Chapter 20 - Goblin Tracks

  Cal was an average tracker, he had a little skill from, his time in the Black Blades watching Edwin their ranger, but he was far from an expert. Which was why it was so lucky that goblins - and whatever the big thing was - made such a mess wherever they walked.

  The trail through Blackwood Forest was more like a path. At some points it felt like a road.

  The four of them moved through the forest, a few meters off the main path, parallel to it, but far enough away that any goblins on the path would have a hard time spotting them. They moved in silence, Meliana and Teth on one side of the trail while Cal and Kaila crept on the other side. As they had once both worked in the same merc group, Meliana and Cal were generally able to anticipate each other, and anything they couldn’t, they communicated with hand signals.

  Off the goblin track, the underbrush was thick, the trees were tall and the light only made it’s way beneath the canopy very rarely. Blackwood was a wild forest, and it made Cal feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t just that the bark of the trees was a completely unnatural blackish-purple, but he also felt like he was being watched. Not by people or goblins, but by unseen eyes, the eyes of fey or of spirits. It wasn’t like the creeping forest where the trees were always watching, this felt like… he didn’t know what.

  Each step down the trail made Cal’s heart beat faster. If the unseen eyes on him weren’t bad enough, having these people - allies - around him as he walked towards danger terrified him, almost made him sick. He hadn’t gone into a fight with people at his side since…

  Blood.

  Leg.

  Teeth.

  Well, it had been a while. It almost made him feel feint to think about. When he was fighting for the opportunity to go and save the missing people he was running on adrenalin, on instinct, but now that he had time to think…

  He had agreed to work with the group despite telling Meliana that he worked alone, but now that it was happening… it made him nervous. He couldn’t go through all of that again. Not that he had much of a choice. He supposed that he just had to make sure everything worked out.

  That, however, was easier said than done.

  The longer they walked the more conflicted Cal became about the victims chances. On the one hand if the goblins had gotten them back quickly then they would have had more time to… do whatever it is they did to their victims. But on the other hand the further it was, the longer they would take to reach them.

  It took thirty minutes before the group found signs of life. A Goblin on Meliana’s side of the trail. It was small, about the size of a halfling with a small nose, big eyes and a wide jaw filled with needle-like teeth. It had big bat ears on the sides of it’s head and a thin mohawk of coarse brittle hair. It’s skin was a patchwork of muddy greens, subdued browns and dirty greys, and it sat on the side of the path gnawing on what looked like a femur.

  Meliana signalled Cal and Kaila to stop so they crouched down and waited, watching the goblin. There were a few moments of silence and then a crack as Meliana darted through the brush and stuffed the leg bone into the goblin’s open mouth as she shoved her sword into it’s back. Up and through. It came out of the creatures chest and after a brief moment of seizing up, it went limp.

  Meliana pushed it off of her sword and wiped its brown blood off the blade and onto its trousers. Teth then grabbed the body and brought it into the rougher undergrowth to feed the trees and the animals of the forest.

  As soon as they were done Cal began moving again. Meliana mirrored him and they prepared for what would come. With one goblin found and Cal’s suspicions correct, they knew what they were dealing with. Their camp wouldn’t be far. Goblins didn’t stray far alone, they were pack creatures, almost as social as people.

  It wasn’t long before they could hear the goblins, only a few though, which seemed strange considering how many people had died. Meliana saw the reason before Cal did and she made hand signals to let him know.

  “Guards.” Cal whispered to Kaila. “Four of them, in front of a cave entrance.”

  She nodded without saying anything and Cal continued to watch Meliana as she began to give instructions.

  Kaila and Teth would stop and wait while the two of them snuck up on the four guards and took them out. She described how far ahead they were, that there was a bend in the trail and where Cal would need to go to attack, then she asked if he could take two down without making noise.

  Cal considered for a moment, thinking about how she’d described their positioning and then looked up at Meliana and nodded. She gave him a thumbs up and then pointed at the sky and raised 1 finger before closing her first and raising three fingers. One minute and thirty seconds they would attack, and Cal started counting in his head.

  Ninety.

  He turned to Kaila and motioned for her to stay and wait. She crouched down and Cal turned his back on her to start walking as quietly as possible in the direction that Meliana had given him.

  Seventy-five.

  Moving through the underbrush as quickly as he could he almost stood on a twig and gave away his position. There was a balance he had to maintain; fast enough to get there in time, careful enough to avoid detection. Careful enough often meant ‘slow enough’ as well.

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  Sixty.

  Cal was thankful that there were no animals in the vicinity. One of them could have blown his cover just as easily as a snapping twig or a fall, but he wouldn’t have any control over it. He assumed that the goblins had driven them away with their actions, and Cal thanked them for that.

  Forty-five.

  There was a clearing in front of the cave, and Cal found that first. He kept moving, circling around the clearing to get next to the entrance where the four goblins were standing. The cave entrance was easy to miss at first but once you saw it, it was obvious thanks to it’s size. It wasn’t like a cave In the side of a mountain where it was standing up and you could see inside. From where Cal was crouched it was more like a rabbit’s burrow. There was an overhang from a rock, and the path went down into the earth at an angle. Cal wondered if some of the goblins had made the burrow or if they had stolen it from some other creature.

  Thirty.

  He moved quietly around the perimeter, eyes ever on the goblins in case they spotted him or Meliana. Thankfully they were too busy engaged in each other. They were talking in a language Cal didn’t understand and they were making gestures at each other that Cal didn’t want explained.

  Fifteen.

  He moved to the side of the entrance, a meter from the goblins. The two he was meant to kill were standing directly in front of him, facing away. Across the other side Cal knew that Meliana was preparing to strike, though he couldn’t see her.

  Only a few seconds left, he couldn’t strike too soon, or the goblins facing him would sound the alarm. He couldn’t take too long or the one’s he was supposed to kill would see Meliana and do the same.

  He had to strike right on time.

  Cal drew his weapon and steadied himself, ready to leap forward. His thumb beat a rhythm on the handle of the sword, counting down the seconds.

  Three left. Two. One.

  Zero. Go!

  As Cal leapt out of the bushes Meliana appeared on the other side. Cal needed to move quickly and kill with accurate efficiency, or at least make sure they couldn’t speak while he took them out.

  His first strike, a thrust, hit the goblin on the right in the back of the neck. He felt the blade vibrate as it cracked through the creatures spine killing it instantly.

  Opposite him Meliana appeared, her cutlass sweeping through the air brutally fast and cleaving straight through the two goblins on her side as they clutched each other in a mock fight. Her two were dead in an instant.

  As her’s were falling Cal pulled his sword back out of the creature’s neck and struck again, readjusting and thrusting for the other’s neck. It moved, turning to see it’s falling comrade. The blade didn’t break it’s spine but instead slashed over it’s throat. It didn’t die, but Cal cut it’s vocal chords. He cursed as the creature grabbed it’s throat and tried to scream. He pushed his other hand forward - which was always waiting to join the fight - as he pulled the sword back and forced power into his palm. A flame bullet shot from his palm and buried in the goblin’s chest. Hurting it but not killing it. He used the opening as it fell backwards to thrust again and buried the blade into the chest wound, forcing it to the floor and stamping hard on its face, killing it.

  As the creature died Meliana and Cal both looked into the cave. They remained there motionless for a few moments waiting to see if a goblin had heard the commotion, or if they’d smell the burning flesh.

  Silence.

  Nothing came after them.

  They seemed to relax at the same time and Cal retrieved his sword. Meliana signalled the others and they appeared from the forest, falling in behind them. Meliana raised a finger to her lips as Teth called “Nice work.”

  Cal looked to Meliana and they both took deep breaths which they let out before heading into the cave. It was pitch black inside and they didn’t want to let anyone know they were coming, so Cal couldn’t light his sword. Meliana and Kaila could see in the dark though.

  The captain took the lead with Teth behind her holding her shoulder. Cal walked behind him with a hand on his back and Kaila brought up the rear, a hesitant hand resting on Cal’s shoulder.

  It felt like the cave went down for a while before it levelled out, mostly in a straight line with a few curves left and right. From time to time Meliana would make them stop and wait for light footsteps in the dark to pass and once she was forced to leave them to kill one in the dark, but eventually Cal became aware of flickering lights up ahead, and the group began to hear voices and movement. From the number of voices they could hear, it was clear that there were many more than four this time.

  Cal moved up beside Meliana and they crept carefully through the cave until they reached the lights. They were in a large cavern with a huge fire in the centre. It opened up onto a platform with ramps down on either side so the goblins inside didn’t immediately see them when they arrived, which was a good thing because there were a lot of them.

  The group crept to the edge of the platform, about ten meters above the rest of the cavern and shrouded in darkness. The cavern was massive and circular, with a second exit at the other end, a big semi-circular opening into a deeper cave.

  Around the cavern were dozens of goblins. A full village of them, not just a camp, with little huts made out of all sorts of materials. Body parts, Cal had no doubt, were among them. Near the other exit, at the back of the room Cal could see the people.

  Cal was almost sick, and he heard Kaila wretch to his left when she saw it as well.

  Next to the cave opening was a pile of body pieces, people who had already been taken apart. Goblins were freely taking the pieces. For food, for materials, for whatever they needed. The pile was so unrecognisable as people that Cal had no idea how many were there, or how many had already been used.

  Next to that there was a rack where half a dozen men and women had been hung by their ankles and had their throats slit so that their blood would spill into bowls to be collected.

  And finally to the left of the rack was a cage made of bone and wood. In the cage Cal could see a group. A quick count told him that there were three adults, and behind them, five children.

  “I count forty goblins.” Teth said.

  Cal took a quick look around and nodded his agreement. “Looks about right.” He agreed.

  “It’s too many.” Meliana told him. “Four against Forty?”

  Frowning, Cal looked across at the people, the children. “We don’t need to kill them all.” He said. “We just need to grab them and get out. We have the element of surprise, we’re all strong…” Cal looked over at Kaila, “And if numbers are the problem we’ve got as many animals as have died around here.”

  Meliana eyed him and then looked back out at the goblins. She looked back at Kaila. “Can you even the odds?”

  She considered for a few moments closing her eyes and placing her hand down on the ground, searching out, and then said, “I can get six fighters…” She cocked her head to the side. “More if we don’t need them to fight.”

  Frowning, Meliana looked back to the cavern. “All right,”

  “Great.” Cal said. “Here’s the plan.”

  “Yeah, I got your plan.” Teth said, standing. “We break through the goblins and get the people out. I’ve been looking forward to a good fight. Lets do this.” He grinned and leapt off of the platform and down amidst the goblins.

  Cal’s eyes widened in shock as he leapt. He looked to Meliana who looked equally shocked. “All right, we improvise.” He said. “I’ll get the people.”

  “I’ll keep them off you.” Meliana added, resignation evident in her tone.

  “I’ll cover the retreat.” Kaila said, slamming both hands down on the ground and searching for her newest servants.

  Cal nodded to Kaila and Meliana, then leapt down after Teth with the captain following in his wake.

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