Jack tossed Arc his spellcaster along with the three spell bullets he had taken from the bounty hunter’s jacket. Julie, meanwhile, passed Arc his knife, his revolver and his thirteen remaining revolver cartridges. All the while, Arc kept his eyes on the growing dots in the distance that were slowly morphing into the shape of goblins.

“The vermin of the wasteland,” he muttered quietly before speaking louder. “You two ever had to deal with goblins before?”

“No,” said Jack, clutching his own knife with a trembling hand. “We’re usually pretty good at moving along undetected.”

“Are we far from the car pileup?”

“No more than a mile away.”

“Then they were probably drawn this way by the smoke in the sky,” said Arc sombrely. “I’m sorry, you two, but them being here is my fault.”

Arc had encountered goblins may times in his life and not a single one of the encounters had been pleasant. He loathed goblins. An invasive species that were historically a pest and have since become a plague; not that Arc had been alive in the times when they were merely pests. Goblins were savage little beasts that would cower in fear if alone, only to bite you in the neck the second you turn around. In larger groups, they were relentless and had devastated entire towns.

“What should we do, Mr Hawk?” asked Julie, clutching at the spellslinger’s jacket sleeve so tightly that her knuckles were as white as her face.

“I want both of you to stay in the cave and out of sight, you hear?” said Arc. “Keep yourselves behind the column you tied me to and don’t say a single word. Not even if they’re picking the flesh from my bones and gnashing away at it with their rotten teeth, understood?”

The twins nodded and then made a dash for the back of the cave, trying their best to both stay behind the column. They clung to each other, listening to the stampeding footsteps that were starting to pick up in volume. Julie kept her eyes tightly shut while Jack watched the bounty hunter’s shadow on the cave’s back wall.

Arc took a deep breath as the goblins grew closer and closer and they began screeching a battle cry. He took a dozen paces out of the cave and loaded his bullets into his revolver, while readying his spellcaster with three more Arcane Shot cartridges. A real shame that he may need to use these on lowly goblins, but it was his best chance at getting the two youngsters out of this mess. After all, they chose not to mug him and were going to release him. Thieves or not, they weren’t heartless monsters.

The goblins were now close enough that Arc could make out their faces and he counted twenty-two of them. They were hideous, wrinkled little creatures standing at no more than four feet tall. They wore skirts made from hide with some of them wearing lop-sided vests that certainly weren’t fashioned by capable human hands. Around their necks, wrists and waists they were adornments of tooth and bone that would rattle with the slightest movement. Stealthy, goblins were not.

Presuming he missed zero shots and it took a single shot to kill each of his foes, he was still shy six bullets. Hopefully, if he said a prayer, the goblins would get spooked once Arc laid waste to most of their attacking force and turn tail and run. Perhaps a single shot would do the trick if he was lucky.

“Alright,” said Arc, raising his spellcaster to make his first shot an almost-guaranteed hit. “it’s showtime.”

He pressed his finger on the trigger of the golden gun and the cylinder glowed blue as it unleashed the first Arcane Shot. As basic as the spell was, it was incredibly effective and homed in on its target. The magical orb of white energy soared through the air, whizzing over the dry bushes and dusty ground, before colliding with a screeching goblin’s head and caving it in with a gruesome squelch.

The headless goblin fell backwards into one of his comrades, tripping him up, while the rest of the goblins shook their sharp spears and thick clubs angrily. The death of one of their own only served to anger them, not scare them, but Arc thought that would be the case; first blood had been drawn and their forces were still strong.

Arc threw his spellcaster into the air and flicked his revolver into his right hand, catching the spellcaster with his left. He raised the revolver up, looking down the sights and tapping the trigger once, twice, thrice and then four times, taking out four goblins; a great streak. His fifth shot was a near-miss and he winced as it grazed a pointed green ear. His sixth shot had him back on form and his round pierced a goblin’s eye, shooting out the back of its head along with a spray of blood droplets, and ending its miserable life. His six kills now left the goblin horde with sixteen goblins that refused to cease their screeching.

“No fear yet?” Arc pondered aloud as he put his spellcaster under his arm and loaded six more cartridges into his revolver. “Well, let’s see how long that lasts.”

As Arc raised his gun, he spied a spear flying through the air and quickly pivoted, mere seconds before it landed right where he had been standing. The only cover nearby was the cave and there was no way he was stepping inside unless he was forced to; not with Jack and Julie hiding there.

Six bangs later and four more goblins were dead. Normally, enemies drawing closer would make them much easier to pick off, but the flung spears left Arc shooting and dodging simultaneously. Things could have gone better, that much was certain, but every dead goblin meant that Jack and Julie stood a greater chance of surviving the attack.

Arc loaded his final revolver round with more than half of the horde still standing. He held his gun out and shot a rather toothy goblin in the throat, toppling the ugly menace instantly. And with that, Arc shoved his revolver into its holster and snatched his spellcaster back with his right hand. A shame to use his last two Arcane Shots, but needs must.

“Here goes,” he muttered, unleashing two successive bursts of magical energy.

Before the spent cartridges even hit the ground, two more goblins had fallen and Arc had holstered his gun, replacing it with his knife. He held it close and kept his shoulders in, readying himself to thrust as the goblins closed the gap and the yards between the predators and the prey grew fewer by the second.

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“Come on!” Arc called out, lunging forward and stabbing a goblin in the chest as it swung his club at him.

The sudden strike threw the goblin’s trajectory off, but the club still struck Arc on the leg. Had he been at full strength, this wouldn’t have been much of a problem, but weakened as he was, he buckled and fell to the ground, only just managing to wrench his knife free as the goblin also collapsed. Unlike the human, however, it had no chance of getting back up and lay disgracefully on the ground.

Arc let out a howl of pain as a goblin swung his club in an arc through the air, bashing him across the knee. Overconfident as the goblin was, it lingered a second too long while smiling at its supposed success. The opening gave Arc the chance to grab its club with his free hand, pulling both it and its wielder towards him and skewering the no-longer-grinning goblin through the eye before tossing it aside and scrambling back to his feet as pairs of gnarled fingers grabbed at his jacket.

Even now that there were only seven of them remaining—just shy of a third of their starting forces—the goblins did not turn and run. As stupid as these beasts were, they were just intelligent enough to grasp that Arc had run out of bullets and their superior numbers was all they needed. Seven goblins against a lone human with a piddly dagger was plenty and Arc knew it too.

They started circling Arc, who quickly made peace with the fact that the best he could do was take out another handful before he was a goner. A pitiful way to go, dying to goblins, but at least he could say that he killed most of his attackers before perishing. Hopefully, the goblins would be too demoralised to venture into the cave and retreat back to whatever filthy hole they crawled out from.

“Come and get me, you bastards,” cried Jack from the mouth of the cave.

The young man sprinted past the goblins and, in the distraction, Arc ended the life of yet another of his green foes. The remaining goblins split their numbers with three of them chasing after Jack, while the others stayed with Arc. Now these were numbers the spellslinger could work with.

The goblins pummelled Arc with their clubs, but he landed a swift slash across one of their stomach’s, spilling the small brute’s guts across the dirt where it combined with the thin layer of sand. A forceful knock to the head later and Arc joined the goblin on the ground, trying to cover himself from further strikes.

As the two goblins beat him bloody, one of them was suddenly shoved aside by a small figure. As the goblin toppled over, the last goblin turned on Julie. She tried to run, but it wrapped its fingers around her arm, breaking the skin with its long dirty nails, and pulled her in close, opening its mouth to sink its teeth into her.

Its saliva was swinging from its tongue at it threw its heard forward while Julie shut her eyes tightly, believing she would be dead momentarily. The disgusting beast did not get the chance to close its jaw as the tendon at the back of his knee was severed by a sharp blade, bringing it down.

Julie wrenched herself free of the goblin and helped Arc back to his feet as the goblin she had shoved moments ago leapt at him. Arc howled in fury as he brought his knife above his head and thrust his arm forward, catching the goblin in the neck as it fell towards him.

The goblin let out a pained gasp that elicited no sympathy from the humans. Its raised arm shook as it tried to move, but its strength was failing. It released its club and collapsed on top of its struggling friend, still alive but not for much longer.

Arc raised his boot and stomped on the crippled goblin’s head, crushing its skull upon the dry soil of the badlands, leaving only the goblins chasing Jack still alive. Arc turned his gaze to the last of his enemies and saw that the young man had an impressive lead, but the goblins were rapidly gaining on him.

Before he could make a move, he felt Julie’s hand upon his arm. “Here,” she said pulling his arm backwards and shoving five cartridges into his hand.

With no time to question her about where she found these, Arc loaded three of the four Arcane Shot bullets into his spellcaster before clicking the cylinder back into place. He raised the Golden Hawk high and took aim at a goblin chasing Jack. He fired, sending out one of his spells before aiming at his second target. He shot again, aimed once more and then squeezed the trigger for the final time.

As Jack looked over his shoulder, he saw the goblins dropping one by one, now all headless with bursts of blood and fragments of bone radiating from their open neck holes. The young man dropped to his knees and rolled over, staring into the orange sky above while panting heavily. He hadn’t expected to survive the encounter and left the cave hoping to at least help Arc enough that his sister stood a fighting chance. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat up as Arc and Julie drew close.

“Spare rounds, eh?” asked Arc, holding up the remaining two cartridges; one red and one white, both of which he had identified by the runes they bore.

“Yes,” said Julie, looking guilty. “We probably should have told you about those earlier, but we weren’t thinking clearly when we heard the goblins coming.”

“Are you alright?” asked Jack, looking at Arc’s bloody face. One eye was closed and the other was already swollen near the brow even after such a short time.

“I’ve been better,” grunted Arc, “but I’ve also been worse. I’ll survive and so will you.”

He turned and surveyed the horizon, wondering if reinforcements were out there somewhere, skulking in a pit or burrowed within a hill. For all he knew, there were more goblins lurking at a full-blown camp just out of sight. He could not risk staying here much longer, especially so depleted of usable ammo was he. A single offensive spell would not cut it.

“Alright, you two,” said Arc. “Gather your things and we’ll see what the goblins left behind. There’s probably nothing useful, but I’m sure you can take one of their spears, Julie. You’ll need something for the road.”

“You’re coming with us?” asked Julie in shock.

“Of course,” said Arc. “I can’t just leave you two out here fending for yourself, can I? I’ll take you both as far as the next town but, if we come across any other miserable creatures, I doubt we’ll make it there. Worth a shot though, eh?”

“Thank you,” said Julie sincerely before looking to her brother and giving him a concerned look. “You should hand it over, Jack.”

“Hand what over?” asked Arc slowly.

“There may be something else,” said Jack, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handful of bullets that would have been perfectly usable in Arc’s revolver.

The spellslinger was incredulous, especially considering the twins had ample opportunity hand over all of the bullets they’d hoarded before the goblins were in range. Forgetting the spell cartridges was one thing, but the revolver rounds?

“We need to have a conversation, Jack,” said Arc sternly, staring at the young man through his one open eye. Even with his poor vision, he could see that Jack was tense. “But that can wait until we’re far enough away from here that we can’t be sniffed out, let’s get moving. I do have one important thing to ask you before we make any moves.”

“Yes?” replied Jack tepidly.

“Do you have any other weapons or ammunition that I should know about?”

“No, that’s everything,” worried that Arc would punch him.

“Julie? I’m more inclined to believe you.”

“He’s telling the truth,” she said. “We’ve given you everything now.”

The twins rushed into the cave and grabbed their bags, slinging them over their shoulders and tightening the straps. While Arc kept watch, the two retrieved everything they had stolen from him, from his foot to his water, and returned it.

As the sun grazed the horizon, the three walked across the badlands, seeking the nearest road. Arc dared not return to the scene of the wreckage, fearing that if Colt had survived, he would be back for vengeance or at the very least he would be searching for a body that he could use for target practice.

No, it was best to get a move on. Pembroke wasn’t far and it was in neutral territory, not because it wasn’t desirable, but because the local bandit groups had fought over it so often that they deemed it not worth losing more of their forces. And that was as safe as could be expected in the harsh wasteland of this fallen world.