Fenrir had lost count of how many times he had wished he still had access to God's Eye since arriving in Apollyon, but that unknown count rose yet again when he heard Elmeria's muffled sobs through the closed balcony doors. The scent of her arousal was still floating in the air, the struggle in her eyes as he stood over her still fresh in his mind, but he would have given much to have a clearer picture of her state of mind. Most likely, his life and those of his girls hinged on how his retionship progressed with the Saintess, and more personally, he was beginning to develop a soft spot for her, despite or maybe even because of her sharp tongue. More likely though it was the softer aspects of her personality which occasionally peeked through that intrigued him. He had to admit, he did take a certain satisfaction in breaking through her acidic facade to bring out the less hostile girl underneath.

  Elmeria's clothing had been folded neatly and pced on a side table, no doubt by one of the goblins, and catching sight of her dagger sheath, Fenrir walked over and picked it up. Previously it had resided in one of the inside pockets of her coat, but Fenrir decided to appropriate it in order to house the dagger he had taken earlier. A few moments were sufficient to attach it to his new belt.

  Curiosity now piqued, however, Fenrir poked through the rest of her pockets. She didn't seem to have had much on her, reflecting her confidence that Safara's rescuer would be easily dealt with, but Fenrir found Safara's diary and spent some time flipping through it, learning more about Safara's past. A pang shot through him when he remembered the state he had left her in, and how he might have potentially failed her. 'I've got to get back there. If time is still passing on Ruyanei retive to here, she could be in deep trouble, and it's trouble I got her into.'

  He was pulled from his thoughts by a timid knock on the door. Tucking the diary into the pouch at his waist and thinking, 'Finally, pockets. Not needing clothes is nice, but I did miss having pockets,' he called, "Come in."

  The cute goblin from earlier stepped into the room. With a friendly smile, Fenrir said, "Mitzi, yes? How can I help you?"

  She nodded, a hint of red dusting her cheeks. "Soon three chimes. Mitzi here to take you to feast."

  Fenrir took a moment to look her over more closely.

  Spoiler

  (Image by Maewix)

  [colpse]She was about the same height as most of the other goblins Fenrir had seen, a little under four feet tall, with the same light green skin as most of the females of her kind and even the same ash-colored hair as those females who chose not to dye their hair. But she differed in most other respects. For one thing, her breasts were significantly smaller. While still of a size comparative to her body which many human women might well be jealous of, for a goblin they could only be considered small. The same, though to a lesser degree, could be said of her hips, thighs, and ass.

  She looked fairly young, not long past maturity, and Fenrir wondered briefly if her slimmer appearance could be due to her age. With a mental shrug, he moved up to her face, which had been the first thing to capture his attention when he had first seen her. No wonder, as she was positively adorable, with surprisingly delicate features and sky-blue eyes peeking out around soft bangs which fell down on either side of her face. In the back her hair might have fallen past her shoulder bdes if left loose, but she had gathered it into two loose pigtails not entirely unlike those the goblins had given to Elmeria. Large pointed ears which reddened towards the tips poked out from either side of her head, pierced by gold hoops. Those were not the only piercings she had either, both her nipples sporting small gold rings and her navel pierced with a gold stud.

  Mitzi blushed and fidgeted under Fenrir's scrutiny, peeking up at him from under her bangs every few seconds. She seemed equal parts pleased and embarrassed by the attention, but she didn't comment on it.

  "That time already, huh? Let me just fetch Elmeria, and we'll be ready to go." Turning, Fenrir stepped over to the balcony doors, and poked his head through. The sound of crying had stopped some minutes ago, so he was not surprised to see Elmeria leaning on the railing and looking moodily out over the city. He took a moment to admire the curves of her body in her new outfit before saying, "Time to go."

  With a sigh she pushed herself upright and turning, nodded. As Fenrir headed back to where Mitzi waited, she followed him in silence.

  Mitzi led them down through the stagmite to a rge hall where, on multiple long, low wooden tables, food was piled high, primarily meat of various kinds. Fenrir's nose identified venison, some kind of goat, beef, bear, and rabbit, as well as others which he couldn't immediately pce. There were also several greens, though not many, and rough wooden tankards which held some kind of liquor. Goblins were present in abundance, some sitting at the tables, others standing in clumps chattering to each other or moving here and there about the room. The hall was lit by rge chandeliers made of the same golden metal which formed the cage around the cave-sun, as the goblins called it.

  Fenrir had stopped briefly at the entrance to take it all in, and his comparatively massive bulk soon attracted the attention of the nearest goblins, who fell silent, attracting the attention of other goblins, who also quieted, and so the cycle repeated until the entire hall was silent and staring at him. Fenrir was just beginning to wonder if he should say something to the sea of faces now turned towards him when three chimes sounded out. This broke the spell, and all the goblins turned towards their seats, though not without many a curious gnce and a noticeable upswell in the buzz of conversation.

  Mitzi coughed to attract his attention, and motioned. "Follow?"

  "Lead the way," Fenrir nodded. They made their way through the hall to a table a little smaller than the rest, set on a dais raised a step above the rest of the room. In the center of one side of the table facing the rest of the room an especially ornate chair indicated Chief Shazrak's pce. Mitzi showed Fenrir to the chair immediately to the right of the chief's seat, which was thankfully low enough to allow Fenrir to fit his legs under the table, though he still towered over the others sitting there.

  Speaking of whom, Fenrir scanned over their faces. Most of the goblins seated at the high table, as he was already coming to think of it, were the elderly goblins he had seen in the audience hall, though were several others he had not seen before among them. The chief himself was conspicuously absent, but Fenrir assumed he was only waiting to make an impressive entrance judging by the way the goblins seemed to divide most of their attention between staring at him and looking towards the door.

  Elmeria cleared her throat behind him in a pointed manner, drawing his attention back to her. He raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

  "Where do I sit?" she asked.

  Mitzi looked confused. "Sve not sit here. Sves sit where you from?"

  Elmeria scowled angrily, but Fenrir cut across her before she could say anything. "Sometimes," he said. "If they do, they usually sit at their master's feet or beside their chair."

  His 'sve' gred at him, but he held her gaze levelly, and after a few seconds she sat down on the floor to his right with her legs folded under her, though her stormy brows made it obvious she wasn't happy about it. The table was low enough that even while sitting on the floor her shoulders were level with the tabletop, so when the chief finally did make his entrance, she could see it almost as well as Fenrir could.

  He came in preceded by two goblin warriors, better armed and armored than most, and fnked by two of the most voluptuous goblin females Fenrir had seen yet. The goblins raised a deafening cheer at his entrance and carried on until he had taken his seat, the sheer volume forcing Fenrir to fold his ears back against his head in discomfort. They finally stopped when Shazrak lifted a hand for silence. He shouted a short phrase in Gobbish which raised another cheer, though this one was quickly smothered by the food everyone began shoveling into their mouths.

  Now finished with the business of officially starting the feast, Shazrak turned to Fenrir. "Welcome! Eat whatever you like. I am sure you must be hungry." As he said this, the two females who had come in with him and taken up positions directly behind his chair stepped forward on either side of him and began loading his pte.

  "Thank you. You are correct, I am near famished," Fenrir admitted, turning to the food before him. Mitzi, who had remained behind him, stepped forward to fill Fenrir's pte, apparently having realized that Elmeria had no intention of serving him.

  Chief Shazrak noticed. "Your sve does not serve you?"

  Fenrir shrugged. "She is still new and not fully broken. I'm trying something new with the training of this one; if it doesn't work, I can always fall back on tried and true methods."

  Elmeria gnced up at him when he said this, an unidentifiable emotion in her eyes, but she stayed quiet.

  The rge goblin nodded in understanding. "But you must have someone to tend to your needs while you are a guest here. Mitzi here is attentive and nimble, but of course she is not much to look at. Should you prefer a servant of greater beauty to tend to you, merely say the word. There are many who would be eager to warm your bed and serve you in any other way you require if your sve's training has not progressed sufficiently, or if you simply desire some variety."

  Mitzi's shoulders slumped ever so slightly when the chief mentioned her, though she did not pause in preparing Fenrir's pte. He could not see her face, but she seemed as though she were bracing herself for his reply.

  He smiled. "I suppose we will have to disagree on that, Chief Shazrak. I find Mitzi to be very pleasant to look at. I will not deny that she is smaller in several respects than many of your females, but in my eyes she more than makes up for it in other ways." His smile broadened into a grin as Mitzi froze in pce, a sudden trembling materializing in her hands. "So if she is willing, I would be happy to have Mitzi be my servant while I remain here."

  Mitzi slowly turned her head to look up at him, hope and disbelief warring for supremacy on her face. Fenrir gave her a warm smile before he looked back at Shazrak.

  "Are you sure?" the chief asked. "You can have your pick of my servants; there are many females just as capable who are far more developed."

  Fenrir cocked his head slightly. "Mitzi is an adult, yes?"

  Shazrak nodded. "She came of age not long ago, I believe. Did you not?" He directed the st question towards Mitzi herself.

  She nodded, saying in a voice that was barely audible, "Was thirty chime-cycles ago."

  "Well, in that case, I see no problem, unless Mitzi herself objects," Fenrir said.

  She shook her head rapidly, the shaking in her hands becoming more pronounced.

  The chief shrugged. "If that is what you desire," he replied dubiously.

  The women filling his pte finished and set it down in front of him, retreating back behind his chair again. Mitzi hurried to finish Fenrir's pte, having fallen behind due to her freezing in the middle of the conversation. When she was done she did the same, and for some time there was no sound but that of eating as everyone took the edge off their hunger.

  Knowing that Elmeria must be nearly as hungry as him, Fenrir passed her bits of food as he ate, which while she was clearly less than impressed about being fed scraps, she was too hungry to compin.

  Once the worst of their hunger was satisfied, the chief began to ask Fenrir questions about where he had come from. Fenrir kept the exact hows and whys of his arrival in Apollyon quiet, but answered the chief's questions as best he could otherwise. He told him about how the eternal war between Light-races and Dark-races had reached another high in recent years, and how the Light had won due to the rise of the Saintesses, though he did not mention that Elmeria was one of those Saintesses. He confirmed for the benefit of the others at the table that there was in fact a sun in Ruyanei, and it rose and set in a fixed pattern, resulting in the day/night cycle that their own miniature sun/mp imitated. He described a lot of the vegetation and topography found in Ruyanei, asking how they had so many buildings made of wood when he had not seen any trees so far in Apollyon.

  "There is a cave below this one where many trees grow under a cave-sun much like ours. We built our city out of the wood from some of those trees," Shazrak expined.

  "And where does your water come from? Is there an underground river which you draw from?" Fenrir asked.

  The chief shook his head. "In the base of this stone pilr there is a rge pool which never empties, no matter how much water we take from it. In the forest cave there is also a ke which is the same. I do not know, but I think that this is because of those who came before."

  Fenrir took a sip of his mug of alcohol, the strong concoction burning his throat on the way down, and asked, "How much do you know of those who came before?"

  "Not much," the chief admitted. He took a deep breath, as though he were about to begin a long story. "We arrived here many generations ago, banished by the Light-races after the defeat of the Demon King. Many Dark-races were banished at that time, and the stronger Dark-races took the best habitations, us goblins being cast out into the wastes to die. Our tribe was but a shadow of what we are now when we found this cave and its wonders. But whatever built the cave-suns and carved out these halls we now sit in was long gone when our people arrived. The cycle of the cave-suns reminded our people of their old home, and at first they settled in the forest cave, but the meat-eaters there hunted and killed them, so they moved to this cave. Here we have flourished, growing numerous and strong. Menoche and Carnachias smile upon us, for we have nearly as many females as we have males. The caves provide us with all we need, and occasionally we mount raids on the nds beyond the Big-Legs to keep our warriors sharp. There are veins of gold and silver and iron deep in the rock from which we fashion weapons, armor, and trinkets, and our enemies cannot find us here. Here we have grown greater than any of our ancestors, as far back as our oldest stories."

  Fenrir nodded. "You have been fortunate indeed to find such a wonderful fastness in such a forbidding pce, and proven wise to have utilized it so well. You mentioned that the other Dark-races took the best habitations. Is the surface then composed of other ndscapes than only the wastes?"

  "Yes, though it is a long march towards the nd of the Big-Legs. On the far side of the nd of the Big-Legs there is a pce where the realms of Apollyon come together, ruled by the greatest of all beings other than the gods themselves. From there, if you are allowed passage, you may go to the other realms. The old stories say they are all different. Some are very much like you describe Ruyanei to be, and others are difficult to imagine. One, it is said, is entirely underground. There is no surface, and one may dig up for eternity. Another is all sky, and the things that live there must fly or live on the small isnds that float in the air. If one falls, one falls forever. Another is never the same from one moment to the next, and it is impossible to predict what it will be like. It is said that if you go there you will soon go insane."

  The goblins around the table gave little shivers at the description of each realm, listening with the same sort of frightened delight that one might have when watching a horror film. Fenrir grinned to himself.

  "What are these Big-Legs? You've mentioned them several times."

  "We do not know. It is a huge creature so vast that its head is barely able to be seen. It does not seem to care about us so long as we stay out of its nds, but to go around would take a long time, so we sneak through carefully when we go to mount raids."

  "So there is only one then?"

  The chief shrugged. "Possibly. We have never seen more than one at once, but it could be a different one that we see each time, we do not know."

  Fenrir nodded, and for a moment there was silence. Then one of the other goblins at the table asked, "It true that you want... Key of Apollyon?"

  Fenrir straightened slightly. "Yes, I do. As I mentioned earlier, my business in Ruyanei is far from finished, and it seems that the only way back is by use of a Key."

  A murmuring went around the table at these words. The chief fixed Fenrir with a penetrating look. "And what would you be willing to give to find one?"

  "...Not quite anything, but not far short of it either. Much as I appreciate your hospitality and admire your city, I would like to return to Ruyanei as soon as possible."

  Shazrak nodded and looked out over the tables of goblins, considering. "You look strong, but what I would propose may be beyond even you. What few Keys there are are held by the most powerful creatures in Apollyon. My people are happy here, but there are other things held by those same creatures which would improve our lives still further. We cannot mount a raid on any of them by ourselves, but one as strong as you may be able to distract one of them long enough to allow us to sneak in and rob them of their treasures."

  Fenrir considered this for a moment. "What would your pn be?"

  "There is a realm where the White Horror keeps its hoard of valuables. It guards its treasure jealously, but it is prideful and would be loath to refuse a challenge from a sufficiently powerful opponent. You would provide such a challenge and draw it from its den, keeping its attention long enough for my warriors to slip in and take all we can carry, including the Key of Apollyon which would be your share of the raid's take."

  "Assuming I survive this White Horror," Fenrir grinned. "Tell me about him."

  Shazrak nodded. "Assuming. The White Horror is an ancient frost dragon of immense power. He is capable of magic even in this pce, and he rules his realm with an iron cw."

  "How do you know he has a Key of Apollyon?"

  "I have seen it."

  Fenrir's eyebrows rose. Dimly he noticed that the other goblins at the table seemed as surprised as he was. "How did you manage that, if his realm is as inaccessible as you say?"

  The chief drew himself up impressively, clearly enjoying the effect of his announcement on his listeners. "When I was young, I wished to become chief once the old chief died. As is custom, I had to prove myself braver, wiser, and more cunning than any others of the tribe who also desired the position of chief, so I took a small party to raid the nds beyond that of the Big-Legs. We were ambushed, and I was separated from my party. They believed I was dead and made their way back home, but I survived, though I suffered grievous wounds. I found a small cave where I could rest and heal from my wounds, but though I did not know it, it was close to one of the entrances to the White Horror's realm. I was almost fully healed when I was discovered by one of his minions, and we fought.

  "I was much smaller at that time, still a goblin like any other, but I successfully defeated the young drake. I decided to follow his trail back to his den, not knowing he served another, and that was how I came to find myself in the realm of the White Horror. It was bitterly cold, but I had the skin of the drake I had sin to keep me warm, and by accident I stumbled upon the White Horror's hoard. Many wonderful things are kept there, but I was alone, and though the old dragon was away when I found his nest I could only carry away one small item as proof of what I had seen and done." Shazrak touched the small stone that hung around his neck. "I chose this. When I touched it, the power within it flooded my body, overwhelming my senses. When I awoke, I had grown to be as you see me now. I made my way through many dangers back to my people, carrying with me the skin of the drake I had killed and this stone as proof of what I had done, though the power has now gone out of it and it is only a stone like any other."

  "Dragons are fiercely protective of their hoards," Fenrir commented. "I would expect the White Horror to seek revenge for the pilfering of his treasure."

  "He did, and does still. When we mount raids we must move with great caution lest he catch wind of our presence and come to destroy us."

  "So why would you antagonize him further by a raid on his hoard?"

  A hint of anger gleamed in the chief's eyes. "Because he has killed many of us in his quest for revenge, and I would like to teach him that we have teeth, too. But revenge is not the only reason. I have not forgotten the wonders hidden away in his den, and if we had some of those we could rise to such greatness that all in Apollyon would have to respect us. As we are now we can only flee when the White Horror comes to kill us, but if we had his treasures we could fight back. Maybe we could even destroy him, but even if not, we could still teach him that he attacks us at his peril."

  "So you do not really expect me to fight him. Rather, you want me to py cat-and-mouse with him until you have taken what you wish and gotten far enough that he cannot catch you."

  "Exactly," the chief nodded. "None of my people would st long against him, but I believe you are strong enough to keep him distracted. Do you believe yourself capable of this?"

  Fenrir shrugged. "I won't know for certain until I try, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. I'm willing to give it a shot, unless you know of any other Keys which would be easier to acquire."

  Now it was the chief's turn to shrug. "I will not lie to you, there may be another Key more accessible, but if there is, I do not know of it. I know for certain where this Key is, but I could only conjecture where any others may be."

  "I thought that might be the case. Keys of Apollyon are priceless, unless I'm much mistaken, and to advertise the fact that you have one would be foolish in the extreme." Fenrir took another swig of his drink as he considered.

  'I've yet to even see a dragon, and now I'm being asked to keep an ancient dragon busy for a not insignificant period. And he can use magic. But on the other hand, I know for sure that a Key of Apollyon is waiting for me if I pull it off, unless...' He eyed the chief for a moment. '...No, I don't really see him betraying me. There's no way to be sure what with God's Eye being inaccessible, but my gut instincts say he's trustworthy. I'm pretty sure he'll hold up his end of the bargain. So the only real concern is whether I can pull it off and survive. I could try to find another Key first... No, I don't know the exact retion of time between Apollyon and Ruyanei, so I'm best off wasting as little time as possible.'

  Fenrir turned back to the chief, who had been patiently waiting for him to decide. "We'll need to hammer out a pn to make sure we're giving ourselves the highest chance of success, but I'm willing to work with you on this. I do have several conditions, but I don't think you'll have any objection to them."

  Shazrak smiled widely. "Excellent! Tomorrow we can go over the details, for tonight, let us drink to our new partnership and make merry!"

  They all banged their mugs together, Fenrir chuckling at the enthusiasm of the table, and putting the worries of tomorrow aside, he gave himself over to the fun of the feast.

  TheBestofSome