[v2] Chapter Seventeen – In which Ark demands peace, at the cost of his own. All because of a runaway orc Magpie shouldn’t have caught.
~~** Interlude | Magpie **~~
It is my job to keep an eye on everything that happens within the boundaries of the Bloodmaw domain. That includes everything to do with our newest arrivals, the Orcs. Of the four, three appear to be fine with submitting themselves to my Lord. It’s the fourth that I’m currently following secretly.
The Orcs haven’t been treated poorly nor as prisoners or slaves. My Lord was adamant that they be treated well, with the goal being to foster good relations with them. He believes that they can be of use to him, for some of his plans to bring prosperity to Goblinhome and the Bloodmaw Tribe.
Just because my Lord has goodwill towards them, doesn’t mean they all share the same goodwill in return.
The youngest of the four, an orc by the name of Rushk, had quietly fled Goblinhome late in the night when there was little activity outside. She traveled West, alone, carrying a single spear with her. If it was to hunt something, I would have let her be had I seen her even but try. But purposely avoiding the beasts of the forest? There was no doubt in my mind she was trying to escape.
The Tribe’s Protectorate—the one known as the Great Protector whom my Lord has the greatest respect towards, has given me a special authority to deal with those who betray the Bloodmaw. If she had been given permission to leave, or if my Lord had cast her out, this wouldn’t be a concern. I would quietly shadow her departure, keeping her safe from any threats from the shadows until she was past our borders.
With no permission to be had, there will be no escape.
My Lord has recently given me a new grand weapon. It is called a Bolo, and it has the purpose of tying up the legs of fleeing prey, disabling them so they can be easily hunted. Made with my sister Mint’s magically strengthened vines and two round stones on either end, I spun the bolo over my head and took aim, snaring her at the ankles, forcing her to trip and fall to the forest floor just as she reached the Black Trees.
“GRROH, NO!! WHO'S THERE!?”
Never be seen, never be heard. Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Move like a ghost, strike quickly from the shadows, then disappear as if you were never there.
I have never forgotten what my Lord taught me about being a shinobi.
Reaching into one the many pouches I carry with me, I found the ideal tool to keep her from going anywhere. From my hidden vantage up in the trees, I threw it onto her face and saw the fine black mist erupt from it. She sneezed twice, but by then I was already on my way back to Goblinhome to report.
My training lay in stealth and speed. Unlike some of the adult goblins like Prima or Doll or my older sisters, Button mostly, I do not possess the strength to move the orc. But that’s not my job. A gift from the Shaman, a special talisman made from a bit of the leftover metal used to make the Goblin’s Guild cards hangs around my neck. I grasped it in my hand and sent the small amount of magic power I have through it, feeling the instant surge of speed. It is the only way I can use the [Wolf Wind] magic taught to us goblins by my Lord.
I do not wish to trouble my Lord this late at night with this matter. My destination is to the cave-hole of Prima, our Tribe’s Guardian and leader.
“Prima, I have something to report.”
“What is it, Magpie?”
Prima has been acting strange lately, holding a metal sword instead of her usual bone-spear.
“The youngest Orc has tried fleeing Goblinhome. She is currently out by the black trees tied up and under the effects of color-spin-think powder.”
“Go wake Ark.”
“Is… it necessary to bother my Lord this late at night?”
“It is. Go wake him.”
“At once.”
I’m sorry, my Lord. I was hoping to let you enjoy your rest tonight with her.
I left Prima’s cave hole and continued towards a cave-hole at the back of Goblinhome that had recently become occupied by one of my older sisters, Figurine. Today marked the day that she was no longer a strong-one, and she wanted her independence from Doll.
The two sisters I look up to the most are Figurine and Button. I feel that among everyone, I have the strongest connection to both, perhaps because we are all special disciples of my Lord. While my other two sisters seek some kind of incomprehensible power, the three of us have received both physical and spiritual training directly from my Lord.
Button seeks the ultimate power she calls The Swirly-whirly. Figurine seeks the ultimate harmony of movement which she calls The Groove. I myself don’t seek anything specific, only to continue being the silent shadow that protects Goblinhome, and all who live within.
Discreetly entering Figurine’s cave-hole, I can see her sleeping body being cared for by my Lord. I too… want such a moment with him. I see the faces of the adults and my sisters who become intimate with him, and I also long for it. Crow tells me when it is my turn, she will not allow anything to interrupt us from making strong ones.
I silently step towards my Lord and lightly tap on his shoulder.
“My Lord.” I whisper softly, so as to not disturb Figurine.
I can see my Lord’s eyes open in the darkness. Before they used to be small points of white, but now they have a golden shine to them. My Lord has gained the ability to see as goblins do, and his eyes are now trained on me.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your time with Figurine, my Lord. But there is something I must report.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“My Lord, you must. Prima has sent me to wake you.”
“I already know what it is. You couldn’t just let her escape?”
“My… Lord?”
He was aware?
“Fuck.” He said with quiet anger, a word in the human tongue meant to curse misfortune.
His eyes turned away from me to look upon my older sister who lay next to him. He reached out and stroked her long hair softly.
“I refuse to leave. If Prima wants me to go out, she can drag my dead body out from Goblinhome to do as she pleases with it right after I collapse the whole fucking cave down on everyone!”
My Lord’s voice was filled with venom. He ignored me and draped his arm around Figurine’s body while closing his eyes once more. Never once before have I heard him threaten harm to any of us. Had I… made a mistake in stopping the Orc?
Even if I had, it was still my duty as a Bloodmaw…
~~ Sometime Later… ~~
“Prima, would my Lord have a reason for wishing to let this Orc escape?”
“Who knows? Husband has plenty of stupid things he wishes to see happen.”
It was just Prima and I who had come out to retrieve the Orc. Prima may be smaller than this orc by nearly two heads, but she is easily able to drag her along using only a rope.
“Is… leaving Goblinhome among them?”
Prima stopped in her tracks.
“No. Of that much I am certain. He and I have spoken about that recently. Husband may be a human, but he is also a Bloodmaw. He himself acknowledges this. While we as females have the instinct and desire to make strong-ones with him, his instinct as a male is to care for them so that they can grow safely into adults for him to also make strong-ones with. He does not have the will to act against the Tribe. We are what he calls in his human words… family. Old One says the word carries the same meaning as Tribe.”
Was his threat to bring Goblinhome crashing down on us… empty? When I had left my Lord to report back to Prima that he refused to leave Figurine’s side, she had dismissed it wordlessy. Instead, she was waiting for me to take her to the Orc.
“But he may not feel the same way about these orcs as he does us. He has given his big-seed to two of them and they show no signs of changing.”
“You are talking about the transformation into a Bloodmaw that Stella underwent?”
“Yes.”
Prima stopped in her tracks again.
“Perhaps Husband does have a reason for letting this one escape.”
“And you know what it is?”
“Husband had an interest in this one while he was a goblin. Perhaps he is aware that she could become Bloodmaw. How it was done to Stella is still unknown to us. Perhaps there is some kind of requirement we know nothing about, but he does.”
“Do you think my Lord has revealed to her that such a thing might happen?”
“Possibly, but the chance is low. Would she even believe him?”
My Lord has said that a real shinobi doesn’t trust only what they see with their eyes. That they must use their other senses in tandem to confirm if something is true or not. But even I would be hard pressed to believe that he has the power to change someone else into a goblin. As for why I don’t think the same of my Lord changing himself into a goblin as he had was impossible, has to do with exactly what he taught me about using my senses. His appearance and scent had changed somewhat while he was a goblin, but not beyond recognition. I was just scared at the aura of power he emitted at that time and recklessly drew my sword out of fear instead of confirming with my senses that it was him all along. My Lord calling me Mags was what finally set me at ease. Goblin or not, that name is full of his affection for me.
When we reached Goblinhome, my Lord was waiting outside.
He did not look happy.
Prima and my Lord stared at each other for a while, a silent conversation happening between them. I’ve seen it before, and I wasn’t liking it now. There is always trouble following moments like these between them.
“I’m tired, Prima. I don’t have it in me to do it to her.”
“It is your job as Husband.”
“She’s an orc. She should be able to live and die as one.”
“Then kill her yourself.”
My Lord held out his hands and they began to slowly turn a greenish hue.
“I would say that I’m not a barbaric monster like you all are. But I am. See?”
Prima’s body tensed up. I was also wary.
“Why can’t I have peace? You’ve done nothing but break me over and over again since I’ve been here?”
“Fine. I’ll kill the orc, then.”
Countless magic Runes began to form around my Lord’s body. He hadn’t turned fully goblin, but the power he was emitting was unmistakably the same.
“When Rushk breathes her last breath, Goblinhome will fall on whoever remains inside. I will spend my last moments with Figurine. She’s a good girl. Maybe we’ll meet again and be father and daughter once more in the next world…”
My Lord turned and began to walk back into Goblinhome. Prima had said that he wouldn’t go against us, but this is exactly what appeared to be happening. Prima let go of the rope and held her spear for battle.
“Ark. I will kill you if you try.”
“Then try. My heart is on the left side of my body, wide open and undefended. Gob-dent can pierce it easily from behind.”
“It is because of Stella? Do you know that this one will change? Or are you throwing a fit because of your human way?”
“None of those reasons, Prima. I’m just tired of being pulled into this kind of stupid shit every gods-be-damned day. To hell with the human way and the goblin way. What’s happening now is Ark’s way. She dies, everyone dies. You are the leader of the Bloodmaw, the choice is yours, and yours alone to make. Were it not for Diana coming into the world so soon, I might have found the courage to run away just like she did. Run away when you all were too fat with bellies full of strong-ones to ever hope to catch up to me.”
“Ark…”
“Did you know that Figurine moved into her new cave-hole? All she wanted was for me to spend the night with her. Why am I out here when I should be there by her side?”
The crazy number of Runes began to extinguish themselves one by one. The greenish hue receded from my Lord’s complexion. His head hung low, and his feet moved like he was slogging through thick mud as he entered Goblinhome.
Prima lowered her spear.
“Magpie. Untie the orc. If she tries to run again, let her.”
“Prima? Are you sure that is wise?”
“Will you rest well knowing that Goblinhome might come crashing down on you at any moment?”
Was Prima going against the Great Protector?
Prima also returned inside, back to her own cave-hole, and I was left to deal with the orc. Wouldn’t everything be better for this orc if she were to become a Bloodmaw Goblin? I couldn’t understand what had transpired between Prima and my Lord.
Ever since Diana Artemis became an adult thanks to my Lord, everything around here has become way too strange…
~~** Interlude | Figurine **~~
Dad’s body, which was missing from my bed a few moments ago, had returned once more to warm it. His body pressed up against my own and his hand reached for one of my milkies, giving it a soft rub.
“D-Dad?”
“I’m here, my little canary.”
“I thought you left…”
“How could I possibly do that on your move-in day? I Just had to use the ‘pit for a second. Didn’t want to make any mess in your new cave-hole.”
Dad didn’t lie, but the smell of outside was all over his body. Not only that, but the strangely sweet smell that surrounded him back when he was a goblin… was there too. There’s no fooling this goblin’s nose. He must have a really good reason for not wanting to tell me what happened while he was gone, because right now I could feel his lips pressing against my neck. Smooches, he called them. A strange name for something that felt so nice and distracting.
“Doll said you like touching milkies. Are mine… enjoyable to touch?”
Dad made a little throaty laugh.
He rolled on top of me and looked me in the eyes. Recently, since becoming a goblin like us, his eyes now have a golden ring around the outside. But unlike earlier, before he left my bed to go... wherever he had gone, the white part of his eyes had become a bit greener in color.
“Dad…?”
“Figurine, would you like to become a little more of an adult tonight?”
“Gwe-----h?”
“I’m… feeling a bit selfish right now. I wanted tonight to be special for you, just a peaceful night where you and I could be close one last time as daddy and daughter. But…”
“I… love you, Dad. You can be as selfish as you want with me!”
His lips moved to mine and the smooches continued. His lips captured my own and both of his hands rubbed my milkies in a way that made my fuckhole tingle. And on the subject of my fuckhole, his thick and heavy seed-stick slapped down on it, peeling apart both sides and sliding back and forth against the skin on the inside of it. Every time he slid upwards my belly got tight and my head melted. When I noticed that the smooches stopped coming for my lips, it was because they began moving down my body. Down past my neck, down between my milkies, down past my belly, and finally reaching where his seed-stick had been.
His mouth was over my pee-hole and his soft and wet tongue began to lick all around it. Hands slid all around my legs and belly, his mouth occasionally leaving my pee-hole only to smooch and lick and bite me in places that made my entire body squirm. The few times I’d rubbed my own fuckhole, I could never get anywhere near the kind of pleasure Dad was giving to me right now.
The most amazing part of it was that everything he did had a rhythm to it. His licking, his kissing, how he slid his hands three times before squeezing anything. I had reached down to his head and began to run my fingers through his hair before grabbing it with both hands. My body was twisting all over the place, my mind filling with music that my body couldn’t help but move to.
A flash of heat moved through me rapidly and I thought I had peed on his face. If I had, he said nothing. He didn’t stop. Over and over, I was made to feel like my body was on fire. Everywhere he put his mouth, everywhere his hands touched stirred something inside of me.
“D-DAD!” I cried out, not knowing what was going on, not knowing if I wanted it to stop, not knowing anything other than how he knew everything about how to make me feel incredible.
His smooches stopped. His licking stopped. His touching stopped.
My body was exhausted. It was like I had been training with the dance-fighting button had taught me for a full day nonstop. A thick wet smack sent a jolt from my pee-hole right into my stomach, making my muscles tense up from a small cramp.
He had slapped his seed-stick onto my pee-hole again and pressed down on the top of it as he dragged it between my peeled folds.
“Figurine.”
“Dad… I…”
“Shh.” He smiled at me. “I know.”
His seed-stick slid downward one last time until it was poking at my fuckhole.
“This is your first big decision on your way to being an adult, my little canary. All you need to do is say yes or no to what your heart inside tells you.”
My whole body shook itself just so it could respond to him with a yes from my deepest place.
There was a little bit of pain as his seed-stick entered inside of me, but it soon faded and he continued to slide it inside of me, slow strokes, which felt like some familiar melody to me. My insides were the strings on the lute and his seed-stick played every chord it could find inside of me. I sang. While making strong-ones with Dad, I sang aloud to the song of adulthood he was filling me with.
When my voice had become rough and began to crack, his hand reached for my face.
Then I felt a serene warmth fill my belly. It continued for a while, even after his face lowered itself to my milkies and he sucked on them gently. I… was trying not to cry with how happy I felt right now.
This was what it felt like to be an adult goblin. This is what I had lived so long to become.
But I knew there was more to it than this. A further happiness still to come for me.
My belly was full-full right now, but the big-seed Dad gave to me was meant to be wasted.
When it came time for me to have my Blood Awakening, my belly would be filled with the most important thing I could give back to him. A strong-one who will love him just as deeply as I do.
From between my milkies, Dad began to hum a song which he then filled with words:
“Where did it begin?
I don’t quite remember when.
I only learned she was growin’ strong…
Maybe in spring?
Or was it already summer…
Who’d have believed that's when you’d come into the world?
Hands,
Little hands,
Reaching out,
Touching me, touching you….
Sweet Figurine~ (la la la~)
Your good times always seemed so few.
But I’m feeling fine~ (ba ba ba~)
And now I’m hopin’ so are you!”
That wasn’t the whole song, as it went on a little further. But it was a song he sang for me. A song which encompassed his feelings about my being made and coming into the world, all of my struggles trying to find my rhythm, until now, where he did his best to help make my passage into adulthood as wonderful as it could be.
I was broken.
Not in a bad way. Just... broken. How could a defective goblin like me have such a wonderful maker such as him? The rest of the night was spent crying in his arms. He never let me go, he never closed his eyes, he just held me until I had run out of tears and slumped sleepily against his sturdy body.
And when I woke up, he was still there with me.
My reliable Dad.
My reliable Husband.
Who, even if Goblinhome came crashing down around us, wouldn't let a single speck of dirt fall upon me, so long as I was safe in his arms.