Delver Magic Book III: Balance of Fate

by Jeff Inlo

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  “Humans always cut down the trees,” Lief grumbled to himself with disgust.

  Watching from a small grove of trees that long ago used to be part of sprawling Dark Spruce Forest but was now nothing more than an isolated patch, Lief’s sharp elf eyes could peer though the distance as well as the darkness to make out the movements of several goblin packs. He stayed within the safety of the trees as razor crows continued to fly overhead. The cold air became still as the night grew darker. The elf could smell the snow in the air, waiting to fall and cover the tracks of the moving horde.

  The goblin packs had moved past the trees just as night fell and their numbers had swelled to alarming proportions. They continued their eastward movements and it became all too clear to the elf that Connel must be their ultimate destination. Scurrying over hills, darting down dark dirt roads, and skulking through dormant farm fields, the goblins moved in an orderly fashion with that one apparent destination in mind. The number of goblins in each pack increased ten fold, and the number of these packs grew at the same staggering rate. They did not yet combine into one massive throng, but as they closed upon Connel, they did less to spread their numbers across the vast land. With their raids on outposts and mines now obviously complete, they moved with a bigger goal in mind.

  During his previous travels through Dark Spruce, Lief had kept a casual eye on the trail of the marching monsters. He stayed alert, high in the trees, and was spotted on numerous occasions, both by goblins below and flying beasts above. When spotted, he remained calm as he followed a pack for a short distance and then eventually turned and moved off to find another band. He acted like nothing more than an elf guard keeping tabs on a goblin threat invading the lands too near an elf camp. Such encounters had to be common to these creatures as they traveled by so many other elf camps. As long as his sightings remained consistent and revealed nothing beyond casual forest reconnaissance, he believed he would be disregarded by the dark creatures, and so far, he was.

  With the goblins now out of the forest, however, Lief’s options dwindled. An elf spied out in the open farmlands would now be looked upon with much greater suspicion. He could not yet afford to bring that kind of attention upon himself. As of yet, he was unable to get a fix on the serp that he knew was behind all of this activity. He believed Sazar was close, but the outlying farms of Connel spread over great distances. There was little else he could do but wait.

  “This is as close as I can get… for now.”