The Iron Teeth

Den of Beasts 7

All of a sudden there was a gasp of surprise from where Mahedium was working, and then the mage began madly scribbling away and sorting through a pile of papers. Everyone looked over his way at the unexpected noise.

"Ha, I can't believe my luck," Mahedium exclaimed as he worked.

"Made a discovery have you? Perhaps Highwart plant is a goblin love potion or something?" Saeter asked with a roll of his eyes.

The mage didn't bother answering, or even appear to hear the other man. He just started chuckling to himself, as he stared at Blacknail's blood sample. Saeter scowled and looked worried.

"I think our mage has lost it," Saeter remarked.

Even Blacknail found the mage's behavior more than a little odd. The hobgoblin got excited over blood sometimes, but only when it was fresher, and there was a lot more of it.

"He needs to stop sniffing his own herbs, if you know what I mean," Khita said.

Blacknail had no idea what she meant. Saeter apparently did though, because the corner of his mouth curled up into something that sort of resembled a grin. Mahedium ignored Khita and turned to Saeter.

"I've made an incredibly exciting find. It has nothing to do with herbs though. After the surprise revelation that Varhs' pet goblin had the mage spark, I decided to run some tests on Blacknail's blood just in case, and I just found something," he announced with obvious excitement.

The young mage was practically vibrating with enthusiasm. In one hand he held up a small vial of purple liquid.

  "Oh, is goblin blood like deadly poison or secretly magical?" Khita remarked.  

"No, that's idiotic. Stay silent while the grownups are talking, please," Mahedium replied irritably.

"What did you find?" Saeter asked curiously, as Khita glared at Mahedium.

"Before I say anything I want to be absolutely sure I'm right, so I need to perform a few more quick tests," the mage answered as he quickly gathered up several things from his desk.

Once Mahedium had what he wanted he hurried over to where Blacknail was sitting. The hobgoblin eyed him warily. He was fairly sure he didn't want the mage running any more tests, or performing any weird magic, on him. The eye test from earlier had been uncomfortable enough.

"Open your mouth, please. Normally I'd just take a hair sample. Since you don't have much in the way of hair though, I'm going to have to take a look at your teeth," Mahedium told Blacknail.

The mage raised his hands in front of Blacknail's face and waited expectantly.

The hobgoblin met the mage's gaze and gave him a dubious stare. The man couldn't seriously be planning on shoving his hands in between his jaws, could he?

"I don't want your fatty human hands in my mouth. They'll taste bad," Blacknail replied as he stuck out his tongue in disgust.

"I keep my hands very clean, and I just washed them," Mahedium responded.

"You're still human, and oily," the hobgoblin muttered.

"Just get it over with, Blacknail. I'll get you a treat right after," Saeter told him impatiently.

The hobgoblin sighed but did as he was told. Maybe he could convince his master to get him one of those meat pies from earlier...

Mahedium raised his tiny light crystal up to Blacknail's mouth. As it flared to life he raised a small knife and began to carefully poke and prod around the hobgoblin's teeth. It was more than a little annoying, and Blacknail gave Mahedium an irritated look. As he had suspected the man's fingers also tasted horrible, like old sweat.