Chapter 9: 1-8

In the middle of the night they attacked. A traveling company of Merchants under the paid guard of Mercenaries and the Knights from the Order of Wrunstead. A chance encounter with a stranger, an eager young Goblin Scout, an unfortunate Goblin Fighter. Had it been any other man, the circumstances might have been different. Had it been any other Goblin, it might have been different. A chance meeting, paths crossing, and everything just fell into place.

 

They were Goblins. Monsters to most of the world. For this main reason above all else, Goblin raids. Goblins loved raiding. And why wouldn't they? They got the chance to Level up off of Humans and other species combatants. They got food. And they got new stuff, stuff only found in cities and towns, places Goblins would never dare to go. Because Goblins were not people, Goblins were monsters.

 

The Human camp was in chaos. Controlled chaos. That is what Glub saw from beneath one of the many wagons. The little Goblin Scout watched as other Goblins stalked through the shadows, daggers drawn and ready. They happened upon unsuspecting Humans, often taking two Goblins per Human. One Goblin would cut behind the Human's knee, the other would jump and climb swiftly, driving a dagger into the back of the Human's neck. All in just a few short seconds.

 

The Goblins had managed to kill only five Humans before they were spotted. The Humans in shining armor were shouting and drawing swords from their sheathes. Glub watched as the Goblins shrieked and ran from the Knights. He watched as the Knights gave pursuit. Glub stared at the running figures, shining from the firelight and wondered if this would be enough.

 

With a majority of the Knights in the Human camp distracted. The Goblin Scouts of the Bitterbow Tribe made their move. Glub activated his Obscure Presence and dashed from shadow to shadow, wagon to wagon. He even passed right in front of a female Human who was pulling arrows out of a quiver and she didn't even see him. It was just like that time after Sword Goblin had been slain. His Skill did not make him invisible, just harder to see. You had to really be looking for him in order to tell he was there.

 

Glub noticed the other Scouts, they were moving in. Glub was not the highest Leveled Scout in the Bitterbow Tribe. Nor was he the only named Scout. The other Scouts were getting closer to a wagon with some chests. Chests that the Scouts had watched the Humans dig into for the past hour after a few of the Knights had gotten into a spar.

 

Glub was the second Scout to reach the wagon. He climbed into the back and approached Zig the Level 5 Goblin Scout who was opening one of the chests. Glub hung back just a couple of feet. He turned his head slightly as two more Goblin Scouts climbed into the wagon.

 

Nearby two other small groups of Goblins climbed into neighboring wagons with similar chests. The chests were opened and Goblins raided hands full of useless shiny round metal. Another chest was filled with strange things, like small banners, covered in Human writing. Some of these were rolled up into tight rolls. A Goblin broke a red seal and the paper smacked him in the face. As for Zig-

 

"Ah. Bottles. Lots," Zig said to the other Goblin Scouts. Zig grabbed a glass bottle and handed it to Glub and smiled. "Healing. Potions. Think. Lots."

 

Glub took the potion and stared at the sloshing liquid. The bottle was only half full and the liquid was clear, like water. Glub stared at the potion and then at the smiling Zig. He shook his head and wished he could speak. He tried. "Nrggofh."

 

Zig stared at Glub with a creased brow. "Potions. Healing."

 

Glub shook his head and pointed with a claw to the liquid inside. He pointed and then pointed to one of the Human campfires. The Humans were still shouting and being loud, chasing after the other Goblins into the night. Zig blinked at Glub and frowned, clearly understanding Glub's issue. "Healing. Potion," said Zig. "Not red. Still. Healing. Potion."

 

Glub looked back to the potion in his claws. Glub and seen only a few healing potions. Incredible water that could save a Goblin from life threatening injuries. But the ones Glub had seen the Chieftain use were red. This had no color at all. How could it be a healing potion?

 

Glub stumbled as another Globin Scout shoved him aside and grabbed another potion from Zig. Then another. Until all seven Goblin Scouts had healing potions. Glub was still looking at his potion. He peeked inside the chest and saw that the chest was full of potions. All different colors and some having no colors at all. Glub ran a claw through the bottles but no matter how far he dug, he could not find any red bottles.

 

"Healing. Potions," Zig insisted pointing to the glass bottles of clear liquid he had passed out.

 

Okay. So if the clear liquid was indeed healing potion? Then what about the rest of the bottles? Glub picked up a bottle with purple liquid with his free claw only for the bottle to be smacked out of his claw!

 

"No! Only. Healing. Potions."

 

Glub barred his teeth and wanted to shout. These could be useful. But Zig wasn't going to budge on the matter. And he was the higher Leveled Scout.

 

With healing potions in claw, each of the Goblin Scouts hopped out of the wagon and split up. They had the potions, just like their Chieftain had asked. Now, it was time for the next phase of the attack.

 

---

 

Ghark was a Level 6 Hunter. The Bitterbow Tribe's highest leveled Goblin. He was also a very grumpy Goblin. Staging a raid in the middle of the night sounded like a typical Goblin thing to do. It was the best time to do a raid, most Goblins would agree. Ghark would disagree. Because Ghark liked his sleep.

 

Ghark had even corrupted his partner, a Goblin Archer who Ghark did more than just sleep with every night. The Archer had used to get up early every morning like the rest of the responsible Goblins of the Bitterbow Tribe. But Ghark had taught him better. That it was only the young Goblins that got up before the sun would rise in the morning sky. Ghark could not see the Archer nearby. He hoped they would both survive the night.

 

The Hunter held his bow and watched from a tree branch as the Goblin Scouts found the wagon with the potions. Good. Now all he had to do was sit and-

 

An arrow took a Human in the chest. The Human who was arguing with a Knight stumbled and grabbed at the arrow that was sticking out of his stomach. The Knight grabbed the man and carried him behind a wagon, out of Ghark's line of sight.

 

No matter. Ghark drew another arrow and found another Human, this one with a bow. Ghark loosed and the Human jerked as an arrow struck her arm. She howled and Ghark readied another arrow. He didn't want to kill her. The Chieftain wanted the females alive. But she was an Archer or something similar. Point being, Ghark could not let her live. Ranged enemies were dangerous, Ghark would know.

 

Ghark let the arrow fly and felt his Passive Skill kick in as the woman tried to dodge the arrow by diving for cover. The arrow curved slightly and hit her shoulder. Ghark cursed and grabbed another arrow but the Human was already behind cover. He wasn't fast enough. And there!

 

Ghark whirled his bow and fired an arrow at a Human going for the potions wagon, he was bleeding from a stomach wound. Ghark's arrow took the Human from the back of the head. Ghark watched the Human drop. Humans were running every which way. The Knights were now fighting the first wave of Goblins, the Rogues and Skulkers.

 

Ghark ducked his head as an arrow suddenly shot over him. Where?

 

There! Ghark launched another arrow at the woman who was taking cover behind a wagon. They both fired an arrow at the same time. The woman's arrow went wide by a foot from Ghark's head. Ghark's arrow planted itself into the side of the wagon just inches from where the woman's head was.

 

This is exactly the kind of thing he was trying to avoid. Bow fights. It always started out just like any other hunt for Ghark when it came to dealing with Humans. Until you realized that Humans were not simple minded monsters or animals. They were quite intelligent when you didn't lure them into traps with useless shiny things.

 

Another arrow slammed into the dirt near the woman hiding behind her wagon. Ghark glanced sideways and saw a Goblin Archer had another arrow trained on the woman's cover from the next tree over. More Goblin Archers and Hunters were in the trees too. They had been firing arrows into the masses of Humans. Arrows were being sent down and arrows were be returned up into the trees. A Goblin Archer in the same tree as Ghark but on a different branch cried out and fell when an arrow found it's way into his heart.

 

Ghark aimed and found... an Archer Knight. A Human clad in metal armor, completely covered from head to toe was holding a longbow and taking down Goblin's in the dark. He could see in the darkness, just like the Goblins could. It must have been a Skill.

 

Ghark loosed an arrow and it bounced right off of the Archer Knight's metal plate.

 

Uh oh. Ghark had never fought Knights before. He knew they would be well protected but this was ridiculous.

 

Ghark dived for another branch as the Archer Knight returned fire. The arrow struck the bark of the tree and the bark exploded into tiny splinters! Ghark pulled himself up onto another branch and aimed. He was going to use one of his two Active Skills now. Ghark breathed in and out. Piercing Shot. The arrow shot from Ghark's bow and punched through the Archer Knight's armor, right into the Archer Knight's neck. The Archer Knight took a half step back and fell behind a wagon.

 

Ghark smiled, pleased with himself at the kill. He was going to Level after that, surely.

 

An arrow skewered a Goblin in the eye in the tree to Ghark's right. Ghark ignored the falling Goblin and loosed another arrow at that damned Human female. She ducked her head just barely in time. Ghark cursed again, shrieking in rage and drew another arrow and fired.

 

The fighting below in the camp was escalating. Ghark could hear his Chieftain roaring as he joined the battle. Goblin Fighters and Warriors were clashing with Humans in the camp. And Ghark was still trying to kill this one Human.

 

And in the chaos, Ghark realized something. He killed a Knight. An Archer Knight. He should have Leveled... but he never did. A rookie mistake that he should have avoided. But his blood was hot and energy was flowing through his arms as he loosed arrow after arrow into the Human camp.

 

Ghark cried out as something rammed into his chest. He nearly dropped his bow as the arrow put him off balance. He looked down and blinked at the arrow sticking out of his green skin.

 

Ghark shook his head and snarled. He brought the bow up again, sighting down the Human leaning just a little too far out from behind her cover, aiming at him again. This time, Ghark was faster. His arrow plowed through her lips and through the back of her mouth. Ghark saw her eyes go wide.

 

Ghark saw the woman reach halfway up for the arrow sticking out of her mouth. He watched her fall, he couldn't hear the choked and bloodied scream that tried to rip its way from her throat.

 

The Hunter felt his chest, it really hurt. Had he ever been shot before? A Human had once tried to slice his head open, he still had the scar. He felt weak, dizzy. Poison? Or something else? Ghark felt the world moving around him and then he was falling out of the tree.

 

---

 

Kruz roared as he charged into a group of Knights with his halberd raised above his head. The Knights battling the Goblin infiltrators turned and shouted at the Chieftain of the Bitterbow Tribe. Chieftain Kruz just kept roaring, leading his Fighters into the melee.

 

A small force of his noncombatant Goblins had already led the majority of the Knights away. Was it the right move? To sacrifice his weaker Goblins so he could have a better chance to take on the Human camp. Was it something his old Chieftain would have done?

 

Kruz wasn't sure. Perhaps not. He wasn't a good Chieftain. The more he thought about it, the more Kruz was sure. Whatever had changed to make Kruz a Chieftain instead of a Barbarian had been wrong. Because this is what Kruz lived for, not ruling over a tribe of Goblins.

 

He brought his halberd down on a Knight who blocked it with her shield. The Knight staggered and Kruz twisted on the handle of the halberd and brought it back up in an attempt to catch the Knight across the chest. She leaned out of the way and raised her sword. The Hobgoblin blocked her swing with the haft of the halberd and then punched the Knight in the helmet protected face. The metal bent inwards and the Knight gasped in pain.

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"Dame Collette!" One of the Knight's shouted as Kruz took his chance, swinging his halberd and burying the blade into the side of the Knight's head. Several Knights shouted in dismay and anger towards Kruz.

 

Kruz grunted and pulled the halberd from the Knight's head as her body dropped to the side. He brought the halberd up just in time to block a battleaxe that would have caved right through his ribs.

 

"Die, Hobgoblin!" the Knight threatened.

 

Chieftain Kruz of the Bitterbow Tribe kicked at the Knight's knees. The Knight stepped back and brought the battleaxe down again. Kruz blocked the blow and spit into the Knight's visor.

 

"Cowardly monster!" The Knight pressed on, putting his weight into every strike. And Kruz just kept blocking every blow. It was making both combatants tired. An arrow grazed the Knight's helmet and Kruz slammed the butt of his halberd into the Knight's stomach. The Knight groaned and a little Goblin Fighter stabbed the Knight in the groin with a dagger. The Knight dropped onto his knees and the Hobgoblin took his head off.

 

"Knights. Slow," Kruz muttered before charging at a Knight who was fighting three Goblins at once. The Knight ran one of his Goblins through the stomach with a longsword. In turn, Kruz sunk the head of his halberd into the Knight's guts. The Knight doubled over and Kruz kicked the armored Human away.

 

"Surround it!"

 

"Kill the monster!"

 

"It's got to be the Chieftain! Someone take it down!"

 

Kruz barred his teeth as the Knights spread out around the Bitterbow Chieftain and his Goblins. This wasn't so bad. Knights were just Humans wearing armor. They were only dangerous on horseback. On foot-

 

"Guard Breaker!" One of the Knights, charged Kruz with a warhammer. Kruz tried to block but the impact ripped the halberd out of the Chieftain's grip.

 

Kruz's eyes bulged at the sudden loss of his weapon. Then the warhammer crashed into Kruz's chest. The Chieftain's feet left the ground and he landed on his back. His Goblins began shrieking in fear. They ran at the Knight's with wild abandon, screaming, dying. Kruz tried to get up but something was wrong. His chest... what was that cracking sound every time he tried to move?

 

His Goblins swarmed the Knight with the warhammer and he split a Goblin's skull. Not before they bulled him over and the other Knights were swinging their blades. Goblin heads, green arms, and claws went flying as the Goblins were slaughtered. An arrow caught a Knight through the visor and a Goblin Scout tried to stab a Knight in the neck to no avail. The Knight grabbed the Scout by the head and slammed the Scout down into the ground before stomping on the little green body with a metal boot.

 

The Chieftain of the Bitterbow Tribe was in agony. That last blow had broken more than just a couple of bones. But he had to get up. He didn't like it. But he was the Chieftain and these were his Goblins fighting and dying. They were his. His! Mine!

 

Kruz roared, pushing himself up, straining to stand on his feet. His chest felt like it was on fire, burning from the inside out. But he had to move. Kruz grabbed the halberd and winced at the sharp pain as he bent over.

 

A Knight with a bad knee who had been staying out of the rougher fighting shouted. "The Chieftain! It's getting back up!"

 

Another Knight looked over at the Chieftain a second too late as Kruz split the Knight's helmet with his halberd. He turned and shouted. "Bitterbow! Bitterbow! Bitterbow Tribe!"

 

The shout was carried throughout the fighting by his Goblins with voices.

 

"Bitterbow!"

 

"Bitterbow!"

 

"BITTERBOW!"

 

Kruz was busy trying to fight off two Knights, killing one of them by cleaving through his shoulder and upper torso. He was too busy to notice the Knight with the bad knee hobbling over from the side. Only taking notice when the Knight ran him through the side. "Noble Thrust!"

 

Kruz turned, screaming in pain and grabbed the Knight with the bad knee with both hands by the helmet and twisted with all the rage and pain burning through his body.

 

---

 

The body of a Human lay still beneath one of the wagons. His clothes were bloodied. A bloody knife lay in the grass beside him.

 

The body of a Goblin lay right next to him with a knife sticking out of the monster's neck.

 

Wilb was having a panic attack. A very silent panic attack. Because they were being attacked, raided by Goblins. And they were losing, dying. Knights and Mercenaries were dropping like flies. Most of the Merchants were already dead, laying down in the dirt or staring up into the starry night sky with lifeless eyes.

 

Wilb listened on to the fighting and the screams. He watched as a Mercenary with a scimitar was cut down by arrows. A Goblin running through the camp picked up the sword and stabbed the downed Mercenary through the chest more than once.

 

Wilb felt like vomiting. It was that similar sound. Solid and wet. The same sound the knife and Goblin had made when Wilb had stabbed the monster.

 

The two had shuffled before that. Wilb had screamed. He had kicked. Until the Goblin had been on top of him in the back of the wagon. Then he stabbed the monster.

 

They had both tumbled out of the wagon. Wilb had crawled under the wagon to hide. And he had watched the Goblin bleed out, crawling across the ground with the knife still stuck in its neck. Wilb had watched it for a long time even after the monster had stopped moving. Because looking at the dead monster was easier than looking at the battle around him.

 

He just had to keep quiet and stay still and… Wilb shut his eyes and hoped for a miracle that would save him and his father. He didn't know where his father was. He hoped…

 

The young Merchant kept his eyes closed and tried to remember another time. A time without monsters. A time when Wilb and his parents had their last family dinner together, just before this journey north to Cenia.

 

He tried to remember the way his father and mother went on and on about profiting sales. Tried to remember the way his bowl of pasta had tasted. The way they all had gathered on the balcony, watching the sun set. It was beautiful, peaceful.

 

Wilb cracked open his eyes and the memory turned to ash on his tongue as another body dropped down in front of him with an arrow in the man's back.

 

And the Goblins, the monsters, brought a terrible nightmare into reality.

 

---

 

It was a quick affair. The Goblins of the Bitterbow Tribe raided the Humans quite efficiently. Nearly all of the Humans were dead. And the Goblins had only lost a quarter of their number.

 

The Level 6 Hunter, Ghark stood over another Goblin. The Hunter would have died if not for the healing potion from one of the Goblin Scouts. He would have died… like the lifeless Goblin Archer he stood over. Goblins did not cry.

 

The Chieftain of the Bitterbow Tribe had taken many fatal wounds during the fighting. Kept alive by numerous healing potions, nearly half of the supply they had stolen from the Human camp. The effects of so many healing potions we're not immediate, but Chieftain Kruz was already lightheaded and had to sit down to rest. He gave orders to his tribe from the back of a wagon.

 

They would not be able to move the wagons through the trees. So they would have to take everything they could carry by hand. And leave before the rest of the Knights return. Because the combat-able Goblins of the Bitterbow Tribe were exhausted.

 

A group of small Goblins worked together to carry away the large chest of potions. Other groups banded together to carry other chests. Goblins looted the dead Humans, taking armor and weapons.

 

One of the Goblins picked up a helmet and put it on over his head. The helmet was a just a little too big and heavy for the little Goblin, but this was his helmet now. And so Helmet Goblin stumbled through the raided camp trying not to bump into anything or anybody.

 

Another group of Goblins gathered up the living captured Human females and was dragging them off into the woods and back to the Bitterbow Tribe proper. The Chieftain and several of the male Goblins stared at the females but it would be foolish to stay here any longer than necessary. Any activities should be best enjoyed while not present in enemy territory.

 

Glub was wandering the outskirts of the Human camp, alone. One of Glub's ears twitched, he barely had time to draw his sword when a Mercenary survivor from the raid leapt at him from the shadows with a dagger in each hand. And this Human wasn't the only armed survivor.

 

As Goblins looted and scavenged, mourned and rejoiced, and fought over armor and weapons. Others came from where they had hidden during the battle.

 

An Archer Knight who had pulled himself out from underneath a wagon, readied an arrow and aimed for the resting Chieftain. A Mage and a Rogue Mercenary waited in the darkness, with spell and knife at the ready. A young Merchant lay petrified beneath one of the wagons, he wasn't the only Merchant trying to survive. And in the distance, the rest of the Knights would be returning to the camp shortly. The night wasn't over yet.

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