Risha: Chapter 53

Risha hissed at Dilo as he applied ointment to one of her many cuts. He bared his teeth back as he moved to her other arm.

Talo and Deathbringer Diel moved through the corpses of the slain, stripping them of their weapons and armor. Kyra sat next to Ola, who was still staring at her former slavers in shock.

Klaz’zks lowered herself from the ceiling in her half-human form, Risha’s spiderlings streaming behind her to hang from her cloak. 

Risha hissed again, sending a small glare towards the other goblin. He avoided her gaze this time, but kept applying the ointment. 

“What was that?” Risha motioned with her head towards the large creature wrapped in a cocoon on the ceiling.

“A Centipede.” Talo answered, turning over the largest demon to grab a dagger from its belt. He held it up, looking at it, “Usually many hunt together.”

Risha shuddered, imagining a colony of the hundred-legged creatures.

Dilo capped the ointment he’d been using, then offered Risha a hand up. She took it, shaking her body as she stood up. 

Risha walked over to the dead demon who’d given her so much trouble. The fight had brought her to level 48, incredibly close to the round number Risha knew was special.

She picked up the head of the slaver, looking into its lifeless eyes, “And what are you?”

“Demon.” Talo walked up beside her, his cloth pulled back over his face. “Horns valuable.”

Risha nodded, then pulled out her knife to cut off the horns of the creature. She tied them to her waist, watching as Mist-Prowler made her way through the bodies, examining them with clinical efficiency. 

Her gaze fell to the swords with chains wrapped around them. Risha smiled wide as she unwrapped the chains from the dead demon’s arms. The swords were heavy, but Risha could lift them. 

Risha would have fun with them later. 

Ola stepped closer to the dead, drawing Risha’s attention. 

“They’re dead.” Ola looked up at Risha, some part of her still in disbelief.

Risha nodded, and motioned to the head she’d just taken the horns off of. “Dead.” 

Ola’s gaze hardened, then she spun around and motioned for Risha to follow her. “We must find other goblins before other masters look for them.” 

Risha frowned, “Not masters, demons.”

Ola froze, nearly tripping over her feet, “Yes, not masters. 

Risha motioned for the others to finish up, and they took off.

Nineteen more pale goblins were found in the cave mining the crystals. Risha gathered all of them, and placed their bags of crystals on one of her spiders before escorting them away from the tunnel. 

Ola walked besides Risha, the other goblins still terrified of the purple goblin. 

“There are more of you, aren’t there? And more demons.” Risha asked as they made their way back towards the stone doors. 

“Many, we are- were slaves to the power of the Heart. The demons are his servants.”

“The heart?” 

“You hear it, beating endlessly. The old master called upon it to fight you.”

Risha could still hear it, beating through the earth, was that the power she was supposed to find here? Or was Ola and the other Under Goblins that power?

“Do you know how many goblins there are?”

Ola shook her head, “No, Ola does not know such things.”

They soon reached the first cave, and Risha held up her hand to stop the party from continuing. 

She turned to the still tiny goblins, and one by one evolved them. Every single one turned into some variant of an Under Goblin.

Under Goblin Defender, a tall goblin with an athletic build that was still shorter than most of the High Goblins.

Under Goblin Miner, an evolution that was stockier, and had large muscles.

Under Goblin Trapper, a lithe goblin with sharp eyes and long fingers.

Under Goblin Gemsmith, they had normal builds, but their eyes changed the most, becoming sharp with a dash of purple.

Ola remained the only Sparktender, but Risha hadn’t had the chance to ask what kind of ability that gave. 

Risha walked up to Klaz’zks while the goblins marveled at their evolutions.

The spider queen waited patiently, having expected the Grand Mother to approach her soon. 

“Klaz’zks, I want you to gather spiders you trust and set up a camp here for these goblins.” 

The Spider Queen nodded.

Risha grabbed one of the spiderlings on her cloak and held her up, “Kliks, go tell Glo what we’ve found, have him organize small groups that can explore the tunnels.”

The spiderling jumped away, skittering through the doors and through the spider-warren. 

Risha turned to the party who waited nearby, “We’ll be continuing deeper.”

“Grand Mother,” Mist-Prowler stepped forward, still in her High-Goblin form, “Let me go ahead as one of the demons, I’ll be more useful there than here with you.”

Risha hesitated, studying the creature, then nodded, “Find out what the heart is.”

Mist-Prowler bowed, then walked down the tunnel, her form shifting before she fell out of sight. 

Dilo cleared his throat after Mist-Prower had gone, “Shouldn’t we wait for Glo before continuing?” 

Risha looked over her remaining party, “That would be the smarter thing to do. But…” 

Time is running out. The shaman said to her, his spirit watching.

She didn’t know what the time was for, but- “I know we have to continue now.” 

Risha looked into the eyes of every creature, looking for argument. Every single one bowed to her. 

Risha smiled, then looked over to Ola, who’d been left with the position of leader by the other Under Goblins. 

“Ola,” The other goblin looked up, and walked over to Risha nervously, “Do you know where the nearest goblin slaves are.” 

Ola shook her head, then paused, “Ola doesn’t, but Aram might.” She motioned over to one of the Under Goblins that had chosen the Miner evolution. “He came from elsewhere.”

Aram kept his head low as he approached, glancing up nervously at Risha.

“Aram, Risha needs to know where the other camps are.”

The goblin glanced up, then bowed low, his legs shaking “Aram knows, Aram will show the Grand Mother.” 

Risha placed her hand on Aram’s shoulder, then gently helped him back to standing, “Do not bow to Risha unless you want to. Risha is not your master, she is your Grand Mother.” 

The stocky goblin nodded, tears gathering in his eyes, “Follow Aram, Grand Mother.” 

Risha smiled, “One moment,” She glanced over to Klaz’zks.

The spider queen tapped her many legs against the nearby webs of the colony in a complicated message. 

Moments later, spiders crawled out of the warren, startling the Under Goblins. 

“Don’t worry.” Risha called, drawing their attention to her, “They are friends.” 

A spider-tamer goblin came with the spiders, bowing to Risha before communicating with the other goblins and calming them further. 

Traps were set up under the guidance of Klaz’zks as she organized all of the spiders in setting up protections of the Under Goblins who would be resting here.

“G-Grand Mother,” A soft voice called out, bringing Risha’s attention to one of the smaller Under Goblin Defenders, “you are attacking the demons?” 

Risha watched the young boy, then paused as she realized that he was likely Risha’s age. “Yes, we will.”

The goblin took a deep breath, “Take us with you.” He motioned to three other goblins who stood with him.

“It will be dangerous.” 

“We know. But-” The boy’s sharp teeth started to show as his lip curled back, “Holo wants- I want to see them dead.” 

Risha looked at Diel, the orc deathbringer. She didn’t need to say anything as he bowed to her. 

“Follow me,” The deathbringer called, “You’ll need more than those pics to fight.” 

Thankfully they had stripped the demons of their weapons well, and had something to give the tiny goblins. 

Diel ran them through basic drills while Klaz’zks finished up with her spiders. The Spider Tamer High Goblin agreed to stay with the Under Goblins while they went further into the mines. 

Risha only allowed an hour before they set off, Aram leading the way.

Their small party set a quick pace as they made their way into the caves. They covered distance fast, accompanied always by the sound of the beating heart. Aram took them past the sight of their first battle, and through hallways to the sight of a river. 

They followed the river for a while before Aram slowed, he stepped closer to Risha, “They mine just around the corner.”

Risha nodded, and silence was their friend as they approached the turn.

A whip echoed out, followed by a scream of pain. Risha’s blood boiled at the familiar sound, but she stayed calm.

Kyra moved ahead, slipping through the darkness, until she was out of sight of Risha. 

Risha held up her hand and counted down before jumping around.

A singular demon stood over a half-dead female goblin being held in the arms of another male goblin. The male goblin had several lashes on his back, but he hadn’t moved from his position over the female. Behind the demon, two others watched on in amusement.

They turned to Risha in surprise as she ran into view. She pulled back one of the swords, chains wrapped around her arm, then threw it like she would her old spear. 

The sword traveled through the air, chopping off the ear of the demon as she missed and the sword embedded itself into a pillar of stone behind him. 

A second later, knives struck out from the darkness, killing one of the demons, and silver light flooded the room from Talo lowering his cloth. 

Risha threw the second sword, her aim adjusting to the strange weight of it. The demon twisted away, but her sword hit it square in the chest. She hadn’t meant to predict the demon’s movement, and would’ve missed if it hadn’t moved. 

The thought left her mind as the chains wrapped around her arms pulled on her magic, and the swords came flying back to her hands. 

Risha smiled, that made a lot more sense. 

The third demon died seconds later as a sword of silver punctured it and Dilo’s arrow shot through its throat in the same second. 

The huddling pale goblins shrunk away as Risha walked further in. Then they froze entirely as the Under Goblins followed her group.

[Mother’s Care] extended from Risha wrapping around both goblins, drawing their attention back to her.

She knelt down, and the male goblin clutched his love tighter, his expression defiant.

Risha dropped her swords and placed both hands on the dying goblin in his arms.

[Mother’s Care] strengthened with her intention as she channeled her magic into the goblin. 

Slowly, wounds healed, and the goblin’s breath stabilized.

The male goblin looked up at her in awe as her healing strengthened over him too, his lashes healing. 

“Would you like to become something more, little one?” Risha asked. “Something strong enough to protect your lover?”

The male goblin nodded, tears coming to his eyes, “Yes. Yes, yes, please.”

Risha gently caressed the little goblins face as more magic flowed through her. Gently she spoke words to him, unknowable, impossible to remember.

They wrapped around him, making him something more, bringing him a world that should have always been his.

Under Goblin Heartbound

Risha wasn’t sure what it was, but she knew it was right for him.