Monster Girl Sanctuary

I timed each footstep to land in the wake of one of the generals' much heavier plodding boots, hoping that I would continue to go undetected. My gambit worked, and I followed them back to the room, warning Aldon, Autumn, and Ivy through the link Aldon's spell had created between us that we were coming.

The halls felt narrower somehow. Several times, the Goblin Queen looked back at me--so did Darkmaw, her nose crinkling each time. Yet I could tell she couldn't see me like her queen could.

The Goblin Queen--Marrowheart--was something else. She was so far beyond a standard monster girl that I was left wondering at her as I followed in lockstep behind my quarry.

Even then, in that most intense of moments, as we stepped up the stairs one by one, I couldn't help but admire the asses of both Darkmaw and Marrowheart as they wavered and jiggled during the climb.

Oddly, Darkmaw was wearing armor of some kind--leathers, and they were simple, reminding me of Bonny's skimpy attire, but it covered far more of her chest and legs, while still leaving patches of skin exposed. It felt odd to see her wearing so much. I didn't like it.

Marrowheart, of course, was wearing the exact same attire as she had been when she spoke with me an hour or so before. The transparent white gown clung to her body in the most sensuous way--in a way that sang of sexuality, but none of the generals seemed particularly appreciative of the view.

They had to eunuchs, or born sterile. In fact, all goblins and orcs likely were. Based on what I knew of this world, that seemed fairly likely, and I thought I'd heard somewhere or another that the Goblin Queen reproduced with the help of breeders and heroes that had joined her ranks. I didn't see any breeders around here, though. So who was the sexy get-up for? Just ceremonial attire? Or--was she expecting me?

The thought excited me, that she had perhaps donned such an incredibly lusty outfit just to impress me. Well, mission fucking accomplished. I grinned in spite of myself as I followed them into the room where my allies waited, broadcasting this information to them so they would be ready to do whatever they had to do.

And then it hit me--this was poised to be the final battle against the corrupted elements of the Goblin Queen's forces. How tough were these guys, anyway? Had I bitten off way more than I could conceivably chew?

The door creaked open as General Keenfury pushed it inward.

"Yes, general, it happened in here," the queen said.

"How many of them were there?"

"Only one," she lied. It was a very convincingly executed lie. "It was the Apex Hero known as Bucky."

They stepped into the room, but my allies made no move, presumably still hanging in the rafters overhead. I looked up--I couldn't see them. They were not looking down upon us. They were obscuring themselves, probably laying flat along the boards so as not to be easy to spot. Darkmaw's nose crinkled again, and she looked up--but only for a second. She looked back down quickly, probably careful not to direct the attention of the other generals to the ambushing party. Smart move--and one I was grateful for.

One of the other ogres turned to Darkmaw and bellowed at her. "You've had dealings with this Apex Hero. What can you tell us about him? Is he one to fear?"

"He is reckless, but formidable," she said. "He easily slayed my wolves again and again, but was never able to get the better of me. If it's just him--we can take him."

I smirked at that. Every word she said was true--especially the 'reckless' part. Maybe that's why the lie sounded so convincing.

"If he was unable to best you, why didn't you kill him already? You became aware of him months ago, correct?"

"We had a run-in shortly after the Apex Heroes arrived in Lusteria, yes," she said, her tone neutral.

"I don't understand--you went to his town, killed one girl, and then ran away after facing down the Apex Hero, not even showing half of your strength. This is what I've heard. Is it true?"

"It is," Darkmaw said. "I stick to the Goblin Queen's directive--sow only so much discord as to keep the people indoors. My goal is not wanton destruction."

A few of the generals grunted uncomfortably about that. Keenfury himself seemed to tense up as he looked at Darkmaw cautiously, a skeptical look on his face. Was she loyal to his forthcoming coup attempt and still speaking in character not to tip off the Goblin Queen--or was this all true? I imagined that was what must have been going through his head at that moment.

"Very good, Darkmaw, my daughter," the queen said, patting the wolf woman on the head. "I raised you well."

"Of course, my queen," she cooed.

"Your queen?" Marrowheart scoffed. "Since when do you call me this when we are face to face?"

"Sorry... mother," Darkmaw said.

Ahhh. There it was. Darkmaw and Marroheart were playing the game, and I could tell from the looks on the ugly generals' faces that they were slightly assuaged by that insincere show of hesitancy from Darkmaw.

Idiots.

"Well, no use standing around like a bunch of snot-goblins," said one of the generals, an ogre with a brown leather eyepatch over his left eye.

"Right," said another. "Without the guards here, I feel a bit vulnerable standing around in a room with one exit. Might just be paranoia, but I can't help but feel a bit like a sitting duck."

"What brings on such suspicion?" Darkmaw asked. "Do you doubt the account of your queen?"

His eyes narrowed at her and then looked over at the other generals. "Of course not," he said at last.

"You insult me with this pause," the Goblin Queen said, her voice firm and commanding. Something about her tone put me at attention.

"Apologies my queen."

"This apology is insufficient. Did you just express doubt as to the safety of this room and, thereby, the veracity of my account of my attack at the hands of the Apex Hero?"

"No, my queen--I'm sorry, I--"

She pushed further. "If you are truly contrite, then you can prove it by leaping from this turret to your death. I will have a more loyal troll or ogre promoted." Damn.  She was urging conflict. Marrowheart was trying to start shit, create chaos that would put us at an advantage. The room was tight, though, and with so many of us in there, we'd practically be fighting shoulder to shoulder. I was as ready as I'd ever be, but still. It could be a bloodbath.

"My queen, I apologize," he said anxiously. The other generals all made uneasy eye contact.

"Let this be enough for today," Keenfury said.

"If you are so sympathetic to the treasonous tongue of General Furykiln, then I urge you to join him as he leaps to his death."

"My queen--"

I wasn't sure if the fall would really kill them, but I was sure it was beside the point. She was pushing--if they were indeed going to turn on her, she needed it to be right here, right now, in close quarters with her allies lying in wait. She was smart--even cleverer than I'd given her credit for.

"My queen, surely you jest--these are words of madness."

Darkmaw said nothing.

"I have never known one of you to fail to follow my orders," the queen remarked.

"You have never commanded suicide before, my queen," another general remarked. "Please, try to be--"

"Enough," Keenfury said, reaching for the hooked sword on his hip.

"General Keenfury, do you wish to brandish your weapon at your queen?" I could practically hear the brazen threatening grin on her face.

The air in the room got so tense that you could feel the aura of troll and ogre sweat teeming through the air, wafting over all of us as we all knew what was coming. With Keenfury reaching for his blade, we had crossed the threshold of no return. Battle was about to break out.

"As a matter of fact, Marrowheart," he said, dropping her formal title, "That is exactly what I have planned."

With some hesitation, the other generals all reached for their weapons--and Darkmaw shifted into wolf form, her leathers swelling and snapping as her body grew and twisted into the new shape.

"So it's a coup, then," the queen said, feigning surprise. "What a shock!"

The generals looked suddenly tense.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait for some kind of cue or what, but I'd snuck just behind one of the generals--the one with the eyepatch--and I just decided to fucking kill the dude.

"Let's get this party started," I said, swinging my lance and lopping off the ogre's head in a single blow. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh fuck, I'm so glad that was easy."

Even the Goblin Queen looked genuinely shocked to see me making the first move as my invisibility charm dropped. I enjoyed the stupid, ugly faces of the evil generals as they stared at me in utter surprise. Two seconds from total chaos.

And then it happened. Aldon fired percussive blasts of magical projectiles down into the fray, lighting up several of the ogres and trolls with flames that burned and scorched their skin and armor. Ivy fired a flurry of arrows from where she perched, now clearly visible and kneeling, looking down at us from above. She looked super hot.

And with a noise like an angry cat--because that's what she was--Autumn ditched her bow completely and leaped from the rafters and landed on the neck of another disoriented general, tightening her thighs around his throat as she screamed and slashed at his scalp and face.

"I have no idea what I'm doing!" she cried.

Keenfury lunged at me--Darkmaw intercepted. She caught his hooked blade in the mouth and discarded it like a big sister chucking out her little brother's toy. He looked at her in utter confusion.

"Traitor!" he said after a pause.

"Literally you!" I shouted back. I leaped on top of Darkmaw's back, wielding my lance as she gnashed her teeth at Keenfury. Together, we stabbed him and pierced his flesh again and again--but there was a reason this dude had his own keep. He was tough, and even after enduring several attacks, his stony skin had only just begun to show signs of significant damage.

And then the Queen entered the fight. Two generals lunged at her as she took a step toward the action. She caught their blades in her hands, snapped them in two, and grabbed both of them by their throats. She grinned wickedly as she watched the life drain from their eyes as they kicked and squirmed in her grasp.

Marrowheart held them over the ground, and I almost lost track of my own fight when I realized what was happening there. I was shaken back into reality when Keenfury did a backroll--far too gracefully for his size, I thought--and managed to grab his sword, dodging several more projectiles from Aldon all the while. Ivy did manage to peg him twice in his shoulders though.

"This is dishonorable!" the general shouted. "This is an ambush, an assassination! Duel me, hero!"

"Hard pass!" I shouted. I wasn't about to fall for that classic villain bullshit. "I'll have the luxury to bemoan my lack of honor minutes after I piss on your bloodied corpse."

"Nice smack talk!" Aldon shouted down from where he stooped overhead, still blasting spells like a boss.

There was a crack behind me, and then another, and I realized the queen had finished her work with the the two men she had taken on--but then there was a gasp. Her gasp.

I turned to look in the direction of the sound. In that moment, I was struck so hard in my armor with Keenfury's magic hooked blade that I was thrown backward, knocked off of Darkmaw. She howled in anger and continued her assault on Keenfury, not allowing herself to be distracted like I was--trusting me, I realized, to save the queen.

There was only one other general left. He was a gruesome-looking troll, and the only one that was significantly larger than the queen herself. So much had apparently happened in the few seconds since I heard the gasp, because the Goblin Queen was bleeding from the side, a glowing dagger lodged in her abdomen, and she sneered with hate at the one who put it there. They were preparing to face off.

"Aldon! Ivy! Autumn!" I shouted their names. "Save the queen!"

Grunts of understanding rang out. Autumn was already on her way back to help the queen. I watched with pride as she ripped into the troll's back, causing it to reach backward for her and snort in pain. A flurry of spells and arrows flew in its direction, too--some hitting, some missing. The troll was definitely going to lose.

But Keenfury... That was another story. Keenfury had made several clean swipes into Darkmaw's lupine hide. He was just so big and so fast--a potent combination. He growled at her with just as much a guttural sound as she could return. They were clearly equals, and if I was to be assured of Darkmaw's victory--all the other generals were either dead or about to die--I would be needed to tip the scales.

I Great Jumped into the fray, plunging my lance into--the wall. I missed. My opponent leaped out of the way with ease and roared with bestial fury as he shattered my magic armor with a powerful riposte of his magic sword.

I hit the wall face-first from the force of his blow, feeling something in my back snap painfully and at least one rib crack upon impact. My head hit it, too, and I was left dizzy and disoriented.

But it was the window Darkmaw needed to get her attack in, trapping Keenfury's arm in her jaws at the bicep. She bit down harder, and the monstrous general cried out in agony and rage as blood spilled into Darkmaw's dark maw. He charged up a full-powered attack with his free hand again--the same attack he'd just used on me and my now-broken armor, and I knew I couldn't bear to see the result of such a strike landing on Darkmaw, unarmored as she was. I lurched toward them, the world moving in slow motion as I activated a combination of skills automatically, without thinking. In an instant, I was there in front of him, in between him and Darkmaw's face. He grinned--I saw it for the briefest of moments. He grinned as he struck me with his sword right across the chest.

I can't clearly tell you how much blood sprayed from the wound instantly, but it was a lot. It was enough to paint the torso of the general red. It was enough to make a crater in my chest--enough to kill a normal person instantly, no doubt.

But I clung to life for that moment, at least, even as death had never been so imminent. In close quarters, I grabbed him by the chin with one hand and the shoulder with the other. With a combination of adrenaline and May Belle's Titan Strength move, I clutched his face and started pulling upward. My fingers dug into his neck beneath his chin, puncturing his flesh, getting a powerful grip. I pulled, ripped his head clean off of his body, Mortal Kombat-style, and chucked it onto the ground with a thud. Then I fell onto my knees and looked down--my own guts spilling out of my body, by own heart beating in my chest beneath broken ribs and rutted flesh.

At that moment, there was silence. Maybe. At least, the world was silent to me as I felt Darkmaw, instantly in her human form again, guide me to the ground gently.

She mouthed words at me, her face pained and weeping. Maybe she spoke the words aloud, but I could hear nothing but a nagging ring. I couldn't even feel the pain that I should have been feeling. But I knew things were bad. That's what kept running through my head again and again. This is bad. This is bad. This is bad.

But it wasn't bad. I tried to let my last thoughts be positive. No, this wasn't bad. The Goblin Queen was safe. She could keep these lands secure. Aldon was still alive, and he would protect Tater Town in my stead. I had done my part. This victory was possible because of me. Because of my sacrifice. My girls would live on and Tater Town would thrive without me. My children would grow up fatherless, but at least they would grow up.

As Ivy, Autumn, Marrowheart, and Darkmaw all knelt, weeping, at my side, I took one final solace in the undeniable fact that I was loved. And that would have to be enough.