Chapter 4 The Witch

They asked peasants where the witch lived and what they heard didn’t encourage them to continue their journey.

‘I wouldn’t go there if I were you. She’s fearless. She defended herself against eighty men. Alone. They surrounded her home. We haven’t heard about them ever since.’

‘Eighty men?’, Edwin looked impressed, ‘Where should we go to meet her. We are only two and we come in peace.’

‘We don’t actually come in peace,’ Gwidon said, ‘We want to make her join us in this war...’

‘Go to the west, my lords!’ the peasant pointed at the route, ‘She lives by the lake. She’s terrifying! She’s the most dangerous witch that has ever walked on this earth.’

Gwidon and Edwin rushed their horses. After an hour, they arrived at a hut situated picturesquely by the lake. No one was inside it and no one was in the nearest proximity. 

‘She’s not here.’ Edwin searched the hut, ‘Maybe she went to some Witch Sabbath to meet other witches. What should we do? Should we look for others that are written on this list you keep in your pocket?’

‘Let’s wait.’ Gwidon decided, ‘We will waste more time running around and looking for her if she only left for a moment. You can make a fire. I will try to catch a rabbit or a little bore for the dinner. We shouldn’t make her angry by stealing her food. I’m not sure if eating it would do us good. It can be poisoned, or magical.’

Edwin nodded for he himself was in possession of many magically tinkered with foods and drinks (including the chicken he gave to Gwidon, which was supposed to make the man prone to love-making and weaker in will) and started collecting dry wood for the fire. 

It was getting late when Gwidon finally caught a rabbit and killed it for tonight’s dinner. He was on his return journey to the hut when he saw someone swimming in the lake. The moonlight lit the waters. Gwidon stopped and leaned against the tree to have a better view. A wonderful sight appeared before his eyes. It was a young woman. Her hair was long and brown, her lips full, her face beautiful. Her strong arms appeared from time above the water.

‘Good evening!’, he shouted across the lake, ‘I’m Gwidon, the king’s knight. What’s your name?’

The girl noticed him and stopped swimming.

‘Lilet. What brings you here?’

‘I’m looking for a witch. I’ve been told that she lives nearby, but her hut is empty and she is nowhere to be found. Maybe you know where I can find her?’

‘Why are you looking for a witch? Aren’t you afraid? She single-handedly fought eighty men. People say that she’s dangerous.’

‘That’s what I’ve been told. I’m not going to fight her. I want to ask her for help. I came here with a wizard. The kingdom is going to be in danger and we need her magic to protect it.’

‘I’ve heard that she disappears in the evening to come back at dawn. You have to wait.’

Lilet slowly came from the water. She was naked. The moonlight lit her big full breasts and white skin. Her hair reached her knees, her dark eyes were surrounded by the curtains of black eyelashes. 

Gwidon felt an instant flow of desire, which overwhelmed his body and made his voice tremble. He felt his member grow thicker and bigger in his trousers. He blushed and thanked the night for its darkness, which covered his cheeks. 

‘What is it, knight? Haven’t you seen a naked woman?’

‘I have. But not as beautiful as you.’

Lilet smiled, exposing her white teeth. 

‘You flatter me, my knight.’

Lilet approached Gwidon. She twisted her hair to get rid of the water. He looked at her, astonished, feeling every vein ready for the whirlwind caused by her touch and warmth of her body.

‘You yourself are the most beautiful knight I have ever seen, my knight.’

Gwidon received it as an encouragement. He approached her. But then stopped. He was known for being resistant to female charm. The army was his priority. The service was his only love. And he was promised the hand of Princess Karina. He was promised the kingdom.

‘What is it, knight? Are you afraid?’

Lilet’s naked body was centimeters away from him. He only had to reach his hand and touch it, pull her to himself and start kissing. Only a few centimeters away. He felt her heart pounding, her wet body heated the air between them. He was able to feel her breath.  

‘It’s getting dark. I’d better go home. The witch can come and see us...’

Lilet started walking away.

‘Wait,’ Gwidon grabbed her hand, ‘I’m not afraid of any witch. You’re the most beautiful girl I have ever met, Lilet.’

He pulled her to himself and started kissing. She undressed him and now two naked bodies were seen in the light of the moonlight and the reflecting light of lake waters. Both of them, young and beautiful, were starving for a touch of love. Both of them were defenseless in the empty forest. They made love for hours on the forest moss, Gwidon completely under the charm of his lady. He kissed her full breasts, licked her neck, slid between her legs. She pulled him to the ground, jumped on him and rode him like a horse, holding his arms over his head and pressing them to the tree trunk. They were like wild forest children who finally found out what their bodies were made for. Lilet was trembling with ecstasy. Gwidon exploded with his life energy, moaned with satisfaction, and instantly fell asleep.  

He woke up, alone, put on his clothes, and came back to Edwin, who had already fired the fire. Over the fire, he was roasting fish, which he caught in the lake. 

‘What took you so long? I had to look for food myself.’

‘Can’t you magically make food from nothing?’

‘I can but it will magically disappear as soon as it lands in your stomach.’

Gwidon gave Edwin the rabbit and sat by the fire. The knight was still under the charm of his recent encounter. The wizard and the knight ate and, tired after a long day, both fell asleep. 

They woke up tied by strong ropes. They realized that they were no longer in the forest but in the witch’s hut. Gwidon heard footsteps coming from the kitchen. He looked in the direction of the door and saw a woman coming into the room. 

‘You are a witch?!’

Lilet was wearing a green dress and her hair was plaited in a plait. 

‘You know each other?’, Edwin looked at both of them.

‘Briefly,’ Lilet answered, ‘I’m sorry for the ropes but I should never trust men traveling alone. Especially, a knight and a wizard. 

‘And it was you who fought eighty men single-handedly?’

Gwidon still couldn’t believe what he was looking at.

‘My grandmother taught me some tricks. A woman living alone in the forest has to protect herself. I used magic. I lured them here and turned them into rabbits and ferrets.’

Edwin spat. Last night’s rabbit could be a man changed into an animal and the wizard could in fact have eaten a man’s flesh. 

‘You charmed me!’, Gwidon felt deceived.

Lilet laughed.

‘Dear knight, I didn’t perform any magic on you. You made your own choices.’

Edwin didn’t quite know what the two of them were talking about.

‘Can you untie us, please? It’s not comfortable.’

‘I will untie you when you tell me why you came here and what exactly you want from me. And tell me the truth or else I will use a magic potion to hear this truth regardless.’

‘Witches! Wizards! You are all the same. My mother told me not to have any contact with you!’

Edwin and Lilet looked at Gwidon as if he was an angry and spoilt child. 

‘Too late, my knight. You are already in our company. What’s with this war?’

Gwidon told Lilet what he was told by the king. 

‘So it is true. My grandmother told me that they might come. They had built up their anger for centuries. They had prepared forces. Mother Earth kept them in her heat for too long. Now they will burst.’

‘So can we count on you?’, Gwidon was full of hope. Not only because they needed a witch but also because he wanted to keep Lilet by his side for whatever the reason. He felt, somehow, that losing her would cause him pain. 

‘Of course. But we won’t win alone. One knight, one wizard, one witch. This is the company for a small mission, not for the entire war.’

‘As a matter of fact, this is exactly the number of people we need to recapture Gustaw.’

Chapter 3 The Wizard

‘You have called for me, my King.’ knight Gwidon entered the king’s chamber and was struck by the cloud of revolting stench that came from the pile of bones and intestines, which was pushed from the center of the chamber to the side. Somebody should do something about this heap of rotten meat before it will cause a plague, thought he to himself, and covered his mouth with a handkerchief.

‘Yes Gwidon, we have no time to waste. Unfortunately, the war with the Turks is not the only war we will wage this year. I was informed by numerous... (the king thought for a moment about the right word) ...individuals that there are others who want to see us burnt in the fire of poisoned arrows or drowned. We will be attacked by Goblins.’

‘Goblins?! I have never believed that they existed. I thought that they are a figment of old women’s imagination, something to tell children before sleep to make them behave. Goblins, my King?’

‘Yes, all these stories are true, I’m afraid. I once saw a Goblin as a child and it never escaped my memory. Hideous as the worst reptiles! It seems that there are hundreds of them. Hundreds of thousands. Possibly even millions. They live in their underground cities and now they want to turn us into dust and take over the kingdom.’

‘But if we return, our armies from the borders we will be defenseless against the Turks!’

‘Indeed. I'm going to ask our neighbors to send some troops to help us. However, they are not going to do this for free and they need to be paid.’

‘But Goblins? I’m not sure that we will manage with the army of Goblins resorting only to the army of humans.’

‘That is why I asked you to come. You know that I trust you, Gwidon. Not because I like you, but because you are an exemplary knight. I’ve never seen anyone so devoted to the army. You don’t waste your time whoring around, drinking in public inns. You keep a discipline, physical regime. I wish the Church representatives were more like you, but very often they prove to be just mediocre men prone to temptations. I need you, my knight. Now more than before. As you mentioned, we cannot win the war with Goblins using only human warriors. We need something stronger. We need higher forces. We need magic. I made you a list.’

The king gave knight Gwidon a piece of paper. Gwidon looked at it, still covering his mouth with a piece of cloth, and glimpsed at words written in king’s handwriting. 

‘I need you to collect all these... (the king was again looking for the right words to describe now a different group)...individuals and persuade them to take part in this war on our side. And I need you to go alone.’

Gwidon read one name after another, not entirely sure if he was reading an actual list or another fairy tale told by one deluded grandmother. 

‘Are you sure that I will find them all? Without any map and directions?’

‘Edwin will guide you. He can find anything anywhere in the world. He is the first one on the list. I have written down his address.’

‘Who is this Edwin?’

‘He’s Erwin’s brother. He is a wizard, retired according to what I’ve heard. You need to encourage him to go back to his learned profession.’

Knight Gwidon again looked at the pile formed by Erwin, which gave this unbearable stench. Wizards! He didn’t trust any of them. 

‘And one more thing, Gwidon. I need you to go down to the Goblin’s city and find Gustaw.’

Gwidon looked at Gustaw’s portrait hanging over the king’s throne, pondered for a moment, and nodded. 

The king and Gwidon shared some sort of mutual understanding and they didn’t need words to communicate their thoughts. That also proved useful in the battlefield or when the king mentioned how brave and fearless Gustaw was and then he looked significantly at Gwidon and both of them knew that there wasn’t a bigger lie told at that time. 

The king blessed him before the knight set off, but Gwidon wasn’t sure what kind of blessing was bestowed on him as positions on the list were far from the teachings of the Church and the open policy of the kingdom. 

It was a beautiful morning the day after the top-secret conversation with the king took place when Gwidon (quite incognito, without his usual heavy armor) on his loyal and fearless horse Galop arrived at a lovely hut surrounded by orchards, vegetable plots, and herbs. In front of the hut, there was a rocking chair and on it, there was a slim, tall figure, dressed only in his underwear. His long hair was tied in a bun on top of his head, reminding Gwidon the legends of Japanese warriors. The man was visibly sunbathing. 

‘Have I arrived at the abode of Edwin, the Great Wizard?’

The man opened his eyes and looked at Gwidon.

‘Possibly I was once a great wizard but I’m through with this. I started my time of rest and relaxation. It’s called successful aging, my dear boy. You will understand when you reach my age.’

Gwidon had to admit that Edwin didn’t look anything like his brother Erwin, whom Gwidon saw from time to time in the castle’s corridors. Edwin had long white hair, as opposed to Erwin’s gray curls, he was taller, didn’t have a hunchback and he didn’t seem to be blind at all. His eyes looked completely normal and, as a matter of fact, had a pleasant blue shade. 

‘You come from the castle, boy, is that true? I can make you my trade welcoming herbal tea. It will give you strength. Sit in the hammock, it will take a minute.’ 

Gwidon descended from the horse and let himself sink in a linen hammock hung between two apple trees. Soon Edwin came with the tea and gave it to Gwidon. Gwidon smelled the extract and took a sip. 

‘Maybe you have something to eat? I skipped breakfast this morning.’

Edwin came back to the hut and brought some meat and bread, which he gave to Gwidon on the plate.

‘And some wine?’

‘I gave you the tea.’

‘Yes, but I have already finished it.’

‘How did it taste?’

‘Like shit.’ Gwidon answered honestly.

Edwin nodded with satisfaction and went back to his kitchen for the wine. 

When Gwidon consumed the meal, and Edwin put on his casual clothes (a white long robe tied at the waist) and let his hair down, all of which finally gave him back the appearance of a wizard, Gwidon returned to the subject of his visit. 

‘Can I be honest with you?’

‘Of course, my boy.’

‘Terrible things are about to happen to the kingdom. We will be raided by Goblins. King’s son was kidnapped by them during one of the battles with the Turks and is kept in their underground city. Human powers are nothing when faced with magical forces. We won’t win the battle with the evil we know nothing of. We need your help.’ 

‘I told you, son, I’m retired. I don’t work with magic powers anymore. You must have seen my brother. It doesn’t do you good, it wears you down. It sucks life energy from you. Now I focus on my fruit, vegetables, and herbal drinks. I eat well and exercise. I live a well-balanced and healthy lifestyle.’

Gwidon looked around.

‘And you live like this every day?’

‘Yes.’

‘It must be terribly boring. No battles. No one to talk to. Nothing happens. You drink this shit every day.’ Gwidon pointed at the tea cup, ‘You fart from the amount of healthy apples and pears you eat. You sunbathe. Every day. Every single day. Until the day you die?’

Edwin looked at Gwidon and suddenly the idea of his health routine didn’t sound so appealing, especially heard from this handsome and muscular young man. To make matters worse, Gwidon was telling the truth.

‘It seems that prophesy is coming true.’

‘What prophecy?’

‘Erwin’s prophesy. He saw what will happen. He told us that you will refuse to help and he will help us instead and he will be surrounded by eternal glory.’

‘Eternal glory?’, Edwin was suddenly struck by the impact of the news.

‘Yes, eternal glory. Imagine, war with Goblins. How often does it happen? Every thousand years? Once in a millennium? Our grandchildren will still tell stories about this war to their grandchildren, and their grandchildren to the next generations of grandchildren. It will be written in the chronicles. It will be painted in paintings. But yes, I understand you, Edwin the Great Wizard, at times I feel tired of this knight’s life. I wish I had such a hammock and could rock all day long and take care of my complexion. Have you got any moisturizing lotion? The helmet dries my pores.’

Edwin looked at Gwidon’s empty teacup. The knight raised himself and was ready to jump back on his horse and ride away. What Edwin didn’t know was the fact that Gwidon (while being an honest boy from his early childhood) lied about one thing. There wasn’t any prophesy mentioning Edwin. The wizard, however, strongly believed that all this time he was told nothing but the truth as he had given Gwidon herbal tea, which was in fact a magic potion used for making it impossible for the person who drinks it tell a lie. What Edwin also didn’t know was the fact that while he was in the kitchen, Gwidon threw the content of the cup behind the bushes. He had been taught by his mother never to drink anything which came from a witch or a wizard, especially if it was offered. The meal and the wine Gwidon was willing to risk as it was his own hungry initiative and the knight believed Edwin didn’t have time to poison it or change its content.

‘Wait, boy!’

Gwidon sensed Edwin’s change of mind. 

‘Every prophecy can be changed by the actions that you take. Fate can be changed if the choices are changed. I will help you, boy. I cannot allow all the glory to fall on my brother’s arms. He’s a coward. He doesn’t deserve it. He knows nothing of war, battles, and dark magic. But I need a horse!’

Gwidon was looking with satisfaction as Edwin took from his garden a white rabbit, held it by its ears, spelled some incomprehensible words, and in a second, turned the rabbit into a white stag. That was magic in the making! 

Gwidon took the list and crossed Edwin’s name from it, glad that it came about so easily.

‘Where are we going now?’

‘We need to find a witch.’

Edwin rolled his eyes.

‘I knew some witches in my life, and believe me, boy, you will never win with a woman.’

‘I’m not going to fight her. I must encourage her to join us.’

They set off, leaving Edwin’s hut behind with all the fruit trees, vegetables, and herbs, all these prospects of peace and relaxation, which had to wait for a later time, or the time of rest which, possibly, was never bound to happen. 

Chapter 2 The Wedding

‘Yes?’, Princess Karina heard a metallic knock and quickly put her dress inside the linen bag of the same gray color that had her woolen coat. 

‘I’m at your service, Princess.’ the knight came inside the chamber with a proud and anticipating smile.

‘You’re new here, right? What is your name?’

‘Zachary,’ the knight answered looking at the princess’s voluptuous figure and long blond hair lying softly on her full and firm breasts. If there was an epitome of a princess, Princess Karina was pretty close to it. 

‘Zachary, dear boy, I want you to stay here for the whole night.’

The knight smiled.

‘I’m going out.’

‘Out?’ knight Zachary was surprised, ‘And me? What am I supposed to do here?’

‘Are you a child? Should I tell you what to do? Don’t you have your own brain?’

Knight Zachary was astonished. He was expecting to take part in a passionate love-making with a famous royal nymphomaniac, he waited for the most sophisticated and untamed appetite of a wild royal daughter. Instead, he was being told off.

‘You can dust.’ Princess Karina buttoned her coat and hung the bag on her shoulder.

‘Dust?’

‘Yes, the room seems to be a bit messy. It’s an order. You have to stay here all night and dust the room. When I come back, it has to be spotlessly clean. I should be back by breakfast.’

Princess Karina opened the window and disappeared behind it as if that was a normal thing for each and every princess and she had been doing it regularly since childhood. In fact, she had been doing this for over two years and found knights a beneficial part of her mischievous plan. She knew perfectly well that none of the knights would dare to tell his comrades that he was dusting the princess’ chamber instead of enjoying the carnal pleasures of her company. She knew that, once the knight was inside, she wouldn’t be bothered by anybody, especially other loyal knights or the father king. She also knew that her new reputation would discourage other potential royal candidates for her hand. Three years ago, the father wanted to marry her off to this Slovakian prince. A meter fifty tall, no front teeth, balding, and that acne. Over her dead body! The fact that he was of a royal background and was supposed to be in charge of the whole kingdom didn’t change her view on the matter at all. 

Princess Karina fell in love a year after that unfortunate engagement suggestion but since then she was cautious about her father’s plans. When she heard that her father promised her to knight Gwidon, she took matters into her own hands. She couldn’t waste any more time.

‘David!’ she ran into her lover’s arms and gave him the bag, ‘Is everything ready?’

David was a miner’s son. He was delivering fruit to the castle’s kitchen when Karina noticed him, herself bored, throwing pebbles into the bucket of water, forced to watch the castle’s children playing in the courtyard. David was a tall, dark, beautiful boy with healthy teeth, nice hair, not even a drop of blue blood running in his veins, and no money of his own. As if that mattered! Karina for her pocket money bought a love potion from the witch and offered it casually to David, asking about the quality of fruit. She herself took a sip just after him. It tasted like unsweetened herbal tea. The two teenage lovers were instantly struck by the power of the mixture and they soon couldn’t live without each other. They saw each other every day in secret places: in the kitchen’s pantry, in the forest chapel, in the castle’s dungeon, in the princess’ chamber when the king and queen were visiting some foreign kingdom. Both besotted, in love, in madness over their young bodies. The mixture was supposed to work for a month, but once the effects wore off, Karina and David realized that it wasn’t just a magic-triggered romance, it all looked like true love, which in perspective left them both hopeless. A princess couldn’t be married to a simple, poor boy with even poorer family history. A princess should marry someone of significance. But still, David gave Princess Karina everything she needed, he was her friend, support, and provider or carnal pleasures no blue blood and no castle could guarantee. 

‘I’m not going to obey my father! He’s an old hypocrite! He wants to sell me to this snobbish career-obsessed walking sack of muscles, Gwidon. I would die with him out of boredom. War, army, knights, duels, bla bla bla... He treats women like brainless chicken! I’m not going to wait for another father’s stupid idea. Is it arranged?’

David nodded and Karina’s certainty gave him the courage. Keeping this whole relationship secret was one thing. But getting secretly married to a princess was another matter. On one hand, he had his family at stake, the king’s wrath, the kingdom’s condemning looks, on the other, Princess Karina. He couldn’t picture his life without her. He calculated; in his situation death in the mine at the age of thirty or forty was the most probable. He could probably digest the painful death at the hands of the executioner given to him for lawlessly seducing the princess. Even though it was she who seduced him. 

‘And if this love potion finally wears off and you realize that you have made a mistake?’

‘My mother made a mistake! And now she has an affair with the tax officer and eats onions and garlic before sleep just to make father leave her alone. I’m marrying for love. Love potion has nothing to do with it. Possibly, I had loved you before I even bought this thing. And you never know with these witches. I also bought a potion for whiter teeth as a birthday present for the father and what? They are still YELLOW!’

They arrived at the entrance to the mine. David lit the lantern, he changed his shirt for the clean one, Princess Karina put on her celebratory dress and let her hair down. She stuck flowers into her locks and followed David into the mine. David’s father arranged the underground chapel that was carved by the miners in the salt blocks. It was a beautiful spacious chamber with salt chandeliers, altar, and sculptures. There was no one in the chapel, and no one in the mine apart from the guard at the entrance door, who let them inside without problems. The priest was waiting for them. The ceremony was short but beautiful. Their only witnesses were the mine’s sculptures and underground lakes. The priest blessed them and left them to themselves, himself being unaware that one of the secret lovers, whom he blessed with the gift of a husband, was the daughter of the kingdom’s ruler. 

David took the hand of his wife and led her to another underground chamber where there were animal furs lying on the ground, substituting a bed. That was the last chamber built by the miners, small and unfinished, but big enough to grant them the privacy they needed. He undressed his wife and made love to her as passionately and desperately as he only could, being in love with her beauty, mind, and soul. 

Having fallen asleep due to physical effort and outbursts of emotions, David and Princess Karina were woken up by strange sounds, as if metal was hitting metal somewhere far in the distance. 

‘It comes from down below,’ Karina listened to the murmur.

‘It’s impossible, this is the last chamber. There is nothing below.’

‘Are you sure?’ Karina raised the lantern and looked at the walls of the chamber.

At one corner, there was a hole as if it was a small door leading to another cave. They both liked adventures, so without any discussion or hesitation, in their wedding celebratory gowns, they entered the hole and started their way down a steep and narrow staircase. 

If the human creation of underground mines was worth people’s attention and considered beautiful, what they saw on the day of their wedding took their breath away. After half an hour of descending, they discovered an underground city, carved in the rock, marble, gold, silver, stone, and salt. It was dark as if everyone was asleep, but small lanterns were hung here and there to make the path visible. There were carved houses, trees, castles, and chapels. Before their eyes opened carved roads, ceilings, chandeliers, walls covered in sculptures and engravings, each ornament different from another and unique. The floors and ceilings were crossed by spiral staircases, connecting the city’s levels, which were so vast they comprised whole lakes and so high they reached the highest towers of the highest castles.

‘So it is true!’ Princess Karina gasped at the sight of it all. She knew that human architects wouldn’t be able to build such a city. It was a marvel! It was a wonder! 

‘My great-grandmother told me about this in her stories! The underground cities of terrible creatures. Miles under our city! Carved for centuries by Goblins!’

‘Goblins?’

‘Yes, the mythical creatures. My great-grandmother told me that once they were small and greedy forest fairies. But they mixed with humans. They interbred. And they weren’t interested in ordinary humans. Little Goblins kidnapped people, they caught miners who got lost, women who strayed from their paths in the middle of the night, they dug prisoners from the dungeons. They created another race of men. But they still looked hideous, people at their sight became paranoid, they speared them, burned them like they did with the witches, dismembered them, impaled their heads and stuck them before houses to scare the enemy. For centuries, they stayed underground. And over the years, they perfected their craft and used magic to create something like this. I’ve never seen such a magnificent city. They are ugly and they make such beautiful things. And they hate people!’

David was still amazed at what he was seeing. 

‘No wonder. We took from them the sun, we imprisoned them underground, we limited their freedom... Hush, someone is coming! Let’s hide!’

They quickly hid behind one of the carved trees. Its leaves rustled and when David looked up, he saw that they were thin leaves made of gold. They saw two Goblin men walking along the underground path. Both wore elegant clothes, but their ears, noses, and heads were monstrous. The color of their skin was greenish, their feet had only one or two toes and their teeth reminded Princess Karina of donkey’s or horse’s teeth instead of human’s. 

‘When we finally take over the kingdom, everything will change. I want to take a human wife for myself. I want to have as many children as possible and buy as much land as possible.’

‘You are a romantic! I hope that we will simply kill all of them and take the land that rightly belongs to us! We can rape but marrying human women? This is too much of a sacrifice!’

They both laughed with a burst of nasty terrible laughter. 

‘Since we are in possession of the king’s son it will all come true. He will sooner or later give us all the details about the king’s army and its weak points. We will attack when our blacksmiths finish hammering weapons. They have been working all night. The miners started suspecting something. I think it was the sound of iron that brought them here.’

‘I have heard about the accident. We killed over a dozen. We have to keep it a secret. Officials are afraid that someone might have revealed our position and intentions.’

‘Even if, would it change anything? The raid is a matter of weeks. Now that they are fighting with the Turks, their armies are spread all over the border. It’s a perfect moment for us to take what should be ours for centuries!’

‘Rightly so! I tell you, I will take the king’s daughter and rape her to have my royal babies spread all over the world!’

‘Dreamer! Princess Karina will be raped only by our prince. Vandarok told us in his speech that he intends to marry her and reign in the caste. There are hierarchies even you cannot fight with!’

Princess Karina looked at her husband with anger. Another hideous prince with a perverted sexual appetite. And this time a Goblin!

‘We have to inform the king!’, she whispered, her husband nodded. They waited for the two Goblins to disappear and began to retreat. 

In the morning, the princess ran back to the castle and stormed into the king’s chamber.

‘Karina, I have been looking for you everywhere! Can you tell me what has a knight been doing in your chamber all night? I asked him the same thing and guess what was the answer? Apparently, he was dusting!’

Princess Karina looked innocent.

‘I suppose he was. You know, father, that I don’t like chores.’

‘And why are you wearing your best dress and look as if you had been up all night?’

‘Let’s stop this discussion, father, it doesn’t lead anywhere. I have to tell you something! Mines! The great-grandmother was telling the truth! Under mines, there are cities inhabited by Goblins! These Goblins are planning a raid! They want to take over the kingdom! They have Gustaw!’

The king looked at the pile of bones and intestines that was still lying in the center of his chamber. The pile began to stink, but there was no one who would clean it, obeying the king’s orders. Out of superstitions, his servants remained deaf when he even mentioned it. And they considered themselves Christian. But if Karina was right. The prophecy was coming true, now it was the time to take action.