"He did what?" Berzker thundered as he stomped around their cave home, how own fists shaking so violently he had barely enough will to stop himself.
Fyzsal, at the centre of his distress, was shaking and simpering like an infant goblin kitten, her wide eyes had turned a reddish yellow with all the tear that were pouring from her eyes.
Above, the world of the Sun People was just beginning but underground it was late in the day and Berzker, though struck with exhaustion was suddenly burning alive in his grey satchel tunic.
"That- that absolute loathsome monster-" Berzker could hardly believe what he was saying, even now what he considered on doing to the Goblin Prince would be the highest act of goblin treason that the kingdom had ever seen. What he thought about doing to that cruel, idiotic, sun scum goblin prince would get him executed.
But watching his daughter tremble and cry at his feat was all too much for the old council leader. He had had enough.
"I'm going to kill him- I'm going to murder him and make him pay for what he's done-" Berzker looked at the fresh lump of bruised skin rising up on Fyzsal's face.
It looked as if the prince must have struck her right in the jaw. Had he no sense? Had he no compassion? To do such a heinous thing and to his own bride to be- not to mention Fyzsal's condition which made her especially fragile and vulnerable. Froglip had to be mad- he was sick- absolutely sick and the council member had enough.
The Prince had gone too far this time.
Berzker would have his head on a spike by the Sun People's sun down if it were the last thing he'd ever do- even if it would cost him his own head.
All the while Berzker was stomping and thundering about the house like a mad goblin, fyzsal was reeling with delight behind her false tears.
Everything was working perfectly- but Fyzsal had no intention of letting her father hurt Froglip- not even if he seemed to really want to.
She was going to save that pleasure for a more excruciating and humiliating end to the Goblin Prince.
Froglip dead would be a blessing to the simple dolt- no- he ha dot suffer and the only way he would was to strip him of everything, every little last thing and then watch him squirm and the very base of goblin society.
He would be absolutely ruined.
Thanks to Nuna and the information she had provided just at the right time, Fyzsal had everything she needed to make that dream a reality.
Or in the Prince's case, that nightmare into a reality.
But she had to play it quickly or the chance would lose itself.
"He- he said I couldn't tell anyone-" Fyzsal stammered, causing Berzker to stop in his tracks before flinching.
"Tell anyone-" He shook with even more rage, he couldn't even touch her face without fear of accidentally doing more damage than what already had been done, "how could he think this would go unnoticed- you didn't have to tell anyone- his cruelty is clearly marked all over your face."
Berzker hissed but regretted it when he saw a twinge of shame on his daughter's face.
Something that was real for Fyzsal.
She shook off his comment quickly though, "no not that Father-" Fyzsal whispered in almost a terrified voice.
Berzker leaned in, his eyes growing wide as he placed a hand on his daughter's lap, "you can tell me anything Fyzsal, I will see him hanged before he hurts another hair on your head-" Berker growled, softly stroking a magenta lock that fell to the side of her face.
Fyzsal had her mother's rare colour of hair.
That thought only seemed to rile him up further and would have bolted right from the goblin house and off to hunt down the Prince Froglip if it were not for what Fyzsal said next.
"He said he'd hurt me again if I told anyone his secret."
Berzker blinked in surprise and wrapped one arm around her shoulder's to show that he wouldn't let anyone harm her again.
"I was talking with him- about our marriage- I was so happy father-" she blinked back another rush of tears which caused Berzker to cringe like a beaten animal, "but he got mad after I said we should invite his brother- you know- that half goblin. W-well after that he- he got mad, daddy," Fyzsal burst into tears clinging to her father's tunic.
It was enough to make him break.
"He said that the Queen told him his father was Korumn-" Berzker's eyes widened at this information, unwilling to press her to go on, but not needing to as Fyzsal began sobbing out word after word, "he said Harelip was closer to the throne but that nothing would stop him now. He said he'd kill me if I'd ever tell anyone- I-I was so frightened."
Berzker released his daughter and shook his head- unable to believe al that had been said. Of course there had been rumours- but for any of this to be true he would need proof but at the moment Berzker wasn't willing to put Fyzsal in danger to prove that.
He would never let her go near the sadistic monster again, damn the consequences.
Fyzsal veered back a little, she didn't like that look in her father's eyes, he would never put her on the stand, but at the same time he might react badly towards the prince and then expose her whole plot to the Prince while trying to defend her.
Even the Prince, the witless worm that he was, would surely figure out what she had been planning and it would be the last chance she ever had to make him pay for his misdeeds.
Devine intervention would provide Fyzsal with a unique opportunity, for just as Berzker looked ready to explode there was a sharp jolt of stone and both father and daughter looked to the entrance way of their home as the head of the goblin council, Zexzees, came bursting into the room, a look of pure terror clearly exposed on his face.
"Ber- Berzker, me must talk-"
Berzker stared at his friend in shock for a long tim while the older goblin huffed in effort to catch his breath.
"Zexzees, this is not a very good time," he pressed his thumb and forefinger on either side of his temple while pulling back on his ears in slight stress but Zexzees was far too bothered himself to see his friends distress at that moment and shook his head before taking a large gasp of air into his lungs.
"But I must," he took a side glance at Fyzsal, and a pain reached his eyes too and somehow Fyzsal knew what he would say next would either have negative consequences for her or possibly her father. "Froglip has claimed Tekzeth Law-"
Berzker's eyes widened, his jaw dropped even lower than when Fyzsal had told him what the goblin prince had done to her face, "You can't- you can't be honest Zexzees."
The goblin just shook his head and looked lastly at Fyzsal. Though she understood much of Goblin law for one as young as she, Fyzsal was very much unfamiliar with this certain Goblin Law though it was familiar to his ears.
"What does that mean, father?" Fyzsal pleaded genuinely as Berzker tried his best to avoid his daughters eyes. He felt responsible now, for all of this, for the prince's torturing his beloved daughter and now the horrible impact Froglip enacting Tekzeth Law would have on Fyzsal's entire life.
"It is a underhanded means of breaking a marriage contract, only used for when the King cannot possibly wed their chosen mate, because they are believed to be 'tainted' with bad blood, as you can imagine this stops allowing bad blood into any possible heir's the king might have." Zexzees whispered softly for her father seemed to tight lipped at that moment to say anything at all, his face dark and his hands clenched with rage.
"He is the one who is impure if any goblin in this entire city is!" Roared Berzker, his rage climbing even higher than Fyzsal could have imagined possible. "This is the most horrendous slight, that he should be nothing but a bastard son and call my daughter bad blood!"
Zexzees looked up in surprise at his comrade but was not allowed an explanation at that moment for Berzker was still deep within his rage.
"I would see him reduced to the very bottom of the kingdom for this injustice, I would see him banished and thrown to the sun-people and torn apart by their hands-" He bellowed and threw his fist out where it hit solid rock and managed to crack it considerably well before bringing back his hand and wringing it painfully.
Fyzsal hated seeing her father so distraught but at that moment she and he wished for the same thing, Froglip's total devastation, but that would only happen if she played this game right, especially now that she had the advantage.
"Froglip is not smart enough to enact something such as this, Mefeero must have advised him on it," Berzker growled to himself, the fire in his eyes burning twice as bright now, "and I know exactly why he has done this."
He looked at Fyzsal, specifically the bruise, doubtlessly drawing his own conclusions on the matter, though it was only Fyzsal who truly understood the entire situation now.
She had almost forgotten this, for a few nights ago when Froglip had been endeavouring to coax her into his royal chambers, he had revealed that he knew they were promised to one another.
She'd thought of trying to manipulate Froglip's own lust against him and push him into conceding some information to her but that was before Nuna had spilled every secret the night before.
The mechanics in Fyzsal's mind worked and she realized Mefeero mating Froglip to Fyzsal would only strengthen Froglip's tie to the throne,and they needed that because of the already numerous questions behind his birth. Froglip was probably so humiliated by his true parentage that he must have suspected their marriage being a set up.
He'd want to get rid of it, pretend it was some fault in her blood and then marry a different goblin girl of high standing.
Now that she knew he was just a bastard and he had given her a reason to confront him in his own home she would bring them all and force a confession from Froglip.
She smirked to herself and had to hide it away quickly before her father saw. Froglip had provided the kindling for his own bonfire, now all she had to do was strike the match.
Berzker turned to look upon his daughter, to see what this confession had wrought in her but to his dismay she had tears in her eyes, falling quickly down her chin and off.
"F-Fyzsal-" he asked in surprise and hurt.
"It-it can't b-be," she whimpered, and her father shrunk as his chest bled for his youngest dear daughter. The poor girl, who in his eyes had already been hurt so much by the prince.
"I love him father-" she cried out and and shook her head. Before either Berzker or Zexzees could stop her, Fyzsal was fleeing through the opening in the cave that Zexzees had come through, her eyes narrowed and a sharp, eerily excited smile was on her face.
It was all in motion now.
Through the great halls and down the tunnels all the way to the Goblin royal quarters where she knew doubtlessly Froglip would be, and if she had planned it right, the Royal Family would be there at that moment as he had told her the previous evening and there would be several witnesses to Froglip's confession.
She even knew exactly what she was going to say to get it out of him.
Fyzsal approached the separate royal chambers where she could hear voices on the other side, waiting for Froglip's.
Upon hearing it she did not even wait to knock as it would be custom, in any other situation she wouldn't be able to even speak with royalty without severe punishments.
If she was to be taken seriously she had to play the part of a broken hearted goblin girl, no matter how much joy this brought to her in secret.
"What's the meaning of this," Mefeero, the goblin queen, was the first to react, her brow pulled down into a snarl before Fyzsal even entered the room.
Intimidated by the queen for a very short moment, Fyzsal hesitated but forced herself to burst into tears.
Taken aback by it, Mefeero faltered in yelling at the young girl, Gazlowe looked as if he wanted to console her and Harelip quickly hid himself in the shadows as a reflex.
Froglip who was just standing there in the centre of the room was in perfect shock, his hands raised up perhaps in worry or prepared for an attack.
"Fyzsal- what- what are you doing here?" he gasped out and tried to walk towards her, but she threw his hand away.
"You- you've shamed me- hi-higness," she threw in a sob for good measure.
"What are you talking about," Froglip growled, looking over his shoulder at his parents, perhaps recognizing for the first time since she burst in there that he was surrounded by people.
"Why did you evoke that Law Froglip, why," Fyzsal was so caught up in her own act she had trouble breathing.
Suddenly realization came to the Prince's face and he sneered, a smile stretching across his lips, "it's nothing personal but I had to make the point that no one tells me who I may or may not marry."
Froglip the directed his sneer to the King and Queen.
"Froglip, what have you done?" Gazlowe whispered out while Mefeero seemed to be having trouble saying anything at all.
But Fyzsal knew exactly what she wanted to say to the prince.
"You are no better than a commoner, a dirty peasant."
Froglip's back arched, and his fingernails looked as if they wanted to rip into her but didn't.
"Froglip-" Gazlowe cautioned softly, but his meagre warning was ignored by the Prince who took a long stride toward the goblin girl, still shivering uncontrollably.
"You aren't a Prince you're nothing but dirt under a fingernail- you are no better than a sun sucking commoner," Fyzsal continued to shriek harshly at Froglip, but this time she finished and stared him right down in the eye.
She held his gaze just long enough so that he could see it in her eyes, so he could see his own shame reflected in her eyes.
And it worked-
He backed away and his chest seemed to crumple up as if a fight was breaking forth from his chest, Froglip was wrestling with something that was crippling him.
"You're right, hm!" Froglip snarled and he lunged forward, though Fyzsal prepared her body for it and braced herself against the door.
He didn't have a hand on her throat but held her arms tight on the door and pushed his face into hers.
"Froglip!" King Gazlowe gasped in shock but it didn't stop the Prince for even a second.
"Well she's right," Froglip laughed ferociously, even startling Fyzsal who was still pretending to be heartbroken. "I am a bastard, right? I'm not your th'on!" Froglip pointed at Gazlowe, a terrible pain in his words as his lisp resurfaced. "Am I even your'th?"
Mefeero looked at him in shock when the crown prince pointed at her, "why- why would you say that?" Mefeero might have been all bite and no bark but she loved her son and right now he was breaking her heart.
Widening her eyes for effect, Fyzsal shook her head and stared straight at his yellow eyes as they came to rest on her, "What-"
"Oh, you didn't know," Froglip spat viciously, spit hitting her cheek which made Fyzsal flinch back. "Well no harm in th'aying it now," again his lisp broke free since he couldn't calm himself down. "I'm a bath'tard th'on, a mere commoner, no- I'm wor'the." His face twisted up in disgust and rage, his play yellow eyes now orange from how bloodshot they had become.
"I'th it not true, mother," he growled over his shoulder, his dark pupils glaring at all of them from the corner of his eye.
No one spoke up against it, not even Mefeero, that's when Fyzsal heard voices whispering on the other side of the door.
The next few moments were a blur, Fyzsal's father, who opened the door, was at her side and did the unthinkable.
His hands were on the crown prince in seconds and Zexzees followed close behind though was visibly more nervous.
Froglip let go of Fyzsal though he had not been holding her very tightly at the time and was pulled off as Berzker bared his teeth at the younger goblin.
Mefeero was the first to react as per usual, "Councillor's what is the meaning of this treason!"
Mefeero looked as if she was about lunge at him next and break his hand if she needed to make him let go of her son. However, fully disgusted with the Royal Family Berzker bared his long yellow teeth at the Queen and stopped her in her tracks.
"This-" he held up Froglip, his voice barely coming out in grunts and growls, "is the only treasonous act here."
Gazlowe, torn by defending his son and acknowledging what had happened, stepped forward to Berzker who was still gripping the prince in his claws though Froglip was now fighting his grasp, fear in his young eyes.
"Berzker, please, let him go," Gazlowe bowed respectfully, and though the councillor was far from calm he let his lips fall over his teeth and released Froglip who scrambled away. He grimaced when he touched the spot Berzker had grasped.
"Let us handle this civilly," Gazlowe rumbled in a low steady voice, after all, he was still King.
But Berzker, along with Zerxzees standing close behind him, glared down at the royal family.
In the shadow behind them, a smile flickered onto Fyzsal's lips, her eyes narrowing and then widening in anticipation.
Berzker then turned to the Crown Prince, but his eyes were cold and and burning all at the same time. Froglip stared across at him in shock, a snarl of fear curling up onto his lip
"Under Goblin Law, Froglip, disgraced Crown Prince of the goblins, the Goblin council charges you with treason against the goblin people for planning to take the royal throne."
Froglip's eyes widened as he cowered slightly, soldiers, ones who had taken orders from him, looked at him in contempt and took his arms and wrapped irons on his wrists.
Thanks to a follow I completely remembered this story and posted this next chapter, this should be the last of the 'less exciting' bits and we can finally dive into the story. This chapter is titled Mercy from the song by Hurts, lyrics:
Leave me in chains
Strip me of shame
Caress me with pain
'Cause I'm down on my knees and I'm begging you please as you say
Don't cry, mercy
There's too much pain to come
Don't cry, mercy