A familiar voice accosted me as I shouldered my backpack and began to walk away from the Home Away From Home.

“Colranth, my friend! A moment before you leave!”

I looked back to see Hugo hurrying down the road after me, a heavy sack at his side. I waved as he approached. “Hey there, Hugo. What’s in the bag?”

“It’s… ugh, one moment,” he shouted, hefting the sack over his shoulder and not speaking until he finally came close enough to use a normal volume. “It’s food. Stuff that should keep well—jerky, hardtack, that sort of thing. Some dried fruits as well, as a little treat.” He struggled, but successfully swung the sack down off of his shoulders and placed it on the ground in front of me.

“Oh, wow. We were going to pick some food up, but we didn’t really have the money for this much. We just planned on having Connor hunt for us while we traveled.”

“A fine idea, and one you can still make use of! This food will keep for quite some time, so using it to supplement any foraging you do is a prudent course of action.” He smiled at me. “Go on, take it with you! I insist.”

“Are you sure? This must have cost a lot of-”

“Do not say another word, my friend! Consider it an investment, both in the safety of the region and the survival of a friend and possible guard-for-hire I can avail myself of in the future.” His eyes twinkled.

“You’ve been real good to me, Hugo. I’m glad I met you.” I reached out a hand.

“Not half as glad as I am! I’d be dead if not for you, you know,” he said, grasping mine in a firm handshake. “This town’s suffered enough from this menace. You get out there and you make things right, and then I can tell everyone I sponsored the Hero of Northwold!”

I laughed. “You take care of yourself too, Hugo. I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Oh, I should think not. I have goods to sell and my purse is dangerously light after all my recent expenditures. I’ll be continuing on to Dongannon to find some business there. But if, when you finish, you feel like heading south… well, maybe I’ll be able to sponsor your adventures down that way as well!”

Despite our short time together, I felt a pang of loss at the thought that we were going our separate ways. “Okay. I’ll be counting on that, so you be careful. Don’t get yourself killed.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Now, go! On your way! Your men are waiting for their intrepid leader, I’m certain!” With that, he winked, spun on his heel, and sauntered away.

I sighed, then looked down. The sack bulged, but as I lifted it I found that my respectable Strength score served me well and I could handle its weight easily. I slung it over my shoulder and then followed the road north, to the edge of town.

Just as Hugo predicted, Werner and Connor were already waiting for me. They both wore gambesons, choosing the simple but effective thick padding over anything heavier to begin our travels with. They had recommended I wear one as well, but it had been more restrictive than I liked. I would be able to adjust to it given enough time, but for the time being wouldn’t be able to fight as effectively while wearing one. Besides, in emergencies, I could still spread my scales over my body, though I hoped to avoid needing to do that.

“About time, hero. We were about to leave without you,” said Werner, smiling. Connor acknowledged me with a grunt and a nod, but continued to focus on surveying the horizon. The sun had just begun to rise in the east, and its wan light had done nothing to drive away the chill of the early morning.

“Sorry. I got held up by Hugo. He gave us all this food.” Connor finally glanced over, then turned back to his vigil.

“That takes some pressure off of me, at least. The goblins might’ve driven away some of the animals, so game might be sparse.” His jaw was tight and his voice terse.

“I’m glad it relieves some of the pressure, because I’m about to pile more onto you. You’re gonna be the most important part of this operation.” He nodded, still scanning the distance. “The goblins we’ve seen so far have all been pretty cowardly. Bold in numbers, but as soon as things start turning against them they turn tail and run.

“We’re gonna find some. We’re gonna hit them hard and fast, preferably from hiding. Then, we’re gonna let some get away.”

Connor grunted. “Not happy about that. I think I get it, though. Track them back to where they came from, yeah?”

“Bingo.” Werner stared at me in confusion. Even Connor turned to face me and raised an eyebrow. “Sorry. It’s… a phrase from my hometown. It means you’re right.” The two men nodded.

“And then once we’ve tracked them back, I armor up and we hit them hard? Shock and awe?” asked Werner.

I nodded. “Yeah, sounds about right. Obviously what we do will depend on what we find, but that’s the working plan.”

Connor grinned fiercely. “Now that I am happy about.”

“Let’s not waste any more time then.” I strode out of the town and toward the looming forest.

* * *

“Quiet.”

I thought we were being quiet. Despite my bewilderment, I came to a complete stop so as to not make even the slightest noise. Werner did the same, the faint clinking of the chainmail in his bag fading immediately.

Connor carefully observed the surrounding area, slowly turning in place as he strained to notice whatever had set him off. I heard nothing, but his expertise was part of why I had chosen him—I deferred to his intuition and skills. After several long, tense moments, he raised his hand and gestured to the north, away from the road that we had been following, and began to quietly walk in the opposite direction.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Werner and I followed as quietly as we could, and I peered north, straining to see whatever Connor was trying to avoid. I saw nothing. We followed him for a bit before he finally stopped, turning to check the direction we had come from one last time before speaking.

“We probably would’ve been safe, but there’s a nest of lightning lizards just a little ways off the road. They seemed to be out hunting, and they’ve been known to attack travelers if there are enough lizards gathered together.”

I nodded. We had fought some lightning lizards in our own game back home. It was absolutely miserable—they were, essentially, simple animals, but with long tongues that acted much like a taser. Getting hit with one could leave you completely unable to move for a time, and if faced with a swarm of the creatures… I shuddered at the thought. We were lucky to have not run afoul of them when traveling back to Northwold with Hugo.

“So how long do we stay off the road?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

“We’ll travel parallel for a few hundred feet, then start to angle back that way. That should skirt the edge of their territory with room to spare.”

We continued through the underbrush, and I found myself remembering my blind trek through the forest just days ago. It felt like so much had happened, but it hadn’t been very long ago at all that I arrived in a completely different world. A pit of anxiety and loneliness began to form in my stomach, which I tried my best to ignore by keeping my eye out for trouble. The chances I would notice something before Connor did were slim, but more people on the lookout wouldn’t hurt.

After some time we angled back toward the road to the north. When we reached the road again, Connor turned to us.

“It’s getting to be about time for lunch. I think we’re near a little stream that runs into the river. It’s shallow, but wide. We should go there and eat.”

“Why are we going there? Does the stream help us in some way?” asked Werner.

“It’s wide enough that if something tries to cross it, we’ll probably hear it splashing in the water. Anything that can give us a little advance warning like that is helpful.”

Werner nodded, his curiosity apparently satisfied, and we kept moving. Less than half an hour later, we had arrived at the stream, and Connor sat his pack down.

“It’d waste too much time to go hunting right now. I’ll do that in the mornings while you two get ready. For now, let’s just have some of that food you brought,” Connor said, indicating the sack I was carrying. I had slung it over my shoulder with ease in the early morning, but after hours of walking through the woods it had grown much heavier. Even switching it occasionally from one shoulder to the other had done little to help, instead just making both shoulders sore and raw from the thin rope holding it shut that I had fashioned into a handle.

I felt relief at the thought that it would be getting lighter each time we ate from it. If I ever get enough money, I have got to get a donkey or something.

“Connor, have you seen any signs of goblins?” asked Werner, sitting down on a relatively flat rock. He too massaged his shoulders, presumably stiff from carrying around the heavy suit of chainmail all day.

“A few, but they were either old or heading toward the town. That’d be the group that Little Boss led to us.” None of those goblins had escaped Connor’s bow, and so none of them had left a fresh trail for us to follow back. “Those signs are the ones I’m following now, but I’m hoping to get something fresher.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll find something. We’ve got the best hunter in the north here with us,” I said, smiling. Connor simply nodded.

No one said much as we ate. Perhaps everyone still felt subdued because of the attack, or perhaps Connor and Werner just didn’t get along too well. They seemed to have a rapport when we first met, but I had no way of knowing just how close they were aside from asking—and I didn’t feel like prying into awkward, personal matters out in the goblin-infested forest.

At times, Connor stopped eating and scanned the surroundings, which naturally put Werner and me on alert as well, but always after a minute or so he would simply nod and return to eating. The meal was unsatisfying and, in the case of the bread, so dry it felt like it turned to paste in my mouth, but it was filling and quick. We packed up and got moving again soon after.

We continued like that for the rest of the day, and slept in shifts throughout the first night: always quiet, with little chatter or conversation. I had placed Connor in charge of leading this leg of the expedition, and he stayed so focused that I felt almost afraid to speak, like whatever momentary lapse in concentration I might be responsible for could somehow lead us all to our doom. An unpleasant tension underscored the journey, and I hoped that it wouldn’t last.

The next day passed in much the same fashion as the first, though the passage of time seemed to relax the tension at least a little bit—at least, until late afternoon, when Connor suddenly stopped in his tracks for a moment and then rushed off the road, getting low behind a tree and waving us along to follow him.

My heartbeat picked up immediately as I ducked behind a tree near him. Werner hid a few steps back, and whispered to us.

“What is it? Should I pull out the armor?” Connor’s response was to hold up a hand to him, indicating that he should wait.

I peered out in the direction that Connor was and searched. Eventually, I realized what had gotten his attention: a thin column of smoke in the distance, like someone had lit a campfire. I also heard, faintly, the sound of many voices.

“Is that them?” I asked.

“Stay here. I’m going to go get a better look,” said Connor. With that, he snuck off into the growing dark. It was still some time till nightfall, but the sun had already begun to be obscured by the mountain range to the west and the trees cast long, harsh shadows in the fading orange light.

Werner and I sat in tense silence, until finally I spoke up.

“You should put the armor on. If it’s nothing, you can take it off again, but worst-case scenario, Connor gets spotted and some goblins chase him back to us.” He nodded and opened his pack, pulling out the heavy chainmail as I helped him with the long process of donning it.

After several minutes, or more, of fussing with the armor, we decided he was as well-protected as he was going to get. He picked up his shield and spear, and we returned to our vigil. More minutes passed, and I began to grow restless.

“Do you think he’s okay? It’s been a while.”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Werner replied. “He’s just taking his time.”

My heart, though not pounding, was thumping hard in my chest. That unpleasant pit of anxiety formed again in my stomach and I found myself praying that Connor was okay.

“I’m back.”

The words nearly made me jump out of my skin. I stifled a scream, then turned and saw Connor’s red hair approaching from a different angle than he had left from.

“Jesus, man, you scared me! I didn’t notice you coming at all!” I said. He chuckled humorlessly.

“Neither did they. It’s a lot of them. A group of twelve, though I couldn’t tell which was the leader. They’d probably like their odds against three humans, though with your magic we should be able to scare them off.” I nodded.

“So should we go attack?” He shook his head.

“Their camp was already set up and fortified, or at least as fortified as a makeshift goblin camp can be. They were making food, though. If we wait a little while—say, twenty minutes—we should be able to catch them when they’re off guard.”

And so, we waited. I felt tense, and wondered if the others felt the same way, but didn’t feel like voicing my worries right before an attack would be a good idea. After Connor decided we had waited long enough, we began to creep forward. Werner made considerably more noise now, but the chattering had gotten louder, and Connor was alert for danger, so we grew quite close before he finally raised his fist to indicate that we should stop.

Ahead of us, not fifty feet away, was a goblin camp.