I was shocked, I really was. I’d expected the goblins to return some time in spring of the following year, and no earlier than midwinter if they hurried. I almost thought Sahhi was playing a trick, but I knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t the type to joke about that kind of thing.
I rode Balers down the road into the wasteland, which eventually became just a beaten path awaiting further construction. We galloped along that and I looked out at the stream that continued down here from the plains. We passed a few test areas and then the salt plains, at which point the path split. Farther south was the miracle spring, which had formed a lake and river that ran to the ocean.
Come spring we were planning to build another rest area—a hut, really—that was going to have a whole lot of uses, but for now we just had the basics in place, mostly for the falconkin to catch their breath.
The cavekin had been steadily constructing facilities now that there was a reliable water source, and so the wasteland no longer had quite the same desolate atmosphere as it once had. We even saw birds and insects around the place now, and the cavekin had told me it wasn’t uncommon to see mice every now and again.
The twins had been out here spreading seeds pretty regularly, and they said that by spring next year we’d probably see our first plant life. We’d most likely see it around the area that the girls called the stone-picking square, which was where they’d been the most active. The name the twins gave the place came from it being rife with verdant leaf stones. It was where the dogkin always dug them up for us, and according to the girls, they didn’t really have to take care of any seeds they planted there because the stones would do the work for them...or something like that.
I’d been hoping to see that square myself if I could get the time, but for now I hopped off Balers, gave him some feed, and took him to the spring for a drink. We took it easy there for a while because Balers had been running at quite the pace, and while I wanted to see the goblins as soon as I could, I didn’t want to break my horse either. I wiped Balers’s sweat from his body and gave him a good brush, then finally decided we were good to continue south. Before I could even get on Balers again, however, Sahhi appeared in the skies and landed on the roof of the rest area.
“Hey!” he said. “The goblins will reach you in just a few minutes! Is it okay to take them to where we’re going to build our wharf?”
“Sure. Nothing there but rope and a few stakes, but it should be enough to moor their boat.”
Sahhi took to the skies and headed south again.
“Guess there’s no need to rush at all,” I muttered to myself. “Looks like you can take things nice and easy, Balers.”
I gave the horse’s face a pat, and then we started walking to our proposed wharf, which was built right around where the spring’s lake met the river proper. I say “proposed” because it really was just a few stakes and some rope. We’d done some work to the riversides and the bottom of the river to make it easier for boats to navigate, but we didn’t even have a pier.
Or at least, so I thought.
Imagine my surprise when I got to the wharf and found that there was a pier. Narvant must have built it knowing we’d need something. The goblins had no issues whatsoever in the water, so they didn’t actually need a pier, but it was still a necessity when it came to loading and unloading goods.
It wasn’t long before I noticed the goblins and their boat on the horizon. The boat itself was filled with goods, while the goblins were swimming in the water around it. And boy were there a lot of them. I saw four or five at the front of the boat and a number on either side supporting it, and I assumed there were more both behind the boat and under it.
There must be at least twenty of them...
Sahhi was perched on the roof of the boat, directing the goblins to my position. Then a goblin peeked up from the water at the bow of the boat and grinned at me.
“Duke! Duke Baarbadal! What a sight for sore eyes! We’ve brought everything we promised! How’s everybody in Iluk?! Is the wind still as refreshing as it once was?! The oceans we call home are as bountiful as ever, and we’ve brought with us but a small sample! Take them with our thanks!”
“Hey there, Iberis!” I shouted back. “Good to see you well!”
I didn’t know why Iberis was talking so nostalgically—it had been less than a week since the goblins left! All the same, I was happy to see him. Clearly he’d made it safely home, and given the energy of his greeting, he’d made it back here without issue too.
Iberis sure was excited. His tail fin splashed against the water, and it pushed him at great speed. He was at the pier in no time, tying the boat down. I’d never secured a boat before, so I wasn’t sure if he’d done it right, but it looked secure enough.
While Iberis did that, the dogkin group that had been following me arrived, and all of Iberis’s fellow travelers emerged from the river. It’d just been me a few moments ago, but now the riverside was bustling.
Everybody helped to unload the cargo from the boat, starting with the barrels that Ellie had entrusted to the goblins. Ellie had put salt in the barrels, but she hadn’t filled them. Actually, when we’d loaded them on the boat they’d been pretty light, but now they were pretty dang hefty. The weight of the barrels told me that Iberis and his friends had done exactly what Ellie had asked and then some.
Each goblin that emerged from the water helped to unload the cargo, and when we were done Iberis spoke on behalf of his traveling party.
“We’ve brought delicious fish as you asked. It’ll take a good while for them to go bad, and we’ve cut off the heads and dressed them too! They’re packed into all the barrels you gave us! We’ve also brought sacks full of fruit from places near the ocean and a few deserted islands. As for the timber, we found a great island full of beautifully thick trees, and we’ll be ready to deliver it in the near future.”
Iberis sheepishly explained that the goblins weren’t very accustomed to logging, so we’d have to wait until after winter.
“As for dried food, we tried, but there aren’t many good locations for it. I’m thinking that the best course of action is to build a village at the inlet. What do you say?” asked Iberis.
That was fine by me, and I nodded. I knew that the goblins wanted somewhere safe on land to raise their young, and this was just the way to get it. The village reps and I had all decided that the inlet at the southern end of the wasteland would be the domain of the goblins anyway. It was too far a location for us to actively manage, so in the end we thought it best to let the goblins manage it themselves now that we were allies.