Max held up a hand, fingers spread and wide, and yelled, “Sheild!”
The arrows came down at us and broke, ricocheting off in wild directions as if hitting an invisible barrier. I didn’t have much time to reflect, but I had to admit I was a massive fan of his new shield spell.
Slade roared. To my surprise, terror, and amazement, he charged his horse down the slope at the goblins talking party just thirty yards away. Above his head, he held the nasty-looking goblin weapon he’d taken after the last battle. It took me another moment to fully register that Slade was charging a goblin army alone.
Princess turned to flee back up the hill, but I told her, “Steady now, I’m shooting arrows.”
I flicked into inventory and ripped out my bow. Typically, this would be difficult to pull off, trying to control my horse and shoot at the same time. Being able to tell Princess what I wanted without having to manage the reins freed both hands for my bow.
“Shooting,” I told Princess and started letting arrows fly. One hit the tremendous goblin leader right in the back. He turned, snarling and screaming. Another arrow hit the hind end of one of the smaller goblin’s swiftscale. The mount ran off hissing while the goblin on top tried to regain control. The other arrows missed peppering the ground.
The mark, I thought, use your damn skills, including the Hunters Mark. I squinted at the leader, and a glowing crosshair appeared over him. He and Slade were closing in on each other, howling and raising their swords. I concentrated on the Mark and let loose a last arrow before the two screaming warriors met.
My arrow landed right at the base of the goblin’s sword-wielding arm. He jerked back in his seat and missed his opportunity to slash as Slade rode past. Slade brought his goblin sword down hard across the leader's chest, and armor pieces flew in all directions.
The unwounded goblin tried to lower his white banner to turn it into a spear. However, Slade was on top of him, and Midnight slammed right into the lizard's side. It hissed, its jaws snapping at the charging horse. But the momentum of the slam knocked it over, and Slade’s mount trampled right over it.
The banner goblin landed hard on the ground, rolling down the slope, only to have Slade and Midnight run him down. It was impossible to say whether the blade or hooves landed the killing blow, but a blue cube appeared.
The goblin leader, still reeling from the blow, turned to face Slade, who was now ten yards down the slope and rearing his own mount around for another pass. Max rode past the goblin in a cloud of upturned dust, his katana slicing across the goblin’s back before making a hard turn and racing away.
The goblin turned to face Max, trying to defend himself, but all too late from the attack. I had a clear line of sight with Max and Slade out of the way. I pulled and loosed an arrow while focusing on the Hunter’s Mark. Before the shot hit, I had a second arrow notched. I released it, but Princess sped forward suddenly, making it fly wild. “Arrows!” She cried as she raced away from the fray. A rain of arrows landed in the spot we’d been in moments before.
When Slade let out his warcy, the massive goblin spun again to face the threat. He now had two arrows in his back and vicious cuts across his front and back. I wondered how much more damage the monster could take.
“Go upslope!” I yelled at Princess. She turned, still galloping, but we slowed as she struggled to gain traction up the hill. Gravel slid under her hooves in rivers as dust kicked up around us. I twisted to get my bow back on the goblin leader. He and Slade met and exchanged blows. Midnight danced, cantering around the swiftscale, who snapped and lunged at Slade’s horse. Slade sliced his goblin sword back and forth, but the huge goblin defended with his own and threw powerful blows back.
Beyond the two fighting, I watched Max turn his horse and descend the slope.
The goblin foot soldiers below were charging up to join their leader. They had a lot of ground to cover. Their mad scrambling kicked up a great cloud of dust, making it difficult to see much beyond them.
Most of the goblin archers behind were holding their fire. Shooting at Slade would endanger their leader. They were also beginning to have trouble seeing through the billowing cloud. A few arrows came towards me. I turned Princess so that we were neither going up or down the slope so she could better dodge the shots.
She dodged most of them, but a single arrow found my thigh. I screamed in agony, which only caused Princess to panic. She spun, running in tight circles, nearly causing me to fall from the saddle.
“Whoa, girl! Easy!” I yelled. When she’d regained some sense, I looked down at the ugly arrow in my thigh. It was pure black with matted black feathers. Every jostle from Princess made it stab against me, digging deeper into my flesh.
I grabbed the ugly thing, knowing I had to pull it out. As I held it, I wanted to cry. I shouldn’t be here; I should be in a classroom somewhere. And then I yanked it out. The pain nearly caused me to black out. I ground my teeth and forced myself back into the battle.
Max kept charging down the slope. I wondered what he was doing, heading straight into the dozens of monsters climbing up the hill frantically. He didn’t look like he was slowing though.
“Princess!” I yelled, “intercept Thuderhoof!”
She turned, and we began descending. Thunderhoof must have panicked. It was the only reason I could imagine Max charging into a goblin horde. If I could intercept, maybe I could calm the horse before the mob engulfed them.
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Even though I struggled to stay in the saddle, I shot arrow after arrow at the goblin soldiers. It was actually pretty easy picking, a big mass of goblins so that even if I missed my target, there were plenty of others to hit nearby. Climbing up the hill didn’t help them either. They were slogging along slowly, making it all too easy to hit them.
As Max neared the mass of goblins Midnight slowed. A couple of goblins threw their crude spears up at him, but gravity was not on their side. Max yelled strange words, and I felt something like static electricity in the air. The Midnight turned and began trotting back up the rough hill.
Princess felt whatever it was also and stopped. She slid a few feet forward in the loose soil, but she was already turning away from the descent.
The ground beneath the goblins bubbled, and black goo sputtered up. The goblins began struggling, trying to keep their balance. They slipped and fell. They tried to continue up the slope on their hands and knees but slid backward away from us.
A goblin tossed a spear at me, but it was a pathetic attempt, landing nowhere close to Princess or me. I watched the goblin struggling in vain to get up the slope and realized Max had cast some spell. We now had some crowd control. As the monsters struggled, I could see they were miring themselves. Their feet, hands, and bodies were soon covered in oil.
I flicked open my inventory and saw the torches right next to the egg. A torch appeared in my hand, already burning. I reared my arm back and flung the burning torch.
It landed in the center of the goblin horde with a loud whoosh. Their entire host was engulfed in a flash of angry flames. They screamed and danced, turning into cubes instantly. Princess and I were only twenty yards away, and we felt the rush of heat scalding us.
Princess cried out and tried scrambling backward up the slope to no effect. I grabbed the reins and pulled her into a hard turn. She figured it out, and we bolted away from the flames now at our backs.
As we climbed, I saw the Slade and the giant goblin still fighting. The swiftscale lashed out with claws, and Midnight toppled. The lizard lunged forward, sinking its sharp teeth around the horse’s neck.
I drew back and shot an arrow. It careened crazily, drifting up to hit the goblin leader, pinning his leg to his mount's shoulder. They both screamed, the lizard shaking its head while still teeth deep in horse flesh.
Max was further ahead of us but nowhere near close enough to help with his own sword. He held a hand out and screamed. A cluster of streaking lights shot forward. Tiny meteors zig-zagged from him, streaking up the slope and striking the lizard mount. It released the horse with a shriek of agony and reared upon its hind legs.
The goblin leader fell back. I’d hoped he stayed pinned to his wound mount, but there was no way a little piece of wood could hold up several hundred pounds of goblin. The arrow shattered, and the rider fell to the ground in a plume of dust.
The brute was back up on his feet in a flash. I could see his health bar, and it was only half empty. He flung his sword as Max tried to charge him. The sword hit and Max fell from his horse. The goblin raced towards him.
Released from the lizard maw, Midnight rolled sideways onto his back. I’d never seen a horse on its back before but had no time to dwell on the sight as midnight kicked and screamed, creating an even bigger plume of dust.
There was so much going on all around me that I couldn’t keep track of everything.
The swiftscale, tasting blood, lunged for Midnight. I squinted and switched the Hunter’s Mark to the lizard. I fired three shots as it chased the rolling horse down the slope. All three hit the swiftscale in the head. The first two bounced off its thick skull, but the third landed solidly right in its eye. The shriek was a thing of nightmares, but it did stop it in its tracks.
Behind the bloody animals, I saw that Slade and the Goblin were fighting. The goblin was damn near as big as Slade, but it was fast. Slade was making big sweeping swings with his sword. The goblin would deflect and make a series of quick steps. Each was connecting, and both were battered and bloody.
The swiftscale was thrashing around, shaking its head and trying vainly to knock the arrow out of its eye with a front leg. I fired a series of shots into its side until it croaked a final time and collapsed. In the blink of an eye, a cube was in its place.
Midnight stopped rolling and struggled to get back to his feet. The horse was in bad shape. The swiftscale had torn his neck and shoulder viciously, and blood spilled everywhere. I looked for Midnight's health bar and saw a sliver, slowly bleeding away.
I leaped off Princess and lost my footing, falling to the ground. I yelled at her, “Go get Emma! Bring her down here, shove her all the way down if you have to. She can help Max and Midnight.”
Without a reply, Princess turned up onto the slope and raced off, kicking up vast plumes of choking dist.
I scrambled to get back on my feet, but the leg that had hit kept threatening to give out. By some miracle of willpower, I forced myself up.
The clash of swords drew my attention back to the Slade and his goblin foe. They fought in a haze of red dust as the last embers of the sun vanished behind broken hills. The flicker of red flames through orange dust was all that remained. Shadows, one human and one goblin, both equally large, struggled to kill each other.
I drew back an arrow and waited. Max was nowhere to be seen. Slade and the goblin were too close together. I waited as the silhouettes struggled. My arm grew shaky, but I waited. Both the goblin's and Slade’s health bars had only a quarter remaining. I could wait no longer.
The goblin kicked Slade, sending him flying backward. The monster raised its sword, rushing forward to deliver a killing blow, and my arrow yanked itself from my fingertips. It leaped through the air, catching the brute in the neck as the goblin pulled its sword back.
Slade scrambled away backward, looking for the sword he’d dropped. The goblin looked at me, a hand clutching its throat. It lifted its sword and charged. Red eyes glowed furiously in a black silhouette, growing larger in size with every footstep.
I pulled back another arrow and whispered, “Crippling Shot.”
The arrow flew true, striking the monster in the knee. It howled and stagged, falling to one knee as I scrambled backward. It was so close to the striking range that when it roared, I could feel spittle spatter on my face.
And, of course, that was when I tripped backward, losing the grip on my bow. I landed heavily on my ass, feeling my entire spine constrict painfully.
Seeing me fall, the goblin roared and forced himself back up to his feet. He rushed at me, sword overhead, ready to slice me in two when a battleaxe chopped into his shoulder.
There was a moment of stunned disbelief on its face. I saw its health bar empty. Then the goblin was gone. I’d never been happier to see a blue and gold cube floating just out of arms reach.
Slade stood there towering over me, like some god of war, covered in blood and bruises. He put his hand on his hips and winked. I’m serious, he winked at me. And then he said, “Now that’s doing it right.”
I laughed. He was so ridiculous. One-liners like some cheesy 80s action movie hero. Here? Now? My head swooned, and I felt light and dizzy. My vision was fading in and out.
“Fuck Victoria” Slade screamed. I’d never heard him cry before. It was alarming. “Your health bar is almost out.”
“Not possible,” I slurred. “I only got hit by that one truck.”
Looking down where the arrow had struck, I saw blood pumping out of the wound. Oh fuck, I thought calmly, as if I were thinking about someone else, that wound is a bleeder.
As Slade lifted me in his arms, I saw my health bar. There was only a tiny sliver left, and then blackness consumed me.