When I was 16, there was an incident on the old road about 20 leagues from Thornhill. Gavendor called the best shots and riders out as well as our best tracking dogs. When we got there after a hard ride, it was the worst thing I’d ever seen. Goblins had attacked a small group of merchants and their families. They had looted all the food and valuables to be had, which probably hadn’t been much. Dead human bodies were strewn about including women and children. I hopped down from my horse to see if any were still alive that could be rescued even though Gavendor called for us to be cautious.

As it turned out, he was right to say so as a few goblins had apparently lain in wait for more people to come by. Luckily, the dogs gave warning just before they jumped out and on instinct I shot one of them straight in the eye. It was lucky since they were wearing thick iron helmets with only slits down the front of each eye for them to see out of. Gavendor took two down with his sword and the last one had several arrows in him from the others before he got very far.

When I went to get my arrow back, the goblin’s eye popped out, stuck to my arrow. That made me throw up, but I still pushed it off with my heel and cleaned it on some grass. It was a good arrow after all. Gavendor thumped me on the back in a friendly way and smiled at me which was rare.

We tracked the rest of the goblins. The dogs figured out they had split up into two groups after ambushing the carts. Gavendor put me in charge of one group going south further down the road while he and his party rode north and east into some low hills. We had to make sure the road was safe for travelers and merchants. The goblins hadn’t attacked this close to town in decades.

The dogs helped us track our group of goblins into the ruins of an old farmhouse. They didn’t expect us at all, so we were able to take them out fairly easily. One of my men, Talver, was hit in the arm by one of their black arrows. After we were sure we’d taken out all the goblins, I tended to his wound. Luckily, it was only through the muscle of his arm and he was not bleeding too badly. We pulled the arrow out which was tricky since it was back barbed. I wrapped his arm snuggly with some lime mint leaves that I collected and linen that I ripped from my shirt (it was too big anyway). I thought he’d need stitching, but knew I was not very good with a needle and thread. I gave him some absynthe to chew. Both the lime mint and absynthe would ease his pain temporarily while we returned home.

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Once we had scouted the whole area for goblins, we went back to the site of the massacre. Gavendor’s group had finished off goblins that had gone into the hills. We rigged up the cart to one of the spare horses and took all the bodies back to town to be buried properly. We searched the people's belongings but we didn’t know who they were or where they were from. We buried them in the Thornhill cemetery and a priest of the Deity prayed over them. I didn’t cry at all that time, although I had felt bad for the people that had been killed.

The next day, Talver wanted to go on a kissing date with me. It had been a long time since I’d done that and I didn’t really think Talver was all that interesting. He was a good rider, but I don’t think he could read or write. I don’t blame him on that, I just didn’t know why he would find me so interesting. When I asked Gavendor about it, he just laughed.

“You might be saved the man’s life. He feels toward you for it,” he explained giving a rare smile.

“Well, he needn’t worry. Perhaps I should explain to him about how I don’t want any babies…” I started. I also thought I could give him a swift punch in case he didn’t take my meaning.

“Don't worry, Lady Aebbe. I’ll speak to him,” he said, no longer grinning. I was glad he was serious again because his smile made me nervous, but I also didn’t like when he used my title. It made me feel odd for some reason. Like I was missing some key element again. I shrugged.

“Thanks, Gavendor,” I told him. I had learned that older boys, men, really, were harder to punch and thump than when they were younger. I guess most of them start getting training in hand to hand fighting and weapons combat. So, they know better how to protect themselves. I mean, they have to be wary when fighting men, too, right? It was such a weak spot. Apparently some even wore codpieces to protect themselves down there. And they were getting really tall which made thumping heads all the harder.

“You did well out there with those goblins. You did me proud, Aebbe,” he said. I knew he meant it because he wasn’t smiling and he didn’t call me “Lady”. That felt about as good as a kissing date, maybe better. My insides felt like they were swelling up to burst. I smiled at him and went back to my room feeling like I was doing what I was meant to be doing.