Chapter 35

  The Light and the Load

  Dan strapped on his cobbled-together shield, giving it a questionable look.

  Jimmy, his eyes sharp behind his glasses, secured his bow and quiver.

  “Keep the watch tight,” Dan reminded his father.

  “We’re set, son,” George grunted, his newly invigorated body moving with a slow confidence.

  “Just go scout that river already.”

  Dripping sweat, tired, and thirsty, Dan and Jimmy set off west.

  The forest grew oddly quiet as they made their way closer to the river.

  Jimmy held up a fist.

  The forest floor began to vibrate.

  A bush ahead of them blew apart, debris flying wide.

  Four mottled-brown boars.

  Just feet from Dan.

  Too close.

  His Seed flexed.

  Feet sunk.

  The boar struck his shield and was stopped dead.

  His club screamed down through the air.

  Dan's eyes widened.

  The boar's eyes exploded.

  The club continued.

  THUNK

  The ground trembled, the club sinking into the soft earth.

  A poor man's Excalibur.

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  Jimmy was dancing, arrows firing into shoulders and throats.

  Dan felt the building rumble of the closing monster.

  With a twist of his Seed, Poorcalibur ripped up in a spray of earth.

  Another caved skull.

  Two twangs later, silence.

  Jimmy looked to his friend.

  “No Qi?”

  “They were too close.” Dan scratched his beard.

  Jimmy looked at him.

  “It was too dangerous.”

  Glasses glinted.

  “I forgot.”

  Jimmy smirked.

  “There it is.”

  They soaked up the fresh gains like sponges.

  The lean man looked at the corridor the animals plowed through the forest.

  “They seemed like they were running from something.”

  Sniff, sniff.

  “You smell smoke?”

  “...Yeah. Could be more people.”

  Jimmy's hand went to his quiver, “careful.”

  They followed it to the river- clear, cold, perfect.

  Jimmy didn't trust perfect.

  They snuck closer, using a cluster of low-hanging pines.

  "Camp,” Jimmy whispered, “they look like," he peered through the leaves, “are those goblins?”

  The smell of acrid smoke and rotten meat filling the clearing.

  They silently counted heads.

  At least twenty.

  Armed with crude weapons.

  "We gotta go," Dan stated, his voice tight with concern.

  Meanwhile, back at Pie Fort, Luna was freaking out.

  She launched herself at the perimeter, barking and spinning.

  Her gaze was locked onto the tree line.

  "What is it, girl?" Kim asked, moving quickly to the wall, spear raised.

  Kim followed Luna’s frenzied gaze and saw it—a flicker of mottled green skin.

  "I saw something," Kim confirmed, her voice strained. "It looked like a little green.. man. It just.. vanished."

  The group stared at the spot, their hearts hammering.

  Jaime screamed when Dan and Jimmy rushed out of the woods.

  “We found a camp,” Dan announced, breathless.

  "Organized. Near the river."

  “Goblins,” Jimmy added.

  “One was here.. Just now.” Kim’s voice was shaky.

  Georges knuckles creaked on his spear.

  Dan looked around.

  "Get ready. We are about to get really unpopular.”