I open my eyes to a beautiful forest. I take in the sights and smells; vibrant flowers growing sparsely amongst the massive trees, the sound of birds echoing around me from the treetops, the smell of nature filling my nose as I breath in deep, exhaling onto the long blades of grass softer than any material I have ever felt which are currently tickling my naked body. (WAIT...WHY AM I NAKED!?!?! AND WHY AM I IN A FOREST?!?!)
I stood up and in a panic whirl my head around trying to figure out what was going on, the beautiful forest now seeming scary instead of magical due to the unknown. My breathing gets ragged and I start getting light headed.
'What the fuu…..ck' Dizzy and nauseous I crumpled to the ground, the soft grass embracing me once again as I slip into unconsciousness.
As I blinked myself awake once again I found myself looking at the moving treetops through Steal bars. I was happy to find myself in a pair of underwear, albeit poorly sewn together pelts of various animals it was an upgrade from the cold air against my manhood. The rope bindings on my hands and feet however we're far less welcome. The skin under the ropes was irritated and bruises were being to form, with little wiggle room it was difficult to adjust to a more comfortable position then the one I woke up in. During my struggle to sit up I noticed a small green creature in a cage next to mine. Of everything around me this drew my attention first, as it was something that shouldn't exist. A goblin; pointed ears, small boney stature, shark like teeth and dangerous claws sat naked in the cage next to me. The creature noticed me looking at it and hissed in displeasure, baring his fangs that could easily rip apart my flesh if these bars were not in his way. The hiss had startled me, but I couldn't look away, the fact that a being that belongs in a fantasy was right in front of my eyes made me observe it closer. The poor creature had cut marks and bruises covering its body, some cuts were fresh, while others were scabbed over or scarred flesh. He also had a burn on his right eye, minor swelling and irritated skin signs that it had been caused recently.
Looking for a reason to look away from the creature I turned my sights to the large man outside my cage. He was a massive man at least twice my size who's body seemed chisled from stone. Wearing nothing but a poorly made t-shirt and shorts his massive arms and legs were showing full splendor, as well as his balding head that had sparse hairs growing from it like weeds. His skin was a tanned white, so I hoped with all my might he spoke English. Being the closest person nearby as he was currently the one driving the wagon our cages were fastened to, he was my best bet to get any information from.
“Excuse me.....whats going on?” I asked hoping this was all a mistake, my bindings possibly being a precaution in the case I was dangerous. My hopes were quickly diminished when the big brute turned around.
When he turned to yell at me his hideous face scared me momentarily. “Shut it, or i'll let Keener slit ya throat!” His statement drew the attention of another man, who was smiling ear to ear as he made his way towards us. The man was covered in knives; big, small, straight, curved, hooked, serrated, he had them all. No knife was like the other, each shaped differently and held in place by specifically designed holsters.
“Whats this I hear bout slitting throats Groll?” Keener presumably, happier than a fat kid hearing he would be treated to a buffet.
“I was just warning the boy to shut up Keener....but you know we get more for undamaged goods......so at least TRY not to do any damage....at least none that can be seen” At the last part both men started chuckling.
“Oi! Will the two of you stop flirting with the captives and get a fuckin move on?! Its like I'm babysitting a bunch of females, UGLY ones at that.” The last man in the group; features hidden by a cloak, had stopped as well, only to yell at his companions.
“Knew Kiiren liked us....seen the women he slept with before if you can even call them women, we're better looking then most of um....well...at least I am” Keener whispered to Groll, both giggling like children.
“Nah, Kiiren likes men.... so your out....but I have to watch my back, just the LOWER end though” Both started laughing louder this time.
“What the fuck was that?!?! I feel like I heard my name....” The robed man had stopped walking away and started back towards us, both Keener and Groll stiffened up. The due quickly came up with the worst cover I ever heard. I'm not sure why they were afraid of Kiiren, but since the man covered in knives and his giant companion were afraid, I made a mental note not to upset him.
Keener sulked, slowing down to get back beside the goblins cage. The goblin let out a hiss at his approach, trying to move to the other side of the cage which naturally put him closest to me. As he huddled near me it allowed me to get a closer look at the various cuts and bruises on his body. Keener reached in and pulled one of goblins arms through the bars. The goblin changed from a hiss to a whimper as it struggled violently to pull itself back into the cage, a struggle that increased as Keener drew a knife and set it against the goblins flesh. Keener stared at me the entire time, making a point that it would be me next if I cross him.
“STOP IT!!!!” To both my surprise and Keeners, I yelled for him to stop, which did no good. Keener slowly slid the blade a few inches up the goblins arm which created a small stream of blood, I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised the goblins blood was red. The disgusting psychopath licked the arm clean before doing the same to his knife. He laughed as he let go of the goblins arm. The poor creature edged away to cower and cry. He stood there watching in amusement, briefly casting me once last glance before walking off. Happy with his work he whistled a tune while twirling the blade as he caught up to Kiireen. The goblin had curled up into a tiny shivering ball, crying in animalistic whimpers as he rocked back and forth cradling his arm.
“I'm sorry I couldn’t do anything” Dejected with my situation and my inability to help I was talking more to myself then the goblin, not expecting him to understand.
“Its....fine” While quite and hard to understand through the constant whimpering, I swear I had heard him reply to me. I stared in shock for a few minutes before I tried speaking to it again.
“You… can understand me?” This time the goblin was the one to stare in shock. The whimpering stopped, replaced with silence other then the sound of the bandits talking, and the horses gallop whist we stared at each other.
“I...understand...some.........you can......understand...me?” The goblin seemed unsure when he asked, maybe he thought I had guessed what he said.
“Yes.... can other humans not understand you?”
“No....they....do not...speak...my language” The goblin seemed to struggle with its words, like a child trying to form sentences.
I found out many things over the next couple of days from the goblin. First was that I was not on my world anymore, the goblin was young and had limited knowledge of human culture. He did know that other mythical type creatures existed, named differently in his language but when given a description would ascertain that some did in fact exist in this world, the rest he was unsure of. He was taken from his tribe, a nameless goblin as he was deemed weak and had yet to prove himself worthy. I decided to name him Scorch on account on the burn mark across his eye, the fact he now had a name pleased him greatly as it was a sign of strength amongst his tribe. The rest of his tribe had been massacred, the chief easily killed by the small group of bandits and Scorch knocked unconscious by a torch Groll swung as he tried to attack. While having conversations with Scorch I found out I had a weird ability, I could choose weather someone could understand me by talking TO them. This was discovered as I overheard Kiiren tell Groll it was creepy how I made weird noises with the goblin, before inquiring if either of them had knocked me on the head. If I talked to myself Scorch was unable to understand what I was saying, and could understand perfectly if I was talking to him. I am unsure if I am able to understand any being or if its limited as I only have Scorch and the bandits as test subjects at the moment.
Once a day we would be individually taken out of our cages and allowed to go to the bathroom. Privacy was never given, but at least I was able to stretch my aching muscles. Food consisted of stale bread, surprisingly not bad tasting and very filling for how little was given, water was given with each meal but rationed to only one glass for Scorch and myself. The bandits loved parking the cart near the fire at night so we had to smell whatever beast they killed that day, once a well sized boar that smelled like bacon and made my mouth water. Most of the beast were handled by Keener, the man a master marksman that could throw his blades and easily hit a moving target far in the distance, a skill that seemed impossible for a human. The boar however was handled by Groll, the dumb beast rushed the bandits, and Groll stood his ground, Bashing the beasts head in with a club when it got close enough. With one swing the creatures head turned into a mush of blood and bone, brain matter splashed everywhere, including on Kiirens cloak. That was the first time I got to see Kiiren, as he removed the cloak and made Groll wash it. Kireen was a small man, nothing of note about him except the wooden staff he had hidden under the cloak which seated a blood red crystal at the top. Nothing of note happened until 5 days later, when we passed a small carriage.
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When the bandits saw the carriage they got wound up, until it got closer, in which they all grouped near our wagon. Kiiren put away his staff and even more surprising to me Keener removed all his precious knives, something I assumed he valued more than his life. When the carriage finally got to us a snake like women came out. She looked almost human, but had dark black scales instead of skin and a bald head without ears. Her slitted yellow eyes had honed in on me and after a flicker of her snake-like tongue the tip came back out to lick her lips. She started rubbing her chin with her sharp claw like fingers as she admired me.
“Heerisa, so good to see you again.” Kiiren broke the awkward silence, and even managed to get the scary woman's attention off of me.
“How much for the boy Kireen?” The female intended to buy me, something she looked capable of as she was dressed in fine cloth and adorned in various jewels.
“3000 Jiwals” I would need to figure out the money system, but I assume the amount was high as the lady's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed, something that was hard to notice as her slits were already small.
“You jest, a fine warrior would sell for 1000 Jiwals, and that would include the slave contract. 500 Jiwals is my offer.”
“At the market yes, but you of all people do not need any warriors, and as you want this toy I stand with my bid. Since we are “Friends”.....i'll drop it to 2500 Jiwals.” Kiiren had a smile on his face, but Groll and Keener were both visibly sweating as Heerisa stared the group down.
“Fine, I will just buy him from the market on my way back through if he is still there, you'll be lucky to get 300 Jiwals from that pig” Without another word Heerisa got back in her carriage and departed. Once gone Keener put back on all his knives, and Kiiren got out his staff.
“Why didn't ya just sell her the damn kid? The last person I want to anger is Heerisa, I was in a raiding party with her once....dumb son of a bitch in the camp agreed to go back to her tent with her at night....the screams and noises I heard him making still haunt my dreams at night......and its no surprise when I tell you we were down one man during roll call in the morning....not that we needed anyone with her there.”
“If we gave her the boy we would look week, and you never want to look weak in front of a Larligar. Plus, we can easily get 500 Jiwals for the boy as long as you dumb asses don't taint his body with scars like the other wretch. If I get lucky i'll catch Japhton in a good mood and get 1000. Jiwals.” Kiiren started walking, and the group got back on its way once more. Deciding I didn't want to be a slave for the rest of my life, I came up with a plan. During one of my bathroom breaks, which to my luck happened to be at night I walked as far from the camp as Keener would let me. His temper grew short with our walk, reeling me in with the rope that was tied to my neck, but thats what I wanted. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Keener approaching a low hanging branch, perfectly guided by me I was able to line him up as I pulled forward as hard as I could. Surprised and to my luck Keener did'nt duck in time before getting knocked out by the large branch. Coughing from the force that pulled on my throat I ran over to Keeners body and pull a knife from his arm. I cover his mouth and go to slit his throat, but he wakes up and struggles. I was able to cut his throat without much noise, but he managed to pull one of the larger knives from his leg and stab me in the left side. The only noise from our confrontation was my scream as the knife pierced me, thankfully his position didn't allow much movement so it only stabbed about 2 inches in. I slowly pulled the knife from my side and held Keener's Shirt against it to stop the bleeding. Once It stopped I took the larger knife I had been stabbed with as well as the keys to the cages and headed back to where the wagon was parked. When I got there Groll and Kiiren were by the fire talking, far away enough that I could sneak over to the wagon without being seen. When I got there I opened Scorch's cage, cursing the fact I didn't bring an extra knife with me. My luck ran out as Kiiren saw me out the corner of his eye, he made a dash for his staff as Groll lumbered his massive body towards me.
When he got close enough I rammed the knife I had as hard as I could at him. He didn't even try to dodge, and took the knife square on. The knife was barely able to pierce his muscled body, and was stuck as if lodged into a tree. I wasn't fast enough to get away, Groll grabbing my arm and lifting me off the ground. The only thing that stopped him was the fact he saw Kiiren pointing his staff at us, a cold sweat forming as he became motionless.
“Now Kiiren.....theres no need to” He was cut short as I witnessed why Keener and Groll were afraid of Kiiren. Kiiren was a mage, a giant fireball forming in front of his staff and launched at us, our immanent doom flying towards us as we braced ourselves in hopes of minimizing as much damage as possible. Instead of a fiery death a forceful gust hit us and sent the two of us flying a few feet away, Groll hitting his head on the tree he was sent flying into. I quickly got up and pulled the knife from his side, the pain causing him to wince and wake back up. Groll wasn't able to react before I stabbed the knife over his heart, his muscles stopping the blade once again. The pain caused him to grab the knife instead of me, a choice he regretted as I jumped and slammed my foot down on the knife with all the force I could muster. Groll stared at me with wide eyes for the few seconds before they had glazed over. I had to stand atop him to use my full strength to remove the knife from his body. Thankfully whatever spell Kiiren cast took time to recharge, as he looked towards me with panic. As I walked towards him a he placed a barrier around himself, something akin to a glass like bubble appearing out of thin air. I wouldn't let this stop me, the only thing standing between my freedom was him. I struck the barrier with my fists as hard as I could, I would either break it with brute strength or hope it wore down before he could cast another spell. Kiiren must have gotten nervous, as he had started shuffling backwards to make space between us, tripping over his own feet. Once he tripped the barrier dispelled, and I made quick work of him by repeatedly stabbing his body, his pathetic struggling wearing down each time my knife entered his torso.
Once I was done venting my anger, the pain in my side returned once more. I held the wound as I searched and called for Scorch. I found the goblin laying in the forest, a new burn covering his entire right side from the shoulder to his wrist, everywhere else a weird reddish green due to inflammation from the burn. I checked to make sure he was still alive, and once I felt his breath on my hand I searched for and found the water the bandits had with them. Scorched screamed incoherently as I poured water over his skin, the pain startling him into consciousness as steam billowed off him and weird howls came out of him. Once I was done I asked him what had happened, I could guess but he confirmed it for me. While I was fighting Groll, Kiiren had summoned a fireball and launched it at us. Deciding he owed me his life Scorch jumped in front of the spell and took the blunt of the attack. When I inquired about how he survived he told me his tribe told tales of goblins who could wield fire, and it was rumored they were more resistant to fire based magics then others. This explained why he was alive, I can only hope it meant he could one day cast fire magic like that death ball Kiiren threw at me.