Nairo, Ridley, Oz, and Pelt the Pixie were marched out of the house in single file.

“This is very bad, Rufi,” Nairo said to him. “I’ve told you what happens when you kidnap a police officer.”

“Except you ain’t here as a copper, are you?” Rufi replied, his crossbow pointed between her shoulder blades. “You must know we’ve got pigs on the payroll. You ain’t here in any official capacity. In fact, you're supposed to be on desk duty pending an inquiry. Right now, Sally, you’re just a nosy citizen who’s way out of her depth.”

“He’s got you there, Sarge.” Ridley said from in front of her, his hands held laconically in front of him. “Still, I don’t know if I’d be so confident on banking on every copper in the city to make the same distinction. Desk duty or not, she’s still a copper and Blue won’t see one of theirs bleed.”

“They wouldn’t give a shit if you did though,” Mikkel said, poking Ridley in the side with his crossbow. “Save your talk until we start asking questions.”

Nairo bit her lip and willed Ridley to stay quiet. Horrifying images of Zimeon De Woolf’s bloody body hung up in that shed flashed before her eyes, reminding her just how the Goblins asked questions. It was true, desk duty, retired, or disgraced, a copper was always a copper and no one could take liberties with them. Unfortunately, that protection didn’t extend to mouthy PIs. If someone had to get hurt it would be Ridley and he had suffered enough already.

She looked up and down the road for a chance of escape when she saw shadows flickering in the alleyways across the street again. This time she was sure she had seen something and so were the Goblins. Chuch, who was leading the party, hissed something in Kittei. Pug and Mikkel circled around Rufi, their crossbows raised. They fired at the shadows, but oneshots were notorious for their poor accuracy over distance. The shadows melted into figures and before they knew it they were surround by at least two dozen armed Humans. They ran across the street and formed a semi circle around the Goblins and their captives.

“Shit,” Rufi hissed.

The Goblins formed around Rufi, hatchets and blades in their hands as they faced down the Humans. The leader of the Humans was a bald headed man with golden teeth that glinted in the moonlight.

“Well well, fancy runnin’ into the prince Toad on our backstreets,” he said, and the Human mob chuckled all around him.

“Hello Golden, still an ugly cunt I see,” Rufi said, completely unperturbed.

“I wonder how pretty you’d look with yer tongue hangin’ out yer throat.”

“You’ll bleed before I do,” Rufi snarled, levelling his crossbow at him.

“Woah woah, easy there tough guy,” Golden said with his hands raised, a look of mock hurt on his face. “You’ve misunderstood me, Mr Graves has invited you and your mates to be his guests.” Golden let out a shrill whistle and at least a dozen carriages made their way down the street, stopping in front of them. “I’m afraid you're gonna have to give up all your weapons though. As a matter of courtesy.”

Rufi looked from Golden to the mob of Humans behind him. He let out a sigh and then muttered in Kittei. The Goblins around him, reluctantly, dropped their weapons and then held up their hands.

“Good boy,” Golden said as the mob collected their weapons and patted them down.

“Well thank you for the assistance my fine fellow Human, we’ll just be getting on our way,” Ridley said, making to walk off.

“You too PI. Mr Graves wants everyone.”

The Humans surrounded them, collecting the Goblins weapons, careful to stay out of arm's reach. Once the weapons had been safely deposited in the back of a cab, Golden turned to him again.

“Sorry about this.” He let out a shrill whistle and his men descended on the Goblins.

The Humans leapt at the Goblins, throwing themselves at their limbs bundling them down under the sheer weight of them. Chuch moved quicker than Pug and Mikkel who were both dragged down immediately. He headbutted the first Human that leapt at him and then slashed his claws at another one, opening his cheek up and spraying blood across the cobbles. He slipped a third who tried to grab his leg and elbowed another square in the nose. He moved so smoothly he was like a blur. It was like trying to grab water.

Rufi chose sheer power. He had a Human wrapped around each leg but that didn’t stop him flinging one man clean over the heads of the others and crashing into the side of a carriage. He punched another man with his free hand, knocking him unconscious with a single blow before two more men leapt on his back. They had heavy clubs and began raining down blows on Rufi. Chuch howled in fury and gored another man through the face with his tusks as he tried to fight his way over to Rufi.

Ridley and Nairo were fighting a similarly desperate battle. Oz had disappeared as soon as the fighting started. Ridley and Nairo circled around Pelt trying to protect the petrified Pixie. They lashed out with fists and feet trying to keep the men at bay. One came too close and Ridley lashed out, booting him as hard as he could between the legs. The man went pale, his eyes bugging out, as all the air in his body burst out of his mouth.

“We gotta get out of here!” Ridley shouted over his shoulder to Nairo.

“We can’t leave the Diamond!” Nairo dodged the thick end of a pipe and brought two fists down on the back of a man’s neck.

“Shit! Where is it?”

A body went skittering past them, taking out two more men, before crashing into the wall. Chuch had fought his way to Rufi’s side. They were besieged by Humans, smashing at every part of them with bats and pipes but the Goblins wouldn’t buckle. They kept standing and swinging at anything that moved.

“It’s there!” Pelt screamed, pointing at the darkwood box being kicked around by the brawlers.

He shot out from between their legs and dived on the box.

“Pelt, no!” Nairo screamed, but it was too late.

Pelt had clicked open the darkwood box. The Diamond’s ethereal glow erupted from the box and then there was a screaming, whistling sound, before a blinding hot light engulfed the battlefield. Nairo stumbled to her knees. She was blinded and deafened. Her vision was dazzling white. Her ears whistled. She felt a hand tugging hers. As her vision cleared she looked around. The men who were closest to the Diamond were laid out unconscious. Others milled about, blinking sluggishly and shaking their heads. Pelt, darkwood box under his arm, pulled at Nairo’s sleeve, shouting up at her. Nairo could see his mouth moving but he sounded like he was underwater. Pelt pulled her desperately. Nairo looked around and saw men coming for her. She turned and stumbled. Suddenly, sound rushed over her as the fog in her head cleared.

“Run!” Pelt screamed.

Ridley was next to her, wobbling like a drunkard. He ran into the low wall and tumbled over it. Nairo jumped it with slightly more grace and pulled Pelt over. Ridley yanked open the door to the carriage and Nairo and Pelt jumped in while Ridley clambered up to the driver’s seat.

“Oi! Wot’re you doing?” the driver exclaimed as Ridley pulled himself up.

“Piss off!” Ridley snarled, slugging the driver in the cheek and grabbing the reins to the horses.

“Ow! You piss off!” The driver slugged Ridley back.

The fighting set the horse off, it reared back and then bolted.

“Shit!” Ridley howled as the cab bounced and almost threw him off his seat.

The driver shoved at Ridley trying to force him off the carriage. Ridley's head hung precariously close to the blurring cobbles. The carriage careened around a corner almost throwing Ridley and the driver. The driver tried to grab the reins and punch Ridley at the same time. Nairo lurched through the small dividing window between driver and fare and grabbed at the driver’s jacket, trying to pull him off Ridley. They skittered around another corner, throwing all three combatants the opposite direction. Nairo was yanked through the window, her hips getting stuck, the driver was now clinging to her to stop himself falling off. Ridley had slid between the driver’s seat and the horse’s harness, narrowly avoiding being kicked by the horse's galloping hooves. Pulling himself up, Ridley turned around and looked at the hapless driver grappling with the trapped Nairo. Ridley reared back and planted his foot in the driver’s face. With a baleful scream, the driver went head over heels, bouncing away as he hit the merciless cobbles.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Should of pissed off when I told you too!” Ridley shouted after him as he took the horse’s reins. “Sarge?”

“I’m stuck!” Nairo said, trying to force herself back through the window.

“We ain’t got time for you to be stuck!” Ridley snapped at her as he tried to wrestle the out of control horse. He reached back blindly, found the top of Nairo’s head and shoved until she popped back into the cab. “Sarge?”

“What?” Nairo called through the hatch in the cab.

“How do you drive one of these things?”

“This is so bad,” Pelt whimpered from inside the cab.

“You just focus on making sure that Diamond doesn’t blow,” Nairo said to him as they were violently jerked to the left.

Fortunately for Ridley, city horses didn’t need much steering. They developed a keener survival instinct than their country brethren and were well versed in dodging the multitude of obstacles the city had. The horse tore down the street avoiding debris in the road as Ridley uselessly whipped the reins left and right.

Nairo sat back for a second trying to catch her breath. There was a tearing sound and a whoosh of air next to her head. Nairo looked to her left and saw the barbed point of a crossbow bolt sticking through the material of the carriage’s wall. She scrambled out of her seat, opened the carriage door, and stuck her head out.

“Ridley!”

“What?”

“Behind us!”

Nairo pointed at four carriages barreling after them. The carriage closest to them had a Goblin sitting in the driver’s seat. Even from this distance, Nairo recognised Chuch’s grey suit and his malevolent scowl. His face and suit were covered in blood. He whipped his horse furiously trying to catch up with them. Rufi hung out of the side of the carriage, loosing bolts at the carriages behind them.

“How did those mad bastards get out of there!” Ridley shouted, the wind whipping his words past his ears.

“Can’t you go any faster?” Nairo shouted back.

Chuch’s terrified mare was gaining on them. Ridley whipped the horse and got an annoyed grunt for his troubles. Their horse took another bend at breakneck speed. Two of the carriage’s wheels left the ground, throwing Nairo and Pelt into the side of the carriage.

“This is no good for the Diamond!” Pelt yelled at her, hugging the box close to his chest, his eyes squeezed shut.

“Keep this damn carriage on four wheels before the Diamond blows us to the stars!” Nairo yelled at Ridley.

“I’m trying!” Ridley shouted back, desperately wrestling with the out of control horse.

They had torn through the suburb of abandoned houses and were barreling through a closed market. Their horse ploughed through two stationary carts, sending a shower of splintered wood in the air.

“Hold on!” Ridley roared.

The horse, in its panic, had bolted for what it thought was a clearing but instead turned out to be an intersection. The horse couldn’t turn in time and smashed through a thin wooden fence. On the other side of the fence was a bank of dirt. For a moment the horse’s hooves waved in the air. The carriage flew. Nairo experienced weightlessness as they were launched across the bank. Then the earth met them with a brutal reminder of its existence. Their carriage slammed down on the riverside. The horses' hooves skidded out from under it. Nairo and Pelt slammed down into the floor of the carriage so hard that Nairo heard the bones of her neck click and pop. She tasted blood. For a dizzying second the carriage skidded along, creaking and groaning. Horse and carriage were almost dragged into the river. It was only the desperate, brute strength of the beast that saved them. The horse snorted and strained against the harness, dragging the carriage back onto the pathway that ran along the river.

“Ridley?” Nairo yelled.

She pushed her jarred body to the window and didn’t see Ridley. Had he been thrown into the river? As she fought with the door handle she saw movement. She looked through the window again to see Ridley sitting up. He had been thrown flat onto the horse’s back. He looked around in confusion and then turned around and grinned at Nairo.

“We’re alive,” he said in relief.

There was a crash behind them and the Goblin’s carriage came down the bank, albeit more carefully than theirs had.

“Shit!”

Chuch was so close Nairo could see the insane twitch in his bloodshot eyes. He was covered in gore. He wrestled his horse, turning the black mare round towards them.

“Go! Go! Go!” Nairo screamed at Ridley as two more carriages flew down the bank after the Goblins.

One of the driver’s had realised they were coming up to the bank and had slowed his carriage down. The other didn’t. The carriage sailed past them, the unfortunate horse floundered, skidded on a puddle and went straight into the river, dragging the carriage and all of its occupants after it. Nairo heard the scream of the men as the frigid water flooded their carriage. Ridley kicked his heels into the side of their exhausted horse but it didn’t budge.

“How do you make it go?” he yelled, before reaching back and slapping the horse’s rear.

The beast whinnied and then took off again in fright. Ridley tumbled off its back and landed in a heap on the driver’s seat. The horse bolted with the remains of its energy. Something was wrong with their carriage. One of the wheels had broken when the carriage landed and was dragging along the ground. The Goblins were right behind them. Rufi clambered out of the carriage with agility that belied his bulk. Their horse was level with Nairo’s window. She saw the froth on its mouth and its mad, rolling eyes. Rufi steadied himself, crouched, and then leapt at their carriage. Nairo felt his massive bulk slam into the roof of the carriage almost buckling it in. The door was ripped open. She kicked at Rufi’s as he tried to pull himself in. The two carriages were too close together. The Goblin’s horse became tangled in their wheels. Its harness scraped against the wheel and then the reins became caught.

Then the whole world was brought to a violent stop.

They were yanked back as the wheel completely seized up. Nairo heard the scream of a horse. The carriage bucked and then spun over itself. The Goblin’s carriage crashed into the back of theirs and splintered apart, smashing into the bank. Nairo’s world spun first one way then the other. Images flashed by her eyes as her body was whipped lifelessly through the air. She was thrown from the carriage landing hard in the mud of the bankside. She rolled a few times and then came to a stop ten feet from the carriage.

Nairo awoke with a snort face down in the dirt. She couldn’t feel any of her limbs. Sluggishly, she rolled her neck around, her body flopping after it until she was laying on her back. She took a few shallow breaths. Panic and pain made her suddenly nauseous. She could still hear the screaming of the horses. Good. That meant she was still alive at least. Nairo tried to lift her head but she couldn’t. She tried to cry out but that wasn’t working either. So she laid in the freezing mud just trying to breathe. She heard movement to her left. Something was dragging itself towards her. She turned her head and saw Rufi on the ground, pulling himself with one arm towards her. One side of his face was badly scraped and bleeding. His left arm hung uselessly at his side. His suit was a ruined mass of once fine threads.

“No.” Nairo croaked.

She willed herself to move, to do something, anything. But it was no good. Her body had finally given up. A tear ran down her temple as she watched Rufi grunting and cursing as he dragged his broken body across the mud towards her.

“Where is it?” he growled at her, his voice guttural. “Where’s the fucking Diamond?”

“No.” Nairo whispered again.

Then she saw out of the corner of her eye another figure pulling himself across the mud. Nairo recognised Ridley’s coat! He pulled himself between Rufi and Nairo.

“Where is it!” Rufi snarled again, clawing at Ridley.

“Up my ass!” Ridley mumbled as he kicked feebly at Rufi.

Even with a lame arm and a torn up body, Rufi was still as strong as iron. With one hand he grabbed Ridley’s leg and pulled him out of the way, flinging him like he weighed nothing. Ridley skidded across the mud and almost into the river.

“Ridley!” Nairo willed her body to move. She gritted her teeth and blinked away tears as she rolled her body away from Rufi and towards Ridley. Then she felt Rufi’s iron grip on her ankle. “No.” Nairo said feebly, clawing at the mud, trying to pull herself away.

But he was too strong. She felt her body being yanked backwards.

“Where is it?”

“No!”

Nairo kicked feebly, but only one of her legs responded.

“I will rip your fucking throat out if you don’t…”

“Let her go,” a cold voice rang out.

Nairo looked around and saw Pelt standing over Rufi, the Diamond pulsing in his hands.

“Do not hurt our friend!” Pelt said, his voice hollow and monotone. His eyes were two merciless wells of darkness.

Rufi looked at the Pixie with his one good eye.

“Give me that fucking Diamond!” he snarled at Pelt.

“DO NOT HURT HER!” Pelt’s voice echoed with power.

The Diamond flared, almost too bright to look at. Rufi let go of Nairo and shielded his eyes.

“YOU WILL NOT HURT HER!”

Nairo felt the crackle of energy pulse from the Diamond, making her teeth ache and her skin burn.

“I WILL KILL YOU!” The voice sounded nothing like Pelt’s. It sounded nothing like any creature she had ever heard. The Pixie’s eyes were completely black now. The remainder of Rufi’s suit jacket began to singe and burn. He let out a howl of pain.

“No Pelt! Don’t!” Nairo screamed.

She hauled her broken body up and flung herself across Rufi.

“Don’t do it Pelt!”

“HE WANTS TO HURT US!”

“That doesn’t mean you can kill him!” Nairo screamed over the whistling wind the Diamond was whipping up. “You can’t fight evil with evil! Don’t do this Pelt! You’ll be no better than them!”

“PELT PUNISHES THE WRONGDOERS! PELT IS STRONG! THEY ARE WEAK! PELT IS EVIL! ”

“No you’re not! You're my friend, remember!” Nairo pointed to her cheek where Hildy had wiped her tears. “My friends don’t hurt people! They save them!” She felt the searing heat start to lessen. The frenzied pulse of the Diamond slowed. “This is the Diamond, not you Pelt! Don’t give into it. It’s evil, not you!”

“Pelt is not evil?” the Pixie murmured. The whites of his eyes returned. He blinked and looked around in confusion. “Did I do it again?” His voice was small and afraid.

“No. Everything’s alright, Pelt. Just please, put the Diamond away, okay?”

Pelt looked at the Diamond and was startled. He scrambled for the darkwood box and put it back, sealing it shut. The energy dissipated and Nairo felt like she could breathe again. Her head swam. She collapsed on top of Rufi.

“Fuckin’ hell,” she heard a rough voice say. “Scrape ‘em up. Clap the Goblins in chains and get them to the warehouse. And clean this fuckin’ mess up! Mr Graves ain’t gonna be happy.”

She heard Pelt cry out in fear but there was nothing she could do.

Darkness swallowed her. The world went black.