But I didn’t have that option. “I know the battle will claim my life, but I have to fight it anyway.”
Her eyes gently shifted back and forth between mine, her blue gaze full of layered emotion. Then she pulled her knees to her chest and hooked her arms around her legs, petite enough to fit entirely on the chair. “I almost lost you once. I don’t want to do that again.”
“My mind is set.” I wouldn’t change it, even for her.
“I would never ask you to,” she said. “But we’ll need to prepare for this fight differently. Because bows and arrows and poison and the fighting advantage won’t be enough. We need more people.”
“There are none. And if we wait for our population to match the size of theirs, we’ll probably all be dead by then anyway. Famine. Sickness. An attack.”
“You said other things live down here…like goblins.”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“We call themsciwards. Insect-like creatures with razor-sharp appendages.”
“How big are they?”
“Enormous. The equivalent of six grown men. They’re quick too. We avoid them at all costs. They live to the west, near the caves.”
She took a moment to digest that, like she could picture something she’d never seen. “Sounds like a praying mantis, only on a bigger scale.”
I didn’t know what that was but didn’t say so.
“Have you interacted with the goblins before?”
“They’re a rare encounter. We suspect they live in the walls of the chasm.”
“How many are there?”
“That’s unknown.”
“So, you’ve interacted with them, but you aren’t enemies?”
“It seems like they keep to themselves,” I said. “We don’t compete for resources.”
“Then that would mean they don’t need the light.”
“I suppose.”
“Have you conversed with them?”
I tilted my head, surprised that she was so interested in a creature that had ears like bat wings, yellow eyes, and leathery skin. “Explain your interest, Hanne.”
“I said you need more people, Morco.”
I cocked my eyebrow. “Goblins aren’t people.”
“We can’t be picky—not if we want to win.”
My instinct was to shut down the idea because it was ludicrous, but I didn’t because of the source of the suggestion. Hanne had only delivered good ideas since she’d arrived here. She’d earned my respect—and my consideration. “I’ve never spoken with a goblin. The Elders may recall a conversation from the past. They don’t seem hostile to us, but that doesn’t mean they would be interested in our cause.”
“We could make them interested. Perhaps there’s something we could offer them, something they want.”
“Since we already have nothing, I can’t imagine what that might be.”
“We won’t know until we ask,” she said. “Where are they?”
