He lay there in the darkness, staring up at the ceiling of their little hovel. His wife slept fitfully beside him, sometimes crying out softly. He kept his arm about her, her head on his shoulder, and it was still not enough to give her heart any ease.

While he'd rather die than admit it to anyone but Helayne, Vesryn himself had doubts about the wisdom of the Goblins rebelling. True, their lives were terrible under the thumb of the Fae, but they'd only had to deal with their abuse and contempt. Now… they had to deal with their murderous hatred. And while he himself would rather die standing, with a sword in his hand and taking his enemies to Hell with him, he wasn't so sure of that decision when it came to the lives of his wife and son.

Growing up, he'd hardly ever seen his father. Konrad Danaaru was servant to the Grand Vizier of Ardalon, and as such was expected to be at his master's beck and call at all times. Truly, it was a wonder that he'd even gotten enough time away to sire a son on his wife.

Wives. It was dangerous to have a wife when dealing with the Fae. For the last few centuries or so, the Fae would deliberately target married Othánas women for their depredations, knowing that it injured them most profoundly in their souls. It was used as a way to break their spirits and keep them docile, or so the Othánas believed at the time. That the women fought with tooth and claw rather than submit to them didn't matter. The solution, for a time, was for the Othánas to keep their marriages secret. Couples would no longer celebrate their unions publicly, instead choosing to exchange their wishes in private. Thus, no one was the wiser.

The Fae then changed their tactics. Any Othánas woman was fair game, her reaction to their abuse became an indication in itself as to whether she was bonded or not. This went on for some time, until the men made the collective decision that they would tear the throats out of any Fae that violated their wives, knowing it would result in their own deaths. They had only been prevented from doing so by their wives themselves… but the time soon came when even their pleas could not keep the men from getting retribution. This had predictable results, what with the men enacting a suicidal revenge while their women went to every length possible to hide what was happening to them, to keep their husbands alive.

The only benefit (if it could be called that) was that after a rash of incidents of Fae getting their throats torn out, they quietly decided that the better part of valor was to confine their degradations to unmarried Othánas women and leave the married ones alone. Thus, they did what they could to keep the men and women separate from each other, only allowing them to come together now and then in order to keep producing more Othánas servants. Vesryn himself was only allowed contact with Helayne because the Fae wanted another Arena warrior of his line.

Konrad had discovered the reason that the Fae were almost suicidally fixated on mating with Othánas women. Knowing he would have been killed immediately if they suspected he knew, Konrad kept the secret for a time, waiting until the knowledge was at its most useful. The Fae were worried… their women weren't breeding, and it was rare indeed to hear of a pregnant Fae female. This wasn't from lack of trying, they were quite licentious on the best of days, and in trying to procreate, their entire society spiraled into a quest to impregnate their women. They tried everything, special diets, pharmaceuticals, even magic… and still, children weren't coming. Some said that it was because Danu was displeased with them for their ways. Most of the Fae refused to believe it and took no steps to discover just what may have angered their Goddess enough to stop sending them children.

Unsurprisingly, the Fae came to the conclusion that there was something wrong with their women. There was probably some truth to that, as the extended lifespans from moving Below meant that the Fae's natural cycles were extended. If a Fae woman was only fertile once per year normally, and the magic of the Underground then stretched that period to ten years, it was almost a miracle that she would be mated at the exact right time to conceive.

Their first solution was to try and use human females as breeding stock. They brought many of them Below, but they quickly discovered that while the humans did conceive children there, they were not Fae. Changelings, they were called… and they were but a shadow of both species. The Fae then tried breeding with them Above, thinking that the magic of the Underground was the cause, but it had the same results. They quickly abandoned breeding with humans and looked to the Othánas.

This was a bigger disaster than trying to breed with humans. The Fae noticed that only bonded Othánas women conceived, thus the reason they had concentrated their efforts on the married women. They didn't realize that Othánas women could only be impregnated by their life-bonded mates, and in any case, the suicidal retribution exacted by their husbands led them to abandon that project as well.

With Elves, they fared no better. As it was impossible to tell the age of an Elf on sight, the Fae didn't realize that those female Elves who served them were actually too old to bear children. Young Elven women, those still within their fertile years, were kept far away from the Fae. Any attempt to capture them failed dismally, as the Elves would simply vanish into their forests and thus out of their reach.

Dwarves they dismissed out of hand and were safe within their underground fortresses in any case. Those that did come to Ardalon were all males, anyway.

The truth was becoming brutally clear. The Fae were going extinct.

At first, when Konrad realized what was happening, he'd felt a savage joy. All they had to do was bide their time, and soon the Fae would be too weak to offer any resistance. He started to lay plans for a general revolution, waiting for the exact right moment when the Othánas would turn on their masters, slay them and perhaps take their empire for themselves.

The folly of this thinking was made clear to him when he'd overheard his master, the Vizier, discussing the issue with several of the Fae advisors. They had already considered the fact that the Othánas were likely to revolt if they knew just how weak the Fae position was and had come up with a diabolical plan.

If the Fae were dying out, so too would the Othánas.

This they would bring about by gelding every male Othánas they could lay their hands on. And just for good measure, they would remove all Othánas females to Ardalon proper, keeping them away from the males completely. The Ughlánas would be systematically exterminated, a bounty paid on every dead body the hunters could bring back.

Konrad wasted no time getting the word out to the Othánas about what was to happen. As one, the decision was made to rebel now… escape into the hinterlands and wait out the Fae. In a supremely coordinated operation, every Othánas servant slayed their masters and ran, taking whatever they could carry. The Ughlánas were called to escape right along with them, and the two groups met, melded, and ran for their lives.

Then, disaster struck. Konrad was cornered by a unit of Fae guards. He killed three, but the fourth was able to run him through. Likewise, his wife, Vesryn's mother Liyarin, was running from the palace with Helayne and Jareth when they too were cornered by guards. Liyarin threw herself at them, slashing, biting, flinging levin bolts, really anything that would keep their attention on her in order that Helayne could take the baby and escape.

Thus it was that Vesryn found himself faced with a task he had never anticipated: leading the escape, when he had no plan. He had no information at all, not even where they were located or where their haven might be. Their exodus became a frantic race to go anywhere, get anywhere… far away from the Fae. But everywhere they turned… they were surrounded.

It was the Ughlánas that showed them where they could go and find a small measure of safety. Leading them to the network of caves and forests that they themselves had hidden in, the Ughlánas taught the Othánas about wilderness survival, while the Othánas were able to provide a level of protection and creature comforts that were unknown to their little brethren. Together, they managed to eke out an existence and hide from the Fae.

And his people… for a reason that Vesryn would never understand, not if he lived to ten thousand years, decided that he should be named their King, in recognition of his leadership.

Leadership. Vesryn almost snorted out loud. He knew nothing of leadership. He was a pit fighter, an Arena champion. All the plans, all the strategies… that was his father Konrad. All that Vesryn could do was teach the Goblins how to fight, which he did to the best of his ability. And for this… they called him King of the Goblins.

And now… there was the matter of his son. When he was born, there was nothing to indicate that he was anything other than an ordinary Othánas infant. This soon changed when he started some simple magic lessons that most children learned at his age. His level of power was easily that of an adult, and apparently it was growing stronger every day. Vesryn had never heard of a grown Othánas being able to do half of what Jareth could do without draining himself dry, and Jareth was still a child. He could only imagine how powerful he would be when he reached adulthood.

If he reached adulthood.

Vesryn had never entertained any illusions about his leadership skills. The fact that it had been fifty years since their exodus, and they were still free was more due to Danu and the Ughlánas' help than his own wisdom. It was all he could do not to show the people his utter failure to come up with any sort of plan for them, his complete despair at the futility of their existence as it stood. The only person who had any inkling of just how frantic he felt was his wife, and even then… he did his best to hide his terror at the thought of what the future held. He was never meant to lead these people…

But he did lead them. They looked to him, no matter how misguided Vesryn thought they were. And the only thing that kept him from giving in to his despair was the little boy sleeping on the cot at the foot of their bed. Jareth. Their future.

He was quite serious when he'd posited to Helayne that Jareth was a gift from Danu. There was no other explanation. Konrad was supposed to lead them, but he was killed. Vesryn was no leader, no king… but maybe… Jareth was. Maybe it was never Vesryn's destiny to lead the Goblins to a safe existence… maybe that would fall to Jareth. And that was why he was manifesting powers greater than the entire Goblin population together, all in the body of a child.

With that thought in mind, Vesryn resolved to teach Jareth everything he could… swordwork, magic, and survival. Helayne would educate their son in his letters, history, philosophy, sciences… she had been governess to the few Fae children at Ardalon, she was well able to instill all the knowledge Jareth would need in his capacity as the future Goblin King. She already oversaw the education of the Othánas as a whole, in addition to allocating their collective resources and mediating disputes. He might be the titular King of the Goblins, but everyone acknowledged his Queen as the one who truly led them… and thanks be to Danu that they had her. Vesryn would teach him to fight, but Helayne would teach him how to be a leader to their people.

He could only pray that it would be enough.

Author's Notes:

I have to admit, I feel bad for Vesryn, really. Every parent deals with a sense of inadequacy, but in his case… he feels it as both a father and a King. He knows that he was never meant for leadership on this scale, and that he doesn't have the skills that Kingship requires. He'd have made an excellent Lord Martial, certainly, but… he grew up relatively uneducated, having been taken to the Arena at a young age. What knowledge he has (beyond combat tactics) is all from his wife. She took on the bulk of leadership of the people, while he kept himself mostly to military matters. Their partnership works, at least as far as keeping the general population alive, but he knows that he's just not up to formulating any long-reaching goals. While Helayne has the mental fortitude for planning, just basic survival for the Goblins (and raising Jareth) occupies every waking moment she has.

At this point, he thinks that the only thing he can do is prepare Jareth as best he can for leadership, and even then… he feels like he's inadequate for the job. What he doesn't realize is that while he may not be the King that the Goblins need, he IS very much the father that Jareth needs, and it is his and Helayne's parenting that makes Jareth into the King that he eventually becomes.

The Fae society is very heavily based on the decadent Late Roman Empire period in Earth's history (as well as being inspired by the Valyrians of George R.R. Martin's Ice and Fire series, which themselves were inspired by the Romans). The Romans were notorious for how they treated the 'barbarians' in their society, and I figured the Fae would do the same. The Romans ended up bribing the barbarians to fight for them, only to have them turn against them in the end. The Fae as a whole didn't make any attempt to reconcile or ally with the Goblins, but what if they had? It might have made all the difference.

Now, a point could be made… yes, Konrad overheard a genocidal plan outlined by the Vizier and his cronies, but how many of the Fae would actually have cooperated with such a plan? While their society is decadent and brutal… like all peoples, there are good and bad individuals to be found. It is certain that at least some Fae objected to the general treatment of the Goblins, and perhaps treated the ones they knew with kindness. Who knows what would have happened if Konrad had simply made the plan public knowledge…

While I understand that Konrad wouldn't have wanted to trust to the good nature of the Fae around him, and thought the Othánas had no choice… a lot of the hatred the Fae have for the Goblins now is due to them killing their masters on the way out. It was done to create chaos and deal a blow to the ability of the Fae to pursue them (and it worked, to a point) but it also had the effect of motivating them to wipe out the Goblins entirely. So, while the Goblins had every reason to hate and mistrust the Fae… that works both ways. Honestly, I'm with Konrad on this one, I personally don't see that he (or the Goblins) had a choice but to do as they did, however I'm rather a ruthless sort and that's just my opinion.

And… although I will delve deeper into this event in its own side story… the Goblins did NOT kill any Fae women or children on their way out (although the Fae lied about this and said that they had). No matter how brutal the Fae were, killing an innocent child was anathema to the Goblins and they would never consider doing so. The Goblins' somewhat chivalrous attitude about women in general meant that they would avoid deliberately targeting them for death as well.

Anyway, this is the main reason why the Fae are bent on exterminating the Goblins and why even centuries later, there is still fear and hatred for them.