“Think Orbin will blame us for letting the greater vargr get away?” Tom asked.
“He might, but Michael will back us,” John said from where he sat next to the lantern, munching on his food.
“I will,” Michael agreed.
“Dick, did you want help searching the room? We’ll need to do it in the next hour or two before the oil runs out.” John asked.
“Yeah,” Dick said, taking the makeshift sandwich Marie offered him.
“I’ll help after the food,” Tom said as he began to eat.
“After food it is,” Dick nodded.
It did not take them long to finish eating, so those who could started to search the room. They found a number of vargr pelts, although most were old and in terrible condition; a bag of copper that had a few silver mixed in, a stockpile of crude arrows, and some hoblin short bows. In a crate, there were a couple of oil vials which would let them keep the lantern burning all night. In one of the corners of the room, there was a cage that would have just allowed a person to sit in it, covered in waste. Dick used occultism to clean it up, removing the smell that permeated it.
“Guess that’s where David had been,” Tom said. “I feel even better for having killed them all, now.”
“I’m glad he was still alive,” Michael said softly. “I wonder why they kept him alive?”
“We might never know,” Dick said. “I doubt he’ll want to talk about it.”
“We going to check the bedding?” John asked.
“We should, just in case they hid something worth a damn in it,” Dick nodded.
As they moved toward the bedding, Michael spoke up, “You might want to clean that first. Goblins and hoblins aren’t known for their cleanliness. It’s probably full of mites.”
Dick used occultism to clean the first bedding pile. When he finished, bugs had been pushed out of the matted plant life, and Tom and John quickly smashed them flat to make sure they did not get away.
“Thank you. I’ll make sure to do that over the entire room before we bed down,” Dick said. “Tom, come with me. We’ll clean and kill ahead of the other two.”
“Sounds good,” Tom said as he moved off to the next bed with Dick.
The rest of the bedding was empty of anything besides filth and mites until they got to the largest pile. Not only was it clean of bugs, inside of it, they found a small pouch. Pulling the bag out, Tom opened it up and dumped the contents into his hand. Three small stones gleamed when Michael brought the torch he had been using closer.
“Michael?” Tom asked, “Any idea what these are?”
“Aventurine,” Michael replied. “It’s a common stone, but still worth good coin to a jeweler. I wouldn’t have expected to see them here.”
Dick frowned, looking at the closest wall. “Take the torch over there,” he pointed at it.
Michael did as Dick said, the torch light illuminating small chunks of green in the stone wall. “A mine?”
“The walls have been mostly hard packed earth, but there have been patches of unworked stone.” Tom looked at the wall for a long moment, “This could be turned into a small mine, but I wouldn’t go much deeper without stripping the top off this place.”
“What?” Dick said, looking at Tom with a raised eyebrow.
“Dwarf knowledge,” Tom replied flatly. “I didn’t know what I know until just now, either.”
“That explains those crude tools we saw earlier,” John opined. “They must have been slowly digging them out.”
“They might have some of the raw stone around,” Tom said, looking at the few spots they had not searched yet. “Let’s get back to work. The village just got a major boon if they want to send people days away.”
“I’ll have to discuss it with Orbin,” Michael said. “We’d be foolish to not take advantage of this mine while it lasts.”
The last part of the room turned up a bag of unworked aventurine. Tom chuckled as he took out the smallest chunk. “If I had some tools and time, I think I could turn this into a gem. Weird having that knowledge stuffed into my head, but I’m not complaining.”
“Wait… you’re going to be the miner now?” Dick laughed as he considered how different that was from where they had been less than two weeks before.
“Right?” Tom laughed.
“I feel like I’m missing something again,” Michael said.
“Inside joke between friends,” John said. “That clears the room. Should we gather up the stuff we want to take and then get some sleep?”
“Yeah,” Dick nodded, then raised his voice a little, “Marie, we’re going to clean the room from the back to the front. Can we get your help so this doesn’t take forever?”
“Of course,” Marie said, getting to her feet.
It took almost an hour to clean the room, but once they had, everyone felt better for it. They had gotten themselves clean as well, and were no longer coated in blood and smoke.
David woke up just after they had finished cleaning. He looked shocked to see the room no longer covered in the blood, filth, and grime it had been when he had fallen unconscious. “What happened?”
“Two of them are magi,” Michael explained. “None of us wanted to sleep here unless it was clean.”
David’s eyes went to the corner where the cage sat, outside of the light of the lantern. “You searched the room?”
“It’s been cleaned top to bottom,” Dick said. “Even the cage. Did they ever say why they were keeping you alive?”
David looked away, “Not in any real terms, but it sounded like they kept me just in case adventurers came looking for me. Kek had been talking about letting me starve to death... if no one came in time to save me from death, then no one was coming and I wasn’t worth them using their food to keep me alive.”
“I’m glad they kept you alive, David,” Michael said, slapping a hand to the farmer’s shoulder. “Greenways wouldn’t be the same without your farm.”
“Did Orbin send anyone to look after it?”
“Yeah… he had to promise that Paul could keep it if you didn’t come back.”
“Paul!? He would give my farm to Paul? That man couldn’t run a farm if his life depended on it!”
“Bad news,” Tom said bluntly, cutting into the conversation. “Your home is going to need to be rebuilt.”
David deflated some, “Yeah, they drove me out of the house with fire. I killed a couple before they took me down.”
“You did better than Rand did,” Tom added. “He died.”
“Will?” David sighed. “Did his wife and kid…?”
“We saved them,” Marie answered.
“That was the smoke the night before?” David asked.
“Yup,” Tom nodded. “We killed the few goblins still at your place when we got there. Your animals are dead and the house is done, but the rest of the farm is still up.”
“If Paul doesn’t kill everything by the time we get back,” David grumbled and sighed. “Marie, right? Do you have any more food?”
“I can give you a little more cheese,” Marie said, getting him some.
“Let’s get comfortable and split up for watches,” Dick said. “We’ll be here until sunrise.”
Chapter Thirty
The first watches went by without incident. When John woke Tom for his watch, David began to thrash and mumble in his sleep.
“David,” John said, going to his side, “wake up.”
“No!” David shouted and jerked upright, his hands grasping for John’s neck.
Tom caught both wrists in a tight grip. “Snap the fuck out of it,” Tom growled.
“David?” Michael asked, waking up. “What’s happening?”
“Night terror,” Marie said. She had awakened when David started thrashing.
“Huh?” David blinked as the nightmare left him. “Why are you holding me?”
“You tried to strangle my friend,” Tom said flatly. “It was that or kill you. I trust you like the option I went with.”
Taking a shuddering breath as Tom let go of his wrists, David nodded. “Sorry… I was in the cage again…”
“PTSD,” Dick said.
“What?” Michael asked Dick, going over to David.
“Post-traumatic stress disorder,” Marie answered. “It’s the aftermath of traumatic stress. Night terrors are a common symptom.”
“It’s something we’ve seen before,” Dick said, thinking of an old friend. “Some can get past the trauma, but some never do.”
“I’ve never heard of that before… can we do anything to help?” Michael asked.
“Be there for him if he wants to talk. You saw the room and you dealt with the hoblins, so you might understand.” Marie gave David a sad smile, “It’s okay to be afraid, and Michael will listen if you need to talk. Talking about it isn’t a weakness.”
David looked at the ground. “If I talk, will it go away?”
“There’s no guarantee,” Tom told him. “It might help, though.”
“If you need to talk, David, talk,” Michael said. “You know the others in the village won’t understand the horror, and I only have a faint idea, but I’ll listen.”
“Okay,” David said as he got to his feet. “I’m going to go see a man about a horse.”
“Take a torch with you,” Dick said, pointing to the bundle near his bag.
“Oh, right,” David said.
“It’s my watch,” Tom said. “You should all get some sleep.”
“I’m going to go, too,” Michael said, getting up.
Everyone else laid back down, trying to get comfortable. David and Michael returned after a few minutes. Michael snuffed out their torch and the two men sat close together on the other side of the room, talking softly.
Tom gave them their privacy, keeping his eyes focused on the tunnel. The hourglass ran out, but he waited a while longer before waking Dick. Michael and David walked back over when he went to rouse Dick, giving him nods as they lay back down.
“Dick,” Tom said, nudging his friend, “you’re up.”
“Got it,” Dick grumbled. He rolled to his feet and went to the tunnel entrance. “Night, Tom.”
“Night, man,” Tom yawned and rolled himself back into his bedroll.
Dick’s watch went by quietly. David shivered and mumbled in his sleep a few times, but did not wake. Dick felt a rush of energy as his magic returned and his wounds healed, and figured that the sun had just risen outside. Harry drew a deep breath as he woke, suddenly feeling better. Everyone else came awake, their wounds healed and spells and abilities restored.
“Fuck, that feels good,” Harry sighed. “Damn close thing, wasn’t it?”
“Closer than I liked,” Dick agreed.
“I’m glad you made it,” Marie said, going over to him. “Have some food now that you can.” She held out the bread and cheese she had set aside for him.
“Thanks, mom,” Harry smiled. “For last night and this.”
“Be more cautious in the future, please,” she said.
“I tried to be this time,” Harry said. “We didn’t have a lot of options, not with…” He stopped talking, thinking David might be awake.
“I know,” Marie said, “but I would have been broken if that had cost you your life.”
“Glad that didn’t happen,” John said, stretching as he sat up.
“Thank god I’m not the ugliest one anymore. Harry took his spot back,” Tom said, sitting up and feeling his face. The skin was smooth, with no trace of scarring from the acid.
Harry flipped him off, busy eating.
“Are we leaving now?” Michael asked.
“Yeah,” Dick told him. “Grab your stuff. We’ll divide the loot to carry back. David will be with Marie in the back. You and Harry take point and lead us back to Greenways.”
“I’ll take rear guard,” Tom said. “That greater vargr is still out there. I doubt it’ll be dumb enough to attack us, but if it tries, it would go for the weakest or the last in line. With you all near David, I’ll be the likely target.”
“Sounds like we’re on the same page,” Dick said, standing. “Use the bathroom if you need to, then we head out.”
“The next room has a bucket that’s been used already,” Michael said.
“I’ll be right back,” Marie said.
“I’ll go with,” John said. “Just in case.”
~*~*~
The first day of travel was slow. David was weak and trudged along, in need of frequent breaks. Tom made a mental note that things like malnutrition weren’t healed at sunrise. The group slowed their pace, realizing that it was going to take them an extra day or two to get back to Greenways.
“Michael, a question about the healing we get with the morning light; does it replace missing fingers?” Tom asked as they were setting up camp.
“Of course not,” Michael said, confused. “What is lost can’t be replaced, though rumor has it that a high-powered spell can do that.”
“That answers that question,” Tom said, looking pensive. “Maybe I should look into armor, after all.”
“Won’t that affect your abilities?” Dick asked.
“Here? Who knows?” Tom shrugged. “I can ask Charlie when we see him next.”
“We do need to stop by there,” Harry nodded. “Sara said she’d teach Dick another spell.”
“Fair enough,” Dick nodded. “I wonder how Carl and Kattie are doing?”
“I hope she’s accepted things,” Marie whispered.
Tom bit his tongue and looked at Dick, who had done the same thing.
Harry shook his head, “Maybe Carl’s been able to get her to listen.”
“We have enough food to make it back to Greenways, right?” David asked, his stomach rumbling audibly.
“We should be fine,” Marie said. “You can join us tonight. You haven’t had any problems today, right?”
“Besides being weak and slow, none,” David replied.
“Good,” Marie smiled. “I’ll get dinner ready.”
“Let’s gather some wood,” Michael said to Harry, “for those of us who need light to keep watch.”
“Okay,” Harry said. “I wanted to ask about some of the plants around here, too.”
~*~*~
The night passed quietly, and everyone breathed easier the next morning. Breakfast was the same fare they had eaten the previous day. David was happy to have it, but the others were starting to get bored.
Today, David was able to move faster and go longer between breaks. Marie asked him hundreds of questions about farming and about the other people of Greenways. David answered them all and even volunteered more information.
“Mom at work,” Tom said softly to Dick, chuckling under his breath.
“Truth,” Dick agreed. “I don’t know what her face stat is, but damn, it’s gotta be good.”
“Probably wanted to make sure she could be the negotiator for our group. She ended up in that position most of the time, anyway.”
“Fair. It makes her a great match for John. Those two are going to have the easiest time talking with the natives.”
“Sara will probably take to her right away,” Tom chuckled. “Want to bet they start comparing recipes in less than an hour?”
“No bet,” Dick laughed.
Marie looked back at them with a puzzled expression, and the two men just waved and smiled at her. They were trailing behind the others by a dozen yards or more, staying alert for any ambushes that might be waiting.
“Tomorrow or the next day, you think?” Tom asked.
“We’re moving in almost a direct line for Greenways, and much faster than yesterday,” Dick said. “I’d say the day after tomorrow, if nothing happens.”
“You really think the greater vargr left the hoblins to die?”
“It makes the most sense,” Dick shrugged. “It tangled with us a few times, gauged our abilities, then fucked right off.”
“It’s an intelligent, evil creature. Do you really think
it’ll leave Greenways alone?”
“For a few years. It’ll let them get complacent, then it’ll ravage the village,” Dick replied.
Greenways Goblins (Resurrection Quest Book 1) Page 28