Page 30 of Ogres Don't Play

He crossed his arms, eyes hard, while he waited for me to stop shaking his people. The last of my harp’s strings faded from the effective chord, and I moved onto one that strengthened my shield instead. In the next few seconds, the wall above me was covered in dark bodies that clung to the rock, hundreds of vicious goblins that would fall on me and my shield with their magic. They waited on their ‘Goblin authority’ for the command to attack.

“Do you want to die?” he asked, voice dangerously melodious, and a flash of his serrated teeth reminding me of a body on the field I’d seen after it hadn’t survived a goblin.

“No, I don’t. Otherwise, I’d hardly be offended by your goblin assassin’s attempt to kill me. If it weren’t for my good friend and musical associate, Cutter, I wouldn’t be facing you today.”

He cocked his head slightly as he studied me. “You survived a goblin attack? Perhaps you should be grateful for the miraculous circumstances and…” His words trailed off as he glanced at Lanise as if he’d just recognized her as the niece of someone important. Hm. That would probably make her someone important as well. “You were the one carried from the scene by Arrook? You are his consort?”

I really didn’t like the way he was looking at me, like what could Rook the Luthier see in some scrawny musician like me? I smiled at him and plucked a set of strings. “We are working towards common goals. You could say that we share political ideals. Why shouldn’t ogres be placed in various parts of society as well as goblins?”

That was the thing about goblins. They were horrifying assassins, yes, but they were also notoriously vicious bankers, accountants, and other things that had to do with meticulousmathematics skills. He hesitated, then nodded at Lanise. “I see that you are putting your convictions into action.”

“Naturally. What else would you do with them? Goblins are so talented at ingratiating themselves into various levels of society, but then one of them throws a bomb in the middle of the city, and you wonder if they aren’t better left in the caves.”

He cocked his head. “Indeed. You are perhaps foolishly confident in the strength of your shield, considering that you’ve come to my part of town.”

“Perhaps. You could try me. Rain down your goblins and see what happens to them when they strike my shield.”

He held very still while he studied me and then raised a hand in a dismissive gesture. It took a few seconds, but the goblins clinging to the walls and ceiling dispersed. “What do you want?”

“Justice.”

“Your song mentioned vengeance.”

“Did it?” I smiled as sweetly as I possibly could, but he’d seen me in action, so he didn’t buy it.

“I am currently hunting down the assassins responsible for the attack that you were so lucky to survive,” he finally said.

“Excellent. When you’ve found them, and cut off their hands, I’ll expect you to send them to me in the mail, but in the meantime, I need renumeration for the medical bills, trauma, and general irritation I feel every time I remember the itching.”

“You came here for money?” His eyes narrowed.

“Absolutely. Ten times the rate the assassin was paid, I believe, is what the usual payment is to survivors who appeal to the ‘Goblin authority.’”

“You are well-informed.”

“Not particularly. It’s common knowledge.”

“You learned how to deal with goblin assassins as well as seducing ogres in music school?”

I smiled with my teeth bared. He was going to pay for that incredibly rude slur. Literally. “I will be waiting here for the money,” I said with a strum of my harp that played the precise order that would shoot pain through a goblin. They were quite sensitive for infernal creatures.

He didn’t wince, no, because he was a ‘Goblin Authority.’ That meant he was a master assassin as well as a master mathematician, probably spy, and whatever else Goblins kept their claws in. “That’s all you want? Filthy money?” He nodded at someone in the shadows without taking his eyes off me. He sounded so condescending, like I should be above money, but he was a goblin. They loved the clink of gold coins more than any other infernal group.

“Now that you mention it, no. You attacked me in my own city. As Music Master, I can hardly allow that without collecting a little more than a few paltry coins. I’m organizing a Jubilee, a celebration of Singsong City, Sing and Song, and I demand six groups of musicians from your people to perform twice a day each day of the Jubilee.”

He leaned away from me, like I’d finally caught him off guard. “You want goblins to perform with you after you survived an assassination attempt? Are you mad?”

I sighed heavily and played a few more chords that made the lamp flare more brightly. “Are you always this rude? I don’t care if you are, as long as you play in my Jubilee.”

His dark eyes widened. “Me?”

I smiled. “How else could I be certain the goblins stayed on their best behavior and didn’t try to assassinate someone if their ‘Goblin Authority’ wasn’t right there to keep them in line? You also have an extremely good tone. I am genuinely looking forward to hearing you sing.”

He blinked at me twice before he shook his head and turned to take a bag from the dark figure who scuttled up to him andthen rapidly retreated before I could so much as get a glance at his features.

He hefted the bag and then threw it at me, directly at my face. It was my payment. Hm. If I didn’t drop the shield and try to catch it, it would fall to the street and all those hungry wolves would fight over it. Perhaps I should have thought about my exit strategy more carefully.

Before I could do anything, a hand darted out and caught the bag, a large blue-tinted hand that belonged to a bare arm and massive shoulder of the ogre who had saved my life from the stone wall. Hm. If that had been an assassination attempt, then I’d been targeted before anyone had seen me with Rook the Luthier. He had some serious explaining to do.

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