Husband of the Goblin Tribe

Chapter Forty-six – In which Ark entertains almost everyone while waiting for the birth of his fourth daughter.

It was a little later on when the Old One finally returned. It was almost as if she knew exactly when to show up, because shortly after she had, Truffle began to groan in pain. The Old One put a hand on Truffle’s belly and nodded.

“It’s time.”

She was like a spooky medicine woman or something. She also kept a watchful eye on the present Stella, just as she had with me at the beginning with Berry. Stella had moved away on principle, giving me room to slide in and help support Truffle along with Ivory, holding her steady throughout each contraction. Vera was handling the formulaic magic which heated up the metal alchemy pot and Berry was standing by with the rags ready to help with the cleanup.

Pear was on standby with Toy, who were torn between watching Truffle and playing checkers.

And Prima… was just sitting down and watching.

Truffle, poor thing, was doing a terrible job at giving birth. I’m not calling her weak in any way, but she… did not have the best pain tolerance, I think. Ivory was in charge of her biting branch, which happened to be the same one both Berry and Lily used that the Old One had brought along when she arrived. It was originally an item kept by the Old One anyway, which was always good to know. Old One was doing her thing, pressing down on the top of Truffle’s stomach and telling her to push. Truffle was biting hard, screaming and crying all at once.

There is no question childbirth is tough, especially for goblins.

Both Ivory and I encouraged her to breathe and push, something she clearly was tired of being told and having to do, but one particularly nasty contraction that sucked the very will out of her legs had done the job enough. She cried out as our daughter poked her hands out from within Truffle’s vagina and began to extract itself the rest of the way. A dull plop and the baby landed on its head before falling to its side. I was worried for a moment, but there was no need. It lazily righted itself, and after a final push from truffle dumped the brain-matter looking placenta onto the ground, it stumbled right over to it and began to slowly munch on it.

It would be the only strong one inside of Truffle.

The Old One had stooped down to look at her. Prodding her with a finger before my newborn daughter focused on the old one’s moving finger instead of eating. She moved her head perfectly following it until the Old One stopped and withdrew her finger, causing my daughter to lose interest and go back to slowly eating her old home.

“Hmm.”

The Old One nodded.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“Strong seed.” She said, as if that was a good enough reason and turned to leave the room.

I had helped Ivory set Truffle down to rest on the floor, and this time Berry had taken the role of cleaning her torn up and bloody birthing hole with the hot water and rag. I left Truffle there for a moment and chased after the Old One. I had a couple of questions I wanted her to answer if she would.

“What is it, human?”

“How long have you been overseeing strong ones being born?”

She looked up at me and flared the nostrils on her sharp nose.

“I may not be able to count them in moons, but I know I am many many years older than you. Back in the time when men were plentiful in our tribe, back before the Great Protector watched over us Bloodmaws, I have been doing this task.”

“That’s what I wanted to know. Tell me, please. Goblins… usually have more than one or two strong ones, don’t they?”

She closed her eyes and nodded.

“Many, but not all are strong ones. To have even a single strong one is a blessing. Before the strong one born to Ugly-scar with your seed, the strongest one among these goblins is Guardian. This may change in time with the ones made from your big seed.”

The old one was not particular in using the names I had given the girls of the tribe. But she was saying something to the ken of Diana being her generation’s Prima.

“The weak ones die. A goblin must be strong to survive. Even Runt is strong. She was born a weak one, but became strong. Her strong ones however, were born strong, and will become much stronger as they grow.”

“I get that. But how many do goblin woman usually have?”

“No more than six. But having even a single strong one is a great blessing, human. If there were one strong one born among six, then the strong one would be given the best while the weaker ones would fend for themselves. It is the goblin way.”

“So… even if all these goblins I’m giving big seed to only have one or two at a time, you are saying it would be better, so long as they are strong ones?”

She nodded solemnly.

“I will not deny that your big seed is strong. While you are human and I do not trust you, I trust the results of your strong seed. If the goblins born are all strong ones from your big seed, that is enough for me to leave you to your task without interference.”

She then continued walking away back into the depths of the cave. I returned to Truffle’s side just in time for our daughter to have given up eating the placenta mass at about the quarter-way mark and went right for some milkies from her mama.

“What Husband… say... old one?” Truffle asked me slowly.

“I was asking about what she did. She says it is better to have one strong one than many who aren’t. I… also agree with that. I hope you don’t mind that you might have a smaller family than you expected. But at least they won’t be weak ones.”

“All goblins… want strong ones…” Truffle said, as if it was perfectly obvious she wasn’t disappointed that she only had one daughter who the Old One said was Strong seed.

“Husband… give… strong one… name?”

She winced and growled simultaneously as Berry dabbed the hot wet rag against her torn birthing canal, sopping up the bloody residue from our daughter’s emergence.

“I can’t think of anything all that good.” I told her openly. “The type of mushroom I loved eating the most was a white one with a round cap called a Button. But would she get mad at me if I named her after a mushroom? What if she’s not as fond of them as you are?”

“Why like… Button mushroom… most?”

“Because it went well with everything. It tasted fine by itself, but if you mixed it in with any other food, it would gain the flavor of that food and taste better.”

“Sounds like… tasty… mushroom.”

Button mushrooms were the most common type that could be bought in a supermarket, and were often the type used on pizzas that I ate in my previous life. I only even learned their name in passing one day from someone who knew the type. To me, I never really differentiated mushrooms all that much. I knew of other types, like Shiitake, Enoki, or Portobello but rarely if ever did I try one and know what I was eating.

“Button…” Truffle said as she stroked our daughter who appeared to be every bit as aloof and lazy as her. Truffle then promptly slipped into a nap while Button suckled from her breast. Ivory never let go of Truffle’s hand, and I already knew my newest daughter had two mothers and a father. She wouldn’t be the only one. It would definitely be a properly blended family when Ivory’s turn came.

“Husband, Prima belly next get fat or kick you many many!” Prima was in a wonderful mood after the delivery. Sarcasm wholly intended.

Vera had walked over to Button and poked her cheek.

“Next.” She declared antagonistically, pressing her hand against her own belly.

Oh great. If that happened, the next piece of fire meat I’d be eating would be my own sausage.

“No! Me! Vera stupid! Husband stupid! Give fat belly already! Stupid! Stupid!”

Prima… really wanted to have a baby now.

Fuck. Button fell asleep already. She was absently sucking on Truffle’s milkies one moment and was out cold the next. It seems laziness runs in that side of the family. That’s okay, Truffle is definitely a my-pace kind of girl, and I have no doubt Button will be just like that, too. Conversely, Ivory is almost always busy doing something. I’m sure somehow those two and their daughters will offset each other in a good way. Like how an introvert occasionally needs an extrovert to bring them out of their shell. Also, I got to take a whiff of that blue water, and I’m pretty sure it’s some kind of fermented beverage. In all likelihood Ivory is a functional alcoholic and Truffle is a recreational drug-user. Should I have expected anything different from those two?

I’ll still care for them both either way.

When Truffle was awake, I stayed by her side as much as possible, though, making sure Ivory had time without me there as well to spend with her. When she was asleep, I entertained the goblins who had come, both to see Truffle and Button, as well as to witness the huge fucking bear that was somehow not reducing the large stone kitchen table to rubble.

Lily had dropped by with Orchid and Lilac in tow, and were welcomed to the feast. They just had to take their pieces out to the fire pit and cook them first. Sadly, I haven’t yet managed to make an oven. I will, eventually. It just hasn’t happened yet. The bath has become the official social spot now. It was quite funny when Truffle first went in, her breasts just started leaking all over the place.

I was a bit worried about Button going number one, two, or heaven help me a three in the bath. But with the temperature turned down just a tad more than usual, for Button’s sake this time, she was having fun poking at the water while sitting on her mother’s lap sharing the same sleepy look on their faces.

All the goblins I cared about were assembled, and even a surprise visit occurred from an unexpected source. The cinnamon-haired Fish-catcher who was also sporting a bit of a baby bump. When she saw everyone hanging out in the bath, she was not hesitant at all about joining.

“Husband, never come cave-hole.”

Ah, that’s true. I didn’t. Well, a lot of things happened after that night. I know I’m probably at fault, though. I didn’t have the first clue about it, but Prima had looked in after her when I left her damn near paralyzed after our night together. I still hadn’t settled on a name for her. But it’s good enough to know that she wasn’t avoiding me on purpose.

I decided to remedy that right now.

“I’m sorry, Pepper.”

“Pepper?”

“Your name. I had a hard time choosing it. Unless… you might prefer being called Cinnamon?”

She tilted her head curiously.

“What name Husband like more?”

“Pepper.”

“Want name Husband like more.”

She let me hug her and I introduced her properly to the others with her new name. I should have done it long ago, but sadly I realize only now how hard it is to juggle so many goblin wives. Hopefully I can work on that. Honestly, after the addition of Vera, it’s gotten hectic. It turns out that Pepper is quite close with Jewel and Toy.

The only person not hanging out in the bath right now was Stella. Orchid and Lilac were getting into a splashing contest with Button already. Diana was watching them closely, almost like a mother hen now since she also was trying to be a big sister to Button, and I… was wearing very thick horse blinders.

When Truffle began falling asleep again, I took a moment to move her to the makeshift resting place near the trophy room, and then popped into my Stella-occupied room to see how she was doing.

“Hey, you okay with all the goblins here?”

“I’m fine. It’s a celebration for them, right? Another… goblin was born.”

“Her name is Button, y’know?”

“Button? What the hell kind of a name is Button to give to a kid?”

“What’s wrong with it? My other daughters are Diana, Orchid and Lilac.”

“Diana is nice, but what’s with your naming sense?”

I think she was trying to cope with the situation by making fun of me, and if that was what she needed to do I was fine being the butt of any joke. She was just sitting on the straw bed and covering up with the large rag. I might as well call it a blanket at this point, even though it was just a large rag of cloth.

“I know you’d probably rather strangle me, but would you like a hug? I promise I won’t touch you anywhere strange.”

“Just sit there.” she pointed at the spot right next to the straw bed.

I did as she asked and she just leaned her shoulder into mine. That was it.

“I’m… going to have to go through that now… aren’t I?”

“Maybe. You might not be pregnant at all. I’m pretty sure goblins are way more fertile than humans.”

“You’ve knocked up every goblin in this room right now, haven’t you?”

“Yeah… two more to go and it’ll be pretty much all of them.”

“I can’t say I understand it completely, but I guess I understand why you won’t escape now.”

My head drooped.

“When I first saw most of them, they were covered in dirt and the only hygiene they even understood was going in the shit-pit. I promised them a quality pregnancy if they just kept a few parts clean before coming to use me for my big seed as they call it. Now… They're socializing in my new bath almost daily. Instead of leaving the mother and child to starve and fend for themselves after giving birth like they would have done… they killed a fucking bear to hold a birth feast so they wouldn’t need to worry about where their next meal was coming from. I know that I’m doing something good here. I’m just beyond sorry that you ended up being dragged into something you can’t ever forgive me for.”

“I guess I won’t be staying here for much longer.” She said with a thousand-pace voice.

“Are the conditions of where you were staying… bad?”

“If you consider being left alone almost all of the time bad. Aside from meeting with that thing… All I had was time to contemplate ending my life. I had no idea when something would happen to me… if I would be eaten or… worse.”

When she said worse, clearly she meant what had happened by my own hand.

“I was kept in an open cave in a high up place. I could go outside, but it was only onto a short windy ledge that overlooked a large forest in every direction. I couldn’t make out any towns or villages anywhere in sight, and if I took a single wrong step while out on that ledge it would be a long fall to my death.”

“What about the necessities? Were you fed well enough?”

“I was provided food, but only when I was asleep. I’d wake up and it would be there, and whatever it was that brought it knew if I was faking. There was also a wooden bucket for going.”

The silence that should have been in the bedroom was punctuated by the goblins in the nearby bath chatting loudly among themselves. Stella had continued to talk a bit more.

“When I saw you again, you looked healthy, and you weren’t bound by ropes like I was. My only thought was that with you… we could escape. You were always a bit clever, Ark. Thinking calmly in situations where Kairos would just rush in with his sword drawn and worry about difficult things later. I was sure you would have been thinking of a way to escape, and having me here would have made it easier.”

“Stella, if I could negotiate for your freedom, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I have no real leverage. I was tied up the same as you when I first came here, and I wasn’t left alone in a cave. Prima was there to do to me what I did to you. When I am allowed to go out and see the sun every few days, my hands and ankles are still tied with ropes. What little freedoms I have… can be easily taken away. It’s only because I’ve proven through actions that I can benefit them in a way other than just being tied up and raped for my seed.”

She was looking down and I could see her eyes were staring at my cock, which was, unfortunately in this moment, erect.

“Did I at least… feel good to you?”

“Were you supposed to feel good in that state? I might be a monster for doing that, but… I couldn’t enjoy it. At least for a human, that thing should be done willingly and with a person you like, if not love, shouldn’t it? Something I’m clearly neither of to you. That’s why you are free to blame me all you want. Anyway, I promise I won’t force myself on you again. There’s plenty of food to eat if you’re hungry. I know it might be unreasonable asking you to get along with them, but they aren’t necessarily bad goblins. It’s just a difference of culture. You might not want to hear it, but goblins are just like humans, just without the bullshit mask we wear in front of others to hide our true natures.”

I went to stand but she held onto my arm for a moment. She wasn’t looking at me anymore, but she asked a question I myself wasn’t ready to answer yet.

“Do you love them?”

“My daughters? Unconditionally. But the others… I’m slowly coming to.”

I tried to finish rising but she hadn’t let go yet.

“If I wind up pregnant… will our child also be loved unconditionally by you?”

“Without a doubt. At least that worry is one I can take off your shoulders.”

Her hand lost its grip on my arm and it fell to her side. I made my way out of the bedroom and went back to Truffle’s side, to play with my little ones and enjoy the new family I was a part of and helped create.

When the night came, none of the goblins returned to their cave-holes, opting to stay with me and sleep in the corner of the room I designed for entertaining them. With my vitality restored below deck, I won’t say I wasn’t put to the task with them. I was. Truffle had even pushed Ivory onto me, who, while wanting to be with Truffle more than anything, also rolled the dice to see if she would be the next lucky goblin to get a big belly.

When everyone was getting ready to wind down, Prima had left for a moment and returned with the lute, to which I played a couple of songs I knew, poorly. It was yet a new entertainment they were unfamiliar with and most of them were mesmerized. My fingers were on the way to having calluses by the time I was allowed to put it down.

The night passed and the morning came. Breakfast was more of the day-old gamey-tasting bear.

Lily had gone to cook my portion along with what was for Orchid, Lilac, herself, and at my request, some for Stella. Her portion of cooked meat was sitting in front of her, going mostly uneaten until suddenly she just found a piece of raw meat from the bear carcass sitting on the table untouched, which she then promptly snatched and tore into it with her teeth. I wondered what I should say or do, but Diana, who was there, eating with us, had gone and tore another piece from it, plopping it down in front of Stella.

Diana cast a glance my way waving her own bloody piece of meat and grinned.

Did she know something I didn’t?