I returned to my room in the morning, laid down on my straw bed and just closed my eyes. Prima came in a while later with some fire meat for me to eat, to which I didn't even try and reach for, even though I was terribly hungry.
"No eat? Husband being stupid?"
"Yes. Husband is being stupid."
"Husband not eat, not give big seed. Husband words."
"I know. But goblins who are too stupid to help each other in times of need only deserve the cursed little seed they can pry from the balls they cut off my dead body."
"Prima not let Husband use weapon or magic. Here to give big seed only. Prima very patient with stupid Husband."
"I know."
"Eat."
"I'm not hungry."
Prima kicked me right in the ribs, and it hurt, bad.
"Eat fire meat!"
"I'd rather die, thank you."
"Husband think Prima not kill if Husband not give big seed?"
"I had hope for you, Prima. I thought you were better than just some shitty goblin I had a quest to subjugate. Turns out I was dead wrong it seems. I was taught from a young age that goblins are the enemy of all civilized races, and I was willing to look past that because of how well you treated me. Maybe they were all wrong, I thought. Maybe goblins could be better? If I wanted to kill you, don't you think I could have snapped your neck any number of times after fucking you stupid? So just kill me already and find some other human as willing to finish the job as I am. I don't care anymore!"
I curled further into a ball and just tried to endure the pain I felt, and whatever pain would come next. She threw the piece of fire meat onto me, but I didn't even try to move it. I just clammed up. If she left… when she left… I neither knew nor cared.
~~** Interlude | Prima **~~
"GRAAH! STUPID HUSBAND!"
A spear was tossed at a tree trunk, and became lodged deeply into it. This scene repeated about a half dozen times before Lily had come out from the tree-line of the forest holding on to two freshly caught dead rabbits.
"I can hear you yelling halfway to the stream. What did Husband do this time?"
Lily knew how quick to anger Prima was, and somehow already knew her mood was caused by Husband.
"Husband forgot his place. He is here to give big seed only!"
"And?"
"Husband asked for a shiny stone so he could use magic."
"Husband can use magic? What kind of magic did he want to use?"
"Husband says he wants to use magic to make Berry's cave-hole bigger. But there's no way of knowing if he's telling the truth."
"Why would Husband lie?"
"Because he's a human!"
"What does that have to do with anything? Husband is just trying to care for Berry and her new strong one. Just like he cared for me when my belly was full of big seed and he wanted me to eat when I was not able to hunt the morning after. To make sure my strong ones would not miss eating even for one day. He gave me his fire meat and even more big seed as well. Isn't that why you gave Berry that piece of raw meat after seeing her with a fat belly the morning after spending the night with Husband?"
"You agree with Husband, then? You want to let him use wicked human magic?"
"You sound like the Old One. Just put your spear to his neck. If he tries anything other than making Berry's cave-hole bigger, then kill him."
"GRAAAAH!" Prima yelled again in frustration.
"Maybe it's not Husband who is stupid." Lily said openly to Prima, albeit quietly, even knowing she was still the runt of the tribe and might be punished for doing so. She walked over to the fire pit and threw one of the two rabbits she had caught on top, then sat and waited for it to cook.
~~** Interlude | Jewel **~~"Husband?"
"Go away."
"Hear Husband want see Jewel?"
"No point in it now. Just go away quickly so Prima doesn't see you here and thinks I'm trying to trick you into doing something you shouldn't be doing."
"What Husband try trick Jewel do?"
"Jewel… Please, just go away."
Jewel came closer to Husband and saw the fire meat he should have already eaten lying on the ground next to him. Not a single bite was taken out of it. Husband was curled up into a ball, and he looked small… weak. Something bad had definitely happened, but she didn't know the exact details of what it was.
"Husband not feel well?"
Husband didn't answer her anymore. He just laid on the straw bed and did nothing but breathe. Jewel left Husband's cave-hole disappointed and feeling really dejected. She wouldn't have minded wasting some seed with him, if only he looked her way.
~~** Interlude | Berry's Cave-hole **~~
"Lily!"
"Oh, Jewel. Come in and see Berry's strong one!"
Gathered in Berry's cave-hole were many goblins. Bone-taker, Mushroom-picker, Lily who was eating what was clearly nauseating fire meat, and Berry and her new strong one sharing a fresh bloody rabbit.
"Hurt coming out of fuckhole?" Jewel asked out of curiosity.
"Hurt as much as when I got my scar. Fuckhole is broken for sure. When it heals, maybe Husband's seed-stick will fit inside easier for more big seed." Berry answered in a forward-thinking way.
"I just came from Husband's cave-hole. Did something bad happen? He wouldn't tell me anything."
"Prima happened." Lily said flatly. "Husband wanted to see if you have a shiny stone that can let him use magic. Husband wants to make Berry's cave-hole bigger with Human magic so there is more room for the strong one. Oh, the strong one has a name, too. Diana Artemis."
"Husband gave two names to the strong one?" Jewel asked, a little jealousy taking root in her heart upon hearing.
"What did Husband say about the names he gave her again, Berry?" Lily asked.
"Names belong to a Goddess. Diana Artemis–Goddess of moon, hunter, and forest."
"Husband gave your strong one the names of a hunting Goddess?"
"Yes. Husband was only going to give one name to my strong one, but I was greedy and wanted both. I should have had many strong ones according to the Old One, but only this one came out. But Diana Artemis is a big strong one. Even the Old One said so."
"Still. Supposed to take three moons time to make a strong one, and you had it in one day. Strong one must be special."
"That's why I was greedy. Husband cared for me after… But went back to his cave-hole this morning and got in a fight with Prima."
"That's because Prima turned Husband against us by not letting him use magic to help his strong one." A new voice added itself to the conversation.
"What did you say?"
Tree-chopper had entered Berry's cave hole in an effort to tell them what she knew.
"I saw the whole thing. I was going to see Husband about doing some exercises with him in his cave-hole since he can't come out of goblin-home to feel the sun except once every few days. I heard Husband telling Prima last night that all he wanted was to see Jewel and ask if he could use a magic stone to make Berry's cave hole bigger. He didn't even care if Prima's spear was at his neck when he used it. Prima hit Husband in the belly, then told him no. Then he went back to spend the night with Berry. Then I followed Prima in the morning, after she made Husband his fire meat outside in the fire pit, and I listened to Husband talk with Prima. He said he doesn't care anymore. All his seed is cursed little seed now. That goblins are the enemy of all humans and other races. Husband wanted to think that goblin tribe could be better, but he was wrong. Prima kicked Husband in the side and then she left his cave-hole madder than if a black-claw stuck a sharp claw up her shithole."
After giving a lengthy explanation, Tree-chopper, the lazy guard goblin then added: "What did Husband mean by goblin tribe could be better?"
"Care." Berry said with an insightful quietness. "Husband doesn't understand how to be a goblin. Husband is human. He came here yesterday to help me dig the wall for no reason other than to help. We got tired from digging for hours, and eventually rested on my bed. I shared sweet berries with him and then fell asleep in his lap. He held onto me the entire time, didn't move at all and rubbed my fat belly. Husband didn't even think to throw me off of him. Then we ended up wasting seed and I took him back to his room. A little bit after that, Diana Artemis was ready to come, when I was not."
"So Husband really only wanted to help by digging the wall to make your cave-hole bigger?" Jewel asked curiously.
"It's true. We were here all night and Husband only cared for Berry and the strong one the whole time." Bone-taker said, "He even asked us about shiny stones and we told him if he wanted the best stones, it was you he needed to talk to."
"This is a problem." Lily said. "Prima was angry, throwing her spear into trees right outside goblin-home, screaming about Husband being stupid. I even told her she was the one who was stupid. I didn't think about it being a matter of Husband being human and us being goblins."
"So what should we do?" Jewel asked. "I can bring my shiny stones to Husband, but he already told me to go away. He said to go away quickly so that Prima didn't think I was being tricked by him."
The many goblins gathered in Berry's cave-hole could only try and think about what to do…
~~** Interlude | Prima **~~"Husband, wake up! Time pick goblin."
Prima shook Ark, but he refused to even respond to her. She had already seen that he hadn't touched the fire meat she had gone out of her way to bring him, and she had to listen to the runt call her stupid earlier. To say she was angry right now was a massive understatement.
"Husband agree last night, give big seed two goblins tonight."
"Then you choose them, monster. You choose who in the goblin tribe gets the cursed little seed I have to give them now. I'll show you real wicked human magic, Prima, just as you want. Just like the old one accused me of using. I don't need a stone or a wand to cast the most grand magic spell that any human can cast at the cost of their own life. Strong enough to kill even a dragon! Want to know what that magic is called? Spite. It rots you from the inside out, and there is nothing under the sky which can undo it. A spell of pure hate for monsters that only know hate."
The three goblins selected by Prima who had gathered began to chatter among themselves nervously. Words had spread from Berry's room earlier in the day, and had already filtered out to many of them of the events prior that took place between these two. Husband wanting to care for the first new strong one born to the goblin tribe, and of Prima refusing to let him, of turning him against them now, of cursing his own seed he was supposed to give to the goblin tribe. He said those very words to her in front of them, and now they all worried about getting cursed little seed from Husband that would rot their bodies from the inside out!
One by one all the goblins who had gathered sneakily left Husband's cave-hole until the only one remaining was Prima.
"Ark. If not give big seed, I will kill you."
"Is that a threat? Prima, I already knew I was dead the moment you brought me into this cave." he spat back. "So your choices are to either kill me fast now, or watch as I die slowly over the next three days."
"Three days?" Prima asked with a furrowed brow Ark couldn't see.
"Three days."
"Ark get poison from Berry?"
"I don't need something as useless as poison. Spite is the most powerful human magic spell because it exchanges the caster's life in exchange for another."
"Who kill with it? Me?"
"I am going to kill myself with it, but I will also save a life with it as well."
"Who save?"
Ark sat up and put his hand right on Prima's belly.
"I will save my future daughter from being born to a monster who doesn't understand how precious and fragile a strong one's life is!"