Dawn of Dusk
Chapter 22: Drathmire Castle

Kronilack sat on his throne and waited for the next envoy from the Goblin king, Maruusaal he had enjoyed the last group that he had killed just before attacking the Dwarves territory. When the envoy arrived, Kronilack was surprised to replace that they were gnomes, like him.

One by one the Gnomes told Kronilack how they were abducted in the forest near the Mountains of Deceit. From there they were taken to the court of Maruusaal where they were given the best of foods, the finest clothes and the best of everything. They didn’t have to live in a cave like most of the Gnomes; they could actually have a tunnel made for them near the castle of the Goblin King.

“The goblin king,” they said, “was very sorry for the suffering that Kronilack had suffered at the hands of his subjects. It was the fault of the Men and the Dwarves, the envoy said, because they had not cooperated by letting themselves be killed and eaten, Kronilack, had paid the price because the Goblins were hungry and angry.

“It was very regrettable,” they said, “that such a wonderful leader as Maruusaal could not do business with someone as wonderful and powerful, as their own leader Kronilack. For the first time Kronilack listened. He listened to the words that Maruusaal had put into their heads.

As they spoke a Gnome named Maerimagh knelt before Kronilack and said, master we have been sent back here to serve you. We know the goblins are good and just. The Men and the Dwarves are the ones to blame, come let me fix you a potion that will help some of the anger at the Goblins subside. Some wine for our great leader.”

Wine was brought, the potion added and the course of Human history changed. Not many people were there to notice and of them none knew the significance of what had just happened.

Maerimagh had been the Gnome that had adapted best to the Goblin lifestyle. He almost didn’t want to go back until he was told that he could give a potion to his leader that would make him want to live more like the Goblin way of life. It was a potion, but it wasn’t to make him want the goblin life, it would bend his will to do whatever Maerimagh told him to do. Maerimagh had taken a similar potion, one that would make him do whatever Maruusaal wanted him to do.

The potion was addictive and did have some calming properties. Maerimagh had been instructed to use the potion twelve times in the first six days he was with Kronilack. He found it extremely easy to do, since Kronilack, in the deteriorated condition that his brain was in, found peace in the potion. He had taken enough to ensure the addiction by the fourth day.

When Kronilack was willing to do whatever Maerimagh suggested, Maerimagh was instructed to recommend a trip to the court of the Goblin King. Within a week of Maerimagh’s reappearance in the land of the Gnomes, Kronilack sent an envoy that he was coming under the flag of truce to meet with the King of the Goblins.

In the Palace of the Goblin King, Drathmire

Maruusaal sat contentedly on his throne. His plans were finally coming together. If things continued to work as planned, all of Arborlea, Vermath and the lands west of the Mangoso Divide would be under his control within five to ten years. The Elves would be slaves to produce trained wood, and the Dwarves as gem diggers and armor manufacturers for the army. The men would provide food; the Elves and Dwarves as well, but all Goblins prefer Men for dinner.

The representative of Borrial, from Karrondor, smiled as they covered the sequence of events one last time. All the pieces were in place, Fulsimter was in a vacuum with the king just having died, and Borrial was ready to inherit the throne in Karrondor. Borrial wanted no hang-ups, when he moved to step into Fulsimter he wanted a promise that the trouble on the Eastern side would begin to keep the “Defender of the East” out of the west.

“Don’t worry,” Maruusaal explained, “the plans for Vermath, Cryarlac and Arborlea, are things even Borrial would be sick about if he knew.”

“Good that sloppy bunch of farmers has been called an army long enough.”

“I am told that you have yet to beat them against Vistyral, even with both the western and the central army when you outnumber them almost three to one.”

“That’s not true, he cheated; the cliff face we were camped against was supposed to be un-climbable.”

“But it wasn’t was it?” Maruusaal laughed at Borrial’s representative and thought that maybe, once Borrial got rid of his brother, that the Goblins might end up with more than the agreed upon amount. Now that he had the Gnomes in his pocket, and the Trolls did what he wanted, his army would be unbeatable. At least as long as they had this goof to lead their army, they couldn’t stop him.

He made a mental note to let the Men think that the alliance between the Gnomes, Trolls and Goblins was not gtoo strong. It might be to his advantage for the Men to think that he didn’t really have the control he claimed to have. Men always thought him an ugly, stupid, monster. Why it is even said, that the name Goblin came from myths of monsters that would eat little Men children in the dark.

Maruusaal smiled as he led the representative of his temporary ally into the dining chamber. Funny, if you told them the meat they were eating was goat or some other odd animal, they complemented you on how wonderful it tasted. If they knew that he made a special point of serving them Men’s flesh, he wondered if they truly would believe him. It was his secret, and he would enjoy it, maybe someday he would even tell them.

As they ate Maruusaal thought back at how he had come to control the Gnomes, which was his best ploy ever. Every envoy he had sent to Kronilack had been tortured and killed. He finally sent out word that Gnomes were to be sought out and brought to him. Maybe Kronilack wouldn’t be so eager to kill his own kind.

He had personally met with each of the Gnomes on numerous occasions. One Gnome was far more intelligent than the others, Mearimagh. He had fostered a relationship with the Gnome until the Gnome would do anything for him. He then addicted the Gnome to Farantine, a sap from a plant that grew in Drathmire that left Goblin and Gnome minds extremely open to suggestion during the first half hour after being taken. Large doses taken within a short time frame made the mind of the one taking it, permanently receptive to the administrator of the drug. The only real side effect was that the drug caused physical addiction as well but it did not cause physical deterioration as long as it was taken at least once per day. Mearimagh had been instructed to have Kronilack drink the drug in the evening before bed. Mearimagh was now effectively running the Gnomes of Drathmire.

In two days Kronilack would arrive with Mearimagh to sign a treaty allowing the Goblin Empire to arrange foreign policy for and in behalf of the Gnomes. Then Maruusaal would have Kronilack to use as a tool to harass the Dwarves and the Men.

He watched as the representative from Borrial ate some spiced thigh of a former prisoner. He smiled and began eating his own food.