Greenways Goblins (Resurrection Quest Book 1)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  With the threats gone, Marie stopped moving. “We should bind our wounds, just in case they cause us to bleed out.” Tears fell from her eyes, the pain in her arm growing now that she wasn’t in combat.

  “Agreed,” John winced as he sat down and opened her bag, pulling out bandages.

  “Tom, Harry, let me help you,” Dick said, going to his friends.

  “Help support me. I’ll carry shorty,” Tom said as he got back to his feet. “Come on, chibi.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Harry murmured, feeling faint. “We should stop meeting like this.”

  Dick picked Harry up, setting him in Tom’s arms and helping Tom hobble over to Marie. Michael watched them and brought the flask over along with some water.

  Tom thanked Michael and took the flask, taking a long pull before handing it to Harry. “Take a hit, it’ll help.”

  “Pass,” Harry murmured.

  “I’ll take one,” John said, accepting the flask.

  “Daybreak should be here soon,” Dick said, looking at the rapidly coloring sky.

  “Thank goodness,” Marie winced as she held her arm out to Tom. “Can you pull that out for me, please?”

  Tom motioned to Michael, “Give her an arrow to bite on.”

  Michael handed her an arrow, and Marie nodded as she bit down on the wood. Once she had, Tom gripped her arm firmly. “Someone give me the sharpest knife we have.” Marie’s eyes widened and her nostrils flared, but Tom kept talking, “I read a book by an old doctor who treated people that had been shot with arrows during the American colonization period. It’s better to cut the arrow out. The arrowhead might get left behind otherwise.”

  John’s face was white and Dick looked a little sick, but Michael went and grabbed Harry’s dagger. “He’s right. It’s best to cut it out or push it through, depending on the arrow head. The healing of the light doesn’t work well if a weapon is lodged in the body. I can do this if you would rather not.”

  Tom shook his head as he took the knife, “You can remove it once I cut her open. She knows I won’t hurt her more than I absolutely have to.”

  Marie looked faint, but nodded jerkily. John put his arm around her, whispering into her ear, trying to distract her and calm her. Harry watched his friend, wondering if maybe Tom’s mentality wasn’t going to be even more helpful in some ways than he had thought previously. Dick swallowed hard and got one of the waterskins ready to help clean the wound.

  “Okay,” Tom said. “Close your eyes and breathe deep, Marie. This will hurt, but I’ll make it as quick as I can.”

  Her muffled scream made everyone but Tom and Michael flinch. The two of them quickly had the arrow out. Dick washed the wound and John wrapped her arm, fumbling it a little, but managing.

  Once she was done, her face was pale and sweaty. She looked at Harry, “Harry, you need attention most.”

  “Probably,” Harry admitted before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell over.

  “Harry!” Dick yelled as he grabbed his short friend.

  The sun rose over the horizon, the first rays falling across them all. Harry gasped and coughed, shuddering, when the light touched him. Dick felt the rush of his magic returning to him, and everyone else felt their wounds close and vanish.

  “Fuck... let’s not do that again,” Harry groaned as he opened his eyes.

  “Agreed,” Tom said, his heart unclenching a little.

  “Yeah,” Dick said. “Glad to see you made it.”

  “We all are,” Marie added. “We should have seen to you first. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, we all lived,” Harry said, sitting up and touching his clothing. “Can we get this fixed and cleaned, though?”

  Marie sniffled, then laughed, “Okay.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Once they were ready to travel, Harry asked the question a couple of them had been thinking already, “We should have chased them as soon as the sun came up, huh?”

  “They would have healed as well, so it would have been an even fight at that point,” Michael reminded them. “Creatures heal at sunrise, too.”

  “Damn, I hoped that fucker would still be injured,” Dick sighed.

  “He was still burning when he ran,” Tom added. “Maybe he was still burning when the sun came up.”

  “Unlikely,” John disagreed. “We spent at least twenty minutes helping Marie, and that would have been enough time for the fire to burn out.”

  “Maybe we should have held onto a few fire arrows,” Marie said. “We’ll probably want some later.”

  “I fashioned these makeshift fire arrows, but they’ll need oil or alcohol and a spark,” Michael said. “I didn’t want to coat them until we need them because it’ll dry out otherwise.”

  “Fair,” Dick said. “Thank you for preparing more. Tom and Harry have the liquid fire... I wish I had had one of them last night.”

  “If we’re in camp, just snag mine,” Tom said, “or Harry’s if either of us is the one that wakes you. It behooves us to make sure you can slip and burn anything needed.”

  “Yeah,” Harry agreed. “Maybe we should hand one off to whoever is on watch. That way, there’ll be one on hand no matter who’s on watch if an attack comes.”

  “Good idea,” Tom agreed.

  “Agreed,” Dick nodded.

  “Just throw it and break the glass, right?” Marie asked.

  “Yeah,” Harry told her, handing over his acid vial. “It’s strong enough to make me comfortable carrying it while we’re moving, but it’s scored lightly in a couple of places, making it likely to break when thrown.”

  “That is why they cost as much as they do. The vials aren’t reusable and the contents have to be made by an alchemist,” Michael said, “much like the fire arrows I had. That was the entire stock any of the hunters had. We’ll be saving up to buy more from Greg when he comes back through.”

  “We should see about picking up some quarrels of fire for Harry if we get the chance,” John said. “That way when you three are out adventuring without help, you have that option.”

  “Makes me wish I’d picked up fire bead instead of jinx ray,” Dick sighed. “I didn’t know slip was going to be flammable.”

  “I felt the same yesterday about my ice ray,” Marie said.

  “Wish I’d picked a jinx like those up,” John muttered. “I got ones that help with my music, lights and extra sounds.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Dick said. “What are those spells called?”

  “Accompaniment and stage lights,” John replied.

  “What can they do exactly?”

  “Accompaniment adds in background music or lyrics when it’s active. It’s a concentration spell, so it’ll go for as long as I think about it. Stage lights adds up to four colored lights that do what I want them to for up to an hour. It’s concentration as well, but it stacks with accompaniment so I can use both at once.”

  “What, you can have two concentrations spells going at once?” Dick asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I asked Carl about it. It’s a very rare exception to the ‘only one concentration spell at a time’ rule,” John said.

  “Damn,” Dick sighed.

  “We might be able to use his spells for a distraction... that’s what you were thinking originally, right?” Marie asked.

  “Yeah,” Dick nodded. “But if the sound one is only music or lyrics, than it’s not as broad as some other spells. The lights might work, though, depending on if he can make them work like your floating lights spell.”

  “No, mine makes solid beams, like stage lights. You’ve seen them, and I can’t change anything besides the color, intensity, and movement.”

  “That might still work. We’ll keep it in mind,” Dick said.

  “Are we going to follow the trail?” Tom asked.

  “They know we’re here and likely following them. They might set ambushes for us,” Michael said.

  “That is a possibility,” Dick agreed. “We can
try to parallel the trail, but I don’t know if we can do it quiet enough to not get caught. The undergrowth favors the vargrs more than us.”

  “The hoblins had bows, though. Not terribly good bows, but bows. If we stay on the trail, they could hit us from a distance,” Marie said.

  “That’s the trade off,” Tom shrugged. “I don’t think they have as many vargrs as they do hoblins. I’d say stay off the trail.”

  “Okay, let’s do hands. Right hand for trail, left for off,” Dick said.

  Everyone raised a hand, and Dick nodded, “Looks like we all agree that off trail is best. Michael, take point and Harry, take tail. Tom, you follow Michael so you’re in position to attack if he finds them. John, follow Tom. Marie, you follow John and I’ll be right behind you.”

  “Let’s take it slow and careful. Make it hard for them to ambush us and see if we can turn the tables instead,” Michael said.

  “Let’s go,” Dick said, motioning him to lead.

  ~*~*~

  The trip was slow with everyone doing their best to make as little noise as possible. Michael had an arrow placed, but did not have any tension on the string. Harry had his crossbow cocked and ready to fire as he trailed the group, and Tom had an axe in hand, ready to throw. Marie, John, and Dick all had the words of spells on the tips of their tongues, ready to recite them if needed.

  One hour turned into two as they followed the trail several yards away from it. Michael saw patches of charred plant life for part of the first hour, likely from small fires set by the burning greater vargr as it ran.

  The sound of leather scraping across bark caught Michael’s attention and he came to a dead stop. Tom almost stumbled but caught himself, eyes darting for what caused Michael to pause. No one said anything as they waited, but after a few seconds, Michael eased his bow up and drew the arrow. Seeing where Michael was aiming, Tom squinted and caught sight of a hoblin peeking at the trail up ahead.

  Taking a steadying breath, Michael exhaled half of it and released the string. The arrow flew true, striking the hoblin in the neck. With a strangled scream, it dropped its own bow, clutching its pierced neck.

  Michael quickly drew another arrow as more hoblin voices called out. Tom got ready to rush, but held back because none of the hoblins seemed to know what had happened yet. Holding up a hand, he cautioned the others to wait.

  “Jik?” one of the hoblins called out. “What happen?”

  “Jik stupid. Stop messin’ about,” another called out.

  Another hoblin broke from where it had been hidden, moving toward the hoblin Michael had shot. “Jik? Jik? Where you go?”

  The hoblin moved closer; Michael released his arrow when he had a clear shot through the trees. Screaming as the arrow cut across its shoulder, the hoblin stumbled out onto the trail. A dozen hoblins started shouting questions at the wounded hoblin, trying to find out where he had been attacked from and how many attackers there were.

  Michael drew another arrow while the rest of the group moved up and to the sides, trying to find good angles to attack from. A group of hoblins walked directly out onto the trail, looking around for the threat. Two of them had bows, and the others carried spears.

  Dick smiled as he uttered the words for slip. He got to the end of the incantation, and the six hoblins flailed their arms wildly for balance when their feet started sliding out from under them. Less than a second later, a chunk of ice hit the steadiest of the six, knocking it down and throwing shards of ice into the others. A burst of noise had them grabbing their ears, causing the rest of them to fall. One hoblin stopped struggling as blood poured out of its ears.

  Voices cried out in panic, and they caught glimpses of hoblins running away from their wounded friends. Seeing that, Tom charged forward, pulling his second axe. Breaking onto the trail, he let the first axe fly. It hit the ground several feet short and bounced. Cursing, he threw the second one, grazing one hoblin. An ice ray and a jinx ray shot past him, followed by a crossbow bolt and another arrow. Two found their targets, but the others just missed. The five remaining hoblins cried out in fear, knowing they were not going to live much longer.

  With Tom between them and the hoblins, the others started forward. Tom came to a halt just short of the shimmering ground that marked the slip area. One of the hoblins caught in the spell area screeched and tried to stab him. Its spear was better made than those the goblins had used, but it was still far from being a well-crafted weapon. Tom grabbed the spear just behind the head and yanked hard. The hoblin let go of it, but not before it slid right in front of Tom.

  “Goodbye, ugly,” Tom laughed as he drove his fist down into the hoblin’s face.

  The hoblin’s scream cut off when Tom’s fist connected, the punch hard enough to silence it. The other hoblins tried to scramble away from Tom, heading as best they could toward the far side of the slip effect.

  The rest of the group jogged around the spell area to cut off the escape for the hoblins. Marie and Dick used their jinxes to damage and kill the helpless hoblins from several feet away. Michael and Harry found hiding places nearby in case the other hoblins decided to come back.

  “Leave one alive,” Tom said. “We can get some information from it.”

  Dick shook his head but did not say anything. Harry glanced back at his friend, wondering if that was a good idea.

  “Are you going to torture it?” Marie asked.

  Tom looked away from her, “I’m going to ask it questions. It only gets hurt if it lies to me.”

  “As long as you don’t prolong it,” Marie said. “I would hate for you to go too far down that path, Tom.”

  “Yeah, got it,” Tom grumbled, still not looking at her.

  The last remaining hoblin was clearly panicked when they did not attack it like they had its allies. Tom smiled at it as it huddled in on itself.

  “Look here, friend, we’re going to talk. If you lie, I hurt you. If you tell me the truth, I won’t hurt you,” Tom told it in goblin. “All of them want to skin you alive, shove splinters into you, and then light you on fire. I told them there isn’t a need to go that far, but if you don’t cooperate…”

  “I talk, I talk! Don’t hurt me,” the hoblin cried out.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Xiv,” the hoblin said quickly.

  “Well, Xiv, as soon as the ground stops being slippery, don’t try to escape. If you try, well... I won’t be able to help you. In fact, push those weapons away from you,” Tom said, motioning to the dropped weapons from its dead allies.

  “It says it’ll cooperate,” Tom told the others. “Why don’t you all step off the trail and leave me here with it? Make sure I don’t get ambushed while I talk to it.”

  “Okay,” Marie said, touching his shoulder. “We’ll be ready to help if it tries to run.”

  “Sure,” Tom said before looking back at Xiv with a grim expression. Switching back to goblin speech, he shook his head, “Xiv, she said they want to play a game. If you try to run, they will hunt you down. Don’t try to run or they’ll hound you like a rabbit.”

  “No running,” Xiv said, nodding its head.

  None of them interfered while Tom questioned Xiv. Marie looked more worried every time the hoblin screamed in pain, but she didn’t move to stop him. When the screams stopped, she went back to the trail.

  Tom was walking toward her, blood dripping from his hands. He refused to meet her eyes. “Can I ask you to clean this off me?”

  “Tom?”

  “I made it as painless as I could and I killed it quickly,” Tom said.

  “Promise?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” She used occultism to clean the blood off him.

  “What did you learn?” Dick asked, coming back with the others.

  “This clan of hoblins took over the cave system that the goblins had been using. There were about a hundred of them then, a handful of vargrs, and the one greater vargr. Their leader is a shaman named Kek. They’re hoping to expand, a
nd knowing that Greenways is nearby, they plan to do a massive raid on it next year. According to Xiv, Kek sent them to find the goblins and bring them back as slaves, as well raid an outlying farm or two. Apparently, Kek wasn’t happy with just one farmer as tribute from the goblins.”

  “We’ve killed maybe ten or twenty of them, but fifty or seventy-five more? We can’t do that,” Michael said, clearly unnerved by the numbers.