“Please, enough” the Lord said as if someone were filling his goblet. He took a deep breath and looked up, fixing Muckle with a hard stare. “I ask you, do not bandy witless words at me. For all your foolery I know what you truly are Muckle Gutbuster. And I fear it not. Now,” he turned back to Sir Corc. “You said that you were instructed to…take my measure, was it? And since I would not presume to imagine what that would entail from a group of chivalrous coburn, I wonder if you will tell me what these standing instructions require so we can bring this meeting to a desired end.”

“The Grand Master wants to know if your designs extend beyond the walls of Black Pool,” Sir Corc said bluntly. “If the agreements you have made with the Raider Kings of Middangeard are about more than trade. He also wants me to determine if--”

“I am a Red Cap?” The Lord offered.

Sir Corc did not blink. “Are you?”

The goblin folded his hands into the sleeves of his robe and looked at the ground. His eyes tracked slightly as if reading something written in the rushes. When he looked up again, he spoke in measured tones as if he expected his audience to memorize his words.

“I have ruled this city peaceably for over a century. The Raider Kings with whom I originally treated are long dead, their grandsons now stand on the decks of the ships which guard our port and protect the merchant vessels that transport all manner of goods to the markets for the good of the populace. Any designs of conquest would have to be refreshed with each passing generation of man and would spell the end of all I have struggled to accomplish here.

“Black Pool was an orphan. A cast off. Unwanted by the Seelie Court after the Restoration. Maybe they thought it had been stained by the Goblin Kings or maybe even then they were too weak to build it back to glory. I was born here, sir knight. I was born here when the city was divided between two lecherous humans; childish mortals playing with Magic too great for them to understand. I watched as over the decades my race licked the boots of these would-be sorcerers, and I came to a great understanding.