King's Quest Fic: Explanation (Goblin Graham, #10)
Previous Installments of "Goblin Graham" are labeled in the drop-down menu of "Rippling Consequences" at ao3.
I was very much out of steam when I wrote this, so it's an odd little mix of detail and summary.
-
Graham is jolted from his sleep by Ashdown screaming at the unexpected sight of a goblin face on his king. This is the moment Graham has been dreading since the beginning - the inevitable rejection by his people, and later his friends. It’s made worse by the fact that his inner voice could be said to be screaming at himself in horror the same way too. But he tries to communicate.
“Ashdown,” Graham said, grasping for his real voice. It was there, warm and familiar. But it hovered at the limits of his reach, a shape his straining fingertips could only brush. Still he tried to keep contact with it, even as the words came out as a squeaky gurgle, with lopsided vowels and missing consonants. “Stop. Listen. Stop!”
Ashdown stopped screaming, but to judge by his demeanor, perhaps it was only because he had spent his breath. He had tumbled over his own heels as he shied away from Graham, and began crab walking back through the curtain of wisteria. He mumbled something in terror, even more garbled than the king’s words.
The healer disappeared through the curtain of purple blossoms. Olfie could probably stop him from fleeing altogether. Possibly he could hold him in place and explain to him. But it seemed to Graham that if he let him run, even a short way, he simply would not have what it took to face him - or anyone human - again. He had built up his heart to face this moment for weeks, maybe months. It would be impossible to do it again.
So he lunged through the wisteria and and seized Ashdown by the ankle.
His claws tore through the trouser leg. Ashdown yelped in pain. It was all Graham could do not to scream himself. The lunge had probably done more to crumple his injured ankle even than the accident in the woods had. But he couldn’t scream. He had to speak.
“Ashdown,” he growled, no longer making an effort to sound like himself, “I’m hurt. I need a doctor. Help me.”
Ashdown is taken aback - though the words are garbled and snarled, he understood them, and of course this is the request he has built his whole life around, time and again. “Doctor, help me.” While Graham’s words don’t suddenly jolt him into calmness, it’s enough to make him pause and get a bit of a hold on himself, even if he’s flinching every time Graham moves. Olfie steps in to help make the situation clearer. Ashdown is able to shove down his incredulity to help Graham into a more comfortable position and have a look at his ankle. He has to make some assumptions and guesswork about how Goblin limbs are built compared to human, but it’s not all that different from other ankle injuries he’s seen.
He prepares to lift Graham into Olfie’s palm (It helps that Graham is currently about half his normal height,) and asks Olfie to take them back to the castle.
Olfie explains that he attempted to take Graham to the castle earlier, but he couldn’t get him through the shield - it caused a lot of fizzing and sparks (Olfie hurriedly apologizes to Graham again for that incident.) Graham, who’s a lot more alert by this point, says something like, “I wasn’t sure if that was real or part of my dream - what even was that? What shield?”
Ashdown seems to understand, however, smacking his forehead like, “Of course.” He asks Olfie to find Becket, who is likely still on the edge of the North Forest doing medic duty, assuming the goblin assault is still in progress. If that’s the case, Becket likely can’t come himself, but tell him to throw together the necessary supplies to treat a broken ankle - and probably supplies for treating shock too, and send them along with Olfie. If Olfie can rustle up blankets and pillows, even better. Oh, and they should probably alert Number One and get a complement of the royal guard out here too until Crispin can temporarily lower the shield so the king can be moved into the castle -
Graham hastily interrupts. No! Not Number One. That is, no guards necessary. The fewer people involved the better. In fact, don’t mention it at all to anyone. He’s not necessarily made up his mind about returning to the castle as it is. In fact, put me back down under the tree. And tell Becket to keep his mouth shut. Graham knows this is all stupid, so stupid to try to keep it a secret, and is backtracking on his resolve earlier to show himself to his friends. But now the moment is here, yet again, and he can't, he just can’t. Manny’s words echo subconsciously.
Olfie and Ashdown are confused, but what can you do? He’s the king. Olfie hurries off to get the medical supplies. In the meantime, Ashdown valiantly distracts himself from Graham’s appearance by trying to make him comfortable. Graham knows it’s awkward, knows this is when he should start to tell his story, but can’t it just wait?
So, the job of silence filling falls on Ashdown, and he explains the situation. Graham and the townsfolk disappeared a month and a half ago (note: yes, this is longer than it typically takes to play Chapter II, but consider that in this AU Graham didn’t escape as portrayed but got imprisoned in an elevator shaft for an amount of time he couldn’t measure.) A search was made for them, but largely cut off because only a day or two after the disappearance, the goblin army attacked Daventry, with weapons and engines of war which, while crude, were far more sophisticated than anyone aboveground had suspected these creatures had - things of pulleys and levers and counter weights and tremendous force. (Graham nods. Yes, this kind of thing took him by surprise when he saw what they had in the caves as well.) Anyhow, their attack was initially devastating. Catapults threw boulders through rooves, and flames consumed the North end of town, but the goblins seemed to be making efforts to limit destruction to the edges, even though they presumably had the power to push even further into the town. Number Two has speculated that the goblin goal is ultimately to take the town rather than destroy it.
“That only makes sense,” Graham croaks. “MANNY was behind all this. He wants the power. He played into the goblins’ simplicity to make them act out scenes of his choice. It all started with kidnapping me, but of course it wouldn’t stop there. He didn’t just want revenge on me - he wanted me out of the way so he could take the Town. And the castle. Is the castle safe?”
More or less. An attack was made on the castle, but it was brief, and seemed more like a test than anything else. The castle is too defensible, and without the foothold of the town to fall back to, the odds of the goblins taking it is small. We think that’s why they focused their efforts on the Town first - the castle would come later. That being said, the defense of the town has drawn most of the guard out of the castle. A skeleton crew has been left behind to see to the castle, and they should have what it takes to keep it safe, so long as the town holds.
All our best efforts were poured into the Town’s defenses. A fire trench had to be dug to protect the rest of the Town, which meant even the defenders had to destroy some of the town just to create that barrier. The knights and guards rallied wonderfully and prevented the goblins from overrunning the place, and were able to protect the boundary. Their position became even stronger when a rider was sent to Serenia, begging the wizard Crispin for help. He created an invisible bubble round the town which goblins could not pass through. The trolls assisted too, setting traps for the goblins and patrolling the valley. As for the townsfolk who were not kidnapped, some have fled to safety in the hills, but some have remained behind to help with the efforts to repel the attackers. Everyone has been stretched to their limit, but things have remained stable for some time- both sides take wounds and casualties, but Daventry has lost fewer people than one might expect, and the boundary remains unbroken. Graham inquires if Manny has ever been seen among the attacking force, Ashdown isn’t sure. Certainly no one has ever mentioned sighting him.
In truth, Ashdown holds a lot of hope for Daventry. It’s intense right now, but only because Number One has ordered a massive effort to repel the goblins, once and for all. His leadership has been marvelous, and he’s inspired great confidence in the people, with the help of his fellow guards. The people haven’t experienced this kind of leadership since King Edward’s reign in his youth. It’s even possible that today might be the last day of fighting. There’s a feeling in the air that the goblin’s, in spite of the ferocity of their fighting, are close to breaking. That it’s desperation rather than strength that’s forcing them on. The shield will of course remain up for some time longer, but if Daventry can get the goblins on the run…
At last Olfie returns with medical supplies, and Ashdown triages Graham. When he’s done all he can, Ashdown asks Olfie not to leave Graham for a moment. It’s time he returned to the battlefield to switch out with Becket. No, he doesn’t need to be carried - someone needs to stay with the king. He’ll just walk.
There’s a furtiveness in the way he speaks that worries Graham. He suspects that Ashdown means to tells someone - fetch someone - in spite of his command not to. As soon as Ashdown disappears, Graham tells Olfie to pick him up again. Olfie suggests he needs rest, and they’ll probably mess up all the good Ashdown did for Graham’s ankle if they move him right away, but Graham insists.
“Now,” he says. Make for the gorge. No one will see us if we take that way. From there we’ll take the lower mountain pass - the ridge between there and the Town should be cover enough. And then, north.”
“Why don’t you want to be seen?”
“That’s not the question right now. Don’t make me talk more. It’s hard.”
“King Goosie, Olfie’s not so sure about this. Sneaking off when we only just got you back -”
“We’ll be back. I think. But for now - north.”