by Logan Jacobs
I’d acquired the lightweight, sharp little blade from my last encounter with the goblins, so I knew from personal experience how effective it was at slicing open their thick skin. I’d passed over lots of swords between then and now, and the weapon still served me faithfully, but I imagined it was excited to drink more goblin blood.
The goblins swiveled their heads from side to side in search of the owner of the abandoned wagon, but upon finding no one, they inched closer and closer to my pile of treasure.
I waited a few more heart-pounding moments before I slowly crept forward to the edge of the road.
“Now!” I yelled as I charged forward.
I couldn’t tell if the girls heard me or not, but it was the best way to signal to them to ambush the goblins without everyone having walkie talkies or something. Either way, I would make quick work of these nasty little fuckers who threatened my hard-earned gold.
The goblins heard my yell, and they turned to brandish their weapons at me menacingly. Some held spears while others grasped swords, and a few even wielded tiny crossbows, but it was hard to make out a lot of detail from my distance.
“Charge!” Mahini’s strong voice called out over the sound of the goblin chatter.
Elissa, Evangeline, and Mahini all dashed toward the wagon from three different directions, and the goblins’ gazes flicked between me and my women. They were sandwiched between us, and there was no chance of survival.
I watched with sick fascination as this concept slowly dawned on the green-skinned assholes who thought they could steal from me.
“Get the humans!” the tallest of them gargled out in the goblin language, and I had to assume it was the one in charge.
I’d learned a lot of the goblins’ language during my trip to Bastianville’s copper mine, and it had served me well then. I didn’t think there was any need to communicate with them now, though, since their intentions were pretty clear.
Half the goblins rushed toward me as one, and I had to admire their battle smarts. These goblins were already a little smarter than the last ones I’d killed, but I didn’t think it would do them any good this time, either.
I twirled my feather sword with a flick of my wrist, and I brought it up just in time to parry a jab from a long-handled spear. I smacked the spear tip away like I was swatting away a fly, and then I swiveled my blade around until the tip was pointed at the goblin’s throat.
The creature tried to push me off with the haft of its spear, but I was stronger, and I pushed my blade into its neck. Black blood oozed from the wound and quickly began to soak into the goblin’s leather armor, and I quickly backed up to avoid getting any of the disgusting liquid on me.
The other goblins rushed forward to take their dead comrade’s place, and they sneered at me as they brandished their weapons.
I parried a blow from an overhand swing, swiveled to avoid the jutting tip of a spear, and then extended my sword arm to shove my blade deep into one of the sword-goblins’ stomachs. He keeled over with a high-pitched cry, and his companions growled menacingly as they converged upon me.
Two down. Eight more to go.
“Watch out, Great One!”
A crossbow-goblin fired off a bolt in my direction but missed, and then twin throwing stars flew through the air and buried themselves in the eye sockets of the goblin closest to me. The duke’s daughter trotted over to her kills, and she yanked the projectiles free from her target’s corpse.
“Thanks!” I turned to flash Evangeline a grateful smile.
“My pleasure.” The blonde nodded curtly, and then she picked out a new opponent with a throwing star at the ready.
I could hear the battle raging on the other side of the wagon, so I dashed over to help my other women, but I quickly found they had everything handled.
Mahini’s arrows zipped through the air and embedded in the torso of another goblin who was closer to the wagon, and then she rushed in with her sword drawn and a murderous look on her face. She took out another enemy by slashing her sword across its expansive gut, and the black sludge pooled from the wound to coat the dirt road.
“Die!” Elissa roared as she ran forward with her mace extended above her head. My wife’s growing arm and shoulder muscles bulged beneath the weight of her weapon, but she brought the spiked head down onto a goblin skull, and the creature’s entire body folded beneath the pressure.
“Skullcrusher is at it again,” Mahini observed as she knocked a goblin spear to the side with her sword, and then she buried her blade in the creature’s stomach before she wrenched it free.
Seven down already, thanks to the valiant fighting women at my sides.
I flashed my sword in a menacing circle to keep the goblins at bay while the girls joined the fight, but then I began to back up so I could watch my women work from a distance. If they needed my help, I’d be there to intervene, but they’d been pretty adamant about having the chance to fight on their own.
Elissa climbed onto the back of the wagon, and she spun her mace in a wide arch above her head as she let out a fierce battle cry. The goblins who stayed close to the vehicle growled at her, but she didn’t look scared. The flame-haired goddess swung her weapon, and the barbed tip collided with the chest of a spear-goblin who had climbed up onto the bench.
Another goblin moved to climb up onto the wagon behind its now-dead comrade, but Eva darted through the gaps between the monsters with one of my daggers clenched in her fist. Her gray eyes were full of battle lust as she zeroed in on the asshole trying to get to Elissa, and a moment later, the blade jutted from the creature’s neck.
Mahini slashed a sword-goblin’s head off, and then she flicked her blade to free it of the black sludge that coated it. She flashed me a smirk before she turned to block a blow from a spear-goblin’s weapon’s pointy end. The former mercenary was not only holding her own, but enjoying herself as well.
The ten remaining goblins began to regroup, and they huddled near each other while brandishing their swords and spears outward. One of the taller goblins was muttering orders in the monster’s language, and then they all cackled maniacally.
They were creepy little shits, I’d give them that.
The tallest two goblins held crude staves with large, roughhewn crystals on top, and judging from the feathers in their hair, they were shamans, the goblin magic users. I knew a few battle spells now, though, so it shouldn’t be any problem to take out the leaders of this filthy little pack. The two shamans seemed to be more concerned about reaching the treasure in the back of the wagon than attacking us, but that just worked to my advantage.
The handful of spells I knew leapt to my mind, but I wanted to see what the shamans would use first since each magic using goblin generally had only one spell.
“Watch out for the tall ones in the middle,” I warned the girls in a loud voice before I switched over to the goblin’s tongue. “Humans kill goblins. Goblin need run.”
The goblins’ mouths fell open in shock when they heard words spoken in their language coming from my mouth, and it was the perfect distraction for Mahini to step up and slash her blade across two of their throats in one swift motion.
There were only eight goblins left, but two of them were magic users, and we were still outnumbered two to one.
Mahini’s attack created a break in the goblins’ formation, which also gave the two shamans an opening as well.
I ran forward while the scene played out in front of me in slow motion.
The warrior goddess lifted her sword in an overhead strike.
“Noo!” I yelled as I leapt across the distance between us.
Time slowed down as I stretched my fingers out in an effort to pull her down below the blast.
“Mahini!” I cried out, but I was too late.
A blaze of fire shot out from the goblin shaman and headed straight for my beloved’s face. The fireball smacked into her head, and Mahini was flung backward as her feet flew out from underneath her.
The gobl
in shaman cackled with glee, and he twirled his staff through the air like a drum major with a baton.
“No.” I shook my head as rage pumped through my veins. “This isn’t going to fucking happen.”
Chime.
I was sitting on the wagon bench between the three girls, and I was back in the moment before I stopped to point out the little grotto. The goblins hadn’t hurt Mahini yet, and all was still right in the world.
I hugged the desert goddess to my side for a long moment in silence, and her ice-blue eyes scrutinized me closely.
“What’s wrong, Great One?” Mahini asked with a worried frown.
“Nothing now.” I forced a smile onto my face, but I was already starting to feel better with each passing moment. “But in a short while we are going to fight against some goblins who are after our treasure.”
The girls all instantly stiffened, and their eyes scanned the tree line on either side of the road.
“How many?” Mahini asked with narrowed eyes.
“Here?” Eva gasped.
“Goblins!” Elissa squealed, and she shrunk up against my other side. “But I thought you killed all of them, Bash.”
“We killed the goblins in the copper mine, yes,” I said. “But these ones are from a different location. Still, we need to eradicate them before they hurt someone who can’t defend themselves the way we can.”
“I’ve never seen a goblin before,” Eva said in a thoughtful voice, and her gray eyes were somber. “Are they truly as vile as the stories say?”
“Worse,” Mahini supplied with a shudder. “Goblins killed my entire Golden Sword family. I was the only survivor.”
“I’m so sorry,” Eva gasped, and she rubbed her hand on the desert goddess’ back. “That must have been really hard for you. Are you up for another fight with the same creatures who murdered your family?”
“Mahini was with me when we cleared out the mine,” I informed the duke’s daughter in a voice full of pride. “I’m sure she wouldn’t want to miss out on another chance at vengeance, right, Mahini?”
“The Great One speaks the truth.” The stoic warrior woman’s lips twitched ever so slightly into a sideways smile. “Let’s teach these goblins to fear humans.”
“Now, that’s more like it.” I smirked.
“How should we handle this?” The desert goddess tilted her head to the side and gave me a questioning look. “What are your orders, Great One?”
Eva opened her mouth to interject about how she wanted more chances to fight, but before she could get a single word out, I held up my hand to silence her.
“I’ve been very protective over you three during our last few adventures,” I said. “I think this time I will let you take the lead, but let me handle the shamans. There’s two of them, and at least one of them uses a fire spell, so keep an eye out for balls of flames.”
“Thank you, Great One,” Eva murmured in an awed tone, and she shook her head in amazement. “How did you-- Nevermind.”
“How did I know you were going to ask me to stand back and let you fight?” I laughed. “Oh, my sweet Evangeline, you’ll learn one of these days that it’s all part of being a god.”
“Your powers still amaze and confuse me,” the duke’s daughter said with another shake of her head. “But I am excited to show you how I can handle my own in a battle against the goblins.”
“I think you should consider adding more weapons to your repertoire,” I said, and I flashed her a wink as I pulled my daggers free. I presented them to her hilt first, and she took them hesitantly. “Try to fight with these, that way you can get in closer and deal more damage than you can with the throwing stars, but you’ll still be fast and stealthy.”
“I will do anything to prove myself to you,” the blonde bombshell said as her gray eyes welled up with emotion. “Thank you for entrusting me with your daggers. I know how much you use these.”
“I’ll be focusing more on magic during this fight,” I explained with a shrug. “I also know a disarming spell, so I won’t need anything but my feather sword.”
“How long do we have before the battle?” Elissa asked, and she fiddled with the leather straps covering the handle of her mace.
“Plenty of time,” I assured my wife in a comforting voice. “How are you feeling?”
“A little scared,” she admitted, and her bottom lip quivered. “But I stand by your side, husband.”
“That actually makes you very brave,” I informed her as I rubbed her back softly. “Bravery isn’t the absence of fear, but acting despite fear. Besides, you’ve crushed the skulls of the undead, mercenaries, and even sliced up a couple of kobolds. There’s nothing you can’t handle at this point.”
“You’re our Skullcrusher, remember?” Mahini added.
“Berserker woman,” Eva giggled.
“You’re right.” Elissa’s emerald eyes brightened, and she lifted her chin with an air of determination. “Let’s go fuck these goblins up!”
“That’s my girl,” I laughed, and I quickly pecked all three girls on their foreheads just because.
Even though we were about to fight off some nasty, vile little creatures didn’t mean my heart wasn’t overflowing with love. It was like a weird homeostasis between wholesome feelings and murderous intent, and it made me feel powerful.
I was ready to rock these goblins’ worlds.
The girls and I devised a plan very similar to the one we’d used on my first attempt at defeating the goblins. This time, however, Elissa would remain on the wagon in hiding, and she would pop out at the last minute once the creatures started to climb toward the treasure.
We wanted the element of surprise on our side, so the rest of us would hide in the woods until my wife signaled.
With the plan set, the four of us went in separate directions to wait for the goblins to arrive. I was curious to see where they were coming from, since there could be even more goblins back the way they’d come.
Maybe there was a goblin hideout nearby with lots more of the vile dudes waiting to ambush other travelers.
I made a mental note to comb the surrounding area for anything like a goblin fortress or hideout before we continued on to Bastianville, and then I focused my attention on the woods around the road.
Then the goblins began to creep through the trees toward the road, and they all swiveled their little grubby heads from side to side in search of the owners of the wagon, but when they found no one, they inched toward my treasure.
I waited with bated breath while our enemies drew closer and closer, but it was Elissa’s job to signal the attack, so I would wait for her. Worst case scenario, something went wrong, and we had to try again. Unlike me, the girls couldn’t spam respawns until they knew exactly how to move, but they’d already come a long way since I’d first met them.
Then Elissa burst out from the back of the wagon, and she swung her mace sideways into the ribs of the goblin who’d climbed onto the bench. The monster flew to the side with a pained cry, and he toppled backward for a moment before he fell to the ground.
That was our cue to attack, so I rushed forward with a battle cry of my own.
“Kill them all!” I shouted, and my gaze flicked from side to side until I spotted Eva and Mahini closing in on the wagon from opposite sides.
The three of us formed a triangle around the goblins with Elissa standing at the center and keeping them from reaching the treasure, and we moved forward as one while the goblins shrank away from us. Then the feather-haired shaman muttered something in the goblin language, but they were too quiet for me to hear what they said.
A moment later, though, the goblins between the shaman and me leapt to the side, and the next thing I knew twin balls of ice and fire were flying through the air toward me.
“Hur!” I quickly summoned my magical shield, and the elemental balls of magic dissipated upon the opaque barrier.
The two goblin shamans’ eyes widened, and they shouted to each other about my magic for a
moment, but then the rest of the goblins rushed forward, and I was momentarily distracted.
I parried the blow of a sword with my own, and then I swiveled, stepped inside the goblin’s reach, and buried my blade to the hilt between its ribs.
Eva’s throwing stars whirled past my head and stuck into the skull of a sword-wielding goblin to my right, and then Mahini’s arrows zipped past my other side to embed themselves in the neck of a monster to my left. Meanwhile, Elissa knocked two more goblins down off the wagon in rapid succession, and her fiery hair spun around her face like the flames the fire-shaman had lobbed my way.
The girls were doing great, so I just had to do my part. I shoved another sword goblin back and scanned the battlefield for the two shamans. I wasn’t sure how many of the enemy we’d defeated already, but I knew all would be lost if I couldn’t take out the two magic users.
“Where are you motherfuckers?” I growled as I peered over the heads of the remaining goblins in search of the feather-haired cowards.
Then I spotted them hiding beneath the wagon, and I knew I had them right where I wanted them. I couldn’t use fire without sending our vehicle up in flames also, so I had to rely on my ice and negate spells.
Before I could raise my hand to conjure the magic, however, bolts from crossbows flew through the air and dug into the armor covering my chest.
My head snapped up to face the crossbow-goblins, but as soon as I found them, they were riddled with arrows from Mahini’s bow.
I didn’t want to have a single strike on me, though, so I considered resetting back to my save point. The girls were doing good so far, and I didn’t want to mess up their flow too much, but I also didn’t want to get hit with some stupid crossbow bolts, either, so in the end I decided to go back and try again.
I wanted every challenge to be completed perfectly.
Chime.
I kept everything the same, except this time I was a little bit more specific in my instructions to the girls. Well, I still allowed them to take the lead, but I gave them some small pointers on what to focus on first with hopes that it would make the battle easier.