16. Nothing You’d Want to Put Your Cock In

By the fire, Bazl explains goblin society to Kinch: female sows rule and decide roles, while males are expendable. He introduces Brat, an unhived goblin who left the hives to avoid harming others. Bazl also clarifies the Wostran concept of a table wife—partners who share work and money but not a bed—describing Brat as Szymnal’s table wife.

Brat eats raw gazelle with unsettling efficiency, then approaches Kinch, who is repulsed and suspicious of goblin intentions. Bazl translates Brat’s remark about their both having strange tongues. Galva remains wary, and when Kinch and Galva are returned to their cage after supper, Brat’s stare unnerves Kinch. He lies awake fearing a goblin attack.

At dawn, Bazl convenes a moot to decide Kinch and Galva’s fate. After debate, the Free Traders vote 23–19, with Brat abstaining, to accept them only if they swear to serve three years, three months, and three days. When Szymnal blurts the term in Holtish, Galva refuses to swear. Kinch asks about buying their freedom; Bazl says Galva is too valuable and that Erydon pays well for fighters.

Bazl explains the shield is too valuable to divide, so it will be sold with Galva, whose prowess he praises. Kinch briefly considers staying, but Bazl rejects him as seeming cowardly and foolish, vowing to sell him as well. Returned to their cage, Kinch and Galva trade bleak remarks—then true giants find the caravan within hours, sharpening their peril.