Delver Magic: Book 05 - Chain of Bargains (37 page)

"Prilgrat is risking the
lives of every human across the Great
Valleys. He has to see this. His
actions, however, do not reconcile with the underlying facts. He has already
reached the lofty position of regional steward. He rules over the very humans
he puts in danger. Wealth alone would be a small gain. He would be better
served to safeguard his current status."

"Men seeking additional power
make underhanded deals every day. Is it possible you are simply overlooking the
obvious?"

"I do not believe so. I have
seen Prilgrat and he is not one who would make a short sighted bargain. There
would have to be something of great value offered for him to risk all the power
he already has. The goblins simply do not have anything he needs."

"The prophecy states that he
makes a deal with the twins."

"But we do not know who these
twins are."

"I take it on faith that the
twins are evil and have offered Prilgrat exactly what he wants. The words of
Godson are clear—do not embrace evil—but it is always the same through history.
Our leaders let us down. They say they mean well, but they often only mean well
for themselves. There are very few you can depend upon, and even those will
eventually fail in some way. No one here is perfect."

"There are times we all have
to depend on someone," Ryson countered. "I mean, the members of this
church count on you, just as they once counted on Matthew."

"I will not speak of Matthew,
but I am not ashamed to admit I am far from perfect. As for depending on
others, you can certainly have faith in your friends, but if you place your
ultimate faith in something other than Godson to save you, you will be
disappointed."

Holli wished to refocus the
discussion on the prophecy and the valleys.

"I do not wish to show
disrespect to your faith, but that does not help me with my problem."

"I think it does. You believe
that leaders will act in the best interest of their people."

"No, believe me, I do not. I
have seen first hand how leaders will disregard those they are supposed to
serve."

"I didn't finish. When they
don't, you believe they are acting in their own best interest. Is that not
true?"

"Yes, it is," Holli
allowed.

"Your error is not here, but
in defining what would be Prilgrat's best interest. A corrupt individual will
have corrupt interests. If you do not understand what he might want, perhaps it
is a credit to your values, not his."

"Then, I will have to
continue my search for the answer."

"We all do what we
must."

"Thank you," Holli said.
"You have sharpened my focus."

"It is Godson's will."

With that said, Ryson could not
help but raise a question of his own.

"Don't take this the wrong
way, but I need to ask. Why didn't you tell Connel's leaders of this prophecy
when the refugees started arriving? Why didn't you tell Enin? Don't you think
he would have wanted to stop this before it got this far?"

"Wouldn't that be very
presumptuous of me?" Rachael responded. "In a way, I would be
interfering in Godson's plans."

"If that's true, aren't you
interfering now?"

"You came to me."

"That's kind of defining a
pretty narrow border, isn't it?" Ryson wondered.

"Not at all. Look at it this
way. What would happen if I went to some town leader that thinks everything we
believe in is nothing but superstitious nonsense? Would he listen? Would anyone
in power listen? No. If anything, they would be convinced that nothing of the
sort was happening and might ignore the obvious just to prove me wrong."

"Enin would have
listened," Ryson countered.

"And you believe that would
have changed the situation, but I don't feel the same way. I believe in the
prophecies. I can't stop them, you can't stop them, and Enin can't stop them,
either."

Rachael knew she wasn't reaching
Ryson. His dubious expression gave him away. She knew he wasn't really trying
to find fault with her, but he was a delver. He actively sought the answers to
all mysteries, while she placed her faith in a power that was beyond mystery.
She offered one last explanation.

"It's not easy to have faith.
I have to accept things I can't see or touch. I have to live in a land that
seems to test that faith nearly every day. The Book I'm supposed to rely on often
seems like one big puzzle. I try to fit all the pieces together, but I can't. I
have to realize that it was never meant for me to grasp every little detail.
There are certain things that are just beyond me."

"But this wasn't really
beyond you. You were told what was going to happen."

"Do you fully believe in the
prophecies?"

Ryson frowned. He didn't wish to
cast doubt on Rachael's faith, but he had to speak the truth.

"I don't believe the future
is already determined for us."

Rachael smiled. She appreciated
the delver's honesty. She offered her understanding with the same sincerity.

"The prophecies don't mean we
are free from choice. They just mean there are things we have to face."

"I've never been sure about
that."

"And yet you think I should
have spoken to Enin about the prophecies."

"You have a point," the
delver admitted. "Maybe this stuff is just over my head."

"You have company. Even with
the prophesies clearly interpreted for me, it doesn't help me figure out what I
should do. Maybe I
should
have alerted
people to what I knew sooner. It certainly sounds rational. As a member of this
church, I should be concerned with helping others. At the same time, I have to
honor a higher principle. I can't act as if I'm above the prophecies. I
shouldn't try to stop them. Who am I to interfere? Maybe in some way I am
interfering now, but then again, I believe Godson sent you here. To some
degree, I think it's about control. I can't start acting like I know what's
best. I have to leave that to Godson. I look for guidance and I hope I make the
right decision. It's all I can do."

"I'm not sure I can agree
with that," Ryson admitted, wishing not to focus on whether or not a
prophecy was bound to happen, but rather on the most honorable course of
action.

It was Holli who responded.

"You do not have to
agree," the elf said firmly. "It is what she believes, and all you
should do is respect it." Holli then turned to Rachael. "You have
helped me a great deal. What you said is true, but I believe it goes beyond the
book of your faith. Life is a series of puzzles and not all the pieces fit
together, at least not for one individual. I have already learned that forcing
them together is a mistake. I now realize that some pieces may not be part of
the puzzle, or perhaps I was never intended to put them in their proper place.
That had been my intention, but I must let it go. You have helped confirmed
what I
do
know, and it is enough.
Thank you."

"We're done here?" Ryson
asked, slightly bewildered at Holli's intentions.

"Yes. We will explain
everything we know to Enin, and though there remains a few holes, we know
enough to act."

The goblins stormed out of the
warehouse in Huntston in such fury that the building collapsed before the
entire horde had exited. Several were wounded, even killed in the crushing fall
of debris, but their numbers were so great, the casualties were completely
inconsequential. The dust cloud only served to add confusion to those that
viewed the initial outburst.

The soldiers guarding Huntston's western
bridge were the first to see the angry wave, and they were the first to fall.
None of them would escape. They never expected such aggression and brutality.
Previously, the goblins moved in and out of the town in small bands with total
disregard to the soldiers. The guards never faced any hostilities beyond a
grunt, a snarl, or some insult they could not comprehend, but that was before
the order was given.

The grotesque monsters grouped
into an enormous mob and rushed to the attack. They tore apart the guards in an
instant. They flung the pieces of human corpses into the water as they cleared
the bridge of all obstructions to ensure an obvious path that led across the
river to the west. They could attack and destroy to their hearts content, but
they were given one absolute measure of control they were forced to obey. The
humans that were allowed to escape were to be forced toward the central plains.

After securing the bridge, the
horde broke from it, left it unguarded. The mass of despicable creatures also
split in half. One section headed north and the other south. Each mob stuck
close to the edge of the river until they reached the northern and southern
borders of the town. With the entire western boundary covered, save for the
opening at the bridge, the goblins then moved to encircle Huntston.

It was late in the afternoon, most
of the citizens were returning from work or having dinner. They heard the
calamitous ruckus, but they had been conditioned to ignore such activity. Even
as they sensed a suffocating doom hanging over their homes, they learned to
shun any and all signs of commotion. They had become complacent. They
surrendered their concerns to a wave of growing apathy. It was not for them to
judge the wisdom of those entrusted to run the town, even when it came to
permitting goblins a free hand. The residents of Huntston found unease in the
changes, but they rationalized the absurdities as part of life in a world
filled with magic. Even as the goblins moved to surround them with obvious
malice, they kept their narrow focus on their individual concerns.

As long as there was order, who
were they to argue? Previously, they were given no reason to complain. Any
conflicts in the past had been quickly labeled misunderstandings. Yes, there
was order, but the people of Huntston could not grasp that order was not the
ultimate objective. Goblins did not submit to humans out of respect for peace
and tranquility. It was the means to a different end, and that end was upon
Huntston.

Once the goblins completely surrounded
the town between the Twin Rivers, they moved inward. They were free from the
bonds of controlling their natural tendencies. They did not have to maintain
any semblance of regard for law an order. It was just the opposite. Tumultuous
aggression and unbridled hatred became the desired message, and the monsters
embraced those emotions with maniacal glee. They destroyed homes, wrecked
shops, overturned wagons, and killed many.

They set small fires, enough to
create havoc, but not so the entire town would burn to the ground. They chose
isolated buildings and shacks where the flames would not spread, but the smoke
could be seen and smelled. In but a few moments after the assault began, the
town was filled with shrieks and cries as smoke swirled overhead in nearly
every corner of Huntston.

Every horror the despicable
creatures committed brought the turmoil to a higher level. Every deplorable
action created fear and panic. The goblins did not want to simply overrun the
humans, they wanted to break through the apathy of the townspeople. The plan
they followed involved creating so much immediate terror that every human would
feel the urgency to flee, and most did.

The residents of Huntston had
contained their apprehensions for a very long time. They had buried them deep,
but they had never exorcised their fears. Season after season, they focused on
tolerating the circumstances they could not understand. They never questioned
the true intentions of the goblins or the authorities that allowed for such
unstable conditions. They simply trudged through life, suppressing their
misgivings, but they never discarded them. When the true source of their
reservations came to absolute fruition in one disastrous heave of goblin
mayhem, their fears erupted with the same devastating upheaval.

Order decayed in an instant. The
entire populace throbbed with panic. Goblins moved in from every direction and
humans raced about without rationale or conviction. Fire, destruction, death...
it all came to pass in the blink of an eye.

The soldiers that had policed
Huntston never had a chance. The goblins knew the location of each and every
jail, barracks, and guard shack. They struck with such brutal swiftness that
only the structures made of stone survived the first impact. Any wooden guardhouse
simply crumbled into dust from the violent assaults.

Some people chose to fight, others
had no choice. The goblins were instructed to allow a great number to flee, but
casualties were not only expected, they were encouraged. When humans were
cornered and escape not a credible possibility, the goblins found no reason to
show restraint. Skirmishes were quick and bloody with the townspeople
ill-equipped and unprepared for the savagery they faced.

Those residents that were allowed
to escape were pushed west. The citizens of Huntston raced across the bridge
and into the surrounding farmlands, but they would never be allowed to rest.
More goblins waited for them in farmhouses and neighboring towns. The moment a
crowd of fleeing humans was spotted, angry and hateful goblins always forced
them westward, prodded them to the very edge of the Great
Valleys, pushed them to leave and
never return.

#

"The dwarves have instructed
the goblins to begin their assault. The little creatures are more than happy to
oblige, and I am spreading the word across the region. They are attacking
humans almost simultaneously across the valleys. They are already dispensing
retribution for pent up frustrations and casting aside their tolerance for the
humans in a most unpleasant fashion. The goblins should make quick work of what
they have to do. Your lands are about to change drastically."