The Good Goblin

Gods damn it… I am far too slow at moving right now. Even with me using the staff as a walking stick, I am nowhere near as quick as I was before. My foot is really fucked up. I should have left it unhealed and got Svampe to fix it later. Then again… it was bleeding really bad… I would be moving even slower if it hadn’t been healed at all… or I’d be passed out from blood loss.

Oh gods… Svampe… Mum… the farm. I hope they are okay. It was chaos inside the city… I can only imagine how bad things were on the surrounding lands. I need to get back there. Fuck… there are too many people that I need to check on. Right… find Kiyui… go check on the kids… then back to the farm.

I really hope that Kiyui is okay. I know that he heals fast… but even he can’t heal from a fatal injury.

No… no… no, no, no. Don’t think like that. He told me to trust him. He’ll be fine. But maybe I should bring a healer along… just in case.

I made it to the street where I had faced Asmodeus earlier. His corpse lay on the ground… blood everywhere. I honesty wish that things had not come to that. It makes me feel sick.

I don’t have time for regrets now. I looked around… Iliya and the guy he was fighting were nowhere to be seen. Carter was propped up against a wall, stretching out his neck. Clive was next to him, looking tired.

Dwynfel: “Carter, you alright?”

Carter: “Neck’s a bit stiff… but yeah.”

Dwynfel: “Good… Clive, I need you to come with me.”

They both stood up and we headed towards the Vox estate and… fuck it… this is taking too long… I need to get to Kiyui.

Dwynfel: “Carter…”

Carter: “Yes?”

Dwynfel: “My foot is killing me. Could you carry me, please?”

He smiled, nodded, and lifted me onto his back. At this point, I really don’t care if I’m being dignified or not. I need to get to Kiyui as soon as possible.

We entered the grounds of the Vox estate to be greeted by Wynrun. He was being carried by one of his Mouseketeers. He was missing most of his right leg. He had a rag tied round what remained of it. It did not appear to be bleeding.

One of the other Mouseketeers was dragging what remained of the mech suit. Which looks very much destroyed at this point. Just a load of twisted metal really.

Clive: “Does your leg require further healing?”

Wynrun: “Nah. Took a healing potion. It’s not fully fixed, but it’s not getting any worse. Save the spells for someone that needs ‘em.”

Clive: “Understood.”

Dwynfel: “How on earth are you still alive? And where the hell are the Kiwakwas?”

Wynrun: “Bellends crushed my mech suit while I was climbing out of it didn’t they. Tore my leg clean off. Lucky for me, they were idiots. Seemed more interested in smashing up the empty mech than they were about finishing me off. Aramis here was able to retrieve me from their feet and get me to safety.”

He patted the Mouseketeer that held him on the back.

Stolen novel; please report.

Wynrun: “Eventually they got bored of the mech and came after me again. I used Athos to distract them so that we could get to a safe distance. They were ripping him apart and I was about to activate his emergency protocol when the sky turned red. They just stopped what they were doing, picked up their severed limbs, climbed back into that giant hole, and buggered off. And frankly, thank the gods… because it took me ages to build these things and I’d rather not blow up another one thank you.”

Dwynfel: “Glad you’re okay, but have you seen Kiyui?”

Wynrun: “No. Why? Should I have?”

Dwynfel: “He was in the mansion when we left?”

Wynrun: “Seriously? There were some pretty gnarly noises coming from that place when I first got here… but I was a bit focussed on the giant twats trying to tear me apart. Can’t quite say when it happened exactly. But the mansion went silent at some point during the fight and nobody has come out here.”

Right… so he’s probably still in there.

Dwynfel: “Clive, Carter, we need to get into the mansion. He was in a bedroom on the north wing.”

Carter: “Understood.”

Wynrun: “You need a hand?”

As much as I want to say yes… he will likely end up asking questions when he sees what happened in there.

Dwynfel: “We’ll be alright. Go find the knights… see if they could use your help.”

Clive: “And if not… then get your leg fixed properly.”

Wynrun: “Will do. Hope you find him.”

Wynrun and his remaining Mouseketeers left through the gate and we continued into the mansion. We rushed straight to the bedroom that I had left Kiyui in. The room was an absolute blood bath. Pools of blood everywhere. Limbs, eyeballs, bones… pretty sure that is a Yeti’s spinal cord over there. But no Kiyui.

We searched the rest of the mansion for him. It was in a similar state to the bedroom. Some of the monsters must have attempted to run. There were bloody trails leading down corridors and into various other rooms.

We eventually found Kiyui on the floor in one of the southern corridors. What little clothing he had been wearing when we left him had been torn off. His arm was cut right open… but that was to be expected. The rest of him was badly bruised… he had several small cuts and gashes as well as a pretty deep claw wound on his stomach. His mouth was full of blood. I was concerned at first… but it became apparent that the blood in his mouth wasn’t his due to the bits of yeti flesh stuck to his teeth. Feiffer was sat next to him, licking blood from his face.

Carter put me down and carried Kiyui into the nearest bedroom. He placed him down on the bed and Clive started healing Kiyui’s stomach. I sat down next to Kiyui, held his hand, and stroked his head.

Carter: “Your friend here did all this?”

I nodded. I couldn’t take my eyes off Kiyui. He was right. We did both survive. We survived this horrible mess of a situation. And now… now we can be happy.

Carter: “Wow… he’s a bit of a dark horse, isn’t he?”

Clive: “Carter. Go wait outside.”

Carter: “What? Why?”

Clive: “Outside. Now.”

Carter: “Ugh, fine.”

I heard Carter leave the room. I looked up at Clive.

Dwynfel: “Why did you ask him to leave?”

Clive reached into his robe with his spare hand. He pulled out a letter that with the V’Rel seal.

Clive: “I know that you have questions. I know that once I have healed Kiyui that you will start to ask those questions. It is best that he is not present for that. I suggest that you read this as I finish the healing.”

Dwynfel: “That’s the V’Rel seal. Why do you have a letter with the V’Rel seal?”

Clive: “She knew what was coming. She may not have known exactly when it was coming, but she knew all the same. She requested that I pass it on to you after events concluded. Now read it and allow me to concentrate.”

I took a deep breath and broke the seal on the letter.