He was angry, then sad, then lethargic. After all his planning, only for him to lose the core at the end.
What happened next was something Kraz had witnessed before—when Nog got his iron core. As if suffused with electricity, Morgi began experiencing seizures, probably seizures of ecstasy.
That was it, the shadow core was transferring to her. Kraz's dreams had been foiled.
He railed at the betrayal but Shuska kept his back turned to him and Sharir sported a smug smile.
All the time he spent studying the prowler and preparing for this ambush was a waste. What was all that effort for? Only to watch the shadow core slip away from his grasp.
It wasn't that he had not expected betrayal of some sort. Every goblin was by nature greedy. What he hadn't expected was for Shuska to sign off on their betrayal.
He threw his gaze back to Morgi. A slew of thoughts and emotions ran through him. Rage, sorrow, sadness, then numbness. If he killed Morgi, he could get the shadow core. However, that would have to wait. The shadow core would need some time to consolidate within her before he struck. Striking early would cause the core to be lost forever.
He watched her spasm then suddenly go limp, like a fish out of water. Whatever process of transference going on must have finished, because she collapsed to the forest floor. She lay there beside the prowler, perfectly still for a time before jerking awake. She was no longer an ordinary goblin. She was an elite now, possessing a core most goblins could only dream of. The transference effect for her was more severe than others Kraz had witnessed, probably because this core was the most powerful he had seen transferred.
Sharir rushed forward to give Morgi a tonic to stabilize her gains. Holding the female tenderly and pouring the mysterious liquid into her open mouth. Probably a tonic to help her maximise the gains from her core.
Morgi gurgled at the first sip, then began to drink eagerly.
"Why!" he screamed suddenly, glaring at Sharir.
Sharir turned towards him. Dropping Morgi gently, she dusted off twigs from her fur and then began to walk towards him, swaggering and grinning all the way. He felt the earth binding his feet loosen.
If he was a less than stoic goblin, he would give in to his emotions and attempt to stab her with his spear.
She seemed to notice his inner turmoil, and moved even closer to him, taunting him.
His hands on the spear twitched, but he kept his raging emotions in check. How he would love to take revenge for her sabotage, but rashness would do him no good here.
She moved even closer, her face so close to his. He saw a smug smile on her face but her eyes, they were unnaturally cold. Cold, calculating and an emotion he couldn't understand. Sharir had always been a mystery to Kraz and he usually stepped on eggshells when she was involved.
As the shaman, She was the most useful member of the tribe, and had helped Kraz with some of the knowledge he possessed. He couldn't make a move against her.
In fact, he did not know the full extent of her powers. No one in the tribe knew what core she had, or at least he didn't. He had seen her wield various elements and spells. Her versatility and power sometimes amazed him.
He also knew that physical prowess aside, he was looking at the strongest person in the tribe, Shuska be damned. He didn't know the extent of her skills or the limits of her power, but he knew she was powerful, far more powerful than she let on. He could feel it. Anytime he felt her spell brush him, he always got that feeling that she was restraining herself.
The fact she hated him but hadn't killed him or made any attempt on his life since his birth in this world made him even wary of her. Those she disliked or disagreed with in the tribe tended to die. So why was he alive?
Yes, she had sabotaged him numerous times, but never attempted to harm or kill him—at least directly.
To make matters worse, Sharir felt different and smelled different from the other goblins. She had an eerie presence that was hard to describe. He may not like her but he tended to avoid fights with her. Picking fights senselessly was not his weak point. If he was that foolish, he would have challenged Shuska for leadership.
After staring down at him for some time, she offered him a hand to get up, just like Shuska previously did. He growled but still took the help to extricate himself from the loose soil, shaking off any dirt that still clung to him.
"You must be angry," she asked, an arrogant smile plastered on her face as she looked down at him.
"Of course I am," he thought but didn't say it aloud. There was no point in lashing out now, the shadow core has already been lost.
Instead he sighed and looked up at her.
"What do you want?" he asked.
He was tired of her bullshit.
If she was offended by his tone, she didn't show it. Instead she reached into a pouch on her waist and brought out a steel knife.
Kraz had no iron weapons so he knew the worth of iron in the tribe. All the iron and steel weapons were controlled by Shuska and Sharir. They gave it to whom they pleased.
He imagined himself snatching the knife and slicing her throat but quickly banished the thought. Even if he somehow managed to succeed, Shuska would kill him.
"Help them with the harvest," she said, offering him the knife, hilt first.
He made to turn his back on her, but she grabbed his arm, pulling him back. She was strong for a shaman.
"We plan another hunt," she whispered. Her voice sounded almost conciliatory. "The creature we plan to kill is even greater than your prowler."
"There is no core better for me than the shadow core," he retorted, trying to wriggle out of her grip.
She was offering crumbs and promises after denying him what was rightfully his.
She released his arm from her grip, grinning mysteriously at his discomfort.
"Oh, this one is better for you, I can assure you."
His mind was reeling from her statement. He didn't know much about cores, but he knew the shadow core was excellent for him. He couldn't imagine a core better for him.
"Once we plan the hunt, you will understand." she stated.
Dropping the knife at his feet, she turned and walked back to Morgi.
Sighing, he picked up the knife and went to help with the harvest of the prowler.
Harvesting the prowler wasn't all that complicated. Its skin was tough but not impossible to penetrate with their steel weapons. Shuska's steel sword easily made incisions on its skin, allowing others like Kraz to easily deskin and remove the pelt. Fur and leather were always useful, and so they prioritized those.
After successfully removing the skin, the rest of the goblins fell on the prowler, gorging themselves on prowler meat. The prowler was big, weighing over two thousand pounds, but thirty goblins feasting was enough to make quick work of it.
Even after two months in this world, it never ceased to amaze Kraz that goblins could eat more than half their body weight in one sitting. The worst part, he had never seen goblins cook anything. Always eating it raw.
He still felt a little squeamish eating raw meat, but hunger and pragmatism had beaten that stupidity out of his body.
He happily followed the rest to eat, only taking care not to soil his face with gore, unlike the rest.
After their huge feast, Kraz took a fang from the prowler as a memento to remember the hunt.
All the goblins worked with a sense of urgency. This part of the forest wasn't all that safe, and anything could come and attack them.
Directing the harvest, Kraz cut the prowler's pelt into more manageable pieces and handed it over to other goblins to carry. As the scout, it wasn't advisable to burden himself, plus he didn't actually need the pelt.
Finished with their hunt and harvest, the goblins began their journey home. He could only hope nobody ambushed their group on their way back home. Overfed and sluggish, they made for easy prey with their ridiculously bloated bellies from consuming so much meat.
Every loss they incurred was deadly for them. This hunt was unbelievably successful because they lost only one member and that was due to Sharir's foolishness.
Considering the caliber of creature they just brought down, it was an amazing achievement.
Goblins' advantage were in their numbers, ability to reproduce quickly and capacity to use tools. They were currently weak in second advantage.
Sharir said that goblins reached maturity after 70 days and only mature goblins could reproduce. The problem was that only two members of their tribe were over that age. Sharir was the only female over 70 days old but she was barren. Or at least, her games with Shuska yielded no children.
The tribe had started with Shuska and two females, according to what Sharir had told him. That other female had birthed over fifty goblins before her death. Leaving Sharir and Shuska as the only mature goblins in the tribe. Their numbers had of course steadily decreased after that time to about the thirty goblins that were remaining currently. It was a good number to Kraz as more than half their number had survived till this moment.
Kraz was among the oldest of Shuska's brood and was only about 61 days old. He had been keeping track of the days since his birth in this world, so as not to lose his humanity, or connection to his past life. So, that meant at least ten days before the other two females became mature and start producing children for Shuska.
Any loss for them would be deadly, and they were especially weak, now that they were sluggish. Anything that wanted to wipe out their tribe could stage an attack now.
That was why he was currently alert, scouting ahead of the tribe to ensure they didn't run into any unforeseen dangers. They were familiar with this path but danger could come from anywhere. Morgi joined him, scouting in the other direction.
She now moved with a grace he knew she didn't possess before. Her footsteps producing no sound. Of course he could still track her by scent.
He could make a move for her now.