Lord Of Goblins

"Finally. Step one was a success.", Lev said to himself once he sat down in a chair inside his home. He deserved to rest after today's events.

'I managed to not only win the hearts of the other slaves but also make what I hope would end up being a long partnership with Rak. Not all hurdles need force to be solved, they just need an agreement and a handshake.'.

He thought back to what happened after the fight.

His breath was rough, his left arm bleeding, and he was on top of the lifeless body of his foe. His knife still stabbed in the thug's c.h.e.s.t piercing his still heart.

He took a deep breath and calmed his heart. Then he took out the knife out of the dead body and looked around to see where the other one's located.

He was distressed since there are three reasons as to why the other thug didn't save his compatriot. He ran away to call for reinforcements, was taken out by the locals, or is frozen in place, still watching the spectacle; making him both stupid and a coward at the same time.

Thankfully it was the second, as Lev found the man beaten and tied up near Rak and his men.

"Looks like we need to talk", said Lev with a smile getting a nod from the stone-faced Rak.

Satisfied with Rak's answer, Lev gets his knife out of the dead body and cleans it with the thug's pants before cutting a long piece of cloth from the dead man's shirt.

Lev then stood up and looked at the other bogeys who are staring at him with looks both of fear and respect. Fear from Vyrga's wrath, but respect to the hero who protected them from those sent to prey upon them and slain word of them alone. He Raised his knife upwards and declared: "My brothers! We should never fear that mongrel Vyrga! For he and his men are few and we are many! Follow me and he'll never threaten us again!".

"Gherm! Gherm! Gherm!", and the crowd chanted in a chorus.

This continued for a few minutes, Lev raised his hand and spoke humbly; "No need for chanting, and more importantly, we have some work to do, isn't that right?".

They looked at each other and realized what they forgot… They had to work! After the crowd realized their error, they looked at the nearby post where their supervisors do their work, only to find it empty…

A majority of the slaves started whispering and cursing as they looked for their current supervisor Gelmir; they found him standing in the front row of the crowd looking annoyed. "Had your fun, eh? GET BACK TO WORK!", he roared and the slaves ran away to continue their job.

"Hey, Gelmir.", greeted Gherm with a smile.

"Hey Gherm, how's Ghorza? And how will you explain to her what just happened?", said Gelmir with a stern expression.

"That will be hard, but I think I can manage.".

"Sigh… Whatever. Just don't get yourself killed, I hope you plan a way not to get skinned alive."

"It's Vyrga after all.", Gelmir spat his name in disgust and went back to his post.

Lev sighed. It was good fortune for him and everyone that it was Gelmir's shift. Gelmir was one of the nicer and more easygoing supervisors and he was a student of Kul, making him and Gherm acquaintances. He was a talented warrior and a thinker, alas he was born a commoner and would've never learnt of his gift if not for Kul. His only flaw was that he was too coolheaded for his own good.

"So is it my turn?", asked a voice from behind Lev.

"Yes, it is, Rak.", answered Gherm before turning around. His view was greeted with the large, for a bogey, Rak staring at him inquisitively with his arms crossed.

"It must be my lucky day. I've been graced with an audience with the mighty Gherm,", said Rak in a sarcastic tone.

"And oh blessed me. My humble self is given the honour to speak to the amazing Rak.", replied Lev back.

They glared at each other for a moment before simultaneously bursting out in laughter.

"You're good!", Rak told Lev in all honesty. It's been a long time since someone had the gall to talk back to him in such a tone.

"I know, but so are you. So really now, let's start our discussion, alright?".

Rak nodded at Lev's preposition and he, Lev, and Hem were about to move to the side to discuss how they should handle each other after day, but Rak remembered an important matter which was to get rid of the last thug. He walked to the bruised thug and snapped his fingers. One of his minions grabbed the thug by the ears and raised his head, exposing his neck. The ashen-faced thug struggled and tried to plead for mercy but it was a common fact that mercy to one of Vyrga's men is meaningless as his master wouldn't appreciate it; so Rak raised his own knife, a copper knife that he took from the corpse of an assassin a week ago, and was about to end his captive's life.

"Wait!", only for Lev to stand in his way.

"What's the meaning of this…?", asked Rak, the look in his eyes was cold and deadly.

"I believe we should let him go.", his preposition shocked everyone nearby. Let one of Vyrga's men go? Was that a joke? That's what everyone thought including the thug himself. Vyrga wasn't the type to care about his subordinates, he's even known to kill those who show them mercy in more creative ways to display his loathing of such acts. The reason Rak got angry is because he thought Lev was trying to order him around and wanted to deal the finishing blow himself in front of Rak's own men.

"What? You want to show him Mercy? That would be useless. It's Vyrga we're talking about.".

"I'm not showing mercy; I'm sending a warning.".

"A warning… To Vyrga?", mutters Hem, astounded. No mere slave nor commoner have done that. A noble? Sure, but not an upstart slave with no protection.

"Yeah. A warning. Killing him won't change anything and Vyrga would find me either way since everyone here knows me by now. Besides, spare him or kill him, Vyrga would be insulted either way, so why not provoke him into a trap?" Lev said it in front of the prisoner on purpose. It could be interpreted as either a bluff or that the bogey 'Gherm' may have a way to take him down. In any case, knowing Vyrga's cautious nature, he wouldn't charge blindly into an enemy. He'd study his enemy and then strike. "Besides, showing a victim of this cursed life mercy isn't a sin. We all eventually fall to our lowest point, we all find ourselves too weak to change anything and thus in the end resort to crime. In the end, we find ourselves pursuing strength no matter the means, and we lose sight of our original goals and fall into the deepest abyss."

Rak felt that this was a light jab at himself, but he chose to ignore it.

"But I believe any man should be given at least one chance to redeem themselves. For even if we fall into the dark, we can still climb our way out of it." Finished Lev, but seeing that his crowd, with the exception of the thug, didn't look that impressed with his speech he added "Besides, to Vyrga, it'll be a slap to the face. And it isn't a secret that he's been needing one for a long time.". Now he gained a few chuckles and nods.

"You're playing a dangerous game, boy. I like it.", replied Hem with a Grin.

"Thanks, um…".

"Hemgall, but you can call me Hem. That's what people with balls can call me. And you got a big pair of bronze ones, kid.".

"Thanks, Hem. Anyways, Rak. Can you do me a favour and let him go?".

"It's your funeral," Rak said before ordering his men to untie the grateful thug and throw him out of his territory.

"Now that that's over, let's go start our discussion.".

"Sadly there are more thing to do...", Lev muttered as he woke from his recollection and stood from the chair, his body aching after a long eventful day. He fought against Vyrga's men and won, he gained influence among all the slaves in the mining quarters, and he managed to negotiate with Rak. The deal was as follows. Rak would once again provide protection to the weaklings in his territory and he would help Lev in establishing his own faction and securing its assets, but in return not only would both their groups be allies, Lev would have to help Rak in taking down his rivals under any circ.u.mstance unless if the task would lead to Lev's group's annihilation; Lev's group also only keep a third of the rewards during joint operations.

He washed himself and his clothes from all the blood, dust and grime and he replaced the rags he's using as bandages with cleaner ones. Then after he dried himself and wore a different pair of ragged clothes; he lied down in his bed and set down the knife on the side, but in arm's reach in case of an emergency.

'Now, time to rest…'.

As Lev closed his eyes and was about to journey to the land of dreams, the door slammed open, startling him awake. He instantly grabbed the knife and jumped out of the bed in a barrel roll. He immediately took a combat stance and pointed the knife at the intruder only to find that it was a panicking Ghorza with tears in her eyes.

"What have you done!?" Why did you do that!?", she screamed.

"Done what?".

"Don't play dumb! Everyone's talking about it! Why did you doom us by killing Vyrga's men!?".

"I had no choice.".

They stood in silence as they gazed at each other.

"What kind of excuse is that? Everyone also heard about your 'grand' speech and many of them are rallying to your cause. But that's the plan, right? I'm not stupid Gherm, no… whoever you are…" her words were true, but they still caused an ache in his heart. Those weren't the words that Gherm ever wanted to hear.

Ghorza continued; "You wanted this. You want to build an army of us unfortunates and use us. And judging by the look on your face; though you're not Gherm, he's still a part of you, right?", again she was right. Lev wanted to carve his own place in this world and Gherm is currently still a part of him, but not fully absorbed. That doesn't change the fact that even if Lev was the one absorbing Gherm; their goals, dreams, and priorities are mixing and merging. Lev wanted power to protect those he cared about and to make the world a better place, while Gherm just cared about the present and how to survive in it thus making him easy to absorb, but he had also d.e.s.i.r.ed one thing. For him and his sister to live happily. He wanted her to be happy, and though that d.e.s.i.r.e wasn't as grand as Lev's, it was strong enough to embed itself into his soul, making Ghorza important to him despite just knowing her himself for just two days.

Lev took a deep sigh and said; "You're right and wrong at the same time. I am not Gherm, but I also am Gherm." Before she could open her mouth he raised a hand and spoke "The reason I'm doing all this is to protect myself and those I care about. You.".

"Me? But you're not Gherm. Not fully.".

"Not fully, yes. But as you said before, he's a part of me, so we are one. I might be different, but in a way, I'm still Gherm. I'm still your brother, so don't reject me." He pleads. Something that he as Lev would never do even if it's to deceive his foes.

She stood still. Her thoughts are in conflict. She understands that he's not her brother anymore. She knows that he's a different person. But unlike yesterday, the look in his eyes was the same worried look that she would find on Gherm. As her heart told her yesterday that he was an imposter, it was telling her to accept him. She even felt that Gherm himself wanted her to accept this. For Gherm was still inside and without her, he might one day disappear. So after a deep breath, she relaxes her guard and extends her hand to him "Fine… bro.".

"Thanks, sister.", he replies and grabs her hand, pulling her to a hug.

"Still early for a hug, but I'll make an exception. And I'm still going to keep calling you Gherm, but can you tell me your true name?" She asked in case she's deceived by a demon of Mal. The goddess of deception's demons are capable of playing tricks on both the heart and mind but they're cursed to not be able to hide their true name when asked. They either tell their name, binding them as servants to those who know it, or absolutely reject telling their name and inadvertently reveal demonic marks on their hands and neck.

Lev chuckled as he knew what she was after, but conceded "Leonard Erand Vandersteen, but people call me Lev.".

"Then hit yourself, Lev." She orders with a smile.

"Nope.".

"Good enough for me," she says before both of them erupted into laughter.

"Oh, and before you ask, the reason I killed those two instead of a more discreet alternative scenario was because they told me Vyrga wanted to make you his women, but I took care of it.".

"What!?".