Curse of the Goblin King

By: OtakuSailorV

Chapter Ten

The village was bustling with activity as they approached. It was nearly sundown and all of the shopkeepers were busily trying to gather together their wares and close up shop for the night. Their wives were walking hurriedly in and out of the houses, preparing dinner and calling in their rambunctious children. One large woman took a hefty swipe at a scrawny dog that yapped at her angrily before dashing off with a pitiful whine.

There was a wan light spilling out on the dirt road from the local tavern, roars from the drunken slobs inside could be heard discernibly from their standpoint at the edge of the village. Erutis made a face; it was a tad early to be drunk already, wasn't it?

Children played in the dust, their scruffy mutts wagging their tails and snarling at their owners' games. They were covered in dust and dirt, their pants legs were ripped in places where they had landed awkwardly or simply worn them through.

Everyone looked up at the travelers coming down the path that led to the forest. It was very rare to see anyone walking from that direction and so a hush fell over them, almost as if they expected the Goblin King himself to be striding right out toward them with one of his horrible minions.

They were puzzled, though, when instead they caught sight of Chris and Erutis. Neither were smiling or waving cheerfully, but the small crowd in the streets flocked toward them in puzzlement.

"Chris? Is that you? Dear boy, you look like you've seen a ghost!" One man said, coming close enough to slap a friendly arm around Chris' shoulders.

"Oh, Erutis, dear me you look frightfully dirty."

The praise and comments continued on, but soon the questions started to pour in. Had she really been in that ghastly old castle? Had they defeated the Goblin King? Oh my, did he hurt you, my dear? Did he take advantage of you? You are lucky to have your lives, come have some warm soup! Was the Goblin King as frightful as the stories that were told about him? Had they been able to save anyone else?

On and on until Erutis thought she might burst from the idiocy of the people around her. She was grateful for their hospitality, but she was so confused that their incessant chatter was beginning to annoy her. She answered every single question with a smile though, making sure to appear fine in every way. She could tell that Chris was doing the same.

When the villagers finally sent them both off to their homes, both of them were thoroughly relieved. It was well past dark now but they could still see the way with the help of the moonlight.

Chris lived in the temple with the other clerics, so he continued on down the road to the large structure like Erutis turned off a different way to her small one-room shack that she called home.

"See you tomorrow, Chris," Erutis said flatly, wondering what else she could possibly say. It felt so strange walking these streets again.

Chris nodded, still worried for Erutis but deciding whether to say anything or not. He was feeling strange himself, after being in that forest and in that castle, coming back to reality like this was like…He wondered if it had all been just a dream.

Continuing on toward the temple, he fiddled with his clerical staff thoughtfully. If only…If only he had been able to kill the Goblin King! Then- then he would be the greatest of them all! His name would be known far and wide as Chris the Conqueror and all would flock to him in droves just to hear him talk. He clenched his fist angrily, if only…

Erutis managed to pull herself to the door of her home and carefully unlatched it. Pushing the door wide, she watched as moonlight spilled into the dirty room and revealed its dust-laden contents.

There was a bed; its sheets were tossed about from when she had gotten up late that day which seemed so far away now. The pillow was rumpled and there was still a visible depression where her hand had shoved into it.

Where the headrest of the bed should have been, there was instead a make-shift bookshelf laden with books that had not been touched in years or were falling apart at the seams. A rusty oil lamp sat on top of the bookshelf, the yellow oil inside swished about when Erutis placed her hand on the splintered wood.

Other pieces of furniture were spread across the room, but it still felt so empty to her. So small and cramped…

Erutis wrinkled her nose at her thoughts and stomped into her home, shutting the door firmly behind her. That nice castle had spoiled her! There was nothing else that could possibly explain her melancholy thoughts except that living in such a nice castle for so long had made her uppity. "I am just fine this way, I don't need a stupid castle or a floppy-haired Goblin King to make me happy," she grumbled to herself between her teeth as she dressed for bed.

It would be a long day tomorrow; she must find some manner of employment, maybe even pick up an apprentice or two.

Krayon watched the sun go down from the window in the locked room he had not left for hours now. The last light lit up his face in an eerie fashion, anyone entering the room and seeing him sitting there might have thought he were truly a ghost. His shiny eyes traveled slowly from the edge of the forest to the hourglass concealed beneath the gray-white sheet in the corner. He watched it languidly with disenchanted eyes.

His lips parted as he stood up in one smooth motion and slowly walked over to the hourglass. His hand touched the fabric of the white sheet, but he did not grasp it and pull it away. Instead, he shook his head and turned aside, walking back to the window to stare back out into infinity again.

This was pathetic. To think that a powerful Demon Lord like himself should be put under such a horrible curse by some lovesick human woman and a low-class demon! It was an insult to him and his entire lineage! And yet there was nothing he could do about it. He had searched and studied when he had first been enchanted, but it was to no avail. He still sat here; the last grains of the sand pushing through slowly, each one marking one less minute he had to live like this.

"Live as a monster for a thousand years, know the pain of my heart once," he mused to himself under his breath.

Erutis tossed restlessly in her sleep, or rather, her half-sleep. She was not quite asleep, nor was she quite awake for there were no real cognitive thoughts going through her mind as she blearily tossed about. She had kicked her blanket off earlier in the night, finding that she was too hot to keep it on. Now she was struggling to get it back on, for she was too cold. As soon as she had it back on though, she found that after a moment or two, she was hot again and kicked the sheet back off roughly only to become chill once more.

Not only was the temperature bothering her, but there also was no way for her to get comfortable on the bed. It was perfectly soft, not like the one from the castle, but good enough. Every time she rolled over, she found that the position made her hip hurt, or left her arm in a funny position that might result in injury if she were to fall asleep like that. Flustered, she tossed and turned, kicked and pulled, but there was nothing she could do to get to sleep.

She was wracked by a half-dream as she tossed about. One that made her see apparitions in the room, or bring forth memories suddenly that made her fidget even more. There were even images flashing by that she did not recognize as being from her memory. She recognized the castle, but it was filthy, no longer the beautiful place she had known, but a wreck of glass and pottery shards strewn across the broken marble smeared with filth. What was this? A glimpse of the future?

A pale face shown before her, wracked with pain like she was, but far worse. His hair lay limply around him in a pool of curly gold that served as a pillow. His eyes moved beneath his eyelids that were mostly shut, meaning that he could still see somewhat, but not really. His eyes widened when their eyes met and then she was awake, sitting bolt upright in bed with cold sweat drenching her.

She swallowed, though her mouth was dry, and wondered what those weird dreams had been all about. She knew it was the Goblin King in her dream, it could be no other! But then, how had he come to be that way? And the castle! It looked as if it had been abandoned for years! But she had only been gone a day, so that made no sense! He looked just as he had when she had left him, and he had been fit and strapping then! So how was it that he had come to be that way? That sickly looking man lying there as if he were at deaths door!

A chill ran over her spine, she couldn't be certain, but she knew that there was no way it could be any mere dream. It was not a vision of the future either, she was sure, though she wasn't sure how, that he was dying. Had that been why he had wept when she had left with Chris?

She shook her head stubbornly; she had little experience with women's intuition and did not wish to meddle with it now. Who cared if he was dying! Not her! No, not at all!

Her mind was racing as she shoved her feet over the side of the bed and unlatched her door. She was stumbling, feeling very feeble since she had not slept well. Her eyes caught the shine of the moon and the stars; morning was still several hours off.

She hated him; she despised him to her very core. Strapping on her sword, she went to the stables and stroked one of the brown horses thoughtfully. Yawning, she looked at the fog-covered forest and furrowed her brow.

Coaxing the horse out of the stable, she got him to be quite by giving him a sugar cube to munch on while she mounted him and nudged him toward the path leading into the forest.

The horse was skittish, backing away from the path set before it and giving a small neigh or displeasure. Erutis gave it a hard nudge and it went on ahead, stopping at the wall of fog before them. Erutis clenched her teeth, which were chattering in the morning cold. Was she sure about this, was she going to go back despite her hate for the floppy haired man that had kept her in his castle for so long? What if it really just was a dream and she was being a fool? Chris and the villagers would never understand, even if she explained it to them.

Lowering her head to stare at the dirt road, she gave the horse a harsh nudge, sending him into a rapid gallop before she could change her mind. Leaning low over his shoulder, she clenched her fists tightly in his billowing mane to keep herself steady.

'I am a fool,' she told herself harshly.

The horse's hooves kicked up dirt and sent it flying as it disappeared into the mists. Only the breaking of bracken and the thud of the horse's heavy hooves could be heard echoing behind her.

The next chapter shall be the last. It is already written and I'm just adding a few touches here and there, it shall hopefully be added before I go to Ikasucon on Saturday.

Does Erutis seem OOC? I wanted to keep her as IC as possible during this part, and its kind of hard considering her nature…Hehe, Gomen nasai minna-san, I stress over characterization far too much.

Thanks to those of you who have followed this fic so far! I would especially like to thank Kei-san for writing so many inspiring EK fanfics and for having my stories in her EK c2 community; and Skittlez-chan for also being a great inspiration and for helping me whenever I was having writer's block. Heehee, thanks once again, I truly appreciate everyone reading and reviewing this fiction.

See you in the last chapter!

Review Please?