It was dark when the three of them emerged from the sewer. With how long they’d taken Ratface figured they were half an hour behind the other group. Given that there was no angry mob waiting for them, either the others hadn’t told on them, or the group was on its way. There was a chance that the guild and the village didn’t care and would just let them come back but goblin philosophy said you should expect the worst and understand it’d somehow be even worse than that.

“So do we just walk back to the guild and hope for the best?” Tiffany asked.

Ratface shook her head. “At best we’ll run into someone who holds us up. Anyone who runs into us won’t be intimidated by a bunch of tired kids. What we need is a big stick.” What they needed was Abigail. That woman had stopped a brawl with one punch. What was the inn they had been at again? Ah that was right.

“We need to get to the Drowned Rat. I don’t suppose either of you know how?”

“Do you mean the River Rat?” Albert asked.

Ratface nodded and he smiled in that defeated way that was becoming a permanent look for him.

“Sure, I know where it is, on the other side of the village. How do you suppose we get there through an entire village?”

Ratface looked around. All in all, her time in this village had been worse than in Pinewood which was a terrible endorsement given she’d been starving there. It did have one thing over the other town though. Good, solid, climbable rooves.

Ratface scrambled up the side of one building until she was on its roof. She gave it an experimental tap and found it was as sturdy up close as it had seemed from the ground. She waved the other two up. They began climbing and Ratface was surprised to see Tiffany was faster than Albert. He gave off a ranger vibe so she’d thought he might be faster.

It was when the girl got closer that she noticed she was cheating. Vines spread out across where she climbed making her a ladder up to Ratface.

Albert noticed the cheat and sighed before climbing up it himself.

They made it up and Ratface introduced them to the famous goblin movement that was skittering. She spread herself out on all fours across the roof and began to move quickly across it over to the next one. The rooves here were close enough for now and it’d only be crossing a road that might get them. She watched the other two shudder.

“Like a spider,” Albert whispered, and Tiffany nodded in agreement. They did their best to emulate her and succeeded in looking like two clumsy cats. It was still better than just running across.

Albert took the lead, and they made their way across the rooves towards the inn. It was slow going. It was difficult to find a path across them. This was only enhanced by the fact Albert was very clearly scared of heights. He kept taking them on slightly longer routes that didn’t have as many jumps.

Still, it was working. They passed multiple adventurers scanning the street for them and Ratface was forever thankful that people so seldomly looked up.

It was good to be back in rooves, the favourite place of goblins and rogues.

Ratface smiled at the thought before she caught up with the last bit of it. She didn’t think and dived out of the way. The other two looked at her with confusion until the shadows made a tsking noise.

“Goblins, what a horribly paranoid group of people,” said the Guild Instructor. She faded into view, her knife where Ratface had been before she dived away.

The three of them froze as she placed herself between them.

“Taking the rooves was good instinct. No doubt you have her to thank for that.” She nodded at Ratface. “I do wonder what your plan is now that you’re caught.” She smiled at the three of them and Ratface knew they were dead. Fleeing wouldn’t work, she’d just run them down, so they’d have to attack. Not that it’d do anything, this woman would just fade into the shadows again and strike them down regardless.

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Ratface frowned. In fact, she should have been able to do that already. Yes, Ratface had moved out of the way of her stab, but it wasn’t like she’d actually known she was there. The woman could have just stabbed her again. Her brain moved faster knowing she didn’t have that much time. She could see the other two preparing to strike as well.

The woman hadn’t been in a stabbing movement either. Her knife was just sort of there, like she’d placed it where she’d been to make her think she was about to be stabbed. Why would she do that?

It’s not actually illegal to be a goblin, her own words came back to her. They had yet to do anything wrong.

It was illegal to attack a Guild Instructor though.

“Stop,” Ratface yelled and ran in front of the instructor. She shielded her body from the others’ prepared attacks, and they stopped in confusion.

“Clever,” whispered the Instructor into Ratface’s ear.

Ratface jumped away from the other woman and next to her two allies. Her heart was beating from being so close to a rogue with her back turned.

“She can’t attack us. She’s the guild instructor,” Ratface explained. The other two relaxed but Ratface noticed their weapons stayed up. Wise of them.

“So, what? Are you here to help us?” asked Albert.

The instructor chuckled. Ratface hated how the noise came from behind them instead of where the woman was.

“Normally yes. You are apprentices under persecution, and it would be my role to protect you.”

“Here comes the but,” Ratface whispered.

“However,” the other woman said, “you are currently on your adventurer test, and I’m not allowed to help you. At least no one else has seen you.” She pulled something out of her pocket and idly chucked it up and down. The last throw was too high, and the thing sored into the air.

“Oops,” said the instructor as she faded away. A moment later the thing in the sky exploded into light and sound. It didn’t do any damage thankfully.

It did however get all the adventurers to look at the sky towards the roof the explosion could come from.

They stared at the three people on the roof, the light shining so they were clearly visible.

A girl with a staff, a boy with a spear, and another girl with a suspiciously covered face.

It didn’t take a genius to put it together.

“There they are,” screamed one of the adventurers and they all charged toward the roof. Some began to climb up while others followed the road hoping to cut them off.

“Run,” said Ratface. She grabbed the twos hands and pulled them over to the next roof. Dragging them along until they got their legs under them. Albert strode in front of them and lead the way. An adventurer tried to get in their way but had to duck as Albert threw a knife at him. It whizzed past where the man’s head had been a moment before. The boy did not muck around.

Tiffany’s staff was a blur of green as she grew vines to trap adventurers. It was useful but it was slowing her down. Ratface picked the other girl up with a grunt. She wasn’t in armour and was small, so she was light. The adrenalin of running for their life pumping through Ratface helped as well. Tiffany screamed as she was carried along, particularly when Ratface leaped across a gap with her. She didn’t stop casting once though and more than one adventurer tripped on a random vine. It wasn’t big magic, but it didn’t need to be. They just needed to make it to the inn.

They kept running. Tiffany and Albert used their range to keep people away and Ratface wished she had that crossbow from the shop. The net of adventurers was closing but Ratface could see the inn now, it was just across the road.

Two adventurers climbed up in front of them, blocking their jump the inn’s roof. They probably expected them to slow down. Then the adventurers to just hold the three kids long enough for back up to help capture them.

They certainly didn’t expect Ratface to speed up. She sprinted directly at the men and smashed into the one on the left. From the corner of her eye, she saw Albert do a flying kick into the one on the right.

They tilted, and then all of them were falling off the roof. Ratface landed on the man as he hit the ground and covered Tiffany as much as she could. They rolled across the ground, and she felt something break. She groaned and let go of Tiffany who pushed herself up off the ground and over to Ratface. Albert was fine but by the groaning his cushion was not.

Albert and Tiffany grabbed either side of Ratface and pulled her towards the inn. It hurt. It hurt so much she couldn’t even tell you which part was causing the pain. It was still way better than getting caught by the adventurers. They dragged her to the door and were trying to open it. Ratface could hear the sound of a locked door. It sounded like death.

“Abigail,” she called weakly.

The door unlocked and Abigail stepped out. She looked at the three of them in surprise and her eyes widened when she saw Ratface crumpled on the floor.

“I was just coming out to get you, what happened?”

Ratface gestured vaguely in the air towards the road. The adventurers had lined up while they’d talked. They were four rows deep in front of the inn, but they gave the actual entrance a wide berth.

Abigail stepped in front of the three of them and stared the group down. Ratface heard Abigail’s gauntlets creak as she clenched her fists.

They’d done it. They’d made it to their defender. Ratface looked across the crowd still watching them.

She hoped it’d be enough.