Anarchic Rulers

What have I done? In my selfless pursuit of repaying the Narzakii family, I vowed to make them ascend and become Crawgoblins. However! I, criminal scum that I am, pushed Wergnar too far. He could not handle his Kragnin, and so he had…died.

No, I’m just kidding. The lad collapsed after awakening his Kragnin. It was only natural, according to what my uncle had taught me. Once you fulfill the condition for ascension to the next stage, your body will fall unconscious as it grows and evolves into a higher state of being. This is what was happening to young Wergnar. I prepared a few animal skins for him to lie down on and reassured the rest of the gang that everything was going to be fine, and that their relative would wake up tomorrow stronger and taller than all of them. Ragnulf Sr. seemed especially worried about his son, constantly shooting glances at him. While he was harsh on him, it was only natural for a father to worry about his child.

While Wergnar slept, I continued teaching the brothers and their father how to use their Kragnin. As I expected, my explanation did not come through to them, though the sisters, who were listening along while cooking, seemed to catch on slightly. The men continued to strive hard regardless, which is why I had picked Wergnar as an example to the rest in the first place. His family looked down on him for his youth and lack of merit. If they saw that Wergnar could ascend in just half an hour, then all of them could. When he wakes up, I’m going to need his help explaining Kragnin to the rest of his kin.

***

Score! Through Wergnar’s and my own contributions, everyone ascended and became a Crawgoblin—even Ragnulf Senior! The old man jumped up and down with renewed vigor. He grabbed a spear, dashed outside, and returned half an hour later with a dread lynx on his spear. I looked on in pure disbelief. The fact that his vigor had returned did not surprise me, ascendancy extends your lifespan and renews a man’s virility, which is also why my uncle was so powerful and capable despite his age. No, I was surprised at the Senior’s hunting skills. In the middle of a storm, he managed to find, hunt down, and bring back an entire dread lynx.

“KUE-hehe,” he chortled proudly upon noticing my awestruck stare, “I have killed my fair share of these fiends ever since they arrived here back in my days as a young’un. They think they’re the only ones who see in the dark, but they forget that our kind can do the same. Dumb fleabags.”

If he could accomplish such a feat with a predator, then imagine how many herbivores he could catch. Game makes up only 10% of Casbriga’s food supply, but I’m sure that Ragnulf Sr. could singlehandedly double that number with his newfound capabilities.

What also surprised me was the fact that the two sisters, who were listening to Wergnar’s explanation while cooking dinner, had ascended before anyone else. When they collapsed, their other two brothers carried them up to their room, and I made sure no food was burning up. They returned an hour later two menacing Crawgoblinas, motivating their menfolk to try harder.

Ragnulf, Lobnar, and their father followed suit, once again surprising me. Wergnar and I have been busy explaining and guiding everyone all afternoon. The result? Six Hobgoblins ascended. Wasn’t this process supposed to be harder? If it was this easy, why wasn’t everyone a Crawgoblin? Surely those other Crawgoblins could explain the process of using your Kragnin just as well or even better than I could?

Either way, we awaited the storm’s conclusion in leisure, with little else to do besides sleep.

***

“Oho. It is indeed a marvelous day, is it not?” I said in posh accent.

“Most certainly, Your Majesty. It is with great delight that I inform Your Majesty of the tempest’s cessation,” Wergnar replied, donning a towel over his bent right arm, like a waiter.

“Splendid. Then we shall make haste towards our capital. Onwards, my subjects!” I raised my spoon in the air as Wergnar and I left the lodge.

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” he gave me an elaborate bow. “With your legendary spoon in hand, none shall stand in thine way! Make way for the one and only spoon-armed Goblin King!”

I turned in surprise to the tool in my hand. “Oh.”

…

The rain had ceased and the sky had cleared up. The storm lasted four days, and in that time, the new Crawgoblins attuned themselves to their newfound power. Ragnulf Sr. and his children remained at the lodge to hunt down some extra game to bring back home with, while Wergnar and I went ahead to show the community that the Narzakii family and chief Albar were both fine.

We walked through the woods unscathed, nearing the forest’s edge. We saw something lying in the dirt by one of the last trees demarcating the forest. It was a fresh corpse of dread lynx. It had a deep cut in its hind leg. It probably bled out, the storm washing away any blood trial it might have left behind. I speculated that perhaps Ragnulf Sr. had wounded this beast when he hunted down the lynx the other day. We stared at it in silence for a few seconds before moving on.

Between the hill-fort that is Casbriga and the forest owned by the Narzakii lay a stretch of empty plains. The land was grassy, but the earth was terracotta colored, so we stood out to anyone looking down from the town. We took the same route as always when commuting between the lodge and the town, so the ground on which were walking had long developed into a dirt road. We walked along this path, but in the distance, we noticed two more corpses on the ground. We made haste towards them. Again, they were dread lynxes. I turned to Wergnar, and he to me, and we scampered up towards the town.

We were met by closed gates.

“Hey! Guards! Open up!” Wergnar shouted, with no one responding. He moved to banging on the gate. “Agh! I need to see mom! I’ll break down this damn gate, you hear?!”

“Wergnar!” I yelled, halting his tirade before he actually breaks down the gate. “You have your Kragnin now. Think outside the box, dude.”

“Huh?! I’ll use my Kragnin to break the box!”

I sighed. These gates were designed to keep out animals, humans, unwanted Goblins and Hobgoblins et cetera. Anyone who could utilize a Kragnin could easily jump over the walls with their heightened physical prowess, and so I did exactly that. Caught off-guard, Wergnar realized his rushed outburst and calmed down before leaping over the walls as well.

Now we were met with chaos.

“You guys are chief Baldrenraz’ subordinates. Why didn’t go with him?”

“What he’s doing is suicide!”

“Were is your loyalty?”

“He didn’t get no approval from the other chiefs, so what’re we supposed to do?”

“He got permission from chief Hardalgmar!”

“That’s ‘cus he also went, you idiot!”

A group of Hobgoblin warriors were arguing with one another. Other small groups of Goblin and Hobgoblin warriors ran around from place to place, while some simply sat around doing nothing. There were goblin corpses on the ground, and a few mourning people laid about as well.

Ignoring the mayhem in front of us, Wergnar and I split up, as he made his way home, while I went to the public square to see what was going on.

This time, I was met with silence.

It was incredibly calm. The town square was filled with neatly laid-out corpses, a few women and children searching along the dead bodies for a relative or acquaintance.

The roads to the public square—in contrast—were hectic. Every way, every path was full of goblins conversing, and yelling. The people were visibly fearful and were panicking about what to do—at a complete loss, devoid of any guidance from authorities.

“Mister Ausgmar!” A young woman called out to her neighbor, and out came an old man, “My sister’s wound opened back up and she needs to be carried to the healer. Please, call your son for help!”

“Where is your husband, or your brother then?” The old man asked, worry in his voice. “My son went to the town hall.”

The woman was overtaken by stress and cried out helplessly. “B-both of them went as well…”

On these hectic streets, I had yet to see a man who wasn’t a child or elder. The middle-aged, and young men were nowhere to be found, save for a few corpses on the ground. Elderly men carried away some of these corpses to their families, and moved the corpses which they didn’t recognize to the public square.

As I looked on at the hysterical, floundering people, I felt a sense of duty overtake me. The men must have gathered at the hall up the hill, so I made my way there as well. I could already see the crowd from a distance as I approached.

An upheaval is what I was met with.

Crawgoblins shoved the protesting townsmen away from the closed hall doors.

“Chiefs, we seek your initiative!”

“We need to kill those lynxes, chiefs!”

“O chiefs, how do we deal with the dead?!”

The rudderless men cried out for guidance. They were just as scared and lost as their wives and children back home, lacking purpose and leadership. What were the Highgoblins doing at such an anarchic time?