They made their way through the maze of tunnels and canals, sometimes wading through the foul-smelling water, other times crawling in a tunnel that was goblin-height, and made Kinari curse and grumble as she barely managed to crawl through the narrow passageways. But Kavor kept his promise, telling them where to go and pointing out the secret passageways the goblins used, while the others followed behind them quietly, all under the thrall of Demian’s voice. They were no longer lost.

“... But stay on your toes, ok?” Whispered Kinari while she checked to make sure Kavor was far ahead enough he couldn’t hear. “I don’t trust these goblins.”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t trust us too,” Demian replied, his voice mild and equally quiet.

“But we’re in their home territory and these guys are just plain sneaky,” she said. “So be careful and stick close to me and I’ll protect you.”

And true to her word, she was always as close as possible to him, holding one of his hands as she guided him around obstacles and warned of anything that could trip him. She kept a close eye on what little she could see, and tried to protect his back from any attacks with the bulk of her body.

But they were surrounded by darkness, and it was impossible to protect him from all sides.

“Ow!” Demian cried, as much due to the surprise as to the small pain on his arm. He flinched and moved back, bumping into Kinari.

“What’s the matter?” She quickly grabbed him and pulled him back protectively. That is when she felt something sharp sting her neck. She ducked down and felt her eyesight waver for a moment.

“Something in my arm…?” He gingerly felt his left arm with his right hand and pulled something out. It was a small dart, no bigger than his thumb. “Is this…?”

“Shit!” Kinari grabbed Demian and pulled him, with her as she ran back and into the goblins that were previously following them. Using the goblins as a shield while keeping her back to the wall, she checked on Demian. “Hey, Kevvie! What the fuck! Your friends just fucking fired darts at us! We’re getting ambushed here!”

From the darkness ahead, Kavor shouted something in goblin. She could not understand a word, and he did not appear in her field of vision.

“I… I feel… Weird...” Demian’s legs buckled under him and he only did not fall because Kinari held him upright. But even his voice was slurred and distant.

“Oh fuck! No, no, no no!” Kinari arranged him in a sitting position, his back against the wall while she covered him, and she checked his appearance. He looked pale and limp under the orange oil lamp light and his head leaned to the side as if he was falling asleep. “What the fuck did you shoot at him?” She shouted into the darkness, her voice filled with as much panic as anger.

“You let us go!” Shouted Kavor. “You let everyone go right now!”

Another dart grazed Kinari in the cheek, somehow getting past the goblins standing around silently as a makeshift barrier, although in her case it helped that she was much taller than the goblins protecting her. She felt her limbs relax and go slightly numb, despite her tension, but shook her head and the feeling quickly went away. It would take more poison than that to knock her down. Kinari lost her patience and took out her mace.

“I swear to Ellora, if another one of you fuckers shoots anything at me or my friend here, I’m going to grab the nearest of these goblins and smash his head in!” She grabbed one of the goblins, who trembled at the knees and darted its eyes wildly. But he remained frozen in place as she lifted the mace above his head. “So what’s it going to be?”

There was a pause, then some furious whispering in Goblin. “You surrounded!” Said another voice she did not recognize. “You kill them? We kill you!”

Kinari glanced at Demian and saw he had gone completely limp, like a puppet with its strings cut. There was a bit of drool coming out of his mouth.

“You fuckers shot darts at us first, and now my friend here is down!” Shouted Kinari. “If he dies, I’m going to kill every single one of you I can get my hands on! So consider this your fucking warning!”

More angry goblin from the voice she did not recognize. Then it spoke in common. “He just sleeping! He still alive, you dumb-thing! You surrounded so you give up!”

Kavor joined in. “You let the others go! If you let them go and surrender, we keep you prisoner! Tie you up, but not hurt you!”

Kinari glanced at the goblins around her, all still following Demian’s last order: to follow him until the sewer exit. “Well, geniuses! You just knocked out cold the one guy who had the power to free your friends from his control! So I guess we’re not going to be able to help you, huh?”

More hesitation, followed by more furious whispering in the goblin language she didn’t understand.

“If you don’t release our friends, we kill you!” Threatened the unknown voice.

“And I’m saying we can’t release them! Because the guy who could do that is now asleep thanks to you!” Replied Kinari. “If you’re saying the truth? If he is only asleep? You can lead us out of the sewers and the city, and once he’s awake he can let your friends go!”

“You not leaving!” Shouted the other voice.

“And you’re not getting your friends back while he’s unconscious!” Shouted Kinari. She tried to squint and see who was the one talking to her but her eyes could not see beyond the low range of her lamp light, no matter how hard she focused. “If my friend doesn’t wake up they will be enslaved forever, you know?” She bluffed. “They will never be free! So don’t try anything stupid!”

More whispering. This time, it was Kavor who spoke up. “We will take you to our queen. She decides what to do with you! But first we tie you two up! So you give up now and nobody gets hurt!”

“No fucking way!” Replied Kinari. “What’s stopping you from killing us as soon as we’re tied up and helpless?”

“If you not surrender, you die! We many! You can’t no fight us all!”

It was Kinari’s turn to consider, glancing at the enthralled goblins around her, mutely staring at Demian while robbed of their free will. He was still lying with his back against the wall, eyes closed and body limp. She quietly checked with her free hand and noticed he was still breathing.

It was dark, she was lost deep in the sewers and now she was also alone.

“Fuck...” She muttered before raising her voice. “Look! We can go talk to your queen, but we’re not getting tied up! We’ll be surrounded already, so if I kill any of you, you can kill me back. But if you hurt us, we can also hurt you back. Even footing! That’s a stalemate I can live with. But I’m not giving up my position here to get into a worse one! That’d be really fucking stupid!”

“Right!” Was the reply, after some deliberation. Kavor was the messenger. “This is the deal! You keep your weapon away from your hands and follow us. If you take your weapon out or try to hurt us? We will kill you! If your friend uses his voice-thing again? We’ll kill you. So do as we say!”

Kinari glanced at Demian again, then at the goblin. She cursed silently before tucking away her mace. “Fine!” She shouted. “Lead the fucking way to your goblin queen, then!”

After more time walking in the sewers and through narrow tunnels, made even more awkward by Kinari carrying Demian in her arms, her mood had soured completely. And it was not improved when she saw the mess she was getting into as they entered what the goblins called ‘the queen’s court room’.

It was a large room, with beautiful reliefs carved on the walls like the one before. There were no statues here, but instead a number of circular rows of seats, each lower then the circle around it, making a number of sitting places with a clear view of the spot in the center, where a few hay pillows and a rug were the only seating arrangements.

And there sat a goblin woman, almost as wide as she was tall. Her fur was patchy and greying in places. But her eyes remained wide and alert as she watched the two visitors enter her lair, escorted by dozens of guards and other goblins with weapons. They were followed by another group of quiet, obedient goblins; thralls of Demian’s voice.

Kinari squinted. The light was low in this room, but at least there was light. Bottles were perched here and there, glowing with a weak, sickly green light and giving her just enough sight to realize the room was full of goblins. They were crowded on each of the rings around the center, easily more than a hundred sitting shoulder to shoulder next to each other and surrounding the centre. When they saw who was coming, the room exploded with howls, cheers and words in the language she did not understand, and she couldn’t help but feel the hairs rise on her neck as she heard the sheer volume of the noise surrounding her. She was more than just outnumbered, she was completely outmatched and surrounded. They could tear her apart if things went bad.

But she still walked in, carrying Demian’s limp body in both her arms, and shot a defiant look as the goblins talked and climbed over each other to get a better look at her. She would not give them the satisfaction of seeing her afraid.

She was quickly surrounded by a group of angry-looking goblins with weapons and makeshift armor. They were bigger than average and managed to look intimidating even as they stood three and half feet tall, all scars, muscle and cold stares devoid of any mercy as they pointed rusted swords and grimy lances at her.

Kavor and another goblin, this one covered in dark rags and carrying a blowgun, walked down a narrow set of stairs that ran down through the rings to the centre, where they had a quiet conversation with the female goblin sitting in the middle, obviously the queen. Some goblins tried to talk to those enthralled by the voice, even trying to pull them away from Kinari and Demian. But the enthralled did not reply to any questions or say a single word. Not only did they refuse any help, they also tried their best to wriggle free from anyone pulling them away and returned meekly to stand close to Demian’s limp figure, staring at him with vacant eyes.

Kinari felt another chill when she saw those sad, quiet stares from the enthralled goblins, as they refused any attempt to help or comfort and stood next to the two intruders in mute obedience. She could see now why Demian found his power distasteful. One of the goblins was now desperately tugging at one of the thralls while ugly-crying, staining their dirty face with tears and snot. The goblin being tugged at did not respond.

The atmosphere was rapidly worsening, especially when the goblins saw what had happened to their enthralled brethren, and the initial looks of surprise and anticipation were now devolving into anger and outrage. There were snarls now, and glares directed at Kinari as she stood her ground.

The queen then spoke, her words booming across the room in the goblin’s unrecognizable language, but she repeated the same words in common for the benefit of her new audience. “The two newcomers! Bring them to me!”

Kinari, still carrying Demian in her arms, was pushed and prodded into walking down the narrow steps until they were in front of the queen, although the goblins surrounded them and made sure she was not actually let onto the centre stage. So she stood on the bottom of the stairs, with a row of goblin bodyguards between Kinari and the queen. Each one of them stared at the other in silence, the queen with a cold, appraising look in contrast with Kinari’s outwardly angry glare. The queen spoke first.

“My followers say your boy can control our people with his words. He tells them to do something, and they have to obey. Is it true?” She asked.

“Yeah, it’s true,” replied Kinari. “I mean, he can still speak normally as well. It doesn’t work all the time. But yeah, he can make people do stuff when he wants. Like make them follow him.” She gestured at the enthralled goblins behind her with those last words. They were still as close as possible to Demian despite the efforts of other strong goblins who were pointing weapons, crowding among the steps that led to the centre. The queen gave them the same cold, appraising look.

“Up there you people call them Gifted People. Or Nobles. Blue-bloods. But under this ground we call them for what they are. Monsters. Things that aren’t meant to be. So, I ask you this: are you a monster too?”

Kinari frowned. “Monster? I ain’t a blue-blood, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m a half-troll, actually.”

She admitted this without any pride, but she hoped this would at least earn some sympathy with her new audience. The effect, however, was the opposite; there was a hiss of surprise, followed by angry muttering from the crowd and hateful looks as well as scraps of broken common here and there. Kinari heard the words “troll” and “monster” and “kill it” from the onlookers all around her. One goblin screamed something she could not understand, but the others in the crowd seemed to agree with him and a few brandished their weapons in her direction, a universally unfriendly gesture that crossed the language gap.

The queen narrowed her eyes. “Half troll? Is there even such a thing?”

“Yeah. Me,” replied Kinari, eyes darting around the room. The goblins seemed to be speaking of her with much more fear and awe than she expected from humans, who usually just returned them a confused stare or dismissed her outright.

“So if we cut your skin, you heal? Like the trolls of legend?”

“Let’s say I’m pretty hard to kill.”

“Unless we burn you with fire, yes?” Said the queen.

Kinari’s heart skipped a beat. She tried to keep calm and not show it, but her heart was now pounding inside her chest as her thoughts raced. They knew her weakness? Most people didn’t, so how? And she was now surrounded…

“Let’s hope we don’t have to find out,” replied Kinari.

There was a moment of silence where queen and mercenary studied each other.

“Unfortunate, to have bad blood from both sides,” said the queen, eventually. “Tyrants and monsters, both.”

“Oh, come on!” Kinari stamped her feet in frustration, causing more goblins to point their weapons at her but she ignored them out of sheer frustration. “Humans already give me crap for my troll blood, now even fucking goblins do it too? What the fuck is even wrong with having troll blood?”

“Your troll forefathers once tried to conquer and rule over the Goblin Lands,” said the queen. “But we drove them away. They came a long time ago, before the humans ever stepped a foot into our lands, to enslave and devour us. They failed. We still pass this story down our generations, the legend of how the Troll Empire tried to conquer us, and how Girkat-of-a-thousand-faces fought back with fire and oil. It was a dark time, because of your greedy empire.”

“Great!” Kinari groaned. “So now you guys hate me as well! Brilliant! And the funny thing is? I’ve never even heard of this troll empire! This is all news to me! I’ve never even met any fucking trolls!”

“Don’t know if it’s the same up there,” said the queen, as she gestured above her at the dark ceiling above. “But under this ground, we have a saying. ‘The crimes of the forefathers, carried by blood through generations, must be atoned for by their descendants.’ That means you, with your troll-blood and your human blood, have a lot to respond to. The deaths of the goblins your kind killed are on your hands, whether you know it or not.”

“Sounds like bullshit to me!” Said Kinari. “I never even met a troll in my goddamn life! And suddenly I’m guilty of killing goblins before I was even born? This is all so dumb! ”

She conveniently left out the fact she had fought goblins before, and prayed nobody would recognize her. There were angry mutters from the goblins perched in the circles. Was it her imagination, or were there even more than before? Were the goblins calling more of their kind here to watch this? Was this a spectacle for them? Or worse, an execution?

The queen was not bothered by this outburst however. She shook her head and spoke patiently to Kinari, as if explaining to a child how the world worked. “If one makes a mess then one must clean it, yes? That is fair. But if one makes a mess and then dies, who will clean that mess? Can’t leave the mess there, someone must do it. And who must do it then? The right answer is this: the closest of kin must clean it instead. If not them, then who?”

At this the goblins surrounding them exploded in angry comments, both in Goblin and in Common. But the common refrain was one she understood. “She pays with her blood,” were the words, repeated over and over in different variations. Kinari glared at them, fighting back against her fear.

“She pays with blood!”

“It bleeds for our homes!”

“Death to the monster-things!”

“Spilled blood for spilled blood!”

“Burn the Troll! Burn her to ashes!”

Kinari raised her voice above the crowd, silencing it with her shout. “The people up there, as you call it, hate my guts because of how I was born!” She said. “I had no say in it, I could not choose who I was born from, and yet they hate me anyways! And now I find out you people hate me too? And you hate me because of who I was born from? I guess goblins and humans are more alike than I thought!”

There was an outburst of even angrier cries from the goblin crowd, as well as insults and dismissals of her arguments, too many for her to parse them all. But she had clearly hit a nerve.

“You’re all the same!” She shouted at them. “You’re all the fucking same!”

“There’s one important difference though, between us and them, though,” said the goblin queen. “You can still wash away your crimes, with enough effort. Even if it’s in your blood, you don’t have to carry it for the rest of your life, or pass it to your children.”

“Oh yeah? And how do we do that?” Asked Kinari, suspicious.

“You help us,” was her reply. “And if we tell you to do something, you do it.”

“Well, that’s convenient!” Kinari sneered. “We become your little bitches and in exchange we’re forgiven for stuff we didn’t even do!”

The queen glanced at Demian’s limp body, then at the enthralled goblins, who still stood by in quiet obedience, before finally gazing back at the half troll who glared at her.

“This is how it will be,” said the queen. “We’re going to wait for the boy to wake up. My guards are going to have stuff in their ears, so they won’t listen if he speaks. Make him let the others go free.” She gestured at the enthralled. “If they’re free, then you two will have started to walk the road to forgiveness. But if he tries using his monster-thing on us? His Gift? We’ll kill you two quick, no trial. If you warn him that the guards are protected? We kill you as well. So you stay quiet about the guards and convince him to behave, yes? Will you work with us on this and repent for your crimes?”

“Do I have a choice?” Asked Kinari, gritting her teeth.

“Of course,” said the queen with a large smile, her own sharp teeth reflecting the weak, green light. “You can also pay for your crimes with your blood.”