll change you all if you five kill him.”

The female elder didn’t even hesitate. She pulled a dagger from somewhere which considering she still wasn’t wearing any cloths I wasn’t sure where. With a swift motion she plunged the dagger through the old goblins chest effectively killing him in a single blow. She looked up at me with blood covering her face. “Deal.” 

“Very well.” I waved my hand and created the contract for all of them. I was eternally grateful to magic for translating the contract for the individual to understand on an instinctual level. Otherwise, I would still be working with the first few goblins. The elders barely looked it over before sticking their hand into to the document.

With that done, I pulled the curse from each of them. I considered killing them all just cause, but decided that while I had all of the goblins loyalty, I would rather not test their eagerness to test the limits of the contract if I killed all their elders. Soon five old sun-touched goblins stood in front of me. 

“Well then elders. Please cooperate with Gobluke if you want your tribe to continue to exist,” I said then turned on my heel and left the goblin district.