Chapter 830 - The Society for the Reformation of Hags Ⅱ (1/2)
With the letter finished being read out loud, the elderly hag, Perpetua slams her hands in anger against her seat. ”The sheer audacity of the Goblin King!” The elderly hag roared! ”Does he wish to see us dead! We have enough of a hard time to feed ourselves in society as is without needing to become that much more vilified by society than we are now!” The hags whisper in curiosity at the mysterious contents of the letter that had aroused the ire of one of the council members and the shock of the other two.
”Annis,” Melanchtha quietly said as she lowers her hand with the letter in hand, ”the offer of the Goblin King cannot be accepted, it will only solely lead to our deaths.”
”We are already dead!” Annis fiercely countered. ”We cannot mingle in polite society without being spat on or belittled! We both know that things have only worsened with the passing of time! This may be the one shot that we have at redeeming our reputation as Hags and beings as seen as more than flesh-eating monsters!”
”I admire your courage and passion, sister,” Indira said with a natural purr in her seductive voice. ”However, you are asking that we Hags fight against the Giants-.”
A loud gasp is heard throughout the room at hearing the word, Giants. Hags by nature resided in caves and tended often to encounter Giants. Giants did not take for an answer and many a Hag had lost her life at the hands of Giants in the past even until the present day.
”The blood of our sisters still stains the hands of Giants to this very day,” Indira continued, ”and yet you ask that we lay our lives down for wizardkind?”.
”The Giants will cross the channel,” Annis ferociously retorted, ”and we will once more be their prey along with wizards alike. Where will the Giants seek to reside and hide if not in our caves and in our forests?! We will be the first to fall under their harsh hand before any other! We are already under attack, so what do we have to lose except nothing, sisters?”
It is a startling truth, but one that no Hag can deny. Indeed, it would be the inhabitants of the caves and woods that would be attacked first. The giants would seek shelter there and the first to fall would be the Hags and Trolls that resided there. And they would not be mercifully sent away, but rather eaten down to their very bones.
”Is that true, council?” A young hag with greenish skin and warts asked.
The room grows quiet as the Hags stare with sympathy at Jenny Frogbottom. The poor thing had been a tiny mite when orphaned. Her hag mother had died in a territorial giant attack in the far north across the English Channel when visiting distant kin. The poor mite had been missed during the attack but had witnessed the cruel, brutality of the giant rendering her mother limb from limb, before hungrily consuming her flesh. The terrorized youngling had been found by distant kin before returned to her ancient hag grandmother to be raised.
”I have no reason to believe that the Goblin King's words claim is falsehood,” Melanchtha reluctantly admitted. ”However, I cannot condone our gathering to battle against the giants. The Ministry of Magic will slay us for causing an uprising.”
”The Goblin King promised that would not be the case,” Annis Black interrupted. ”The Goblin King has never lied to us before and I trust him enough with our lives to bet on this opportunity.”