“Deal!”
Chapter 15: Call of the Nucleus
GROKUSZUID THE AUCTIONEER appeared personally to examine the castle vault. And not alone, but with the already familiar Gruzelix from the transport guild, who brought a hundred mighty and somewhat dim haulers—members of physically strong species such as titans, giants, ogres, minotaurs and lophers.
The Green League’s lively and nimble goblins were already rushing around, each with the signature cigarette hanging from their lips, in wide pants and suspenders, sleeves rolled up and bowler hats on their heads. Kusalarix, Grokuszuid and Gruzelix belonged to different organizations, but they worked together, doing their part for the good of the Goblin League.
The auctioneer and the hauler declared that the High Council would guarantee to furnish me with all the resources necessary for ‘comfortably waging war/ as they put it. In particular, this included the free services of the transport guild for me and all my allies, and fast reviews of requests to sell trophies and ’other castles, if you capture them.’ Kusalarix chuckled at that last part, but said nothing.
With the formalities complete, Grokus and Gruzelix set off to audit the Widowmakers’ clan vault. The assessor stayed back in the headquarters and asked to speak with me privately. Her tone brooked no refusal, but I didn’t plan to refuse anyway.
“So, the Sleeping Gods…” The goblin woman lit up a cigarette, took a drag, drummed her nails on the table. “What, did they turn ya into a dead fella? Somehow I don’t remember them kinda shenanigans in our legends. Don’t get the wrong idea, kid. The League ain’t makin’ claims, it’s showin’ interest. I gotta know how things stand, ’cos this whole mess is kinda murky.”
Without going into detail, I explained how the Sleeping Gods and the Destroying Plague stood in opposition, and how I’d somehow managed to become the Initial of one and the Supreme Legate of the other.
“Playin’ both sides, I get it…” Kusalarix chuckled. “The League wonders, what do the Sleepers want? The world is divided, the New Gods drove the Old beneath the Barrier. Who do your boys stand for? Who are we going to be dealing with? And which side will you be on in the end?”
Which side…? Good question. How could I answer it if I planned to delete my character? Possibly even today. I just had to make sure that the deal with Kiran was still in effect, then explain it all to Behemoth. I hoped I’d remain his Initial when I made a new character, but if not, I’d tty to convince the Sleeping God to transfer my status to one of the boys. I also wanted to make the First Kill on the Montosaums before I lost Iimnortcility and Reflection, which I’d need to use if I wanted to take out the ancient reptile.
And was it worth sharing my secrets with a barely familiar goblin woman here on behalf of a criminal organization?
“To tell you the truth, Mrs. Kusalarix, I don’t know. My plans change constantly, and not always by my own will.”
“I see. The gods pull you this way and that way, probably can’t even take a shit without their say-so. Which is why we bow,” the goblin woman made air quotes with her fingers, “to the greedy and heartless Maglubiyet and all-knowing Bargrivyek. They don’t give a rat’s ass about us, they don’t stick their noses in our business, and we…” She cut off, didn’t finish her sentence. “About your gods… What do you think, personally?”
“The Sleeping Gods are better. They don’t demand mindless deference and they reward all their followers…”
Kusalarix’s eyes burned when she heard of Unity, which gave the followers of the Sleeping Gods stat points. Swearing colorfully, the goblin woman brought a fist down on the table, then lit another cigarette. A few moments of furious thought, then she quickly said goodbye and disappeared into a portal without a backward glance. She threw a coin over her shoulder as she went. The same type as the one Grokuszuid gave me, I realized, throwing the communication artifact into my inventory.
I said goodbye to the goblins and teleported to Tiamat’s temple. I summoned my undead minions from there. Leaving them with Bomber to defend the temple, I jumped to Kharinza and logged out of Dis. I had a conversation with Kiran ahead of me. A lot depended on what he said to me.
Apart from Hung and me, only my bodyguards Maria Saar and Roj van Garderen remained at the house. Hairo, Sergei and Yoshi had all flowm away to Cali Bottom to give the noncitizens a mental block to revealing the clan’s secrets, and also to keep an eye on the base’s construction. On top of that, Maria said that Willy had ordered capsules for Malik and Ed through his channels, and if Yoshi had time to fly in and set them up, then the boys could be playing by tomorrow.
The Japanese man left me an encrypted device to contact Kiran. But before I called the Snowstorm director, Roj’s comm squawked. As he answered the call, he looked at me and his face got darker every second. What was going on, damn it? Just as I was about to ask the question, Roj brought up a holoprojection.
“Hairo wants to talk, Alex.”
Already prepared for bad news, I came closer so the security officer could see me. He was about to say that the base wasn’t going to work out, or something worse. As long as my friends and parents were alright! Hairo got straight to the point.
“We have trouble, Alex. Two of Gyula’s work gang died in the night. Three more are badly sick. They need to go to the hospital, but…”
“The clan will pay all their expenses.”
I had to push the words out past a sandpaper tongue and a desert-dry throat. The puzzle finally came together. The noncitizens started to get sick when they turned undead, and I told them not to log into Dis. Gyula brought them in
