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Episode III – Love Hurts

How many of you have heard the expression “You always hurt the one you love”, well that is what the former scullery slave Chidal believes he has done. While he and his wife were enslaved at the citadel of troll emperors, it seems his son’s family was not so lucky and they were slaughtered during the civil war. This of course has lead to the death of his wife Fadol as the shock proved too much for her heart when she saw their graves.

Chidal has been given a room at a hostelry in his village which has been turned into a communal shelter for those who were displaced, when a rouge clan of trolls attacked the village before they were called off by their commander. While at the hostelry he became attached to a very young goblin child called Shaval, who has lost her entire family and inadvertently told her that her family were dead. (Prior she had had the memories of finding them slaughtered removed by an Elvin healer), Chidal also feels guilty here as well, because Chidal allowed Shaval to sit with him, but Jovan the dwarf female, the daughter of the dwarf landlord who runs the hostelry, took exception to this, and in the dwarvish way beat Shaval severely as punishment for bothering elderly goblins.

Chidal’s motives may be driven by love, but things seems like the words of the song, if he had ever come across it

Love Hurts
Love Scars
Love Wounds and Mars…

Youtube video

Now there is one more piece of hurt, Chidal has now come face to face with, his son Keval, Chidal thought he was protecting his son when he chose to do his son’s indebted servitude when they could not pay a tithe due to a crop failure. This meant that Chidal and his wife Fadol were safely tucked away at Karam Tag Chou, while his son and his family on the family farm ended up at the mercy of the trolls when they attacked…

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“I’m so sorry about your family” Chidal wept, “It was all my fault, if I had let you and your wife go to Karam Tag Chou your family would still be alive”

“Father” Keval said with a strained voice.

”Now it comes” Chidal thought ”his hatred of me for surviving while his family was slaughtered, and I thoroughly deserve it”

“Get up” Keval told him, and then he went and grabbed his father’s hands, and yanked him up.
Chidal was shocked by this and instinctively stood up, he was even more shocked when his son embraced him.
“You’re alive” Keval suddenly started repeating as he burst into tears.

Chidal let this go on for a minute then pulled away and hung his head in shame, “But your family, I was partly responsible for their deaths”
“No you weren’t father” Keval insisted, “It was my entire fault father, I left them on the farm when I went to defend the village and the trolls killed them as they circled around”

“That is nonsense, both of you” came the booming voice from the goblin leader, and he came out of the hostelry leading Shaval by the hand.

Both Chidal and Keval looked at the goblin leader in surprise.

“The pair of you are both being ridiculous” the goblin leader continued.

“But two days ago” Chidal insisted, “an ogre serving at a tavern showed resentment that my wife and I were safely locked away at the citadel whilst others were touched by the war”

“And I told you last night that was nonsense” The leader countered, “As I said you were just fortunate that the orc offensive against Karam Tag Chou failed”

“Well I should have brought them to the village and not left them isolated on the farm” Keval insisted, and then he added, “If my mother had not seen the graves I had to dig, my mother would also still be alive”.

The goblin leader walked up to Keval, and with his free hand placed it on Keval’s shoulder, “Keval, there were many wives and younglings slaughtered in the village as well, they still might still have been victims of the Yataxal trolls”

Then the goblin leader turned to both Chidal and Keval, “I have often seen that some blame everyone else but themselves, but with you two the reverse is true. Leave the blame where it truly lies, with the Yataxal who attacked the village and the surrounding farms, how about those interfering humans who traded the poison with them, and that spirit of vice who triggered the war in the first place”

Then the goblin leader picked up Shaval and handed her to Chidal. Chidal duly took her and held her in his arms and lovingly kissed her on the top of her head.
“Will I get punished again” Shaval asked him still with tears in her voice
“Not if I have anything to do with it” Chidal told her, then Chidal turned to his son, “Keval, this hostelry was where I have been placed along with little Shaval here. She has lost all her family and that dwarf female in there gave her a beating just for sitting with me”

“I came to take you home father” Keval told him
“But the farm, it was destroyed” Chidal replied, confused, “And I saw no dwellings that could be used by goblins”
“To that farm I will not return” Keval told him, “Another goblin family will tend that farm one day when the land has healed”
“But Keval, you family is buried there? Fadol my wife and your mother is buried there” Chidal objected

Keval looked down at the ground then up at Chidal, “I know father, when our leader told me last night of how mother met her end, I went at first light to see her grave. When I saw again the graves of my wife and younglings, I spent an hour on my knees, clawing at the dirt, wailing” Keval now had tears running down his face, “I can not go back father, those are just bodies now, their spirits have long departed” Then Keval broke down in tears, as Chidal held Shaval in one arm and put his other round his son. Even Chidal had tears running down his face.

After a while the arm carrying Shaval grew weary and so Chidal was forced to let go of his son and place Shaval gently on the ground, but he then held onto her hand.

“Keval my Son” Chidal asked
“What is it father?” Keval replied
“Please may I bring Shaval, like I said she has lost her family as well, and I do not wish her to spend another moment with that female dwarf who beat her for no reason.”

Keval for a moment appeared to Chidal to be looking at her hesitantly

“Keval” Chidal continued, “If there is but room for one pleased take the youngling and I will stay here. I have had my life, but she needs a new home where she will know love and not brutality”
“Father you used that phrase once before about already having your life” Keval replied

Chidal looked down at Shaval, clinging to his leg, trying to hide from Jovan standing in the doorway and her icy glare, he thought back to when he elected for him and his wife to serve the indebted servitude in place of his son and his wife, and how it meant that when war came, he was locked away safe in a citadel whilst his son and his family ended up at the hands of the Yataxal trolls as they went on their murderous rampage through the village and the family farm.

Chidal looked up at Keval, “So because I chose wrongly all that time ago, Shaval must suffer? Punish me please Keval, but don’t punish Shaval, she is but an innocent youngling” he pleaded

Keval bent down and picked up Shaval, and held her in his arm. “DAWF” he shouted at Jovan the female dwarf daughter of the hostelry landlord.



“What has that little brat done now?” Jovan snarled and headed towards them. Chidal could see the youngling almost jump with fright in his son’s arms so stepped between Jovan and his son and held out his arms.
“Get out of my way!” Jovan ordered Chidal, but he stood his ground
“Jovan” Shouted the goblin leader, and Jovan stopped, but looked daggers at the youngling who was now in tears.

“She has done nothing” Keval replied, “I just wanted to know if we could take the youngling off of your hands”

“The little brat is more trouble than she’s worth” retorted Jovan, “She can not work in the fields and gets under my feet. You may take her out of my sight and do with her what you will, for all I care”, and then Jovan went back into the hostelry and slammed the door shut, just to emphasise her disdain for the youngling.

“Never mind Shaval” Keval quietly said to the frightened Shaval, “My father and I want you to come live with us”

Chidal looked at his son in awe, “I thought you did not want her when you reminded me of the phrase I once used to take your place in indebted servitude”
“Sorry father” Keval apologised, “I meant to say that you did not need to sacrifice yourself again as I have just enough room for both of you”
“Will you be my new daddy?” Shaval suddenly piped up and asking the question at Keval.
Keval looked into her eyes, “I will try little one, but I do not have a wife any more, so I may have to try and be a mummy as well”
“I would like to be your new grandfather Shaval” Chidal chipped in, “if you want me to be”

Shaval nodded and clung on tightly to Keval.

Keval then walked to a small cart that was pulled by a light beast of burden, not like the large one from Karam Tag Chou and the two beasts of burden with the hobgoblin driver. Chidal noticed his son walked with a limp, one of his injuries he sustained when he was a village defender. On reaching the cart he placed Shaval on it, along with Chidal’s and Shaval’s bags of clothing. Unlike the cart from Karam Tag Chou, Chidal did not have difficulty getting on board this cart, and so climbed in and held onto Shaval.

Keval got on at the front and with a voice command got the beast to start moving.

The cart went in the opposite direction almost to their old farm.

Shaval seemed quite mesmerised as she looked at the ruined parts of the village they passed through. Chidal held her on his lap, and tried to look ahead for things that he might have to shield the youngling’s eyes from, such as more hanging bodies, but thankfully there were none of those.

There were the odd roadside graves, and Chidal did his best to distract Shaval, as he reasoned she had seen too much of death already.

Chidal wanted to ask his son so many questions, like would he ever take a new wife especially as he was taking in Shaval as well, but for the moment he thought that such a question was inappropriate, so held his counsel. Instead, he spent much of the ride talking to and holding little Shaval. He had only ever seen one of his real grand-younglings before entering indebted servitude, and of course he never got to see the other one which was born after he took up service. Sheval was therefore the granddaughter he never had, and he would make sure she was loved, but then he was hit by sadness. Fadol his wife would have loved to have met Shaval, but alas that was not to be.

Shaval wanted to ask what her new home with her new daddy would be like, but Chidal toldl her that her new daddy was driving and needed to concentrate.

Keval’s overheard this and his response to this was to stop the cart and invite Shaval to sit on his lap, and held her tight as he drove the rest of the way home, in spite of Chidal’s protestations that such an arrangement might not be safe. Keval just said he used to do this all the time with his eldest. Shaval absolutely loved this and laughed with glee, that her new daddy was letting her ride up front with him.

At least Chidal was able to see that Keval had also opened his heart to the orphaned youngling

After about half to three quarters of an hour they finally came to another farmstead, and all disembarked from the cart.

The farmhouse showed little signs of destruction, and even the barn was intact, and there was a crop being harvested, by younglings on the verge of adulthood. Chidal was certain he could recognise the odd one from the hostelry the previous night.

“When I am fully healed” Keval said as they looked at the workers, “I will be able to take my place in the fields once more, until then because they think me some kind of war hero, they send the youth to help out so the village is kept from starvation, and I supervise.”

Chidal said nothing, but noted how frustrated his son was that he could not be working in the field.

Keval carried Shaval into the farm house while Chidal carried the bags from the cart.

“What happened to the goblins who lived here daddy” Shaval asked, clearly accepting Keval as her new father.
“Do you want to see your new bedroom my beloved daughter” Keval told her, deftly changing the subject, so Chidal noticed. Obviously something horrific had befallen the original occupants
“Ok daddy” Shaval replied and took her upstairs, leaving Chidal in the main living room.

While Shaval and Keval were upstairs, Chidal took the opportunity to examine the scullery, it was meagrely stocked, there was obviously not much food around in the aftermath of the attack, but even so there should have been more than this.

Chidal just shook his head in despair, and then tried to think what he could rustle up for the three of them; this was more Fadol’s speciality although he had done quite a bit of the cooking as well at the citadel. Then he looked through a window at the fields, were they expected to fix an end of day meal for the workers?. Chidal looked back at the stores; there was no way he could feed all the workers with this!

While he was deliberating Keval came down with Shaval in toe.

“Do you wish to see your room now father?” Keval asked him

“Ok son” Chidal replied and then followed Keval and Shaval up the stone steps, carrying his bag of clothes as well as the one belonging to Shaval, to a small single room.

It was fairly dark with a small window looking out over the field. The bed was a small single bed made out of wood with what he presumed was a feather mattress. Chidal sat down and looked up at the window. From the shadows he could tell that it was getting on in the afternoon and the two suns were low in the sky.

“It was almost this time yesterday” Chidal muttered quietly to himself as he remembered that it was coming up to one whole day since his beloved wife saw the graves of their son’s family and died of a broken heart. His thoughts were interrupted as he felt himself being hugged. It was Shaval, she had climbed onto the bed and was trying to show affection to one of the male goblins who had taken her in.

Chidal got her to climb onto his lap and he cuddled her, remembering how he once cuddled his son Keval when he was her age.
“I love you grandfather” Shaval told him.
“I love you too Shaval” Chidal reciprocated.
“Was she nice Grandfather” Shaval then asked.
“Who Shaval?”
“Grandmother”
Chidal paused, “Yes Shaval” he replied, then with his voice cracking with emotion added “She was one of the most caring and warm hearted goblins I have ever known”

Keval came down and sat next to his father and open his arms. Chidal guessed he wanted him to hand Shaval across so he lifted the youngling onto his son’s lap and Keval started to cuddle Shaval.
“You would have liked my mother Shaval” Keval told the youngling, “she loved little younglings like you”
“Grandfather said you had a wife and two younglings” Shaval then came back with
“Yes I did” Keval said quietly, the sadness in his voice was palpable.

Chidal could see where this might be going, so thought it was his turn to distract Shaval from topics of death, so he interrupted, “Shaval, would you like to come and help grandfather fix the end of day meal?”

Shaval turned to face Chidal, “ok Grandfather”
“Are the supplies for us or for the field workers as well?” Chidal then asked Keval.
“They were just for me as I have been living alone since” Keval replied and then his voice trailed off.
“It won’t be to the standard we had to do at the citadel, but I will try my best son” Chidal replied. Chidal then stood up and took Shaval from Keval and headed for the stone steps, after looking at them, he put Shaval down on the floor and held her hand as they slowly went down the stairs.

Eventually they made it back to the scullery and once again Chidal looked at the meagre supplies, knowing how some younglings have issues with certain foods, he gently asked Shaval if there was anything there she did not like. He did not want to start off with a conflict over the meal table. Thankfully Shaval shook her head, but did name a certain food that was not present as one she hated. It was however a food that Chidal quite liked, but that was how things were.

The obvious meal would be a stew, but what task could he give Shaval to do. Chopping vegetables was out. She was too small to man handle a pale of water from the pump out the back, as for shovelling fire wood into the stove, that was out of the question. She was even too small to set the table.

Keval came into the Scullery

“I’m sorry about the supplies father” Keval told Chidal, “Usually I only try and get some when I have run out. Sometimes I might skip a meal, after” Keval stopped, then continued, “it happened I did not see any point”

Chidal looked down at the floor, “That was how I felt yesterday, when your mother died”

Chidal then thought for a moment, and picked up Shaval, and kissed her on the forehead. Shaval clung onto Chidal and kissed him on the nose. “Then I met Shaval, and she gives me a reason to go on”
“How do you want me to help you grandfather?” Shaval asked Chidal.

“I’m not sure what you can do Shaval” Chidal told her, “Some of the things required for cooking can only be done by big goblins like your father here and myself”

Chidal saw Keval smile at Shaval, then Keval told Shaval, “Why don’t we let grandfather get on with the preparations, and I will show you to the goblins in the field to show what a nice new pretty daughter I have now”, and with that Keval gently took Shaval from Chidal’s arms.

Shaval then clasped her arms round Keval’s neck to hang on and gave him a big kiss on his nose. “I love my new daddy” she told him.
“And I love you Shaval” Keval choked out, and then the two left.

Chidal then got on with the cooking of the end of day meal, being careful to make sure there was something for break of day meal the following day. It was almost like old times in the scullery of Karam Tag Chou, minus the hobgoblin with the whip.

By the time the two suns had set,


Chidal was well on his way to produce the stew and Keval came back carrying Shaval, who was excited at meeting all the helpers, who were now returning to the village by cart.

Chidal had brought down a spare pillow that Shaval could sit upon in the chair to boost her height at the table. As they sat down to eat, Chidal secretly feared that Shaval might not like what was put before her, even though she had not identified the ingredients as items she did not like, but to his relief she cleared her plate with no fuss and told him that his cooking was better than Jovan’s.

After the meal was done, Keval took Shaval to get her washed and changed for bed, after all, his experience of being a parent was more recent than Chidal’s. Chidal just sat by the fire thinking of Fadol, and how much she would have liked to be here. Was it really only a day since she had died.

It was well over an hour later when Keval came down the stairs and reported that he had got Shaval off to sleep. He told Chidal that he was horrified at the injuries inflicted upon Shaval by Jovan and for a while, after she had been put into her night clothes, he had held her just like he had held is own younglings and promised her that he loved her and he would never let that happen to her again. He was her father now and to the best of his ability he would protect her.

“You’re right father” Keval told Chidal, “Having Shaval here gives me purpose, and on the morrow we need to go into the village to see what further supplies we can get in stock.
“But who shall supervise the workers?” Chidal asked
“The goblin that brings them from the village has done so on occasions I have had to go into the village, like yesterday when I came to take you home.” Keval explained, “I will ask him tomorrow, otherwise you and Shaval can look after them”

The two goblins then stared for a while at the fire, then Chidal asked who had owned the farm they were in.

“It was owned by one of the goblin elder’s and his grown up family, hence the number of rooms” Keval explained
“And they perished in the attack by the trolls?” Chidal asked
“Yes” Keval replied, “Sort of” he added cryptically
Chidal frowned
“He was the emissary that was sent out with the tribute to the trolls”
“Oh” was all that Chidal could say
“When the trolls attacked, because they were in the village, his wife and sons were slaughtered”

Then Keval put his hands to his face as he realised the implication of what he had just said, “He was right” Keval weakly uttered, then brought his hands down as tears filled his eyes, “The goblin leader was right, my family could have been killed in the village like he said”

Keval then sniffed, while Chidal kept his counsel, “As I was one of the few defenders to survive, who knew something about farming, I was honoured with taking this farm on when I realised I could not go back with the graves of my family there to remind me of what I had lost”

“Son” Chidal then spoke, “You will be a good new father to Shaval”
Keval nodded, “I hope so” he choked out.

After a few minutes, both goblins retired for the night.

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As the two suns rose above the horizon it seemed all three goblins got up early at the same time.
Keval let Chidal get Shaval up, washed and dressed while he went to attend what remained of the livestock.

Chidal then got Shaval to sit at the kitchen table while he used up the last scraps of food for the break of day meal. By the time Keval had returned it was all ready to serve.

Shaval insisted on hugging Keval, her new father and planting a kiss on his nose after letting her do so they got on with the business of consuming the meal.

An hour or so later, the goblin workers arrived in the cart from the village to work in the field, following behind was the goblin village leader with another middle aged male goblin and a female middle aged goblin of Keval’s age. As Keval was talking with the driver of the cart bringing the workers, Chidal, holding Shaval’s hand, approached the other visitors.

“Hello Village leader” Chidal opened with.
“Hello Chidal” the goblin leader replied and then bent down to speak to Shaval, “Hello Shaval” he told her.
“You are lucky to catch us” Chidal told the leader, “The three of us were going to the village to see what supplies for the scullery we can pick up”

The goblin leader did not reply, but waited for Keval to finish with the cart driver and come over to meet with them.

After a minute or so, Keval came across to see the delegation as well and took Shaval’s other hand.

“So you are the goblin who has taken in my brother’s youngling” the unknown male goblin suddenly said to Keval.

Chidal was crestfallen at this news and let go of Sheval’s hand, his new granddaughter was to be taken from him, “Sorry sir” he told the goblin uncle, “I did not know Shaval had any relatives left, I just wanted her away from the hostelry and that brutal dwarf”

Keval just picked Sheval up, and held her in his arms while she put her arms around his neck. “Shaval” he told the youngling, “This is you uncle and he has come to collect you”
Sheval looked at her uncle and then back at Keval, “But I want to stay with my new daddy” she whined”
“And I love having you as my new daughter” Keval said quietly in a sad voice, “But if he is your uncle, then I may not be allowed to keep you”

“Do we need to do this brother?” the female goblin piped up, “Our dead brother’s last surviving youngling is in safe hands of a goblin who also raised other younglings”

The goblin uncle thought for a moment, then said “I came to this region from the goblin city as we had heard our dead brother had a surviving youngling. Before we were lead to believe all had perished, but a few days ago from a traveller we heard that Shaval had survived and was being put up in a converted hostelry and family duty demanded that being the leader of our clan now, I had to see that she was provided for and if she were not, bring her home. But I see she is in good hands so I am happy for her to remain here with her new father”

At this Chidal gave the goblin uncle a big hug and then let him go, “Thank you sir” Chidal told him, “She means such a lot to us as well”
“And you are?” the goblin uncle queried
“This is Chidal, the father of Keval” the goblin leader explained, “It was he who decided to take Shaval from the hostelry when she was unjustly punished by the dwarf I mentioned”

This time it was the goblin uncle that embraced Chidal, “I see you too are a goblin of honour”, and then he turned to the female goblin that by now was with Keval, holding Shaval in her arms. “Sister, now we know our goblin kin is in safe and in honourable hands we can depart back to our goblin city”

The goblin female looked at her brother, “if it is ok with these two goblins and with you brother, I would like to stay here, and be a mother to Shaval, as she is of my kin as well and it was agreed I was going to take her in had we had to take her back to the goblin city”

Keval gasped in surprise, and looked at Chidal.
“I will move into the barn so” Chidal started and pointed at the female goblin.
“Lupin” the female goblin chipped in on cue
“Lupin may have my room”
“Sir I would not dream of kicking out an elderly goblin from his bed” Lupin responded, “I will sleep in the barn”

At this interchange Shaval asked Lupin, “Are you going to be my new mummy?”
“That is up to my brother and your new father” Lupin told the youngling, “But I would love to be”.
Shaval then turned to Keval, “Daddy please can she be my new mummy?” she asked in a pleading tone, then without realising what she was saying, as she was quite young, “Mummy can have my bed and I will sleep in the barn, I promise”.

“I can not countenance my niece sleeping in a barn” the goblin uncle told her.
“As you wish brother” Lupin told her brother and placed Shaval on the ground and started walking towards the cart.
“I agree” Keval then spoke up, “I will go to the barn, and your sister may have my bed”, then he added, “if Shaval ever gets frightened in the night it will be big enough for her to shelter with her new mother.”

At this the goblin leader spoke up, since all had forgotten he was still there, “There is no need for any to sleep in the barn”, then he turned to Chidal, “Chidal after you left some of the other goblins heard how Jovan had punished the youngling from one of the other elder goblins who kept out of the way. They had words with her and her father, and Jovan complained that as she was not allowed to discipline younglings the way she thought fit she did not want to remain in our village, so she left this morning for the dwarf homelands”

Chidal looked at the ground suddenly feeling guilty, “I did not mean for her to be put out of her home” he uttered, “I only wanted my granddaughter to be safe”

The goblin leader placed his hand on Chidal’s shoulder, “Chidal my friend you have a good heart, you need not worry about her as she has kin there, but her father needs a new cook, and he suggested you, because of your experience in the scullery of Karam Tag Chou”

Chidal’s eye widened, he would be useful again? “I would love to assist in what ever I can do, but what of helping with Shaval?” he asked

“Father, do not worry about us?” Keval told him, “If Lupin is allowed to stay with us, we will be ok”
Shaval was upset, “But I love my grandfather as well”
Chidal picked her up, “And I love you Shaval. You can always come and visit me at the hostelry. Now that dwarf is gone you should be safe now” he told her

The goblin uncle then went to the cart and lifted off a canvas bag and handed it to Lupin, “I will send you your other things when I return” Then he got back on his cart, “Can you give a lift to your village leader back to the village, so I can press on to the next hostelry by suns down” and got the beasts pulling the cart to move off.

After he was out of sight, Keval took in the canvas bag and returned with Chidal’s bag and loaded up the cart, with Chidal, Shaval, Lupin and the goblin leader.

After an hour they arrived at the goblin village and first dropped off the goblin leader at the leaders hut, such as it was. Then the cart continued on to the hostelry, and Chidal noticed how nervous Shaval was, but this time, after getting off of the cart first it was Lupin who carried the youngling. Chidal could not help noticing from how she was with Shaval that Lupin felt just as he did about the youngling. Lupin was her aunt after all and Shaval was as Lupin had said of her kin.

The four of them then entered the hostelry to be greeted by the dwarf landlord



Immediately Chidal went to apologise to the landlord for the loss of his daughter and how he never intended for her to leave her home, but the landlord told him “My daughter was not really happy here since we stopped being a proper business, so I believe she was glad of the excuse. In fact a couple of moons cycles ago she did suggest the idea of returning to our homelands. I told her at the time that I had no one that could replace her”

Chidal slowly shook his head, then looked at the dwarf, “I will do my very best to be a good cook for you”

The landlord showed Chidal to Jovan’s old room, where Chidal left his possessions, then inspected what was in the scullery as he needed to know what he needed to get for the hostelry when he went out to help get supplies for the farmstead where Lupin, Keval and Shaval would be living. However, the scullery was well supplied, as Jovan had been most proficient in that department, and besides because like the citadel they purchased so much, it was the traders who came to the hostelry and not the other way around.

Chidal left the staff section and went outside to go with the others to see what they could find.

Lupin told him it was not necessary for him to come, but Chidal came anyway, procuring supplies was one of the things he knew about from his time at the citadel.

As they reached, on foot, what passed for a market amongst the ruins, such as it was, Chidal was astonished to see how skilled Lupin was in procurement. She even managed to involve her niece, or should that now be her daughter in the process. One other thing, Chidal thought he noticed, was that Lupin wanted to be tender with Keval, but kept holding herself back, did she really want to stay because she had fallen in love with his son at first sight?

After a while, they were all laden with supplies, and even Chidal had got a few extras for the hostelry. They made their way back to the hostelry and the cart was loaded up. Lupin lifted Shaval onto the cart, but she was upset, for Chidal was not coming back with them. So Chidal gave Shaval one last cuddle, and asked her to be a good little youngling for her new mummy and daddy, told her that he stilled loved her very much and she could always come visit.

Keval then came and embraced his father, “Thank you for coming back to me” Keval told him, then adding, “and thank you for finding me a new family, I will try and take better care of this one”

Then they left, and Chidal went back into the hostelry after all he did have the end of day meal to prepare.

In the days that followed, Chidal got more into the swing of things at the hostel and the patrons were very complementary about his cooking.

After a week, he was visited by his son, Lupin and little Shaval. Keval, while Lupin took Shaval to a privy could not stop saying how wonderful Lupin was with Shaval and what a great cook she was.

Chidal just smiled and nodded.

The next day, there was consternation in the village as a troll army turned up, but Chidal was able to calm everyone down by pointing out that they were Rachtal and Manjura, and not the hated Yataxal trolls. For a week the trolls helped with rebuilding the village and making shelters,

The trolls even brought along food supplies that they said had been sent from the realm of mortals. Chidal tasted it, and although it tasted strange it was not unpleasant.

These trolls were trying to make amends for the atrocity committed by the Yataxal clan

At the end, Chidal was visited personally by the Clan Chief of the Manjura


He told him that the Clan Chief of the Rachtal had wanted to come, but affairs of state had intervened. He passed on the message about how stunned they were to learn of the death of Fadol, a hardworking goblin at the citadel and the loss of his son’s family. Chidal told him about Lupin and Shaval.

The Manjura chief on hearing this winked at him and said “I hope they are well suited, just like our former emperor and his queen were”

Then the trolls were gone, and life continued after a fashion.

With the rebuilding in the village, the hostelry emptied of its refugees and soon it returned to it’s normal business, which suited Chidal as it was a bit quieter and Shaval could come and stay more easily if she wanted.

Then he heard news he did not expect, but wanted to hear at the same time.

Keval and Lupin were taking the pledge of union. Four days later her brother arrived, with other members of her family to witness the happy event, and Keval was welcomed into their clan.

Two moon cycle later, Lupin announced that she was going to have a brother or sister for Shaval, and all three of them were ecstatically happy, and even Keval had been able to start actually working his farm.

So dear and gentle reader, we asked at the beginning of our shorter than normal tale, how our goblin friend would come to terms with his fortune while others were not so fortunate.

Well simply he stopped brooding and had to realise that life still had to go on, which was what he was taught by Shaval. He also realised his son had his own demons and both needed to listen to the words of wisdom. Sometimes life throws us, to use an expression from our former colonies, a curve ball and to mix a metaphor we must play the cards with which we are dealt. That is what we call life.

That was the lesson Chidal and Keval had to learn, and it was one they took to heart



Good Evening