Episode III – A question of culpability
They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step.
But in which direction?
Meetal a kobold and the long time faithful servant of The Lord Low Troll, presumed by others to have been killed at the start of the Mystical Realms Civil war some time ago has been sent by his master to the Realm of Mortals to find a human called Mr Vee.
Meetal’s master has a plan to free the conquered World of Mortals from the rule of the Lady High Troll, and wants to put his offer of help to this Mr Vee.
However Meetal has two main problems, firstly a drow and a gnome who has gone over to the side of the Lady High Troll are out to stop him, secondly, the last reported place Mr Vee was heading for was some city called New York, about seventy leagues away
+ + +
Meetal looked up at the grey sky and then at the talisman of location as it glowed green.
”At least he’s still alive” thought Meetal, and then put the talisman away.
Meetal did not dare try and think how long his little kobold legs would take him to cover seventy leagues to another city. And who was to say that by the time he got there that this Mr Vee might have travelled even further away.
If only his master had given him a ring of teleportation, or something like that, he would have found this human already and gone back to the relative safety of his own world.
Meetal was now running at a medium pace through streets lined with various buildings. The further north he went, the more the buildings got smaller and the more there were of them. Some of them seemed to be built with wood, and some a combination of wood and some red stone like material Meetal had never seen before.
A number of the dwellings were set back away from the road, and sat in small plots of land, with plants and trees that had obviously been cultivated.
This put Meetal in mind of his Master’s cave back on his world, where he eked out an existence from the vegetables and herbs he grew outside of his cave. These buildings had to be dwelling places. Was the function of these plots of land similar to that small plot of land by his master’s cave?
As Meetal looked, some of the small buildings seemed to still be inhabited, whether by humans or occupiers from his world, Meetal could not be sure. Outside quite a number of these dwellings were metal horseless carriages.
Then Meetal came to a stop, he noticed from one of the dwellings a male human youngling wandering out of one of the building. Just then what seemed to be the mother ran out and grabbed the youngling.
“What do you think you are doing Brad” the mother shouted at the youngling as she picked him up
“I want to try and find daddy” Meetal heard the youngling say, before the youngling burst into tears.
“I told you Brad he’s gone to heaven” Meetal heard the mother say with emotion in her voice. Then she told the youngling, “We need to wait for Mr Brown to come back from work with what the trolls will give us. We can’t go out of the house without permission” the mother added before looking round and saying, “Brad, suppose there had been a patrol”
Then the mother took the child inside the dwelling building and closed the door.
What was this heaven place Meetal wondered, was it another city or another country? From the way the mother reacted, there was obviously some enforced curfew of some sorts, but it seemed that some people were allowed to go to work. This did not make sense, but then it did not have to. Meetal had a mission.
Meetal pressed on through the streets, it was now getting on for the evening and the light was failing. If only this world had more than one Sun, then it would not be getting as dark as early as this.
As Meetal continued his journey through the failing light, he noticed that there were plenty of dwellings, but hardly any ventured out. There would occasionally be humans arriving back in horseless carriages. A number of the dwellings had light coming from the windows.
Then he came to a larger road with metal signs.
Meetal peered at the writing, but could not fathom it. It might be in that tongue known as English, but Meetal had only learned the spoken version not the written version. Unlike his master. Master was a clever troll and knew all sorts of things. How ungrateful they were on his world to consider Master a criminal as some had openly said.
Lucky for Meetal, few knew that he worked for his master.
But that gnome knew and that elf did as well.
How?
The elf may have found out through the now defunct High Council of Elves, as for the gnome, that was a mystery.
Meetal started walking along this big road. Occasionally a horseless carriage of some description would drive past. Some of them looking like that one that Meetal had once seen at the port of Faldon,
except these were not carrying those strange metal cylinders. Some of them carried various things. Some of them carried humans and some trolls, some bugbears and some carrying orcs.
It was becoming painfully obvious to Meetal what was going on, on this world of occupation.
This strange world had an infra structure that needed to be maintained, and the occupying forces were using the humans as slave labour to maintain their prized possession, while at the same time enforcing a curfew to reduce the risk of the humans rising up against their new overlords.
As Meetal had reflected on the characters of the three individuals who had seized power in his world and had conquered this one, he had come to the conclusion that the drow was the most intelligent one. The treacherous Clan Chief of the Manjura was really only interested in becoming clan leader and gaining rule of the Central City and Karam Tag Chou.
The Rachtal clan leader had been executed for high treason along with the last of the humans left on his world, and because of the shame that brought on the Rachtals their custodian ship of the sacred citadel of emperors had been forfeited to the Manjura clan, who continued to guard the dimension jump orbs.
As for that abomination known as the Lady High Troll,
A Ghetto Clan Troll at that!!! she had seemed to have been more driven to get power of his world, and to add insult to injury as it were, she was proclaiming herself to be the rightful and legitimate daughter of his master, The Lord Low Troll.
How could she, when everyone knows master only had a son
The elf had to be wrong; Master would have told Meetal if he had a daughter, and he had not done so.
But still there was this nagging doubt, master kept using her birth name and not her title, most very un-troll like. Everyone knew that when a troll took any title, then previous names and titles were abandoned.
That was the law and tradition of the trolls, was it not?
Maybe Master did not want to dignify this usurper with such a title. That had to be it Meetal concluded, but still there was that nagging doubt.
Meetal looked at the talisman again, he would have to cross a large road he had ventured across, so carefully especially as the light was falling. Meetal kept watch to make sure there were no horseless carriages and then scampered across the road, through some bushes into what seemed like another set of dwellings.
One of the other things he noticed was that these humans went in for trees in a big way on some of these streets. On his world trees were relegated to forests and the mountains. Here trees were almost everywhere, and it seemed to Meetal that the humans had planted them there on purpose.
Why?
There were not enough of them for building things or even as firewood
Humans were odd and maybe a bit weak in comparison with some of the races on his world, but that was no excuse for violating the Sacred Law about interfering with them.
Then Meetal came across another horseless carriage, in the middle of the road.
This time there was a human driver sitting at the front and with him an accursed Ghetto troll. Two bugbears with heavy crossbows stood outside and beside the horseless carriage. Two orcs were approaching a dwelling building.
Meetal, hidden by his cloak of invisibility started to approach the orcs to see what they were doing.
The orcs banged loudly on the door.
The door opened slowly and behind it was a small female human with an infant youngling in her arms.
“We are here to collect workers for night shift” one of the orcs demanded, “Do you have men at home who have not worked in the heat of the day?”
“No sir” the female human whimpered and shook her head, “I live alone with just my daughter. My husband was one of those killed by the”
“Food” Meetal heard the other orc growl, “So succulent. Give me that youngling human” the orc demanded, “I’m famished”
“Please” pleaded the female human, “She’s my only daughter”
“Give me it now” the orc persisted and then the orc pushed the door open, he was determined that this youngling would be his to eat.
Meetal even though he was a mere kobold, could not stand for this flagrant piece of interfering and without thinking, drew his dagger and ran as fast as he could towards the orc.
Meetal was within two sword lengths when the other orc intervened instead, grabbing his fellow orc and pulling him back and snarling at him “We are not here to fill your belly, now get back to the truck”
Meetal came to a stop and sheathed his dagger; he was not needed after all.
The orc who had tried to grab the youngling trudged back to the horseless carriage moaning that he was hungry and besides as occupiers they should have a few perks. The lead orc as it were then issued some kind of apology through the open door and said that they would send an extra food ration in the morning and that orc would be moved to other duties.
The orcs had left the door open, and as night was falling Meetal crept into the dwelling unit, as he wanted to see that this female and her youngling were alright.
Meetal found the female human in what seemed like a kitchen sitting on the floor sobbing as she held her youngling who was also crying.
If there was a reason why Meetal was on this world, this was it. Maybe he was a kobold, one of the most scorned races on his world. Maybe he had been instrumental in the executions of political opponents. Maybe like all kobolds he did have a philosophy that said that the strong should dominate as it was with the wild animals but this was lawlessness; this was a violation of the Sacred Law.
Meetal wondered if he should show himself to the female, perhaps not a good idea.
Then the female human called out to what Meetal could only assume was her dead mate. Then the human female spoke how she and their youngling would be better off dead if all they thought of her youngling was food for orcs. Maybe next time the orcs would eat her youngling.
Meetal was horrified, thanks to the orc, this female human was considering killing herself and her youngling. For a moment he hesitated, strictly speaking he should walk away and not interfere.
No! There had already been interference, and did not his master maintain that if interference had been done in contravention of the sacred Law, then action should be taken to reverse the effects of that. He had asked to do that many cycles ago, but was stopped by a stupid griffin judge.
There was no griffin judge now to get in the way
Meetal unfastened the hood on his cloak of invisibility.
“No please, no” screamed the human female, “Please not my baby” she wailed as Meetal appeared in front of her
Meetal held up his hands and stepped back, “I mean you no harm” Meetal told the young female in his best English, “I not hurt either of you”
“Please” the human female continued, “Please don’t take my baby”
Meetal gave an indignant look, “I’m a kobold, not an orc”
“What?” the female human replied
“We do not eat human younglings” Meetal told her, “I saw that oaf of an orc try and grab your youngling and I came to fight them for you, but the other orc denied me the honour of glorious battle”
“How?” The female human asked, “You’re tiny and they are so huge”
“I would have at least tried” Metal replied looking at the floor utterly crestfallen, and then he looked back at the human female, who still had a look of terror in her eyes. “Please do not kill yourselves” Meetal pleaded, “I only became visible because you said you wanted to be dead”
“What’s the point?” the human female replied, “My husband is dead, we’re ruled by monsters from some other world and now they want to eat my baby”
“What is your name?” Meetal asked
“Joanna” the female human replied
“Is Baby the name of your youngling?” Meetal then asked
The female human shook her head in confusion, “No her name is Susan. A baby is what new born people are called”
“Well Joanna” Meetal went on, “I am on this world at the bidding of my master a once mighty troll who lead our world before he was betrayed by traitors. Master would never have done what these others have done to your world. Master has a plan to rid your world of these er monsters as you call them. Master wants your world to be free”
“Why would he?” The female human asked, “It was a troll who killed my husband with that nuke and all those people across the world. I thought the trolls stuck together”
Meetal sighed, “Joanna, Master may be a troll, but he is not of the clan of that abomination that calls herself the Lady High Troll. Her clan have no honour unlike my master’s clan, or they were until the new clan leader took over”
“But how can he free Earth?” the female human asked
“I do not know” Meetal admitted, “All I know is that I am meant to find a human called Mr Vee, but I have been told he is in a city called New York, but it is so far and as you observe I am so small”
“I wish I could drive you there” the female human replied, “but the trolls will only allow only certain people to drive around, the rest of us are confined to our homes and we have to live off of rations that are delivered to us each morning when they pick up workers for the day shift”
“I wish I could do more” Meetal sighed, “These trolls broke the Sacred Law”
“Sacred Law?” the female human asked
“It is” Meetal began, “our most Sacred Law, never to interfere in the affairs of your world. By attacking your cities and taking over your world this abomination of a troll and her cohorts have broken that Sacred Law. Now” Meetal went on, “I know things are bad, but please do not take your lives. Do not let them win” Meetal pleaded
“But it seems so hard” The female human sniffed, “I want to go out when I want, but I can’t. We are only allowed to go out at designated times accompanied by what ever creature they send to escort us, it’s like being in prison”
Meetal looked at the female human. He noted that she was wearing a top. Back on his world, female trolls who were single were not allowed to do that. They had to go about their way completely topless, as troll males who may want to seek a mate needed to see if female trolls had the suitable assets to nurture young. He knew that in the central city some of the other races also adopted that practice, for fear of upsetting some of the traditionalist trolls. He was not sure what the rule was concerning widows still capable of bearing youngling trolls. Only the Ghetto trolls did not observe this custom, and as they were the only troll clan allowed to come to the Realm of Mortals now, human females were lucky not to have this imposed upon them.
Meetal thought it best not to mention this facet of his world, but the enforced curfew did seem more like something the drow would come up with, particularly that Vabalavich troll consort. Vital people allowed going to their place of labour, while others were kept confined.
“I have to go now” Meetal told the female human, “I have a long way to go. I was told it was two hundred and five of that distance you call a mile, whatever that is”
“But its dark outside” the female human objected
“Kobolds see better at night” Meetal told her
The female human got up off the floor carrying her daughter, “I have a friend, my husband’s former manager, who is allowed out as he does something to do with maintaining the roads. According to Viceroy Vabalvich he is classed as a key worker, he may be able to help”
Meetal frowned, “How will you get hold of him”
The female human muttered something and then said, “I forgot, the phones are only working for certain people except for nine one, one.”
“This mean you can not get in touch with your friend?” Meetal asked.
The female human went into another room with her youngling and flicked something on the wall causing it to be illuminated without candles or oil lamps.
More human tek-no-lagy.
The room had what appeared to be soft furnishing and a wooden table. The female human put her youngling in a small chair like object, and sat down so she could rock the small seat to and back to try and settle her youngling
“Every day when he drives to work, he drives past the house, and if he spots this” the female human told Meetal as she took some kind of plant in a pot made of a material he had never seen from a big wooden box like thing against a wall and then placed it next to a window.
“He drops by to see us” the female human continued. “He should be here in the morning, but if the trolls or the orcs are dropping off the rations he comes back later”
“So I need to stay the night here to wait for him” Meetal ventured
“It’s all I can offer” the Human female replied
Meetal looked outside the window, if he was right, it was about the late evening. For a brief moment Meetal wondered about sneaking onto the horseless carriage he had seen outside collecting workers to labour through the night, on what Meetal could not guess. But no, for all he knew they might have the ability to detect him. Also what about that drow and that gnome, the trolls orcs and bugbears might be warned to watch out for him.
Meetal could not take that risk.
“Ok” Meetal told the female human
“Do you need anything to eat?” the female human asked
The reminded Meetal, that he had not eaten since the end of day meal the night before on his world. Because of their travelling to the mountain with the loadstone on his world, so they could use the dimension jump orb, they had had to miss the break of day meal.
But would it be right to take what may be meagre rations from this human and her youngling?
But she is offering
But does that make it right?
But Meetal needs to keep up his strength if he is to do Master’s bidding and help undo the damage of that accursed troll
Then Meetal had another thought,
If he stayed the night with this human, would he be putting her at risk if they tracked him here
“I thank you for your kind offer” Meetal slowly said, “But my arrival in your world was discovered and I my existence was betrayed by a gnome to the drow. If they found me here, or discovered you had helped me, they might execute you”
“Isn’t there anyway I could hide you?” the human female asked.
Meetal shook his head, “If they use magic to track me they would find me here”
“Next door” the human female ventured, “Both the people there died when DC was nuked, the house has been lying idle ever since”
Meetal considered it for a moment and then shook his head, “They are looking for me and they will not stop, especially that gnome. If I stay anywhere too long they will find me”
“If only you could stay”, the human female went on, “my husband’s manager could put you on a truck up to New York, or what’s left of it”
This was certainly a quandary. If Meetal stayed the night, he risked capture and possibly the execution of this female human and her youngling, but he was hungry and if they could help him reach this Mr Vee he needed to seek…
Meetal then thought of the dimension jump orb, maybe he could find out from this human female where this New York was, take the orb back to his world and then go to that city.
That was too risky, especially with that Sky Guard thing whatever it was
Meetal yawned!
“Please stay” the female human urged him, “You look tired”
“But I do not want you executed” Meetal insisted
“Then eat something here and sleep next door”
“Ok” Meetal mumbled.
The female human went back into the kitchen and then called out “What do kobold’s eat”
Meetal had to think again,
what human food would be edible? In the past Meetal had dined on things like roast elk, fish domestic birds and of course his master’s dreaded concoction. The other kobolds had dined less favourably on fish, small wild animals, birds, eggs and what ever berries they could forage. Sometimes if they were lucky they might bring down an elk. Unlike goblins, they did not go in for farming, they were hunters.
“I’m afraid I don’t have much” the female human called out, “Just ready meals”
“I will try one of those” Meetal said as he wandered into the kitchen, “I do not expect you will have standard kobold fare”
The female human took the two ready meals out of a large metal white box. Meetal could see other items in there, which he could not recognise, but it did seem awfully cold in that white metal box.
So humans used cold to preserve food instead of salting it. The ready meals were further contained in two smaller boxes, made of something almost like paper, but stiffer. When the female human removed them from the box, they were in trays made of some strange material Meetal had never seen.
The female human then placed the two trays in a smaller metal box with a glass front and pressed parts of it, which made a strange beeping noise.
The female human then pressed another button and the metal box started to hum, and a light shone through the window.
After a fairly short time, the metal box made another strange beeping noise and the female human retrieved the trays and placed them on a table.
Amazingly they had gone in so short a time from being as ice, to being piping hot.
Meetal climbed up onto a chair and kneeled down on it; while the female human sat opposite after obtaining what Meetal assumed was some kind of cutlery. One was a knife, albeit not a sharp one and the other had four metal prongs on it.
Meetal watched briefly as the human female started to use them. The strange one was for picking things up with, sort of like a small ladle, while the other was a knife.
Meetal slowly following the human female’s lead as best he could started to consume the ready meal. It consisted of thin slices of possibly a cooked meat of some kind, with some odd vegetables he had never seen before and something round, which the human female said were Yorkshire puddings, and that the ready meals had come originally from a store catering to a tribe of humans called British. The whole ready meal was coated in some dark liquid, which the human female called gravy.
Meetal could taste that the ready meal had a higher level of salt than he was used to back on his world, save for the salted meats sold in the market in the Central City on the Low plain. At least it was more palatable than the gagh root stew his master had developed a fondness for. In terms of quantity there was not much, but Meetal suspected this was all she could get for her and her youngling daughter.
So the drow’s plan was to keep the humans starving to keep them docile.
Meetal and the female human finished up the ready meal, and then surreptitiously the female opened a door from the kitchen to another plot of land. She then said how she and her mate used to tend it, but under the new law of the drow, trolls and bugbears, she was confined indoors and was not able to go outside without permission from the drow governor assigned to rule what was once a capital city of this once super power.
Meetal shook his head in despair; this was good growing land going to waste, because of drow authoritarian rule, but then that was typical of the Hadreth order of drow. Brutal oppression, denial of even the most basic things, like going outside into one’s own plot of land, so that these can be granted later as privileges for loyalty. This Vabalvich, the Lady High Troll’s consort was ruthlessly efficient in what he did. He had even been unanimously elected as head of that order, even by the previous head of that order.
The human female then pointed at a gap in the fence where Meetal could get through to the property that was left deserted by the deaths of its owners.
Meetal went straight for it, and through. This plot of land was also overgrown and unlike the home of the human female, it was in utter darkness. Slowly Meetal crept up to the dwelling. He reached a wall
Suddenly a creature leapt at him. Meetal was so startled he did not have time to draw his dagger. He fought off the attacker with his bare hands and quickly it dropped off of him ran for a bit away and hissed at him. It was some kind of animal Meetal could not identify.
Meetal, his heart racing from the attack by the weird animal, Meetal found a broken window and opened it so he could clamber in.
In the gloom he looked briefly around the room inside this house and sighed. Why did they call kobolds evil, when there were others who caused so much death, destruction and pain not to mention that distasteful chaos Meetal hated. The gnome accused him of so much, but Meetal did what he did for the preservation of law and order.
Meetal did not feel like exploring the rest of this dwelling, so after attending to personal matters in the plot of land outside, he settled down to sleep.
+ +
“Thought you could out run me scum” shouted the gnome
Meetal tried to move but something was holding him, he had been bewitched.
“You good for nothing kobold” the gnome went on, “My queen will make me ruler of all gnomes with your capture, although you were killed trying to escape. Shame about that you kobold scum”
Meetal tried to speak, but he could not
The gnome pulled Meetal to his feet and dragged him outside through the front door.
“Now see what your treachery has done” The gnome yelled at him with anger in his voice.
Meetal blinked, and there to his horror was a gallows freshly erected outside in the street. Swinging on them lifeless and dead was the human female alongside her youngling
“No!” Meetal was able to exclaim
“You killed them both you kobold scum” the gnome growled, “You killed them when you talked to them, You killed them when you accepted sustenance and a bed from them”
Meetal looked at the two dead bodies swinging in the wind.
Then he saw the drow who had been hunting him since he first arrived in this world. “Why should this site bother you?” The drow asked, “After all how many executions under your master did you bring about”
“But they were rebels and criminals” Meetal protested, “These were innocent” he added pointing to the gallows.
“All are guilty” The drow retorted, “Especially you”
“How do you feel kobold scum” The gnome chipped in, “How many deaths on this world are you responsible for”
“Those two” Meetal wept as he broke down sobbing
“Oh no” the gnome replied, “You are responsible for every last death on this world”
“No” Meetal whined
“One stab of a dagger into a troll’s heart and you could have saved them” The drow taunted
“You had your chance at Faldon”, the gnome went on, “But like the snivelling coward you are you scurried away to write your note to Master”
“One stab of a dagger into a troll’s heart and you could have saved them” The drow repeated
“But I was out numbered” Meetal protested
“Just keep telling yourself that” the gnome grinned, “We are going to hang the entire street and it is all you fault”
“Gnome, we have a better idea” the drow said with an evil laugh and pointed in the sky.
Meetal looked and in the distance he saw the faint sign of a blue vortex opening in the sky
“We are opening these up all across this world” the drow went on, “And then we will send the fire storms to wipe every last living thing from this world, and it is your entire fault because you did not use your dagger to strike at a troll’s heart”
Meetal watched in terror as he saw a giant fireball rapidly expand and race towards him.
“No!” Meetal screamed
“Everyone will die like this female and her youngling” sneered the gnome.
“No” Meetal cried
Meetal then noticed other blue vortices in the sky, and more fireballs in the sky.
“Take a look from above kobold scum” The gnome then said and grabbed Meetal.
Then they were floating above the strange world looking down. Meetal saw countless fireball erupting all over the world of humans, scorching and destroying every last living thing.
“You are so pathetic” the gnome told him, “You had your chance and you sneaked away”
Then Meetal was outside of his master’s cave.
Meetal’s master came and looked at him, “Oh Meetal you stupid, stupid kobold, you had a chance to prevent so many deaths and because of your cowardice everyone has died”
Then his master turned his back on Meetal and went back into his cave.
“No” Meetal wept, “I tried, but I could not find Mr Vee, he was not in that city I landed in”
“But one dagger thrust to a troll’s heart and it could have been all stopped” came the drow’s voice behind him.
Meetal swung round, to see the drow with one of the metal cylinders he had seen that time in the port town of Faldon.
“We forgot to set this one off you stupid kobold” the drow said with venom
The metal object suddenly erupted into a fire ball, and Meetal was unable to get away, and was engulfed.
+ +
Meetal opened his eyes.
He was still in the dwelling next to the female human and her youngling.
Was that all just some sick nightmare or had the drow been using mind magic to try and find him along with the gnome.
Meetal was terrified, what if the female human and her youngling had been executed.
Meetal crept along the floor of the dwelling he had been sleeping in until he could get to a window overlooking the street without being spotted.
It looked like that the dawn was approaching, a dawn on an odd world with only one Sun to warm it and to light it.
Meetal looked for the gallows with the two victims hung upon it, but saw only an empty road.
Maybe it was a nightmare; at least Meetal hoped it would be. If it was, the nightmare had a point. When Meetal had been in that tavern while scouting out this new strange troll, he could have prevented what she later did. He was supposed to be a sneaky kobold. He should have guessed she was bad news when he saw that she was aligned not only with bugbears and drow, but also with that accursed Ghetto troll clan. Meetal should have killed this Lady High Troll when he had the chance, and deep down Meetal had always felt this, ever since he had seen the executions of the human leaders and their families in the Central City.
The fall of both worlds had been because Meetal was a snivelling coward.
No! That was stupid, there was no way Meetal could have got near her to kill her. Every time Meetal ran it through in his mind, he knew there was no way he could have got near her, let lone got away afterwards, but still he felt guilty that he was almost in a position to stop her, and he did not.
It was just a stupid dream, based on Meetal’s guilt at what he had been unable to do. At least he hoped it was.
Slowly Meetal climbed out of the house into its plot of land.
Meetal sniffed the air
No scent of gnomes, trolls, orcs bugbears or drow.
Slowly Meetal made his way down the fence of the plot of land and found the entrance to the plot of land that the human female’s dwelling stood in.
Meetal pushed through the hole.
All at once he heard a sound he had heard before.
A metallic sound.
It was the sound of a metal tube that spits death as it was prepared to enact it’s deadly power
“So you’re the varmint that’s been pestering Mrs Peters” a gruff human male voice growled, as Meetal felt a cold metal tube placed on the back of his neck.
To be continued