Alessa led them from their camp, the goblin patrol falling in on either side of them. It was dark – the party was traveling without the aid of fire or lightstone, trusting the goblins' night vision. Lillywick walked next to Alessa, while Iris found herself walking alongside Bors, Chiri close behind her.
"How do feel about our chances?" Iris asked.
Bors looked at the goblins on either side thoughtfully.
"I hate fighting against goblins. They cheat, they backstab, they never fight fair if they can help it." He suddenly grinned. "Creatures after my own heart, in some ways."
It took about an hour of walking to reach the outpost, which was little more than a wooden shack with a guard outside. At first Iris didn't know how it could hold a goblin patrol, until the guard pounded on the door.
"Patrol returning, with, uh, prisoners I think?"
The door flew open, revealing a hole in the ground and a ladder. Instantly, a dozen goblins spilled out onto the surface, then twenty. One of them had a red badge on his sleeve, some kind of senior officer.
"Oi, Lillywick you shiftless bloodyhearted layabout, what's all this? Why are these prisoners not bound, or better yet dead?" the officer asked, a sneer on his face.
"It's cause they ain't prisoners, Swedge." Lilly stepped forward, drawing her knife.
"That's Police Captain Swedge to you, Lillywick Parser. I think I'll have to report you to the Big Boss for this, see if I don't. Rank insubordination, disobeying orders, failure to properly address an officer, aiding and abetting the enemies of the state, and there'll be more if you want to keep talking."
"You really don't get it, do you? I've had just about enough of you bossing me around, Swedge, you – ah, fuck it."
She buried it to the hilt in the officer's stomach, and his eyes went wide in shock. He dropped to the ground, gurgling and writhing feebly as he bled out. His blood was green. Iris stared, wide-eyed, shocked at the sudden violence. Lilly pointed her blade, coated in blood and dripping, at the rest of the goblins.
"Any of you want to join him?"
Most of the goblins cheered, some threw down their weapons, and a few tried to slip off into the dark, only to be pounced on by their comrades.
"Lillywick, you're a fool," another goblin said, twitching his cloak back and settling a hand on the hilt of his knife. "You know you can't beat boss Smivey, you'll end up dead as the last conspiracy."
"Ain't a conspiracy, it's a bloody uprising. Lads, take Patrol Captain Peck and his unit into custody," Lillywick said. About half a dozen goblins were surrounded, disarmed, and forced down the ladder into the underground outpost. The officer who had spoken up scowled, but let himself be disarmed with the rest.
"Well, we're in it now," Alessa said.
Lillywick gave a few more orders to her rebels, then turned to the party.
"Right, we march on Goblintown. Are you ready?"
"We're with you," Alessa said. Iris licked her lips.
"Sorry, Lillywick, but…what's the plan?"
"Plan, eh? Can't say I really have one. Just kinda makin' this one up as I go along."
Alessa's visor was down, so Iris couldn't tell what sort of expression she had on her face, but she did hear Alessa's heavy sigh.
***
Bryn Mawr – now Goblintown – was half in ruins. The walls were crumbling, though in some places there were signs of repair, scaffolding and cranes and dressed stone ready to be hauled into place. Iris heard a shrill whistle, and tried to place where she'd heard something like it before.
"Signal for a shift change," Lillywick explained. She gave a few whispered orders to some of her goblins, who scampered off.
"So, what's the next part of your…plan?" Iris asked.
"We get into Goblintown and head straight for the Big Boss. The city's seethin'. Goblins may not like workin' together, but they know when they're bein' stepped on. There've been riots and mutinies and conspiracies before, but they were all, call 'em, in the moment things."
"Spontaneous. And easily defeated, I'm guessing."
"Right. But, once my lads hear someone's taking on the Big Boss, they'll all start rising up at once." She was silent for a moment. "Sorry to wrap you up in all this, but we need all the help we can get."
"I'm happy to help, Lilly. I would've volunteered if I could."
"You're a good one, Iris Penny. Shiny."
"You are too, Lilly. I mean it, you're a better person than most humans I've met."
Iris didn't know goblins could blush. She meant it, though; in the brief time she'd known Lilly, Iris had the impression of someone fiercely independent, brave, and possessed of a strong sense of justice. They weren't qualities she'd expected to find in a goblin – but then, she'd only ever known goblins from stories. Lilly was a real person, not a monster.
Lilly drew her knife.
"Come on, doll, let's spill some fuckin' guts."
Well, Iris reflected, Lilly could be shockingly casual about violence, but nobody's perfect.
Lillywick didn't intend for them to head straight for the main gates – they were well-guarded, huge things bound with iron bars and chains. Instead, she led them to a postern gate.
"Right, who's good with locks?" Lillywick asked.
Alessa motioned to Chiri, who stepped forward and raised her hand, speaking a word that Iris didn't catch. There was a loud click as the door unlocked itself.
"Magic," Iris whispered as she passed through the gate. Within was a tunnel, running along the inside of the wall. They crept along as silently as they could – Lillywick and a dozen goblins, Alessa, Bors, Iris, and Chiri. Iris wasn't sure how far they went – they could have traversed a third of the city's circumference, but it was hard to keep her bearings in the dark.
Lillywick stopped them at a gate made of iron bars that led to the inside of the city wall. Chiri opened the lock with a magic word, and Lillywick led them through.
Somehow, they had come out onto a landing, twenty or thirty feet above ground. A staircase led down to the street below. Iris guessed that the ground the wall had been built on was uneven, but the tunnel inside the wall ran level, so the foundations of the wall were now lower than they had been at the postern gate. In any case, it gave Iris a good look at Goblintown.
It was cramped, for one thing. Stacked, windowless tenements went right up to the walls, interspersed with workshops, refineries, and smithies, their windows glowing orange in the night, chimneys belching smoke that shrouded the stars. There were open pits, and here and there Iris saw buildings of an older, sturdier construction – the ruins left by the humans who had built this place, reclaimed and repurposed by the goblins.
"That's strange," Alessa said, "In a human city, there would be a space cleared between the walls and people's dwellings, to let troops move effectively."
"Aye, the better for us, then," Lilly said.
"Ugh, and it stinks here," Iris said. Alessa sniffed at the air.
"It's the noxious trades. Tanneries, dyeworks, breweries, alchemical refineries. In human cities those would be restricted to the outside of the walls, but here…"
Here, they were crammed right alongside dwellings.
Iris turned to Chiri. The catgirl's tail was bristling, all the fur standing on end, and she hissed.
"Iris, I don't like this place. Terrible things have happened here."
"Then let's put a stop to them," Iris said grimly. She didn't feel afraid. She just felt her heartbeat, slow and steady, pulsing in her ears…
Lilly pointed at an older building that could have once been a palace, now a frowning, imposing edifice.
"That's Headquarters. Orders go out, but lots of stuff needs to go in. Supplies, reports…prisoners."
"Lillywick," one of the other goblins hissed, "There's guards in the street."
"Regulars?" Lilly asked, testing the point of her knife.
"Military police." The goblin spat.
"They're the worst bullyboys and thugs," Lilly explained to Iris and Alessa. "Right, take their coats."
A trio of goblins slipped away, and Lilly sat on the top step and waited.
"How many goblins live here?" Iris asked, scanning the cityscape. Lilly counted on her fingers.
"Couple…dozen-hundred?"
"Two to three thousand," Alessa translated. Bors swore.
"Most of em live belowground. Shave off the prisoners, the children, the old and infirm…well, those as Smivey Demple hasn't had off for being workshy."
Iris felt vaguely nauseous.
"And the able-bodied adults?" she asked.
"Ummm most are workers, those as hate the bosses but ain't exactly makin' a stand…couple hundreds of managers and other types, bullyboys but not fighters. Leaving three to five hundreds of soldiers and guards. Of those, maybe a third ain't been broken to the lash, they hate the boss and all his plans and schemes. Then another third is just followin' orders." Lilly's tone was not charitable. "The last third'll follow the boss' orders no matter what."
"Meaning we're fighting between one and three hundred goblin soldiers," Alessa muttered.
"Closer to three hundred, aye. But if we spike it, they'll be confused and spread all over."
"Well, let's hope your faith in your people isn't misguided."
"I ain't exactly guideless, doll." Lilly stood up, dusting off her hands. "Think my lads are done daring now."
She was right. At the bottom of the stairs were two goblins with their throats cut, lying in pools of their own blood. They both had red badges on their shoulders, like the captain Lilly had killed back at the outpost.
The group crept along, keeping to the shadows. Iris fumbled along, Chiri close behind her. The catgirl was clearly on edge, and once she hissed as they darted past a huge factory. Iris shuddered; she wanted to avoid even imagining what was going on inside. She looked up at the stars, judging that it had been three hours since they had joined forces with Lilly.
