Primordial Red Goblin

Chapter 137: An Unfortunate Meeting

"As you can see they landed a few hits and without this armor I would have a hole in my chest." I answered.

"The guards you took with you told me you left both of them out here and went inside on your own. Don’t ever do that again. As your first wife I forbid it." She said with a very serious tone.

I pulled her to me by her waist and smiled before kissing her.

"I’ll think about." I chuckled.

She ran her fingers across the claw marks on my breastplate.

"Looks like the monsters of this forest are only going to get stronger from here." She said.

"Good, I could use the xp." I said.

I held sarah by the waist as I walked the camp checking on the children. The armed children were on the perimeter with the guards they were assigned to. The rest of the children were helping with the camp. Some boys were tending to the animals while others were collecting firewood for the cook. Some of the girls were helping the cook while others were looking after the kids too young to help. Some of the peasant women were helping Lucy clean up the women I rescued. Amber saw me nearing Lucy’s triage area and approached me.

"Thirty-three women of our caravan have each donated an outfit to the survivors. About half of them have been fully healed physically while Lucy is still working on the other half. Three of them including the mouse-kin are still unconscious. I have the cook making soup for them, we don’t want them eating heavy foods right now or they might get sick." She explained.

"Thank you Amber." I said as I reached up and patted her head.

"Sarah isn’t the only one upset about you going in there alone." Amber added before walking away.

"Looks like I might actually be in trouble." I sighed.

"Yes you are." Sarah said.

I walked to Lucy’s triage and saw her with her hands glowing while hovering over two patients at once. Her hair was in a bun that had come half undone and she was visibly exhausted.

"Remind me to pamper her later." I said.

"I will." Sarah said watching her sister work.

I walked between the survivors. They were now wearing the dresses and shoes donated to them by my people. Lucy saw me approaching and began updating me.

"Twenty-seven of them are pregnant as far as I can tell, the rest of them might be pregnant too but aren’t far enough for me to detect it. Two of them are far enough they could give birth at any time. Three are still unconscious and all three are pregnant. All of them are traumatized beyond anything I can do for them. Many of them are still in a state shock. Several of the conscious ones have shut themselves off from the outside. They appear to be awake but don’t respond to anything." She explained.

I looked around and several of my people were among them helping them drink some water and trying to keep them calm.

I put my hand on Lucy’s shoulder and she immediately broke down as she turned and wrapped her arms around me crying.

"You’ve done great. Elyndra will be here soon and will take care of them." I said.

"These poor women. Some of them have told me what happened to them down there. It’s terrible. Those evil disgusting monsters." She said.

As the sun began to set Sarah and the others set aside four tents for the survivors to sleep in. One of the three unconscious women had waken up. The sisters worked together to hand feed soup to the survivors that lacked the strength to feed themselves. While the girls were taking care of everything inside the camp I went outside to the perimeter to check with the guards.

"How is everything out here?" I asked an elf gaurd.

"We have set up two defensive lines. The apprentices are on the first line ten meters from the camp. The rest of us are spread out at fifty meters from the camp sir." He replied.

"There is a group coming in to collect the survivors. They will be led by an elven woman by the name of Elyndra. She is the High Priestess of the Goddess’s church. When she gets here show her to the survivors and send someone to let me know of her arrival." I said.

"Yes sir." He nodded.

I checked with a few more guards then returned to the camp and entered my tent. Lucy had already exhausted herself and went to sleep. Sarah was sitting with Lucy’s head in her lap and was petting her head.

"She worked hard and did an excellent job with those girls." Sarah whispered.

"She did. Did she get anything to eat?" I asked.

"She had half a bowl of soup before passing out." Sarah answered pointing at a half empty bowl beside her.

I returned the bowl to the cook before continuing to walk the camp. As the sun set everyone began going to their tents and those who gave up their tents for the survivors began setting up their bed rolls by the fire. Even after everyone was asleep I continued walking the camp and checking on the survivors. About an hour before sunrise I sensed Elyndra’s aura, and two other similar auras. I went to the outer defensive line to wait with the guards. I saw Elyndra first. I turned to the nearest female guard.

"Go tell my wives we have company." I said.

"Yes sir." She nodded and ran off.

Elyndra stopped in front of me. She was wearing her white priestess robes with the symbol of the goddess on her chest. One step behind her was a human woman in matching robes. Next to that woman was a woman Amber’s height in the same robes. Behind them were a dozen more women in the same robes along with a caravan of seven wagons all bearing the symbol of the Goddess.

I held out my hand and smiled.

"I wish we could have met again under better circumstances." I said.

Elyndra put her hand in mine and nodded.

"I agree Mr. Red." She said.

Then she turned and held her hand out to the human woman behind her.

"This is Azalea, you have met her brother Cornelius." She said.

I held my hand to her.

"I apologize for the circumstances of our meeting." I said.

She took my hand and smiled.

"I’ve heard quite a bit about you." She said.

Elyndra then turned to the other woman.

"This is Hazel, of the mouse-kin family." She said.

"I wish I didn’t have to meet your family in a situation like this." I said taking her hand.

"It is unfortunate, but you have our gratitude for saving my sister." She said.

"Are you sure it’s your sister?" I asked.

"Yes I can tell by her aura even at this distance that it is one of my younger sisters, Fennel." She replied.

"Again I am sorry." I said.

Just then my wives appeared with the guard I sent to get them and I began introducing them.

"This is my first wife Sarah, my second wife and our healer Lucy, my third wife Amber, and my fourth wife Lyra." I said.

We then turned as I led Elyndra’s caravan into the camp and took Elyndra and her priestesses to the survivors. It turns out all of the priestesses Elyndra brought are healers. Most are normal healers but some were a rare class of soul healers able to heal the soul including the mind. Some of the soul healers began working on the unconscious survivors. The rest of the priestesses spread out among the survivors and began working.

Elyndra stayed with me and my wives.

"What will you do with them?" Lucy asked.

"We will take them to a place that specializes in aftercare for situations like this. They will be taken care of for as long as they wish to stay there." Elyndra answered.

"What about the mouse-kin?" Amber asked.

"Her family has already been notified. You should expect them to contact you eventually." She said looking at me.

"How does something like this happen to the child of a Primordial?" I asked.

"Being a Primordial’s child doesn’t protect you from all dangers, only from other Primordials and their children. She made the choice to come out here and suffered because of it. Hazel told me she is a scout classed mouse-kin and was hired by another group to be their scout. That was three months ago. Nobody in that party has been heard from since." Elyndra explained.

"Three months as a goblin horde’s plaything." Lyra whispered.

Elyndra then turned to face all of us.

"Whatever you found down in that cave remember this. Adventurers are only able to go so far into the forest to cull monsters. That means the deeper you go the stronger the monsters become. It will only get more dangerous from here." She said.