For Melina, the night felt like a short eternity.
Back in town that fateful morning, after they’d run out of Rick's office, they’d quickly made their way into what looked like the residential area of Leredin.
She’d hurried alongside him trying to keep pace, while carrying her own luggage. Something she was unfortunately not too practiced with. Rick had hurriedly fished his keys from his waist with an unoccupied hand.
Without wasting any time knocking or calling out to the residents, Rick had stormed up and into one of the larger houses near the town center.
The house turned out to belong to the Guard Captain, Gonzo, and Rick wasn't shy about using his key to open the door and march them through the threshold. Together they’d stepped into the unfamiliar home.
A large bear of a man cut them off before they’d even taken 5 steps into the large open room that made up the first floor.
He stood at an intimidating height, and carried in hand a savage looking ax. The weapon stayed down by his side, and there was a look of recognition in his eyes when he looked at Rick.
Upon seeing the captain standing there, Rick opened his mouth, and words began to pour out with an urgency Melina hadn’t quite expected.
"Gonzo, we’ve got an invasion incoming. It’s those damn gobs. The party that the guild sent out failed their quest and reinforcements won’t be here for a week.”
The man who had found two people in his house had appeared with a look that said he wasn’t too happy but as he listened to Rick his countenance developed into something quite stormy.
Belatedly she’d realized the true urgency of their situation. She had been surprised at how quickly the stranger at her side had agreed to help her but she suddenly saw the scope of the danger. The subtle tension that quickly appeared in both men's posture as soon as the words "goblin" and “invasion” had been uttered in the same sentence.
Everyone knew, intellectually, that the Goblin Problem was considered by the crown to be a threat to the entire empire. Living in the capitol however removed one from the reality of the danger. In her mind, they were just pests that could be cleaned up at will. But out here, far from the capitol and the King’s Army, a coordinated attack on an unprepared town could easily wipe it out.
“They’ll be coming from Bimble’s mountain. I’m going to round up the crew and go take out that nest. Sound the alarm, ready the men! We won’t be able to take out all of the vermin, so you guys will need to be prepared for any stragglers that slip past us."
Rick finished passing the information to the captain, before spinning around to face the door, leaving her there just as abruptly as they had entered. Before the door closed, he turned back to Melina, catching her eyes with a steady gaze. “I’ll be back. Don’t worry, I’ll find your sister, one way or another.”
Melina was left standing there with Captain Gonzo, the two of them processing the whirlwind also known as young Rick. The captain made eye contact with her, and the two shared a commiserating look.
The large man made his way further back into the house without another word, moving towards a large mirror hanging in a corner of the cavernous room they found themselves in, next to a desk covered in paperwork.
As Captain Gonzo placed his calls, Melina stood there pondering Rick’s parting words.
She was worried, of course—terribly worried.
Not as much as she might have been if it had been someone else saying those words. Most people in her situation might have given up hope of ever seeing Merissa whole and well again, but something inside her refused to believe that her tough little sister was anything but alive.
That’s why she made the conscious decision to trust this stranger. This strange man who she had found in her desperation and had yet to ask for anything in return.
She would have to put her faith in a power outside herself and pray that she hadn’t made a huge mistake. That she had done enough.
She had risked everything in escaping her family estate. Not just the ire of her parents but also
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She watched through the windows of the guard captain’s house as Rick crossed the town square, disappearing into what might be a tavern or an inn. He reappeared almost as quickly as he entered, and he wasn’t alone. He’d returned with five strangers, the distance between her and them made it hard to discern but they all looked armed and ready. The small flame of hope flickering in her chest grew a little brighter.
The group of five quickly disappeared down the lane, leaving her alone with Captain Gonzo and her growing feelings of anxiety, desperation, and a brittle hope.
It was, paradoxically, the longest night of her life, yet when she tried to recall it later, everything that day and night seemed to have happened in a blur.
As Rick and his team took off out the gates, Captain Gonzo was calling his men to their places, plenty of them still bleary eyed from their pre-noon naps.
It was the middle of the day, still early yet, when most of the men would be sleeping off the night’s watch. Getting them up and at their posts was an exercise in patience, and the captain was a professional. Even half asleep, the men followed his orders with an automated precision.
Before lunch, the whole town was on lockdown and all the surrounding farms and properties had been evacuated behind the walls.
–0–
It was several hours later amidst the low din of the alarm bells and the panicked squawking of the townspeople that the first few goblins emerged, screaming, from the forests.
They came not from the dungeon’s direction, where the town had long been prepared to fend off an attack, but from the mountains on the far side of town—unexpected because for years they had provided a sturdy defense to the town. No one expected an assault from that direction, but thanks to Rick and Melina's warning, the guards were prepared.
The few SpellTowers the town had been able to afford had been installed facing the wrong direction, towards the labyrinth. Great for dungeon breaks, not so great for a gob invasion coming from the opposite direction.
On a normal day, most of the guards would have been home with their families, sleeping or eating or making merry. If the gobs had come any other day they might have had better luck.
The town was well defended at night, but during the day the element of surprise and the cover of the forest might have allowed the little green skinned monsters to attack, take some prisoners, and do some damage. They might have even gotten past the wall, with the sheer amount of the little bastards that came boiling out of the woods.
They came in the dozens, and as he watched his men battle the beasts, Gonzo couldn’t help but to think about how the fight might have gone if he hadn't listened to his friend. The captain sighed tiredly to himself and shook his head.
That bastard is gonna be insufferable - the captain thought to himself. He could already picture the stupid smirk across Rick’s face when he learned that Leredin had been saved by his warning. If he expects me to buy him a drink after waking me up on my day off he’s got another thing coming.
The goblins came out of the forest in disorganized waves and crashed and broke upon the walls of the town. The mighty defenders of Leredin showed no mercy, and the small army that had sought to threaten their home was decimated. The guards kept shooting arrows and stones and whatever minor magicks they knew until no more gobs appeared from the forest.
–0–
And then, just as the day began to turn to dusk, smoke began to rise from the mountain’s face in the distance. A cheer erupted from the villagers as they saw the plume of smoke. It was a sign—they knew Rick and his party had found the nest and were burning it out. The town had been saved, at least for now.
Surrounded by cheers of victory, Melina felt her heart twist with anxiety. Rick had left with five companions, but how many would return? Would it be all six? Or fewer?
As the night dragged on, no more goblins came. Yet Melina remained by the gates, standing watch atop the ramparts, waiting. Though the others urged her to rest, reassuring her that the party likely camped for the night, she refused to leave her post. She waited and waited, with her heart in her throat, as the night stretched on.
Finally, just as dawn broke and the sun’s first light glimmered through the trees, revealing figures moving toward the town. The shadows and trees made it hard to see, but she desperately tried to count.
One, two... three... four... five... six... seven... eight?
Her breath caught in her throat. That was far more than the number Rick had left with.
She quickly called over a nearby guard, who alerted Captain Gonzo. The bells rang out, and the gates were thrown open to let the party return. Melina wasted no time rushing down, her heart hammering in her chest. She was the first to greet them.
At the front of the group, leading them, was Rick.
Upon seeing her, he grinned and shouted up at her: “Your sister is nothing like you, you know that?”
A mix of shock, elation, and fear surged through Melina’s chest. Could it be? Could it truly be?
And then she saw her—Merissa, her dear younger sister, emerging from the woods behind Rick. The moment their eyes met, Merissa’s face lit up like a beacon, her cat-like eyes glowing with joy. She flew down from the ramparts and out the gate, before she broke into a sprint, tackling Melina in a fierce embrace.
There were no words, only the tight grip of strong, muscular arms around her. Her younger sister held her in a vise-like hug, her shoulders shaking with silent tears.
Finally, they were together again.