Chương 29: Valindra - Goblins

Snap!

"Light," Valindra said. The dark forest burst into shades of golden light around. The canopy overhead rustled, birds fluttering away. Everything was quiet. Should have been quiet. The campfire flickered.

"What's wrong?" Kara asked, opening one eye, raising her hand to block out the offending brightness.

"I thought I heard something," she said. A small rustle. A crunch. Something. She rubbed the exhaustion from her eyes.

"I've not heard anything, go back and get some rest." Valindra scowled at Kara. The woman had been snoring when the rustling awoke her. In fact, all of their new ragtag band of companions were sleeping. Gareth, the leader of the Mayflies, sat propped against a tree, drool dripping from his open mouth. Fucking hell. Valindra walked out of the campsite, bringing her orb with her and sending it forward to illuminate the woods ahead. Still nothing. Gareth snorted.

"What the hell is going on?" Kara sighed.

"Valindra thinks she's caught something." The breeze shifted, wafting campfire into her nose. But there was more. Something else, more than just the body odor and sweat of her travelling companions. The sharp smell of iron. Blood. Something flashed, and a branch snapped. Valindra's mace appeared in her hand. She stepped back to press against a tree. A soft twang filled the air, and an arrow embedded itself into the bark behind her, only inches from her face. She dove forward as two more twangs rang out.

Kara and Gareth leaped to their feet, their swords and daggers unsheathing. Another arrow whizzed past her. With a thought, she extinguished her light, returning the night to pitch black, and diving out of the way as two more struck where she had just been standing.

"Goblins!" Branches snapped as Kara charged forward, her blade a blur in the dim moonlight. Something wet splattered, a wet gurgling sound echoing into the woods.

"Got one!" Kara laughed. Valindra clambered to her feet, using the mace to lift herself up. Fire sparked deeper in the woods, illuminating a rush of green figures running after Kara. A goblin rounded a tree, a dagger raised in each hand, teeth bared. Valindra stepped forward and raised her hand.

"Light!" The bulb of sunlight flashed in front of her, blinding the goblin as it lunged. Valindra raised the mace over her head and let gravity do the rest of the work. Blood splattered, and the goblin's skull crunched, blades only inches from reaching her.

"Over here!" Gareth shouted, his twin short swords spinning in a spiral as he carved down two more goblins. Kara was at his side in a moment, standing against his back and meeting the blades of the ambushing goblins with her thin rapier. Her movements flowed like water, slicing through a goblin like a conductor rather than a butcher. Not a single bead of sweat formed on her brow. Meanwhile, Gareth huffed, blades weighing heavier and heavier in his hands. His chops came down like cleavers on a tough cut of meat.

"Fuck! There are so many!" More commotion filled the camp as the Mayflies' mage and healer scrambled from their cots. Valindra held her breath, grip tight around the mace she held at her chest. I've got to get used to this.

"Ambush!" a goblin screamed, running right past her. She blinked, and swung the mace like a bat into the goblin's chest.

"Foiled again!" the goblin croaked out, and Valindra swung the mace down again, cratering its chest. More arrows flung from the darkness, one taking Kara in the calf, the other going wide. The warrior winced, her step faltering. Gareth gawked at the arrow jutting from her, stumbling back.

"Are you okay?!"

"Keep fighting!" Kara hissed through her teeth. Another volley of arrows flew forward. With the density of the forest, most didn't hit anything other than trees, and the thud thud thud of each missed shot hammered through the night. Valindra ran forward towards the archers, channeling her mana and filling herself to the brim before screaming: "Gistel's Whip!" The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The familiar whip of light extruded through her mace, using the weapon as an anchor. The whip lit up the faces of the archers, and she lashed outward. and catching the two goblins unaware. THWACK! The whip cracked against their armor, burning through and sizzling the worn leather. One scrambled away, yelping. The other took the opportunity to toss their bow and draw their dagger. Valindra snapped the whip forward again, this time wrapping the length of light around the goblin's throat and pulling. Sizzle. Pop.

The holy whip severed the head clean off, cauterizing the wound before any blood had a chance to spray.

"Let me go! I'm sorry!" the other goblin archer screamed as she prepared to swing again. She paused.

"Zap!" Lightning blasted down from the heavens, striking the goblin dead and leaving it as a husk of burnt flesh. The Mayfly wizard ran next to her, out of breath, staff ready.

"He surrendered," Valindra said. The wizard raised a too-thin brow.

"A goblin? Surrendering? Nonsense. Besides—there are more coming." Thirteen more goblins sprinted forward through the trees. Valindra grit her teeth. Raising her mace-whip in a defensive pose. Her mana channels roared. Before when she had used Gistel's Whip, she'd only held onto it for a handful of seconds. It had been minutes now. She wobbled.

"Inferno!" the wizard shouted, and a wave of fire spread out in an arc in front of them. Everything caught ablaze. The spew of fire painted the forest bright yellow, burning down even the living trees and green grass. Her eyebrows popped, hair singed.

"Valindra! Drop the whip!" Kara yelled. Valindra blinked, head spinning. Gone was her composure—her breathing exercises—replaced now with pure exhaustion. The wizard raised his hands again, "Zap—Ugh!" The flames cut out, and the lightning never came. A dagger stuck out of the wizard's throat, and he gurgled before collapsing onto the ground. A tall goblin stepped through the flames, metal armor glowing red. He stepped over his burnt companions and laughed.

"Metal armor! I'm invincible!"

"Drop the fucking whip, Valindra!" Kara said again. Valindra scowled. This goblin had just killed someone. She rushed forward, whip cracking against the shining metal. It bounced of, leaving narrow scars along the smooth steel. The goblin raised a heavy sword and trudged forward, howling a warcry with each step.

"Gistel's Hammer!" The whip disappeared, light scattering and reforming into a warhammer. The mental imagine of the rose garden was gone, and despite her mana channels screaming, her body giving out, Valindra roared. She brought the hammer down onto the armored goblin, and the metal caved in. Bones crushed. Kara shouted again, but her words were soup.

"Huh?" Valindra said. In her core, the last rose was plucked, and everything went black. Sleep had never come so easily in her entire life. Waking had never been so difficult. Gareth shook her awake, his face twisted in a dozen conflicting emotions.

"Come on. We need to get going." The camp was gone, already packed away. Only Valindra and her small set of supplies remained. She stretched, but her entire body was sore.

"We don't have a whole lot of time," he said.

"What is wrong?" Gareth shook his head.

"We can talk on the road." He paced away, leaving her on her own. Horses moved and carts rattled. Standing up only took a couple of attempts, but once she was steady on her feet, the rest came easy. A steady breeze shifted through the woods, bringing a wave of fresh, cool air. She shivered. She gathered her bedroll, slinging it onto her back. Her mace sat on the ground a few paces away, crusted with blood. Gareth disappeared into the crowd of people making their way back onto the road.

Everyone carried bags under their eyes. Many carried untreated wounds. A horse whinnied behind her, and she jumped. Kara sat in the saddle, grin plastered wide across her face, despite the unfocused look in eyes.

"I thought you'd never get up."

"What happened? Last night? The last thing I remember was sitting there…"

"Serious mana burn," Kara said, spurring the horse forward.

"You were up for quite a bit longer than you probably remember. It's like drinking too much, except instead of blacking out drunk, you blacked out because your mind prioritized your mana channels." Valindra followed Kara to where her horse was tied up.

"Is that why everything hurts right now?"

"Yep. That's why I'm happy I never invested much in magic. I can stretch out a sore shoulder. Can't really stretch out what you have going on." Valindra climbed onto her saddle, collapsing into a slouch. Her head rang, but pushed onward, doing a brief headcount of those ahead.

"Eleven," she said.

"But I don't recognize some of them. What happened?"

"The Mayflies lost two last night," Kara said.

"The wizard and their squire. If you hadn't woken up when you did, we would have lost a lot more. Good work out there." Gareth's pained expression became clear. Valindra shut her eyes, remembering last night. The dagger in the wizard's throat. The armored goblin. She gasped.

"You were hit with an arrow!"

"Two," Kara said, laughing. Kara pointed to her calf, which was wrapped in a clean, white bandage.

"Their healer does good work, though."

"And all the other people? I don't recognize most of them." New tired faces had entered the fold. Men and women, all dressed in varying amounts of gear. They looked just as exhausted as the rest.

"Welcome to the rush. You chose a good time to leave Highview. The roads are about to be a lot busier on the way to this tower. Most traveled through the night to be here. Most were more unlucky than we were. It's been a decade since the Guild has entered the Wilds proper." Kara grinned from ear to ear.

"And things are about to get wild."