Goblin Queen's Plan

"You own me, my queen. How could I do less than you desire?"

"YOU are my desire, my king," she said, laying her cheek on my sweaty chest.

"... and you are mine, my queen," I replied, rubbing my hands up and down her back - and stealing a quick squeeze of her tight little green butt.

"Gods below! I'll never get anything done with you behaving like that!" she complained.

"I'll stop then," I said, smirking.

"Not until I order it," she replied, laughing.

We fell asleep and didn't wake up until the morning light was creeping into the cave.

"My love?" Zora called out.

"Yes, my queen?"

"How long did we sleep?"

"As far as I can tell, just the rest of yesterday and all of last night. I think we must have been worn out from our joining - both of our joinings," I said, snickering.

She laughed softly and gave me a kiss - before getting to her feet and getting dressed.

"Let's hunt," she said.

I got up and dressed. We cleaned our faces in the cold stream and sated our thirsts.

As we ventured into the valley, she approached every new plant and tree we encountered. She touched it and caressed it, like a loving mother. Sometimes, she would find a seed and put it into her pouch. Other times, she would push her magic into the plant and it would grow or blossom.

Stopping at a bramble bush, she grasped a branch as if there were no thorns on it at all. As I watched, she coaxed the plant into growing an arrow - long and straight - with a thick thorn as the point and leaves as the fletchings. In moments, she had grown a half-dozen of the flawless bolts. She harvested them and added them to her quiver.

We came upon a mountain cat as it took down a deer. Zora nocked one of her new arrows and put it through the feline's heart. She put another through the chest of the deer - to end its suffering.

We field dressed the deer and the cat, leaving the scraps for the carrion-feeders. From the feline's entrails, however, she also took what she needed to make more bowstrings.

We were trying to figure out how to carry the two large carcasses back to the cave when Zora set the cat down and walked up to a gnarled tree, laid her hand on it, and closed her eyes. She reopened her eyes and started growing a travois. It was the most amazing thing I think I've ever seen. As soon as the frame and the cross pieces had filled out and thickened, it fell from the tree like some kind of ripened fruit. She directed me to take it and load the deer. As I did, she set about growing a second one for her to use for the cat.

As we returned to the cave - dragging our cargo-frames behind us - Zora complained about the constant bouncing as it passed over the terrain. I suggested adding a cart-wheel but we agreed that it would need to be fairly large to eliminate the numerous bumps. We let our minds work on the problem and soon we were home again.

The travois were still green enough that Zora could bend them to her will. She formed a wooded shovel from part of mine and then took some of the rest to build a cargo-box on the other travois. She still had some left to make into container-frames to hold a couple small raised flower beds.

Zora set about dealing with the animals and sent me to find dirt. I returned to the valley floor, used the shovel to fill the box on the travois, and then carried it back to the cave. She had me unload it into the raised beds - and then sent me off for more dirt.

By the time I returned, she'd planted a bramble bush in one of the beds and was growing a large woven basket. When it was complete, she placed it in the part of the cave with the highest ceiling and directed me to begin filling it with soil.

It took several trips before it began to look like I had accomplished anything at all. Zora finished with the skins and the meat and went with me to get more soil. It went a little faster with two of us - but it seemed even faster than that because I wasn't by myself.

After several more trips, she planted a seed for the gnarled tree in the basket and began growing a sizeable tree. She returned to the bramble-bush, made a water bucket for me, and sent me to the stream.

First I watered the bush and then I started carrying water to the tree. She grew some more raised beds and we went back to hauling soil once again. Once the beds had been filled, she planted grains, berry bushes, and some vegetables. These flourished with her touch and with the water I brought with a few more trips to the stream.

We took a break and Zora fed us from the garden. As we ate I complained about all of the trips to retrieve water and dirt. She told me that the dirt would only need to be gathered once - but that we'd need water often. I said that it was too bad the stream didn't run through the cave and she got a weird look in her eye.

After we'd eaten, we walked back and forth - between the cave and the stream - a few times - moving up a little higher. She sent me to get more dirt and I groaned.

I had carried a dozen more loads when she called for me to join her at the stream. I gladly set down my load and went to see what she had found. She showed me a hollow wooden tube that she had grown from the bramble bush. One of these was sitting in the torrent of the stream. She explained to me that it worked like the artery I had created between our bodies. We followed the tubes - one connected to another - until they plunged into the side of the cave.

Zora explained that it had taken her some time to get the roots to grow through and crumble a path from the outside, in, to make a route for the water-tube.

Back, inside the cave, she showed me where the tube ended. There was a spigot that could be turned on and off. When it was open, cold, clear water from the mountain stream flowed into a basin that she had grown. Now we only had to scoop water from the basin and carry it to the plants!

Night was falling and the cave was growing dark. When I commented that I was having no trouble seeing, she informed me that we were making one more trip for dirt. I groaned. When we reached the valley floor, she took me back to the passage cavern. I discovered that her gift - to me - had improved my eyesight. I could see as well as her in the dark cave.

As we headed back to the travois, I scanned my body and noticed that I had an increased resistance to poison now - another gift from her goblin blood. The dirt was just as heavy as usual - and the path was just as long - but I didn't complain quite as much this time.

I dumped the load into the next basket - destined to hold a fruit tree - and then my day was done. I was exhausted. Zora tried to kiss and cuddle with me, but I was asleep almost as soon as I laid down.

~~~

The next two days went by in much the same way. I was far more tanned and toned than I had ever been in my life. Zora had fruit trees, nut trees, trees for making bows and tools, bushes for making arrows and baskets, and all manner of food-bearing plants. If we could figure out how to rig up a latrine that didn't stink, we'd never need to leave the cave!

I had just started another trip to collect more dirt when I noticed someone emerging from the underground path. I watched him for a moment. He was studying the ground as if he were tracking someone or something. I hurried back to the cave to tell Zora.

We watched him as he followed our trail from the cavern to the path up to the cave. He abandoned the rocky path to follow my well-worn trail to where I was collecting the dirt. As he looked over the large depression I had created with my excavation, Zora and I snuck down the path. She raised a bramble barrier across the cavern entrance and we went to greet our visitor.

The goblin male had a bow across his shoulders and a short-sword on his waist. He had just finished examining my work-area when he turned and spotted us. "Keep him busy," Zora ordered, grabbing something from her pack and crouching down to the ground.

"Hi," I said, in the Common tongue.

"I don't speak to mutts," he replied, studying Zora.

<"That's too bad,"> I said, in Goblin. <"I'm quite the conversationalist.">

He tilted his head and looked at me

"Treachery!" he gasped, suddenly, looking down.

I glanced at Zora, she had planted a bramble bush and sent a shoot underground. A thorny vine had wrapped around his boots. He was now rooted to the ground.

As I started to walk towards him, he unshouldered his bow and nocked an arrow to the string.

A bramble-vine grew up his body, encircled his neck, and pulled him backwards slightly, unbalancing him. He shrieked.

"It might be best to stop moving," I told him, switching back to Common once more. "If she keeps pulling you back, your ankles will probably break in two since your feet are locked down."

He cast the bow and quiver aside.

"Now the sword ..." I suggested.

He unsheathed it and threw it down as well.

"Hands to your sides," I instructed.

When he complied, Zora figured out what I intended and wrapped him up like a birthday present. I walked closer as she stood him upright once more.

"Hi," I said again.

"I don't speak to ... erk!"

The vine around his neck tightened, cutting off his words.

"My girlfriend has a very short temper," I told him. "Why don't you tell us who you are and what you're doing here?"

The vine slackened and he stared at me, his eyes filled with hatred.

"Honey ..." I called to her, over my shoulder.

"No! Stop!" he cried out, before she could react.

"I'm listening ..."

"My name is Krig. I'm a bounty hunter. Queen Zeka has placed a bounty on Zora's head."

"How does Zeka know Zora is alive?" I asked. "Why are you looking for her here?"

"Zeka hired a seer to root out any who are not loyal to her. The seer told the queen that her sister is still alive. She said she's living in a valley accessible by a cavern path. There are many looking for Zora. When I found the cavern and the tracks, I followed them here. Is that Zora? She looks like the picture on the poster."

"What does Zeka do with those who are not loyal to her?" I asked.

"It depends," he said.

"On what?" I inquired.

"If the seer says they're loyal to Zora, she imprisons them. If they're not loyal to Zeka or to Zora, she has them killed."

"What is the seer's name?" Zora asked.

"Vira," the man replied. "Are you Zora?"

"What is the bounty?"

"Untold riches and a night with the queen," he replied.

Zora laughed and said, "I'll save you the trouble of walking all of the way back, then. My sister would never allow you into her bed. You're already as good as dead."

Seeing the vines begin tightening around his throat, I leapt forward, placed my hand on his chest, and put him to sleep. He died of a broken neck and a crushed trachea. The vines receded and his body fell to the ground.

I removed everything from the man's corpse, leaving him naked. I dragged the body several feet away from my dirt pit. Zora let the brambles feed from him and soon there was nothing left but a large flowering bush.

I carried all of the man's possessions back to the cave. I gave the money pouch to Zora, hung up the weapons, and set the clothing aside to be laundered. There were no vermin in them but I didn't want to wear them without washing them first.

Zora had been quiet. I asked her what she was thinking about.

"I thought I had more time," she said. She sounded resigned. "I thought I could give birth to a mighty war-band and reclaim what she has taken."

"But now?"

"She's locked up every person who's loyal to me - and she's sending the jackals to hunt me."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know. Even if you fucked twins into me and they both lived and we did it again as soon as they were weaned, I would only have a half-dozen kids in a year. How would we care for them? And they wouldn't be old enough to fight for years!"

I nodded.

"We can either stay here and hide - and kill anyone who comes looking for me - or - gather everyone we can, build an army as I return, and hope - somehow - we don't die a painful, pointless death."

"If we hide, she'll eventually tire of feeding your friends," I said.

"If she hasn't already," Zora agreed.

"If we can free them, that gives us a bigger army."

"I definitely don't see hiding as being the answer," she agreed.

"We fight!" I exclaimed, raising my fist into the air.

Zora chuckled but looked worried. She wrapped her arms around me and I hugged her, holding her close.

~~~

The next morning, we began packing everything we'd need for the trip.

Zora gave me a pack and a canteen. I collected the bounty hunter's things. I strapped the short-sword across my back. I wasn't that good with a sword anyway - and we'd need to continue operating as if I was Zora's slave.

I asked her about putting me on a leash but she was reticent to do that. She settled for collaring me. She grew a dark, hardwood band (walnut, I think) about the width of a man's thumb. She formed it as one piece around my neck. I rubbed my finger across the engraving on the front.

"It says, 'Zora's'," she told me.

I cupped her cheeks in my palms and kissed her tenderly. "I like it," I whispered.

She looked uncertain but I kissed her until she smiled.

She threw her pack over her shoulder, took my hand and we stepped out of the cave that had become our home. She let go of my hand, knelt to the ground, grew a wall of briars across the mouth of the cave, and stood back to her feet.

She reclaimed my hand and we walked to the stream, crossed the stones, and descended to the valley floor. Although I could see as well as she could - as we passed through the cavern - I held her hand the entire way.

When we left the cave and arrived at the spot where we'd first made love, I looked at her, grinning suggestively. "Down, beast," she ordered. She giggled when I gave her the look of a child who'd been told there were no more cookies in the house.

Once we descended from the heights, and were back on the dusty road, we headed right - on our way to reclaim Zora's throne.

~~~

As before, we avoided other travelers and they avoided us. My appearance caused some lingering looks - and a few more focused on my collar. Once they had sated their curiosity, however, they ignored us and went on about their business. That worked well enough for Zora and me.

The sword was hidden beneath my pack. Over my shoulder, I carried Krig's bow and quiver - as well as Zora's old bow. I also carried a second pack, with provisions and camping supplies. It would not do for Zora to be carrying as much as me. I was, after all, owned by her. I should be carrying everything.

Zora had her dagger, her new thorn-bow, and her quiver filled with bramble-briar arrows. Her gnarled bow attracted a little attention from the occasional passerby. It looked unusual enough that most people assumed that the goblin woman was an accomplished archer - which was, of course, true. She had worked and worked on the bow until she had what she wanted. It was at least twice as powerful as her original one.

The quiver I carried contained all of Krig's arrows, all of Zora's old ones, and a few of her new ones. She told me that she expected to pick up a couple more archers along the way to confront her sister and she wanted to have weapons to give them when they joined us.

~~~

End of Chapter 1.

(There are 6 in total.)