by Adam Witcher
I stopped packing for a moment and turned to them. It wasn’t often that I heard my father’s name anymore.
“I hope that I do sound like my dad.” I said, raising my voice a little. I caught myself and calmed down. “He was a hero, he left to save my mother at any cost. Now it isn’t just a person at stake, it’s our entire realm.”
“And he never returned,” my grandma said. “And you had to grow up without a mother or a father.”
“If I don’t go now, there might not be a future for Iggoroth at all.”
I think they knew that they couldn’t stop me, but of course they had to try. It was sweet. It was hard for them to shake the mentality that I was still a little boy, that they had to protect me. But I was a grown man, and it was much too late for that.
I hugged them both, picked up my pack, and hit the road.
Though late afternoon was approaching, and the journey to the vineyard would take time, there was still one last stop to make. I headed down my street, then took a left toward Keystone’s Dairy farm. I had to bid goodbye to Cynthia. I made my way along the familiar path toward the great open field where Keystone’s gigantic cattle farm took up a large corner of Fellrock. The dirt road leading up to the house never failed to fill me with excitement. I’d been coming here daily for a few weeks now, ever since she and I got acquainted over a few cups of wine at the tavern.
It was late afternoon, so I knew just where to find her. I crossed around the house and jumped the fence into the big cattle yard. It seemed that the goblins didn’t come this far. Their entire property was unharmed. The cattle seemed a bit spooked, though, probably from smelling all the smoke. They parted quickly as I made a beeline for the back barn.
She didn’t see me at first. I approached the open doorway of the barn and saw her bent over and milking a cow. Her skirt was hiked up high and I got a lovely view of her creamy thighs. I cleared my throat loudly, and she turned and looked. When she saw it was me, she gave me a huge smile and stopped what she was doing.
“Back for seconds already?” She cocked her head and lowered an eyebrow. Her long blonde hair was in an elaborate set of braids today, but they were a little bit disheveled from our morning romp and her afternoon chores. Her pale cheeks turned a rosy red. “I’m glad to see you’re okay. We heard some fighting but waited it out here.”
“About that, I have some troubling news.” Her smile wavered. I sat down next to her on the stool.
I told her about the goblins, the forest nymph, and my new powers as a necrodruid. Her eyes were wide throughout, and she put her hand on my thigh. Then I told her about the vineyard, and the new quest I was undertaking. Her face fell.
“You mean you have to leave?”
“I’m afraid so.” I put a hand to her trembling cheek.
“But you get to be a hero,” she said. “I’ll miss you terribly, but this is much bigger than us. It’s just like the stories.”
We sat, looking at one another for a moment. I put my hand on her shoulder, then stood up. She stood up next to me, a lustful look in her eyes. It seemed I was risking getting delayed further.
“I’m afraid I must be going…” I said to her. “That family…”
She cut me off with a kiss so fast that I hardly saw her move. Her tongue entered my mouth and she grabbed my arms with a savage energy. Her lips were supple and tasted like cherry and cinnamon.
She kissed me deeper as she slowly led me over to the pile of hay off in the corner of the barn. With a moan, she jumped on me and we toppled over onto it. Her breasts were pressed up tight against my chest. We rolled around and got covered in the hay, but our kisses never stopped. I traced my tongue down her neck and she arched her back, giving me another low moan and a shudder.
With one hand, she frantically untied the drawstrings of my pants. With the other, she rubbed me and got me harder. Soon she had them off, and took my tunic off with them. The hay was rough against my back, but I was too consumed by lust to care.
I pulled off her skirt, leaving just a pair of tiny panties around her waist that could barely conceal her perfectly round butt. In the last few weeks, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about grabbing it. I couldn’t contain myself once I put my hands all over it, then lifted it to the contours of her lower back. She threw her arms around me again and straddled my waist. I pulled her shirt off, and her big perky breasts bounced a moment before resting right in front of me. I buried my face in them for a moment.
“I guess this might be the last time for a while,” she said, her eyes hungry with lust.
“We’d better make it count.” I said with a smile.
I ripped her panties off and eased my way inside of her. Then we were lost in the throes of passion so intense that the dangers of the realm seemed far away.
Later, as I pulled my pants up and Cynthia gazed up at me dreamily from the pile of hay, I promised myself that there would be no more distractions. I walked over to her, touched her cheek, kissed her head, then left. Words couldn’t follow up what our bodies had just done. On my way out, I picked up my pack and gave her one last nod.
As the village began to disappear behind me, I tried not to look back at it. I was a good two hours from the vineyard, and evening was fast approaching. The path to the northwest from Cynthia’s farm wrapped around Izmira’s forest a little. While I walked I couldn’t help but stare deeply into it, hoping for another glimpse of her. The shadows danced beautifully in the late afternoon, but Izmira was gone. With nothing left to distract me, I began to run to the vineyard with a fresh spring in my step.
Chapter Four
The sun sat on the horizon by the time I arrived at Wolfgang Winery, and the vineyards were awash in golden light. Night approached as I sprinted along the flat pathway, hoping I would arrive with some daylight so that I wouldn’t have to do battle under the dark night sky. I almost made it in time, but it had taken over an hour of running to reach the place from Fellrock, so I was too winded to fight right away. It seemed that my assault would have to happen in the darkness.
The operation at the winery was so simple that I was amazed that they were able to produce such vast quantities of wine with only three people. The main house stood right in front of me, a modest thing that couldn’t have consisted of more than three or four rooms. There was a giant barn beyond it, where I assumed they processed the grapes, and of course, the vineyards, which stretched further than I could see up to the top of a distant hill. The edges of the farm came into a huge semicircle that surrounded the main house and workshop.
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust and see the foes who occupied the farm. At first, I thought they were people. They were all as tall as me and similar in shape. When I was able to see closer, though, I realized that they shared similar pointed noses, red skin, and sharp features to the goblins I’d seen earlier.
“Hobgoblins?” I mouthed the word to myself. I had never seen any before, but I had seen drawings in one of my grandma’s books. I always figured that if they did exist, they wouldn’t come out this far.
I could see about twenty of them crowding around the front of the main house. They all wore mismatched, tarnished pieces of armor, likely plundered from other victims. These things were known for thieving and murder. The creatures all carried goblets, which spilled dark wine as the hobgoblins swayed and yelled and laughed.
I doubted they could see me from where they were, but I still stepped off to the side of the road for a moment and crouched behind a bush to think. If there were twenty just there, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more lurking around the rest of the property. I could get the drop on one or two, but they would easily swarm me once I gave myself away. These guys looked tough, too. If I did attack, there was a chance that they would utilize their hostages, which were still nowhere to be seen. It looked like I was going to have to sneak in and find them. The house seemed as good a place to start as any.
For a moment, I contemplated waiting until darkness had fully set to
sneak in, but then I recalled something I’d read from my grandma’s book: Hobgoblins have excellent night vision. Great. Might as well use the last few minutes of daylight then.
The path to the house in front of me was clear and open. Rather than give myself away easily, I decided to tread lightly over to the edges of the vineyards and duck beneath the tops of the plants. I dashed as quickly and lightly as I could, and the fiends didn’t seem to notice.
From there, sneaking was easy. The season was on my side, and the grapevines were tall and robust. I blindly made my way toward the house using the guttural laughter to orient myself.
Soon I saw the wooden side of a house and a candlelit window before me. Luckily, the vineyards were planted right up alongside it. I approached the window and peeked in. It was a bedroom, but an unoccupied one. All I could see was a simple wooden bed and dresser. Through the slightly open doorway, though, I could see two sets of legs. One was thick, muscular, and red. The other looked pale and soft but toned.
There was no way to get through the window without them hearing me, so I circled around to the backside. Luckily, the tall vines protected me from view there too. I found another window. From here, I could see much better. Two of the hobgoblins were there, and they were outfitted in finer armor than their companions. From head to toe, they were clad in light steel, with everything from gauntlets to shin guards. From this angle, I couldn’t even see the red of their legs. These two didn’t seem to have any interest in the drunken revelries of their companions. They had a stern sobriety to them.
I pondered my options for a moment. I could take one out with an arrow to the face, but the other would surely alarm the others before I could get another one in. I could try to rush the other with my dagger, but that armor wasn’t going to be easy to pierce.
Then I remembered the other legs. I had to move further to the side to see her, but when I did, it was hard to keep my job from dropping. She was bound and gagged, her short red hair disheveled, but that didn’t subtract from her allure.
Lily’s vibrant hair hit just below her chin and surrounded a pale, lightly freckled face with sharp features. Her striking green eyes held a look of anger and disgust. She was in a simple set of farm clothes, but it seemed that the heat of the season had driven her out of conservative garments. She wore a short brown top that cut off just below a set of perky breasts that filled it out and matching shorts that gave me a full look at her short but toned legs. Despite being tied up and helpless, she looked like she had some fight in her. Her beauty and energy lit up the room, despite the drab decor and sinister circumstances.
It hadn’t even occurred to me that I was staring, that my face was right outside the window. When she saw me, she quickly stifled a scream. I ducked down. I half expected the hobgoblins to have seen me staring or her reacting. When I lifted my head to see if the damage was done, I was relieved to see that the two were still clueless. Her eyes were wide and frantic, though. She tried to mouth something to me, but I couldn’t figure it out behind the gag. I didn’t have long before the guards would notice her.
I poked at the window to see if it was locked. To my surprise, it budged. It only took me a moment to formulate my plan. I looked at the girl and pointed to myself, holding up my bow in an attacking pose. I pointed at the guard that was further from her, then pointed at her, then showed her my foot. Then to the nearer guard, then at my ankle. There was no real way to know if my message had gotten across, but I gave her a quizzical look and then gave her a thumbs up. She nodded.
I lifted my bow, quietly pushed the window open, then aimed carefully, but quickly. There was a glint of recognition in the hobgoblin’s eyes before I put an arrow through him. Lily held up her end of the plan, too. With surprising speed and force, she swung around and kicked the nearer guard hard behind the knees. He barely had the chance to call out before he hit the floor. By the time I was through the window, with my newly elongated dagger through his throat, he had only managed to take a deep breath to call for help.
We held our breath for a moment. After I felt sure that nobody had heard the commotion, I looked to see the girl glaring at me. I stood up and checked the windows. The coast seemed clear. I walked over and pulled the gag out of her mouth.
“Did I really just get rescued by a peeping tom?” she said in a huff. “Get these damn ropes off of me, will you?”
“You must be Lily. Apparently, the pleasure is all mine,” I said. I obliged her request anyway. She shook the ropes loose.
“Just so you know,” she continued, shaking a slender finger at me. “I had all of this under control. It’s just that these two monstrosities just so happened to have a mana blocking emerald, and I… well I suppose they got the drop on me with it.”
“Yeah, sounds like you didn’t need my help at all. Sorry for coming.” I grinned.
“Oh, shut up!” She quickly stood up and walked toward me. There was a fire in her lovely eyes. “All I needed was five more minutes to work through the ropes without them noticing. Then I was going to make a run for the window, jump out, and make a break for the barn to get the emerald and disenchant it. Then I was going to save my father. I even thought to unlock the window before they broke in and tied me up.”
“Wow, I really ruined things.” I couldn’t manage to stifle my laughter. “Thanks for unlocking the window, though. It really worked out well for my plan.”
She took a deep breath, clearly trying very hard to calm herself.
“Okay, okay.” She approached a front window and looked out carefully. “I admit. That was pretty smooth. These two definitely look dead and nobody outside seems the wiser.”
I shrugged, and she looked me up and down for a moment. My bow and fully extended dagger were still in my hands.
“Who are you, anyway?” She asked.
“I’m Rahm. Your mother sent me.”
“My mother!” Her gaze was no longer scrutinizing. “She’s okay? Then you must be from Fellrock.”
I nodded. “And you must be Lily.” I told her about the attack on my town.
“Then there isn’t any time to lose,” she said. “My father and the emerald should both be in the barn. We’re going to need to get those drunken idiots out of the way first. As soon as I can get to that emerald, I’ll be able to fight.”
“What sort of magic do you do?” I asked, smirking again. “Apparently not the type that can untie a rope.”
“You’ll see.” She ignored my quip and approached the window again. I walked behind her to look out. One of the smaller hobgoblins was lying in the grass while two others poured wine into his mouth from an enormous jug. Several of the others stood around cheering.
“They don’t look too difficult to distract,” I said. “To be honest, though, I’m kind of just tempted to join their party.”
“You won’t be saying that when I’m done with them,” she seethed. I looked over to see that the fire in her was still burning.
Chapter Five
We quickly formed a plan. I started by donning the light armor of one of the fallen hobgoblins. It felt good to rid myself of the tattered green tunic, and judging by Lily’s blushing glances, she didn’t mind the view of my bare chest. She quickly turned away when I met her eyes.
The torso and leg armor were a little loose, but I adjusted to it quickly. The gauntlets, however, were much too long. It felt good to be mostly covered, especially when I thought about all the swords and axes that were attached to the drunken hobgoblins’ armor.
Lily opened a cabinet and handed me a large bottle of wine and large metal goblet. I filled it up, and she moved to take the bottle back. I stopped her with a smile.
“Just a minute,” I said. “A red face will help my disguise, you know.” I took a big swig from the bottle.
“You’re going to blow your cover almost immediately,” she said. “It won’t even matter!”
“Every moment counts!” I said, taking another swig.
I moved to the front door and L
ily went to the open window through which I’d entered. I checked to make sure that most of my skin was covered and that the helmet was pulled low. Feeling a flushed face and a blast of liquid courage, I nodded to her and flung the door open.
The group of goblins were in the midst of another wine chugging marathon. It took them a moment to register my presence. I stumbled out with an exaggerated drunkenness, one hand extended with the cup of spilling wine, and the other on the handle of my dagger.
Of course, I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I could tell by their loud laughter and extended fingers that the creatures thought that one of their proper officers had succumbed to the same temptation they had.
There were about two dozen of them. By the time I was close enough to strike and they were close enough to notice that I wasn’t their superior, I wondered if I had made a terrible mistake. I forced the thought from my mind and drew my blade.
In one swift motion, I buried my dagger in the side of the nearest hobgoblin’s neck. He gurgled as blood squirted out. Immediately, the front lawn of the house was loud with the metallic sounds of weapons being drawn.
I managed to jump out of the way of the first swing. The culprit was one of the biggest in the group, and he carried a massive black battle axe. The sloshed look in his eyes betrayed his inebriation, though, and his blow was easy to dodge. Afterward, I looked at their confused and angry faces, and, satisfied that I had their full attention, decided not to wait for another attack.
In the last moment before I turned around and made a run for the vineyards, I saw a glimpse of Lily sneaking through the very last rays of twilight toward the barn. We locked eyes for a moment.
I ran for a few seconds, then turned to ensure that I was being followed. The hobgoblins had taken the bait, running clumsily after me. I had to force myself to slow down so I didn’t get too far ahead. When I was sure they could see me clearly, I ran into the vineyards until I couldn’t see the rest of the farm and waited.