The three backed into the cave as the rain began falling. A small trickle of water began running into the cave under their feet. The scent in the air was familiar to any that had ever smelled a spring rain. The cave wasn't very deep from what they could tell, but it had drainage holes where the water ran into the ground. The holes were too small for any of them to fit into, but it didn't stop them from trying. Tyr sat on a sloped rock and clutched his shattered hands to his chest.

"I can't cast my spells like this." He said to Brutus while watching Bryan try squeezing his way into yet another of the small drainage holes. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know man, but if it comes down to it could you grit through the pain long enough to blast at least a few of them away?"

"I don't have a lot of mana left right at the moment, though I'm close to leveling up to 13."

"13? Whoa man, I'm still only level 9." This was the first time that either of them had pulled up the party details since before they'd encountered the banshee early the night before. Tyr allocated the his stat points into his INT modifier so that he could increase his mana pool more. Brutus spent his on his AGI score.

"Why agility?" Tyr asked him while absently searching through the low level loot that he'd acquired. He was hoping for something to help his hands.

"I couldn't hit that goblin earlier no matter how many times I swung. I think if I'm moving a little faster that I'll be able to do it this time."

"How quickly do you think those goblins respawn? It's not going to do us any good if it's a non stop respawn fest out there."

Bryan walked over and grabbed Tyr's arms, looking at his wounds. "It's not going to matter because the only thing besides skeletons that come back non-stop are animals. Goblins aren't animals, they're like Orcs. They live, breed, and when they die they're dead for good." Bryan reached into his pockets and pulled out some leaves. He crushed the leaves into some of the rain water trickling into the cave. After a few minutes he had created a paste. "Put this on your hand where you got shot. I can't do anything to help the other one but this will numb the pain at least." Tyr took the chunky paste from Bryan and applied it to his left hand, it burned badly. After several minutes the numbing took effect and the pain subsided as thunder began rolling.

Lightning flashed and they could see the outline of a goblin as it jumped down in front of the cave entrance. Bryan nocked an arrow, Brutus unsheathed his sword, but Tyr hushed the two of them and as they watched the shadow walked away from the cave. It must have landed facing away from the cave so it didn't see us. Brutus slowly crept forward towards the mouth of the cave, edging to the brighter outdoors. Lightning flashed again and he jumped backwards as a volley of arrows flew through the entrance.

"They found us!" Brutus bellowed as several goblins rushed into the cave brandishing short swords. More arrows hissed in as Brutus tried to block the goblins from advancing. Bryan let loose an arrow and struck one of them in the neck. It screeched, recoiling from the impact, and found itself embedded on Brutus' blade. As two more goblins engaged the warrior, he stooped to the ground grabbing the sword from the goblin he'd just slain. A sword in each hand he blocked and attacked simultaneously. A flurry of blows deflected, a screech, a goblin flailing on the ground missing a limb. Arrows flying into the cave struck one of the goblins in the back. Tyr raised his left hand as more goblins came in from the rain, he felt his energy flow through his arm. Wincing in pain, it reminded him of using an arm that had fallen asleep. He felt the pain mixed with numbness as he closed his eyes letting his spell flow.

"Fireball!" Tyr roared and watched in horror as the fireball struck Brutus full force. Brutus was blasted forward and slid through the mud outside the cave entrance. Goblins jumped him from every angle at once. The warrior leapt to his feet while spinning both swords around him. Arrows struck him as he stumbled back into the cave. Bryan in turn sunk arrows into the goblins pursuing the warrior, but more kept coming.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"No more magic if you can't aim it!" Brutus growled at Tyr, anger dripping from his voice. As another goblin rushed in Brutus cut it down, his movements fueled by his anger. He faintly glowed and then turned, grinning. An almost sadistic smile crept across his face for a moment and the anger in his eyes waned slightly. "I just leveled up, full health baby."

"Leveled up? What is he talking about?" Bryan asked while letting loose another arrow. His quiver had run out, but he'd wasted no time picking up the arrows that were still steadily being shot into the cave.

"I'll explain later." Tyr said while stepping forward boldly into the exposed center of the cave. "FIREBALL!" Another fireball raced off of his fingertips, not hitting exactly where he'd intended. The fireball missed the goblins he was aiming at and flew out of the mouth of the cave instead. A terrified scream from outside was heard. Moments later, half a dozen goblins came rolling headfirst into the cave. Most of them were on fire as they fell forward screeching in agony. Brutus cut into them as Bryan filled them with arrows.

"Run, this is our chance!" Bryan yelled while running up behind Brutus. They emerged seeing dead and injured goblins all around the outside of the cave. They must have been preparing to blitz us when your fireball missed. Lucky miss. "Hurry, we might be able to outrun them now!" The boy ran quickly back towards the trail, while the voices of goblins behind them echoed throughout the woods. Arrows flew past their heads and they ran at breakneck speed. Neither Brutus nor Tyr knew how long they ran, but both had been shot multiple times by the time they slid to a stop at a small cliff. They were bleeding, exhausted, soaked from the rain, and filled with fear.

"How much further is the village?" Brutus asked the boy while hunched over, "We're not going to survive much longer."

"I'm not sure, I thought we would have made it by now. It's dark and I feel lost. I don't remember this cliff. I don't remember the big boulder we passed when that arrow hit Tyr in the shoulder. I didn't remember a lot of the things we passed."

"Well we've at least put some distance between us and them or they'd be on us by now." Tyr said pulling up his map. "Look Bryan, this is where we are. This where we've been so far." Tyr turned the projection of the map to the boy. Eyes wide, Bryan stared in disbelief at the outline of the woodlands.

"How did you do that? Just who are you two really?"

"We will explain later, now looking at this do you know where the village is?"

"I've never seen the woods from the sky."

"Do you see anything?! Anything familiar?!"

"Whoa now, calm down Tyr." Brutus placed a hand firmly on Tyr's good shoulder, "Bryan, can you try looking at this map to figure out where we need to go?" Brutus' calm demeanor diffused the tension, yet there was an air of finality to his tone that gave clear direction to the others. Bryan looked at the map again. After a moment the boys eyes lit up.

"Yes, I know this stream. The village is right there past where that bend is." He excitedly pointed at the spot where the stream took a sharp bend, not far from where they were currently. "If we hurry we can be there before those goblins find us again."

The three immediately set off, working their way slowly down the cliff they were on. The shortest path would have them there in no time. As they made it to the bottom the goblins made it to the cliff, arrows began showering the trio as they fled. Ducking and dodging their way through the shrubs, vines, roots, and thorns of the underbrush they quickly made it to the creek. They ran and arrows sang through the air, whistling by them. The arrows were getting closer, but they saw fire dancing through the trees ahead.

"Thorn Meadow!" Bryan announced excitedly as he raced forward with more vigor. His excitement was expressed all over his face as he leapt over a fallen tree, every step taking him closer to home. He didn't see the club as it struck him. He didn't hear the shouts from Tyr and Brutus as he fell to the ground. He didn't smell the nasty odor of the creature that struck him. All of his senses went dark, he felt blackness creep over him, he felt tired, and a lethargy he'd never experienced swept over him.

Standing over the boy was a goblin brandishing a mighty club made from hardened wood. It stood a cubit taller than any other goblin they'd seen. It didn't have the leathery green skin of the other goblins, instead it had a mud-brown coat of unwashed fur. It's features were sharp and jagged, indicating its goblin kinship. Adorned in a wolf-skin pelt, the most noticeable trait of it was the sheer width of the creature. Whereas the goblins were thin and gangly, this creature was broad. Muscles rippled beneath its nasty fur. It turned to face Tyr and Brutus, letting loose a horrifying howl. Above its head hovered its title.

Brutus braced himself as the creature began to charge. "No, let me." Tyr said, stepping forward while raising his left arm. The numbing salve that Bryan had made for him had long since worn off, but it didn't matter. Energy flowed from Tyr's core and rushed to his fingers just as the creatures club was swinging at him.

"MANA BLAST!"