Chương 12: The Lamentation of Goblins

Ch. 12 - The Lamentation of Goblins Adventurers are split into the following ranks: Bronze, Iron, Silver, and Gold. Iron is the rank and file of the adventurer's guild. They are the most prolific and make up roughly half of all members. They can be relied upon within reason, but lack the levels to be a true threat. Silver are the veterans, the Adventurers who have the levels and gear to tackle almost anything. They are famous, lauded and celebrated.

A Silver Rank Adventurer's opinion holds weight, and even the ruler of a city will listen when they speak. Gold are the elites, only a handful being found in any one country. They are perhaps the highest levelled combatants you will ever be able to meet. Bronze … Bronze Rank are the beginners, the rookies. The children. A full quarter of all Adventurers fall into this rank. Not because they are stuck there. No, it is because so many of them perish before ever reaching the next rank.

- from the writings of Steadholder Eckhart"Goblins!" Marie's vehemence filled whisper named the creatures for Wyatt. He'd heard the word 'goblin' before of course, but he wouldn't have pictured these beings if pressed. They looked … pathetic. Pitiable. They certainly didn't come across as dangerous to Wyatt, especially as they were currently huddling around a meagre fire. His new companions didn't seem to feel that way though.

Raek seemed grimly excited, a counterpoint to Marie's almost visceral disgust, while Losmer just looked stoic and ready. Raek slid back down the slope of the hill, waving the others to join him, so that they were out of sight should the goblins look up.

"Good job sensing the little monsters, Losmer. This is our lucky day; it looks like more of them have got in." Marie and Losmer nodded grimly, but Wyatt had to ask.

"What do you mean?" Raek looked surprised.

"You don't know? They keep sneaking into the dungeon. No one knows how they get in — certainly not via the entrance! There's a posted bounty for any and all that you kill. This will make the trip worth it for us! We won't even need to go search the ruin now." Wyatt thought back to the half-naked, skinny creatures. It hadn't looked like they were a war band. No, they had looked disturbingly like a small group, even a family, trying to survive.

But Raek and the others, who'd been so quick to help Wyatt out, were talking about killing them like they were mere pests. Raek looked at Wyatt curiously.

"Don't tell me you haven't come across goblins before." Wyatt shrugged noncommittally.

"I've never had to fight them." Marie's voice was hard as she glared down towards where the goblins were, as if she could still see them through the hill.

"You're lucky then. The stories … what they do to any woman they catch … they need to be put down." Raek patted her hand, nodding tightly.

"Don't worry. We'll see to it, trust me on that. Monsters die." Wyatt's confliction rose. If that was the case, maybe the Adventurers were justified? But was it really accurate to say that every goblin did that? It sounded like hearsay to him. He looked down at Kit. The little fox was regarding him gravely, but that was it. She gave no other indication of her thoughts. His grip tightened on the spear he was carrying.

"So what do we do?" Raek looked at Wyatt appraisingly. You're new, and — no offence — I don't know how you'll react. Can I trust you to watch our backs when we engage? Just don't let anything hit us from behind." Wyatt took a deep breath, centring himself.

"Yeah, I can do that." Marie smiled her thanks, even though her eyes still looked cold.

"If something happens, you don't have to stop it on your own. Just yell a warning." Raek, nodded in agreement.

"Right, exactly. Okay, team — you ready?" Losmer had an arrow in hand, ready to nock. Marie was gripping her staff tightly, wisps of coloured light trailing from the glass orb on top. Raek had already readied his shield and was now drawing his sword.

"Team — just like we practiced. Let's do this!" The three adventurers moved stealthily up the hill towards the summit. Wyatt didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't for Raek to crest the hill and then run down the opposite side, as silently as he could, sprinting towards the group of small goblins. Losmer was aiming with his bow, moving halfway down the slope, but not letting loose just yet, and Marie was following Raek down the hill, albeit at a more sedate pace.

Just before they engaged with the still oblivious goblins, Wyatt realised what was bothering him. When Royce had been about to attack Kit, Wyatt's skill had warned him. Had let him know how dangerous the action was. But here … here there was nothing. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Wyatt spoke softly, just to himself, as he watched the young Adventurers begin the attack on the goblins, whispering what he wished he'd said before they left.

"But … my [Danger Sense] isn't going off …" There were seven goblins huddled around the campfire when the Adventurers attacked. They didn't see or hear them at first, only becoming aware of Raek's swift descent when he was right on top of them. One of the goblins screeched a warning, a few of them turning and fumbling for weapons. The rest just cowered, two of them clutching at one another. Raek reached the bottom of the incline. He held his sword low, his shield raised to block any possible attack.

He bellowed a skill as he struck.

"[Piercing Thrust]! Die, monster!" Raek's blade skewered a goblin, running it all the way through its chest, the tip of the sword erupting from its back with a spray of gore. At the same time that Raek attacked, Losmer loosed his arrow, muttering his skill quietly.

"[Unerring Shot]." His arrow flew, guided by his skill, arcing downwards until it struck another goblin in the throat. It let out a gurgling cry, clutching futilely at the fletching of the arrow, before falling backwards into the fire. There it lay, flames crackling across its body, smoke filling the campsite.

"Got it." Losmer muttered to himself in satisfaction. He nocked and loosed a second arrow, but missed. The five remaining goblins shrieked loudly, looking panicked and terrified. One tried to dart around wide of Raek, but ran into Marie. The happy, smiling, and friendly [Mage] was none of those things now. She spat out a spell, her voice harsh.

"[Strangling Vines]!" Green vines rusted out of the ground, growing and twisting, covering and wrapping around the goblin, locking it in place. It couldn't move, couldn't even flinch. It yelled something out, but it was cut off when Marie brained it with the butt end of her staff. Raek sprung past Marie, leaping over the fire. He drew back his shield and rammed it towards a quivering goblin who was holding a spear in shaking claws.

"[Shield Bash]!" Raek's shield crunched into the face of the goblin, knocking it down onto the grass where it writhed, clutching at its head. It tried to scrabble its way backwards and away, but Raek stomped down onto its legs to hold it in place, and then stabbed down — ending its life. Alerted to a sound behind him, Raek spun on the spot, his sword scything out, catching the neck of a goblin who had attempted to charge him while holding a sharp rock.

The goblins head flew, and its body collapsed into a twitching heap. The last two goblins that were left tried to make a run for it. They moved at an angle, around the hill that Raek and Marie had descended from, trying to avoid Losmer's bow. Unfortunately this meant that they were headed right for where Wyatt stood. Oh no. That was all Wyatt thought as they approached him. He wasn't scared; they were barely half his size and carried nothing more than a stone knife between them.

Their eyes were wide, tears visible in the corner of their eyes, and they were holding hands. He could feel their desperation, their terror. Their sorrow. With a jolt, Wyatt realised that his skill, [Natural Affinity - Monsters], was giving him a painful insight into what they were feeling. Wyatt gripped the borrowed spear tightly. He lowered it reluctantly, wishing he was anywhere else. Please don't come this way. I won't chase you — just … don't.

"Wyatt! What are you doing!" Raek's voice calling from below didn't snap him out of it. Wyatt was lost in the goblin's eyes. The creatures only looked vaguely humanoid, with large pointed ears, flat-topped heads with scraggly hair, and vividly green skin, but their eyes … their eyes were filled with awareness. The goblins approached, sprinting as fast as their little legs could carry them. One raised its hand, the stone dagger in its hand. It lunged, lashing out … and Kit bit Wyatt on the calf.

The little fox's sharp teeth pierced his skin, jolting him back to reality. Wyatt had just enough time to set himself, to aim his spear, and then thrust. There was a sickening, tearing sensation, a brief resistance, and then the spear plunged all the way through the skinny goblin, exiting out its back. The goblin clutched at the shaft of the spear, coughing out bloody foam, then sagged. Its eyes went dim as it became a dead weight on the end of Wyatt's weapon.

The last remaining goblin turned and ran, wailing and waving its arms. Wyatt watched it go, doing nothing to stop it. He couldn't be sure, but he thought the creature was sobbing. He felt sick — this wasn't like hunting and killing an animal.

"Nice work! Marie, get the last one!" Raek called out to Wyatt. The swordsman was already cleaning the blood from his blade, confident that the brief battle was almost over. Marie raised her staff, her eyes hard as she glared at the last running goblin. She spoke her spell.

"[Conjure Flame]." Instead of some kind of fast moving fireball, a small globule of fire appeared in the air in front of Marie. It floated through the air, on an intercept course with the goblin, and hit it on the arm. It was enough for the spell to take effect. The goblin desperately tried to claw the flame from its arm, but it stuck fast, growing and spreading until the goblin was afire. Rolling in the grass didn't help or put it out. It just burned.

Wyatt strode swiftly down the hill towards the flaming creature. He ignored the questions from the other watching Adventurers, tried to block the shrieking cries of pain from his ears. He raised his spear and thrust, once, ending the goblin's suffering. Then there was silence. Raek smiled widely, sounding inordinately cheerful.

"Well done team! And Wyatt, you pulled your weight too! That's the kind of easy victory I like!" Losmer sounded a bit grumpy as he stowed his bow.

"It wasn't perfect. I missed my second shot, and I couldn't risk firing after that in case I hit one of you. Next time I should move somewhere with a better vantage point before we engage." Raek nodded in agreement.

"That's good tactics Los'. But we didn't need to this time. It was only goblins." Wyatt looked around at the carnage, taken aback by just how casual everyone was while being surrounded by death. The goblins looked even smaller now, child-like. The one that Marie had set aflame, as well as the one still smouldering on the fire, smelt horrific. Wyatt jumped when he felt a hand on his arm, Marie. The [Mage] grinned at him.

"Whoops, I guess you still have a bit of adrenaline going! Was that your first real fight? You did well — you didn't freeze up too much either."

"… thanks."

"Hey, don't be like that! It's a compliment, I swear. By the by — that last goblin is still my kill. You finishing it off doesn't count." Marie winked at Wyatt and walked over to the others, leaving Wyatt staring. He looked down at Kit, the little fox having remained glued to his side since he froze. Wyatt muttered, keeping his voice low.

"What the hell was that. Is that … normal? They were just cooking their dinner, they weren't attacking anyone." Maybe it was true that the goblins were monsters, maybe it was true that they deserved this. It still left a sour taste in Wyatt's mouth though, just ambushing and slaughtering them without warning. Even when being killed they hadn't become aggressive. They had just tried to get away. But the horror of it all wasn't completely over.

As Wyatt watched, the three Adventurers pulled out knives and knelt by the goblins they'd killed. Very matter of factly, they gripped the small green heads and began to saw their ears off. Raek glanced up and saw the expression on Wyatt's face. He hesitated for a moment, then just laughed. He held up a hand in apology to Wyatt. A hand that was holding a severed goblin ear.

"Ha, I'm sorry, Wyatt! I'm not laughing at you exactly. It's just — your face. You really are green! The Adventurers Guild has a bounty on every pair of goblin ears from the dungeon. Four Silver a goblin. That's our lodgings taken care of for weeks!" Losmer made a sound of annoyance as he kicked the smoking body of the goblin out of the fire.

"Maybe a bit less, Raek. I'm not sure they'll take these ones - they're all burnt up. The last one that Marie got is probably the same." Raek faltered for a moment before rallying. He scoffed.

"Nonsense! An ear is an ear. Who cares what state it's in?"

"I do if it's breaking apart when I try to —" Wyatt blocked out the sound of good natured bickering. He walked away a little, sitting on the slope of the hill. Evening was falling, and he could hear insects chirping all around him. The sky above was beginning to change, darkening, stars appearing as the inky blanket of night crept up. Wyatt absently wondered if the dungeon was mimicking the night sky outside, or if it was something else. Either way it was a welcome distraction.

He could still smell the burning goblin, could still remember the sensation of his spear entering its flesh as he put it out of its misery. Kit nudged at his hand with her head, but he didn't react. The fox let out what sounded like a sigh, then hopped into his lap. She settled herself, curling up, a comforting and warm weight. The two of them sat there quietly until night had truly fallen.