Willow left the inn with her father and returned to their house. She couldn’t call it a home. It was like staying at an Airbnb, for months on end. It was growing familiar, but it still wasn’t theirs. As they walked into the house, her dad asked, “You heading to bed?”

“No sir. I think I’m going to spend the night making more potions. Then I’ll sleep all day tomorrow.”

He had that look that she knew meant he wanted to tell her no, but he just nodded his head and told her goodnight. Willow went to her alchemy room and started taking stock of what ingredients she had and what she could make with it all. An hour later she caught herself staring off into space and not having made anything yet.

“This isn’t going to work. I can’t make things if I’m not focused,” she thought to herself. She called Arlo over to her and started petting him and talking with him. It was still strange being able to communicate directly with Arlo. Everyone thought that he just spoke with her telepathically but that wasn’t it. He was still who he had always been. While he knew a few words, most of his communication was emotions, smells, and sounds. As she stroked him, Arlo asked “Why you lonely?” And just like that he zeroed in on something she hadn’t noticed, or refused to admit to herself.

She didn’t reply right away. She thought about the emotion that he was passing to her and searched her heart. Arlo was right, she was lonely. While the gods had brought a lot of them to Traum, there were a lot of people still on earth. Her bio-mom. Her half-sister. And she was never going to see them again. Willow pulled Arlo close and held him while she dwelt in moment, letting the emotions wash over her. After a few moments she explained it all to Arlo and he shared some memories he missed from Earth. Running down the fence line near the road, trying to out run the cars. The softness of the one couch he was allowed to sleep on. The two spent a while thinking of things from Earth they would miss but eventually they had gone over all of it. Willow felt more at peace than she had since arriving in Traum. She got up and retrieved a snack for herself and Arlo and then sat down again to start making potions.

⚴

Hazel hadn’t slept well last night. And tonight they were leaving to attack the goblin stronghold. Her anxiety was high but she was trying to ignore it while she spent time playing with Ewan and Twix. She knew there was a very good chance that they wouldn’t return so she wanted to make some memories with Ewan before she left.

After a particularly energetic spurt of running around and roughhousing they were all laid on the floor resting and Hazel had an idea. She was going to try to teach Ewan some magic. She laid some logs in the fireplace and lit them. Then, after making sure Ewan was watching, she used [Control Flames] to shrink and enlarge the flames a few times, then Hazel changed the colors of the flames, cycling through green, blue, and purple.

"Did you see how I did that?"

"You made the fire turn colors!"

"Yes, and I want you to do the same. Focus on the fire and urge it to change blue."

Ewan sat there for about 30 seconds before looking back at his mom, "I can't do it."

"Can't never could is what my daddy used to tell me. Don't get discouraged, though. When I get back from this trip we’ll start practicing this each evening."

"Okay."

It didn't take long for the young boy to get bored and start playing with Twix again. Hazel let him go. She was careful not to force the lessons on him. She wanted her son to want to learn, not be forced to.

⚴

Nolan spend the day like most others. He got up early and trained. Then he challenged all the guards to unarmed sparing matches, some one at a time, others two or three at a time. He spared match after match for over an hour. Afterwards he was exhausted and sore but happy. He saw some areas where he needed to improve but overall he did well, even against multiple opponents. As he drank some water he noticed the indicator in the lower right of his vision flashing letting him know he had a system message. Pulling it up he was glad to see the system thought he had done well, too.

[Congratulations! Your mental ability has increased by 1]

[Congratulations! Your athletics ability has increased by 1]

[Congratulations! Your unarmed combat skill has increased by 3]

Nolan closed his eyes and said a quick prayer of thanks to Robani before going back to thank everyone for helping him train. After he was done there he headed to the forge to see how Nicolaus was faring with the project he’d requested.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Hey Nicolaus, how goes it?”

“Leave me alone, I’m sad.”

“Sad about what?”

“The best apprentice I’ve had in years is committing suicide tonight.”

“Nice to know you have faith in me. You get that steel plate I asked for?”

“I have it. Now that you’re here I'll do the final shaping on it so that it’ll fit.”

The next hour was spent playing mannequin for Nicolaus as he shaped the plate to Nolan’s torso. Once that was done, Nolan pulled out a shirt he’d had custom sewed and inserted the plate into the pouch and put the shirt on. He did some practice moves, performed a kata, and then checked the seams to ensure they were holding.

“You really think that thin sheet of steel will stop a hobgoblin’s claws?”

“You helped me test this against a grizzly bear and now you doubt the work?”

“No, I helped you test it against a teen who could transform into a grizzly. She doesn’t know if her strength in that form is the same as an actual bear or not.”

Nolan took a calming breath and looked over to Nicolaus, “I know you’re worried. I am to. This isn’t here to stop a full strength blow from stabbing through. It’s to protect me from the swipes he’ll throw. I don’t have a lot of experience fighting someone with claws so I just wanted a little something extra. I don’t even expect it to survive the whole fight but it’ll help a bit and sometimes a bit of help is all we need.”

Nicolaus just nodded, “That’s true. I’ve never been much for the gods, boy. But I’ll say a prayer each morning until you return. Don’t make me spend too long talking to them.” At that, the blacksmith turned and went inside his home.

⚷

That evening the group said their goodbyes and exited the south gate about an hour after sunset. They didn’t speak much. Just focused on moving quickly and quietly through the night. With Prit and Arlo leading the way, they avoided any issues along the way. This, combined with the fact that all of them were in the best shape of their life, allowed them to make far better time than they expected. By sunrise, they were already twenty-five miles from town and by sunset they were over sixty. Nolan asked if they wanted to stop or keep pushing. Hazel asked for a short break and ten minutes later they were moving again. They stopped when Prit let them know they were about five miles from where the goblins patrolled. By pushing hard and forgoing sleep, they had made what the hunters had called a three day journey in less than thirty hours. All of them were tired as they set up camp in a hollow and prepped supper.

Arden’s mind was focused on the fear that he was leading his family to their demise. Nolan’s thoughts were on the mission as well, but fear wasn't a part of the equation. He was thinking through various scenarios trying to come up with plans for every eventuality.

After dinner, Nolan assigned a watch schedule. Nerves gave way to exhaustion and sleep came quickly. No one saw anything while on watch, and the night proceeded calmly. The party slept in until midmorning, making sure everyone had gotten enough rest

The last few miles were the most treacherous. Inside the perimeter of the area claimed by the goblins they had to be alert to everything. There were a few skirmishes with goblins they couldn't avoid, but the team managed to handle things quickly and quietly. Within a couple hours of waking, the team was sitting on a low cliff, more of an outcropping really, overlooking the field in front of the fort. They saw that the fort was built in a low area near but not next to the river. The turrets and parapets resembled jagged teeth rising from the shadowed form of the structure. Moss and ivy crept up the bulwark walls of the ancient fort. To say it was large was an understatement.

There were fields surrounding the fort that were being farmed. Hunting parties were coming and going. People were going to the river to fill buckets with water. It looked so normal, just all the people were goblins.

“Prit,” asked Nolan, “Where’s the hobgoblins?”

With a sneer Prit replied, “Probably in the keep either sleeping off last night or already drinking. They don’t do any actual work.”

“Any last minute suggestions?”

“Only go to where the crop fields start. Ask a goblin to deliver a message to Dronkazol the Loud and tell them that you challenge Dronkazol to honorable combat.”

“But I want to discuss peace.”

“You can discuss it with whomever is left afterwards. If you don’t issue the challenge, the rest of the hobgoblins will just come out and attack. By issuing the challenge they can’t touch you until Dronkazol responds. Make sure you do not attack anyone else until after you’re given a response. If you attack anyone then you have no honor and they’ll swarm you and we’ll all die.”

“Do I need to be concerned with them coming out to decline my challenge and then attacking me before I can leave?”

“No. That too would be dishonorable. They must permit you to leave. But you won’t have to worry about that. If he were to decline the challenge, it would make him look weak to the others so he won’t do it.

Nolan nodded his head and turned to look to Arden, his friend since childhood, “Stick to the plan, I’ll see you afterwards.” With that Nolan dropped his pack and walked down to where the farms started as instructed waving over a goblin who really did not want to come Nolan spoke simply, “Inform King Dronkazol the Loud that I formally challenge him to a one-on-one duel in accordance with the ancient codes of honor. The goblin’s green skin turned a bit lighter but he agreed.

“Nothing to do now but wait,” Nolan thought to himself.

Nolan was still thinking that an hour later. And then two hours later. Eventually Arden came and brought him a canteen of water.

“Prit says it’s a power play. If you leave, you’ve surrendered your challenge and they can come hunting for you. But he can leave you out here, let you grow tired, then come accept.”

“Lovely. Figured it was something like that. About half an hour after I arrived all the farmers went back inside and no more hunting parties have been sent out, even though several have returned. What’s everyone else doing?”

“Hazel and Prit are setting traps around the area they’re going to watch from. Arlo and Willow are patrolling to ensure no one is trying flank us.”

“The area they’re going to watch from? What about you?”

“I’m going to hole up about halfway between you and them so that my [Message] spell can reach you both.”

“Sounds good. If you don’t mind, bring me more water each hour or so. Also, if you could roll a log over for me to sit on, that would be amazing.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”