by Jeff Inlo
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Sazar immediately sensed the attack on his goblins. He felt the loss of the minion almost as if someone plucked a scale from his skin. As he stood in a dusty warehouse, he peered out a half broken window toward the north.
“What’s this?” he asked himself. He flipped through a myriad of images in his mind. He saw Pinesway from varying perspectives through the flashes of sensations he obtained from his goblins. He quickly categorized the different sections of town and immediately sharpened his focus on the area of the attack. He could visualize the goblin dead on the ground with a crossbow bolt in its neck.
“Crossbow fire, but just one shot,” the serp mused. “I wonder where from. There will be another I’m sure.” Sazar linked his thoughts directly to the goblins in this precise area. The images of the other sections of town quickly blurred out of his mind. With his attention narrowly focused on goblins near the point of the assault, his contact with the other monsters in town broke off. For these minions, the orders Sazar previously pressed into their minds would remain in the forefront of their thoughts, but they were also now more or less on their own.
“Stay as you are,” the serp whispered to a thread of energy that instantaneously brought the command to the goblins that stood near Joel’s position. They did not hear it with their ears, but it rang in their thoughts as if the order had been shouted from a mountain top. “Keep your eyes to the buildings toward the center of town. Look for movement.”
At that moment, the serp actually felt the bolt that Joel had fired into the chest armor of the second goblin. So powerful was the link to this creature that Sazar almost lost his breath. He followed the gaze of this fallen but unhurt goblin, and Sazar believed he knew where the attacker hid. He focused more strenuously on the sight that came crisper into his mind. Seizing the very vision of the goblin at the scene, the serp saw movement of shadows through a broken window.
“Yes, there he is. This one is getting brave. Can’t let that happen.” He refocused his thoughts on the band of goblins. “Split into two groups and sur…”
His complete order never reached the goblins. Another bolt found a goblin’s ear and the creature screamed. The sudden explosion of pain and sound surprised the serp for only a moment, but it was a moment long enough. Another bolt found its mark and a goblin collapsed, dead instantly with a bolt lodged past the arm hole of its chest guard and into the creature’s black heart. A third and final bolt also hit its target, piercing a goblin’s cheek and through its mouth. This goblin could not scream, but it gurgled in agony.
The serp endeavored to refocus his link with the goblins that were under attack, but the creatures’ own delirious panic overrode such an attempt. They broke formation under the stress, ignored any whisper of the serp’s commands that tried to enter their thoughts, their minds clouded with their own fear. Sazar’s words could reach their minds, but it could not break through the haze of terror that now gripped their every concern. They ran and hissed, scrambled and screeched. They showed little regard for anything else other than searching for cover from the unseen attack. They moved without direction other than the desire to avoid the next bolt.
“Incompetent imbeciles,” Sazar growled. He quickly ended his link with these goblins, deciding further attempts to corral them would be futile. Images from his other minions slowly began to filter back into his mind once more. He sensed no other calamity throughout the town and he drank in the relief that this instance of resistance appeared to be completely isolated. Still, he needed to address the issue to ensure that it would not spread. He immediately redirected the hook hawk to cover the area from above.
He considered sending the rock beetle as well, but quickly dismissed the thought. The beetle remained in its position chomping away on the remains of the two goblins the serp had commanded to be its meal. More importantly, the beetle remained stationed in a strategic position that cut off the river rogue from the rest of the town. With his ring of goblins tightening on the center of Pinesway, the serp wished to keep the territorial river rogue from venturing beyond its claimed land. The rogue could no doubt smell the rock beetle and would remain defensive of its position as opposed to curious about the upheaval near the town’s center.
“Can’t rely on the goblins, though,” Sazar lamented to himself. “My other shag is too far across town. Best to send the big one.”
With that, Sazar directed a mental command to the large shag that served as the serp’s personal body guard and was doing nothing more at the moment then standing guard outside the building. The shag grunted, crouched low, and bounded off toward the center of chaos that was all that was now left of Pinesway.