image [https://i.ibb.co/Vm1w4PJ/Granny-Gob-Chapter6-Title.jpg]

Burt pulled another redgill out of the water and debated whether to add it to the pile or throw it back. Thanks to his new [Tool Mastery] skill, he had been hooking fish after fish. The minute he readied his rod, he just knew exactly how and where to cast his line. They now had more fish than they needed, including the huge [Steeljaw Pike] he was especially proud of.

He wondered for the twentieth time if this was how Atti felt. Burt’s brother always knew the best way to do everything. Even though he had been stronger than his older brother for a while now, Atti came up with the right ways to do their chores, so he almost always finished before Burt did. Now, for the first time ever, he was out-fishing his brother. Atti had only hooked a few small moonfish, while Burt had a big pile of good-eating fish.

With an unusually deft motion, something he would never have been able to do a day ago, Burt freed the hook effortlessly and released the redgill back into the water. They had plenty, including the collection of mangled frogs Wik had been happily spearing around the edges of the pond. Hopefully, Granny Gob knew how to cook their legs, cause Burt was not about to eat one raw as the little goblin girl had done with her first kill.

Wik was another weird change in Burt’s strange new life. She seemed to flip back and forth between acting like a monster and acting like a kid. She growled fiercely as she impaled each frog but then held up her bleeding trophies, grinning happily and waggling the carcasses for her new friends to see.

He had worried about her at first, especially around Nami. But when the knights attacked, Wik had pulled Na out of sight to a safe spot under the bunk before Burt could even move. When they were sparring, no matter how many times Burt swatted her with the broom, she would bark a little laugh and keel over dramatically because it made Nami laugh. Even the time Burt clocked her harder than he meant to, the goblin never showed any sign of her deadly monstery side. The only time Burt had seen it was when she slashed open the knight’s neck. Her face then had been awful scary.

As Burt shrugged that mental sight away, Atti stepped up to his side. “You sure have been a Busy-Burty,” he kidded, using their old joke. “More than we can carry easily. Give me a sec, and I’ll weave us up a basket.”

Atti’s [Herbalism] skill allowed his brother to work with plants in a way Burt had never fully understood until he received his [Yeoman] class. Just like how his [Tool Mastery] enabled him to understand any tool just by picking it up, Atti was that way with plants. His brother cut an armful of cattails from the edge of the pond and, in less than a minute, had them stripped, separated, and his fingers were flashing through the beginnings of a woven basket.

He was just finishing up the handle when Nami came charging down the hill to the pond, tears streaming from her eyes.

“They … they …. they …, “ she cried and panted at the same time. Burt knew better than to speak. Once Nami got flustered, she was likely to fall apart if you pushed too hard. Burt had made that mistake too many times in the past already. Still, the tense wait for facts was driving him crazy. Atti dropped the unfinished weaving and crouched down in front of her. He took an exaggerated breath as he held her shoulders and trapped her gaze with his own. Taking several slow, deep breaths, he got her to do the same.

“They got Granny!” the young girl finally wailed.

“Ok. We’ll figure this, Na. Shhh. Who got Granny Gob? Galerus’ soldiers?” the older boy stated in his calmest voice.

“Yeah. They came to the house. A lot of them. Granny told me to hide, and then she just went with them?”

“So she’s okay?” he blurted over Atti. His older brother sighed, but thankfully, his question did not derail his little sister.

“Yeah. They didn’t toss her in a pen or chain her or anything. They even let her take her frying pan. I saw it tied to her pack.”

“She must have talked her way through somehow,” Atti mused, that unique head of his already working through stuff faster than most grown-ups could. Atti could add faster than the grocer and remember stuff the priestess had to look up. Burt trusted his brother more than anybody in the world, even more than he had Ma and Pa. If anybody could figure out what they should do now, it would be Atti.

“We can’t take on a squad of knights, so I think we have to stick with the plan. Get to Uncle Rom. However, now I think we need to do it as quickly as possible. Maybe Rom will know a way to save her. We were going to have to spend a night in the forest anyway. If we grab what we can and take the good horse, the gray mare, we could get a quarter of the way there today and reach Bucksville by nightfall tomorrow. Instead of leaving tomorrow and getting there the day after.”

He turned and looked at the small green girl who had crept up to the group. “We are really going to need your help. You know how to survive in the forest. We don’t. Can you do it, Wiki? Can you get us through?”

A bunch of expressions flashed across her odd face. She growled at first after hearing the knights had taken Granny Gob. Then she looked earnestly as Atti spoke to her. Finally, her face broke into a wide, joyful grin.

“Wiki can! Wiki can! I Wiki!” she shouted. Burt guessed she must never have had a nickname before. Everyone in their family had them; heck, Namia had two, So he had never thought much about it. Clearly, it meant a great deal to the young girl. She flashed her jagged smile at all three of them, all the while nodding vigorously.

For some reason, Burt reached out and gave her arm a friendly squeeze before he realized he was doing it. If you had told him a week ago he would have a goblin for a friend, he would never have believed you, but everything in their world had changed. Wik was one of the few ways it had not gotten worse.

“Ok, grab the fish, Burty. We don’t have time to cook them, but maybe we can use them as decoys.” Atti turned and started heading up the hill, taking the girls with him, knowing Burt’s longer legs would catch up before they made it back to the farm. “You two grab the rest of the good carrots and any of the ripe pears from the tree by the barn. We are going to need food we can easily eat and carry with us. The pears will help us if we can’t find water in the forest. We’ll take the rest of that cheese, too, if there is any left.”

Burt stopped listening as he grabbed Atti’s unfinished basket. It was complete enough to hold the catch. The unfinished handle made it a bit awkward to carry. It wasn’t actually broken, so he couldn’t use his one magic ability, [Mending]. He ended up having to carry the wicker contraption against his chest, so Burt ended up damp and a bit fishy-smelling by the time he trotted up behind Atti and the girls. Atti rattled off a few chores for Burt as they left the field: grab an axe and shovel, find some saddlebags and horse blankets, and then bridle the gray mare and get her set for Nami to ride.

In almost no time at all, they were good to go. He boosted Nami up onto the mare’s back, and the four of them set off. Wik was the fastest and kept ranging around the group, her long ears and nose searching for hints of any dangers. Atti wanted to head straight for the woods, but Wik angled them further south. She listed dangers they could avoid by taking her route, such as the Web Grove and a bearboar cave.

“Horsey can walk my path. And only woofs this way.”

“Wolves?” Atti asked for clarification.

“That what Wiki say. Woofs.”

“Can we build a fire to keep them away?” Burt asked. Uncle Rom had taken Burt on a scouting trip last year and he explained how wolves didn’t like fire.

“Keep woofs away. Call trolls.”

“Okay. No fire it is.”

Wik’s trail into Grimden Frith was actually fairly obvious. It was too narrow for the wagon, but there was a clear line spitting the trees, plenty wide enough for a horse. Burt had been a bit worried they’d be cambering over roots and rough ground, but the path between the trunks looked like a deer trail that had seen a lot of humanoid use over the years. Burt hoped they had been loggers, but it was more likely goblins, given it was Wik leading them to it.

Atti switched up the order as they reached the trees. Burt was in front with an axe and his hammer in hand; Nami and the mare were in the middle. Atti brought up the rear. Wik stayed scouting ahead and on their sides. Twice an hour, they had to load her up beside Nami because Wik had the lowest health, and scouting tired her out. She just didn’t have the stamina humans did. Burt had received another point of health with [Yeoman], so he felt he could keep this pace going for hours.

Eventually, Atti had to take a break. They snacked on the carrots, pears, and cheese. Burt had found a tin of hard biscuits in the barn, but they were saving those until they found a stream. Hardtack needed a lot of water to get down.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Sitting in the dark gloom of Grimden’s nearly unbroken ceiling of leaves made Burt feel like a boogie was sitting on his back. He couldn’t help but hunch his shoulders and glance around, trying to see more than a few trees away. He could feel the peril all around them, and it was driving him crazy.

If it came to a fight, he would be the one protecting the others. Wik might be able to help, but Burt had a skill that could be used in combat, unlike Atti and Nami, who didn’t even have her class yet. She did have her sling, and Na had always been a pretty crack shot, but slings were tricky and slow. She would have to get off the horse and find a spot where the branches would not foul up her spin. Burt doubted they would have that kind of time if goblins or wolves ambushed the group. Atti had his [Cure Creature] spell, but that would only work on the mare or Wik.

Burt prayed to Greva the Good. Maybe with her blessing, they could slip through the forest undetected.

After the break, they walked for another few hours, but it was getting harder and harder to see anything. Soon, Burt could not see the trail any longer. Hells, he couldn't see his own two feet at the end of his legs.

“Burty,” an invisible gargled voice whispered from his side. Burt jumped out of his skin and had to clamp his hand over his mouth to swallow the yelp that almost burst free. “Wiki know good place. Wiki lead. Atti ride. You hold Wiki. Yes?”

Atmus should be the one to make plans, but it seemed like as good an idea as any. “Ok. Go tell him. I’ll get the reins from Nami.” He waited a minute but heard nothing until Atti’s whisper sounded quietly from the other end of the horse. He had not heard a sound as Wik slipped away. Burt was strangely comforted by that fact. Wik was their secret weapon in this place no human children should be.

He felt his way along the mare’s side, making quiet, shushing noises so as not to spook her. The last thing they needed was the gentle horse to bolt. Atti joined him a second later, and Burt boosted him up behind their sister.

Back in the front of the line, Wik placed his hand on top of her head. It seemed awkward for her, but he had to admit that stooping to hold her shoulder would have been awkward for him. They moved off at a much faster pace. Wik kept one hand clamp over the one Burt had on the crown of her very greasy hair. Burt hadn’t noticed how slow their pace had become as the light faded. Now, they were practically trotting along through the pitch blackness. Burt concentrated on just keeping the rhythm of his feet falling evenly. Any time a root or rock appeared on the path, the goblin guided him over it.

“Why are we going so fast?” he whispered to her at one such obstacle.

“Too dark for Wiki soon. Is good. Big rocks little more walk.”

‘Big rocks’ turn out to be a large cluster of huge boulders. It was too dark to tell more until Wik helped Atti build a tiny fire tucked deep into the crack of one of the towering stones. The cleft lit just enough for the group to see they were up against the side of a high rocky ridge. They settled the mare tight to the cliff wall where she would be safe. Burt draped a feed bag of oats over her head.

Atti had them build, but not light, three more campfires, one at each of the biggest openings between the rocks. He sent Wik to make a circle around them to make sure their light was not too bright.

“Fire good,” she stated on returning. “No see you. Smell horse.”

“Okay, let me see what I can do about that. I have some herbs that we could use to mask our scents.”

Atti dug around in a bag he had tied to the mare, but as he was mixing and grinding the leaves, Wik cocked her head.

“Too late. WOOFS!” she hissed.

“Burt, get ready,” Atti ordered, dropping what he was working on and grabbing the branch he had sticking out of their tiny fire. The end was lit, and the older boy wasted no time applying it to the closest teepee of sticks they had built.

Light flared off a dozen sets of large luminous eyes staring at the group. Burt readied his weapon, hearing the whir of Nami’s sling starting to build up speed. ‘Good for you, Na,’ he thought. Sometimes, his little sister shut down when she got scared. Not this time, it seemed.

More light spread into the forest as Atti lit the second fire. Burt heard the sling snap, and a stone buzzed past him, eliciting a yelp from one of the shadowy predators. He was tempted to throw one of his hatchets, but he only had the two and the hammer on him. The big axe was still tied to the saddlebags.

After Atti lit the last fire, Burt placed himself in front of the others. Wik was moving around the circle with her long warrior’s dagger in her hand. Atti had his small work-knife in one hand and a flaming brand in the other. Behind them, Nami’s sling was spinning again.

The wolves tested their boundaries, lunging forward on all sides but not quite breaching the hollow among the boulders. The first one to push inside the rocks received a heavy hammer blow to its snout. Burt felt the impact run up his arm and grinned. That was a solid hit. The beast yelped and retreated, pulling the pack back with it for the moment.

It didn’t last long. Soon, multiple wolves darted at them, snapping at them, trying to snag someone to drag out into the night. Atti stowed his blade and switched to a two-handed grip on his makeshift torch. The wolves truly hated the flaring flames he thrust at them.

The first of the beasts to die occurred thanks to a bit of luck. As it dove for Atti’s leg, Burt and Wik happened to strike in perfect coordination. Her blade ripped along its cheek. It recoiled straight into Burt's descending axe. The hatchet drove through bone and into the beast’s brain. The weapon was torn from Burt’s hand as the creature toppled to the ground, dead.

He quickly pulled his spare handaxe off his belt, but that moment of distraction left him vulnerable. A shaggy black maw clamped onto his shin, biting through his leather boots. Burt hammered his carpenter's mallet into the beast’s head over and over until it yipped and retreated.

Testing his leg, Burt was not sure it would hold his weight. He would not be able to pivot as well as he had been, and he needed to be able to keep shifting. A new head would dart between the stones every few seconds, trying to catch him or one of the others.

Another wolf fell to a combination of Nami’s sling and a dual strike from his axe and hammer, but there were still so many more out there.

Burt felt his eyes start to tear up. He wouldn’t be able to save them. Just like he hadn’t been able to save Ma and Pa. They were going to die, and he couldn’t stop it. He felt his breath catch in his chest, not from exertion but from dread. He began to flail at anything that came close. Even though Burt swung so hard he almost overbalanced himself on his wounded leg, his axe ripped into a creature's side. The huge gout of blood that sprayed from the beast’s neck surely meant a fatal blow.

Then he heard the sound he had been terrified of. Wik screeched. Her guttural voice dropped to an actual gurgle. A wolf had her by the throat. Her dagger was sunk into its side, but it was not deep enough to save her. Green-black blood was pouring from he neck down her chest. Just as the beast was about to drag her away, the strangest voice issued out of his sister.

“Let her go!” it demanded, filled with dozens of bestial echoes: the scream of an eagle, the challenge of a stallion, even the growl of the very wolves they faced.

The wolf dropped Wiki instantly.

“You keep her safe,” Nami ordered in that unfathomable multi-toned voice. The feral hunter spun around, snarled, and snapped at its brethren, driving them away from the fallen goblin. Atti used that cover to grab Wik and pull her to the middle of the hollow. Golden light bloomed from his hands, which were wrapped around the girl's wounds.

“Go away!” Nami shouted in that voice Ma used when she was really pissed. The roar of a bear and the creepy screech of a fisher echoed behind her command. The eyes in the night winked out one by one until the only ones left belonged to the big black beast guarding Wik.

“What was that?” he gasped.

“Nami got her class,” his bother announced with the surety he had about everything. He wasn’t looking up yet as he was staring into Wik’s blinking eyes. “That wasn’t [Shepherdess] or [Handler]. What did you get?” Atti quickly peeked at their sister before glancing back down to swat away Wik’s fingers. His hands filled with light a second time, allowing him to smooth out the ravaged skin around her neck.

“It’s called [Whisperer]. I can talk to animals now,” she announced, beaming with pride.

“Well, you just saved our bacon, Kiddo,” Burt groaned as he levered himself onto a rock. “Hah, hah,” he huffed, easing off his torn boot. His ankle was a battered mess, but the cuts were thankfully not terribly deep. His workboots had taken the brunt of the bite.

“I have some salve for that ankle, Burty. Just a minute. Ok, Wik. It might itch. Don’t scratch. The skin will still be tender for a few more hours.”

“Wiki no scratch, Atti,” the goblin stated before standing and walking right up to the massive lupine hunter. “Hi Woof. We have blood now.,” she declared, pointing at the dagger in the wolf’s side and then her throat. “You my Woof.”

Atti looked to Nami, whose eyes were just as wide as the brothers’ were. She thought for a second and then smiled. “He will protect her. That’s what I said, and he agreed to it. Unless she does something to break that bond, I think it will last.”

“Well, that’s one good thing,” Burt stated, catching the tin Atti tossed to him. “Will the others come back?”

“Maybe. There was a lot of them. I don’t think the magic works the same with that many as it did with Woof.”

“We’re not naming the wolf, Woof.” Burt huffed, smearing the yellow paste across his ankle.

“You tell Wiki that,” his little sister said smugly.

Burt glanced over and saw Atti smear some salve on the dagger wound while the goblin girl scruffed her fingers vigorously behind the beast’s ears. Woof’s tongue lolled out of its fanged jaws, happily lapping up the affection.

They had a wolf. A wolf named Woof.

Burt shrugged. Everything could have gone so badly. He’d take ridiculous over tragic any day. They had had too much of the other already. Maybe Woof was just what they needed.