There was five of them and they all spread out to enclose her. Ratface stepped back to the relative comfort of William. He wasn’t much but so far he was the only one that wasn’t specifically here just to get her. She heard a quiet squeak from her backpack and felt Hamir crawl up onto her shoulder. At least she wouldn’t be dying alone.

“Can I help you gentleman? Interested in some skins?” William asked. He gave the men a smile like he was talking to his favourite traders. It would’ve been believable apart from the fact he’d drawn his knife.

“Nothing for you hunter. Our business is with the wee adventurer,” said Fletcher.

“If this about making fun of your name-” Ratface began only to be interrupted.

“Nothing so dull. There’s a rumour going round do you know?” Fletcher asked. He twirled his knife around. Unlike William’s knife that looked like it was mostly used for skinning, his one was more of a sword masquerading as a knife. “A young goblin escaped for Lurian. They want her back.”

“You think I’m from Lurian? That’s a month away.” Ratface scoffed at the accusation. She was going with the technique of lying through her teeth.

“It’s funny you should mention that because she’s been gone for a month,” said Fletcher. He shared a smile with her, and she realised he was toying with her. That seemed pretty stupid to her, goblin tactics were hit someone before they even knew you were there. Still, if he wanted to gloat then she’d take advantage of it. She just had to work out how.

“Only by carriage,” she argued back, “what you think she raced here of all places? You think she’d get passed the golem?”

William might be able to help her, but he was one guy to their five and they were adventurers. She didn’t doubt he was a great hunter, but these guys hunted bandits as well as monsters. No, her best bet was to get to Abigail. She glanced at the other woman who was still talking with robes.

“I think hiding in the swamp would be a great spot. I think a malfunctioning golem acting as a barrier is pretty convenient for a runaway goblin girl. I think a lot of things, but here’s the main one.” He leaned down to her, his teeth taking up her entire vision.

“I think you’ve got a Lurian accent.”

Ratface grinned right back. She had a plan. She whipped her head forward in a headbutt. The pain was blinding, and it had her stumbling where Fletcher barely moved. But It wasn’t him she’d been trying to move.

A confused and irate Halmir clutched onto Fletcher’s face. She’d launched Halmir from his hiding space with the headbutt. Halmir, finding himself on an adventurer’s face, did what every cornered rat did. He bit.

Fletcher stumbled as he grabbed at the rat. He pushed passed his teammates and into another adventurer. A wild limb catching them across the face. He managed to fling Halmir off who scampered away. Fletcher righted himself to go after Ratface, but the damage was already done.

A fist cracked into the side of his head as the man he’d hit accidentally struck back.

Here’s what Ratface knew about adventurers. They were gaudy, dangerous, and most importantly unprofessional.

The ensuing fight set of a cascade of limbs as more and more people were drawn into its nexus. Some of Fletcher’s cronies tried to help him but one remembered their quarry and came after Ratface. It was then she revealed her second advantage.

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She dived between people’s legs and deeper into the brawl. The man tried to follow her, but he was too big and got caught up in the fight. Ratface crawled through the many legs and did her best not to be kicked around the room. Her best turned out to be not great and her sides were aching and she got sent from place to place.

A desperate crawl later and she found herself thoroughly lost as the room got more and more chaotic. She found a desperate Halmir darting around trying not to get stomped. She scooped him up and put him in her backpack. He’d really pulled through. She’d have to get him something nice when they weren’t getting kicked around a room.

Her original plan had been getting to Abigail, but she couldn’t see the old woman in all the confusion. She decided to change tactics and aim for making it to the wall. She could always regroup then.

She was about halfway there when someone grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her up.

An angry Fletcher held her. His face was red with anger or maybe rat bites. Ratface tried to get out of his hands, but he was holding her the wrong way for her to do anything but flail.

“Listen you little runt. I’m sending you back to them if I have to do it in a box. They weren’t that particular,” je hissed.

Ratface scrabbled but he was making his way to the door. She was out of options. If she didn’t do something, then he was going to kill her. In desperation, she did the last thing available to her.

“Abigail!” she screamed.

“Please,” Fletcher sneered, “she won’t be able to hear you over all of this.”

The room shone blue for a moment.

Abigail charged through the room in an instant. She ploughed through the group like a one-woman cavalry charge. A charge that was aimed at Fletcher. Her fist collided with his face, and he was punched away from Ratface and through the front door. Ratface felt the disorientation of being grabbed out of the air as Abigail pulled her close.

The room went silent. Abigail stood surveying the damage. It had been bad enough from the brawl, but her own charge had left people groaning on the ground. There was a clear line from where she’d been to where she was now. It reminded Ratface of when the golem had burned away the swamp just with its eye.

“Who started this?” she asked. Her voice channelling every furious mother into one. Most of them couldn’t meet her eyes. Some of the adventurers looked to Ratface who pointed towards the now open door. Fletcher was crumpled on the ground and was groaning as he tried to get up.

“He tried to take me,” Ratface whispered. To take her back to whoever wanted her. Abigail turned to face him, still holding Ratface on her hip.

“You tried to kidnap a child?” she asked. Her voice had gone from furious to entirely too calm. Her hand gripped her sword which burned with blue energy.

Fletcher sat up. He stared into Abigails eyes and realised any reason he came up with wasn’t going to cut it. He took the smart way out and ran. Abigail turned to his lackeys who held up their hands in surrender. They grabbed their stuff and followed their leader. It was only after they’d all run away that Abigail let go of the sword.

The room started to breathe again as the blade powered down. People picked up the hurt and the room hit a quiet hum as everyone returned to what they were doing before the brawl as best they could.

Ratface wiggled in Abigail’s arm.

“You can put me down now,” she said. The old woman eyed her for a second before doing so.

“How did you mange to get in trouble so fast? Did you practice it or is it just natural talent,” she asked.

“I’m just talented,” Ratface said. She hesitated then looked back up at Abigail. The woman was watching her, but it was with concern. Her eyes lingered on where Fletcher had grabbed her so roughly. It was weird, they’d only been together three days, but the woman did seem to care about her. She’d even come when Ratface called.

“Thank you,” said Ratface eventually. It felt weird to say to an adventurer. “If you hadn’t been there, I don’t know what I would have done.”

Abigail looked away and scratched at her cheek but she looked pleased.

“I’m glad I could help. Let’s see about finding a room to sleep for the night.”

“William told me that we’d have to share with people.”

Abigail snorted.

“After what I just pulled, I don’t think anyone will be too hard to convince.”

It turned out Abigail was right and soon Ratface found herself in a room with a bed all for her that she promptly curled up into and fell asleep.