Lewis Crowe was happy. It had taken a few days, but he'd finally gotten Grrta to the point where he could take his lovely girl out into the town and walk with her, showing her the most mundane things and loving the way that everything was a source of amazement to her. They'd gone to a little eatery that he knew, and though she'd been very nervous about doing something wrong to embarrass him, Lewis didn't care and there were no mishaps anyway.
Grrta was pleased and happy, and that was all that he cared about, as he parked his little car under the trees. They carried the bags of their purchases to the door of his little cottage – just like any couple would, and he fished his keys out of his pockets.
After they'd struggled a little to get everything inside and into the kitchen, he turned back to go and shut the door.
But it was already closed, and he stared at the individuals who now stood in his little foyer. Grrta noticed the silence and she looked around the corner before she gasped.
"Hullo, Mr. Lewis, sir," Thiery said, with a bit of a bow, "There's some things needin' Grrta's help. This is Illa. She's my – "
"I'm Thiery's girl," the imp grinned proudly. She looked to the doorway and waved a little, "And you must be Grrta?"
Grrta bounded out of the kitchen to fly into her brother's arms. That lasted for a few seconds before she repeated the deed with Illa, the two hugging each other tightly for a moment before they drew apart to look. "I'm so happy te meet ye," Grrta said, before turning to Lewis, "What is the right thing te do here, Lewis? Should I make tea or something?"
Before Lewis could get over his shock and form his answer, Thiery cleared his throat. "We havna time fer that, just now, though we'd love that. There's a problem at the castle, down below, Mr. Lewis. It's been decided that we're te take ye both there. Mother's needin' Grrta te speak te some goblins that was found far down. "I don't know much about why, I'm afraid. I'm fer just killin' 'em and bein' done."
"Well that's just your delicate way te handle things, isn't it?" Illa smirked, "Ye do know, my love, that there's other ways te deal with wee problems, yeah?"
She looked at the two others, "And there's about a hundred and fifty of the wee problems at the moment, so we was sent te fetch ye both."
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It was early evening and if one was perhaps foolhardy enough to be close enough, one might have seen two large slayer demons standing in the December breeze.
Brinack stood with Gortruk in the late twilight just outside the entrance to the Goblin Ha doors. Tereth had been taken away to be seen to by Mother. Gortruk was still wearing a lot of Tereth's blood and looked about ready to kill something, anything.
"No one finds fault with you, Gortruk," the general said, "You did what was asked. So little in the way of arms, no armor, and faced with ten ogres, it is a wonder that you pulled him out at all. You could have dealt their deaths to them easily all alone, but it is another thing entirely to have to defend someone in the open and all alone."
She sighed in complete understanding, "It changes one's options."
"I could have done better," the slayer replied in a quiet personal growl, "I should have done more to protect Tereth. I know why you pulled me out of the line. You thought that I would take my feelings out on the goblins, but you should know me better than this."
"I do know you better," Brinack replied, "but why take the risk? Besides, the way that you look wearing that blood and with your face so grim, it cannot help anything down there. Your scouts can handle a few like that easily enough. What I want to know is, why are you so upset, old friend? It is not like you."
The response was an exasperated snort.
"No harm was to come to Tereth - and it did. Tereth is hated here, I have heard," Gortruk said, "I know nothing of the reason for it. But I do know that Tereth is a good hunter who is hard for a scout like me to follow or track. That hunter knew nothing of me following, and yet I had trouble. It was as though I was following a ghost, Brinack, Tereth is that hard to keep in one's view. Hard enough to track, but to keep in sight, one needs to be close, and to be that close, is to lose the stealth of it. I wish to learn this ability. Also, I, ... "
"You have sudden feelings for Tereth?" Brinack asked, "Gortruk, I can see this plainly. There is no mystery to the way that you look to me."
The slayer looked off into the distance, but Brinack saw the nod. "Yes. I do not know why and I cannot help the way that I feel. We knew each other for what? Not even an hour?
I do not know the way of the speech that they use here. I felt like a fool as we talked. I felt like a child who could not speak well when Tereth explained to me what was wanted. Yet we understood each other well enough I thought, so Tereth went out and was almost killed."
The slayer turned to look at the general. They were alike in many of their dimensions, though Gortruk had a longer mane which now blew past that face and the slightly tormented eyes. "The hunter fought well, as I said. I just was not able to get there soon enough. I had my own troubles. But when I did, I saw only blood everywhere. You saw only a little, Brinack. There was far more left on the ground behind us and his blood ran over us both as I flew.
Tereth looked up at me and said the strangest thing - that I was a beautiful friend – that I am the most lovely one of all."
"Well, that only means that Tereth's sight had not failed yet," the general smiled, "You have always been famous for your beauty among us."
The slayer's head shook, as though brushing off the compliment. "Tereth asked me for a kiss. In the middle of all of that, his blood leaving him, and with the goblins coming, waving their shovels, Tereth asked me for a kiss!"
Brinack smiled, "And?"
The slayer shrugged, "I gave it. And then my troubles really began." Gortruk looked over, "I have never been kissed like that, Brinack. Never in my life, and it was only for an instant, and only one kiss."
The general grinned, "We have known each other from our nights in the pits, standing back to back and killing whatever came to us in double matches. You were the only one that I could trust then, and you trusted me just as much. In all of that time, from then until now, I have never seen you like this."
She laughed a little, "I have watched perhaps thousands of demons throw themselves at Gortruk the beautiful slayer, and you remained unmoved, no matter what was done. Yes, you took what was offered often, but it was never anything to you, was it? And now? A single hunter brings Gortruk down, likely without meaning to at all, likely only as smitten with you as the rest, but perhaps that was one arrow that Gortruk was a little slow in dodging."
She slapped her hand on Gortruk's shoulder affectionately, "Come, old friend. Leave the ones down below to their fate, since it will involve me while I see what they want. I see the ones approaching who are to speak with them and I am needed down there too. Go and see how Mother fared bringing your hunter back, but wash this blood off you first."
They parted company there before they were seen by Lewis and Grrta, who now approached wondering what was to be asked of them.
That was the start of a very extraordinary trip for Lewis. He and Grrta were led inside the castle, into the lower levels, and he tried very hard not to stare at the thousands of demons who stared back. "These are the legions of another demonlord, Lewis," Lily said as she guided them, "They have no interest in humans, though they will be staying here now. It is what lies below this hall which interests them very much. Come with me."
On the way down, the pair stared at hundreds of large demons in armor as they formed up and the sections placed for what looked like some sort of battle not yet begun.
"This is merely preparation for the worst case," Mother said, "I doubt that these will be needed, but they are also here for a bit of a show to intimidate the ones who were found here."
As they walked nearer to the crop growing areas, they saw the goblins being hemmed in and rooted out of corners by one section of fighters. There was no force used other than growled orders, though the fighters were armed and had their blades in their hands.
"What are these?" Lewis asked, "Since I was perhaps fifteen or sixteen, I've sought information on any sort of demon that I could find out about. As you might imagine, the majority of what I could find turned out to be a mile and a half off," he smirked a little, "but I've still been able to learn quite a bit. These here, I've never heard of or uncovered a single scrap of knowledge about."
"These are slayers," Lily said, "They do not come to this plane very often, if at all, which is likely a good thing in general. They began as pit warriors – something like your Roman gladiators. These particular ones were selected for the legions of the one demonlord that I mentioned who you'll likely meet in a moment."
She continued as they stepped through the stream, "What has happened today, is that a hunting demon came here, wanting to explore this area. I had a notion that he might do this, so I asked the leader of all of these slayers to provide one slayer to protect him in case he got into trouble. What they found together is a source of food for the legions, but the workers here seem to want to put up a little resistance. They can be herded, but as soon as they can, they move back to block us. I think that they are protecting the food supply here.
I could likely translate for both sides, but I want Grrta to do this, so that the goblins might feel a little less threatened."
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Grrta stared, looking at the group of goblins who now stared back at her with just about as much wonder in their eyes. There were many others standing behind them, all of them armed with rudimentary weapons, shovels, rakes and hoes, mostly.
She shifted her speech to the form that was spoken by these goblins. "What is it that you want?"
"Wait," the one who appeared to be the spokesperson said, "where are you from?"
"Up there," Grrta pointed, "I'm part goblin. I was held in a cage to be food for the king."
Several of the ones who had been close enough to hear made expressions to show their distaste.
"You are not alone;" the leader said grimly, "some of us were taken too."
"Why?" Grrta asked, "You are goblin."
"Different kind," the one in front of her said, "This was our cage.
