Chapter 12: Chapter Eleven – In which Ark does something monumentally stupid for the sake of his daughter, and causes no end of problems for Prima.

I returned to my room in the morning, laid down on my straw bed and just closed my eyes. Prima came in a while later with some fire meat for me to eat, to which I didn’t even try and reach for, even though I was terribly hungry.

“No eat? Husband being stupid?”

“Yes. Husband is being stupid.”

“Husband not eat, not give big seed. Husband words.”

“I know. But goblins who are too stupid to help each other in times of need only deserve the cursed little seed they can pry from the balls they cut off my dead body.”

“Prima not let Husband use weapon or magic. Here to give big seed only. Prima very patient with stupid Husband.”

“I know.”

“Eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Prima kicked me right in the ribs, and it hurt, bad.

“Eat fire meat!”

“I’d rather die, thank you.”

“Husband think Prima not kill if Husband not give big seed?”

“I had hope for you, Prima. I thought you were better than just some shitty goblin I had a quest to subjugate. Turns out I was dead wrong it seems. I was taught from a young age that goblins are the enemy of all civilized races, and I was willing to look past that because of how well you treated me. Maybe they were all wrong, I thought. Maybe goblins could be better? If I wanted to kill you, don’t you think I could have snapped your neck any number of times after fucking you stupid? So just kill me already and find some other human as willing to finish the job as I am. I don’t care anymore!”

I curled further into a ball and just tried to endure the pain I felt, and whatever pain would come next. She threw the piece of fire meat onto me, but I didn’t even try to move it. I just clammed up. If she left… when she left… I neither knew nor cared.

~~** Interlude | Prima **~~

“GRAAH! STUPID HUSBAND!”

A spear was tossed at a tree trunk, and became lodged deeply into it. This scene repeated about a half dozen times before Lily had come out from the tree-line of the forest holding on to two freshly caught dead rabbits.

“I can hear you yelling halfway to the stream. What did Husband do this time?”

Lily knew how quick to anger Prima was, and somehow already knew her mood was caused by Husband.

“Husband forgot his place. He is here to give big seed only!”

“And?”

“Husband asked for a shiny stone so he could use magic.”

“Husband can use magic? What kind of magic did he want to use?”

“Husband says he wants to use magic to make Berry’s cave-hole bigger. But there’s no way of knowing if he’s telling the truth.”

“Why would Husband lie?”

“Because he’s a human!”

“What does that have to do with anything? Husband is just trying to care for Berry and her new strong one. Just like he cared for me when my belly was full of big seed and he wanted me to eat when I was not able to hunt the morning after. To make sure my strong ones would not miss eating even for one day. He gave me his fire meat and even more big seed as well. Isn’t that why you gave Berry that piece of raw meat after seeing her with a fat belly the morning after spending the night with Husband?”

“You agree with Husband, then? You want to let him use wicked human magic?”

“You sound like the Old One. Just put your spear to his neck. If he tries anything other than making Berry’s cave-hole bigger, then kill him.”

“GRAAAAH!” Prima yelled again in frustration.

“Maybe it’s not Husband who is stupid.” Lily said openly to Prima, albeit quietly, even knowing she was still the runt of the tribe and might be punished for doing so. She walked over to the fire pit and threw one of the two rabbits she had caught on top, then sat and waited for it to cook.

~~** Interlude | Jewel **~~

“Husband?”

“Go away.”

“Hear Husband want see Jewel?”

“No point in it now. Just go away quickly so Prima doesn’t see you here and thinks I’m trying to trick you into doing something you shouldn’t be doing.”

“What Husband try trick Jewel do?”

“Jewel… Please, just go away.”

Jewel came closer to Husband and saw the fire meat he should have already eaten lying on the ground next to him. Not a single bite was taken out of it. Husband was curled up into a ball, and he looked small… weak. Something bad had definitely happened, but she didn’t know the exact details of what it was.

“Husband not feel well?”

Husband didn’t answer her anymore. He just laid on the straw bed and did nothing but breathe. Jewel left Husband’s cave-hole disappointed and feeling really dejected. She wouldn’t have minded wasting some seed with him, if only he looked her way.

~~** Interlude | Berry’s Cave-hole **~~

“Lily!”

“Oh, Jewel. Come in and see Berry’s strong one!”

Gathered in Berry’s cave-hole were many goblins. Bone-taker, Mushroom-picker, Lily who was eating what was clearly nauseating fire meat, and Berry and her new strong one sharing a fresh bloody rabbit.

“Hurt coming out of fuckhole?” Jewel asked out of curiosity.

“Hurt as much as when I got my scar. Fuckhole is broken for sure. When it heals, maybe Husband’s seed-stick will fit inside easier for more big seed.” Berry answered in a forward-thinking way.

“I just came from Husband’s cave-hole. Did something bad happen? He wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“Prima happened.” Lily said flatly. “Husband wanted to see if you have a shiny stone that can let him use magic. Husband wants to make Berry’s cave-hole bigger with Human magic so there is more room for the strong one. Oh, the strong one has a name, too. Diana Artemis.”

“Husband gave two names to the strong one?” Jewel asked, a little jealousy taking root in her heart upon hearing.

“What did Husband say about the names he gave her again, Berry?” Lily asked.

“Names belong to a Goddess. Diana Artemis–Goddess of moon, hunter, and forest.”

“Husband gave your strong one the names of a hunting Goddess?”

“Yes. Husband was only going to give one name to my strong one, but I was greedy and wanted both. I should have had many strong ones according to the Old One, but only this one came out. But Diana Artemis is a big strong one. Even the Old One said so.”

“Still. Supposed to take three moons time to make a strong one, and you had it in one day. Strong one must be special.”

“That’s why I was greedy. Husband cared for me after… But went back to his cave-hole this morning and got in a fight with Prima.”

“That’s because Prima turned Husband against us by not letting him use magic to help his strong one.” A new voice added itself to the conversation.

“What did you say?”

Tree-chopper had entered Berry’s cave hole in an effort to tell them what she knew.

“I saw the whole thing. I was going to see Husband about doing some exercises with him in his cave-hole since he can’t come out of goblin-home to feel the sun except once every few days. I heard Husband telling Prima last night that all he wanted was to see Jewel and ask if he could use a magic stone to make Berry’s cave hole bigger. He didn’t even care if Prima’s spear was at his neck when he used it. Prima hit Husband in the belly, then told him no. Then he went back to spend the night with Berry. Then I followed Prima in the morning, after she made Husband his fire meat outside in the fire pit, and I listened to Husband talk with Prima. He said he doesn’t care anymore. All his seed is cursed little seed now. That goblins are the enemy of all humans and other races. Husband wanted to think that goblin tribe could be better, but he was wrong. Prima kicked Husband in the side and then she left his cave-hole madder than if a black-claw stuck a sharp claw up her shithole.”

After giving a lengthy explanation, Tree-chopper, the lazy guard goblin then added: “What did Husband mean by goblin tribe could be better?”

“Care.” Berry said with an insightful quietness. “Husband doesn’t understand how to be a goblin. Husband is human. He came here yesterday to help me dig the wall for no reason other than to help. We got tired from digging for hours, and eventually rested on my bed. I shared sweet berries with him and then fell asleep in his lap. He held onto me the entire time, didn’t move at all and rubbed my fat belly. Husband didn’t even think to throw me off of him. Then we ended up wasting seed and I took him back to his room. A little bit after that, Diana Artemis was ready to come, when I was not.”

“So Husband really only wanted to help by digging the wall to make your cave-hole bigger?” Jewel asked curiously.

“It’s true. We were here all night and Husband only cared for Berry and the strong one the whole time.” Bone-taker said, “He even asked us about shiny stones and we told him if he wanted the best stones, it was you he needed to talk to.”

“This is a problem.” Lily said. “Prima was angry, throwing her spear into trees right outside goblin-home, screaming about Husband being stupid. I even told her she was the one who was stupid. I didn’t think about it being a matter of Husband being human and us being goblins.”

“So what should we do?” Jewel asked. “I can bring my shiny stones to Husband, but he already told me to go away. He said to go away quickly so that Prima didn’t think I was being tricked by him.”

The many goblins gathered in Berry’s cave-hole could only try and think about what to do…

~~** Interlude | Prima **~~

“Husband, wake up! Time pick goblin.”

Prima shook Ark, but he refused to even respond to her. She had already seen that he hadn’t touched the fire meat she had gone out of her way to bring him, and she had to listen to the runt call her stupid earlier. To say she was angry right now was a massive understatement.

“Husband agree last night, give big seed two goblins tonight.”

“Then you choose them, monster. You choose who in the goblin tribe gets the cursed little seed I have to give them now. I’ll show you real wicked human magic, Prima, just as you want. Just like the old one accused me of using. I don’t need a stone or a wand to cast the most grand magic spell that any human can cast at the cost of their own life. Strong enough to kill even a dragon! Want to know what that magic is called? Spite. It rots you from the inside out, and there is nothing under the sky which can undo it. A spell of pure hate for monsters that only know hate.”

The three goblins selected by Prima who had gathered began to chatter among themselves nervously. Words had spread from Berry’s room earlier in the day, and had already filtered out to many of them of the events prior that took place between these two. Husband wanting to care for the first new strong one born to the goblin tribe, and of Prima refusing to let him, of turning him against them now, of cursing his own seed he was supposed to give to the goblin tribe. He said those very words to her in front of them, and now they all worried about getting cursed little seed from Husband that would rot their bodies from the inside out!

One by one all the goblins who had gathered sneakily left Husband’s cave-hole until the only one remaining was Prima.

“Ark. If not give big seed, I will kill you.”

“Is that a threat? Prima, I already knew I was dead the moment you brought me into this cave.” he spat back. “So your choices are to either kill me fast now, or watch as I die slowly over the next three days.”

“Three days?” Prima asked with a furrowed brow Ark couldn’t see.

“Three days.”

“Ark get poison from Berry?”

“I don’t need something as useless as poison. Spite is the most powerful human magic spell because it exchanges the caster’s life in exchange for another.”

“Who kill with it? Me?”

“I am going to kill myself with it, but I will also save a life with it as well.”

“Who save?”

Ark sat up and put his hand right on Prima’s belly.

“I will save my future daughter from being born to a monster who doesn’t understand how precious and fragile a strong one’s life is!”

Ark’s words hit Prima like the very spear she threw through the redboar days earlier. She felt a chill run through her body and she leapt backwards. Ark merely smiled cooly at her and laid back down, once more curling into a ball.

“To the monster who wouldn’t let the very person she called Husband to dig a simple wall for his own daughter to have room to grow into a strong hunter for the goblin tribe… Now you don’t have to worry about digging one for your daughter either.”

Prima felt sick and horrified, running out of the breeding cavern wailing and fleeing down the cave while still holding the torch she had forgotten to ensconce on the wall. She didn’t even have time to process the sight of Lily, Jewel, Berry, and the lazy guard who were standing and listening to everything just outside of Husband’s cave hole.

“There is no light inside, and Husband can’t see in the dark. Berry, you go talk to him. Jewel, sneak with me so he doesn’t realize we’re here. Tree-chopper, keep an eye out. If you see Prima come back, tell us quickly.” Lily quickly said.

“Okay. I’ll keep watch here.” Tree-chopper agreed.

Lily, Berry, and Jewel went into the breeding room, where their Husband lay curled up on his straw bed. Berry moved to where he was and knelt down next to him.

“Husband…”

Ark rolled over when he heard Berry’s voice.

“Berry? What are you doing here?”

“Come visit Husband. Berry want help.”

“Ah. I’m sorry. I… was trying to do something to help you and Diana, but I don’t think I can anymore.”

“It okay, Husband help enough.”

“Did you come alone? Is Diana safe?”

“Diana Artemis asleep in cave-hole.”

“Didn’t it hurt to walk here?”

“Husband no worry. Fuckhole hurt when walk, not bad as Diana Artemis leave body.”

Ark laughed.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see her being born. But I’m glad I was there with you after.”

“Also happy Husband stay night. Berry rest next to Husband?”

“Yes, please do.”

Ark rolled over, and Berry laid down next to him. He carefully draped an arm around her and pulled her gently into his body. Jewel and Lily moved soundlessly around them, listening to them talk.

“Husband. Listen outside. Hear what say to Prima… Husband use wicked human magic to curse goblins? Wicked human magic not need shiny stone for make goblins rot?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Ark laughed.

“I can’t cast any magic without a focus orb or a magic wand, Berry. Even if I could, I wouldn’t ever cast something like that on you or Diana.”

“No curse?”

“No. I think you have a good heart. You will make a good mother to our daughter, I’m sure of it. Just… teach her to care for her future sisters. Not to be too selfish, even if it goes against what being a goblin is. I do believe that your goblin tribe can be the strongest if they learn to help each other.”

“That what Husband think?”

“Yeah. I’m… upset with Prima because I trusted her first. I told her I would end up doing stupid things. But, to me, caring for another person, even if they are a goblin, and especially if they are a strong one, is natural. Maybe it’s because that is how it is for humans. Do you know about human strong ones–children?”

“No. Husband tell Berry?”

“Human babies when they are born are completely defenseless. They can’t move any part of their body, and can’t do anything but cry, piss, shit, and suck milk. They have no teeth and no claws to protect themselves, either. Human parents, and even adult humans who aren’t parents at all will risk their lives to protect a child from harm. There is nothing more important to humans than ensuring the next generation of humans are safe. Even though Diana is clearly a goblin on the outside… I… don’t see her as one. She’s as much a human to me as she is a goblin to you.”

Lily and Jewel shared a bewildered look from behind Ark as they listened to his admission, and shook their heads. They knew Prima had stuck a ruthlessly prickly thorn-weed up her shithole now for sure.

“What about Prima?” Berry asked, “Husband curse strong ones rot from inside?”

Ark sighed.

“Like I said, even if I could do something like that, I wouldn’t. But, I don’t think children should be brought into the world to a mother who doesn’t know how, or shows no signs in wanting to care.”

“Husband… know Prima gave Berry big piece of meat yesterday after wake up with fat belly?”

“She did?”

“Yes. Even ask Lily. See Berry eat. Lily also give Berry and Diana fresh rabbit eat.”

“See, that’s exactly why I’m mad!”

“Mad at Lily for give rabbit?”

“No. Prima! If she can do that much, then why can’t she see how important it is to just let me use magic to dig your wall in order to make room for Diana? I don’t want to hurt any of you with magic! You were supposed to have three moons to prepare your cave-hole, right? I… somehow made the time you needed into less than a day. I could barely make a dent in the wall from all the times I hit the sharp stone against it. If I had a topaz stone, I could widen the room in a short time with magic, maybe as long as it took for a torch to burn. That’s all I wanted to do… I can’t… help any of you in any other way. I don’t want to be useless. After helping you out, I was going to offer the same to Lily and Jewel… even Prima if she wanted it. All the other goblins who would get my big seed in the future. I’m supposed to be your Husband, aren’t I? Then don’t call me Husband if the only thing I’m allowed to do is just lay here in the darkness all day and only ever give big seed. A Husband… A real Husband by human standards, by goblin’s standards I’m sure as well, has to care for all the goblins carrying his strong ones!”

“Why need topaz stone over other shiny stone? No need ask Jewel. Berry find when fuckhole not hurt so much. What color stone Berry need look for? Green? Blue? Red?”

“Topaz comes in a range of colors between honey brown and yellow. It’s a specific magic focus for land magic. So I can’t do things like make fire, water, or wind with it. It’s only for moving dirt and rocks.”

“No can do more than dig wall with Topaz?”

“I can. I can dig the floor as well, or reshape the ceiling.”

“Husband make ceiling fall… if want?”

Ark hugged her. He was aware now this was an interrogation. But he wasn’t sure if Prima put her up to this. He decided that of all the goblins he should trust in this matter, Berry was it.

“Yes. But I wouldn’t have let you stay in there while I dug the wall. Prima would have been there with a spear to my neck. Not because she felt the need to, but because I told her to out of trust. I know she doesn’t have trust for me yet, and I know I was pushing her in asking. But I still had to. Because that is what a Husband is supposed to do. But… she seemed hateful at me for wanting good for Diana? Forget trusting me, how could I ever trust someone who thinks that way about a newly born strong one? That’s why I hope you will teach Diana about poisons, let her be the strong one you wanted. I’m sure whatever human man you all capture next time, maybe if the children you and Lily and Jewel have grow up and teach the others to care… maybe that human sees it, he will be as open to giving big seed to you all as I’ve tried to be.”

“What mean…? Husband not die in three days!?”

“Prima is right. I’m a stupid Husband. I’m only a breeding slave here. You’ve all been calling me Husband, but if I can’t do what a Husband needs to do, then I’m not even good enough to be called that. And if all I am reduced to is living my entire life as only a breeding slave, then it’s better to die before I become a depraved monster myself. That’s the funny thing about humans. We can adapt to any situation given enough reason to. But the same can be said when that reason is taken away from us. We can even deny the very reality before our own eyes and choose another of our liking. The source of the greatest human magic–Spite. A magic that doesn’t need a wand or stone to be cast, just the sheer will to see it happen.”

I carefully let Berry go from the hug.

“Anyway, you came to hear what you needed to, right? I’m sure whoever else needed to hear it did as well. Nothing I said was a lie. Thank you for coming to make me feel better, Berry. I won’t turn you away, Lily either, and please let Jewel know I’m sorry I told her to go away. I just didn’t want any of you to be punished over a breeding slave like me.”

~~** Interlude | Goblin Trio **~~

“Fix it.”

“What do you two think you are doing?”

“Telling you to fix it. If Husband dies because of you being stupid, we will leave. All of us, with our strong ones. We’ll talk to the Great Protector ourselves and tell her we want to be better goblins in another cave. We will always be enemies then, until the moon no longer shows at night.”

“Are you even listening to yourselves!? Over a human who is fine with killing us?”

“Only you and the Old One think that’s what he wants to do. None of us think that for even a moment!”

“Us? Who us?”

“Me, Jewel, Berry, Tree-chopper, Bone-taker, and Mushroom-picker. We all will leave this tribe if Husband dies because you stayed stupid!”

“Husband cursed my strong ones! He wants them to and me to rot from the inside out!”

“Husband gave you time to stop being stupid, Prima. Three days. Berry knows poison better than any other goblin. She says it takes longer than three days to rot, and rotting is painful. Don’t believe me? Ask Berry then. She’ll tell you about rotting insides, or did you forget about how she survived her ugly scar so quickly?”

Jewel and Lily had let go of Prima after dragging her into the shit-pit to have a friendly chat with her.

“Let’s go, Jewel. Shit-pit only smelled bad until we dragged Prima in here. Now it’s making me want to puke.”

Jewel followed Lily out and Prima was left feeling like the tip of her spear was poking her shithole and fuckhole at the same time. She had run to the back of the cave after Husband touched her belly, haunted by eyes of freezing-blood like the ones the Old One said the humans who came to kill their tribe long ago had. Eyes that only wanted to kill goblins. She was going to talk to the Old One about Ark’s curse, but stopped before she entered her cave-hole.

Prima had thought if she told the Old One he had cursed her with the human rot magic called Spite, that the Old One would come and kill him immediately.

Prima didn’t want to kill Husband. She just wanted him to not be stupid! She gave him too much freedom, and he got stupid just like he said he would. Just like the Great Protector said he would if she let him. He was even aware of it! So why was she the one suffering for it!?

Who else was responsible for protecting the goblin tribe? She was the Guardian!

A little later…

Outside of goblin-home and in front of the fire pit, Jewel emptied something out of a small fur-lined pouch onto the ground, the last of the sun’s light before the moon rose was still in the sky, and both her and Lily stared at what lie before them. All the shiny stones Jewel had ever collected and not traded.

Among them were two orange stones, one brown stone, and one shiny yellow stone that came closest to what they were looking for. Jewel’s shiny yellow stone, which until she took Husband’s white stone from among his things was her most prized possession.

“Which one do you think is the topaz?”

“I… don’t know. Husband said the color of a topaz was somewhere between brown and yellow. Husband’s white stone is very shiny. Maybe it is my shiny yellow he wants? I know how to pick a shiny stone, but not one meant to be a magic stone.”

“What if we bring them all to Husband and let him see? He would know which is topaz, wouldn’t he?”

“Maybe. But what if one of the stones is one he could use human magic that might hurt us?”

“Jewel, you don’t really think that Husband would hurt us? You heard him speak to Berry.”

“I know! Do you think I would threaten Prima with you if I did? I saw her throw a spear clean through the center of a redboar! She could have thrown us both in the shit-pit and let us sink to the bottom if she really wanted to, back there.”

“Then why didn’t she?”

Considering how aggressive Prima usually was, it was in fact a great mystery to the both of them why she hadn't…