Jade Benz

“Can you believe this shit?” she asked her ogres, later that night. “He acts like he’s in charge around here or something. The horny dude didn’t tell me he’s in charge, how bout you boys?” she continued. The ogres were growling and scowling in all the right places, as she repeated herself again.

They had finally settled down for the night, and she was in a little hive building alone with her ogres. Benjamin had suggested they all stay together, but she didn’t think that anything could mess with her and her boys. Nothing small enough to fit in the door anyway. She had to crawl to get into this one, before she reached this little room and was able to summon the ogres.

Jade had gotten the whole story eventually, after pressuring Benjamin for an hour. She didn’t know why they hadn’t just told her, like they thought she was going to mess the plan up on purpose. She was still pretty mad and had been complaining nonstop since they settled in. Tik and Tok were taking it pretty well, considering she had been on repeat for forty minutes.

“Still, it was a little embarrassing. Having to admit that I couldn’t help where they needed me, just because you boys don’t know your colors…or right from left…or well anything really. I didn’t even think of using my essence pistol either.” She stewed on that for a while, wondering if there was anything that could be done about it.

“I honestly don’t know why I’m letting this bother me.” She said at last, “Back home, nothing I did mattered. If I screwed up, so what. I’d just get fucked up and forget about it.” She fell quiet, thinking about the only time she had gotten messed up in this new life.

She had killed nearly an entire people. She hadn’t cared or spared a thought for it afterwards either. Not until she met Grace and Stomper anyway, she had to admit she liked them. Even though the green girlie was a bit bitchy, it was kind of nice to have some girl talk.

“Gahh, enough with this reflection bullshit and being stuck in my own head. Your boys’ heads are the problem here. You need to be smarter, but how do I do that. Maybe I need to get into your heads.” She mused, thinking through her options.

Closing her eyes, she popped into her ‘void space’ and sat in her ‘meditation chair’. Benjamin had corrected her on the names, not like it mattered what they were called. Once she was seated, she felt better. There was something about this chair and this room that felt right. She never noticed it when she wasn’t sitting down, but it felt like there was a piece of her mind missing and sitting here returned it to her.

It didn’t really matter she supposed, if she was somehow broken. She didn’t realize it when she wasn’t in the chair, and when she was in the chair, she wasn’t broken. It weirded her out, so she stopped thinking about it. Instead she turned to the patterns of the ogres. She wanted to make them smarter, but in order to do that, she thought she needed to get inside their heads.

She didn’t need sleep anymore, so she worked on it until Grace came to get her. She hadn’t figured out how to make them smarter, but she had learned something really cool. It was quite the discovery. When she thought about how good it was going to feel, to pull one over on Benjamin; she couldn’t help chuckling to herself. He wanted to keep her in the dark, well two could play at that game.

* * *

Benjamin Vryce

Benjamin was worried they were taking too long. He knew that every minute they delayed, more of the faceless enemy were pouring in through the tear in the universe. He just couldn’t think of a better way to handle the situation. He had talked to Grace, Stomper, and eventually Jade but none of them had any better ideas than he had.

The problem was numbers, the invaders had them and they didn’t. It wasn’t just the invaders either, the Hive that lived in that tower weren’t going to just let them walk right in the front doors. So, that left them with two options really; fight their way through the hive so they could fight the invaders, or sneak inside and close the rift.

If they chose to fight, they would need an army they didn’t have. If they chose to sneak in, and managed to close the rift they would still need to fight their way out of the tower…with an army they didn’t have. So, taking all of that into consideration, step one was obvious. He needed an army.

Looking over to the blue king and the fourteen soldiers who had survived the night, he knew it wasn’t going to be enough. The battle-scarred monarch was wearing a suit of golden armor, which perfectly matched the bands around his upper body. The armor was a sort of woven fiber composite. Extremely lightweight and wouldn’t interfere with his flight but was strong enough to protect him from blows.

The armor was one of the patterns the Erlking had given Benjamin, and a subtle nudge that sent his mind down this train of thought. It wasn’t the only odd pattern he had rolling around in his soul either. He didn’t understand the point for many of them. With a mental sigh, he wondered what else the Erlking expected from him, but hadn’t told him directly. He shook his head, probably another one of the Arbiters rules.

The blue Hive soldiers were now all equipped with the best armor, the fifty or so vanquished red hive had been wearing. All of it was better than what they had worn before. Even with better armor the blue hive were undersized and weak. Benjamin wasn’t sure what use they would be, but they were what he had to work with.

While they waited for Honor to return, they relocated the blue Hive’s few females and their eggs to a more hidden location. He left four of the soldiers with them for protection. Benjamin didn’t think they would survive in the long run without a monarch, but he didn’t feel right just wiping them out. This way he might be able to work something out, if he survived. He had to argue with Jade on the subject, she had wanted the essence.

He tried to communicate with the blue king while they waited, it didn’t seem possible. At least it wasn’t possible with what he knew at the moment. He could however, give the blue king instructions and have them relayed to the other Hive. It was cumbersome, but it worked. Eventually, Honor returned and they set out to follow his trail to the red Hive’s tower.

They ran into a problem almost immediately that Benjamin hadn’t foreseen. The Hive were not very fast on foot, they could walk and even run but their main mode of transportation was flight. He didn’t want them to fly, because their wing beats would give them away. After a brief discussion with the others, they sent them back to the new hiding place. The raid on the red tower was going to happen during the day anyway, and these Hive were nocturnal.

The disappointment Benjamin was feeling must have been obvious, because Grace came to talk to him shortly after the blue Hive had left.

“Would you like to talk to Grace about it?” She asked him, moving up to walk beside him.

“I’m just a little frustrated is all, we wasted the whole night and the day before to capture that tower. And the blue hive, let’s just call them blues, are practically worthless.” He said, honestly. It was true too; they were so few in number and so much smaller than the other Hive that they wouldn’t be worth much in a fight.

Grace looked up at him for a while. It looked to Benjamin like she was debating something with herself. Finally, she reached up and took his hand in hers, holding it tight. It was awkward, the height difference wasn’t inconsiderable but it made him feel better immediately.

“Grace wonders, if the ants were worthless during the swamp rat fight?” she asked.

“No, they performed…”

“Grace also wonders, why you didn’t have the ants trail the “reds” to their tower?” she asked another question before Benjamin could answer.

“Well, they aren’t…”

“Lastly, Grace wonders why you didn’t summon the wolves to climb the tower with you?” she asked him a third question before he could say mor than a few words.

“Ok, Grace. I get what you mean, they aren’t suited to this task. That by itself doesn’t make them useless.” He said with a laugh, holding up his free hand in a warding gesture. “To be honest, the blue king is so bad ass on his own that if we hadn’t gotten any of the blues, we would have still come out ahead.” He added thoughtfully, already feeling a little better.

The small goblin girl looked up at him with a happy smile, squeezing his hand in hers. He was lucky to have found her, Stomper too, but not in the same way. that reminded him that he hadn’t absorbed the patterns of the rest of her people yet. The smile faded from his face a little at that realization.

“What is it?” she asked him, catching the shift in his mood.

“I was thinking how happy I was to have you with me,” he said. “Then I remembered I haven’t been able to sit down and bring the rest of your clan back. It seems silly that I haven’t done it yet too, especially now when we need extra fighters so badly.” He added, more because of his own lack of future planning.

Now it was Graces turn to lose some of her smile. He knew that she missed her people, and that the identities of those left were a constant question on her mind.

“Grace wants her clan back, but she, and Stomper understand that you are very busy right now. The Lord Erlking has tasked you with a mission, he would not have let Graces clan stay locked away if it wasn’t important.” She said with conviction.

Benjamin wasn’t as sure as she seemed to be, but the Erlking was committed to his creations. Looking around at the Hive, who were also the Erlking’s creations, would be enough to prove that to him.

“You have a point Grace, but once we defeat the reds, I will absorb the other Goblin patterns. If the battle was anything like this one, I will have essence to spare.” He told her.

She smiled up at him again. He could have basked in that smile all night, so of course that was when Jade butted in.

“Not to nose in on you two love birds, but a, if we don’t have to walk with the bugs anymore, can we get on the wolves and get there faster? I want to do a little work in my ‘meditation chair’ before the fight.” She said meditation chair, using her fingers as quotation marks.

Grace looked confused, not getting the reference, but Benjamin sighed. She had a point, if they didn’t have to walk, they were wasting time going this slowly.

“Yea, you have a point Jade. Alright, lets mount up.” he said, giving Grace’s hand a final squeeze before calling Ice over and climbing onto her back. He pet her shoulder affectionately, running his fingers through the long fur of her coat.

The others followed suit, and he looked around at his party. Grace rode Honor, Stomper and Jade rode as yet unnamed wolf mounts, and he was on ice. He didn’t have any of his other summons out at the moment, and Jade put the ogres away after they helped her onto her preferred silver and white wolf mount.

“Not sure how much further it is, but we will have to be careful when we get closer,” Benjamin began. “I want us to find a spot to lay low, so we can watch them come and go until the sun comes up.” he finished, they needed the soldiers. That meant getting the monarch, but that meant getting through the soldiers. He stopped that downward spiral before it went any further.

“Yea, ok chief,” Jade said, mimicking Stomper. “You can strategize to your hearts content…after we get there,” she said sarcastically.

Benjamin sighed at her tone.

“You know Jade, this, this right here is why I didn’t tell you about the plan to take over the blues.” He said pointedly. Causing her to frown, and think for a moment.

“Ok, Vice. I see your point, lead the way girlie.” She said gesturing to Grace, who was riding their guide.

Benjamin and Grace exchanged glances; surprise evident in their faces. They didn’t comment however, and Grace asked Honor to take them to the red’s tower.