AGoblin'sTale

by Scott

  As they broke into the clearing, the charging riders were greeted by a hail of arrows from bandits positioned at the edge of the woods. Almost instantly, the knights’ formation split into two and accelerated out of the way. The knights avoided most of the arrows, and the rest failed to penetrate their armor.

  However, their sudden course change meant they were no longer directly headed toward Blacknail and Khita. The pair kept running though. At least one of them wasn't stupid.

  Behind them, the enemy footmen charged into the remaining bandits at the broken barricade. A melee broke out as the two sides fought for control of the entrance to the camp. The bandits there were outnumbered and steadily giving ground until a large group of reinforcements detached from the woods and rushed over. The new group of outlaws smashed into the side of the soldiers, and the fighting intensified.

  The two formations of horsemen were rampaging through the camp. They had split up and headed in different directions, but they were now circling around to meet back up. The speed and weight of their mounts made them seemingly unstoppable. They rode through the camp unopposed, trampling tents and cutting down stragglers.

  Herad and Red Dog had reached the center of the camp and joined up with more of her men. Her house and several sturdy timber buildings guarded their flanks. So far, the knights were sticking to the outside of the camp, where the buildings were thinner and their path was clear.

  A minute later, a gasping hobgoblin made his way over to Herad’s group with a still-shocked Khita right behind him. As Blacknail leaned against a building for support, he spotted several of the band’s horses off to one side. They were tied up and didn’t seem like a threat, but he kept an eye on them anyway, in case they decided to join their fellows in trying to kill him. You couldn’t trust horses.

  Red Dog cursed. “We can’t form up and launch a counterattack with them charging around like that; we need to slow them down.”

  Herad frowned and turned to her left, where Mahedium was standing. “I don’t suppose you’ve got something impressive hidden up your sleeves?”

  Mahedium took a moment to study the nearest group of riders tearing their way through the camp. “It depends… I could try to hit them with some force bolts, but unless they’re headed straight for me, I’m unlikely to be very accurate. I would end up wasting a lot of valuable crystals for little gain. As for fire… it’s a bad idea if you don’t want me to burn the camp down.”

  “What about slowing them down? Can you create some mud or freeze the ground?” Red Dog asked. “I’ve seen that kind of thing work before.”

  “Unfortunately, I don’t have the correct tools or components to use such a strategy,” Mahedium admitted.

  “How useful,” Herad shot back sarcastically. “Just keep your head down and wait for a clear shot then, mage.”

  “They’ll have to confront us eventually,” Red Dog pointed out.

  “Not soon enough. I’m going to go out and meet them. Be ready to attack when I’ve stopped them,” Herad told him.

  Her lieutenant frowned in disapproval but knew better than to try to argue with her. “The paladin may not be their only Vessel. These are knights. One of them may come from a family line of Vessels in service to Lord Strachan. Mounted combat is also kind of their thing.”

  “Do you have a better idea?” the chieftain asked him.

  “Let’s see what we’re dealing before we commit,” Red Dog suggested. “If we send some men over to that pile of timber by that hill, it’ll draw their attention. When the knights charge, the men can cut the timber loose. That’ll slow the riders down so that most of the men will survive long enough for you to hit the enemy from behind.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Herad mused as she looked over the suddenly nervous bandits around her. “Who should we send?”

  Blacknail grinned from where he was standing out of sight behind a cluster of bandits. Red Dog’s plan sounded as though it would be amusing to watch. He approved of any plan that involved hitting a bunch of unsuspecting horses with logs.

  “I suggest sending the hobgoblin,” Red Dog said as he pointed Blacknail’s way. “He’s fast, and horses act skittish around him.”

  Blacknail stood up straight in alarm. Wait… what was this now? This plan was terrible; he wanted no part of it!

  “Fine. You over there will join him,” Herad told several bandits as she followed Red Dog’s advice.

  There was nervous muttering from everyone who had been selected, except Blacknail. The hobgoblin was slowly and silently backing away. Herad hadn’t technically given him an order yet. If she didn’t look his way in the next few seconds, he would be able to disappear around the corner of the building behind him…

  Everyone grew silent as the sound of Herad drawing her blade filled the air. A second later, the bandit chieftain leveled it at the nearest group of subordinates she’d chosen to use as bait.

  “Get moving now,” she commanded as she glared at everyone she’d selected.

  She gave Blacknail a particularly unamused look.

  All he could do was smile nervously back as he pretended he hadn’t been about to run away. “Yep-ss, sure thing, mistress.”

  Herad motioned with her blade, and the reluctant men and women stepped out from between the buildings with Blacknail in their midst. Seconds later, they broke into a run toward the woodpile. The sooner they got this over with, the better.

  It didn’t take long for them to draw the attention of one of the groups of knights. Sure enough, the riders shifted their direction toward the now-exposed bandits.

  Blacknail picked up speed and pulled ahead of everyone else. He had been planning to stay sheltered in the middle of the group, but on second thought, he realized that was dumb. He doubted the humans around him would even slow the charging warhorses if they got trampled, no matter how fat they were.

  The hobgoblin sprinted toward the lumber pile. His feet pounded against the ground, but his footsteps were drowned out by the sound of the charging cavalry descending toward him. He sneaked a quick glance over his shoulder to see a wall of heavily armored knights bearing down on him. He didn’t like this one bit! He was so going to get back at Red Dog for this!

  With speed brought on by desperation, Blacknail leaped forward and drew his sword. He landed on the lumber pile. His blade sliced through the air and the nearest clump of rope. The hobgoblin quickly moved on to the next knot and severed that as well.

  The first of the bandits reached the timber stack. They quickly hacked away at its restraints as well. Sensing something amiss, the knights slowed their charge.

  There was a loud crack as the last of the ropes came loose, and Blacknail kicked the top log off the pile. The timber rolled toward the knights with surprising speed. It was swiftly followed by others as the bandits got to work.

  The first rolling log barrelled toward the riders. Startled knights pulled on their reins as they urgently guided their mounts out of the way. Most had no trouble evading it, or managed to jump it, but not all of them were so lucky. One rider in the middle of the formation was too crowded in and had nowhere to go. The log clipped his horse and took out its legs. There was shriek of pain from the horse as it tumbled over sideways and crushed its rider.

  A ragged cheer went up from the bandits as more timber spilled down toward the knights and they were forced to turn away from their targets. However, none of the other riders went down and they swiftly reorganized.

  The bandits pushed more logs down to keep the knights away, but the riders split up and encircled their targets. Infuriated by the loss of their comrade, they drove their mounts toward the sides of the timber pile that remained clear of falling timber. Desperate bandits tried to back up toward the top of the pile, but the knights cut down the closest ones. The scent of blood oozed out as the sounds of fighting rang forth.

  Herad’s men frantically tried to slow the advance of the armored riders. With their shining, if now bloodstained, armor and warhorses, the knigh
ts seemed unstoppable. Bandits fell one after another as the knights advanced over their corpses.

  Atop the pile, Blacknail loosed another log and sent it sprawling down. When that failed to do anything, he drew his sling and flung stones. He got a satisfying whinny of pain from one of the horses when he struck its flank, but the stones he sent toward the riders bounced uselessly off their armor. Whelp, that was bad. He was completely out of ranged weapons and he really didn’t want to get in a sword fight with these enemies…

  To Blacknail’s left, a bandit screamed as a knight’s blade sank into his shoulder. The man was silenced by another blow to the side of his neck that almost decapitated him and sent a spray of blood toward Blacknail.

  There was no one between the hobgoblin and danger now. Warily, Blacknail drew his sword and turned to face his heavily armed attacker. The knight's mount snorted as it stepped forward and gazed evilly at the hobgoblin with its huge, insane-looking eyes. Its visible breath steamed out from its ugly flaring nostrils and rose into the air.

  Blacknail really hated horses.

  Chapter 34

  Blacknail jumped backward as the mounted knight’s blade sliced toward him. It cut through the edge of his hood but didn’t draw blood. A second later, he landed lightly on another log atop the now depleted pile.

  His landing wasn’t perfect though. The hobgoblin let out a surprised grunt as his back hit another bandit’s. The man shrieked in alarm as he was sent sprawling to the ground. The unlucky bandit was then promptly trampled to death by the attacking knights' horses.

  Blacknail winced. Oops, it was getting kind of crowded up here…

  More and more of Herad’s men were retreating up what was left of the stack of logs. They were being pushed ever closer together by the circling ring of riders, and there wasn’t room for all of them. As Blacknail watched, the bandits around the edges of the pile were cut down one by one. Meanwhile, the knights worked inward. Their bloody blades flashed in the sun.

  The hobgoblin struggled to keep his balance and his guard up, but someone knocked into him from the side. He hissed in frustration as he barely managed to duck under another swing of a knight’s sword. The man behind Blacknail wasn’t fast enough. The blade tore into his chest, and he toppled from the lumber pile.

  Beneath his feet, Blacknail spotted a gap between a pair of logs. He let the people around him worry about the knights for a second as he kept his head down and examined it.

  It was too small for most humans, but they were all fat anyway. Blacknail, on the other hand, was healthy and thin. If he squeezed through, it looked as though he could work his way deeper into the pile and hide.

  Blood splattered down on the hobgoblin, so he glanced up. A knight had eviscerated the man standing to his left.

  “Time-ss to hide!” Blacknail exclaimed as he turned back to the gap.

  Yep, going down there seemed like the best idea. It would even free up some room at the top of the pile for his tribemates, so it would be doing them a favor. For his fellow bandits, the hobgoblin dropped down and hurriedly squeezed into the gap below him.

  Halfway down, the sound of familiar mad laughter made him hesitate. Through the press of bodies around him, Blacknail looked up to see Herad leap off a charging horse and land behind a startled knight. As the knight’s horse bucked and the man flailed in surprise, the grinning chieftain grabbed him around the waist with one hand and stabbed a long knife into his neck with the other. The blade slipped through a gap in his armor and sank deep into his flesh.

  Still laughing, Herad tossed the rider’s corpse aside and seized the horse’s reins. As she steadied herself, her mounted bodyguards slammed into the knights’ rear. Behind them came the forces Herad had been keeping in reserve.

  “Charge the bastards and pin them down. Follow me!” Herad roared as she led the counterattack.

  The knights were now badly outnumbered. Several of them fell or were pulled from their horses by the attacking throng. They quickly rallied though and began to cut their way free from the bandits. They had been caught off guard, but they were still masters of the battlefield.

  The hobgoblin found himself with his hip awkwardly jammed between two logs as the bandits around him surged downward to rejoin the fight. Several of them almost kicked him in the head. One of the bandits was a tall woman. She noticed the hobgoblin and gave him an irritated look.

  “What-ss? I slipped,” Blacknail told her defensively as he pulled himself free.

  “Bloody hobgoblins,” the obviously unconvinced woman muttered as she shook her head and jumped down the pile.

  Bah, who cared what she thought anyway! Once free, Blacknail looked around for something to do. For some reason, he felt the need to prove himself now. Besides, he kind of wanted to kill a knight. Herad had made it look so fun.

  The enemy were no longer scattered around the woodpile though. They had quickly formed into a wedge and were managing to keep most of Herad’s men away.

  There were a lot of bandits and pointy weapons between the hobgoblin and the knights now—too many. It would take too much time to push through, and it would also be stupidly dangerous. What were his other options though? Ah, he could copy Herad!

  Blacknail leaped off the timber pile and into the crowd below him. He landed on a startled man’s back. Before the bandit could react, the hobgoblin jumped again. This time he grabbed the back of a nearby knight’s saddle. His claws sank into the leather, and Blacknail pulled himself up and onto the horse. The hobgoblin’s light body and long strong arms allowed him to move nimbly. The stupid beast bucked and neighed in alarm, which threw its rider off balance.

  “What the hells?” the surprised knight exclaimed as Blacknail took a seat behind him.

  Just like Herad, the hobgoblin grabbed the man around the waist and stabbed him in the neck. He then pushed the human’s heavy but limp body off the mount. With that done, the smiling hobgoblin reached for the reins of the horse. When he got the stinking beast safely away from the fight, he was going to slit its throat as well. The knights’ horses counted as enemy combatants as far as he was concerned. He’d seen the evil look in their eyes.

  Before he could grab the reins though, the mount beneath the hobgoblin neighed in terror and bucked madly. Blacknail tried to keep his seat, but this was his first time ever riding a horse. The humans had made it look so easy! Blacknail struggled but was swiftly knocked loose and catapulted off the beast’s back. Damn all horses!

  For what seemed like several seconds, air rushed past the free-flying hobgoblin. Then he hit the ground. His back slammed into the earth and the breath was knocked painfully from his lungs.

  “Ughh, what?” Blacknail groaned as he sat up. A wheezing gasp escaped his lungs and tiny bright stars whirled around his vision. Ow, that had really hurt. He should never have trusted a horse, even for a second. They were vicious, treacherous beasts. Undoubtedly they would soon turn on their human masters…

  A scream woke Blacknail from his head-trauma-induced thoughts. Right, he was still in the middle of battle. That was important. The fighting had moved away from him, but that didn’t mean he was safe. The hobgoblin cast a nervous look around as he picked himself off the ground. His clothes had gotten dusty when he’d fallen, so he brushed himself off. Oh well, there would be time after the battle to pick out some new clothes.

  What was he supposed to do now? He didn’t really feel like charging back into the fight. He’d already shown his tribesmen how awesome he was by taking down that knight! He really hoped Herad had been watching—except for during that last bit. He wished no one had seen that part.

  Movement flashed in the corner of the hobgoblin’s eye. He looked over to see what it was. He stared at the scene for several confused seconds. Hmmm…

  Then he stared for several more. Well, that wasn’t good. A squad of bandits ran in front of him and blocked his view for a second. They didn’t slow or seem to notice anything odd.

  Blacknail shook his head to clear i
t. The vision in front of him didn’t change. He looked around. No one else was paying any attention to what he saw. That was weird and more than little worrying… maybe it was a stupid human thing? Perhaps this happened all the time to humans and they didn’t find it weird. No, that was stupid. This thing was far too dangerous to ignore.

  Carefully, Blacknail backed up and went to find someone to ask. He heard Red Dog screaming orders over the other noises of the battlefield, so he headed that way. He found the man at the back of a regrouping mob of outlaws. The hobgoblin walked up behind Red Dog and politely tapped him on the shoulder.

  Red Dog flinched and jumped at the unexpected contact before whirling around. “Ah, what the bloody hells do you want? Shouldn’t you be busy stabbing people in the back and then eating them or something?”

  “I’m not-ss hungry, and I saw something weird-ss. It could-ss be important,” the hobgoblin explained.

  “This is a bloody battlefield! I’m damned busy right now, so you’d better not be wasting my time,” Red Dog replied angrily.

  “It’s right over-ss there,” Blacknail told him as he pointed toward the oddity.

  “Where? I don’t see anything,” Red Dog replied with obvious frustration.

  “It’s right-ss there; the giant snake eating that-ss guy!” Blacknail hissed. Now he was annoyed too. Had Red Dog gone blind?

  “What?” Red Dog exclaimed in surprise as he stared in the direction Blacknail had pointed. “There’s no damned giant snake there!”

  “Yes, there is! Are you blind?” Blacknail waved his hands toward the monster.

  The commotion drew the attention of the green scaled creature. It had been leisurely lying next to an empty wagon while it swallowed whole the remains of a slain bandit. Its forked tongue flicked in and out of its mouth as it drew itself up and turned to gaze at Blacknail and Red Dog. It had noticed them looking in its direction.