Chapter 49 - Of Gobbos and Gods

Raeyn stood next to Violetta and looked into the cavern as the last of the camp was packed up and put away. Sig and Locke were little more than beasts of burden in the eyes of the Kithe, being told how to do this and that. They needed no excuses but were quick to point out that they were their elders, that they were smaller, that they were priestesses. Well, Cookie made such protests while Cake was off on a call to nature. The brown haired Kithe without her monstrous companion was hardly a threat, but Sig and Locke seemed all too eager to follow her orders.

“Raeyn,” Violetta looked down at her and put her hand on the top of her head, “You seem distracted. Are you feeling well?”

“Just exhausted.” She tried to hide all that had been eating her, but the woman knew.

“We have six days remaining and one more to return. So long as we do not stay more than five days in the depths, we should be able to return. Are you worried about your kin in the settlement?” Violetta took a stab at it.

“Leaf?” She nodded, “Yes. Though I suspect Lady Hilda will protect for the required time. I still would have liked to see her before we left.”

Violetta gasped, “Oh! I completely forgot that Lady Hightower had ordered us to come before her after resting.”

“Have we had a chance to rest?” She wondered aloud, “Do you think she’ll be mad?”

Cake approached them, adjusting her robes and looking at both Raeyn and Violetta with a sly smirk, “I am sure Lady Hilda has already appeased her. Either way, it is as the little Gobbo says. You have not had a chance to rest.”

“That is not what she meant.” Violetta’s voice lacked any anger or irritation but instead sounded like a child in fear of a certain punishment in the near future, “I hope she took care of it.”

“This is the Akeon?” Cake stared into the cavern, “It reeks.”

“Just be thankful you are not going up to your hips in bat guano.” Violetta looked to Raeyn with a proud smile, “She all but waded through it without a protest.”

“Akeon.” She knew the word now meant outpost, “This is not the fortress then?”

“No.” Cake folded her arms, “It would never be that easy. Though it may be the only way into the fortress. Dwarves are not known for having numerous entrances to the surface and each one is usually well-guarded or fortified. This is just a minor outpost entrance it seems.”

“I never heard anything about dwarves.” She looked to Raeyn, “Did you know this was made by the dwarves?”

“You live this close, and you never knew?” Violetta scoffed, “Well, yes. The Dwellin certainly did not make this. They are strong, but primitive. Much like you Gobbos. Your kind never seems to aspire to much. Every once in a while, you’ll get an idea, but usually all they do is struggle to live, never knowing how much a little hard work now would pay off in the future.”

“That is a bit harsh.” She knew it to be true though.

“Gobbos are content to run around naked but will cling to cloth and armor so long as they don’t have to spend the effort to make it themselves. Despite attempts to improve your situation, Gobbos are nothing more than parasites who will not even maintain the most basic of machines to make life easier. When it breaks, oh well, time to go back to scavenging for food or better yet stealing it.” Cake decided to wave the others over to them as she was ready, “Your kind cannot even get murder right, but that is probably why your kind even still exists on the mainland. These Dwellin were culled so long ago that few records even remain. Savages.”

Cookie came over and prodded a little further, much to her dismay, “Imagine being pitiful enough that your own creator abandoned you, so you had to suckle at the toes a dwarven God. Except swine like you can’t get milk from one who cannot even manifest himself.”

The flash of rage to kill the Kithe surged through her, and she realized that her hand was already on her knife before she knew it. Violetta seized her arm and twisted it back and pushed up into the center, “Now, Raeyn. You need to control that impulse or you are liable to get killed.”

She winced and nodded, “Thanks…”

“Do not test her,” Violetta stared down at the Kithe, “She’s no threat to you. She’s a High Priestess in name only.”

Cake nodded, “No harm checking, but from the look on her face… She doesn’t know.”

“Know what?” Locke chimed in, “About her own God?”

Raeyn shook her head, “What are you trying to say?”

“Seems you really are a priestess of convenience. A literal tool.” Cake threw out her hands in an exasperated way, “Proto-goblins, like you Gobbos are nothing more than the premature miscarried children of a Goddess whose half-hearted attempts to breed a proper monster ended up short. Belos took pity, and perhaps enjoyed how you burst into flame, ended up watching over your kind. If the divines were capable of love, then he’s like your adopted father while you all secretly pine for your mother.”

Cookie grinned, “Yeah, go suckle your mother’s big, green, mis-shapen flappy-”

Cake open palmed slapped Cookie across the right cheek with a thunder-like clap, “Sorry, Raeyn. Truth is, you probably already were aware of the contradictions if you did not suspect it outright. Your High Priestesses are all known as the Great Mother in your tribes, but you all worship Belos. In simple truth, the Great Mother is how your kind keeps alive the memory of your creator while still showing proper respect to your divine patron.”

Violetta nodded, seeming to know a little of this, perhaps from her now lost scroll. Raeyn realized that the original packs were probably still somewhere in the depths of her warren, but given the situation had forgotten until now. Violetta did not seem particularly concerned about it.

She took hold of the Torch and listened to the voices of the Great Mothers within. She knew that Cake had been telling the truth. A sudden void opened in her gut with the realization that her kind had been abandoned. Something in the unconscious thoughts churning within the Torch however hinted that the true Great Mother may not have abandoned them willingly.

“And if she did not abandon us?” Raeyn asked.

“Then that would be very problematic. As it means you can kill a god or imprison one to remove all of their influence on the world. The usual process is to simply cull their worshippers, smash their artifacts, and destroy any record of them. Then they can go back to being your regular spirits that permeate the world. For creator gods, such a thing isn’t possible while their creations exist. And we aren’t getting rid of docile enough Gobbos anytime soon.”

“Violetta?” She looked to the tall and beautiful friend that she had come to know, “You said that my blood might open the way. What did you mean by that?”

“You understood and remembered those words? Ha. Well, I suppose someone with an intelligence of 100 would. Shame you are subpar in everything else.” Violetta gave a bit of a devious smile, “You had the mark of Belos. I was ready to sacrifice you to open the way if needed. Priestesses have more than a few uses; some are little more than fit for slaughter.”

“Like swine.” Cookie added and Cake raised her hand to stop further jabs.

“So, you really were keen on using me like a tool.” She frowned.

“Still am,” Violetta’s expression did not change, “I gave you a chance to run and I owe you one, but neither of our dreams will come true from worrying about who is using who. As you said, we are a dyad. Though it might have grown. The lot of us could become like family by the end of it.”

“No.” Cake said dismissively, “Watching over children is tiring. I’ll give you all the sight again, but be mindful that actual light will be needed once we get inside. This is the entrance to the outpost, but while many people will think it is a fortress; it is nothing more than a Gobbo warren in comparison to the capital. Or in this case, the actual fortress.”