As the first light of the morning arose I woke up from my tree branch and descended to tell everyone that the moment was now, I told the hobgoblins to grab the biggest bags of food to help the humans, whose weaker bodies were tired of twelve hours of walking the day prior. We soon arrived at the fringes of the woods and saw the large open field with the line of watchtowers between us and the dense forests of the border territories.

I allowed myself a sigh of relief when I noticed much less presence of the humans, the plan had worked, but I knew it would be a matter of running, the soldiers were equipped with crossbows from what I could see, and the watchtowers were much larger than those in the camp, so there was no point in attempting to eliminate at least one watchtower.

Looking behind at the group I jerk my head forward and we all begin moving, as fast as possible while crouching. The guards seemed more interested in what lay in front of them so we stood right beneath them in no time, but then.

The horn.

"Run!" I shouted and everyone rushed, one of the watchtowers next to us had seen us, and everyone rushed ahead, the Huani quickly running past everyone else. I stayed close to the hobgoblins and when the whizzing of a bolt was caught by my ears I tried to stop it with my war picks only to almost be thrown away by the sheer force of it.

Those crossbows were far too strong to pull off the same stunt I did against the archers.

We made it to the woods losing only two humans who died getting struck by the bolts, and finally, we made it back to the woods. There was no way to tell if they would send horsemen to catch us so we kept running for several minutes until I decided it was enough.

"Here, this is good, we can stop here," I say loudly as I catch my breath.

"Finally!" Jorr barely manages to say, throwing the bag to the ground and resting a hand on his side "We need something to ride, boss"

I nod. If I wanted to be on the move quickly and grow this war band I would need a suitable creature we could use as mount, to carry us and our goods, and while horses seemed to like the obvious choice, in the uneven terrain of these woods they would surely injure themselves in a charge...we needed something else.

"Excuse me" Andrei speaks up, and I know what he will say before it leaves his mouth "Your lord? The army you promised?"

"I promised nothing" I reply, turning around to see his tired expression, he doesn't seem surprised.

"But...I should have known"

I can hear the whispers of the other humans as they seem to have heard us, they grow angry, their spears and swords slowly pointing at us. I glance at Jorr and extend my hand forward, he understands and hands me the bow together with a bundle of arrows, the humans grow alarmed together with the Huani, and it's time I enter the trance.

From it, I gather as many words of their language as I can, and while I still won't speak it fluently, it should be enough to have proper communication with them. I also take the form and technique of the archers I killed, how they stood, and how their pose looked when they held the bow and arrow.

I blink rapidly and I have returned to the present, I was afraid my size wouldn't let me use it correctly, but even if I can't tense it to its fullest it should be enough...I seem to have grown a few centimeters and I didn't even notice. I aim it at the humans who gasp and cluster together.

"Huani, I don't know where you go" I speak to the Huani, who look at me in shock "But if no place to go back, you go with us, I will lead"

Immediately a couple of chuckles escape the mouth of the younger-looking of their people, but soon the older, seasoned-looking ones make them shut up with a single stare. I may be a goblin, but my prowess in battle must have left an impression on them.

"No!" Lina shouts, drawing everyone's attention "He lies, he likely lies to us too! We can't trust him!" She stands next to Andrei.

"Silence Lina, you a woman, you don't have a say in this," One of the Huani says loud and clear, his direct words making Lina pull her ears back and glance at the ground "The Hugoru, what you do with them?"

Hugoru? They glance at the humans, they must mean them.

"Take food, they do what they want away from us" The Huani glances at them.

"No, slaves like us and did not fight, did not hate us. Half of the food and we agree" The rest of the Huani nod in agreement.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"Good, ack-I accept" I reply and the Huani turn their lances and swords at the humans, quickly encircling them.

"Fucking monsters, Andrei!" One of the men shouts "We trusted you, are you with them?! You and your pet?!"

"No! I had no idea of this!"

"Stop! Nojus! Don't do this" Lina pleads, forced to back away from the humans as they swing at her, making the situation tenser as the Huani surrounding them get agitated.

"Woah! What the shit is going on?!" Jorr pulls out his sword and the other hobgoblins stand beside me "I can't understand anything you are all saying!"

"The Huani are joining us, we will take the food from the humans and move on without them"

"Why don't we just kill them? We could also use the women" Jorr says with a smirk as we look at each other briefly.

I know. The idea had crossed my mind before, the easiest path would be to just kill them and take it by force, it wouldn't be any different from what I did to the small village...they are the enemy, my enemy. And yet, without the smoldering heat of vengeance and anger flowing freely through my veins as it had been all the time, it took me to get to the village after Fogosh's betrayal, I didn't want to kill them.

But this was not out of mercy, it was tactical. I always chose violence, but I know that if I narrow my thinking to only that single path, I will become predictable, easy to read, and easy to use. Like before.

"No, the Huani don't want to harm them" I reply, it is true, but I continue "And if they do send horsemen after us the diverging paths will confuse them" Everything I said was true, they may be humans, but they are just tools.

Tools. Tools.

"Please, don't do this" Andrei begs me, even kneeling "We will die out here"

"I won't go," Lina says "I won't go if Andrei stays!" She shouts at the rest of her people, falling to her knees and leaning on him.

"Lina! We your people! Your tribe, do not choose the human!" One of the Huani shouts.

"No! I won't go! I WON'T GO!" She hisses at them and then at me, for a moment I even believe she is about to rush at me, but she seems to think twice about it.

"Enough! Humans, give up half of your food now, or I kill you all" I say loud and clear, the humans curse and throw insults, but they drop half of their food to the ground, and the Huani swiftly take it "Now, leave"

I relax the arrow and nod at the Huani, who step back, allowing the humans to quickly run away, cursing as they do. Andrei looks at them and stands up, but one of the men notices and turns around, pointing a finger at him.

"If you dare follow us we will gut you!" He shouts, forcing Andrei to stand there, all blood drained from his face.

Soon the humans ran away, going southeast from where we stood. The only one left was Andrei, who looked around in fear and confusion but seemed to quickly understand the position he was in, kneeling once again and begging me.

"Please, don't kill me. I know many things! You liked to learn right? You are so smart, I can help you!" his voice trembling, and I can see his eyes watering. Lina keeps hissing at me, standing in front of him.

"And the chatty one? Do we get to kill that one?" Jorr asks as he relaxes his stance, allowing the others to do the same.

A human among us? If properly used, this could be advantageous. My mind travels back to my time in the city, if we had a subservient human among us dealing with their kind could be facilitated, although I would need to make sure he is completely servile, as to be certain he won't betray us the first chance he gets...I will find a way eventually.

"No, we can use him" I hand him the bow, it's too big for me to carry around as he does.

"Well, always need someone to carry things around" He turns around, addressing one of the hobgoblins "Tamur, you have risen up the ranks!" he pats the young hobgoblin on the back.

"Fine, you will be allowed to follow us, but you will obey everything I order without question"

"Y-Yes! Whatever you say!"

"You a goblin unlike any we have seen before, what is your name, chief?" The most outspoken of the Huani asked as he walked up to me, he and the rest of his kind carrying the bags the humans surrendered.

He has dark brown fur that looks wavy and forms a mane around his head, with a pair of uneven black horns and goat-like eyes. His face is quite human compared to the others. I recall Lina calling him Nojus.

"Rokan The white wolf (Ushkur) and you are Nojus"

"Yes, I never saw myself following a goblin, but our tribe was enslaved and we too far away from our lands. You strong warrior, strongest than any of us Huani, won't challenge. What is your will, White Wolf Rokan?" He crosses his arms over his chest and somehow manages to look even taller than before, I barely reach his groin with my size.

"Follow me, we find safe spot I know" He nods and the rest of Huani approach us, including Lina, who clings on to Andrei, still very much openly aggressive at me.

I turn around and prepare to keep walking, much to Jorr's displeasure, but his mood is made better when he glances at Andrei and hands him his bag, followed by the other hobgoblins. The Huani do not appreciate this but remain silent.

After another long day of walking, admittedly a little lost, I manage to find signs of the path I took back when I was sent with Fogosh to attack a caravan. This meant we were at least two days away from where Makur's camp once stood...a part of me finds it difficult to imagine the place, not because I can't. I just don't want to.

But that spot was where Makur made the camp for a reason, far from the humans but not too deep into the forest, if we were lucky it would still have some of what was left behind. And it was also relatively close to the tower we took refuge in after the attack...a place I have even less interest in visiting again.

We make camp and light proper campfires for once, everyone eats and we run out of wine, I rest on the tree branch as I look at the hobgoblins and Huani share in the food and what little wine remains, they don't understand each other, but with enough alcohol, language seems to not be a problem.

My eyes fall on the couple, sitting a bit away from the group but not too much, Lina stroking Andrei's black short hair as he rests on her lap, she has a tender smile on her face as she watches him sleep. Then, she suddenly turns to me, baring her fangs one last time before resting her head against a tree and looking away.

I do the same, and soon fall asleep.