Liora’s POV

  She had spent most of the night in discussions about specific targets and how each should be accomplished. It took a long time to nail down the details.

  Liora was to start killing all the lieutenants and captains she could find when morning started. Unlike Paul and Eryndral she was not weakened by the sunlight. The skeletons and zombies also needed no sleep or fear of the daylight, so they would be made ready in case of a surprise attack during the day.

  Rikkard seemed pretty confident the goblins would take the field during the day; their hobgoblin leaders didn’t like sunlight. While it didn’t physically harm a hobgoblin, sunlight made it difficult to see. Without hobgoblin leadership, the goblins wouldn’t fight such a powerful foe on their own.

  With the coming of day, Liora set out to find her targets. She had Thunderroar, Grandler and his mount in tow. The four wraiths their way through the forest from their encampment to the enemies.

  “Remember, we are not here to make more wraiths, we are here to strictly kill.” Liora said.

  “Yes mistress.” Grandler said in response. “What do we do if they have ghost powder?”

  “Kill them quickly.” Liora replied. “How common is ghost powder in the Deepwood?”

  “I’m not sure. Our shaman learned it from a traveling bard.” Grandler said.

  “How is it made?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Liora drifted forward, her form barely disturbing the underbrush as she moved. Shadows clung to her like a second skin, shifting unnaturally in the dappled morning light. The forest should have been alive with the sounds of birds and insects, but as she and her wraiths passed, silence swallowed everything. Even the wind seemed to hesitate, afraid to rustle the leaves where they stepped.

  Grandler glided alongside her, their movements as soundless as hers. Their spectral forms wavered like mist, blending into the dim recesses beneath the trees.

  No twigs snapped, no leaves crunched beneath their passing. It was an absence of presence, a wrongness that sent animals scurrying from their path before they were even seen.   A fox darted from the underbrush, eyes wide and fur bristling, fleeing from the wraiths before it even truly understood why.

  They neared the enemy encampment, hidden beyond a ridge of thick roots and brambles. Liora raised a hand, and her companions froze as one. She peered ahead, studying the layout with sharp, spectral eyes. Smoke curled lazily from a few cookfires, and the sound of goblins talking and squabbling reached her ears. No signs of an alarm.

  She leaned closer to Grandler. “We move in quiet. Kill before they even know we’re here.”

  He nodded, his jagged mouth stretching into something like a grin.

  With a thought, she melted into the shadows once more, slipping between the trees like a ghost of death.

  Liora could see a few large tents and guessed that was where her prey was going to be. She moved invisibly towards the tents, Grandler not far behind. When they got close, she dismounted and moved the rest of the way on foot.

  With eerie silence she opened the first tent. Inside was a large hobgoblin sleeping on a cot. With deadly efficiency Liora passed her hand through his chest and gripped his heart. With a squeeze he opened his eyes and let out a moan. Then died.

  “Find the rest of the hobgoblins and kill them like this.” Liora said. “When you are done, we will meet up back at the encampment.”

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  The other wraiths left the tent to accomplish their mission. Liora also slipped from the tent. She was surprised at how easy it was to find the leadership. The next tent she came to had a couple of goblins standing guard. There must have been someone real important inside the tent.

  Not wanting to disturb the guards, and therefore whoever was inside, she made her way to the back of the tent and walked through the wall. Inside a hobgoblin slept on a rather large cot. Luxurious looking furs covered him. As she looked around the room, Liora saw a table with a map on it, mirroring Paul’s command tent.

  How lucky that on her second try she found one of the important people she was looking for. The table also had some other trinkets on it. In a bowl was a white powder. Liora put her hand near it and it shimmered, ghost powder. Even if they had no divine users, they still had shaman who knew how to make this accursed powder.

  Liora made her way to the enemy leader.

  Outside a roar of activity happened. The sudden noise drew her attention from the leader momentarily. It proved a mistake. She looked back at her enemy and he was already throwing his furs off.

  “Guards!” He roared.

  He tried to roll past Liora, but the maneuver failed and she was able to reach inside him and suck away some of his life force. Noises from the front of the tent failed to distract her for a second time.

  A sling rock flew through Liora as she reached for the leader again. The rock pelted the enemy’s leader in the head, knocking him back. While he was dizzy, Liora grabbed for his heart and squeezed it. The commander cried out in pain.

  Turning away from her dead prey and towards the goblins at the entry to the tent, Liora growled as best as she could. One of the goblins screamed in terror and ran away. The second looked at Liora, then his commander, before finally resting his eyes on the ghost powder.

  The goblin dove for the ghost powder. Liora’s hand passed through him, failing to stop him, but hurting him a little. The goblin got his hand on the ghost powder bowl and threw it at Liora. She screamed in pain as the powder passed through her and landed on the floor, it burned.

  While Liora writhed in pain, the goblin pulled out his dagger and rubbed it in the powder on the floor. The goblin lunged at Liora. Dodging she grabbed for his hand, hoping the pain of her passing would cause him to drop the knife. It didn’t work.

  The goblin growled and swung at her again. Liora maintained her distance and tried to strike at any opening he left. With a wicked grin the goblin looked through Liora.

  Without needing to look behind her, she knew another goblin or ally walked into the tent. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the goblin in front of her in fear he would stab her when she wasn’t looking at him any longer, but she also couldn’t ignore the threat that just walked in.

  Standing in the middle of the tent, surrounded by ghost powder, she had little choice on what to do. She had to flee. Feigning an attack at the goblin in front of her, she then rushed to her right when he flinched. Running through the table and tent wall.

  Outside the tent, the world was in chaos. They all must have been discovered.

  “Her!” A goblin yelled, “She killed the commander!”

  She tried to turn invisible, but couldn’t. Not being able to turn invisible must have been a side effect of the ghost powder. She could see Thunderroar fighting a small group of goblins. As fast as she could she made her way over to him.

  “We need to retreat.” She said. “Where are the others?”

  “We split up right after the first tent.” Thunderroar responded. “I don’t know where they went to.”

  “Don’t worry about killing as many as you can, just retreat. I’ll be there shortly.”

  Thunderroar with his instructions, roared loudly, showing everyone how he got his name. He ran through the gathered goblins. The goblins were afraid at first of the charging beast, but the small amount of pain caused by his passing, was nothing for them to fear greatly. It was clear most had never seen a wraith before.

  The shaman who knew about the ghost powder, must have been more worldly than their raider counterparts. The hobgoblins seemed to know what they were also.

  After some searching Liora found Grandler and his mount. They were surrounded by a small group of hobgoblins and goblins. Their weapons were covered in ghost powder.

  “Run!” Liora yelled at them.

  Grandler took a swing at one of the hobgoblins. His mount made to bite another. Liora rand up behind the one fighting Grandler and ran her hand through his heart. With an agonizing yell, he died.

  Grandler was able to escape through the hole left in the hobgoblin’s wake, but there wasn’t enough time for his mount to get through. While the mount’s attention was trying to escape, a hobgoblin with a powdered ax cut through him. The mount cried out in pain.

  “Leave him, we must flee.” Liora said.

  “They’ll kill him.” Grandler said.

  “They’ll kill us too.” Liora responded.

  Liora, Grandler, and Thunderroar managed to make it back to the encampment without being followed. The enemy camp was probably reorganizing and would be at full attention come nightfall when Paul planned to attack.