Orn leaned against the tree and rubbed at his forearm. It was a scratch at best and it disappeared at the slightest touch of healing, but it kept tingling. I probably should have spaced out the cuts. Putting them in the same spot and healing it over and over again was a bad idea.

He shook his head and adjusted his grip on the bow to try to ease the sensation. No sign of them yet. I hope I did not go through all of this for them to have gone somewhere too far to find the trail...

The sound of something breaking branches cut off the thought. Orn drew the bow and turned in the direction of the sound. A hob crash through the underbrush off to his right. The creature raced forward heedless of the noise it made. Orn’s motion must have caught the hob’s attention as it turned toward him. Orn’s eyes met the monster’s for a split second. In the same instant a flash of understanding flicked across its eyes, and Orn loosed the arrow. Orn’s fingers immediately felt for another arrow only to see the first bury itself into the running creature’s neck.

It fell forward with a with a choking noise. Orn raced forward, and sent an arrow into the monster’s heart as soon as he could get a clean shot. A third arrow confirmed it was dead before Orn approached to collect the arrows.

“What was that about?” Kao asked as he pulled out the arrows checking them for damage.

“What do you mean?” he whispered looking around quickly before wiping the blood off the arrows with a fist full of leaves. It would not completely remove the smell, but this close to a body Orn felt it would be good enough.

“The way you reached for another arrow after the first one. It was as if you thought you missed,” Kao continued, keeping watch while he worked.

“I thought I had,” Orn said, as he stood and began to move back to his hiding place. “It saw me just as I let go of the arrow. It should have turned to attack me.”

“Are you sure it saw you?” Kao continued focusing on the direction the hob had come from.

“Yes, why?” Orn asked feeling a growing sense of unease from Kao’s sudden stillness.

“If it kept running it was more afraid than hungry,” Kao replied flatly. “The only thing it would run from...”

Orn swore as he recognized what Kao was getting at. “It is not just a scattered group of hobs any more is it? At least one of them became a goblin mother.”

“At least,” Kao said looking at the where the body lay. “Worse if that one was smart enough to recognize you that fast, it ate enough of a person to get enhanced, even if only slightly. You should assume the mother will be the same way.”

Orn shuddered. “Any thought on what could be enhanced?”

“It is probably strength. Most of the ones that survive to become mothers are strength based. There is normally not enough intelligence to make much difference to a hob. I cannot say for sure though. They do not fully belong on the loom, so no one but mother really understands them,” Kao explained scanning the woods. “But if the smart one was running another should be coming any moment.”

Orn nodded, and waited for the monster to appear. Suddenly every sound seemed to become threatening. His imagination explained every sound with monstrous causes. Even as he reasoned away the phantoms and chided himself for the childish feeling, he could not stop them occupying his thoughts.

The internal battle came to an abrupt end when a deep roar cut through the night. Orn sighed feeling the directionless anxiety change to a nervous energy. I can do this. There is only one of them.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

He turned to Kao only to see her watching him with a measured expression. “I worry about you,” she said quietly then turned back to the direction of the creature.

Orn wondered about the strange comment until he realized he was smiling. Pushing away any thoughts of what that meant for later, he drew his bow aiming at where the dead hob lay. Moments later, the monster lurched into view.

The goblin mother was different from the one Orn remembered. Its large head weighed on the creature causing it to move with a hunch, and overlong arms reached the ground, where long claws helped propel the creature forward. But the creature also had a noticeable difference in that Orn could see thick back legs that allowed it to move mostly upright. At least it does not move any faster than the other one.

The creature lifted the dead hob and shoved the body into its open maw. Orn could see limbs still hanging out of the creature’s mouth as it turned its face skyward and worked to swallow the corpse. The morbid sight reminded Orn of the way shore birds swallowed large frogs.

The motion also gave Orn a clear view of the creature’s face, and large scar on its face. Orn’s first arrow buried itself in the monster’s face just below the eye he had aimed at. Orn regretted not checking the heads on the arrows when he pulled them out of the hob. Overlooking a loose head meant he might as well have tapped the creature on the shoulder.

The monster roared and abandoned trying to sallow the hob. The half swallowed hob hung limply from the goblin mother’s jaws, its legs swaying.

Orn’s second arrow flew true and caused the monster to cry out in pain. It clawed at its face trying to remove the arrow and thrashed on the ground. The mother’s paws suddenly dropped away from its face to reveal Orn had hit an eye, leaving the closed lid look loose over what was now little better than an empty socket. The other eye focused on him, but showed a complete lack of comprehension.

He smiled as the monster seemed to freeze shocked that he was able to hurt it. Unwilling to miss the opportunity Orn fired another arrow. Recognizing the threat the creature shifted to the right, but Orn knew it was pointless. The monster was too large and slow to...

Orn nearly dropped the bow as the creature seemed to blur. The large legs threw the monster out of the way, and the arrow passed through where it had been a moment ago. Branches cracked as the large form slid to a stop a few paces right of where it had just been. Coming to a stop the monster finished swallowing a hob that somehow seemed to more easily fit in the goblin mother’s gaping jaw.

Orn swallowed and stared in disbelief at the monster. The monster’s two rage filled eys stared back at him. It can heal itself, Orn shivered at the thought. Hopping its healing had a limit, he nocked another arrow.