Ollie lay on his stomach behind a thick bush on the far side of the creek bed, his eyes locked on the cave entrance. More goblins emerged, then wandered north to see the show Grika was putting on. A larger figure exited the cave, and Ollie caught his breath at the sight of Kranka, the infamous hobgoblin he’d heard so much about. The beast was huge, one of the biggest hobbies he’d ever seen, and he immediately regretted not having a better plan. Goblins were dangerous, but they could be tricked and outsmarted. They had foibles and weaknesses. Not hobgoblins. Those monsters were smarter, faster, stronger, and meaner than goblins. An entirely different class of trouble.

The goblins moved north, where Grika challenged the hobgoblin to a duel in the sky. As much as he would have liked to see that, Ollie crept across the creek bed and darted into the cave, Remi clutched tightly in his hands.

The entrance stretched along for several yards, twisting back and forth before opening up into a much larger space ahead. Symbols had been carved into the walls, and Ollie recognized them as wards to prevent humans from noticing the cave, which only worked when you didn’t already know it was there. He crouched down as he approached the larger space, letting his eyes sweep across the room. He caught sight of five goblins lounging against the walls and three others lying on the ground. Kimmie and the other goblin, Buka, sat next to the sleepers. Kimmie’s hands were tied, but she looked unharmed.

He stepped into the main area and raised his shotgun.

“Nobody make a sound,” he said.

The goblins looked at him in various stages of surprise. Then one shouted “Hunter!” The others followed suit, hopping up and down and hissing or screaming.

“Shut up!” Ollie shouted. Three of the five shut their mouths, but the other two had already worked themselves into a frenzy. Ollie pulled the plastic bottle out of his coat, and all of the goblins froze. “Fire.” He shook the bottle. “You understand that, right?”

The goblins backed away, giving him icy stares.

“Not a sound,” he said. “Kimmie, get up. Quick.”

Kimmie scrambled to her feet. The goblins nearby watched her hungrily, but they didn’t move. She grabbed Buka’s arm, pulling the goblin up with her.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“We’re not leaving without Buka.”

Ollie’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”

“He’s going with us!”

Ollie eyed the other goblins. They were getting twitchy.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he mumbled. Kimmie still heard him because she shot him a look that told him to keep his opinions to himself. “Hurry! We don’t have time to–”

“Look out!” Kimmie screamed. Ollie could already feel the warmth in the air behind him. He spun, just as a strong hand grabbed his gun arm and yanked it up, pointing the shotgun at the ceiling. Ollie looked up to see a hobgoblin staring down at him.

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“Oh shi–”

Kranka wrenched the shotgun out of his grip and tossed it away. He reared back then backhanded Ollie across the chest, crashing him to the ground and knocking the breath from his lungs. The knife in his boot came loose and clanked across the stone, right into the hands of an eager goblin, robbing Ollie of another weapon. Kranka growled as he covered the space between them in two large steps, a dozen greenies lined up behind him, their eyes wild with glee.

Ollie kicked his legs, sliding across the floor until he backed up against the wall. He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the flares, the last trick he had left.

“Careful!” He held up the plastic bottle in one hand and the flare in the other. “Or I’ll douse you and your pack with this. All I have to do is light this flare and you all turn to ash.”

Kranka growled even louder. He grabbed Ollie’s hand, the same one holding the bottle and lifted him to his feet, squeezing until the bottle popped. The liquid splattered over both of them, dribbling down their arms.

The hobgoblin pulled Ollie close, a low rumble in its throat.

“Show me your fire now.”

“Hunh.” Ollie spit the liquid from his lips. “Well played.”

“Hunter,” Kranka said, studying Ollie’s face. “You kill my goblins. My pack. And now you come to kill me?”

Ollie winced. Kranka was still squeezing his hand. “Eventually, yeah.”

The goblins in the cave cackled and chittered, eager to see their boss in action. He could feel them crowding around in a big circle, pushing in from all sides.

“I know you,” Kranka growled, his eyes taking in Ollie’s features. “The whelp of the Spear Hunter and the Yellow Crone.”

Ollie stared back at the hobgoblin, who relished the surprise he showed. How did this monster know anything about that? He caught sight of a rocky spear point hanging from a thin leather strap around Kranka’s neck. Something in the back of his mind told him that he’d seen it before, that he knew what it represented.

“Karshak,” he whispered.

Kranka’s other hand shot forward, gripping Ollie under the chin. His scaly hands squeezed around Ollie’s jaw, pulling him close, until their noses were inches apart.

“You’re…” Ollie struggled to speak, “Karshak’s…”

“Yes,” Kranka smiled. “But you won’t find me so easy to kill as my brother.”

Kranka’s growl turned fierce, and Ollie realized he was only seconds away from being torn apart, with pieces of his body scattered across the creek bed, like Bobo. Out of any reliable options for saving his life, Ollie did the only thing he could think of in the moment. He reared back as far as he could and head-butted the hobgoblin right in its fleshy nose. Kranka blinked several times at the blow, and a drip of blood trickled down over his mouth.

He roared and spun around, throwing Ollie clear across the cave and into the other wall. Ollie felt a sharp pain explode out from his ribs. He rolled around on the floor, clutching his chest with both arms.

“I will make this last all night, whelp!”

Ollie desperately tried to push himself up onto all fours. Kranka stalked across the cave, coming for him. He wouldn’t survive this. He’d die, just like Bobo. Like his mom. And his sister.

He glanced over to see Kimmie watching him, strangely calm. Why wasn’t she freaked out right now? Her lips moved, and she shouted.

“Shikai sarujo!”

Something flashed at the edge of his vision. He looked over to see Kimmie lying on the ground near the entrance, the opposite side of the cave from where she’d been a second ago, holding his shotgun. How in the world had she…? Ollie’s jaw dropped as realization hit him. She looked at him, her face white as a sheet and panic in her eyes.

“Hey,” she shouted at Kranka, who looked at her in shock. “Come and get me.” She scurried to her feet and ran through the cave entrance.

The hobgoblin roared again, and Ollie looked up to see Kranka growling at everything else in the cave other than him.

“Get her!” Kranka thundered at his pack. He swung his arm to the entrance. “Find her!”

The goblins scattered to obey him, and Ollie saw his opening. Fueled by adrenaline, he scrambled to his feet and threw his shoulder into a nearby goblin, clearing a path to the entrance. He sprinted across the room and out of the cave, the roar of Kranka filling his ears.