Rylae's Storm Page 18

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  This is my first time on Stenchstone. An ambassadorial entourage doesn’t regularly come out here, and there’s been no need for a show of force since then-Battalion-Major Shockpaw overthrew the king, so sending a ship like the Corsari out here would be a waste. Trade ships still come through with items and personnel, and the smaller message ships pass through to pick up and deliver, but nothing else.

  All of the UCST briefs about the world are years out of date, either from before the Admiral became King Damnation, or were written by Admiral Shockpaw himself in answer to queries from other admirals. I read through them, but there wasn’t really enough to get a firm idea of what the world was like after the Admiral became King, and nothing at all starting just before the time he left. Stenchstone likes to keep to itself.

  Of course, the briefs about the climate and layout of the world are accurate. It hasn’t been long enough for those to go stale. They’re only briefs, though. The written word can’t truly capture what a world is going to be like once you’re on it.

  No two worlds are the same. Tir Tairngire is very similar to Terra, except for more appearances of blues and oranges in nature, a few carnivorous bushes and some explosive fruit. Firefork is almost completely covered in swamps, which suits their goblin population well. The Trollish world of Von’Sorra constantly has a layer of ice coated by three or four layers of snow, and is home to angry cats almost as large as dragons.

  Ice cats be damned? Hmm. Doesn’t have quite the same feeling to it. I’ll stick with dragons for now.

  Stenchstone is almost completely red and orange. It looks like some of the huge quarries of clay I’ve seen on Terra, except this color is everywhere. The plants and trees are all tinged with orange. The birds and deer-like creatures appear to be coated in reddish dust. The buildings look to have been crafted from the clay, so they’re all reddish-orange.

  The only other colors are in the sky. The sky itself is a light yellow, with brown clouds hovering above us. Stenchstone has six moons, and some of them are always visible. Currently, the green and purple moons are easy to see, and the black moon is peeking over the horizon. From the briefs I know the yellow and white moons will be visible in the evening, and the blue moon will be prominent during the dark night.

  From the PoundFlat docking station, it’s a 25-minute ride to the far side of Vengeance Vista. The palace is on the near side of the city, but the Overseer’s office is way out on the opposite edge. At least we get a nice ride to take in the sights before we arrive and have to start working again!

  Like most worlds, Stenchstone only has one major city with a few small surrounding villages. Some of the older worlds, like Tir Tairngire, have more cities, but it takes a few thousand years for a world to build a new city far enough away from the original one for it to truly be separate. Some worlds also just don’t have any easily-accessible habitable areas to build a new city in. Stenchstone is one of those. Landcraft travel beyond the large red mountain range on the horizon has proven impossible so far.

  Vengeance Vista is a good-sized city, with about 200,000 goblin residents at a density of about 450 folk per square kilometer. That makes it a little more crowded than Admiralty City, which has more space and only around 300 folk per square kilometer. As such, there are many more landcraft on the packed-clay roads, and our landcraft has to go slower to avoid bumping into anything.

  Being in close proximity to other landcraft does make it easier to look at the other folk riding around, and I find myself surprised by a lot of what I see. For one, the goblins here all seem to be happy. There’s a few landcraft with folk inside that seem to be yelling at each other, but it’s mostly groups of folk chatting, laughing, and even singing! The landcraft with single occupants seem mostly filled with folk taking naps, or smiling and waving at folk in other vehicles!

  Friendly, happy goblins? This definitely isn’t Firefork. It feels a little unnatural.

  Calgonnel sees me folk-watching and chuckles. “I assume you’ve noticed?”

  Looking past him at a family vehicle, the older goblins laughing and using toy landcraft to play with the young ones, all I can respond with is a nod. I’m completely speechless while looking at a city full of normal folk that happen to look exactly like goblins!

  The older elf puts a hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t quite believe it either, but I was expecting it. During our flight here, I noticed the lack of information on this world. Then I realized that I know a goblin born and raised on Stenchstone, and he’s nothing at all like most other goblins we’ve met.”

  It clicks in my mind. “Lieutenant Zaxn Gloomfire, nerdy goblin boy.”

  “Bah. Little magic twerp.” I glance over, but Simon isn’t even looking at us while commenting. I never really thought about him and Zaxn being different, but I guess they really are nothing alike and have no real reason to spend much time with each other… until I recommended Simon as a leadership mentor. I should follow up on that later.

  Calgonnel nods. “Exactly. He was still small when Shockpaw took over as King Damnation, so he doesn’t remember much about the world the way it was before – mostly wars and strife with gang lords fighting for power. What I’ve pieced together from Zaxn is that Shockpaw changed a lot. The gangs were mostly disbanded, the constant fighting ended, and the world came to know peace in a very short time.

  “From the look of things, the current King has been continuing that trend. We’re actually on a peaceful goblin world. I wasn’t sure that could actually be true. I thought Zaxn, growing up in the palace, must have been sheltered from it. Now, though, I can see it for myself. “

  I can’t believe I never thought to ask myself if Zaxn’s behavior was because of the world he grew up on! When I think about him in context with the Admiral and Ambassador Dreadthief, it starts to make perfect sense. All three of them are well-adjusted and seem rather gentle. Amazing that it all started when a goblin Battalion Major beat a goblin King to death with a goblin assassin. I guess sometimes war does bring peace.

  As that train of thought continues, I realize that peace brings stability, and stability brings fear of instability, which… “That could explain why Stenchstone doesn’t associate with the other worlds. Not only would elven and dwarven worlds not believe this at all, but associating with other goblin worlds would bring them back in contact with dangerous elements that they don’t want.”

  The older elf smiles. “I think that’s it exactly. That’s why Shockpaw didn’t give up much information about it either. He’s using his position as Admiral to continue protecting his world. The less folk know about Stenchstone, the better off everyone here is.”

  In the front, Simon snorts. “Peace creates complacency. Complacency causes folk to grow soft and make mistakes. Mistakes leave holes in defenses which rogue elements can exploit. And thus, the happy goblins are destroyed.”

  Calgonnel shrugs. “I concede that point to you. However, it’s the role of government to make sure those holes don’t exist, through proper laws and enforcement. We’ll know more after our meeting with the Overseer, but it seems to me that everything is currently being handled well.”

  Simon doesn’t reply, so we let the topic die. It does, however, open up another thought process about our mission. “How does this change our approach plan for the Overseer? I’m thinking we’re not likely to walk into a sanctioned hit squad now.”

  Another snort from the front. “Doesn’t change anything.”

  Our ambassador nods in agreement. “Exactly. While I no longer believe that the Overseer is involved, and I plan to change my talking points considerably based on how we’re received, I think we should continue to be prepared for anything. We still don’t know why we were brought out here, or by whom.”

  I grin. “Still think it’s a retirement party for you?”

  That gets a chuckle. “I think we can safely rule that one out.”

  Our landcra
ft starts to slow as it nears the storage area in this part of the city. It looks a lot like the storage area at the docking pad. The open field has more landcraft inside it, and there are four small structures for attendants instead of just one, but otherwise that’s all there is. The landcraft storage on most worlds is inside a steel structure or covered with a wooden shelter. I expected a similar design here, now that we’re in the city.

  I take a good look around at the buildings, and realize that it’s quite a bit different here than on most worlds. Almost all of the buildings appear to be made of the red clay, and are two levels high at the highest. There are no fifty-level buildings made of metal and glass. In fact, I think our ship might officially be the tallest building on-world now! I wonder what Adamar Aldamiel would have to say about that!

  Then I realize why. Stenchstone has almost no natural mana, so there’s no way to run large construction equipment or cast spells to float materials to that height. There’s no way to use a spell to ensure the structure is level, or that the floors will hold properly. Just recharging the landcraft and holoterminals must be difficult! They may even have to import batteries from other worlds. Since they can’t import buildings, they have to work with what they have.

  None of the buildings stand out as particularly beautiful, so I suppose goblin design aesthetics haven’t changed with the peace and prosperity. There truly is no accounting for taste, I guess.

  We leave the landcraft with the attendant, and Calgonnel asks for directions to the Overseer’s office. The excited attendant is more than happy to help, and even offers to walk us over there. Simon immediately responds to that with a gruff, “No,” which sets the goblin back, but Calgonnel thanks him for the offer and he’s all smiles again.

  The office is a short walk away, but now that we know where to look we can actually see it from here. It’s the only building in the area larger than two levels. It may only be three or four, but it’s easily noticeable as the largest building in the area. A few minutes will put us right in front of it.

  Simon looks at the streets full of folk. “I don’t like the attention we’re getting.”

  Attention? I scan the crowd, and see it’s slowing as folk walk past and notice two elves in UCST uniforms. This is something we didn’t consider, because we hadn’t realized how much Stenchstone had cut itself off from the rest of the worlds. Elves and dwarves are practically non-existent to these folk. We’re rarer than a landcraft collision!

  We form up behind Simon and are about to start walking when a voice cuts across the crowd to our right. “Ambassador Telathyr! Commander Westiel!”

  Simon pivots toward the voice instantly, right hand on the hilt of his sword and left hand twitching behind his back where the mace is hanging. Seeing him turn, I spin in the other direction to scan the left side. My back is to the voice when it speaks again, obviously female.

  “Ambassador! I am Rsadun Stonebeast from the Overseer’s office. We’ve been expecting you, and the Overseer asked me to come find you when the attendant here called our office to tell us an elf was asking for directions.”

  I hear Simon cough. “Clear right.”

  “Clear left,” I reply, turning back.

  A young female goblin, probably close to my age, wearing a peach blouse and thin black skirt is standing near the edge of the crowd, waving us closer while breathing heavily, as if she was running. Simon steps forward first, which causes the girl to gasp and take a step backwards. Calgonnel reaches out a hand to her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Stonebeast. I am Ambassador Telathyr, and this is Commander Westiel. Also with us is Master Sergeant Darkrender. I promise he’s not as scary as he looks.”

  Simon grunts, and the goblin girl runs her eyes over him. “He doesn’t look that scary. And, please, call me Rosa.” She takes Calgonnel’s hand and shakes it once, then reaches across to shake mine. Glancing back at Simon, she winks and shyly smiles instead of offering her hand. That’s one to share with Tanna and Lada!

  Calgonnel smiles, and I can almost see a physical change as he goes into ‘Ambassador Mode’. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Rosa. Thank you for the escort to the office! We’ll be happy to walk with you.”

  Simon glances at the crowd again, which is still moving although still slow. “I’ll be at the rear,” he says as he steps back behind me.

  I just barely catch the goblin girl smirk and mutter, “Tease,” under her breath. Definitely story time with the girls later!

  Rosa starts walking with Calgonnel at her side, chatting about the city. I’m directly behind them, and Simon’s directly behind me. Remembering the tomato sauce during our training, I keep an eye out in front of us while Simon’s watching our backs. Calgonnel may be able to have a light conversation with our escort, but I shouldn’t drop my guard.

  Rosa walks us at a more leisurely pace than Simon was planning, but we still reach the building in a matter of minutes. It seems like most of the crowd either heard her initial comment about being with the Overseer’s office, or knows her from the area, because they give us a little more room than we were initially worried about. It could also be due to the well-armed goblin walking with us. Or maybe they’re just nice folk who don’t want to crowd us. Regardless, we arrive without any problems.

  The Overseer’s office is four levels and as wide as the three other buildings across the walkway. There are hard clay steps leading to the main doors, where two goblin men wearing black leather armor are standing on either side. The one on the left turns to us. “Rosa, are these our guests?”

  She nods. “Yes. These are the elves from the UCST, along with their Master Sergeant.”

  The officers step forward and pull the doors open for us. “Please convey our respect to His Excellency.”

  Calgonnel nods. “I will inform him personally. Thank you for your assistance.”

  Rosa leads us up the stairs and through the building. There are a number of desks and offices, and more goblins in black leather or standard business attire walking around. They all stop and notice us as we pass.

  On the fourth level, we come to the doors of the Overseer’s office. The doors are made of dark wood, with frosted glass in the center. Brass knobs and hinges shine in contrast to the clay walls surrounding them. Rosa raps on the doors twice before walking to an unoccupied metal desk beside them. “This is my stop. The Overseer will be out in just a second.”

  Calgonnel smiles and reaches out to shake her hand again. “Thank you, Rosa. It has been wonderful having you as an escort.”

  She shakes his hand, then purposely looks at Simon as she replies, “It’s been my pleasure.” This story just keeps getting juicier!

  A second later, the door to the office opens, and a tall goblin wearing a black business suit, white shirt and black tie steps out. He looks us over before extending his hand.

  “Friends, I am the Overseer. I understand we have much to discuss.”