Three Kings (Book 3) (2 page)

Sitting in silence, Gnak weighed the words of the small king. Both he and Jen had basically suggested the same approach. Was it the best option? Was it the only option?

Coughing up more of the smoke in the makeshift room, Gnak shook his head as if to clear it, and nodding once to the smaller man he turned and strode from the tent. Pausing just outside the structure, he took several deep breaths, expelling the last of the smoke from his lungs. One goblin city at a time seemed too slow. Perhaps he could divide his army and conquer several at once? It was an idea that had not occurred to him before, but it might work.

Striding across the clearing that was the center of the camp, Gnak looked upon the large shrine to Ishanya that was in a constant state of upgrade. Daily, new bones were added to the thing from every kill the orcs made, creating a semi orc and human visage of a female warrior of naught but interwoven bones and sinew. Grinning his approval, the big chief ducked into yet another tent. Here he could find an entirely different perspective. Here he could hear ideas from one who did not think like the rest of his clan. Here was the boy that Jen had tried to suggest that he visit.

Like the shrine outside, the boy was neither orc nor human, but a hybrid of the two created when Gnak took the essence of the human healer and adhered it into the body of an orc shaman. With the body of an orc he was accepted by the people, and with the mind of a human, Gnak found him fascinating and they talked daily. Though their conversations were usually random, more of a means to bettering his understanding of human beliefs and use of words, Gnak thought it wise to hear the boy’s thoughts on how they might proceed towards Ishanya’s goals. Like Jen, he was a smart human with carefully constructed ideals and responses. His every thought conformed to a logical plan that
was
his life, and Gnak enjoyed speaking to him and discerning more about human ways and beliefs.

Today, however, he was approaching the boy on a different level. Though it was he who saved the boy’s life, on that account they were beyond even, as the boy had already saved his own life several times through his ability to heal. This was a matter of trust. A trust that spanned distances beyond that of race or life or belief. It was a moral trust that Gnak was putting in the boy. One that would put all those in his care at risk if the boy had an agenda. But Gnak trusted him, like he trusted Jen. Something about the boy demanded his belief in him, and today Gnak would put it to the test.

Stepping through the flap in the tent Gnak spied the boy, who grinned at his entry. Only the two of them knew the truth about the shaman and the boy who had traded lives, and neither knew what had become of the third party involved.

Entering the tent as he did daily, Gnak sat himself upon the floor, crossing his legs and placing his hands upon his knees. His supposed shaman dropped whatever task he had been working on and joined him, sitting upon the sand opposite the chief.

“Good evening, chief. What brings you so early?” asked the boy in an orc body.

Carefully listening to the shaman’s phrasing, Gnak created an answer to better convey his message, a task he had been practicing the entire week when speaking to the boy.

“Gnak has a problem. Would like you help to solve,” he replied with a grin of his own.

“I am all ears, chief. How may I be of service?”

Again Gnak chose his words carefully.

“Gnak need… gather all goblins. Need to bring all together like orcs. Need to do same with trolls, but have
little
time,” he answered proudly.

Nodding his understanding, Gnak watched as the orc opposite him sat quietly pondering his words before, after many a long moment, he spoke once again.

“Well, chief, if I may make some assumptions, I would say simply this. I think you would have very high casualties if you divided your army in an attempt to attack all of your neighbors at the same time, but moving to attack each individually leads us to your problem with time. Is this the same as your thinking?”

“What is meaning, assumptions?” Gnak asked, not knowing the word.

“It means to think you have the correct information, without actually being told the information,” the shaman replied, without any sign of thinking less of the chief for his ignorance of the word.

“Yes, this how Gnak think, but see no other way.”

“What if we narrow down the scope a bit? How about we concentrate on the goblins first,
then
worry about the trolls?”

“Is good,” Gnak replied. “Goblins first.”

“So the obvious route is to attack them outright, but because they are not all in one place it makes the task overly time-consuming. So what we need, is a way to bring them all to the same place, right?”

“This would help. Yes. Make one fight. Much faster.”

“But with such numbers, the casualties could be astounding, chief. What if it is not as easy as killing their kings, like you have done with so many orc chiefs? What if they refuse to serve with an orc as their leader?”

“Goblin king rule them. Is ally. Goblin king have vision. He king of all goblins.”

“OK then, but even so, it is not likely to happen without a fight. Right?”

“Gnak think yes. Some die, but save many.”

“What if you could save them all? Or almost all of them?”

“Would be better, Gnak think. More to learn. More to teach. More to serve Ishanya and build city.”

“How did you get the goblin king to join you?”

“First Gnak pay with gold. Then goblin king have vision, say serve Gnak.”

“But money was what made him help you in the beginning?”

“Yes. Goblins greedy. Want gold. Only gold.”

“What if you sent gold to all the goblin kings, and told them to all meet in one place just to speak to you?”

Gnak thought it over. It was a wise plan. Bribe the many goblin kings into speaking with him, then simply kill them all and spare every one of their underlings. But there was one major flaw in the plan.

“No more gold. All used,” Gnak replied.

For a long while both sat in silence, pondering this new direction that the false shaman had led them down. Several times the boy sat rigidly, taking a sharp breath before shaking his head, discovering a fault with an unspoken plan, much to Gnak’s disappointment. Near an hour later, however, the sheep in wolf’s clothing spoke again with a new idea.

“What if, instead of gold, you offer each the promise of gold? You might not even have to kill a single one of them.”

“What you mean? Offer promise of gold?” Gnak asked.

“You said you intend to gather the trolls to your cause too, right?”

“Yes.”

“The trolls live in the mountains. The same range that the dwarves mine for gems and metals, though a different portion of the range.”

Gnak did not understand where the shaman was leading, nor what he meant by much of what he was saying. He had never seen a dwarf, nor a gem that he could recall.

“Sorry, Gnak, hear me through. In those mountains there is gold and other things that many races covet. The trolls control much of that land, but to my knowledge, they are not known for mining. So here is my thinking. You make a deal with the goblins. You tell them to join you in the fight against the trolls, under leadership of the goblin king. For their service, you will reward them with a percentage of the mining rights upon the mountain. They fight for you. They work for you. They even mine for you, but they keep a large portion of the valuable materials they find. It’s win win for everyone, except the trolls of course.”

Gnak sat for a moment working through the shaman’s plan. There were words he didn’t quite understand, but with the context of the message he was able to work out their meaning. Every day he was building a better understanding of the language, and today was no different. The boy offered him a solid plan. He would essentially be bribing the goblins with wealth he did not have, in a gambit to not only secure the wealth and land for him, but also to make them work for the wealth in his service. It was amazing. If it worked he could secure the entire race of goblins without a single life lost. Not one.

Gnak leapt to his feet, and reaching down he yanked his newfound advisor to his feet and smacked him on the shoulder in approval.

“Gnak thank you. Very smart plan. No time wait. Must prepare.”

CHAPTER TWO

It wasn’t until after speaking to the goblin king again, that Gnak thought he might have issues with the man. Though they had come to agreement upon his plan, and the goblin king agreed that none should have to die so long as all the other kings of goblins would submit to
his
rule, there was contention when it came to mining rights.

It was obvious to Gnak that if all three races were to eventually live within the same city, then they would need a unified currency with which to do business. With that understanding, he knew that he himself would need to retain a large portion of that currency, giving another large portion to the goblin king to take his share and distribute among the other goblin kings who were beneath him. Then too, came the matter of the trolls. To be fair, they would need to be given at least an equal share to that of the goblins, but this was not agreeable to his goblin ally. Instead, the goblin king offered that all materials mined be given to him to distribute as he see fit, under the supervision of Gnak, of course.

Though he did not want to create a rift between himself and the goblin king, he knew that it was the goblin’s greed that drove him. If the man had absolute control, then he and his people would be the wealthiest in the city whilst the rest were impoverished. But this was not what Gnak had in mind. In order for all of their lives to be better, all three races had to have an equal quality of life.

The goblins were perhaps the most knowledgeable when it came to mining and striking coins, but in his vision it was all the races who worked together to build and sustain the city. If everyone worked equally hard, then all should be equally rewarded, even the trolls who did not yet have a voice in the matter. Gnak was beginning to realize that the goblin king was greedier than he had given him credit for.

Not only did he want the power to rule all of the goblins under Gnak, but he wanted the majority of the wealth. It was almost as if he were trying to grasp at all that Gnak was working to make reality, and claim it for his own. It made him wonder if the small king had a better knowledge of what the mountains held as far as wealth was concerned.

So although they did finally come to an agreement that the shares for each peoples would directly correlate to the number of working bodies they had, it was obvious that the goblin king was not satisfied with the deal. Gnak had a sinking suspicion that, given the chance, the goblin king would find a way to unbalance the scales in his own favor. He would have to be watched.

With that in mind, Gnak gave orders to his captains, and with the night brightening into morning around them, two dozen parties were formed and supplied, each as delegates to a goblin city. Outward from camp they all marched when the order was given, and Gnak watched the groups with hopes for a peaceful resolution that would bring him closer to his goals. Each group had ten of his orcs, fully armed and armored to march at the head of each delegation. With them marched a hundred goblins to each group to show those kings they sought in the sand that the two races were working together as a unified force. They carried upon their backs all the supplies they would need for their journeys, and strode away with heads held high as they faded into the dunes beyond. His camp had diminished by over twenty six hundred men in just minutes, but he prayed to Ishanya for every one of their safe return.

As the sun broke the horizon, the last of the ambassador parties vanished over the windswept dunes and Gnak watched them disappear with mixed emotions. It felt like the right decision and as such he believed that all would return with good news. It was a simple use of goblin logic, really. The more bodies the goblins came with, the more they would earn in total. He hoped that the goblins would each make the decision with greed in their hearts, each of them not wanting their peers to get something that they would not unless they too joined in. He would use their greed to bring his own goals to fruition.

He imagined that when the wealth finally began to flow, there would likely be fights to contend with, but he knew that such disagreements could be dealt with in the future as they arose.

Stalking down from his dune, Gnak shrugged his shoulders as he stomped a path through the loose sand past the goblin king without so much as a word. All he could do now was wait. He was told that several goblin cities were only days away, but some were nearly a two week march. With that in mind, Gnak knew it would be at least a week before he had any word from any of them, and a month or more before the last of them would return. In the meantime, he would continue educating his people on Ishanya and better developing his use of the common tongue, and with any luck he would also devise a plan for conquering the trolls.

Though he wanted to speak to Jen about his plan and see what she might further advise for the trolls, Gnak knew already that she had little knowledge of the beasts. Even his last conversation with the shaman had led him to believe that the once-human’s knowledge was limited as well, but even so he thought it wise to again visit the man who was quickly becoming his closest ally. It somehow seemed easier to create a plan when sharing ideas with someone else.

Arriving once again at the shaman’s tent, Gnak was surprised to find multiple orcs within. With his head bent in prayer, the shaman’s hands began glowing as Gnak noticed the large gash in one of the orcs’ thighs. Never before had he witnessed the magical healing abilities of the humans from this perspective. Like the others who had come for help, Gnak watched on in awe as the spectacle played out before him.

Though the deep cut split the orc’s thigh from knee to hip, the chief watched as the man’s face smoothed, all pain having seemingly escaped him as he relaxed. Even as amazing as that was, however, what happened next was something Gnak would never forget.