#dhilith

[twotravels]

Also, while I'm lurking in the ask box... what kind of deodorant DO dwarves use? That ended up never being adressed. XD

"Well obviously we use AXE!"

-Dhilith

[twotravels]

CHAPTER FORTY – The Final Plan

I watch on as Washucktah and Blue ran out after Kendra. Laoch fell to his knees, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “Kendra...” He croaked.

Krystal dashes to his side, crouching down and laying a hand on his shoulder. “Don't worry about Kendra. She'll come back, she's just surprised to see you here so suddenly...”

“She hates me.”

“Nonsense, she...”

“She hates me, I tell you!” Laoch insists. “I left her alone, without a father to look up to, for nearly ten years. Who wouldn't hate a parent who abandoned them like that?”

Krystal stands up, pulling Laoch up as well. “That may be, but when you two get to talk to each other, I'm sure you'll understand each other and reconcile.”

Laoch snorts, a dry humourless sound. “When. The city is nearly five miles around. She has almost certainly got herself lost by now, and...”

“Laoch,” I interject. “Washucktah and Blue are two of the most determined, capable beings I know. Kendra will be found.”

A long time later, or so it felt, Blue suddenly appears in the room, dragging an unconscious Washucktah. “Ey guys, a leetle help!”

Laoch and Krystal immediately jumped to his side and heaved Washucktah up onto a chair. “What happened?!” Krystal was asking.

“I dunno, I jes' found 'im like dat!”

Laoch points at his lips. “Look, they're blue! Do you think he could have been strangled?” He adds suddenly. “And where's Kendra?!”

Krystal looks closer at Washucktah. “There's no bruises on his neck... or his face... At least he's still breathing, he should come around in a bit.”

And indeed as soon as she said this, Washucktah begins to stir, murmuring under his breath “Ehh... huh... wha... Where am I?”. He blearily opens his eyes, takes in Blue and Krystal and Laoch...

He sits bolt upright. “Kendra!” He yells, and tries to get up in the direction of the door.

Laoch pins him down by the shoulders. “Kendra what? What happened? Where is she?!” he nearly screams.

Washucktah struggles, then looks directly at him. “The Thieves Guild...”

“They took her?!” Laoch really did scream this time.

Washucktah gulps and nods.

Laoch turns around, running his hands through his hair and biting his lip, and stands deathly still, looking out the window.

The room is deathly silent for a while.

Eventually, I state. “We need to think. If we make a careful plan, and...”

“We need to rescue her.” Washucktah states, with no emotion. This is not a suggestion, he is stating a fact.

I nod. “If we can incorporate that into the main plan, then...”

“What main plan?” Washucktah asks. “The main plan IS to rescue her!”

“Washucktah, if we obtain the Cythras first, then we can...”

“TO HEZNA WITH YOUR CYTHRAS.” Washucktah suddenly yells, standing up and tipping the chair he was in backwards. Krystal visibly jumps, Dhilith actually flinches, but Laoch seems not to notice.

I will admit I am taken aback, but I try to press the point. “If we have the Cythras, rescuing her will become easier...”

“She might be dead by then!” Washucktah yells, advancing towards me. “We need to rescue her, and we need to rescue her NOW!”

“I agree we have to rescue her, but we need to work out the details of the -”

“Enough of you and your planning! Don't you have ANY feelings at all?”

I sigh vexedly. “We cannot afford to let emotion blind our judgement. It is a massive blow to us...”

“Yeah, a massive blow, you say it like you lost your favourite arrow or something!”

“Washucktah...” I say, starting to get angrier.

“Oh, don't you get angry with me, you stupid elf!”

Krystal tries to step between us. “Chuck, perhaps you had better calm down and...”

“I will not calm down!” he yells, and shoves Krystal out of the way.

“Hey!” she cries, stumbling into Blue.

“Oof – hey, vatch it!” Blue grabs her by the shoulder to stop her from falling over.

“Leave her alone, Changeling!” I snap, raising my voice.

“Or what, you'll -” Washucktah yells.

“Will you all just-” Dhilith begins to interrupt loudly, reaching for his axe again...

“WILL ALL OF YOU CALM DOWN?!” Laoch suddenly bellows, loud enough to make even Dhilith close his mouth.

Dead silence.

Laoch continues. “I... love Kendra. She's my daughter, despite the fact I didn't see her grow up. I want more than anything to see her out of this skorned business. I understand your anger, Chuck... I'm angry as well, angrier than I've ever been before. But Tarnien's right, if we just charge in, we'll all die. We need...” he starts walking around, pacing the dark wooden floor. “We need to get into their base, and free Kendra before we get to the Treasures. That way they can't hold her as barter to get us to release the treasures. Then, and only then can I have... can we have... revenge.”

Washucktah, breathing hard and shaking slightly but visibly calmer, nods. “Okay, so we need to find out where their base is. How do we do that?”

“Laoch,” I ask. “Do you have a map of the city?”

Laoch, wordlessly, pulls a roll from a nearby shelf, pulls a table up next to me, and spreads the map across it. We all crowd around it and look.

The city takes up the whole roll of paper, which itself is as big as the table, and there's various places that refer to other, more detailed maps of specific areas. Zhyndios is, we finally comprehend, truly gigantic.

“Okay...” I say slowly. “Laoch, talk us through where the thieves come and go, most used routes, favourite haunts and so forth.”

Laoch nods, and begins.

“...and this road in particular is used for runners and messengers, thieves often like to use these side alleys for ambushes and muggings and whatnot. And then this central square is where most of the roads connect, but the thieves tend to be absent from there. And then apart from this road which sees a lot of street markets, that's just about every major thing I've seen.”

Laoch finally finishes his elaboration. Washucktah and Krystal were attempting to remain attentive, and fortunately succeeding. Dhilith, on the other hand, seemed not to have even blinked.

I consider this wealth of information. “So... you said the Guild prefer activity along here, here, and here.” I ask.

“Yes.”

“But, they never seem to be present at this square?”

“Exactly. I can't work it out.” Laoch admits.

“Hmm...” I think for a moment.

As I think, the others start putting forth their ideas.

“I've been thinking their base to be in this area, off to one side. But I've looked there for years and there's nothing.”

“Vhat about dis area?”

“No, that wouldn't make sense to have their base there. Too close to the edge of the city.”

“Well, what about here?”

“Chuck, that's where we are.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“How about” I say, and place my finger deliberately on the square. “right here?” They look at me. Laoch shakes his head.

“No, they wouldn't be there. I never see any of the Guild there...”

“Exactly. And yet these three roads that connect to it, you tell me, are teeming with Guild activity. Does that not seem a little suspicious?”

There's a pause.

“Well, now that you mention it... maybe their base IS there. But if it is, it would have to be big enough to hide all the thieves that would be in that area. And there's no building that can do that, really.”

“I wasn't thinking of a building.” I say, quietly.

There's a pause, before Krystal jumps. “Oh! Dhilith, remember the cave? That cave with Tarragon in the Fire Elven?”

Dhilith, pausing as the memory resurfaces, says slowly “Are you suggesting... that the lair is... underground?”

Laoch jumps up, snapping his fingers. “Of course!” He drags out two more scrolls, and rolls them out. “This is a map of the sewers in Zhyndios... and this is a map of all the underground entrances of Zhyndios. I drew this myself in case I needed a hiding spot, never had to use it though. If you're correct...” He places next to each other, and compares the two maps.

“Yes!” Washucktah says a few minutes later, pointing. “There's one entrance that doesn't line up with a sewer or basement! Right next to the square!”

“That could be it, then.” I say. “Bear in mind, none of us can be certain this is the entrance until we make our move; it may be coincidence. Ideally we would want to scout the area to make sure...”

“We don’t have time. They have Kendra.” Washucktah immediately says.

Laoch nods. “Yes, we don’t have time for it.”

I nod grimly. “Sadly, I agree. We must assume that this is the entrance regardless of whether it is or not. We will have to go in blind.”

“So, what is our strategy to be?” Dhilith asks, as we all sit around the table. The light has all but faded from the window, but there are no stars in the sky above this place – such is the smoke and filth sent up from the city.

“Well...” I say slowly. “Obviously we need to get in and make sure Kendra is safe. I myself would suggest Washucktah and Laoch for that task.”

Washucktah, instead of protesting, nods grimly. Laoch also nods. “We'll see her safe.”

“I would suggest that Kendra goes with Krystal on Lily – You do know where Lily is?”

Blue nods. “Yep, ve left her safe an’ sound.”

I briefly overhear Laoch whisper to Washucktah, “Whose Lily again?”

“Good. I would suggest that Kendra and Krystal go on Lily outside the city until the end of the battle...”

“Erm, excuse me?” Krystal says indignantly. “Why am I to be left out of this?”

“Someone has to go with Kendra to make sure she is safe...”

“And you pick me why? Laoch would be a better choice, he's her dad!”

“I highly doubt Kendra would be willing to negotiate at this moment in time.” I add quickly “No offence.” in Laoch's direction.

“None taken,” Laoch says. “But I think I want to take her out of the city myself, if it's all the same.”

I pause, considering. “...Well, I would prefer to have Laoch in a close-quarters combat, he is the stronger and more capable...”

“Excuse me!” Krystal nearly bursts with outrage. “I'm sorry, but in case you can't remember, I was at the fight with the goblins, and could hold my own PERFECTLY well, thank you! Also,” she adds as I open my mouth. “If you think you're fit enough to fight, then I am more than able to fight as well!”

“...Okay.” I say. “Fine, we shall resolve it thus. Lily, Laoch and Kendra would retreat to a safe place after Washucktah and Laoch rescue her - that would leave Washucktah, Dhilith, Krystal, Blue and myself to carve out a path to the Cythras Ayr.”

“Err...” Krystal says. “Are you sure you're fit to fight, Tarnien?”

“It is not a question of being fit to fight, it is a question of doing what is necessary.”

“Tarnien, that's the point I was getting at earlier, you can't -”

“Krystal,” Dhilith suddenly barks. “You cannot convince him. Let Dhilith Stonegramme have a word with our wounded comrade.”

He glances around the room. “In private.”

Krystal pauses, then nods and stands up. Washucktah, Blue and Laoch follow suit.

“We'll be on the roof when you need us back.” Laoch calls out, and he shuts the door behind them.

Dhilith waits until the sound on the the stairs has ceased, before beginning.

“Tarnien, what you are proposing is madness!”

“I was of the opinion -”

“Not madness in the planning, it is madness for you to carry out! If you think you can charge into this in your current state and expect to live, your head has expanded far beyond a healthy size!”

“That is the thing, Dhilith...” I say. “I do not expect to live through this.”

“Then why, by the Dverguð, are you attempting such a thing?!”

“Because it is necessary.”

“It is NOT necessary! Think on, Tarnien, you do not need to be in the thick of the fight to be pivotal in the battle – What of your bow? Your arrows? You can hit a sparrow's eye in the dark from scores of yards away!”

“It would not be as effective, whereas in...”

“Not as effective it may be! But it would be effective enough!” Dhilith presses, not allowing me much time to speak.

I open my mouth again, but Dhilith says before I can speak. “What of your quest to return home?”

I pause, before saying. “What of it? If I do not live to complete it...”

“And WHY should you not live to complete it? Is that a fitting way to honour your race? Your family? Your murdered mother?”

I stop dead.

“I may be as tough as stone, Tarnien, but neither am I deaf as one. I have heard news from the Koes Perfydh as well. Your mother was murdered, and it was you who was exiled! If you cannot return to restore justice and honour to your name, no-one else can accomplish it in your stead.”

I cannot speak. I had not known the news of.. of that event was known outside the Wood Elven.

“How... do you know...” I ask weakly.

“I heard some words through sheer luck of another wood elf, and even then I could only guess it was you, through hints and clues. I give you my solemn oath that the others will not hear of it, but Tarnien – if you are too deaf to listen to anyone else, then listen to me! Listen to yourself! Listen to your mother!”

I remain silent, contemplating the words without looking at anything. I loved my mother dearly, more than anything else in Norvystir. Hearing her brought up again invoked painful memories...

...

“Mother, can I go watch the Rangers?” I ask, tugging on the hem of my mother's robes.

“You may indeed, little one. Your brother is already there!” A chuckle, deep and full of warmth.

“One day, Mother, I shall be a Ranger too!” I declare, full of the confidence of youth. “The best Ranger there ever was!”

“I know, my child. Go on, you have to watch them if you want to be one!”She says, smiling and pointing me toward the Rangers.

...

“Mother? I am home!”

She turns from the simple wooden basin where she had been cleaning my brother's clothes. “Oh, Tarnien! You scared me!” A chuckle, rich as a blackberry bush in full fruit. “The Rangers have taught you well, I see!”

“Yes, they have, Mother. I am learning quickly!” I say, full of pride.

She pulls me into a close embrace. “I expected no less, my son. I am very proud of you.”

...

“Mother? I have heard from the High Council. I have been selected as a candidate for Taoiseach! I could... Mother? Mother!...”

...

“Tarnien!”

Dhilith is standing before me, a mixture of annoyance and whatever the dwarves felt instead of concern on his face.

I shake my head, and wipe a tear from my eye. Composing myself before speaking, I nod. “Very well, Dhilith. You have made your point.”

I smirk suddenly. “Never before has a dwarf moved an elf to such emotion with words alone!”

“Never before has a dwarf needed to.” Dhilith points out, and he walks over to the door. Opening it, he calls up. “I think I have talked to him enough!”

The sound of feet can be heard on the stairs. Laoch enters first.

“Goodness, Dhilith, what on earth did you say to him?”

“Nothing that was not true.” Dhilith says gruffly.

Krystal enters behind him. “Tarnien?!” She asks in concern and, approaching me, lays a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I am fine, Krystal, thank you.” I say.

Washucktah, having also approached behind Krystal, also asks “Are you sure? You look like you were... crying a bit?!” His tone becomes incredulous towards the end.

“I am fine.” I say firmly. “Dhilith merely confronted me with a few... ‘home truths’.”

“But...” Washucktah begins to ask again, but a combined glare from me and Dhilith silences him.

“Anyway!” Laoch says cheerily, moving the conversation on.

“Yes, anyway.” I say, and I breathe in. “On reflection, I agree that I should not partake in close combat fighting.”

The expression is as clear as day on their faces in the candlelight. One of knowing a friend is stating the blindingly obvious.

“So, I will instead dedicate myself to seeing Washucktah through to claim the Cythras Ayr and act only in his defence.”

“...What?” Washucktah says, after a pause. “Isn't that just the same thing?”

“Not necessarily. By defence, I mean that I can find a higher vantage, and protect you with my arrows. I may have to draw blade, but only if there is no other choice.”

Krystal frowns slightly. “Are you sure you can pull your bow with your rib?”

I shrug, hiding my wince as the rib pains from the movement. “Well, I refuse to be absent, and ranged combat may be the next best thing.”

“But...”

Dhilith interrupts. “Krystal. Tarnien is determined to see the fight to the end. Not to do so, to him, would be a great dishonour, a greater dishonour than falling in the battle itself.”

I nod. “I would not abandon my comrades this close to the end.”

Krystal bites her lip, then says hesitantly, “Then... let me try to hold the bone in place with magic. It would stop it being knocked further out of place.”

“Krystal!” Washucktah gasps at her. “That sort of spell...”

“That sort of spell I read in my old master's mage books!” she retorted. “A magical force cast- I know the theory well enough.”

She turns back to me. “It would... ease my mind greatly to think you were in a better state, should you become involved in meleé combat.”

I look at her a moment. Was she... pleading with me?

“...Very well.” I sigh eventually. Washucktah shakes his head. “I hope you know what you're doing.”

Krystal nods. “I hope I do too. Tarnien, could you turn your bad rib towards me? Thank you.” She lays her right hand gingerly on the rib, and winces as I gasp in pain. She mutters “Sorry” under her breath, and places her left hand over her right.

Closing her eyes, she takes a moment to concentrate, and I see her mouth the spell she's about to cast. A few moments later she says in a quiet but powerful voice “Geæfna henn lim ætgæddre.”

I scream. I cannot help myself, the sudden pain in my side is so intense. I fall back into the chair, clutching my side - it feels like my rib is being broken again and again, over and over in exactly the same place.

Krystal and Washucktah jump backwards in surprise, scattering their chairs and staring fixedly at me. Laoch does the same, crying out.

“Woah! Was that meant to happen?”

“I don't know!”

“What's happeni-”

“I don't know!!”

“Was the spell phrased right?”

“I.. think it was... Wasn't it? Wasn't it?!”

They stare at me convulsing, caught between panic, terror and morbid fascination. I am only barely aware of them through the episode.

After about thirty seconds, the pain subsides, and my vision stops blurring. I pant heavily, in a cold sweat.

“Tarnien!” Krystal cries, and pulls me upright in the chair again, careful of my rib. “Are you okay?”

“...Well, I am now... I think...” I say, slowly.

Washucktah shakes his head. “I've got bad news and good news.”

“What is it?” both me and Krystal ask.

“The bad news is that Krystal used a different command word to the one I know, so I have no idea what the spell might have done. The good news, however, is that I don't think it will have done much different to the spell I was taught.”

Krystal places her hand on my side, and her brow furrows in puzzlement. “Hey, Chuck...”

Washucktah comes over and also places his hand on my side. “Huh... What was the wording you used exactly?”

Washucktah and Krystal talk in whispers, and Blue takes the opportunity to ask “Vhat on earth happened dere? Are ya alright?”

“Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine now.” I say. And it was true, the pain had almost entirely gone, even though the sensation I had now was... not pleasant.

Eventually Washucktah says “Oh! Now I see what happened.” He turns to address both of us. “The spell Krystal used was intended to hold the bone in place. And it has, but it did it by forming new bone to connect all the fragments. It's not totally permanent, it will eventually fade, but unless we use another spell on it, it'll last way beyond anyone's lifetime.”

“I see...” I say, slowly. I flex my arm. There's no pain, but definite discomfort and a restriction of movement at some angles. It felt like three fingers were being constantly pressed into my side.

Krystal looks at me testing the joint, then says “...I'm sorry, Tarnien. I shouldn't have tried to -”

“It's all right, Krystal.” I say. “You couldn't know the spell was imperfect.”

Washucktah nods. “If I'm honest, it's a pretty good first try... but usually the first tries are on wounded animals...”

“Well,” I eventually decide. “It will do for now. We'll have plenty of time to fix it after the battle.”

“Okay. But Tarnien, that bone is considerably weaker than your natural bone. Bear that in mind.” Washucktah says.

I nod, and then turn to Laoch. “I think it is time to get ready. Nothing else can be gained by delay.”

Laoch cracks his knuckles. “Good.”

“This is the entrance?” I ask.

We are all hiding in an alley nearby. The entrance we picked out as the Thieves Guild entrance lies in the opposite alley but one.

“I think so. Looking at the map, it would have to enter there and run back towards the street.” Laoch nods. “It's how we get in that's the problem, there's going to be guards. Assuming we’re right about what it actually is.”

I think for a moment, then glance at Washucktah. A memory leaps to my mind, spurred on by a phrase Krystal said only an hour or two earlier.

“Remember those goblins?” I say, a wry smile on my face.

Slowly, as the memory returns, he smirks back.

I stand by the dirty hole and rusted ladder, waiting for the sound of feet.

“You think this scheme will work?” Dhilith whispers hoarsely.

“I hope so.” I reply.

“Of course, if they have crossbows...” Krystal mutters.

The noise of feet drowns out any thought of reply, and I nod to everyone. We all melt into the shadows.

Up from the entrance, Kendra crawls up and runs up to the mouth of the alley, stopping to look back.

Two guards, emerging from the ladder, see her silhouette and give chase. However, they are rudely interrupted by a shout from me to the effect of “Now!”, followed by Laoch jumping on their heads from the roof of a two-storey building.

Kendra, who has by now changed back into Washucktah, came back. “It was only those two.”

“Excellent!” Laoch said. “Wow, that whole Changeling thing is pretty darn useful!”

I nod, smiling. “Indeed it is. Now we must wait for Blue and Lily...”

A few moments later, Blue and Lily appear directly in the alley behind us. Even in the near pitch black, Lily's hide gleams a pure silvery-white – although it is clear Lily is not at all keen on staying for any length of time in the city, and even less keen on going underground.

Krystal strokes her nose gently to try and calm her down, and I look to see Laoch staring in wonderment.

“Wow... This is Lily?” he asks.

“Yeah.” Washucktah says with a hint of pride. “We did her a favour on the road and she's kinda stuck around.”

“...So beautiful...” Laoch whispers, before suddenly snapping out of it. “But hey now! Why aren't we kicking some Thieves Guild heads in?!”

He takes a still-lit torch from one of the knocked-out guards, and jumps into the passage. Krystal and Blue follow. Lily resists going underground for a while, but with Krystal's persistent encouragements she manages it, and they descend into the dark together.

As Washucktah and I both descend, he whispers conversationally. “So with that rib, do you think you'll live now?”

I can hear the note of tension in his voice, and I guess what he's thinking. He doesn't want to die, that is simply the nature of being alive, and he had been drawing comfort from the fact that he would not die alone.

I decide to be honest with him.

“Against one foe, or a few, I would say I did think such, as I said I did to Dhilith or Krystal.” I whisper back. “But against so many?” I shake my head. “In my heart, I am still in great doubt.”

Washucktah, his face lit from behind by Laoch's torch, nods simply.

No more need be said.

We walk steadily forward into the darkness.

[twotravels]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“There, it’s done. Now sit down,” Krystal, now breaking a small sweat, sat down with me on a large rock. She was wearing some Fire Elven clothes, which just gave me more questions, but I figured I’d get them soon, since we had all ridden on Lily well away from the volcano and the Fire Elven. I won't be going to visit them any time soon. For the hour-long ride, I did not speak to anyone, my pain was too much to deal with, and I still did not know how exactly Krystal and Dhilith were able to find Lily, who was now sleeping a foot or two away from us, not close to the bank of the river, but not far from it either.

“Uh, Krystal...heep!!!” I started as Krystal took off what was left of my sandal and started to look at my completely singed foot.

She chuckled quietly. “Heh.....Yes, Washucktah?”

I sigh, the pain obvious in my voice. “How....erf....how did you exactly rescue Lily again?”

“Oh, it wasn't I who rescued Lily, it was Dhilith!” She smiled, both proud of Dhilith and amused by the situation.

I jerk around to face Dhilith, who was setting up a camp for us to stay overnight, but now stood up and pointed his axe at Krystal, threateningly. “Really?!” I shout out surprised, almost laughing.

Dhilith grunts very angrily. “Krystal, I thought we agreed to never speak of...of...of that horribly mismatched moment again!!”

Krystal chuckles, louder this time. “Oh, Dhilith. But Washucktah has to know. I promise, after we tell him, no one else will have to know.”

Dhilith takes a few moments to consider. Then, suddenly, he angrily throws his axe down. Sighing heavily, he says, “So be it. But if you expect me to tell the tale, then you are gravely mistaken.”

He then walks off. When he returns, he'll probably come back with some kind of fuel for a fire, but the real reason for his departure, obviously, is so he won't be around for the story I so desperately wanted to hear.

I turn to face Krystal again, and with a coy smile, ask, “Well? Tell me what happened!”

My coy smile disappears when she takes out an ointment from her satchel and starts to apply it to my burn.

“AAAH!” Yikes, it hurt a lot!!

“Well, if you sit still, then I'll tell you.....”

I was very upset after you left us, Washucktah. I hope you never run off like that again. Yes, I know it was to find Tarragon, that scoundrel of an elf, but we need to stick together. In any case, I was very upset. I chased after you, but could not find you wherever I turned. Eventually, Dhilith caught up with me, and grasped my shoulder.

“It is for naught, Krystal,” He grunted, quietly, almost in a whisper. “We have lost him in this great labyrinth.”

Now I am not proud of it, but I lashed out at him. “We have to find them, Dhilith! Both Washucktah and Lily! I do not like this place, I never did, but I grow to like it less and less!”

“Be that as it may,” Dhilith continued, rather calmly to my surprise, “We'll do no good running in every direction we think suits us. Rather,” he turned looking around him, “...we should start by finding the direction that truly does suit us!”

At this, he pointed his axe about forty-five degrees to my left, and, following his suggestion, I looked and saw Tarragon walking away from what looked to be the end of the settlement.

….Really, Washucktah? That is where you were? Now that is surprising! If I only knew....

But what has happened has happened. I gasped once I saw Tarragon, but Dhilith quickly pulled me out of his line of vision. We both silently agreed to follow him, but there was the problem of remaining unseen.

Noticing my surroundings, I found that the tent we had slipped inside of had Fire Elven clothes. So to blend in, I quickly made Dhilith turn around and keep watch while I changed. After I had done so, I put my old clothes into Dhilith's large treasure bag, and asked, “Do you still see him?”

“Aye, that I do. The ugly sitzcringle is talking with friends, but he is just leaving. Be swift, Krystal! I will remain further behind you!”

And so I followed Tarragon on a ten minute walk, Dhilith about ten feet behind me. Eventually, we came to the foot of the mountain, maybe fifty feet outside of the settlement. It wasn't as crowded and unruly, which I was grateful for, but I was not looking forward to the obvious confrontation that lied ahead of me.

As I looked for a place to hide out of sight, which was not as easy as it was in the settlement, I watched as Tarragon walked into a cave I had not noticed before.

“Do you have it?” He hissed. I instantly knew it was Lily they spoke of.

There was a mumbling that I could not understand, and then Tarragon walked into the cave.

Dhilith suddenly sat next to me, and if I was all human, I would have jumped.

“Dhilith, you surprised me.”

“I've no time for manners, Krystal. Where is Tarragon?”

I sighed quietly, and pointed to the cave. “In there.”

“Right then. I assume our plan is to charge it?”

“Are you sure that's wise?”

“A charge? Come now, Krystal, they'd never expect it!”

“I was considering to use my disguise to get in...”

“Absurd! Tarragon has already seen your face!”

“Then how about a compromise?”

“...”

“Very well.”

And so I went up to the opening of the cave, where I saw two Fire Elves with clubs. I somehow forgot about the clubs that Fire Elves use. Perhaps the bow and arrow just seems the natural choice to me.

At any rate, I walked slowly to them and spoke.

“Hey! You on the left! Your wife told you to not forget to find a hog for dinner before you come home!” …..What? Don't look at me like that, Chuck. I had to sell the disguise!

The guard on the left looked at me surprisingly, and asked, “I wasn't told to hunt a hog!”

“That's why I was told to come and remind you! She gave me this list of other items for you to find, and told me to give it to you.” I patted my pocket, implying a parchment that did not exist.

The two of them walked over to me and when the reached they cave...

“RAH!” Dhilith hit them both with the flat of his axe hard, knocking them out for a long time.

We were now free to enter the cave.

For a short time, all we saw was the black of the dark cave, but eventually, after a lot of feeling around, we were able to find a light that must have been a torch at the end of the passageway. But we slowed down when we heard Tarragon's voice...and whinnying.

“Now calm down, you mule! Because of one growth on your head, you are worth a lot of money. So as long as you keep quiet, you won't annoy me enough to kill you! And with you alive, I'll be able to make quite the pretty penny off of you.”

A flared anger in me rose so high, I could not contain it, so I-

“Tarragon Turze, STAND DOWN!!” But that was not my voice. I looked at Dhilith, shocked. It was he who spoke!

Dhilith jumped into Tarragon's range of vision, who had now turned around in extreme anger and surprise.

Dhilith shouted again. “Let the unicorn go, Tarragon Turze, or so suffer under the wrath of Dhilith Stonegramme!!!” He swung around his axe, and took a battle pose.

“Ah, Dhilith. Who'd have thought that you'd find me all by yourself? And where are your friends?” I decided to stay hidden. “Why would they send a warrior like you to do something as trivial as this?”

Dhilith stood his ground. “I am under the employ of Washucktah, and I will never, no not EVER leave his side!”

“I'll pay you half the spoils this unicorn goes for.”

“Done.”

I watched in horror as Dhilith lowered his axe and walked over to Tarragon's side and I also saw Lily begin to kick harder and whinny louder.

“Hm. I know you're there, Krystal! You forget that I have Elven sense far superior to your own half-elven. I know you're there, I have your unicorn, your leader is most likely dying a few hundred feet above us, and I've just employed the only other one you thought you could trust.....So. Now what are you going to do?”

Knowing I had no other choice but to come out, I did so, and struggled to find words imposing enough.

“Tarragon. Let Lily go,” I raised my hands. “Or I will end your pathetic life.”

“Lily? You mean, Ulily here, the unicorn?” He chuckled quietly, maliciously. “She is a beautiful thing, isn't she?” He turned around to look at it, while Dhilith stood his ground, now glaring at me. “You just want to stare at it and stare at it and stare at it forever and ever.” He zoned off, and to be perfectly honest, Chuck, I was intimidated.

“I do not think you understand,” I raise my hands higher. “Let the unicorn go or I will lay a thousand curses upon you!!”

Tarragon chuckled again. “Now, Krystal, dear, why don't w-”

I did not give him a third chance. “á-Néadhád!” I shot a blast from my hands, and he was struck by it. It was not strong. It was a warning shot, if anything.

“Why you little...!” Tarragon quickly recovered and lunged upon me and then we were wrestling.

It was brutal. That close to the elf that I now hated most was too much, and I let the animal inside me out. Slashing, and punching, and kicking, and biting all on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, however, I saw Dhilith pick up his axe Was he going to strike me?!

Tarragon and I both flinched and looked up when we heard Dhilith smash not me, but the cage with his mighty axe!

“Dhilith! What about our deal?!” Tarragon cried out in anguish, both of us standing up.

“A wise businessman looks into the future and figures the treasures he'll earn. And I've looked into the future, and I don't see you keeping this unicorn for long!” And with that, only one other smash was enough to unleash Lily, who immediately rushed out of the confines and kicked Tarragon back down to the ground.

Barely conscious, Tarragon spit out blood. “Do you...think you can trust him...for long, Krystal?” He snickered as we stood above him. “He is a....businessman after all....and Dhilith, can you trust.....her for that matter....And can your leader trust any of you? All three of you have.....different agendas so contrasting with....with the one who guides you. But...but a team is unified. After the same goal,” He spat again. “That is why you will lose! Ermf...Me, and those that follow me....have the same goal...but you....only three...so different...”

“By The Dverguð, why haven't we left yet?!” Dhilith cried in obvious anger. He climbed on Lily, who did not object, and I climbed on after he did. We then rode out of the cave, and began to find you.

“.....Wow.” I say, once Krystal had finished her tale. “Looks like you two can handle yourselves without me....”

“Oh, but I am glad you are safe as well, beaten as you are!” Krystal smiles her big warm smile, and she hugs me. Even though it hurt, I still feel no pain.

“Are you kidding? Seven elves? That's no big deal, these are obviously flesh wounds!”

“Uh-huh.” Krystal smiles at me, but then she moves away. “Washucktah....about what Tarragon said to us. Can we truly trust each other? Or is our adventure to end on a much different path?”

I sit up, alarmed. “Hey. Don't think like that. That's what that creep wants you to think. I was actually worrying about that earlier this morning. Dhilith warned me that you, you of all people! He warned me that you were not to be trusted, and would only cause me pain.”

“You didn't believe him, did you?”

“I didn't want to, but when I found out that you had visited the Fire Elven before, and you never told me, it did make me think...But I think today has shown that we can trust each other.”

“Really? How so?”

I look Krystal straight in the eye. Not at the grass underneath our feet, nor the rock we sat on, holding Krystal's supplies, not at Lily who’s now sleeping peacefully by the river bank, but straight at Krystal's big, trusting eyes.

“Because today you all acted under one goal. To save Lily. Even Dhilith. Dhilith was offered a lot of money. Money coming from a source he wanted to use, but we wouldn't let him. Maybe it was because of his loyalty to us, or his growing affections for our new companion, but in the end, he refused the riches he so desperately wanted to fight under our one cause. Tarragon knew that, which is why he told that lie.”

Krystal seems lost in thought for a moment, then nods, smiling again. “I see. Thank you, Chuck.”

At that moment, Dhilith came traipsing back into our camp site, and I turn to speak to him.

“She just finished the story, Dhilith. Great job!” I smile at him.

He flashes a grin, if only for half a second, then nods grimly. “Very well, Washucktah. Now that you know, we may never speak of it again.”

[twotravels]

CHAPTER SIX - Krystal's Story

    I flick open my eyes in the sunlight, and roll onto my side wearily. Every muscle aches from the night's exertions. I sit up, and spend about ten minutes retying the wrapping around my arms and legs.

    Rangers of the Wood Elven always wore the same garments. Tight fitting shirts and pants, bound tightly with strips of light brown cloth sewn to the hem of each sleeve and that tie off at the joint of the respective limb. Some leather padding provides a degree of protection without impeding manoeuvrability. Over that, a loose deep green cloak and hood woven from a light fabric, very strong and smooth. A black scarf ties over the nose and mouth, leaving only the eyes visible.

    Dhilith is already awake and outside, sitting down on the logs we use for seats in front of the now barely smouldering fire, polishing his steel hauberk with a stiff brush and muttering “Darn goblin blood... staining my armour...”

    I smirk slightly. “Rather it the goblin's blood than mine or yours.”

    Dhilith looks up at me. “Aye, but I'll wager neither elf or dwarf blood will stain like tar, and smell worse.”

    I laugh and sit down opposite him. “You do not have to wager, I believe you.”

    Dhilith does not reply. I remain silent, content to wait for the moment.

    “You're both awake then, are you?” the soft voice wings its way to our ears, and both Dhilith and I look around.

    Krystal was walking back into the clearing. In the light of morning it is clearer to see her physique; she is taller than an elf, although still short for a human. She moves with the same elvish grace that would seem slightly alien to humans, and yet she is more solid than the elven folk, more connected to the earth.

    “Yes, we are awake, Krystal.” I say, smiling slightly. “How much did you beat us by?”

    “I was awake at dawn, and it is now at least two hours past that. You have slept long!”

    Dhilith chuckles darkly. “The number of goblins pitted against us, it is a wonder we returned from sleep at all!”

    Krystal briefly smiles, but she seems to be preoccupied with something. Dhilith had returned to cleaning his armour, so I decide to ask her what it was she was thinking of.

    She answers “Oh... nothing. Just my family.”

    I pause in my interruption. I see she isn't finished.

    “I was raised a human, you know. I never knew my elven father, and my mother was not too wealthy. She gave me my human name, Krystal DeLancre, to try and help me 'fit in with society'.”

    Krystal snorts, a brief display of human emotion crossing her face. “It didn't help. I was ridiculed by everyone in the town, called a freak. When I was fifteen, someone beat me up and robbed me right outside our family home. Not for any sort of wealth, it was simply for being 'different'.

    “I just... I couldn't take it. I left. I ran away to some human city somewhere, dressed as a boy, and became a mage's apprentice. That's where I learned the basics of magic use.

    “Sadly, when my mentor found I was a woman he threw me onto the streets... but fortunately for me, I managed to steal many of his more advanced books, and I continued my tutoring in private, teaching myself the spells.

    “And, from there...” She shrugs slightly, dismissing her emotions with a gesture. “I started looking for my father when I felt capable enough.”

    I nod, still digesting her story. I hadn't given thought to how elves outside our own kingdoms and lands were perceived; it is true I travelled through human cities often enough, but as a traveller I was able to move on, stay ahead of the humans reactions, as it were. I had rarely stayed in the same place for more than a few days ever since my exile, and had rarely interacted with anyone long enough to raise suspicion.

    In a way, I feel almost sympathetic to her.

    I say, very quietly “We will find him.”

    Krystal looks sharply at me, more human emotion flaring in her eyes. “You don't mean that! You can't! How do you - ”

    Looking up, I meet her gaze carefully, and hold it. We battle for a few split moments, until she looks away, and mutters. “I'm sorry, I just... I couldn't stop myself.”

    I nod. “It does not matter, Krystal. You are, after all, part human, it is to be expected.”

    Krystal looks back at me, a sudden wariness in her face. I get the feeling that I said something wrong, but I cannot identify what. She stands, and says stiffly “Excuse me, I wish to have another walk,” Without another word or glance, she stalks out of the clearing.

    I look on for a moment, gazing at the spot where she had vanished into the trees, and sigh slightly. Mentally, I resolve to ask her how I had offended her at a later time, but I also decide that to run and try to gather such information now would be folly.

    Dhilith's voice to one side chuckles lightly. “My my, Tarnien, you do know how to talk to women!”

    I glance over at Dhilith coldly and I pause for a while, trying to find the most suitably scathing words to retort with. Sadly, and infuriatingly, the dwarf misinterprets this silence and laughs harder. “Say no more, Tarnien, I see your mind! But now, onto more business...”

    Standing up, he comes and takes a seat next to me, unrolling a map of the local area. On it, are several areas marked in green ink, and black crosses in each of those areas. This is why I had hired Dhilith; this map showed the leatherskin tribes and their capitals.

    This map was the key to my entire quest.

    Dhilith's stubbed, dirty finger poked into the black cross of one of the smaller areas, entirely set inside a forest. “We're here, we came in from the south side of the forest, so to get to the nearest other, we'd have to march straight through the goblin kingdom as it disintegrates...”

    I nod, comprehending the dwarfish mindset immediately. “So you expect more payment at the end.”

    Dhilith shrugs. “Increased risk has, ahem, forced me to reconsider the terms of my services.”

    “Dhilith, neither of us has forgotten that I had no choice but to hire you for use of the map.”

    “Well, yes, but I choose to treat all my customers equally.”

    “Even the ones you are blackmailing?”

    “Tarnien, blackmail is such a strong word! Please, call it 'increasing my own marketability to selected audiences'.”

    I stand, irritated at Dhilith's single-mindedness. “Please, allow me to consider your terms of employment appropriately.” The cold must have been evident in my voice, as Dhilith does not respond momentarily.

    I walk into the forest.

[twotravels]

CHAPTER FOUR - Battle and Friends

    It is not long before I am forced to move. The goblins may not have as keen eyes or ears as an elf, but neither are they deaf and blind. I leap from the tree as the goblins swarm towards me, easily keeping ahead as I jump from branch to branch and loosing more arrows as I run.

    Within minutes I pass Dhilith as he stands steadfast, ready for the oncoming tide. He's grinning in anticipation.

    “Your students are coming, Dhilith!” I call cheerily to him. Despite everything, the dwarf’s quiet enjoyment is infectious.

    “Aye?” Dhilith cries. “Then I shall teach them a lesson they will not forget!”

    With that, he charges headlong into the oncoming horde, letting fly two throwing axes.

    I have a hard time keeping up. The goblins are not difficult to defeat; they are weak, cowardly and petty. But in numbers this great, against only two... We would be hard pressed to see this through before nightfall, even assuming we would survive.

    Loosing my last arrow, I draw my two slender knives, sweeping them out of their sheaths as I unstring the bow and fit it back in place all in one graceful movement. Their blades are unstained, and glimmer bright in the dying light, keen and eager. I grasp one in each hand, and launch myself into the fray.

    Minutes pass. At least, they seem like minutes. Maybe they were hours. Or possibly even days; they feel long enough. Even Dhilith, the hardened dwarfish warrior, is tiring under this onslaught. Every goblin slain spawns two more to take its place.

    Suddenly, just as I can not raise my arm for one more blow, a bright light flashes from behind me. The goblins fall back, covering their eyes and snarling in high-pitched whining tones. Grateful, I sink down to my knees, for the moment too tired to be curious as to the nature of our saviour. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dhilith stoop, leaning on his axe and breathing hard.

    A voice, a female, comes from behind. “Are you grievously hurt?” A gentle hand lies on my shoulder, and almost instantly I feel my muscles garner some new strength. I look around... into a pair of light brown eyes. A human’s eyes – but with a strange touch to them.

    It is several minutes later, and I am still in the clearing alongside Dhilith. He is sat down with his back to the tree, red in the face and still breathing hard, and I am sat a third of the way along the edge from him against another tree. The stranger had run off, instructing us to stay here while she took care of the rest of the goblins.

    “Who are you?” I ask her, as she walks back into the clearing. Upon hearing my question, she lowers the hood that had been covering her face.

   She is obviously part human at least. The features are soft and rounded, totally unlike an elf. But at the same time... there is an air about her. Her voice lingers longer than a humans should, and she seems to move with a certain grace.

    “I am Krystal.” She said. “I have been following you.”

    Dhilith gets up slowly, and hefts a throwing axe to his hand. “I'll show you what happens when Dhilith Stonegramme is followed...”

    “No.” I raise a hand, and look at the dwarf as he looks back at me in surprise. We lock eyes for a while, and after a moment Dhilith backs down, grumbling.

    I turn back to Krystal. For the first time in days, I pull the scarf down from over the bottom half of my head, revealing my face in its entirety.

    I just catch in the corner of my eye  Dhilith staring in astonishment, looking between my face and Krystal's. I pay no attention to it at all.

    “Why were you following us?” I ask, not unkindly, but neither too welcoming.

    She shakes her head. “Not both of you. You only, Tarnien.”

    I am silent for a while, contemplating three things. One, her correction on who she was following. Two, the sudden use of my name. Three, when she shook her head...

    “You are half elven, are you not?”

    I see her eyes widen slightly, and I continue. “I had suspected it when you came back, a human would not be so graceful, or their voice linger quite so. But I knew for certain just now, when you shook your head... your ears.”

    She sighs and nods, pulling her profound dark-red hair back to reveal her slightly pointed ears. “You have me, Tarnien. I am indeed half-elven, my father was an elf. One of the Fire Elven.”

    I nod. The Fire Elven were a stern and hardy folk – if not exactly the most respectable, coming as they did from the volcanic waste to the north-east. I still cannot trust her. Not yet.

    “I am curious as to how you found my name. And why you have chosen to follow me.”

    Krystal sighs slightly, “I believe you may be able to help me find my father.”

    I nod again, still slightly puzzled. “And my name...?”

    She shrugs “Being somewhat able to cast spells can make finding information very... effective.”

    I nod yet again, and stand up. I stagger slightly as my legs still feel strained from the battle, and Krystal's arm comes around my shoulders to steady me. “Come, I will help you set up camp for the night.”

    I am still suspicious of her, but right now, I have no other choice. Dhilith and I are too weary to set up camp effectively before nightfall, and this clearing is not the place for it.

        “So, who is the dwarf?”

    Krystal and I are sitting around the fire in the clearing we found. Dhilith is some yards away building his tent; being proud and stubborn as he is he refuses to let either of us help despite his fatigue.

    “Dhilith? He is a mercenary. We have an agreement for his map of the leatherskin tribes for my promise in hiring his services.”

    Krystal considers this, then asks. “So, if I may ask, why do you need such a map? What is your history, Ranger Taragthor?”

    I pause for a long while, deliberating whether she can be trusted. My mind is telling me not to, to cast her from the camp, to prevent her from following me, somehow. But my gut instinct, my heart is telling me that she means neither me nor Dhilith any harm.

        “...All right, I will tell you.” I take a deep breath.

    “I was raised by my mother, one of the Wood Elven. My father left before I was born. When I was old enough my half-brother and I were given over to the rangers, who taught us the art of wood-craft. We both learned quicker than they thought, and in only a short time we were among the finest in the Woods. When I was an adolescent, I was chosen as the Ranger Taoiseach candidate, the youngest in a generation, but...”

    I stop. My voice is dangerously close to showing my true emotions. Even the elves cannot restrain their moods indefinitely.

    Krystal speaks suddenly. “No more, we’ll rest for the night.  I'm... I’m sorry I asked.”

    I smile faintly. “No, it is all right. I have never discussed the matter with anyone before, that is all.”

    She smiles as well. “I understand.”

    We lock eyes for a moment, then suddenly she turns away, briskly saying “We had better sleep while we can, the day comes fast in this season.”

    She glances back at Dhilith, who by this time had finally set his tent. Dhilith nods wearily. “Aye... that we must...”

    I laugh slightly as he turns back into his tent and there is an audible thud as he slumps onto his bedroll.

    Krystal disappears into her own tent, with a cursory nod and glance back at Dhilith and I.

    Too tired to contemplate much else, I retreat back into my own tent, gently lie down on the padded bedroll, and loosen the bindings around my limbs under my cloak. The Mark of the Wood Elven briefly becomes visible, the snake under three strokes imprinted on the inside of my left forearm.

    Binding loosened, I fall asleep at last.

[twotravels]

CHAPTER TWO - The Hunt

    I stoop low over the ground, my green cloak blending with the long grass under the twilight woods. My keen blue eyes scan the ground with all the wood lore of my race and upbringing.

    “They went this way.”

    I shoot a dark glance back at the dwarf, taking in afresh is 'thin' sheet of mail over the toughened leather, the steel helmet, and the large brown beard neatly plaited and tucked into his tunic. Despite the fact that I was only marginally taller, I held it as a source of pride over Dhilith's head. Sometimes literally.

    “If you could not make such a tramping through the forest, we may have caught them already!”

    Dhilith growls and grumbles under his voice. I could hear his words easily over the distance of the clearing we had stopped in. “And if I could not use an axe, we may both be overrun by goblins ere nightfall...”

    I had to stop myself from retorting with difficulty. As much as my elvish pride denied it, Dhilith was actually the better fighter of us. I had never seen the point of meleé combat except as something to be dealt with in the event my bow and arrows failed me.

    Which they never had.

    Not yet.

    We move on after barely a few moments. I lead from the front, following the trail swiftly and easily with barely more than a whisper on the autumn leaves; Dhilith's passage is slower and comparatively MUCH noisier with his heavy armour making heavy footfalls. Although to human ears it would still be little more than a large fox would make, to my ears it was a raucous that could shake apples from boughs.

    I believe now would be an appropriate time to explain our unusual alliance. My name is Tarnien Taragthor, an exiled ranger of the Wood Elven. My history is a difficult and convoluted one and not for a time or place such as this, but in brief I was set to become the Chief Ranger (the full title is difficult to render into the common tongue, but in my speech it is Taoiseach) and the de facto ruler of the Wood Elven, but I was framed for … for a heinous crime - and exiled, never to return except with the head of the nine largest and most wicked orc and goblin chieftains known.

    This task is known to be almost impossible for any except the bravest and most skilled elf our generation has not yet seen. They never intend for me to return.

    Anyway, over the last fifty years or so I had been roaming aimlessly, seeking any news of my selected targets and also trying to scrape a living within the filthy human settlements. Over that time I had already acquired two of their heads, but progress was annoyingly slow and the hardest chieftains were yet to come.

    Recently I'd made acquaintance with this mercenary, this – dwarf – by the name of Dhilith Stonegramme, who'd said he had a map of the leatherskinned tribes including the tribes of the Nine, the Goblin Lords.

    His only bargain was for him to come with me on the hunts.

    I had had to accept his condition; I could not hope to continue efficiently without the map and Dhilith had known it.

    So now we were tracking a party of goblins, lead by one of the Nine that I was seeking – a particular goblin chieftain called Azbolg.

    I just had to hope these particular goblins were deaf.

    We track them for several hours. Both of us were silent, probably contemplating the upcoming battle.

    I say out loud, rather suddenly “Remember Dhilith, the chieftain must be my kill.”

    Dhilith nods, and says in a gruff voice. “You have your chieftain, my pride is on the number of foes, not their ranks.”

    Satisfied, I continue my tracking. It's childishly simple to follow; bent stems of plants on the ground, disturbed drifts of the orange leaves covering the soil.

    Dhilith says in a low voice – low for a dwarf at least. “I do not understand what you see in this plant matter, Tarnien. Everywhere you look it is the same!”

    I sigh inwardly, and try to block out the low rumbling voice. I can already guess what is coming next.

    “Now, if this were a more stony land...”

    I nod gloomily; of course, dwarfs will be dwarfs. I drown out his voice as I continue to follow the trail.

    “ - if this were a more stony land, I would tell you many things about what has passed through that place! Plants quickly forget what event passes in their realm, they change with the seasons and swiftly all memories are forgotten. But stones, yes, a stone can remember far back. The stones of the Vesturfjöll, for example, where my household is, the stones there can remember back to the Wulfen Wars nigh on half a  century ago. I was just a young dwarf at the time, but...”

    I hiss suddenly, cutting his reminiscence short. “Quiet!”

    Dhilith stopped in his tracks, his onyx eyes suddenly very aware of his surroundings. “What is it?”

    Peering into the twilight around the trees, painfully aware of the failing light, I can faintly see the outlines of a camp in the distance; fires were being lit, and a horrid merriment was drifting towards us. Dhilith might not be able to hear it, but I could, and the words they were using almost made me want to tear my ears off.

    “The camp is directly ahead of us.” I say. There is no need to lower our voices, the raucous the goblins are making will easily cover up the sound of our talking.

    Dhilith grins slowly, and draws his heavy two-handed axe from his belt.  I scowl at it; axes were heavy, cumbersome things meant for the boughs of rotting trees, not at all like the slender blades I have slung next to my quiver.

    “I say we go and show them the meaning of battle!” the dwarf says as softly as he can in his gravelly voice.

    Sighing and yet somehow tense and excited, I walk to a nearby tree and leap easily into it, walking along the boughs as surely as a well-worn trader's route. “Wait right there, and I will bring you all the goblins that are willing to learn!”

    Dhilith chuckles darkly, plants his feet a space apart and levels his axe blade. “Bring me my students, Tarnien. I am ready!”

    Grinning, I leap further on into the forest, until I am near the goblins setting up their camp. The stench is horrid; reeks of body odour, dry blood and rotten food waft into the tree where I lay in wait. It's not long before I see it.

    The biggest goblin of the tribe, holding court at the head of some form of long makeshift table, eating food greedily with one hand and gesticulating with the other at its underlings.

    Wrinkling my nose in disgust, I draw and string my bow silently, caressing the smooth yew composite as I notch my fine arrow.

    Taking aim, I notice the leaves on the clearing blowing. I feel the wind on my face, and see the feathers on the great goblin's headdress sway slightly.

    The great goblin turns its warted, bulbous face towards me, and even from this distance I see the pupils dilate.

    I loose my arrow.