“We need answers.” Kai sighed as he got up from his hiding position, “Don’t come out until you think it won’t spook the children, or I get jumped by a bunch of goblins.

  “Kai, you can’t just go out there.”

  "It's better if only one of us goes; if the three of us pop out of this bush, they’ll run straight into the cave, and I don't like the idea of forcing our way down there after some innocent children.”

  “That is not what I meant,” Alicia hissed in a whisper.

  But Kai was already making his way through the thicket.

  The children were having such a good time playing they only noticed his approach when he coughed and gave them a smile and a friendly wave, asking, “Are you guys playing tag? Who’s winning?”

  They froze in place, big, wide eyes locking on him.

  “I got lost; can you help me?”

  “Go away! I am strong; I protect family!” The girl in charge shouted at him as she waved the younger children in behind her. When she was happy everyone was behind her, she looked about, carefully checking the trees for anyone that might be hiding.

  Satisfied Kai was by himself, she checked the ground and picked up a stone, immediately holding it up to threaten Kai. “Not scared, Oola k- Oola killed bad men, Oola is strong, Oola is strong! Go…” Oola shouted as she threw her stone at Kai. “Away!”

  She actually had good aim, her stone smacking him in the chest but bouncing harmlessly off him as he shrank down to rest on one knee.

  Kai was hoping reducing his stature would help him seem less of a threat.

  Oola, seeing that he had crouched down, gestured for the other children cowering behind her to head for the cave. Kai let them go; they would alert the others, if there were any.

  Gods, he hoped the children had only snuck out to play and there were some adults in the caves that they could talk to to figure out what the hell had happened here. Hopefully they could find a solution to this test that didn’t involve killing goblins that were possibly, if not completely, innocent.

  Her playmates safely in the cave, the little goblin girl remained, standing her ground so the others could flee; she had grabbed another stone, ready to throw it at him should he attempt to chase after the others.

  Kai smiled softly at her, “I see Oola is brave. Is Oola also smart?” Kai didn’t know where he was going with this; he was just going with the flow, and so far, Oola had impressed him.

  “Oola is very smart.” The girl said, affronted, that anyone would have to ask.

  Happy that she was no longer yelling at him to leave, Kai lifted his arms and turned slightly to the left, then to the right. “Oola, do I have any weapons on me?”

  She shifted from left to right, trying to get a better look at him while refusing to move from where she stood. “No… but Oola is not stupid; I told you, Oola is smart. You have armour on,” she squinted, “so you adventurer, you don’t need a weapon to kill; you might have bad magic.”

  Kai smiled, “So you're not just smart; you're super smart.”

  Oola showed a toothy grin and nodded as if that was obvious before pausing to tilt her head in confusion. “How do you speak our words? Bad, scary gnoms don't speak words.”

  “Because I’m smart too.” He grinned at her the way she had just grinned at him, “Oola, do I seem scary?”

  Again, Oola tilted her head and frowned as her big round eyes studied him. Deciding something, she nodded to herself, her big ears flopping as she readied her stone to throw at him. “Big man, bigger than gnoms. Different, strange eyes, but still scary.”

  Kai chuckled as he sat down on the ground, lowering his defences even further. Oola seemed to relax but only slightly. “Oola?”

  “What?”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “If you had a choice, would you want to meet a princess or someone who can float?”

  The hand Oola had her stone in sank slightly as she thought Kai’s question over, “princess that can float.” She decided.

  Kai chuckled, “Clever, that way you get both, right?”

  Oola nodded triumphantly, “Told you Oola is smart.”

  “Very smart. I tell you what, my friends are going to come out. One is an el'vei princess; the other is like me, but better; she can float… Is that okay?”

  “Real princess?” Oola asked curiously as she shifted to look over Kai's shoulder.

  Kai nodded, “Yes, a real princess. We really did get lost, but we got lost looking for someone to talk to so we could find out more about the gnoms and the things they did. Can you go get someone for us to talk to?”

  Oola thought for a moment, looking at him warily; she said, “You could lie, princess and the floating person first. If you are not a liar, I will go get someone.” She nodded to herself.

  “Deal… Syl, Alicia. Come out and meet Oola.”

  Alicia's head popped up from the thicket as Syl drifted silently over to float next to Kai. “Hello, Oola.”

  Oola’s big round eyes got bigger as she looked at Syl, then at the ground below her feet, and then back up to Syl.

  Oola ran off into the cave while Alicia was still working her way through the first half of the thicket they had been hiding away in.

  “I told you he was good with children.” Syl said to Alicia when she finally joined them.

  “You’re kidding; she was terrified of me,” Kai groaned.

  Ten minutes later, Kai was getting worried. “What do you think is taking so long?”

  “This isn’t the main entrance; I think the children were exploring and found this back way out. They were probably keeping it secret so they could come outside and play… someones coming… about ten or so someones.”

  Kai got up and turned towards the entrance, waiting; no one came out.

  “My mana sense is better than that; you have a good five minutes.”

  Three minutes later, the tip of a spear came out of the cave entrance.

  The spearhead was a crudely napped piece of flint attached with twine to a rough stick that was held out by a terrified goblin.

  “I’m warning you, we don’t want any trouble.” Called the spearmen, her voice wavering as she yelled from the relatively safe position of the mouth of the cave.

  “Good, we’re not here to cause any trouble.” Syl called back.

  The spear tip dipped. “You really do speak our language.”

  “All three of us do,” Alicia said.

  The goblin spearmen stepped out a little further to get a better look at the three of them. “Are you from the guild? We only just sent for aid a day ago.”

  Kai gave Syl and Alicia a look. They were talking about the guild again, so he stepped back from the conversation; he needed some kind of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Multiverse.

  He had thought Syl would take over, but it was actually Alicia that stepped forward to say, “No, we will not lie to you; we were on the road when we came across a town where goblin homes were being torn down. A fat gnomel called Fatcher Turdle, calling himself the mayor, approached us thinking we had answered his guild request. We found him deceitful and came to investigate.”

  The goblin woman retreated slightly into the cave to join a discussion that Kai couldn’t hear.

  “If you are not from the guild, then you cannot help us. Return to the road.” Was called out a moment later.

  “If I may, we are not from the guild, but we are still adventurers. From everything we have seen and heard, you have been dispossessed of your homes and forced to hide in a cave. Unfortunately, that is not the end of it. The mayor has submitted a request under false pretences to have you cleared out… wiped out.” Alicia paused, giving her words time to sink in.

  As Alicia had been speaking more and more, goblins came out to listen.

  Alicia raised her voice, “You may have submitted a plea for help, but there is no telling which request will be answered first. The guild should send an investigator. But if the mayor's request is answered before the guild realises something terrible has happened, it could be too late.” Alicia said with passion and determination, “Please let us know what happened. We can help defend you and your children.”

  When she finished, an elderly lady goblin, hunched over and supported by a cane, waddled over to stand in front of them, squinting as she looked up at them, her head and ears shaking as she struggled to maintain eye contact with Alicia.

  “You wish to help us?” she said in a surprisingly firm voice.

  Alicia nodded.

  “You should know before you go acting all heroic. We have nothing to give you; they took everything from us.”

  Alicia looked back at him and Syl; they gave her their approval. They were all thinking the same thing.

  “We're certain this is the right thing to do.” Alicia said with an air of authority he hadn’t heard from her before.

  The little goblin lady cackled, showing a toothy grin, “I lied,” she held out a little pouch, “take these and come inside; much to discuss.”

  “We do not need nor want anything.”

  Quicker than Alicia could react, the little old goblin lady had smacked her in the shin with her cane. “Did your mother not teach you to listen to your elders?”

  Rubbing her shin, Alicia apologised profusely and took the pouch the woman held out in her shaking, little bony hand.

  The moment Alicia had the bag in her hand, there was a flash of light, and the three of them were back in the room with the archways.

  The sound of angry thrumming filled the room.

  Looking in the bag, she said, “I’m sorry, Gift, I didn’t know that would pull us out of the test; I did not think she was giving us our mysterious shards.”

  Thrum.

  She pointed to the leftmost arch, the first one they had done, “That one, I promise you, when we go back into that one, you can show everyone how good you are.”

  Kai had to chuckle; seeing their childish antics was a balm to his soul. He knew it was just a dungeon scenario, that it was all fake, but that last test got under his skin. The worst part is he was going back.