”What are they doing down there?” Kenna asked as they watched the goblins.

  “Looting,” Laryn said. “But they seem remarkably organized.”

  “You’ve only met one goblin,” Kenna said. “And Krupp isn’t the best representative of his species.”

  “What do you mean?” Laryn watched the ugly creatures with fascination. They did seem to be wearing some kind of uniform, and they weren’t as lopsided as Krupp. Some of them even seemed to move around without a limp.

  “Just like the first humans sent to Cataria were criminals and drug addicts,” Kenna said. “No wonder the elves hold such a low opinion of humanity. They had a horrible first impression.”

  Laryn counted the goblins. Around two dozen of them gathered in the center of Jardensvale.

  “I guess we just wait for them to leave?” Laryn said.

  Something crunched loudly, and Laryn started.

  Kenna smiled sheepishly at him, holding a pepper with a bite taken out of it. She quickly sliced the green thing with her knife, and scraped the insides out onto the ground. She offered Laryn a piece.

  “Not right now,” he said, annoyed.

  “There’s probably not going to be food left, if goblins are looting,” Kenna said. “They have a keen sense of smell.” She continued chewing on her pepper. “Come on, this isn’t that spicy. The seeds are the hottest part, and I scraped those off.”

  Laryn shook his head, turning back to watch the goblins. He felt tempted to run in and fight them for the food that they had. It was probably a bad idea, even if he thought he could beat them all.

  How many men could he fight right now? Were his buffs making him overconfident? He’d sometimes been able to take two swordsmen in a match, but only intermediate level fighters. With added strength and constitution, maybe he could take on three or four? And if he could use his magical spells, too, that would bring the number up even higher.

  If two goblins were about the equivalent of one man, he figured that he might be able to fight a dozen at a time. Not enough, if he wanted to pick a fight with the creatures down below.

  And if he and Kenna were attacked, he’d have to worry about defending the woman as well.

  “It’s fine,” Laryn said. “You can eat those, I’ll suffer but I’ll survive. It’s more important that we go for the spell module and get it back to Vallor. Is it around here somewhere?”

  Kenna nodded slowly. “It’s not far,” she said. “But do we wait for the goblins to leave first?”

  “Who knows how long they’ll be here for,” Laryn said. “We’ll sneak around. Besides, Harrat’s men might still be following us.”

  As Laryn said this, he turned away from Jardensvale, and caught a glimpse of movement in the trees from the direction they’d come.

  “Speak of Horel,” he muttered.

  Kenna was hurriedly picking peppers.

  “Someone’s behind us,” Laryn whispered. “Hiding in the woods.”

  Kenna froze mid pluck. “Harrat?”

  “Must be,” he said. He quickly checked his interface. He had 58 seconds of time rewind available, before he started cutting into his stat buffs.

  “Goblins or soldiers?” Laryn asked her.

  “Goblins,” Kenna said without hesitation. Laryn raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s torture either way. At least the goblins won’t ask me where the spell module is hidden.”

  “That’s a pessimistic view,” Laryn said. “But goblins it is.”

  They continued along the path, crouching to stay hidden in the foliage of the pepper plants. The forest behind them was hidden by the swell of the land, and Laryn wondered if whoever was following them would continue.

  The path twisted, and they edged their way in behind a shed on the edge of the village. “Maybe we can hide here,” Laryn said, slipping into the dilapidated structure. He checked back the way they came and saw no pursuit. Had it been his imagination?

  The goblins spoke loudly from the center of town, and he caught snatches of their conversation as they reviewed their loot.

  Laryn reviewed their position from the perspective of the enemy. He guessed that whoever had tracked them was an advance scout, maybe only a few people. The bulk of the soldiers would be close behind, staying back a way to allow the scout space to track the traces Laryn and Kenna had left in passing.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The scout wouldn’t want to confront Laryn on his own, and probably waited for the other soldiers. They’d likely been preparing their assault, watching Laryn and Kenna from the trees. Laryn couldn’t remember if he’d been able to see the goblins from the tree line, but he guessed Harrat’s men knew the creatures were there.

  If he were in the soldiers’ position, he would be cautious around an unknown enemy of unknown strength and intention. He’d be particularly afraid of losing his quarry by accidentally engaging the goblins.

  “They’re worried about the goblins,” Laryn said to Kenna. “That’s why they’re holding back. They don’t want to get bogged down.”

  “Is that good?” she asked.

  “If we can somehow alert the goblins to the presence of men in the woods beyond, it may cause enough chaos for us to slip away.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “We need to get closer.”

  “If we get too close, they’ll smell us,” Kenna said. “Much closer than this and we’ll be noticed, I think.”

  Laryn nodded grimly. “We’ll do our best to keep our distance, but we need to work our way around to the north, if possible. If fighting starts, it would be better to have it behind us.”

  They moved along behind the barns, sheds, and other outhouses of the village. They reached the burned out husk of what was once a large building.

  Kenna paused for a moment.

  “This was Jarden’s home,” she said. “It’s a shame, what happened.”

  Laryn nodded. “It is. But we have to keep moving.”

  The goblins in the central square were talking about someone they called Grimby. A large, barrel chested goblin with a droopy face seemed to be in charge, and he was disappointed with the amount of shiny things that his peons had collected.

  “Grimby like more shiny,” he said. “Go look more, and come back with gems and gold.”

  The goblins grumbled and started dispersing, heading back to the search.

  A pair hobbled in the direction of Laryn and Kenna’s hiding place.

  “Here goes,” Laryn muttered.

  He prepared an Elemental [Bomb], water type, and aimed it at a building to their south.

  It exploded with a booming rumble, sending water, mud, and shards of splintered wood spraying into the air. The goblins nearby fell to their feet, and soon all of them were scrambling.

  “Humans!” one of the creatures screamed.

  Laryn and Kenna ran, heading northward. They were spotted immediately, and the goblins pursued them. Laryn checked for any signs of the men of Harrat. They had not revealed themselves.

  Reaching the edge of the village, Laryn and Kenna ran through a field and a garden, then jogged up a low rise. A half dozen goblins pursued them out of Jardensvale, while others moved around to try to encircle them.

  As they crested the rise, they immediately saw their error. They’d run straight toward a goblin camp.

  More goblins waited there, trying to see what the commotion was about. When two humans appeared over the hill, running toward them, they sprang into action with their weapons and spread to finish encircling Laryn and Kenna.

  They would have to fight.

  Laryn drew his sword, and they advanced, aiming for what looked like a gap in their snare. A blast of magic flew through the air, and Laryn caught it with a water [Shield]. Three more attacks hit the shield before it disintegrated.

  “Four mages!” Laryn said, cursing his luck. "Try to keep up!”

  He charged into the group of goblins blocking his way, laying about with his sword as they tried to drag him down. He was taller, and had longer reach than they did.

  Six goblins charged him, wielding maces or clubs. One had a long pruning hook, and kept trying to catch Laryn’s arm with it.

  His blade flashed as he flowed through the footwork of water stance, severing goblin limbs and preventing them from approaching from behind. In a matter of seconds, he’d killed all six of his opponents.

  Kenna screamed, slashing with her knife as goblins caught at her arms, dragging her down. Laryn ran back to her. He kicked aside a small goblin who got in his way, and started tearing the creatures off of Kenna and stabbing with his sword.

  A sharp pain in his shoulder pulled him away from Kenna. A goblin with a pruning hook had caught him, and threatened to take off his arm.

  He cut through the shaft of the weapon, and beheaded the goblin.

  Kenna was being dragged off by a dozen goblins. Laryn pursued, when a magical attack whizzed past his head. He searched, and found a clump of six goblins wearing mage robes, preparing another attack.

  He had to kill them before they killed him. Then he could help Kenna.

  A water [Dart] blasted toward them, but one of them blocked it with a [Shield]. Laryn gripped his sword with one hand, as he felt warm blood dripping down his left arm.

  Even with perfect movement, and foreknowledge granted by his time rewind, he didn’t know how he’d be able to cut his way out of this.

  Perhaps a reset to before the goblins discovered them?

  “Wait!”

  The round goblin who’d seemed to be in charge barreled onto the battlefield. He grabbed Kenna, holding a wickedly curved blade to her neck, and dragged her between Laryn and the mages.

  “Wait!” he gasped, and Laryn hesitated, uncertain what trick this might be.

  “You,” the goblin said. “You’re the one witha core, fightin’ void?”

  “I am,” Laryn said, slowing to a stop.

  “Not a Harratman?”

  “No.”

  The green creature was taller than many of the other goblins. His clothing seemed cleaner, and, though one side if his face drooped grotesquely, he seemed more evenly proportioned than the other goblins. And most importantly, he seemed relieved to have found Laryn.

  Kenna knelt on the ground, her body rigid as the knife pressed against her skin.

  “Grimby wanna see you,” the goblin said.

  “Let her go,” Laryn said, as more goblins circled around. There must have been at least fifty of them. “Let her go or I’ll kill you all.”

  “No, no,” the goblin said. “Lobix not hurt, she safe. You stop fighting, and fem safe.”

  “Bring to me,” Laryn said.

  “Can’t. You kill if bring back. If keep, you no kill.”

  “What do you want?” Laryn growled.

  “Please, come to Grekhol,” the goblin said. “See Grimby.”

  “Who is Grimby?”

  Every goblin surrounding him looked aghast.

  “Only most beautiful, most symet, most ‘telligent goblin queen,” the creature Lobix said. “Grimby wanna talk abouta void with you.”

  Laryn looked back at the woods, where Harrat’s men lay concealed. He looked around at the goblins surrounding him. He could think of worse things than a goblin escort. Could good come from meeting with their queen?

  He wiped goblin blood from his blade, and put it back into its sheath.

  “We’ll go meet Grimby with you,” Laryn said. “But as guests, not prisoners.”