Upon their arrival back in Hereth, Nibbs was startled by the downwards direction Eraz took. The general had allowed him to stable Sherri by the Drakeward hedge, then insisted on carrying him for the sake of faster travel. Awkward as it was to be held in the bird's arms, Nibbs did not have the time to insist on walking.
"Anastasia is not in the Palace?" he asked as they squeezed between the thick stalks and pods of the city depths.
"No," Eraz wasted no words as usual.
Their destination was soon apparent by the pungent, urk-weed stench. The stronger the stink, the greater his apprehension. They must have been heading for the slums
Worse than facing Anastasia was to be put to trial before the peasants, and he was sure that was exactly what she meant to do. They would want blood and justice for all their lost fingers. But no punishment from them could match the devastation that hit him when he emerged from the winding tunnels.
Inside the slum hole, he witnessed the true nature of the Duchess.
Kyos' most vile spawn, now without a damsel's disguise, was dancing with his son. Around them was a gathering of enemies, with peasants sitting beside goblins in some kind of perverse friendship.
"Get your rotten hands off my son!" Nibbs shouted, his fury granting him the strength to break away from Eraz.
Against such numbers he did not stand a chance of survival, but he would not go down without a fight. But there was no fight to be had. As he marched to the mound where his son was, not a single one of them tried to stop him.
They did not have to. When he discovered what that mound was made of, he was brought to a halt. Thousands of socks had been piled up to form a most wretched mountain.
"Get down from there, Pagne! You have no idea how dangerous he is!"
"He's perfectly safe. You, on the other hand, are a bit of a concern," Vrye said with an unfriendly glower. What a fool Nibbs had been for thinking any of the horned folk were not as treacherous as their King.
Pagne hesitated, waiting until the fiend had taken the first step before he ran down the pile to position himself between them.
"Please, don't skin him!" he begged Kyos' spawn, but a creature like that could not be reasoned with.
Nibbs rolled up his sleeves and took a fighting stance, but the first blow came from neither he nor the fiend. Rather, it was a clod of cake, thrown by some unknown bystander that had hit him right on the ear.
"Hold yer fire! Do nay waste our food on 'im!" turning his head, Nibbs recognised Goldilocks. Despite her green, warty skin, she was distinctly different from the goblins around her. What she was precisely, he could not begin to guess.
"I won't skin him," the fiend hissed.
"Or turn him into a crockery set!" Pagne added, more firm in his tone, but he was met only with an exasperated sigh.
"I won't do that either."
"Or use his finger bones to pick pieces of his spleen from between your teeth after you have feasted on his insides?" Pagne was left as baffled as Nibbs by the fiend's inaction.
"Calm down. I would only do that to you, Custard Puff."
The bastard stepped a little closer, but still made no move to engage Nibbs in the fight. Instead, he scraped some of the cake from his face and pushed it into Pagne's mouth to silence him.
YOU ARE READING
Revolting Rose
Fantasy{Illustrated} Once upon a time Pagne planned parties in a palace of fungus, now he is planning a revolution. Success requires a cunning plan, hinging on the element of surprise, careful catering, and colourful costumes. However, an unfortunate ser...
