Gorp: Defender of the Realm

By Jon Ray

Gorp the goblin has climbed far from his humble beginnings as a goblin janitor in Ye Olde Dungeon. With operations of dungeon coming to a halt due to the orc invasion from the west, Gorp the Dungeon Overlord must now travel outside the safety of his dungeon and finally meet with King Gilden of Hallstorm Castle. However, things do not go as planned and Gorp is captured by the orcs on his journey to the castle, setting into motion multiple events with uncertain outcomes for the whole realm. The orc forces are growing stronger and it is up to Gorp and his trusted goblin companions to find a way along with the humans and fairies to defeat them and become the Defender of the Realm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9780359759439

Book preview

Gorp: Defender of the Realm

Gorp: Defender of the Realm

By: Jon Ray

Book Cover by – Simon Tjong

Maps by – Jon Ray

Maps of the Kingdom

A close up of text on a black background Description automatically generated

Dedication

Dedicated to Jaired, Tristan, and Amy,

Who I have always loved

and always will. No matter how

close or how far apart we may be.

Copyright © 2019 by Jon Ray

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2019

ISBN 978-0-359-75943-9

LJR Publishing

PO Box 439

Narellan, NSW 2567 Australia

www.jonray.net

Chapter 1 – Journey to Hallstorm

A drawing of a person Description automatically generated

The Dungeon Overlord’s quarters were packed with creatures of all shapes and sizes. Before the Dungeon Overlord Gorp stood three goblins, Faz, Uniko, and Tozo. At Gorp’s side was Brogg, the Chief Dungeon Janitor. One of the few orcs who remained loyal to both Gorp and Ye Olde Dungeon. Everyone in attendance was puzzled as to why they had been called here. Gorp looked to Brogg and then the crowd before him.

I have been away for some time and having only just returned, I have a great journey ahead of me that the fate of Ye Olde Dungeon depends upon, Gorp started.

He wondered if half these creatures even understood what was at stake or what he was saying?

He continued, Before me are the goblins Faz, Uniko, and Tozo. They are now part of my personal bodyguard unit and will travel with me. To my side is Brogg, as most of you know, is the Chief Dungeon Janitor, also the one who replaced me when I became your Dungeon Overlord. Today, I must embark on my journey, but in my place, I am promoting Brogg here to Dungeon Chamberlain!

Brogg had known he would be getting promoted to 2nd in command of Ye Olde Dungeon, but no one had heard of this title before. Gorp heard the question of Dungeon Chamberlain go up multiple times among the crowd.

Gorp addressed them, Yes…Dungeon Chamberlain is a new title here in Ye Olde Dungeon and it means my right-hand, the 2nd in command after me. In my absence, I am placing Brogg in charge and have filled his former position with a better-known bugbear called Gregek.

A few of his creatures questioned putting an orc on the throne after the recent uprising, but Gorp assured them of Brogg’s loyalty and his trust in him. Gorp too worried about this, but with war at hand, he did not have the time nor a better pool of creatures to pull from. Gorp leaped down from the throne and motioned for Brogg to sit there. Brogg nodded and took his new place and position within Ye Olde Dungeon. Drut held Blue, Gorp’s new black wolf pup and would be taking care of her while Gorp was away for this trip. Already, a week later since Gorp had returned and Blue had grown quite a bit. It must have been Drut’s cooking as well Gorp wondered. He bid everyone farewell and followed by his small unit of goblin bodyguards, made his way out of the Quarters on Level 8 of Ye Olde Dungeon and up the long swirling Great Stairwell to the dungeon, then surface, and west towards Shirewood.

As the small party of four goblins made their trek along the road towards the eastern stone bridge near Shirewood. Gorp wondered more about what had happened to Blip and where Fizzben the wizard who had helped him gone. What business did he have to attend to and would he return to Shirewood or Ye Ode Dungeon he wondered? He would have time later to wonder about these things, but for now, he could see the stone bridge, which meant he was almost to Shirewood. The question now was to either enter Shirewood or arc around it to the north and head straight into the Dark Forest? With the thought of Blip, Gorp turned his attention and curiosity towards the northwest area of Shirewood. He had heard that a makeshift fort had been quickly constructed on the site and it was near here where Blip had met his end. Gorp had lost countless creatures under his command before in the Ye Olde Dungeon, but in the travels with his goblin team, he’d grown slightly closer to them and the loss he felt for Blip was uncommon for him. Back home, when a goblin died, it was customary to share all of the decease’s belongings with the closest family members and if none survive then with the tribe they were from. Gorp, Blip and most of the recruits at Ye Olde Dungeon didn’t really have much in the way of belongings nor did they have a way or method of contacting family and tribe members. Gorp made it a mental note to change this and bring some customs back into Ye Olde Dungeon. Of course, Jamalin being human never cared for these sorts of things. Perhaps having a heart of evil and greed, no Dungeon Overlord before him had. But being a goblin, he saw things differently than the outside world, those who lived above ground in the top world.

Slowly they made their way along the tree line north of the city. Gorp was tempted to check out Fizzben’s shop, but being this early in the day, it was too risky, even while under a cloak, with the orc invasion going on, they had to avoid the few human foot patrols along the tree line. Soldiers in armor and heralded tunics reminded him of the soldiers he had seen when traveling near Whitestone Castle.

Eventually, they came upon the site of a newer and much-improved fort. The soldiers, in fact, were constructing a stone gate and had begun replacing the burned-out wooden walls with stone walls. Perhaps they were making a permanent fort now to protect this end of the Dark Forest. It also made it riskier for him and his party to travel near this area as he spotted both foot and horse patrols around the outer walls of the fort. Gorp had come to see what it was he wanted to see, there were no marked graves or areas to identify exactly where the battle had taken place, but he could see the charred remains of the fort showing a battle had likely taken place here. They kept to the forest in silence and walked parallel to the Dark Forest road until they were some distance before traveling North on the road itself. Gorp’s thoughts soon wandered back to Ye Olde Dungeon and his new pet wolf Blue. She was a cute little thing and his new responsibility. He figured he had done well to assign Drut has her caretaker in his leave, at least the wolf pup wouldn’t go hungry. He had also left instructions with Drut to train her for the coming days when she would serve Gorp as his very own mount. Together Gorp and Blue would make a deadly team and he could avoid all walking he had recently started doing.

They had only wandered on the road for about 30 minutes when horses could be heard coming from the north and headed in their direction. Gorp signaled for all of them to move off the road and into the forest quickly. A few small boulders, too small to hide a full-grown human, but just right for a goblin, provide additional coverage from which to watch the passing soldiers. They must have been King Gilden’s men as the heraldry was different than those he had seen prior in Shirewood and Whitestone Castle. Lucky for Gorp, they had not been noticed and continued traveling down the dirt road towards Shirewood. Perhaps they carried news from Hallstorm he wondered? Soon enough, he would know and better understand the nature of humans involved in this war.

Gorp thought about how he was going to attempt to approach King Gilden. Without Fizzben or another human ally with him, he may be seen as just a party of goblins in league with the Orcs. He had been counting on meeting up with Fizzben and had not planned what course of action to take should he not be available. He didn’t like the idea of sending one of his bodyguards into parley with the humans, but it had to be either one of them or himself. He had to come up with a plan along the way to Hallstorm Castle. Either that or hopefully be captured and given a chance to explain himself to the humans. But that last idea didn’t seem like the best course of action as humans would rather just slaughter a small group of goblins then hear anything they had to say. The other goblins trusted him and his plan of action, this weighed on him like a sack of wet coal. He decided to just keep to himself about his plans and tried to pull from the inner recesses of his training in Ye Olde Dungeon.

Maybe, Gorp thought to himself as he walked along the road north to Hallstorm, he could somehow defeat and take a group of orcs prisoner. Maybe a group of goblins parading a much larger foe around the Dark Forest would catch the attention of the human forces and not get them killed right away? The problem was how to capture orcs that each alone were three times his size? Wit and cunning would be the method, but then most the orcs they would encounter here were prepared for war and with both side at the battle, would not be likely to slip up before a battle. The forest must have spies too Gorp wondered. He also had to worry about being captured by orcs as they usually used goblins as slaves and fodder in their wars. Suddenly his trek up the open road in broad daylight didn’t seem like such a good idea. That’s when he remembered the small trail to the Fae Kingdom that lay west and parallel to the Dark Forest road. He halted his group and suggested they not take any more chances on the open road, Uniko liked that idea and the rest agreed. The trail end was some miles behind them towards Shirewood, but Gorp knew the route it took, so he calculated the direction they should travel to intersect with it. He looked up between the break in the trees from the road, at least they had clear skies to travel by, but it would also be a cold night. He reckoned winter would soon be here as well. Pulling his cloak a bit tighter around himself, Gorp forged ahead in the lead to find the fairy trail.

The terrain here was rough and hilly, thick impassible brush joined by thick pine tree growth prevented them from walking in a straight line. A few times they had to double back from where they came to try again. Twilight came early in the Dark Forest and soon the level of light grew dim between the tree. Gorp circled around an old pine that grown out of a boulder and just when all hope seemed lost, he looked down at trail at his feet. He turned, smiled and waved the others towards him, his feet finally on the small dirt trail. It was dark, but at least they had the trail to guide them north through the forest. It was not long before Gorp crossed the small stone bridge, he wondered if he should call the fairy guards over and ask to be joined by Breanna. She could offer help, but what if she had only stayed a few days and was now back in Bravenwild? Also, he had other goblins with him and that may not have gone over well with King Figwort…no, he would need to return when he was alone. Bravenwild was also too far away to try to make the trip back now, no he pressed on and worked to come up with a plan before he reached the human forces, which to his knowledge, had not yet entered the Dark Forest in force. Last, he had heard from King Figwort was that the humans kept to the tree lines near Hallstorm Castle in a defensive position. Small units of men went into the Dark Forest to try and draw the enemy orcs out, but after a few attacks they caught on to their methods. Now it was mainly a standstill with neither army moving against the other. That was the last bit of news King Figwort had shared with Gorp. It had nearly been a month since the main fighting had begun and Gorp assumed both sides were weary from the battles. This should work towards his advantage if they had to slip through the orc front. In hindsight, he had been a bit hasty in this journey, but the importance King Figwort had implied upon him to approach King Gilden, had caused him to act out of better judgment. Perhaps it had also been the Elderberry Wine that made it seem more urgent than it was? None of that mattered now as he forced those ideas from his mind. He needed to focus on coming up with a plan, but his powering through the Dark Forest all day and into the early evening had fatigued his thoughts. He needed to rest.

Faz…you doing ok? Gorp asked as their walk slowed to a crawl.

Faz looked up and saw Gorp glance back at him from the front, Yeah…we haven’t eaten anything though and my feet are a bit on the hurt.

Gorp held up a hand, Faz made a good point, perhaps it wasn’t the long trek but the fact they had not stopped to nourish themselves.

Ok everyone, Faz makes a good point. We need to rest a bit and eat. We need to move off trail a ways and make camp, but no campfire. No telling where the orcs or humans are located this far north, Gorp ordered.

The group hiked a bit west, deeper into the Dark Forest, just out of sight of the fairy trail. They did not have tents to pitch, instead Tozo maybe a crude lean-too made of many broken pine tree branches. It was cold, and everyone would have enjoyed a fire, but no one complained. Gorp was proud of this small group of goblins, usually, a goblin was the first to complain, but not this lot. They were now seasoned travelers, but what if they fell into a serious fight with the orcs or humans? He also wished he had just risked it and came alone, not to endanger them. The conflicting ideas played out in Gorp’s head as he further avoided what he really needed, a plan on how he would proceed once they encountered the humans. That night, they ate a mix of nuts and dried mushrooms, a few fresh red berries were also found nearby from a bush by Uniko, this at least sweetened the meal and gave them more energy.

Gorp should have known better than to eat just any berry from the Dark Forest, sweet as they may have been, these were the infamous Sleeping Berries of the Dark Forest, normally a component in sleeping potions known throughout the region. Before any of them knew what had happened, they were all fast asleep, snuggled within their cloaks, in the Dark Forest at night. Unprotected with a war between the orcs and humans going on around them. Had Gorp remained awake, he would have seen an orc patrol wander from the fairy trail when the wrog dog smelled an unusual scent off the trail that led right up to the sleeping goblins, fast asleep and unaware. At first, they assumed their wrog had just found the carcass of dead animals, but with a torch and upon closer inspection, they saw green feet, hands and pointed noses sticking out from the hoods. One of the orcs slowly moved back the hood from Gorp’s cloak to reveal him passed out.

This one breath, said the orc who now held his blade at Gorp’s throat.

None of the orcs or goblins made a move. The wrog dog seemed like he wanted to eat them, but the leader of the group of orcs discouraged that as they were goblinoids. Perhaps they had the knowledge or had come to join them? He gave the command to capture them instead. It was quick and easy work to bind all their hands and feet, which they then slipped pine branches between them to carry Faz, Uniko, and Tozo. The orc leader just tied Gorp’s hands together and slung him over his shoulder. They didn’t see anything more at the campsite and made their way back to camp. Captain Oakgu would be most pleased and likely want to question the goblins. Tying them up was just to make sure which side they were on when they woke. If they didn’t wake from their sound slumber, they would just be feed to the wrogs who were always hungry. The orcs returned north towards their camp with the sleeping goblins.

It was normally a few hours hike until they would make it into the orc camp and with the added weight they all carried, it slowed them down a bit more. The party of ten orcs consisted of a single leader, a wrog handler, and eight warriors. They were a scouting party sent to the south to check for any enemy lines or encampments. Captain Oakgu intended to make another move south, but this time through the Dark Forest itself instead of on the open road. Troublesome as it may have been, it would give them the element of surprise when they attacked Shirewood the next time. That was all the leader of the group knew of his mission. Finding goblins was not part of it, but it shouldn’t hurt to add a few slaves to the orc camp. A wounded mad wrog had gotten loose from one of the cages and eaten about six goblin caretakers just last week. Perhaps this group would be the ones to replace them the orc leader mused to himself.

After an hour of non-stop traveling, the orc leader called for a halt to rest. Three of the goblins on poles were laid on the ground next to a tree stump, Gorp was laid atop the tree stump like a sacrificial creature, arms and legs spread out and head slumped back off the stump a bit with mouth wide open.

The wrog handler orc spoke, What happen goblins?

No sure, maybe spell magic? the orc leader replied, rest now we no rest long.

They all drank wine from a shared skin flask and ate bits and pieces of dried meat. Even though they could see ok in the dark, it was still risky to travel this far at night. Usually, they would just make camp somewhere safe and wait out the night. But having captors slowed them down and night travel was best. In the distance, a night owl hooted as it flew between trees in search of prey on the forest floor. The owl came closer to the orcs as they rested and hooted again, then with a screech, it dived down on the ground pouncing hard on the back of an unfortunate forest mouse. After a brief scuffle, the owl launched back into the air with the mouse grasped within its claws. The sound of the scuffle had caused Gorp to stir a bit. As the owl flew away, Gorp slowly opened his eyes and sat up. This startled the orcs and the leader approached Gorp with a spear in hand.

Not move! Give name now! the orc leader barked.

Gorp looked around surprised and became tight lip once he saw his goblins laid on the ground beside him and the orc leader before him.

The orc leader moved a step closer, pointing the spear at Gorp’s face, You no speak?

Gorp nodded, I can speak…but who are you?

Answer my questions now, the orc leader ordered.

Gorp, not seeing any blood on the bodies of his companions answered, I’m Gorp…I and my friends were hoping to join the orc army. We heard maybe we could find you here in the Dark Forest.

Why you deep sleep little green man? the orc leader asked curiously.

Gorp looked back down at his companions and thought, then he remembered the red berries and that being the only other thing new they had eaten. That must have had something to do with them all passing out. Apparently, they had also been captured by orcs. As they were all still alive, Gorp hoped this was a good thing and decided to play the join the orcs card, for now, seeing as he really didn’t