The horn made a stuttering, warbling sound, different from the others. I wasn’t sure what that meant. Did each group have a signature tone? Was it a message to the soldiers to do specific things? I just didn’t know.

I counted the remaining raiders. There were only twelve now, plus four of us made sixteen against however many goblins were in the next group. Judging by the size of the last two, they would have more than sixty. Again, we’d be outnumbered. Not only that but most of the raiders were wounded now. Among us, only Emma was at full health. She’d already said she had few spells, so there was no hope of returning our people to full strength.

When the horn fell silent, a disturbing quiet descended. There was only an occasional clink of armor or a raider coughing or whispering to a neighbor, but the quiet was eerie. The hush seemed downright oppressive after so much din, clatter, and exclamation.

We waited. I squinted, scanning the slope, looking for the enemy. Minutes ticked by, but nothing happened. It dragged into a half hour, and still nothing. The enemy did not form up or stomp forward. The burning oil flames died, leaving a field of blue cubes, and we were in darkness.

I was beginning to hope that maybe the warning horn had been a call to retreat when I spotted something odd below. Large rocks seemed to shift and change position. Then, I focused on one. It slowly slid up the slope.

I was tempted to shoot an arrow at it, but instead, I whispered to Max, “There’s movement below, but it's hard to tell what.”

Max said nothing. He stood and chanted. A light appeared fifty yards down the slope as if someone had just turned on a lamp. We saw the slope covered in cloaked goblins, all trying to sneak up to our position. Some had even made it within a dozen yards of our line.

My arrows started flying, picking off the closest ones. Seeing the sneaking goblins, the raiders threw rocks, their last spears, and anything they could at the advancing monsters.

The goblins near the line rushed in separately. The ones further down the slope scurried away.

One of the goblins sneaking close to our line rushed at a group of raiders. The defenders readied their weapons, waiting for it to close. I held my fire, knowing the raiders would make short work of the lone rushing goblin. And then it exploded. Three cubes remained.

A wave of overwhelming guilt hit me. If only I’d shot off an arrow… two raiders were gone now because I had hesitated. I scanned the line in both directions and loosed arrows whenever I saw a goblin dashing forward.

There was another explosion to the right. I turned to see two floating cubes in the center of a blast mark. We were now down to thirteen raiders. Frantic now, I kept looking in each direction, but no more goblins were trying to reach our position.

Another silence blanketed the hilltop. We waited. I squinted, scanning the slope and looking for anything unusual. I kept an arrow notched, ready to go. A half hour crawled by, and then I saw movement a hundred yards down at the base of the foothill.

A dozen goblins in a loose mob scampered into view. They were all armed with bows and trying to sneak into range. I begin firing, shot after shot down the hill. At first, I used my Hunter’s Mark, but it took too long to switch targets. So I just fired as quickly as possible.

Four blinked into cubes. Another couple was wounded when my stealth broke. Once they could see where the shots were coming from, they all started shooting at me. A bunch of shots landed all around me. The first arrow hit me like white-hot lightning in my left shoulder. I almost dropped my bow. I must have cried out. Max chanted something, and a swirling dark cloud engulfed us.

I could see the goblins, but they couldn’t see me. Their shots were no longer as close, some missing by wide margins. I continued firing back as fast as I could draw arrows. A flurry of tiny meteors shot past me. Each one zig-zagged, hitting wounded goblins. When they were done, only four archers remained, and they went scurrying away.

There was silence again. Emma came and cast a precious healing spell. The arrow in my left shoulder faded from existence. I still wasn’t at full health, but I was better than I had been. We waited.

A shout came from behind us, up the slope atop our hill.

“Goblins!” the lone guard of our mounts yelled. “Goblins on the…” His voice suddenly silenced.

Slade yelled, “Max, Victoria! Check it out!”

We were already scrambling full speed up the slope. Luckily, the crest was only ten yards up. We trudged over it to the flat top and saw at least ten goblins forming a line brandishing spears and swords. They had gotten behind us somehow. One goblin, just behind the line, blew a horn. It was answered by a second one way down at the bottom of the hill, in front of our raiders. We were sandwiched between two groups.

In a panic, with no one herding them now, the horses bolted past Max and me. Their escape down the slope would only cause more confusion in the defenders below.

I Marked the goblin with the horn and fired. The arrow landed right in the center of his forehead.

Critical Hit: Bonus Damage

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Max faded into stealth. I watched as his outline rushed past me towards the goblins lining up. Their eyes were all on me, and I started firing arrows around Max. I didn’t know what Max had planned, but I hoped he had at least one more of those mini meteorite spells up his sleeve. I wasn’t even focusing on killing goblins. I was just flinging arrows off as fast as possible, spreading damage across the whole group.

One goblin in the center of the line, thinking he might become the new leader with the old one dead, raised his sword and screeched out a warcry. He was trying to psyche the others up into charging me, a lone human. I landed an arrow in his chest, and his dreams of glory vanished into a silently spinning cube.

The line of goblins was confused, just long enough for Max to get within arms' reach of them. Lightning sprayed from his fingertips as he became visible. Flickering strands of glowing electricity leaped from one goblin to another. Max swept his arms left and right, catching the whole line of them in sparks and strobing lights.

When Max finished, there was nothing but a mass of blue cubes floating.

A goblin clambered up from the chasm. I shot him, and he fell backward off the edge. Two more goblins pulled themselves up on either side of where he’d been. I shot another, and Max rushed forward with his black blade.

Whipping his sword around, Max killed two more goblins crawling up from the chasm. As he neared the edge, I heard a whisking sound, and then Max was struck by an arrow. He fell and rolled away from the edge, holding his sword close.

I rushed up, slowing only to fire arrows as more goblins popped their heads up over the cliff face. I walked up to the chasm with an arrow notched, eyes squinting so I could see in the dark.

On the other side of the chasm, I saw dozens of goblins. The goblins had five ropes spanning the chasm between the two pieces of the split hill. They were lined up to climb across the ropes.

There were another six goblins with bows waiting for any defender to peak over the edge. I heard the twang of their bows and ducked back instinctively. A clatter of missed arrows hit the edge or swished past overhead. I lunged forward, peeking over the lip, and fired a shot quickly. I never saw it hit. I jerked back quickly, obscuring the view, but heard a howl of pain.

We started playing a game of peek-a-boo. I’d peek over and fire. The goblins would wait until they saw me and then try firing back. There were a couple of close calls. I even felt one whisk past my ear. I moved to the right and left to make them guess where I’d pop up.

Max groaned and snapped the arrow in his arm.

“You, okay?” I asked, glancing over at him.

“Hundred percent,” he said.

When I glanced back, five goblins surged up out of the chasm. I backed up, firing, hitting two as the other three came rushing at me with drawn daggers.

Max was up in an instant and sliced through one, killing it. I hit another, making it stop while Max eviscerated another. We quickly finished the last three but could hear more struggling on the ropes.

Taking a breath, I popped up over the edge and fired. Sadly, it was so fast I hit a random soldier rather than an archer. Arrows flicked by as I ducked back. Max lunged forward, and meteors zipped off to a chorus of howls.

Max ducked back as a flurry of arrows clattered against the edge.

“Fuck!” he swore. “Okay, I’m ending this shit now.” With that, he leaped to the edge and slashed with his sword.

There was a twang, then a bunch of goblin screams as they fell.

Following suit, I did the same, leaping to the edge, spotting an archer pulling back on an arrow, and shooting him instantly.

Max swiped again, cutting another rope. I spotted one goblin taking careful aim and hit him in the neck. Then Max cried out. I glanced over to see an arrow in his thigh. He was right on the edge, and I was worried he’d topple down the chasm, a fall of forty feet, not survivable. Instead, he went to his knees and then fell forward, chopping another rope.

There were too many targets on the other side. I didn’t even bother aiming or looking for archers. I just started letting shots off as fast as possible. Goblins screamed when hit with arrows. Goblins screamed as they plummeted down the chasm. I just kept firing.

One brave or unlucky goblin made it across one of the remaining ropes. It scrambled madly to its feet only to be shot and stabbed at once. The rope it used to come across was cut by Max a moment later.

An arrow hit me. I felt no pain but could see it sticking in my armor. I returned the shot, watching as my arrow stuck into the goblin archer's gut.

“Done!” Max screamed as he severed the final rope.

I jerked back from the edge as he rolled away. Crouching down, I checked his wound. His left arm was a bloody mess, and his health bar was only half full.

“You’re fucked up,” I said.

“Speak for yourself.” He replied. Yeah, I could feel it in my thigh with every move. I was running on adrenaline and little else. “Get back to Slade. Let him know I got the rear covered.”

“We may need spells,” I said.

He shook his head and said, “Sorry, totally out. I can still cut ropes if they try to get across again.”

“Alright,” I said and squeezed his good shoulder. “Take care. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

I left him there, worried it might be the last time I saw him. As I moved back to the slope, I could hear fighting. I’d been so focused on defending the chasm that I hadn’t heard the clanging, the screams, grunts, and other sounds of hand-to-hand fighting. I was so exhausted. I just wanted this all to be over.

Once on the slope, I could see that our line was broken. Instead of a row of guys fighting, it split into dozens of small fights. I was in a great spot, yards away from the guys below and not so far from Max that I couldn’t rush back if needed.

Arrows started flying from my bow. I was taking care of my aim, ensuring I didn’t hit any of our people. The shots were slower, but I had time to throw my Hunter’s Mark where needed. Even when I wasn’t killing with each shot, it was often enough damage to make the job of finishing the goblins off much easier.

For purely selfish reasons, I focused on firing at any goblins around Slade and Emma. Slade was still in the center, engaged with three to four goblins at a time. He’d sweep his axe, killing one or two with each swing. The goblins were hitting him but doing minor damage. Slade seemed to be enjoying it, screaming out one-liners as he fought.

Emma had worked her way down the right side of the line. She was healing when she could, typically when one of the raider's health bars shank to near death.

I saw Eric take a blow from a goblin and then vanish. Emma was just a few yards away and saw his death. She screamed, not in horror but in fury. Lifting her staff, she swept black lightning through a mass of goblins emboldened by the lieutenant's death.

The goblin attackers vanished. The nearby goblins paused, then ran, fleeing into the dark.

With the right flank secured, the remaining raiders shifted their attention to the left. In just a few moments, the goblins fled in terror. I continued firing arrows as they fled, mostly just wounding them to make sure they didn’t return.

I wanted to collapse. There was no way I could go through another lull only to have another fight.

Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long. Another horn blasted from the darkness at the bottom of our hill.