The top of the pit was still too far up to reach, so they had to find another way out.

"Why don’t we cut into the wall," Simon suggested, "or just tunnel all the way up?"

Eli shook his head. "What if it collapses on top of us? That wouldn’t be fun."

"You’re right," Simon agreed with a sigh. "We could dig a set of stairs up."

"That might work… but it’s going to take a long time."

"Well, do you have any other ideas?" Simon asked, looking at Eli expectantly.

Eli paused, considering. "Maybe," he said, rummaging through his inventory. "I think we could make a big pile of junk and stand on top of it."

Simon looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"This," Eli replied, dumping a heap of equipment onto the ground. He was careful to avoid using weapons, to prevent accidental injuries, but the assortment of armor and other random items he’d looted over time was enough. The pit wasn't very wide, with only a few steps across, so the pile quickly reached higher and higher.

They stacked the items along the wall, building a makeshift staircase. Eli lifted one foot, put down a breastplate, then stepped up and repeated the procedure with his other foot, effectively creating a tower for himself out of assorted armor pieces and other loot he’d picked up. Simon stood on the earthen floor below, shaking his head in disbelief.

"How many monsters have you looted?" Simon asked in awe.

Eli grinned mischievously. "I killed an army of skeletons to reach you, Simon. These are my rewards."

When he finally reached the top, Eli tried pushed against the covering over the pit, but it wouldn’t budge. It was a solid sheet of metal. Each time he pushed, the pile of junk beneath his feet threatened to collapse. Eli thought for a moment, then reached into his inventory and pulled out a trap he’d looted. He dug a small indentation in the earth beneath the metal cover and slid the trap inside.

"What are you doing?" Simon asked, unable to see what Eli was doing from below.

"I’m going to make this whole thing go boom," Eli replied, carefully climbing down his small mountain of equipment. As he descended, he put each item back into his inventory.

"You can use spears, right?" Eli asked.

Simon nodded. "Sure, but I don’t have one."

"I do," Eli said, handing Simon a spear. "Can you reach the cover from here with that?"

Simon stretched his arms over his head, testing. "Yeah, I can reach it."

Eli cast Aegis of the Dying Light on himself and turned to Simon. "Do you have Aegis?"

"I don’t," Simon replied, looking concerned.

"Then you should probably get a shield from your inventory."

Simon’s eyes lit up. "Hey, all the gear I wore before is in here!" A moment later, he was clad in armor and holding a thick metal kite shield, positioning it in front of himself with the spear resting on top. "Ready?" he asked, bracing himself.

"Ready," Eli confirmed.

Simon stabbed into the trap.

The metal cover shot away into the air as an explosion rocked the pit, showering both of them with dirt and pieces of stone. The sound was deafening, and Eli’s ears rang as he tried to focus. When he could hear again, he made out Simon’s muttered, "Shit, shit, shit."

The explosion had carved out a steep slope on one side of the pit. Scrambling up the incline, they managed to reach the edge and haul themselves out, breathing in the fresh night air with a shared sense of victory. To Eli’s surprise, they weren’t anywhere near the clearing with the huts. Without his map, he would have felt disoriented, but with it, he easily pointed in the right direction. Before he could speak, however, Simon took off running in the wrong direction.

"Where are you going?" Eli shouted after him, surprised.

Simon didn’t answer, but Eli soon spotted movement among the trees as something fled ahead of them. He hurried to follow, struggling to keep up with Simon’s pace, even though the Crusader was weighed down with armor.

After a few minutes, he found Simon kneeling on top of the female goblin who'd peered down at them through the hatch. She squirmed and thrashed beneath his weight. Her green face was starting to turn ashen, and Eli hurried forward, grabbing Simon’s shoulder.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"She can’t breathe," Eli warned.

Simon looked up at Eli, his eyes wide with exhilaration, fear, and excitement. "It’s war now!"

Eli shook his head and turned a stony gaze at the goblin to make sure she understood the next words coming out of his mouth. "We need information, Simon. Just keep your sword at her neck, and you can cut into her if she lies."

"Where are our friends?" Simon asked, easing his knee off the goblin just enough for her to speak.

"Over there," she croaked, pointing back to the clearing where Eli and Simon had been held in the underground pit.

"What about Sasha?" Eli pressed.

"Who?" the female goblin asked, looking genuinely puzzled.

"Damn it, we’re going to have to ask Solomon," Eli muttered, frustrated. "Where is that bastard?"

"He should be back soon," the goblin said, her eyes darting nervously to Simon's blade as he unsheathed it and placed it against her neck.

"What the hell are you doing out here, anyway?" Simon demanded, his hand trembling as he pressed the blade against her skin.

"Research," she replied, licking her lips. "We’re doing important research."

"What kind of research?" Eli asked, narrowing his eyes.

"The kind you're not allowed to do where we come from," she sneered. "Why do you think we’re out here in this damn forest? I hate this place. Damn Solomon," the goblin swore under her breath.

"Be more specific," Simon growled, pressing the blade harder until a small trickle of blood appeared on her neck.

"Weapons, mostly," she admitted, her voice shaking. "But not only that. Advanced shaping—not just simple stuff. Inventions fused with mana."

"Goblins would exile you for that?" Eli asked, incredulous. "Why would you get thrown out for working with mana?"

"We weren’t thrown out. We left," she snapped, glaring at him. "Goblins are very traditional. They don’t like change. And the council fears any progress we make. Ask them why they tremble in their chairs when we set out to change the world."

Eli looked over at Simon. "What do we do with her?"

Simon’s expression darkened. "We can’t let her alert her friends."

"How many goblins are there?" Eli asked her. "How many warriors? How many soldiers?"

"Soldiers?" she scoffed. "We’re shapers, researchers, inventors. There are no soldiers here."

"What about the traps?" Simon pressed.

"Mostly child's play," she said with a shrug. "We’re not soldiers, but we can make weapons. The traps are for our protection. There are wild animals out here—and even a dungeon nearby. The world is full of dangers... and humans."

Simon glanced at his sword. "I think we should—"

"No," Eli interrupted firmly. "We can’t kill her. It isn’t right."

Simon clenched his jaw. "Sometimes you have to do things for the greater good, Eli."

Eli shook his head. "Not like this. We bring her with us."

Simon gave Eli a long, assessing look, then sighed and pulled the goblin to her feet. "Show us where the other pit is," he ordered, gripping her tightly. "My friend here doesn’t want to kill you," he added darkly, "but I’m not so soft-hearted. Try to run, and you’ll find yourself in the mud."

"I’m a scientist," the goblin protested. "Exercise is against everything I believe in! I never wanted to keep prisoners, but you have to admit, those pits are pretty neat, no?"

"What do you mean?" Eli asked, frowning.

"I built the device to dig the holes," she explained. "Agriculture is my area of expertise. Usually, we don’t dig that deep, but turning the soil is a crucial step in farming."

"I don't know how to respond to that," Eli said as they walked back to the clearing. They soon spotted a second pit, hidden under leaves and bushes, almost invisible until they were right on top of it.

Inside, they heard muffled voices. Eli opened the hatch and lowered a rope ladder.

"Come on up!" he called down into the darkness.

His orb of light hovered above the pit as Cruella climbed out first, followed by Samantha, then Amy. Without the owl on her shoulder, she appeared frightened and lost.

"What took you so long?" Samantha barked.

"We figured we’d give you a chance to escape on your own," Eli teased.

"Next time, it’s my turn to rescue you," Cruella muttered sourly, though a small smile played at the corners of her mouth.

"Sasha?" Amy asked, her face full of concern.

"Afraid not," Eli said. "We caught a goblin, but she doesn't know where Sasha is, or who she is. We’ll have to find Solomon."

Simon shoved the female goblin into the center of the group.

"I have a name, you know," the goblin grumbled.

"Don’t care," Simon replied flatly. "Remove the bracelets."

The goblin narrowed her eyes at him but complied, pulling out a small device from her bag. It looked like a tiny card reader, and when she held it close to the bracelets, they beeped and expanded, falling off the others' wrists.

Once Cruella, Samantha, and Amy were free, Eli quickly grabbed the device from the goblin and added it, along with the three bracelets, to his inventory. Amy's owl appeared out of thin air, settling on her shoulder.

"Hey, that’s mine!" the goblin protested.

Eli ignored her. "How do we deactivate the traps?"

"You can’t!"

Cruella calmly took out a knife from her inventory, pressing it lightly into the goblin’s arm, letting the blade pierce through the skin and into the muscle. The goblin yelped and recoiled, clutching her wound, suddenly reminded of her precarious position.

"Okay, okay!" she cried. "Turning them off is easy." She reached into her bag and produced a small metal disc with intricate schematics etched on it. "Just carry this, and the traps won’t activate for you."

Eli inspected the disc.

Companion: Trap Deactivator.

"Looks legit." He shifted his gaze to the goblin. "If we throw you into the pit, are you able to get out?"

Her eyes flickered to her bag before she quickly replied, "No." Even then, her answer sounded more like a question.

"We should take her bag," Eli said, "then throw her in."

"Not fair!" the female goblin grumbled. "I was planning to go to bed early today. They forced guard duty on me. I’m a scientist!"

"So you keep saying," Simon muttered, undoing the straps on the goblin’s bag and handing it to Eli, who stowed it in his inventory.

"Down you go," Eli said firmly, pushing her toward the pit.

With their jailer now trapped in the pit herself, it was finally time to confront Solomon.