The group of goblins did not flee; instead, they seemed to gather up closer to each other.

Arnith was glad, killing the fleeing goblin before had been a spur of the moment decision, he had feared that word of his presence would reach the Red Mark tribe and he had made the throw. The move had almost botched up their mission.

The goblins continued to be agitated, so Arnith made sure not to make any sudden movements.

“Hopper!” Arnith said in a hushed voice.

The shaman did not answer him, so Arnith slowly turned his head to look at him.

Hopper and Tokki were busy looting the body of the goblin that Tokki had finished off and growled at each other over the items they managed to get.

“Hey, idiots, leave that for later.” He said, now in a louder voice.

Both of them raised their heads at that, while still tugging at the same pouch.

“Hopper, you need to translate, get over here.”

Tokki let out a small laugh and jumped away with the pouch.

Hopper seemed to be about to pounce on the other goblin, so Arnith went between them in a quick stride and took the shaman by his shoulders, lifted him and turned him around, and placed him back down.

“Remember why we’re here, go and talk to them,” Arnith said and gave a gentle push toward the fearful goblins.

Hopper obliged and went walking toward the group, he held his palms up again as he had before and spoke in their language.

The goblins were soon fixated on the shaman’s words and the goblin seemed to find the attention pleasing to him, as the more he spoke the more he began to move in his habitual dancing motions.

The goblins began to whisper with each other, discussing the shaman’s words.

Hopper ramped up his performance and took out the pair of shakers he always went with and doubled up his dancing movements. The attention of the group returned to him.

Arnith felt his shoulders relax.

“Tokki, go around and get me my spear, make sure not to spook them,” Arnith whispered. He reasoned that it was best if he stayed where he was, but he felt naked without the weapon.

Hopper continued his display and Tokki soon returned with the spear.

The monologue of the shaman was broken finally when a voice broke out from the group and a female goblin stepped out to the front. The goblin was an adult but barely so, she was clothed fully in a rat-fur coat and there was an infant in her arms.

The female was the leader of the group, as the others seemed to defer to her. She began to ask questions of the shaman and Hopper gave her answers. When Hopper's answers became too long the gobliness cut him off with another question.

Arnith decided it was time for him to enter what seemed to turn into a negotiation.

Taking slow and measured steps the elf approached the fire. The goblins tensed but made no moves to flee, so he continued until he stood next to Hopper.

“What have you agreed to?” Arnith asked the shaman.

Hopper shook his shakers. “It is known, that Hopper is the greatest shaman of all time and all goblins must fear him hahahaaa.” The goblin answered and began to dance again.

“Most stupid shaman of all time,” Arnith answered. At least he had thought to do so, but the gobliness had done so before him.

Arnith turned to look at the creature, unlike the rest of the goblins; she was not displaying a fearful expression. She looked Arnith in his eyes and did not turn away until she gave a glance to the infant she was carrying. If her demeanor came from her personality or that being the leader of the group demanded it Arnith did not know, but he suspected, that it was the former.

Hopper stood quietly after the remark, with his shoulders hunched and the shakers motionless in his hands. Arnith thought that the goblin might be sulking, it was hard to tell with his face covered by the large red mask that he sported. The usefulness of the shaman as a mediator was lessening, but at least he had gotten the goblins to listen and distracted them enough that they had not fled.

“What is your name?” Arnith asked the female goblin.

“I am named Ama.” She replied.

“We are wasting time here Ama, so I will cut to the issue. I want you and the rest of your group to become my servants, in exchange, I will give you a place to live in and make sure you are safe.” Arnith said and thought he held his spear upright, with its butt to the ground, he made himself stand as tall and domineering as he could, leaving the side effects of refusal implied.

Ama looked at the elf with her dark eyes and then looked at the bodies of the goblin warriors behind him. “You want us to join your tribe?” the gobliness said finally.

Arnith thought of how to reply. He did not need a tribe. The effects of such a loose model of society would not meet his needs. The empire that his father had ruled had developed into a feudal system long ago, with power somewhat dispersed to the nobility, but he needed the structure to be such that all power came from him and was given by him sparingly. The idea of becoming a despot ran against his fur, but the violent ways of the goblins were already without much morality and the presence of a strong ruler would probably be a positive change, he reasoned.

“Not a tribe, you will serve me, in my dominion and no one else’s. Will you accept?” Arnith pressed.

Ama did not answer immediately and a goblin began to speak behind her, but she shushed the goblin to silence quickly.

“Yess, we will serve the dominion,” Ama replied, with a lowering of her head, after which she instructed the rest to do so also.

The goblins made expressions of submission to the elf.

Arnith made sure that all of them had understood before he addressed the whole group. “From this moment you are my subjects and will live by my laws and I will protect you from any who threaten you and make sure you will have food to eat and a place to live.” He said. Most did not seem to understand his words and so he made Ama repeat the words in the goblins own tongue.

The importance of social contracts had been instilled in Arnith by his instructors since he had begun his schooling at the age where he began to speak and falling back to the knowledge was second nature to him.

With the ceremonies over Arnith told the goblins to gather their things for the journey to Brightwater. The group had almost nothing except what they were wearing; having fled the attack of the Red Mark tribe and so they were soon on their way.

Tokki led the way from the front and Arnith brought up the rear, keeping an eye on the group. Ama was in the middle of the procession, the rest circling her, when some of the younger ones began to wander she soon called them back to her side, keeping the group together.

Arnith noticed that Hopper tried to move next to the matriarch several times on the way, but each time Ama would hiss at him and the shaman moved away cowed by the aggressiveness of the female.

The power that Ama had over the other goblins did not surprise him, he suspected that the rarity of them gave them a lot of influence if they were not enslaved by a raid and the natural aggressiveness that she had probably served her well to keep the males in line.

The return trip took much longer than when there had been only the three of them and Arnith called a stop when one of the younger ones had stumbled for the third time. They had managed to pass by the place that the serpent lived at and so he considered the area to be relatively safe.

The small valley they were in would keep them safe enough, but he made Tokki go and patrol the perimeter, even so.

Arnith told the goblins to eat, while they rested, but there was little in the way of rations that the goblins had, so he opened up the bags that the three of them had brought with them and made sure to ration them out evenly.

Arnith went around the group and gave the rations out personally, having him give them food personally would cement their relationship, he reasoned, though he had to clout a couple of the goblins on the ear when they began to fight over the food.

When he got around to Ama he found her in the process of nursing the infant. The sight made him think of how he had forgotten much of what normal life was like and he gave her a slightly bigger cut of dried lizard, which she snatched and consumed in quick succession, while still feeding the baby.

When Arnith had made a full circuit of the group, he found that he had only a mouthful of the meat left and swallowed it down after a couple of bites. There would be stores of it left at their settlement, so he was now concerned with having run out. He did think of the need to expand their operations for gathering food, what they had squirreled away would keep for some time, but there were now many more mouths to feed, and having Tokki provide most of the food alone would not serve their needs.

Chasing the meat down with a sip from his waterskin, he went back to where Ama was sitting at. Ama looked at the elf suspiciously, as he sat down in front of her. The Infant was now sleeping soundly in her arms, so he used a quiet voice when he addressed her.

“Hey Ama, I was curious about how you escaped the attack on the Black Rat settlement?” Arnith asked.

The gobliness looked at the elf intently and then her eyes went unfocused.

“I was in the… nursery when the call came that the Red Marks had arrived. We were expecting them, Arack sent runners before he died in the nightmare sleep. Older mothers went to see, what tribute there was given and the slaves were taken, I stayed to care for the little ones.” Ama stopped then and focused back on the elf. The look in her eyes told him enough that she was aware that he had some hand in what happened during the incident. “I took one child, left two others of mine and ran to the back tunnels, gathered who I could on the way, and then we hid until the hunters found us later.” She finished.

Arnith did not know what to say for a moment, he was responsible for her having lost two children. Hopper might have been the one to initiate the attack, but at the end of the day, the commander was always at fault for the actions of his subordinates.

“I feel for your sorrow.” He tried.

Ama let out a puff. “There is no use for feelings, you will protect now yes, this one will grow?” Ama asked.

The pragmatism of the gobliness took Arnith aback for a moment, but he saw that her world was one of changing fortunes, and the luxury of crying over the past was something she had no time for.

“Yes, I will keep you safe,” Arnith said and stood to walk away.

He admired the resolve that she had, her kind were known to be fickle and weak of spirit, but there might be something in their nature that could hold like folded steel if harnessed properly, he thought.