Benjamin Vryce

He fell, as he reached the opening in the floor. Landing with his face over the hole, he knew there was no way he was climbing down. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and thought over his options. The drop wasn’t far all told, he could just fall and heal the damage afterwards. He had suffered too much already to want to do that, however.

Next, he looked at the summons he had left. Looking at them, it struck him that they weren’t just creatures he could call. They were, or would be, a part of him if he didn’t separate them from himself. They would change him in fundamental ways, and likely already had. Benjamin thought he was beginning to understand why the Creator had placed the seals on the souls of humans now.

There were six of them left, the Blue King, the Red Queen, Ice, Honor, Stomper…and Grace. That was his current limit, assuming he wanted them to become a part of him that was. Only six…he started laughing uncontrollably at the number, remembering a videogame that was all the rage back home. In the game the player captured monsters to battle with, and was also limited to a team of six.

He eventually shook his head; he was too tired. His soul was raw and wounded, covered in three dimensional patterns like freshly applied tattoos. Benjamin didn’t know why he couldn’t see it sooner, but he hadn’t been able to focus on it before. Now, it was clearly evident to him that his soul had limits. That it wasn’t the endless void he had previously saw it as.

He settled his wavering eyes on the red queen, she was the only one left who could get him down quickly. Pulling on her pattern, Benjamin fought the waves of nausea that threatened to steal his consciousness. A few of his wounds deepened, but he forced essence into them from his core, along the new soul channels. It kept them from growing farther, but would need to be addressed soon.

As the Red queen appeared before him, Benjamin struggled to his feet. Climbing awkwardly onto her back and instructing her to take him down. The trip wasn’t smooth, the Hive hadn’t been built to carry passengers. They made it down though, and in one piece. With a few mumbled words he sent her out, hoping to help quell any remaining issues the red Hive soldiers might have with the blue king.

Taking deep breaths, he slowly made his way from the tower. Reaching the exit, he tumbled out onto the ground. He saw the green outlines of the two goblins rushing to his side as sleep overcame him at last.

* * *

Grace

After leaving the tower, Grace checked in on Jade, just like she had said she wanted too. The blonde woman was fine, a few cuts but she had held it together and kept the ogres in check. Grace looked around, there were a number of reds dead at the trio’s feet. Not as many as there could have been, it was hard for an ogre to rein in its strength after all. Grace thought Benjamin would accept this amount of loss.

“How did it go up there?” Jade asked, looking at Grace’s blood covered hands.

“Grace is fine, Benjamin was hurt but he has recovered.” She said by way of explanation, giving Stomper a side eyed glare to keep him quite as he approached.

Grace thought that Jade caught the look because her eyes glinted, but she left it alone. Instead looking around to the reds, who were mostly gone. A few had been wrangled back by the blue king but most had disappeared into the night.

“What happened?” Grace asked Jade as she too looked around. There couldn’t have been more than twenty of the red hive still in the area around the tower.

“Loud ass scream came out of the tower, when it cut off, all the reds froze in place. When they started moving again, they bolted off in all directions. The blue guy got out here in time to stop some of them, but…” she shrugged, looking away.

Grace sighed at the news; Benjamin had wanted the Hive intact. Thinking of Benjamin got her heart racing in her chest. She had kissed him; she had kissed him twice and he had let her. She was mortified yet elated at the same time. She blushed, putting her hands to her cheeks at the memory.

Jade started to laugh at her when she saw that, turning over to Stomper she elbowed the shorter goblin and asked.

“She really is new at this isn’t she, how old is our girlie here anyway?” It was a harmless question, but it still set Grace’s flush even deeper.

“I had seen eight winters when Grace was born into our clan, so that would make her…” Stomper trailed off as he tried to do the math on his fingers.

“Grace is twenty winters old,” she snapped. “Not that it means anything to you Jade.” She finished sticking her tongue out at the other woman.

“Twenty years old huh? Honestly your older than I thought girlie. But you Viking dude? your twenty-eight? that’s how old I am, go figure, crazy huh?” she said with a giggle. “Looks like we have more in common than I thought.” She finished with a wink for the Goblin axe wielder.

Before either of the pair could respond, there was a backwash of pain through their link to Benjamin. She didn’t notice the link often, she suspected Benjamin let her live as normally as he could. However, now she felt it. There was real pain coming from him, she traded a glance with Stomper. His expression was all the confirmation she needed, there was a problem.

Honor and his two brothers ran over, and the blue king dropped low in the sky to hover over their heads. All of Benjamin’s creatures were suffering with him. They exchanged looks of terror, no one besides the goblins could talk, but even they were silent.

“What’s the matter?” Jade asked, looking between all the gathered creatures.

“Grace isn’t sure, something is wrong with Benjamin.” She answered. Just as she finished speaking, the silver and grey wolf was wiped from existence. One moment he had been there with the same expression of worry that the rest of them were feeling, the next he vanished.

“What the fuck? It don’t look like that when a summon is sent back, what just happened?” Jade pressed, it sounded like she was getting worried now too.

Grace could feel an itching from the link, like something was digging at her presence in Benjamin’s soul. Followed by the rage fueled pressure from Benjamin as he forced that presence from her. She knew he was fighting but she just didn’t understand what or how. It seemed like he was protecting her fiercely though.

Stomper must have felt it too, because he took a step closer to Grace. He had always been protective of her, and when she was in danger, he wanted to aid her. Never mind that he was in the same danger. Before either could speak, the mottled brown and tan wolf was wiped away.

“No,” Stomper whispered, as Honor let out a long howl filled with sorrow.

The blue king landed beside them, moving closer in a show of his own apprehension and support. The four of them were together in this, in danger, yet not knowing from what or how to stop it. Jade just stood helplessly and watched. Grace knew she wanted to help, but what could she do, what could any of them do?

Eventually the feeling settled down, there was still a raw pain lingering behind but no more threat. They relaxed, waiting for Benjamin to come explain what had happened. None of them wanted to brave the tower again, instead choosing to stay huddled together.

Long moments past, and they could all feel another pull through their links. It didn’t hurt exactly, just felt like Benjamin was doing something he wasn’t ready for, before it stopped. A few moments later, the red queen joined them on the field. They could tell that she was now one of them, and that she had been sent out to get the reds in order.

Grace watched as she did just that, giving an ear-piercing scream to the night. Another few dozen more red Hive flew back at the sound, but it looked like they had lost most of them to the night. They continued to wait and worry. Finally, Benjamin came into view from the tunnel they had entered, and fell the ten feet to the ground.

Grace exchanged another look with Stomper, and the pair rushed to his side. He was closing his eyes into unconsciousness when they reached him. Propping him up against her shoulder, Grace looked at the others who had followed her over.

“What should we do?” she asked, panicked. They were all in the dark, none of them knew what was going on, let alone what to do about it.

Finally, it was Jade of all people who spoke.

“Vice, wanted to get the Hive together. For the big showdown, or whatever. So, lets get all the hive together. Grab what we can from this tower and hoof it back to where we left the blues.” She said.

Grace looked at her for a moment, almost unwilling to believe she had said something helpful. Eventually she nodded her head. No one else had any thing to add either so it was decided. They gathered up the reds and what eggs they could, put Benjamin onto Honor’s back and went back to the blue hive.

Grace walked beside Honor the whole way back, holding Benjamin’s hand. He never woke up, but he didn’t get any worse either. The walk took much of the night and the sun was beginning to rise before they made it back. A salamander had come upon them as they walked, the blue king and red queen flying towards it was enough for the beast to change its mind about an easy meal.

The reds and the blues didn’t look happy to Grace when they were forced to mix together. The monarchs didn’t allow any arguments or fighting however, they mixed the factions into one group and put them to bed.

Grace sat with Stomper and Jade, watching Benjamin sleep. It had been a long night and the goblins were exhausted.

“So, what do we do?” Stomper asked at last, looking to the two women. Neither of them had an answer for long moments, finally it was again Jade who spoke.

“I gain essence from the things Tik and Tok kill, perhaps he needs some essence. You two are exhausted, go get some sleep. I will keep watch, and if he is still out when you wake then we will go kill a few lizards to juice him up.” she suggested.

Grace felt overwhelming gratitude for Jade at that moment. She teased her mercilessly, and called them all names, but she was helping them when they were down. That counted for a lot in Grace’s book.

“Thank you Jade, Grace will go get some rest. Then Grace and Stomper will go out with the others, and harvest essence for Benjamin.” She had a plan now; she could do this.

Nodding to Stomper and Jade she walked over to Benjamin’s sleeping form, and lay down beside him. Pressing her back into his side, she got ready to close her eyes. Taking one last look around, she caught sight of Stomper and Jade.

The pair were sitting closer together than they had been when she left, and were deep in conversation. The giant ogres sat to either side, glaring down at the goblin fighter. Grace just sighed; her clan brother was going to get himself into trouble. It wasn’t her problem though; Benjamin was her only concern. She snuggled into him, and slept.