A small creature leaped out at him from the bush. It had skin of mixed grays and greens. Its nose was sharp and long, the eyes bulging and large. It was ugly; almost fearfully so.

Erend's sword cleaved through the air with a sharp whistle.

The creature lifted its make-shift wooden shield to defend itself but was too late. The sword cut through its collarbone like it was butter. It didn't stop until it had cleaved halfway through its sinewy body.

Almost instantly its eyes lost their light.

Erend pulled out his sword out in a violent motion, all the while throwing glances around and behind himself, looking for more aggressors. He couldn't see any at first glance, nor could he hear the bushes rattling like they had before. He kicked the creature to make sure it was dead – which it most certainly was – for good measure.

Deciding not to waste any more time, he threw caution to the wind. He had to find Jack and the others.

He ran through the vegetation, cutting his way through vines and bushes, without trying to keep the noise level down. After cutting his way through enough bushes to make him never want to see one again, he could see Jack sitting huddled just a few paces away.

The man turned to him with a finger pressed against his lips. At his feet, another of the ugly creatures was laid out, killed. Jack gestured for Erend to come closer.

"What the hell is this?" Erend asked with a whisper, pointing at the body.

"Fucking Greenskins, they came out of nowhere. Looks to be goblins if I'm not mistaken."

"Bernard did say the lands would probably be teeming with them. You alright?"

"Not sure. The little bastard nicked me with his dagger," Jack grimaced, and pulled up his cassock, exposing an ugly wound.

The goblin's dagger had shredded his side and left him a with rough and uneven tear – the blade had probably been serrated for it to leave a wound like that. Jack was lucky it hadn't gone deeper, otherwise it would have left a real nasty meat paste in its wake.

"Can't you heal it?"

"Tried already. Must have been poisoned or something..."

"Shit. We have to find the others and get you out of here."

"Yeah, that sounds wise."

"Can you walk?"

"Lend me a shoulder?"

Erend pulled Jack up on his feet and let him lean put his arm around Erend's shoulders.

He was pretty light to be a grown man. Erend had always expected him to wear a sort of armor under the cassock, but it seemed like the clerics of the guards were lightly armored. He made sure to remember that, just in case it would ever prove useful.

"Let's try and move as quietly as possible, alright?" Erend pleaded. "Keep your eyes open and tell me if you see any movement."

Jack gave a solemn nod in response.

The vegetation had been hard enough to navigate on his own. Supporting someone through it was nothing short of a nightmare. Pushing through the bushes with his sword wielding arm left the branches free to snap against his face, leaving tiny cuts that stung like hell.

_Must have been some real nasty poison to affect a cleric like this._

Jack's face was getting paler with each passing second.

"There!" Jack hissed and pointed at a bush.

Inside, Charles sat crouched with his bowstring pulled taut. He let the arrow fly, without noticing them approaching.

In the distance Erend could hear something bellow with an ugly sounding croak.

"Charles!" Erend whispered with urgency. "Jack's been poisoned, we've got to get him back to the beach. Where's Johann?"

Charles whipped around and pulled his bowstring. He quickly relaxed when he saw their faces. He threw Johann a glance and immediately understood the hurry, "Ah, shit. He's just up ahead. Wait here and I'll get him. Try not to make any noise. There's more of the ugly ones to our right, about 70 paces or so."

Erend nodded at him as he set off, quickly disappearing into the woods once again.

"You're going to be alright Jack. You're a healer for Mother's sake."

Johann let out a laugh at that, "You're right. No cleric of the mother will fall to poison like this. It would be a slight to her name," a violent cough escaped him as he finished his sentence. His eyes went wide. Erend saw why.

_There's blood on his hands. The fucking poison got to his lungs already._

"Don't worry. It probably looks worse than it is," Erend tried to console him.

"And feels worse."

Behind them, Erend heard a rustling. He let Jack go and whirled around to face the sound. To his relief it was only Charles and Johann who emerged from the foliage.

"You nearly scared me to death!"

"Sorry, thought making some noise would put you at ease," Johann commented absentmindedly, his focus was on his comrade, Jack. "You alright Jacko? You look a little pale."

"The sooner we get out of this damn forest the better," he spat back.

"Yeah, we'll get you out alright. Erend, can you carry him on your back? We're going to have to move fast. Charles and I will cover your flanks to make sure nothing gets close."

"Got it. Come on Jack. Let's get running."

With a loud grunt Jack allowed himself to be pulled up on Erends back.

"Let's go!"

Erend led the way and ran through the foliage with as much speed as he could without risking falling and hurting himself. The bushes and branches whipped against his already aching muscles and bruised skin. His sword clattered against his hip every other step he took. The clattering gave off a sort of rhythm. It had him in a trance before he realized.

_Speed up, dodge, jump, crouch, carefully there._

Every motion felt natural and practiced. He felt at ease in these foreign woods, strangely so. Almost as if he'd lived here his entire life.

"Just a bit further!" Johann shouted from behind. "Pull a bit more to the left and we'll reach the beach!"

Erend did as he was told. Within minutes of being redirected he felt his feet sink down into the warm sand.

Everyone else was already on the beach, they came running as they saw Erend slide Jack off his back between greedy gasps for air.

"What the hell happened?" Anya demanded.

"Greenskins. Blade. Poisoned," was all Erend managed between the breaths.

Jack didn't offer any more explanation either, he laid down, hands tightly gripping his wound, teeth pressed together.

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"Poison? Shit. Do we know what kind?"

"Cough. Blood," Erend squeezed out.

He put his hands on his knees; he was starting to feel a bit light-headed, he didn't even know he could run that fast.

"Okay. Cordelia and Carl, help him get to the water, rinse the wound as good as you can. Get some drinking water ready. Cordelia, make sure to heal him as often as it takes for him to weather this. We don't have an antidote on hand so he'll have to make do with pure grit."

As they cleaned his wound with the salty seawater, Jack let out a scream by the likes of which Erend had never heard. Not even on the battlefield in his dreams.

_I'll have to make sure I never get cut by one of those blades._

Erend tried to zone out the terrible screaming. In the corner of his eye he could see that Elle and the other two kids cringed at the noise and worriedly looked for their parents.

"Tell me about the goblins," Anya ordered Johann.

"There's a lot of them. We should probably head back there as quick as we can. Won't be long till they find the bodies."

"How many?"

"We saw two large groups roaming around. They were probably hunting and gathering food. Most had daggers and shields, some had spears. The rest were unarmed and collected nuts and roots in crude baskets."

"Alright. Erend, Charles, Johann, Carl. You guys go and investigate. I'll stay here with Albert to guard the noncombatants in case they sent someone to track your escape path. Johann, you take the lead."

"Got it, captain," Johann responded with a subtle salute. "Let's get this over with."

For the third time today, Erend found himself forcing his body to move fast despite its incessant protesting. He'd grown used to being pushed these last few days, with the harsh training and all, but he really looked forward to resting up again.

"Stay quiet. If they've found the bodies they'll be on high alert," Johann whispered back at them as they neared the site of the ambush.

Charles held an arrow against his bowstring, ready to pull and fire at a moments notice. Erend unsheathed his sword and cushioned each step carefully on the mossy ground.

"Up there," Charles whispered, and pointed his chin at a clearing.

Inside, a large group of goblins were standing in a circle. They looked to be discussing something. A particularly large one screamed and waved with his spear at the others, pointing at the bodies they had piled together. A loud crack rang out through the woods as Carl stepped on a withered branch. Erend couldn't blame the man for making some noise. In fact it was impressive that he'd managed to sneak for as long as he had. The man wore a full armor and a large shield for crying out loud.

"GO!" Johann barked.

Charles wasted no time and let his first arrow loose, it instantly struck one of the goblins in the chest, felling him in one attack. The large one, their spear wielding leader, screamed something with a gurgling voice, and they all sprung into motion.

Erend counted the armed goblins. _9_

_Nothing ventured..._

Erend's source thrummed into beat, flooding outward. He stomped down his foot and shot out his fist toward the leader. A fist sized stone thumped out of the ground and responded to his strike, piercing the air with ease.

The leader was taken by surprise as the stone hit him. The stone crushed its eye and left a bloodied socket where it had once been. The goblin leader screamed and pressed his hand against the wound. He looked around madly for the source of the attack, but couldn't seem to understand from where the rock had come. It had all been so sudden.

Johann circled around the group and went about cutting down the goblins that didn't even wield weapons. It was a gruesome sight, but Erend understood that it was something that had to be done.

_Kill or be killed._

Carl charged at the group of 7 goblins without fear. He tackled the first one with his shield, crushing its face beneath his weight, and slashed next goblins neck with a wide swing of his sword.

Charles didn't let time pass him by idly. He nocked another arrow, searched for a target, and let loose, as soon as he saw a good opportunity. Another goblin fell with an arrow piercing its skull.

Erend joined the fray, gripping his sword with both hands.

The leader had regained his wits and started charging behind his goons, he pulled his shoulder back and threw his spear with the form of a seasoned hunter. The spear arced above his goblin friends, and headed toward Carl with frightening momentum.

Erend had better view of the whole thing as he approached, it all happened so fast. Carl deflected a blow with his shield, raising it above his head in a swift motion. Right then was the moment that the leader threw his spear – when Carl couldn't see him.

The spear hit Carls chest with a resounding clang, pushing him off his feet, but not piercing the piece of metal that covered his vitals.

The remaining goblins set upon the vulnerable Carl like a pack of feral beasts, piling on top of him within mere moments. Carl struggled and scream, he thrashed and fought with all he could. But with them all laying on top of him he couldn't gather enough force with his sword arm to cut himself free.

Erend swung his sword with a double handed swing and felt it cleave through their tiny green bodies – one at a time. In the corner of his eye he saw Johann pin the large goblin in a headlock before slitting his jugular.

Erend kept on hacking away at the green pile until he could finally pull Carl out. Everything had happened so quickly. The man hadn't been laying down for more than a few seconds, but they'd done their damage, both physically and mentally.

"Get these fucking things off of me!" Carl screamed, his voice cracked.

Even when he was freed of the goblins he kept thrashing, his gaze darted about wildly.

"Get a grip!" Johann barked and slapped him across the face. "Are you wounded?!"

Carl's eyes seemed to calm, "I... I don't know..." he muttered.

"Charles, make sure no one gets close to us. Erend help me get this buffoon undressed."

Erend set about unbuckling the man's armor. It was made up of a curious mix of leather and metal. His sword arm was covered in a metallic vambrace, otherwise metal was restricted to covering his most vital areas, while studded leather was used to make up the major part of the whole getup. It was a cost-efficient armor, made to afford equipping the armada of guards back on Genesis.

As Erend loosened Carl's cuirass, he wrinkled his brow, and let out a whistle at Johann. Johann got the hint and made his way around Carl to Erend without a word.

Carl's armor had been stabbed multiple times, yet his skin was pretty much unharmed, only one of the crude blades had been effective at puncturing him. He leaked blood, but it hadn't gone deep enough to do any real damage, unless the blade had been poisoned like the first one.

"How are you feeling Carl?" Johann asked.

"I think I'm feeling alright?"

"No dizziness?"

"They got me, huh?"

"Yeah. You should probably head back, even if you feel okay. Just to be on the safe side."

"Ah fuck, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Stay still for a bit and let me patch you up," Johann set about his task with adept hands. In a matter of seconds he'd tied a bandage around Carl's abdomen, slowing the bleeding.

"Charles, do you think you can manage to bring him back?" Johann asked.

"I'll manage. Will you be alright here?"

"Erend will stay and help me clean up."

"Alright then, see you guys back at the beach," Charles replied, "Don't forget to see everything."

"Cheeky brat," Johann muttered, but Erend could see the hint of a smile on his face.

Charles stumbled away with the wounded Carl, it would surely be a tougher trip than the one Erend had made with Jack. Carl was both haevier than Jack, and wore armor as well as that stupidly large shield.

"Hey, look," Johann interrupted his thoughts and pointed. "We've got a runner."

One of the goblins, the one that had been crushed by Carl's shield bash, was limping away in a hurry. It was clutching one of its arm that hung unnaturally limp, its elbow pointing the wrong way. It threw a few tearful glances their way, rambling something in the gurgling language.

"I can get it," Erend offered and began collecting his source for a Stone Shot.

"No need. We'll follow from a safe distance. Let's make sure all these dead ones are actually dead first."

Erend nodded in response. He moved to the leader and gave him a prod with his foot. No response.

"I'm pretty sure that one is dead, but if he wasn't and was playing; why in the Mothers name would he react to a gentle prod?" Johann asked. "This! Is how you make sure," he said and planted his daggers in the skull of a goblin in the pile.

Suddenly, one of the presumed bodies darted away with a scream. It didn't get very far until Johann ended its life, stabbing it through the neck.

It didn't feel great going around stabbing bodies, it felt macabre, but after seeing how effective it had proven to be, he couldn't not do it. Before long they'd made sure the rest of the goblins were in fact dead.

"This way," Johann urged.

"How can you know?"

"You see that indent in the moss? That's from putting all its weight on one leg. He won't be able to move with a limp like that without leaving signs."

Erend listened attentively. Johann was a good teacher. He made sure to explain everything in a way that made sense for someone who'd never had an interest in tracking or hunting. Erend could understand why Charles liked the man so much.

They followed the wounded goblin through the woods, making sure to keep enough distance between them that the goblin wouldn't see them if he turned around – it wasn't hard with the thick foliage separating them.

It slowed its pace, and said something under its breath. It really was an ugly language befitting their race, it was the same one that the leader had used, a mix of gurgles and sharp vowels blended together in a wordy soup. If any of the group wanted to learn speaking it they had a long, rough path ahead of them.

Johann stopped Erend with a hand gesture and motioned for him to wait, and to be silent. He ran off into the woods with his signature silent steps. After just a few seconds Erend could hear a rustle emanating from the wounded goblin's direction.

A sharp whistle, like a bird's, caught Erend's attention. He started sneakily moving forward until he could see the spot where the noise had come from. Johann had put the poor goblin out of its misery, he sat crouched over the corpse and peeked through some branches. Erend got up to him without so much as a word.

"Here, look," Johann said and motioned to the spot he'd peeked through.

Erend did as told and peeked through.

He saw a glade, and a large cave. The glade was filled with crude buildings of twig and branches, as well as surrounded by a primitive wall adorned with sharp pikes. A gate small enough that Erend would have to bend to fit through it, made up the wall's entrance. The cave had been boarded up with care. A large, well made gate covered its opening.

"A settlement..." Erend muttered under his breath.