by Elliott Kay
An arrow flew in from the darkness to strike Oscal, helping Scars locate Teryn and Yargol. The two remained at the edge of the firelight, presumably able to do more good at a distance than up close. Even that impact seemed minimal. Teryn’s arrow stuck solidly in Oscal’s flailing body to no apparent difference. Yargol seemed to do the most good. His fiery ice daggers at least drew the attention of most remaining tentacles. Even if his spells did little harm, they still gave War Cloud a clearer path to his target.
The attention also made Yargol the most vulnerable. One appendage whipped out at him with enough force to bash him against the nearest tree. Another came in with its bitter end curled almost like a fist, slamming against his head and shoulder to batter Yargol to the ground. A third nearly wrapped around his prone form, but Yargol grabbed it with his hands alight with fire. The tentacle snapped back in apparent pain. Teryn stepped into the mass of shadows to grab Yargol’s arm and heft him back to his feet.
“He’s hurt!” Teryn warned.
“He’s not alone,” complained Shady Tooth.
As if in reply, War Cloud’s blade erupted with golden light once again. If he’d gone largely unnoticed before, the presence of his power so close to Oscal now drew every shadowy tentacle back in a near panic. Some bent sharply toward the threat, crowding and bumping War Cloud with bulk if not solid hits. None of it stopped his sword. The glow of his weapon cut through every shadow that got in his way. Sheer brawn and determination did the rest. His first powerful thrust buried the sword deeply in Oscal’s body.
Gold lines like cracks in a stone spread out along the magician’s form, growing quickly all through the suddenly stiff tentacles. The shadows crumbled along those golden fissures, falling to the ground like black sand in wavy lines until nothing remained in the air. Oscal fell, too, finally under gravity’s hold and the pressure of War Cloud’s arms. With that, the golden glow disappeared. So did the shadows.
The gnoll stood over Oscal’s dead body, his sword covered in black blood. Only the campfire lit the site. Without any fighting or Oscal’s nonsensical screams, the night suddenly fell silent.
“Who’s hurt?” War Cloud huffed.
“Everyone, probably,” said Shady Tooth.
“Help Yargol first,” said Scars. “He got the worst of it.”
“It’s nothing fatal,” Yargol assured him, though he leaned on both Teryn and his staff. “Cold and bruised, but I’ll recover.”
“What the hell was that all about?” asked Teryn. “What was…that? Him?”
“An idiot given over to a nightmare,” said War Cloud. He moved over to help Yargol. “Dark gods are bad enough. That one was possessed by something worse, from farther beyond this world. Dastia calls on her paladins to end this sort of thing. It’s why I can sense the undead. But I couldn’t sense him until he went crazy.”
“The undead are the same as him?”
“No, but they’re of a similar threat in Dastia’s eyes. They all need to go.”
“Does that make you obligated to fight any undead you find?” she wondered.
“No, or I would never have gotten out of the mountain with you all.” War Cloud grinned. “Dastia wants her paladins to fight for her. She doesn’t want us to be stupid.”
“That was no form of arcane magic I know,” added Yargol. “Maybe he knew some magic of his own, but I don’t think he used any of it. This was not the wizardry of study or natural talent. War Cloud is right. Something else used him as a vessel and threw a tantrum.”
“That was a tantrum?” said Teryn.
“Something was upset at the loss of its investment, yes. I suspect it was buried deeply until we arrived, hence War Cloud’s late awareness of its presence.”
War Cloud knelt by Yargol, placing his big, fur-covered hands over the magician’s shoulders. A soft glow appeared under War Cloud’s touch. Yargol inhaled sharply and sat straighter, his hurt and fatigue chased away by the glow.
It didn’t chase away Teryn’s new concerns. “Uh…so you got your powers from study, yes? Not otherworldly...things?”
“I was created for this. My powers are both inborn and the result of study. Hard work and diligence have their benefits, the chief among them being stability. Rest assured, I will not explode into tentacles and glowing vomit the first time anything goes wrong.”
“Good,” she said, then frowned. “The first time?”
“We all have our limits.” Yargol looked to War Cloud. “Something of that power would not be out here in the middle of nowhere without reason.”
“Sacrifices, maybe?” War Cloud shrugged. “There’s hardly any law out here. The goblins are easy pickings. It wouldn’t be the first time something from beyond preyed on goblin folk. And it’s easier to hide a curse out in the wild than in a human settlement.”
“Maybe,” said Yargol, though the others could practically hear his frown. “They didn’t come through Eastford in the last week, or we would have seen them. This idiot had to be following some ambition.”
Turning to the goblins, Scars found DigDig at work cutting the last bonds from the rescued prisoners. “You’re both alright?”
“Yeah,” said Fregg. “Beat up, but alright.”
“Who are you guys?” asked Zana.
“He’s Scars,” answered DigDig. He quickly named the others. “Heading to the goblin camp. Just heard about it in Eastford.”
“Eastford?” Zana’s eyebrows rose. “Thought Eastford didn’t want goblin folk.”
“They don’t,” said DigDig. “Found that out tonight. After helping them. Before that, we were working for Olen Zuck in the mountain, but that’s done now. He’s dead.”
Zana’s bright expression diminished. “So you’re out of work?”
DigDig mirrored her reaction. “For now, yeah.”
“Huh.” She shrugged. “Well, thanks for saving us. Can’t pay you. Didn’t have any coin in the first place. It’s why we’re out here.”
“You were hunting?” Scars asked, nodding to the deer still hanging from the tree at the edge of the firelight.
“Yeah. Not enough food to go around at the camp,” said Fregg. “Hoped we might get paid a little for it, too. Then these assholes showed up.” He kicked one of the corpses at his feet. “Probably got six coppers between them all, too.”
“Can you tell us about the camp? How many goblins are there, where you all came from? I imagine you weren’t truthful with the bounty hunters,” said Scars.
“Eh, told them the obvious.” Zana waved it off. “Camp’s only a couple miles that way. Set up on an abandoned farm. Gotta be a few thousand of us. Maybe four, maybe five? Came from all over, mostly the south, but also everyone who got run out of Eastford and the other towns this side of the mountains. Even got some orcs from Southwind Gorge. Nivoen to the north doesn’t want us, and neither do the elves. We call it Zition.”
“Did you say ‘run out of Eastford?’” asked War Cloud. “Son of a bitch.”
“Might’ve known,” Shady Tooth fumed.
“Why Zition?” asked Teryn.
“You know, like transition? Wasn’t supposed to be permanent. At first it was a place to stop and let some sick goblins rest. The river had fresh water and fish, so that was at least something. Didn’t plan to stay. But then it grew. Still isn’t supposed to be permanent, but nobody knows where else to go.”
“And have you had any trouble with magic like this before?” Yargol pointed to Oscal’s body.
“Hell, no,” said Fregg. He blinked and looked twice at his first sight of Yargol, but made no comment. “Never even heard of that before.”
“We dealt with part of a large group of bandits in Eastford tonight,” Scars explained. “The townsfolk hired us to scare them off, so we did. They didn’t tell us anything about your camp until the bandits talked about having somewhere else to hit on their way out of town.”
Zana sighed. “Human bandits? Yeah, that figures. Seems like it was only a matter of time.”
“Will you show us the way? We dealt with them once already. We’d like to help.”
“Can’t promise much pay,” said Fregg. “Most of us already lost everything.”
“You still have each other,” War Cloud pointed out.
Fregg gulped, turning pale. Zana grimaced.
“Oh!” said Teryn, suddenly understanding. “He doesn’t mean it like that.”
“Like what?” asked War Cloud.
“Like you’re fine with being paid in meat,” said Shady Tooth.
Teryn winced. “I wanted to be more tactful than that.”
“Fucking hell,” War Cloud groaned. “I’m not going to eat anybody.”
“Oh, alright, then.” Zana brightened again. “Village is that way. Couple miles. We’re gonna check the bodies and such here, right? Can you help with the deer? Still got hungry people out there.”
“Not a problem.” Scars looked over the camp as his crew turned to the search. The dead magician still laid by the fire. “What about this one?”
“We burn him and bury the ashes,” said War Cloud. “Anything less is a risk.”
“Fortunately, we don’t need a pyre,” said Yargol. He flicked his hands to push back the sleeves of his robes, reaching out to work another spell.
“Wait, hold up,” DigDig interrupted. “His pockets aren’t full of evil, too, are they? Gotta roll him first. No sense letting loot go to waste.”
Chapter Three
The night returned to peace and quiet shortly beyond the bounty hunters’ camp. Shady Tooth disappeared once more to scout ahead for the crew. War Cloud carried the slain deer across his broad shoulders without complaint, particularly after Yargol tidied up the kill with his magic. Little in the way of conversation carried them along the rest of the way. Though the path ahead felt safer with the hunters and bandits behind them, few had the energy for banter.
With an hour’s hike behind them, the trees along the next rise stood out as silhouettes in the dark of the night. Teryn was the first to speak up. “Is that torchlight up ahead?” she asked. “I think I smell smoke. Do you have lookouts posted?”
“Heh. Sure, but that’s not why you see light,” Zana chuckled. “Coming up on a goblin camp, human. Everybody’s up. Your kind do most of your working and living in the day. We take care of business at night. Goblins see fine in the dark, but life is easier with a little light, even for us.”
Ascending the last rise, they spotted firelight piercing through the trees and, soon after, the fabric of tents. Conversation and the sounds of labor drifted along the night air. At a short distance in the dark, Zition sounded and smelled more like a town. Only at a good look up close did the distinction become clear.
No wall or road marked out the boundaries of the camp. Goblins pitched their tents and built simple shelters out of wood and leaves anywhere they could fit in, spreading out in every direction. Entering the camp was as simple as walking from one tree to the next. The only guard found on the periphery was an old hobgoblin on a tree stump carving a spoon from a block of wood. He gave them no more challenge than a glance and a scowl.
Grass and bushes grew sparse as they continued in. Well-worn trails guided them through the maze of tents, alternating between packed earth and mud. Goblins and hobgoblins filled the camp, young and old, with most all of them busy at something. Some sat at the openings of their tents, mending or cleaning. Others moved to and fro with buckets of water or bundles of wood. An older goblin woman stood at the center of a circle of goblin and hobgoblin whelps, counting out numbers and making her students repeat each in turn.
“River’s on the other side of the camp, running thataway,” said Fregg, tracing an imaginary line in the air. “Zition started from there and grew out to here. The people you’ll want to see have their spots closer to the shore.”
“Everyone is so active,” said Teryn. “When you said this was supposed to be temporary, I didn’t imagine so much… I don’t know, industry?”
“People here lost everything in the southlands,” Fregg explained. “Wanna replace what they can. It’s a forest in the hills, but that’s still something to work with, at least.”
“Zana! Fregg! You catch anything?” a hobgoblin called from one large tent. As he caught sight of the crew following behind the pair, he stood to his full height, resting his hands on his hips. “No, you just brought more mouths to feed. Great.”
“Got you some game, too, Denek,” Zana replied. She looked back to War Cloud. “You can drop the deer on the table inside his tent. Lots of people want a piece of that.”
“You don’t want to be paid first?” War Cloud asked, lowering his voice lest he set off an argument.
“Haven’t said it’s his yet,” said Fregg. He folded his arms across his chest, watching Denek. “So? It’s healthy and all cleaned up already. What’s it worth?”
“What it’s worth is different than what I’ve got,” said Denek, poking the kill with his fingers. “Thirty-six silvers.”
“What?” the two goblins burst. Fregg slammed his hands on the table. “Are you joking? How many meals can you make out of this?”
“Lots, but I don’t have the coin. That’s what I’m telling you. I spend what I’ve got as soon as I get it. So does everyone.” Denek shrugged with indifference. His explanation wasn’t an apology. “You think anybody’s still sitting on their stash of gold? Half my business comes in trade, not coin. I’ve got goblins carving cookware and leaving it on the table as payment.”
War Cloud leaned past, peering into Denek’s tent. As the hobgoblin said, he didn’t have much to work with. A handful of pots and pans made up the only metal in his “kitchen.” Most of his other tools appeared to be wood-carved, as he said. “Where are you from, Denek?” he asked.
“Goodleaf. I used to be a greengrocer. Had a little cottage outside of town. When the king put out the banishment, the locals ran me out of my house. I snuck back in to save what I could. Everything was gone except the pots and pans, so I took ‘em and left. Did what I could with what I have. If that makes me a cook now, so be it.”
“You’re a long way from Goodleaf.”
“Everyone’s a long way from home, gnoll,” said Denek. “Anyway, thirty-six is what I’ve got to offer. Truth is, in a camp like this it’s worth a fistful of gold at least, but good luck finding anyone who has that kind of money. You can take it to one of the other cooks if you want. I doubt they’ve got more to offer than I do.”
“Would you really send them away with this? I’m used to merchants trying harder to turn a profit,” said Teryn.
Denek scowled, seeing her for the first time between the taller and broader shoulders of her companions. “You brought a human here?”
“This crew saved us from bounty hunters out in the woods,” said Fregg. “They know her and she’s not local. We’re good.”
“Uh-huh.” The hobgoblin’s eyes flicked back to Teryn. “I told you, a lot of these folk pay in whatever they can make for me. Coin isn’t exactly flowing through Zition. But I’ll never turn any profit at all if my customers starve and die.”
War Cloud reached in front of Zana and Fregg with a fistful of gold and silver coins. “Here. I don’t know if the gold will spend easily here, but it’s yours for the deer.”
Wide-eyed and shocked, the pair put their hands over his to carefully claim their prize. They knew better than to stop and ask when they had money right in front of them.
The gnoll put his other hand down on the table, leaving behind a similar batch of coins next to their catch. “The deer is yours. Is that enough to buy your customers dinner tonight?”
“I’ll have mouths until I run out of food, but this way I won’t have to charge them,” said Denek. “I can figure out how to manage the rest.”
“You’re buying a deer and paying to have it cooked and given away?” asked Shady Tooth.
“These people need to eat and the camp needs coin to pass around.” War Cloud shrugged. “It has to start somewhere. They n
eed it more than I do. What else will I spend it on here?”
“Yeah, but giving it away?” She frowned. “I’d at least make them wash my clothes or get a foot-rub out of it. Something.”
War Cloud looked to Denek again. “When you’re done cooking, I want you to rub her feet.”
His eyes lit up as he looked Shady Tooth over. “Oh, you’re a husky—”
“No,” said Shady Tooth.
“Aw,” sighed Denek.
“I’ll do it,” Fregg offered brightly.
“Not now with the flirting, Fregg,” Zana sighed. “C’mon. Gotta take these folk to Karana.”
“Aww,” he grumbled, but led the way alongside her without further complaint.
Goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs watched with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. The crew took it all in stride. Shady Tooth seemed to ignore every pair of eyes—except one. “What?” she grunted.
“Nothing,” said Teryn.
“You’re staring at me.”
“I wouldn’t call it staring.”
“Glancing forward so you don’t trip doesn’t count. You’re staring.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen you around other goblin folk besides DigDig. Or enemies.”
“So you’re saying you didn’t notice before? What, you’re human, so you can’t tell?”
“Notice what?” Teryn asked.
Shady Tooth’s lower lip pushed up in the center, leaving the corners of her mouth in an ever-deeper frown. “I’m attractive.”
DigDig let out a choking noise. She looked back but lost him as he disappeared behind War Cloud, who mindfully turned his eyes to the stars. DigDig wasn’t the only one to draw her attention, though; in almost the same moment, Teryn said, “Oh.” Then she cringed under Shady Tooth’s glare. “I’m sorry, I’ve never known many goblin folk. I don’t know what they—er, you—consider the, um, aesthetic ideal.”