Goblin Queen: Katrina Baker Novel 03 Read online

  I also may have used micro-kinesis to carefully change a few tiny details after I’d purchased it.

  He looked impressed, “This is very good work, and they even look like us.”

  I smirked, “You don’t say?”

  He put it up on the fireplace mantle, and then kissed me.

  It was the next day before the rest of the world intruded into our honeymoon, and of all things it was a personal visit from the king without his usual guards, not even Andrew accompanied him.

  I curtseyed when I answered the door, quite a bit better than I had the first time, “Your majesty? Please come in.”

  Gerard bowed, “Welcome your majesty, would you like a drink?”

  Alexander shook his head, “I won’t intrude long, I wanted to ask a favor.”

  He looked directly at me, “Since you don’t work for me, you can of course refuse. But I have a few people who want to take a vacation up north. I was wondering if you could help them get there.”

  My first inclination was to simply agree, until what he was asking me to do actually sunk in. This wasn’t work for my goddess, or hero work, or even ally work to assist any paladins of the gods that were aligned with Arella. I had no doubt what he was asking me, he wanted me to use my ability to teleport to, and insert spies, into Jendas.

  I had two objections to this. The first was of a practical nature, I didn’t want to let him abuse my good will and take advantage. I didn’t work for him, and I wasn’t a spy. If I simply said yes, before long I’d be teleporting people back and forth all the time so they could spy in the different villages and cities of Jendas. That issue had a simple solution, I could simply charge him exorbitantly for the service.

  It was the second objection that was far more sticky, I wasn’t sure of the morality of it. Sure, I’d gotten over my reluctance to kill the members of the evil races. I also grudgingly admitted, that this world’s law and order worked differently, and that kill on sight policy should apply to bandits, murderers, and rapists as well. Though, it still tweaked my conscious at times, I hadn’t been raised that way.

  Helping the king spy on Jendas however, wasn’t so quite clear cut, and was morally ambiguous at best. It could be argued that the more information King Alexander can gather, the better prepared he’d be to avert war from his more paranoid neighbor. But a part of me wondered at his other aims, which I was sure he wouldn’t share with me.

  In other words, I wasn’t sure if it would be the right thing to do.

  Plus, the king was breaking his own rules in order to use my ability to his advantage, I wasn’t supposed to get involved in politics between kingdoms, or even inside this one. Even the paladins that worked for him directly would never be employed as spies, and if I helped him move assets, I’d be a spy of sorts by association. In a support role, but just as culpable.

  The problem was, saying no wasn’t the nice easy solution to keep my conscience clear.

  I also had to weigh the decision against possibly making the king an enemy at least politically if I said no. He said I could refuse, but he was also the king and quite confident I wouldn’t say no. It was in his bearing and he was used to getting his own way.

  In short, I was way in over my head, and wasn’t sure what the right thing was. I wouldn’t compromise my beliefs or morality even if it did make the king my enemy as a result, but I honestly wasn’t sure if doing this would compromise my beliefs. Spying was a fact of life among disparate nations after all, I wasn’t naïve, just not sure I could be a part of it.

  “Can I get back to you on that your majesty?”

  The king’s eyes widened, and then narrowed. He nodded curtly, “Of course,” and swept out of the door. Oh joy…

  Gerard had a faint frown on his face.

  I asked softly, “What would you do?”

  Gerard said, “I would charge him, since you don’t work for him. At least five gold a trip so he doesn’t abuse it.”

  “No moral qualms?”

  Gerard shook his head, “Your goddess won’t care, as long as you don’t work for evil you can do whatever you want when you aren’t working for her. As for your own morals, I can’t speak to that. I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

  Yeah, but he has no trouble killing either, and then I immediately felt guilty for that thought.

  Gerard continued, “It’s part of living in Trelin, we serve the gods but we also live in the real world, we have to pick a side. Maybe that’s why you’re having trouble with it? So far you’ve been mostly neutral that way outside of defending from the raid from Chilik. Despite that, and even saving their kingdom, Jendas is already your enemy. You don’t work for the king, but you’re either his subject, or not.”

  I thought about that for a while, and sighed as I felt his hands on my shoulders. So not fair, I melted under his probing fingers as he massaged my shoulders and neck.

  I think he was right. I may have accepted his and my authority to kill bandits, but this world was still harsher than mine, and I think I’d divorced myself from it to a certain extent. I distanced myself from it as if to keep my hands clean, as if I was somehow above and better than they were, up to the point that simply having servants made me uncomfortable.

  I had to make a decision. I could try and be a hero, stay detached from all the kingdoms and simply step in when the lines were clear black and white, but that wasn’t the right thing to do. It would be arrogant to try and be aloof like that. In a way, it would be worse to be judgmental like that, as if I was too good to stand in the dirt with everyone else. Gerard was my home, and that made Trelin my home as well.

  It could be worse, Alexander was formal, but his rule wasn’t harsh, and he wasn’t nearly as paranoid as the Jendas king seemed to be. I shook my head, it wasn’t until Gerard had said it that I’d realized I’d even been living in the clouds.

  To be fair, I’d only been here three weeks, and I could only adjust and change so fast. My new life with Gerard was wonderful, and the work I did was incredibly rewarding, but it was also hard. I had to accept it all, not just a small part of it. I didn’t have to be a hero all the time, and helping Trelin against its enemies and potential enemies wouldn’t sully what I did for the goddess.

  “Alright, five gold a trip, one way, no haggling. Should we track down the king, or let him know to come back?”

  Gerard laughed, “You want to summon the king?”

  I shrugged, “I figured if he’d wanted the Jendas spies in the castle to know what I’d be doing for him, he’d have just summoned us in the first place.”

  His eyes narrowed in thought and he said, “Good point,” and then wrapped his arms around me, “I’ll track him down later and let him know. You won’t be able to get a private audience with him like I can, not without raising eyebrows anyway.”

  I pushed back against him, “Why later?”

  He laughed, “Lunch restored my energy, and I’m far too busy to do it right now. A man has to have his priorities, and this is our honeymoon.”

  Then his lips were on my neck, and he lifted me up and took me back to bed…

  Chapter Twelve

  “Katrina?”

  I stared at the communicator on the night table and sighed.

  It was the third morning of our honeymoon. Gerard did track down the king yesterday, and I’d already dropped three people off in Castlehaven, the capitol city of Jendas. It’d taken me five minutes, and then we got back to our own little world. Now it was being interrupted again.

  I reached over and picked up the device, and turned off the mute on the microphone, “Mom? What is it?”

  Havoc cleared her throat, “I need your help. Quicker the better, but there’s no danger right now.”

  My mom, asking for help? The world must be ending.

  “Five minutes, or sooner.”

  We both jumped out of bed and I pulled a dress over my head as Gerard got his new suit and armor on. I peaked in the mirror, and grabbed a brush, both relieved and disappointed. Th
e nanites must have finally died last night, and my hair was a fright.

  I gave up on it and put it in a ponytail when Gerard finished getting dressed, I’d need a bath and to wash it, but I didn’t think we had time to dawdle right now.

  “Ready?”

  When he nodded, I teleported us straight to the lounge, which was missing half a wall.

  My mother stalked in and stared at the wall for a minute.

  “What’s going on, you need help?”

  She nodded, and waved at the wall.

  “We attacked the witch this morning, and we were winning too, until she hit the ship with a spell. It seems to be eating it, so we retreated to figure it out. It looks like the ship is oxidizing, rusting and falling apart in seconds instead of centuries, but the alloy the ship is made of should in theory, not do that, ever. Stupid magic, if it manages to keep going it could cause a breach in the reactor. Admittedly, that would take care of Chilik quite permanently, and possibly southern Trelin as well,” she glared at the missing wall.

  I closed my eyes a moment to picture it in my head, and then chanted the prayer for dispel magic and aimed it in the general direction of the missing wall. There was a large flash of light.

  A moment later, Sia said, “Repair systems are now making progress, three hours and forty-two minutes until completion.”

  Mom sighed and shook her head, “Thanks.”

  Gerard asked, “How would that take care of Chilik permanently?”

  She waved her hand, “Nuclear detonation. Umm, right,” she murmured as she realized he wouldn’t understand that. “Sia, display…” she trailed off again, and glared at the missing wall, where the flat screen monitor used to be.

  I said, “It would be like a fireball, that destroys hundreds of square miles and had secondary effects further out.”

  Gerard blanched.

  I shrugged, “She’d never use a bomb so don’t worry.”

  Mom smiled, “That’s right, it lacks style. So, we may need your help against the witch. Though I’ve already stolen about half her enslaved soldiers. How are you feeling Gerard, everything okay?”

  He nodded, “Fine, great really. How are you?”

  Gerard looked confused, I on the other hand was instantly suspicious. He’d been running a slight fever the night after our wedding, and had woken up with the health, strength, and stamina of a man ten years younger in his late teen years and prime. I’d just been too happy to notice before, I was a little hedonist when it came to him after all, and I narrowed my eyes and glared at my mother.

  “What did you do? It was the drink, wasn’t it,” I accused.

  She asked, “Drink? What are you talking about Kat?”

  “Not the drink, then what did you do?” I asked, not quite sure she’d done anything anymore.

  She shrugged, “I didn’t change anything, just optimized his health a bit, repaired any issues, physical wear and tear, and purged all contaminants, that kind of thing. Same health nano-pack I’ve been using on you, your father, and myself for years.”

  I was slightly mollified, and felt a little guilty as well. But my mother had engineered me in her own womb, so it paid to be paranoid at times. Who knows what she gets up to sometimes.

  “Thanks mom, but you should ask next time.”

  Gerard said, “So that’s what all those sore muscles aches were about?”

  She grunted, “Yes, that can happen the first time. The purging of contaminants has to release them from the bodies tissues first, and then purge them from them body. I’d guess it was so mild a reaction because this world doesn’t have nearly as many chemical contaminants as ours did.”

  I was both annoyed and grateful, and I changed the subject.

  “You need more help?”

  She nodded, “Just for that dispel magic thing you do, in case the witch hits us with something again, although your other abilities and talents would probably be helpful as well.”

  Gerard and I shared a look, so much for our honeymoon. But I could tell he was willing, fighting the evil in Chilik wouldn’t be a problem for either of us.

  “Fine, can I use the shower first? We rushed here, and I should change anyway if we’re going to fight.”

  Gerard asked, “Shower?”

  I smiled coyly, “Let me show you,” I said, and took his hand and dragged him away… Then I blushed at mom’s knowing look, thank the goddess dad wasn’t in the room.

  The four of us sat in the kitchen, the ship still had a couple of hours before it would be repaired. We were planning out how to take out violet over a leisurely meal of sandwiches and potato salad. My mother was explaining the setup now.

  “Violet has a large compound, or I guess you’d call it a keep here. High walls with orcs on guard, inside the walls a barracks which supports the orc tribe. They’re bigger and stronger than goblins, but as far as we could tell none of them have magic. It’s not all paved on the inside either, just a walled off part of the area, the trees, bushes, and more are still there, maybe because she’s a witch? She has a rather large mansion in the center, and from what we saw two ogre guards, but the scanners picked up four more somewhere else in the compound, so she has a whole family of them.

  “Outside the walls there are a couple of hundred goblins of three different tribes. They work the farms, and guard the pits where the human slaves are kept when they aren’t working. There were more goblin tribes scattered around her facing both the north and west sides to warn about and blunt any attack from her other neighbors, but we already enslaved all of them.”

  I nodded, “So two hundred goblins, a wall, fifty orcs, and a mansion with the witch and a family of ogres?”

  Dad replied, “That sums it up. The only true dangers are the goblin mages, and the witch, though the latter is the most dangerous by far. The rest we can enslave to bolster our own forces when we move east.”

  “So, how did she catch you out?”

  Mom replied, “We moved the ship over the keep, and released the flying spheres with the control implants. The witch destroyed almost all the ones I’d launched, and then managed to damage the ship itself, and that’s when we retreated and called you.”

  “How about a knockout gas, if we want to keep most of them alive?”

  I was of two minds about that, letting her gather and control an army made up of the evil races was one thing, helping her do so was quite another.

  Mom scoffed, “That’s no fun, might as well just drop a missile on them.”

  I snorted, “So what do you want Gerard and I to do?”

  She bit her lip, “Well, I want you to dispel her shield.”

  I frowned, “Don’t you have that sonic gun?”

  She nodded, “Yes, but that would kill her.”

  My mind was stuck for a moment, but then I caught on. I’d forgotten how to even think like a supervillain. She didn’t want to kill the witch, she wanted to hit her with a human mind control implant and control the witch. Violet was evil, and quite possibly even deserved it, but I couldn’t help her enslave a human, could I?

  “You don’t need a witch mom.”

  She replied, “She’d make a superior test subject, and help me make faster progress in my research.”

  Gerard felt uneasy, and I put my hand on his knee as he ate another finger sandwich. I was right there with him.

  Gerard said, “Even if we were willing to do such a thing, enslave her instead of bringing her to justice, it won’t work. Her magic will be incredibly strong, much stronger than ours. She’s one of the strongest witches in the world. The only reason Katrina could dispel her curse on the ship was the witch wasn’t there to sink more magic into the spell and fight back.”

  She looked skeptical but dad said, “He’s telling the truth, maybe we should just kill her. There are other witches out here I’m sure, of lesser power which won’t be nearly so dangerous.”

  She sighed, “Fine. Let’s do this then…” she filled us in on the plan.

  Chapter Thirteen


  I didn’t like the plan at all, but I should have known better to think she’d let me do something dangerous as a part of her own planning. Gerard, my father, and I were all on top of the ship on the upper deck, and we were a good thousand feet up. Our only job was to dispel magic if the witch hit the ship again, or my mother.

  My mother was nuts, and grinning maniacally as she launched a bunch of those orbs from the rear of the ship, which dove down and started to fire at the orcs, who fell over, some of them right off the wall. The witch must have been connected to all her creatures, because she came running out right away.

  She wore tight black robes, which reminded me of when Gerard and I met, and he’d thought I was an evil witch at first. The robes looked nothing like a conforming bodysuit, but I supposed I could see it.

  The plan was simple enough, the orbs should distract the witch long enough to give my mother a shot with the sonic weapon. After that it would be a simple matter of cleaning up. I watched as my mother aimed and fired, only to have the large twelve-foot ogre bodily block the shot.

  The ogres body rippled from the impact, his head was almost completely ripped from his body, and he was slammed into the ground. The witch looked up in annoyance, she was far too far away to hear, but I could see her muttering a spell.

  There were also several fireballs from goblin mages that my mother ignored, they just splashed against her personal shield, as she aimed at the witch again and fired. The second ogre stepped in front of it as well, but the angle was bad for the witch this time since my mother had been flying down the whole time, and was much lower now. The ogre’s body rippled from the impact, and was thrown back, straight into the witch.

  Ogre and witch went flying back against the outside walls of her mansion. The witch was rattled and confused from the jarring impacts, and had lost track of her spell, but she wasn’t hurt badly, or even scratched thanks to her shielding.