Chapter 8: Waiting
The goblins worked over the following minutes with surprising efficiency. The pile of wood had grown considerably, dry branches stacked into an improvised but functional circular structure.
The leader goblin, the largest, rose from his position and walked to the center of the clearing. The other three stopped, watching him with what appeared to be anticipation.
The leader grunted something in his guttural language, and the others responded with sounds of agreement. Then he pulled two stones from a crude leather pouch tied to his waist.
-(Is he going to... light the fire?)-
Rain watched attentively, fascinated.
The goblin struck the stones against each other with practiced movements. Once. Twice. On the third attempt, bright sparks flew and landed on a bundle of dry grass he had previously placed at the center of the wood pile.
The sparks caught. A small thread of smoke began to rise.
The leader blew gently over the budding embers, feeding them with patience. The smoke grew thicker, and finally a small orange flame burst to life.
The three goblins erupted into a series of sharp grunts and clumsy clapping at the sight of the flames, slapping their four-fingered hands together with an almost childlike enthusiasm.
Rain watched them for a moment longer than necessary.
-(I wonder if Eduard would have wanted to see this. Maybe he would have been fascinated by things like this, small creatures with their own rules, their own rituals. He probably would have said that intelligence has no minimum size.)-
A pang. Brief, but real.
-(Stop. Focus.)-
She forced herself back to analyzing. But the image of the goblins celebrating around the fire lingered in her mind a second longer, overlaid on top of a memory she couldn't quite see to its end.
The fire grew quickly, the flames consuming the dry wood with a satisfying crackle. The warmth spread across the clearing, and the goblins drew closer, warming their hands.
The leader grunted an order, and the others immediately set themselves in motion. Two of them began untying the boar from the pole, while the third, the small infected goblin, searched for longer branches to use as spits.
-(They're preparing the food. They're going to share. Eat together.)-
Rain processed the scene carefully.
-(If they're going to be close to each other... sharing food... talking...)-
An idea formed in her mind.
-(I can use this.)-
Applying [Replication I] to the infected goblin.
She forced the viral replication inside the small goblin's body, increasing the pathogen load. The goblin coughed again, harder this time, and brought a hand to its chest in confusion.
One of the other goblins looked at it and grunted something that sounded like a question. The small goblin responded with a dismissive gesture, as if to say "it's nothing," and continued with its task.
-(Good. Now... controlled release.)-
Applying [Airborne Transmission I] + [Saliva Transmission I] to the infected goblin.
She activated both transmissions simultaneously, forcing the goblin's body to release pathogens more aggressively. When the small goblin coughed again, an invisible cloud of red sand poured from its mouth, drifting toward the center of the clearing.
The wind was almost nonexistent here, trapped between the trees. The pathogens floated slowly, dispersing toward the other goblins.
The small goblin moved closer to the fire, and as it leaned over to place a branch in the flames, it spoke, or rather grunted, something to one of its companions. Its breath, laden with virus, went directly into the other's face.
Rain didn't wait for the announcements. She already knew what was going to happen. The goblins kept talking, passing tools between themselves, breathing the same air. It was only a matter of time.
The goblins continued interacting. Passing tools. Talking. Breathing the same contaminated air.
One of them, a medium-sized one, inhaled deeply near the fire.
The leader goblin grunted an order, and the third one, the one that had been sharpening the dagger, moved over to help hold the boar over the fire. In doing so, it touched the small infected goblin's shoulder to get its attention.
-(It's almost sad how easy it is. They don't even know they're already lost.)-
Two buzzes arrived almost simultaneously, seconds apart. She dismissed them mentally, filing them away for later. What mattered to her was the leader.
That one was the only one that inspired something resembling respect.
The leader goblin remained slightly apart from the others, watching them with the characteristic calm of someone who knows they don't need to participate in order to be in control. Rain recognized it. It was the same distance she herself maintained.
-(Interesting. Even among creatures like these, there are those who understand that real power isn't demonstrated. It's exercised.)-
The smell of roasting meat finally drew it in. It approached the fire and inhaled deeply with satisfaction. The pathogens in the air did their work.
One final buzz.
New host infected.
New skills have been acquired from the new host: [Leadership II] > [Leadership III][Intimidation I] > [Intimidation II][Authority I]
-(Ah. So you had something to teach me after all.)-
Four goblins. Four infected hosts. All under her potential control.
-(And they didn't even notice. Poor things.)-
The goblins continued their routine, completely unaware. The boar began to cook, fat dripping into the fire with a sizzling spatter. The smell was strong, primitive, but not unpleasant.
One of them coughed. Then another. The small goblin scratched its arm with irritation.
But they didn't seem concerned. They probably thought it was something minor, perhaps the smoke from the fire.
Rain observed from her hiding spot, analyzing the new skills she had acquired.
-([Manual Dexterity], [Fortitude], [Precision], [Tool Crafting], [Authority]...)-
She paused on that last one.
-(Authority. What a curious thing to inherit from a goblin.)-
She watched the leader finish its portion of meat and toss the leftover bone to the smallest one without even looking at it. The small one received it without complaint.
-(In my other life I never had that. I never wanted it either. I just wanted Eduard to be alright and for the world to leave me in peace.)-
A pause.
-(What a different life that was.)-
She looked at the four goblins gathered around the fire, sharing their food, speaking in their guttural tongue.
-(I have four potential bodies now. I can choose which one to use depending on what I need.)-
-(The small one is agile, good for delicate tasks. The medium one is strong, probably good in direct combat. The third is precise, skilled with tools. And the leader... has charisma, authority.)-
A question surfaced in her mind.
-(What do I do now? Do I take one of these bodies? Or do I keep observing?)-
The goblins began to eat, tearing pieces of meat from the boar with their hands and devouring them with noisy enthusiasm. They talked between bites, grunting and gesturing animatedly.
-(If I take the body of one of them... the others would notice. They'd probably flee. Or attack.)-
-(But if I wait... I can learn more. See where they go. What they do. Whether they have a camp, a tribe...)-
The idea was tempting.
-(Intelligent goblins. With tools, language, social structure. If there's a larger group... that means resources. Knowledge. Possibilities.)-
She made her decision.
-(I'm going to follow them. See where they take me.)-
The goblins finished eating, and the leader grunted something that made the others rise quickly. They began putting out the fire, kicking dirt over the flames.
-(They're getting ready to leave.)-
Rain tensed, ready to move when they did.
The leader picked up what remained of the boar, still tied to the pole, and hoisted it over his shoulder with surprising strength. The other three gathered their tools and prepared to depart.
They grunted something among themselves, a quick exchange, and then began to walk.
Not back the way they had come.
Toward the north. Deeper into the forest.
-(Toward their home.)-
Rain waited a few seconds before following, keeping a safe distance.
Her wounded leg protested with every step, but she forced herself to continue.
-(Just a little further. I just need to see where they're going.)-
-(And then... I'll decide what to do with them.)-
The goblins pressed into the twilight of the forest, their dark green silhouettes disappearing among the dense vegetation.
And Rain followed, silent as a shadow.