Chapter 317: It's all part of the plan

Note: Just a heads up that this chapter has been discovered by a cunning, perceptive patron to be out of order. It's technically BEFORE the last Blake chapter...it'll all be fixed by the ebook...

By the third day of living with both orcs and goblins, Blake had begun a kind of betrayal calculation.

It went something like this: the number of drunk or high goblin wizards (W), plus their total number of sober, competent warriors (G), minus the number of orc warriors (O), minus the number (N) of constructs (C).

He had a few other factors, of course, including his own strength (he counted himself in the goblins' eyes as maybe five constructs), plus maybe 4 more for Annie and Seul-ki (he expected they underestimated them), and maybe one more for Ilya (another underestimation).

Call it (W + G) - (O + CxN + 10).

Blake figured if the sum of these numbers ever reached positive, he was going to have to kill a lot of goblins.

It wasn't the most elegant calculation in the world. But goblin betrayal was probably as much art as science. Reminding himself of the math helped to put things in perspective.

And it also gave him a very clear direction of what to do: increase his number of constructs, preferably faster than the number of drunk wizards and sober goblin warriors.

The first couple days were the sketchiest. Fortunately, the goblins were all tired and looking to get a feel for their situation before they truly started to scheme. Blake wasted no time.

By the second night he'd created ten new constructs and transfered them to the tower. He told Ilya to bring a small showing of force, even having her hire some mercenaries from the other towers to avoid owing the Stonebloods any favors.

He took a small break to create her some of the orc silver currency with True Making, though he knew he couldn't rely on that too much, or he'd turn the orc towers into Venezuela. But short term it worked beautifully.

The goblins had temporarily been given two whole floors of the tower. One was for the wizards, assassins, and their personal servants. The other for whatever was left of the engineers and prospectors, and most of the slaves. The main thing that troubled Blake was the assassins, which was why he suggested Ilya give them their own floor.

With the all but invisible creatures, they couldn't control their movements. But they could lock them behind giant doors.

After a quick upgrade, the only way to move between the different levels of the white tower was through huge, iron exits that required different keys. The goblins were only given keys for their own floors. You couldn't sneak through an iron door.

By the fourth day of making constructs, Blake was starting to feel relatively safe. He nonetheless set a meeting with Chillik, bringing the wizard up a floor to walk past nearly every single construct Blake had made so far. The wizard stared with disbelief, then alarm, and finally subdued acceptance.

"Your tower is…very impressive," he said, friendlier by the moment as he sat in Blake's hall. He glanced at Pliny tinkering away in the corner and frowned. "But I see you've put one of those lunatic engineers to work. What's he making, eh? I hope it's a damn toilet. I'm tired of shitting in a pot already."

"Unfortunately not," Blake smiled. "Though I might try and solve that problem eventually. I was hoping..."

"Why haven't we met formally with the orc lord? Er, lady? Busy, no doubt, but three days? It's bordering on rudeness. Inhospitable. I'm High Wizard Grand Master Chillik! Not some meaningless slave to be treated so."

Blake nodded in sympathy, pretty sure the goblin’s title changed every time it was used.

"Lady Ilya is new to her position, and exceptionally busy. She could spare a little time, of course, but wishes for the first meeting with your people to be worthy. A kind of welcome party, you understand. And that takes a little more time and effort to do right."

Chillik grunted, seemingly mollified for now.

The real reason, of course, was that Blake didn't trust the goblins to behave. He wouldn't put Ilya anywhere near their wizards or killers because there was a very real possibility they'd try to kill her and seize the tower.

First, they needed to be cowed. To be locked in this tower like the pleasant prison it was, and surrounded overwhelmingly by force.

Once they'd realized they were trapped without friends or options, at the mercy of the lady of the white tower. Then could they meet their new master.

"So why am I here?" Chillik said, glancing at Annie and Seul-ki sitting not far away. "My feet are sore and I hate stairs. So what do you want. And none of your shit talk, mind mage."

Blake couldn't help but like the goblin leader. There was something familiar, maybe, about creatures more ambitious and arrogant than they had any right to be.

Like Blake, goblins seemed compelled to pursue greatness, no matter the cost, no matter the barriers. They could be obnoxious, certainly, blinded by their own desires. But at least they weren't...boring.

"I need your help," Blake said, sliding some orc sourbrew and a bowl of fresh fruit across the table he'd just made. "Well, the orcs need help. And I was thinking it would be a good opportunity to show them how valuable you can be."

"Go on," Chillik muttered, staring at the fruit a moment before lifting the sourbrew for a sizable swallow. Blake smiled politely and continued.

"There are demons trying to burst through ancient portals in this tower."

Chillik blinked and swallowed his beer, going slightly still before he looked at Blake.

"Orcs are particularly weak to mind magic,” Blake continued, “as I'm sure you know. The demons use it in abundance, so they are not ideally suited to closing said portals. But a powerful team of humans and goblins..."

"What do I get," Chillik said, taking another drink and popping a few cherries into his wide mouth.

"Coin. Trinkets.” Blake shrugged. “A share of whatever we find in the portals. The friendship and gratitude of the thousands of orcs that surround you."

Chillik spit a cherry seed onto the floor and sneered with red teeth.

"I want a key to the tower. Just for me. I want a hundred of the orc's earth crystals, a comely female orc slave. And...I want that little one, with the red hair." He gestured at Annie.

Blake did his best to keep his face neutral. He glanced at Annie like he might be considering it, then shrugged.

"A key is possible. To everywhere but the lady's floor. I'm sure the crystals and orc slave are doable. But there are no human slaves, at least not where I'm from. Annie here isn't something that can be traded or..."

"Just one night, then," said the fat goblin, leering at Annie with a grin. "She can massage my feet. I'll teach her about goblin magic."

Blake took a breath, realizing the creature was just trying to push his buttons. It glanced at him from the corner of its eye, no doubt trying to gauge how he felt about Annie.

Chillik seemed like a loudmouth brute, even careless—but Blake knew a creature didn't ascend to the top of a goblin hierarchy like that without being exceptionally cunning.

"I'll go," Annie said, practically spinning Blake's head to look back at her. She stared at the goblin without concern or humor or anger. Just a cold, blank stare. "I think I’ll cut off his fat toes, and make a necklace."

Blake turned back to Chillik, rather disturbed by the entire conversation, and not really sure how the goblin would react. Chillik laughed.

"Another time, maybe. Once the girl has warmed to me. The key, then. The crystals and the slave. And I'll take a monthly meeting with Lady Ambereye instead of a night with little red."

Blake snorted, acting as if this was ridiculous. But actually it was probably wise, and perfectly reasonable. He shook his head and shifted in his chair as if he'd been manipulated and put upon.

"I want your best assassin. And the most powerful wizard besides yourself. And we might need them for more than one portal."

"As you like." Chillik shrugged and belched, then stood with considerable effort. "I'll expect that grand welcome ceremony. And make sure your lady thanks me personally, and tells all my no good, scheming cousins she looks forward to her partnership with me, grand master Chillik. Best to keep things...stable. Yes?"

Blake stood and held out his hand.

"Stability benefits us all. I'll speak to Lady Ambereye. But I'm sure she will agree."

Chillik glared at Blake's hand with some suspicion, and Blake fought any reaction when he felt the creature cast some kind of spell. Navi hovered over Blake's shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"Magic Shield, master, a defensive spell to protect him from magic."

"Oh, you needn't worry," Blake said with a growing smile. "I don't need to touch you to control your mind."

Chillik winced, then took Blake's hand like one might try and grab a snake. He pulled away just as quick, backing away with a final glance at the many constructs before shuffling back without another word.

"Are you certain an alliance with these creatures was...wise?" Seul-ki said, moving up to stand beside him. Blake gave that some real thought before he answered. But he'd already calculated and accepted the risks.

Obviously Chillik and the others couldn't be trusted.

But they could be relied on, in a strange kind of way, to do what was in their self-interest. At least with Chillik in charge.

As long as Blake and Ilya never looked too weak, and as long as they had the means to punish the goblins terribly, they were safe. Blake reminded himself to make sure Chillik remembered Mason would come and kill him if he ever truly hurt Blake.

"Don't worry, my dear," he said finally, squeezing Seul-ki's hand. "It's all part of the plan." He glanced at Annie. "And what was all that about goblin toe necklaces? First of all, that’s disgusting. But do I need to worry about you?"

The girl just stared, and Blake reminded himself he definitely needed to worry about her. But he needed to get these demons dealt with first.