"All right, Tark, give it to us one more time. And don’t
even think of lying. We’re not in the mood," The man
in the long chain mail said as he stood above me. I squirmed
in my chair.
This is what happened. I swear by my life this is the whole truth.
I was out on that fall night, trying to help recover one of the
Skulls of the Furies, which had fallen into the hands of a band
of hobgoblins. Don’t ask me which tribe they were from,
I was just doing what I was told: "get that skull back!"
Ruprik had yelled. I didn’t really know much about the skulls,
or hobgoblins or about Ruprik, for that matter.
So I was just trying to help. I’d seen one of the skulls
before; I knew they were smaller than human skulls and they had
some kind of black hair coming out of the top. I also knew they
gave me a chill down my spine! So I was going down the main path
of the settlement, creeping along with a barbarian woman I’d
just met two weeks ago. But here we were, depending on each other
for our lives. I’d seen hobgoblins, I’d even killed
one -- well, I helped kill it, to be honest. But Tasha and I
were a decent pair: she was a good mage who could take down a
hobgoblin or two before they even got to her. I felt confident
with my shield and long sword. I’d just learned where to
slash someone on the leg so their leg became useless.
I was hankering to maim one of the big hobgoblins -- but I was
also scared! We’d be ok if we met one or two of the green-skinned
things, but what if we ran into a pack of them? I figured I’d
use my favorite defensive move: run like crazy! For now I just
walked slowly down the right side of the path, Tasha was on the
left. I alternated my glance: path, woods, path, woods, behind
us, path, woods . . .
"Where exactly are we going?" I whispered to Tasha.
"I don’t think we’re--"
"SHHH!" she hissed suddenly, freezing in place. She
dropped down into a crouch, her eyes, animal-like, locked on
the bend in the path ahead. I froze too -- mostly out of fear,
actually. She motioned with her hand, still looking ahead, for
me to move off the path. I slid down the hill off the path as
quietly as I could. Then Tasha started looking around casually,
confusing me. Her glance passed toward me, and she winked as
she turned away.
"Ahhrrrgg" she moaned softly. She let herself fall
roughly into a sitting position and grabbed her ankle with both
hands. "Ahhh" she continued to make noises of pain.
I understood: she was playing hurt -- setting a trap which I
would snap shut. Wonderful! I turned slowly to look down the
path. Coming toward us quickly were two lumpy looking hobgoblins.
Their triangular red tabards bobbing with their odd, animal gait.
Each held a short sword in hand. I could feel the hot blood coming
up to my face. I noticed my sword hand tensing around the grip.
I hunched down lower behind a scrub bush, my leg muscles taught
as bowstrings.
They walked up to Tasha, who looked up with a fearful face. "Gubba
en toe. Honna ekta ranko," the bigger one barked. The other
one shoved his sword into his belt and reached for her arm. She
squirmed away, toward the uphill side of the path. The two turned
with her, leaving me their backs. I saw the moment and leapt
out as quietly as I could. My sword caught the big one cleanly
on the back of his right knee, and his weight took him down before
he could react. With the back swing I caught his left arm and
gashed it deeply. He growled, spitting and gurgling, as I drove
the sword down into his chest. Then I jumped back and looked
at Tasha and the other one.
She was rolling away, the hobgoblin slashing at her with his
dagger. "Helllp!" She said as I watched. I snapped
to and lunged toward them. She stopped rolling and reared her
right arm back, summoning a spell. Then he caught her with the
dagger on her left arm, which was in front of her, hand up defensively.
I saw her face wince, but she finished the spell and a yellow
blast popped off her right hand and caught the beast in the chest
squarely. His body convulsed and he fell limp in front of her.
We’d done it. We’d won.
"Good work!" I said excitedly. But Tasha was less happy.
"Curse it!" she replied, grabbing at the bleeding cut
on her left arm. We got off the path and bandaged the wound well
enough to stop the bleeding. Then I searched the two bodies,
adding a few more pokes for good measure. While the smaller one
had nothing but a moldy crust of bread, the big one had a satchel
with a silver bracer and a piece of paper in it. The paper had
some kind of writing on it, I think, but then, I can’t read
any hobgoblin.
"Hurry up," she quipped. So I finished and rolled the
bodies off the path and kicked dirt over the blood on the path.
"I think I know what this says," she said looking over
the paper. "And we need to hurry."
We started down the path again, knowing that we were only getting
closer to the hobgoblins’ camp. Well, I thought, at least
there’s two less of them now! A few hundred yards later
we left the path and moved through the woods. We could see firelight
in the distance ahead, but the woods prevented us from making
out what was around it. We slowed to a crawl as we came within
fifty feet of the fire. I could make out three figures by the
fire. Behind them slumped a ragged tent.
"Are you fast?" Tasha said, looking me in the eye.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Good. Here’s what we need to do. I’m going to
sneak around to the other side of them. Give me time to get there,
then stumble toward them to get their attention. When they come
for you, run like mad. Got it?" she asked simply.
"Then what?" I said.
"Then you run till they’re not behind you anymore,"
she shot back.
I was stunned. "And what are you going to do, may I ask,"
I hissed.
"I am going to sneak into that tent and look for the skull!
Maybe you’d rather do that?"
"Uh, no thanks."
"Fine then just remember to run like mad, got it?"
she said.
I saw her disappear into the underbrush. Those barbarians, I
thought, they sure are tough. I waited until she had plenty of
time to get around to the other side of the fire. And I was just
about to stand up when one of the hobgoblins yelled and stood
up. He pointed out behind the tent, and the others stood up.
I figured they’d spotted Tasha, so I stood up and waved
my arms, shouting at them. A big one turned toward me without
missing a beat. He was carrying a war spear, and coming at me
fast. What could I do? I started to run, like she told me to
do. What? That’s what she said to do. "Run like mad"
she said, so that’s what I did.
