Chapter 3

"I suppose the cat's out of the bag."

"Don't you mean from underneath the table cloth?"

Feronia scowled at Turnius over her shoulder in response. They were in her private chambers; the Goblin Queen with her back to the King while gently petted the young prince who had fallen asleep holding the blue demon cat from the coronation ceremony. The King was sitting in her chair sporting mock hurt on his features.

"It is true though, Feronia," he said through a smirk,

"Turnius!" she snapped, now fully turning around, "Can you fathom the severity of this situation?! He is not ready," she said stressing each word, "Your parents advised that it would be best to conceal his existence and identity until he was of age to be presented to the public. He's still a child! He's not prepared for life's hardships; the negativity, the sorrow, death, disease, the list is too long. Yet you can sit there smirking while another may be plotting his demise. You disgust me," she snapped her spine when she turned to retrieve Froglip who was now wide awake and on the verge of crying, "I'm leaving to take him somewhere where he will be safe."

"What? He's our son and the future of this kingdom; you can't just take him. And Feronia," he reached out to gently take her arm, "…my Queen, I love you. Please behave rationally and allow us to discuss this before you leave so hastily."

The moment he touched her arm she ripped it from his grasp as if it was scolding hot. "Behave rationally? Behave rationally! Don't you dare tell me to behave rationally," through barred teeth while poking him in the chest with a dully clawed index finger. "He is my baby boy. If I desire to take him with me, then he'll go with me." As she began moving the boulder that served as a door, Froglip at her hip and the cat at her feet, she looked over her shoulder once again, "Don't follow me."

"Feronia! Wait!" he called out desperately as she sealed the passage.

Sprinting up the tunnels at full speed to the exit where she found Froglip, Feronia was unaware of the pair of shinning green eyes that were chasing her. At the exit, the light of the moon drenched her and the goblin child she now held to her chest. The future prince shivered in her arms when the howls of wolves could be heard in the distance.

The goblin queen looked down with her back to the entrance of the kingdom while saying, "No, my Prince, I am not leaving you to the wolves to be devoured unlike the previous monster of a mother you had before. "

"Monster of a mother?" a voice cackled cruelly. A dark figure with bright green eyes seemed to slink around the surrounding boulders until it reached an open space. White light hit glinting fangs before attention could be drawn to the remainder of the goblin's appearance. The goblin woman before the pair of royalty was a sickly yellow- green with untamed fuchsia hair similar to Froglip's and, despite being grotesquely lanky, held a significant amount of muscle under her thin skin. "My, my, my, the Prince to be," hips swaying back and forth as she moved towards the pair and in front of the entrance, "Funny, I seem to remember leaving that thing," she pointed a clawed hand at the child, "to the wolves. It doesn't deserve to be alive, and it definitely doesn't deserve to be King. After all, it is my property, so I suppose it's my child, and therefore my Prince. Now, shouldn't that make me Queen?" she asked while walking forward, causing Feronia to gradually move back.

"Of course not. You're not part of the royal family."

"Ah, but neither is that thing," she spoke as she stopped and crossed her arms, cocked a hip, and laid a clawed hand underneath her chin. "A mere subject can obtain a position of power without possessing any royal blood," tapping claws at her chin she said, "Following that, then that means that potentially anyone could claim the throne. Hmm, suppose one were to, oh I don't know, remove the Queen. No murder involved, it could just be an accident involving the Queen attempting to kill off her own son, but in the process she is also torn to pieces by a pack of ravenous wolves. Then, while the whole kingdom is in mourning, a new Queen will be needed, and I will be there." She began counting the steps off on her claws, "Gain the King's favor, become Queen, and produce a greater child than that thing, or…I could always just steal one," she smirked.

"I didn't steal him; I saved him when you left him here to die," Feronia hissed through barred teeth.

"He wasn't yours to save."

Froglip's birthmother chose that moment to lunge forward, swiping at the air dangerously close to Feronia's throat. The goblin queen struggled to avoid the razor sharp claws while holding a kicking and screaming Forglip. Quickly, losing some of her magenta hair in the process, Feronia rushed behind a large boulder, and set the child down next to the goblin cat who rubbed up against the prince in an act of comfort. She turned to face the goblin woman who had taken on a fighting stance, and returned her with one of her own. The other goblin had the advantage in the fight; she was quicker and had sharper features compared to Feronia's duller fingers and teeth and her size causing her to have a slower reaction time.

Feronia charged forward, all the while weary of the other's claws. She managed to push the other against the side of the mountain, earning a satisfying crack while witnessing a trail of blood following the other as she shrank to the ground. The goblin woman glared up at the queen and used the wall to launch forward, both hands directed at the other's chest. Missing, Feronia grabbed the other's arm and unintentionally threw her near where Froglip was situated.

Meanwhile, the demon cat comprehended that the situation was going to turn gruesome and that his companion was in danger. He jumped on top of the boulder shielding the prince, and pounced in front of the smirking goblin woman as she raised her own claws to strike it down. The queen gasped as the two collided; the feline landed on its feet, blood trickling down its face, and a scar forming over its left eye, while the goblin woman howled in pain clawing at her right eye that had been sliced open.

The commotion on the mountain caused the wolves to draw nearer, their outlines and reflective eyes were now visible through the forestry. They closed in on its base, some beginning to climb to where the fight was occurring.

Looking over the edge of the cliff, Feronia viewed some of the wolves scrapping at the side of the mountain, while others began to climb. She turned towards Froglip's birthmother, and pulled her up, intending to drag her towards the edge of cliff. The other scratched at the queen's hands, still screaming as she lost vision in her right eye. Feronia's grip on the other began to slip, allowing for the goblin woman to twist around with her back to the cliff.

While blood gushed through the fingers of the hand she held up to her damaged eye, she growled, "That child will bring you nothing, but misfortune. Once I am Queen, he will no longer exist and neither will you!" she screamed attempting to rush forward, but Feronia had already begun pushing her back.

The two goblin women struggled for several moments before the cat positioned himself behind the prince's birthmother and the queen was able to gain control and move the other towards the cliff's edge. Feronia did have one advantage over this goblin; the majority of goblins' weakness was the sensitivity of their feet, and her deformity allowed for this weakness to be omitted, but this would not be the same for the goblin woman before her. The moment the goblin woman's ankles touched the side of the demon cat, the queen slammed down on the other's toes with her stone shoes.

The shriek of Froglip's birthmother when she was wounded and began to fall caused Froglip to refrain from crying, several flocks of birds to scatter from the trees, and the wolves to cease their movement and look up. Her body gave a sickening crack as it hit the ground, and was immediately torn to shreds by the wolves.

Without a second glance, Feronia scooped up Froglip and the feline, and sprinted into the cave and down to her private chambers. She would do everything in her power to ensure that Prince Froglip would receive everything he would desire and need, and would protect him with her life from that moment on.