Love as a Form of Binding Ch. 12

He grinned and stepped away as the body hung in the air twitching. He wished that he'd stepped away a little sooner when he looked down at what he was standing in.

The sight of it had an almost completely demoralizing effect on most of the goblins. They just turned to run, and since they were no longer fighting, they died quickly at the hands of Racephet, Thiery, Illa and Alecto.

But the sight of the dead king had a completely different effect on nine others. They came shrieking and howling out of hiding at Toby. He stared at nine very ugly green and haggish females of some sort, "What the fuck are those?"

"They are the queens," Maezou said as Zele appeared beside her in her demonic shape. Zele grinned and flexed her claws once as they stepped in front of Toby and Zele turned her head slightly.

"Leave these ones to us, Toby," she said over her shoulder.

He nodded and stepped back to give them room and felt Racephet's hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not really sure what's going on here," Toby said.

"They want to kill you for killing their male," the glowing one said quietly, "I think that Maezou does not think that you'd do much more than defend yourself. By placing themselves in front of you, it sends the message that this is between queens alone now. To your consorts, this is what the goblin queens should have been doing, it is expected that queens fight beside their males. Zele and Maezou are doing what they see as their role in this. They were prepared for this fight from the outset, but the queens hid themselves. Between only females, this will be a shorter fight – and much bloodier."

Racephet had been correct. It didn't last very long, but it gave Toby something to wonder about. He'd now seen his consorts in a fight. He thought they were efficient fighters and they were – right up to this point. From here on out until the last goblin queen was dead, they were almost but not quite as efficient as he'd seen them before. Now they'd added another aspect to their methods and he wondered about it.

He watched as they walked back to him covered in black blood and gore, their eyes glowing murderously and their long claws leaving trails of dripped blood. He pulled them to him and hugged them tightly and the three of them kissed each other for a long moment.

But he had to ask.

"I watched you," he said still with a bit of wonder, "I thought for a second that you were being cruel, but now I don't think that I was correct. That was something else, wasn't it?"

Zele nodded, "This was to say something that a female would understand. They should have fought us here before, not after."

Maezou nodded, "If they couldn't kill you in a first attempt, they'd have banked on you sparing them, the poor queens with nothing now. They might even have offered themselves to you and killed you in your sleep if your eyesight failed you enough to allow it. It was a bad plan and we saw it plainly. This was our way of saying 'Fat chance', I guess. It's a girl thing."

She thought of a T-shirt that she'd seen on a young woman on a street during one of her hunts, and it made her grin.

"They might have been queens here, but, ... "

She shrugged, "Bitches rule," she said.

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There was a lot of housecleaning to do for themselves. Racephet found the goblin refuse pit and all of the bodies were dragged there and thrown in. Once he'd found that the entrance to it could be blocked, he set it alight and chuckled, knowing that the humans who lived close by might wonder about the vague stench for a few days, but there were enough small vents that no one would be able to definitively determine the cause.

Mother was pleased at how it had gone. Toby tried gently to ask a question that had been on his mind. Mother laughed softly in her rich voice.

"I did not take part because this was your fight, Tobias, and I wasn't needed anyway. This was your chance to put what you have learned to use, to take a place for yourself. The goblins have had it long enough. The agreement has lain broken for centuries and Racephet has a claim here more than the goblins, since he paid a price. They paid nothing, though some long-dead ones did a little work according to legend. You did well, but the next fight will not go as easily."

Thiery walked up reluctantly, almost dragged by Illa. Mother sat and smiled at them expectantly. Thiery said nothing, so Illa went ahead. "Mother, Thiery's been hurt. He was keepin' a goblin off me, but he was bitten on his shoulder and I'm a wee bit worried. I've washed the wound, but I'm afraid that he'll get sick, and he'll no do a thing about it. Would ye look at it?"

The demoness smiled and erased the wound with her hand. "Thiery is likely the only one among us who can take the bite of a goblin and not mind it too much, Illa. It's why he grew the way that he did from coupling with you."

Illa tilted her head and Mother chuckled. "What imp girls give to their mates is to strengthen imp boys and make them less fearful in case they stay together and raise young ones. I told you that it wasn't for kobolds, and that's why Thiery was ill. But what came to him from you is more than a kobold or an imp would ever get, I'm sure."

She reached out to hold Thiery's chin in her hand for a moment before she turned to the imp. "Thiery lived through it for the same reason that he grew as large and strong as he did. And it is for the same reason that this bite wouldn't really have made him sick. Thiery is one-quarter goblin. He got nothing of their looks thankfully, but he got enough of their blood for these things."

Thiery stepped away and looked down as he turned to walk away. Illa called his name, but he didn't answer. He only stopped when she ran up to stand in front of him. "What's wrong, Thiery?"

He sighed, "I didna want ye to find that out about me. I know that it was goblins who killed yer mother, and I, ..." he hung his head.

"Listen," Illa said, "It was you who told me that ye didna hold me te blame fer what happened te ye, Thiery, and I'm sure not holdin' you te blame fer what happened to my mother. I'm not mindin' what ye are, am I? I'm in love with ye, and I love everything about ye, not just yer sweet backside." She thanked Mother and took Thiery's hand as she led him away to a small niche that she'd found and swept out. She pulled him inside and kissed him so that he thought his knees would give out.

"I'll tell ye a wee secret," she whispered, "but ye cannae tell anybody, Thiery, 'cause it's about me, and it's kind of personal-like."

Thiery looked into her eyes, "I'll no tell anyone, Illa dear," he whispered back, "I'm in love wi' ye, and I've learned how te keep a secret. But here, why dya want te tell me?"

She sighed into his ear softly, "Because, my love, we're for each other, aren't we? The bigger ones only wanted to let us lead them in there. They was worried about how te protect us in case we found goblins because they like us a lot. But we didna need much protectin' did we, Thiery? We're both a bit timid because we're small, but we're nae timid if the other one needs help. I did things in there that I never thought I'd ever do, and I saw ye do things te protect me that few of the old warriors that this place was built fer could ever do, so I know I've got yer heart, just as ye've got mine.

It doesna matter te me that ye've got a touch of goblin blood in ye. I love ye as ye are. I love ye enough te tell ye of my own wee secret," she whispered as she reached down to bring his hand to her little mound. She sighed and reached to caress his balls gently.

"I've only just learned it too," she whispered after she leaned back to look into his eyes earnestly, "Ye see, I'm not all imp. I'm sure now that I've got a touch of somethin' else as well in me."

Thiery was trying hard to concentrate. He wanted to just let himself go with what they were doing, but now he had to know. "I canna see anything about ye that's not impish, Illa. What else might ye be?"

"I think that I'm almost all imp girl as ye see, but I think there's at least a wee bit of the hare in me." She reached up for one of her ears to wiggle it at her kobold, "See?"

He smiled, "Illa, ye had me worried for ye that there was a problem. That's just yer lovely ear."

"Is it?" she grinned, "Then why is it that since I fell fer ye, all that I can think of is having ye fuck me like we was rabbits?"

They chuckled at each other and he pulled her ear forward so that he could kiss it. "Ye're just my sweet pretty imp girl, Illa. Ye're nae hare."

"I'm not?" Illa's eyes looked at him as though she was just a little shocked. She smiled softly as ran her hand down over his chest until it came to where their bodies touched, "Well, what if I got on my hands and knees then, and wiggled my bum at ye? D'ya think that we could pretend a little?"

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Tisiphone and Megaera were kept busy hauling enough water from the well to allow the ones who had gone inside to wash. During one of the few times that they were both in the main hall, two figures crawled out of the well and hauled out a third. They made their way out through the bolt-hole and tried to run for the trees.

Zele turned her head in the hall and the others wondered when she assumed her hellhound shape and bounded toward the well stairs with Tisiphone and Megaera after her.

The two Furies found the remains of one goblin in the gully where Zele had killed him and they searched in the darkness for her, though they didn't call out. They sensed that there was at least one human nearby. Tisiphone caused the body to slip under the earth before she walked carefully after Megaera.

They met and Megaera pointed. Out beyond where they stood, they saw Zele looking at something.

There was a water-filled ditch with a man standing at the edge. He was shaking for a number of reasons, and some had to do with the adrenaline that flowed through his system. He held a small LED flashlight and it shone down on the severed head of what had been an injured goblin until only moments before. Next to that body was another one, alive but terrified and shaking with her hands bound.

He didn't need to shine his flashlight out any farther into the darkness. He knew what stood there looking back at him. For all that he knew, he was the only one in possibly the whole of Scotland who might know what was there. He also knew that it could understand human speech – if it allowed him the time to say his piece.

He looked at the red eyes and nodded carefully. "My name is Lewis. Can you understand me?"

He saw the eyes tilt a little and then they moved up and down twice. Lewis thought then that he might just have a chance to live a little longer.

"I live over there," he pointed behind him, "and I know some things about creatures such as you are." He exhaled, trying to get some of the tension out of his chest, "I was here because I like to enjoy a smoke now and then in the evening. I just came out of my door when I heard the sounds of a struggle, and not knowing what else to do, I grabbed my gardening spade."

He looked at those eyes, dull red as they regarded him calmly. He saw them blink and wondered how often that happened, and if it was more or less frequent than he needed to do it. "I didn't see what you were doing at first, but I heard her cry out and so I swung at the first head that I saw, knowing that she was over there. If I've done something wrong, then please forgive me, ... and if you can find it in you, please don't hurt her."

The only sounds after Lewis finished speaking was from the one in the ditch as she whimpered once, but then Zele exhaled with a deep hiss of heated air. Lewis wondered what he ought to do now. He had half a mind to just ignore the thing out there and just help the one in the ditch. It was December after all. Of course, he also had the other half of his mind, and that was telling him to run for his life.

A lot of that changed when the thing began to speak. From what he knew, they couldn't speak at all - yet this one could. When he heard the first of her grating and rumbling speech, Lewis felt the hair on the back of his neck begin to rise.

"You do not know what I am," the low voice growled, "But maybe you know enough. It is clear that you would not tell of this. It was not needed, but your stroke with your weapon there was just and at the right time. Not needed, but thank you all the same."

"This?" Lewis asked, "this is not a weapon. It's a gardening spade, used to dig in the ground."

"Even better," the hound said, mindful not to give her name, "What does a man like you want with this one here? She is a problem for me. I have no wish to, but it would be best if I killed her."

"Kill her?" Lewis was shocked, " Why? Because she's a goblin and the other one tried to save her?"

The eyes before him moved from side to side once. "No, she has some goblin blood, and not enough or she would be dead now. There was another I killed, a female goblin back there. This dead one one is a male. They did not take this one to save her from anything. She is not, ... goblin enough. They have no king now, and ran to start elsewhere. Look close," the hellhound said.

"They took this one for food."

Lewis shone his light down at her. Her skin had a greenish hue to it, though the coloration seemed to flicker over her. It was hard to tell much in the bluish glare of the high intensity LED light. The long and matted hair was red, and the rag that she had on her was ripped and old. It came to him that it looked older than she was. Her lips were full but bruised, like much of the rest of her. He looked at the slightly open mouth and saw what had been told to him. There weren't the tusks there that most goblins have on their lower jaws, what was there were very small and could only be seen when her mouth was open.

He was glad that she wasn't a troll girl. She'd have tusks then no matter what. He didn't really believe what had been said about her. So she didn't have tusks, so what? She looked like a goblin to him, and he thought that the hound had made a mistake - one that hs had no intention of pointing out, or the poor thing would die for certain.

She opened her eyes to squint up at him and Lewis was a little transfixed. One of her eyelids was a little swollen and she was covered in mud from the ditch, but her eyes were such a bright green that it amazed him. None of that changed much in the way that he felt. He'd finally seen some of the creatures that he'd known had existed for all of his life. He didn't mind that the others had been killed, but he couldn't see a reason that she ought to die out of her own misfortune. She looked like she'd already been through quite a wringer.

He looked up, "Are you hunting them? Why?"

"They are what is left under the old hall" the voice rasped quietly, "Lift your gardening tool."

He lifted the spade by the handle and washed it in the ditch water before staring as the ground opened and the goblin was gone from sight in a second.

"You do not need to know more," the hound said.

He nodded, "I understand. It's my job to keep the grounds clean there. So there were still goblins after all this time?"

The eyes nodded, "You will see small changes there. Do not walk into the hall unannounced if it is open. Call inside first."

Lewis wanted to ask what was meant by 'open'. How could the place not be open? He cleared his throat, "I, um, ... I will care for her," he said, hoping for some reason that there would be no argument.

Zele twisted her head slightly and noticed a little about him. He lived alone, she could even see the building a way off if she filtered out the trees in the mind. He knew of magic, and believed more than what came to him through his eyes. She saw that he thought she was wrong. It didn't matter.

Zele looked at the object of the discussion. A look inside her said a lot about goblins, and why they've always been hated by so many. Just look at what they did to their own. She tried to see through the girl's eyes. Lewis looked pretty good then, though she was afraid of him.

The inside of a hellhound is known to be as impervious as it's tough hide, but then Zele was not really a hellhound. She had a heart in that chest, and at that moment, what she saw swayed her.

The eyes considered for a moment. "Take her then. You may be visited by another to see how it goes."

Lewis gasped as the beast stepped forward a little. It didn't come into the light directly and he didn't move the beam even an inch, but he gasped all the same. Now he could tell himself that he'd seen a hellhound.

"From what is seen," Zele said, "this one knows some of your speech. Be warned, Lew-is, to bring her into your home would be as bringing any other wild thing there."

She turned away and left him with a last thought over her shoulder, "Do not anger her. She would likely kill you. If it is seen that it has happened, she would be hunted then and killed."

Then they were alone.

He looked down and shook his head. What the hell was he doing?

He crouched down slowly and saw that her eyes followed him. He tried to smile, and hoped that it didn't put her off any more than the extent that she must already be frightened. "Can you understand what I say?"

She looked at him for a long minute, but she nodded a little, "Some."

He smiled wider. She considered her chances of just getting up and running away, but ... there was nowhere for her.

Lewis thought that this was about to get silly if they now had the 'Tarzan-Jane' moment between them. He decided to put it off for the present to get her out of the ditch.

"Can you get up? Can you stand?"

She blinked twice. "Tired," she said, "weak. S – scared."

He nodded," You must be." He looked at her and considered, his eyes coming to rest on the cord that bound her wrists and the single lead that she could be led by. "I want to take you where it is warm and dry. I'll try to carry you – if it's alright with you, or I can get my wheelbarrow and we can make this into a comedy, I suppose."

She looked more frightened, if that were possible. "Eat?" she asked, getting ready to run for her life again.

Lewis almost nodded, thinking that she asked if he would feed her, but he just caught what she might be thinking in the nick of time. He pointed to himself and decided to take this very slowly. "I will not," he made a hand motion as if to fend off the idea," eat, ... you. Not eat,..." he shook his head, and pointed to her, "you." He smiled a little hopefully, "Understand?"

"Not, ... eat," she said, nodding a little. He couldn't tell if she looked relieved or not. He considered what hand motions he'd need to use to try to tell her that he had food for her if she wanted it, but gave it up.

It took him almost twenty minutes to get her to the point where she'd let him help her up. She kept curling into a whimpering ball whenever he tried.

During that time, Zele told everyone what had happened. Mother thought about it, "Let him try, then," she said, "With luck, she won't kill him in his sleep. He might be useful later." She thought about asking Thiery to accompany her to meet Lewis tomorrow, but decided to put it off when his cry came to her ears, followed by Illa's squeal of pleasure.

She'd ask him later. She had somewhere else to be and got up to bathe.

Her daughters all felt it at once, though Zele took a moment longer to stare. "Mother has someone for her, maybe," she said matter-of-factly.

"Maybe," the demoness replied as they all looked at her. It was all that she said as she strode away with a small smirk.

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He stood looking at the dubious prize that he'd talked himself into. Lewis was only five feet, three inches tall. He didn't exactly whip out a tape measure, but he estimated the poor girl's height to be at best, four and a half feet. It felt a little odd to Lewis to be towering above anyone. He looked down at her, hoping that she'd see that he meant her no harm and had an earnest desire to help her.