Risha, two of the hunters and the snow spider ran ahead to find out what was happening, their footing sure over the snow covered land.

As they entered the village, they came upon a scene of carnage.

A tiger twice as big as any Risha had seen prowled towards a mother who stood in front of her children, dead unevolved goblins lay mauled at its feet. Many other goblins watched in fear, unable to move against the terrifying predator.

Risha drew back an arrow and let it loose, hitting the Tiger’s flank.

It whipped around in pain, and two other arrows followed hers, one missing from its sudden movements while the other hit its shoulder.

The large cat roared at Risha, causing a shiver of fear to flow through her. It ran towards her, nearly on top of her before she could draw another arrow.

It tripped as webs wrapped around its legs. The webs were sharp like ice, and Risha realized that they must’ve come from the snow spider. Frost spread from the webs as the large cat attempted to escape its entanglement.

Two more arrows flew out, one puncturing the eye of the tiger, while the other punctured its chest. The creature roared again, but it was weaker this time.

More webs wrapped around the tiger, and then the snow spider dropped on top of it, biting into its flesh and causing it to slowly freeze, its body turning to ice in the snow.

Level Up!

Risha hurried over to the injured goblins as the rest of her party caught up. Tya joined her a moment later in helping the barely breathing goblins that lay on the ground.

Over the next hour they worked to heal the damage while the goblins of the village stared in awe. It was a slightly smaller village than hers, but not by much.

Elder Lia worked to gather the elders of the village, one of whom was her son, and by the time Risha was done helping, the goblins were waiting for her.

“Not orc!” One of the Elders remarked. “Clo impressed!”

“Tira think goblin strong!” Another Elder said from beside him.

Risha smiled at the happy goblins, always filled with joy at the way her people reacted to the evolved goblins. “Would you like to evolve like me?” She asked.

All of the goblins nodded excitedly.

Risha called over the two elders who had spoken and evolved them first, then she evolved the rest of the Elders.

It took some convincing, but not as much as she’d expected to talk the village into moving towards hers. She spent the evening evolving as many of the goblins as she could, then one of the hunters that had come with her volunteered to lead them back.

The snow spider had woken all of the spiders that were in hibernation, and in the next two days, Risha witnessed the largest movement of goblins and spiders she had ever seen as they all left towards her village.

Then it was on to the next village. Her entire party was in good spirits after their success and Moko practically skipped with excitement as he led them to the next one.

The second village was harder to convince, as many of them didn’t want to leave their homes. It was a week of long discussions that left Tya, Risha and Lia exhausted before they were forced to go by the exodus of their spiders.

Apparently the Snow Spider wasn’t having as much trouble as Risha was in convincing her people, despite their annoyance at being awoken from their hibernation cycle.

Their trek to the third village was the longest, and they were forced to stop and make camp as a large blizzard came through. It was during the blizzard that four hunters from their village caught up with them, replacing those who had left to guide the villages back.

Their party of eight plus a snow spider left as soon as the blizzard subsided, arriving at the village by midday.

Their reception at the third village was strange. The goblins were still excited to see them, but they had reservations around the visiting high goblins that were hard to place.

Risha walked through the village, watching as the goblins leading her shared glances that communicated something she couldn’t understand.

Cautious of their strange attitude, Risha only evolved three of the Elders so that they could communicate. They talked, but Risha couldn’t seem to get anywhere. Eventually she tried to get one of the Elders on their own to talk, but he was just as unreceptive.

“We’ll survive on our own.”

Risha frowned at the sentence. “No. You won’t. If a war party heads your direction, your people will fall and die. The spiders will be convinced to join us no matter what.”

The Elder, who had evolved into a High Goblin Shaman, shook his head. “We can’t join you.”

“Why not?” Risha asked, starting to feel annoyed at the circular conversation that was occurring with the Elder. They’d been going back and forth for the better part of an hour and even the previous village hadn’t been this stark in their denial.

“It wouldn’t work.” The Elder crossed his arms.

“Why not?” Risha repeated, unable to hide the irritated tone.

“Oltak must protect Oltak’s people.” Something about his words gave Risha pause.

She narrowed her eyes, then nodded. “We’ll talk again in the morning.”

Oltak was clearly suspicious of her acceptance but let her leave and return to her party. The other goblins in Risha’s party were enjoying the meat of a recently caught deer when she returned to them

Tya and Lia both sat around the fire, they had tried to speak with the other Elders, but clearly had as little success as she’d had.

She gratefully accepted a slice of meat from one of the hunters, then looked over to where the Snow Spider was blending in with a mound of snow. “Have you had any trouble with the spiders here?”

The snow spider’s eight eyes focused on Risha. “They gave some trouble, but the words of the queen travel through me. They’ll follow their handlers, or leave without them if needed.”

Risha sighed, then turned to the hunters. They were smiling and having fun with a game of stones that Moko had invented during their travels.

“Moko.” She called to the defacto leader of the hunters. He was young, but the other hunters trusted him and she did too.

The goblin looked up from the game, giving her his full attention.

“Something’s going on Can some of the hunters follow some goblins and see if you find anything?” Moko nodded, then motioned to two of the other hunters.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

They finished their game, then disappeared into the snow covered forest.

Risha grabbed the pelt from the tiger they’d killed and wrapped it around herself to help stay warm. Lia moved her hands in different ways, trying to help the magic flow into different elements, while Tya carved little symbols into the stick she carried everywhere.

The two hunters that were left with them continued to play their game of stones.

The night passed easily enough, and Risha woke the next morning to Moko shaking her. “Moko has found them.”

Risha shook her head to wake up, then sat up in her bedroll. “What did you find?”

“Orcs.”

Risha’s breath froze at the proclamation. She studied Moko, and found his face to be dead serious.

She quickly got up, grabbed her bow, and the sword that she’d gotten from the overseer, now sheathed in a leather sheath Elder Milo had gifted her.

“Moko…” Moko started, grabbing Risha’s attention.

“What is it?”

“Moko recommends speaking with the village elders.” Moko finally finished.

Risha hesitated for only a second, but she trusted Moko.

Risha hurried out of her tent, the morning sun just beginning to rise. Another hunter sat over the coals of the fire, starting breakfast.

She nodded to him before hurrying to the home of the Elder she’d spoken to yesterday.

She burst in, startling the barely awake Elder Oltak.

“Why are there orcs here?” She couldn’t stop her teeth from showing at the question.

Elder Oltak froze, then dropped to the floor in a bow to her. “Please. Please spare them.”

Risha stepped back at the display.

“They are good orcs. They protect goblins.”

Risha looked away, her grip tightening on the sword at her waist. “Show me.” she gritted out through her teeth.

Oltak led her outside of the village, and through the trees. Risha caught sight of the Snow Spider and motioned for her to follow, just in case.

Eventually they arrived to a small home made of logs, and Elder Oltak nocked on the door. “Oltak greets Klu and Shasha.”

There was silence for a moment, then the door opened an inch, revealing the red eye and red skin of an orc.

Risha’s grip tightened on her sword, but she did her best to stop from baring her teeth.

The orc looked out, then it’s eyes widened in surprise at the two evolved goblins. “Oltak?” It asked.

“It’s me… and this is Risha.” Oltak shifted uncomfortably, his gaze moving between the clearly enraged Risha and the eye of the Orc. “Please, let us in.”

The Orc hesitated, its eyes meeting Risha’s. Risha met the creature’s eyes, not hiding her hatred.

“Shasha!” the orc called into the room, startling Risha. “Take Cali and Calu into the bedroom.”

There were sounds of movement, and then the orc who must’ve been Klu opened the door. He was dressed in simple clothing, but his muscles were covered in scars, with a particularly nasty one traveling over his eye. Risha could tell that he was strong. Stronger even than the overseer.

Risha hesitated before following the orc into his home. She moved her hand to the dagger at her waist, much easier to use in the small house than the sword.

The home was well lived in, decorated with furs and wooden carvings. Her eyes caught on the spear and magnificently crafted bow in the corner, then moved to the tiny wooden creatures on the floor, recently dropped. There was one other door that must’ve led into the bedroom.

“Welcome to my home Risha.” Klu said as he moved to a chair far away from his spear. “It’s been a long time since I’ve met a High Goblin, yet alone two. Congratulations Oltak, I know how important this must be to you.”

Oltak smiled, but didn’t respond, instead resting his gaze on Risha.

Risha shifted uncomfortably, not liking the polite tone the orc spoke in. “I do not like orcs.” She said.

The orc let out a small smile before it disappeared. “I understand. My kind has not been nice to yours.”

Risha met the red eyes of the orc. “If not for the begging of Oltak, my dagger would’ve met your throat already.”

The orc grew serious, his muscles tensing and his face looking more like the orcs she was used to killing. Then the moment passed, and the orc untensed, letting the fight go. “Thank you. Many would not be so open minded.”

“I am trying to convince the village to leave and join mine for their protection.” Risha said.

The orc nodded. “The clan will not let any evolved goblins live, but leaving is foolish. A couple High Goblins cannot resist the power of a war party.”

“There are more than a few of us.” Risha said. “Every goblin old enough to evolve will do so.”

The orc stared in surprise, his eyes moving toward Oltak who nodded at him. “I see. That does change things. Why have they not left?”

It was Oltak who responded. “We will not leave you, Klu.”

Klu shook his head. “That is foolish Oltak, if your people wish for a better future, you must band together.”

“We will not leave you, Klu.” Oltak’s words were final.

Risha stared at Oltak in surprise, she’d never met a goblin so attached to an orc.

Her gaze met Klu’s, who stared at her intently. “You must convince them.” He said. “Any High Goblins that try to stay here will be mercilessly killed, and the village will follow them in death.”

She was surprised at the conviction in his words. The orc… cared.

Risha looked down at the hand that still held her dagger tightly. She slowly unclenched her fingers, letting go of the dagger. “I want to meet the other orcs here.” She said quietly.

She looked up to see Klu looking at her with uncertainty.

“I will not hurt you or yours unless you attack me.” She said. “You have my word.”

Klu held her gaze, then nodded. “Shasha, can you and the kids come out?”

Risha was surprised to hear that there were kids, but the wooden animals on the floor started to make sense.

The door to the bedroom opened, and Risha saw her first orc woman and children. Shasha was slightly smaller than Klu, but shared the same red skin and red eyes, her hair scarlet. Her muscles were smaller, while still being quite prominent, and Risha had to admit that she was quite handsome for an orc. The two kids that peaked out from behind her shared the traits of their parents, but without the muscle definition.

Risha was faced with a decision, and one that she knew would be hard to accept for her people. “One moment.”

She stepped over to the door, opened it and called to the Snow Spider who waited patiently in a tree nearby. “Can you grab Moko and Tya for me?”

The spider left, flying over the snow faster than any other spider she’d seen.

Risha returned to the hut to see Shasha standing next to her partner, her hand resting on his arm as he watched her warily.

Risha took a deep breath, then let it out. “I make no promises, but if the orcs came with, would your village join us?”

Oltak nodded without hesitation.

“There is no need-” Klu started.

“I hate orcs.” Something in Risha’s expression quieted the room. “And I know that most of my kind feel the same.” Risha looked at the two children who avoided her gaze. “But the goblins here care for your family, and you care for them. So I will put aside my hatred. I will ensure that your family is treated fairly and that you have a home in my village.”

“Do you have the power to make such a promise?”

A knock on the door interrupted Risha’s response.

“Come in.” Risha called.

Moko, and Tya entered cautiously. Their eyes landed on the sitting orcs with surprise.

“Tya, Moko, do you trust me?” Risha asked.

Tya recognized the importance of the question, and bowed her head, Moko following a moment later. “Yes, Grand Mother.” Tya said.

“Will the other goblins listen to my words and honor my promises?”

Tya didn’t hesitate before responding. “Yes, Grand Mother.”

Klu watched with surprise at the way Risha was treated by the clearly older goblins.

Risha turned to the shocked orcs. She directed her next question to Klu, “Will you help save this village and travel with them to their new home?”

Klu considered the question for a long moment before nodding his head. “If… if you can give us a home among your people, we would be happy.”

“Tya, Moko, this is Klu, Sasha and their children. Moko, I want you to find a hunter you trust to guide them and keep their village safe on their way. Tya… would you go with them and ensure that they are received well by our people?”

Both of the Goblins only hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

“Oltak, please gather your people, I have a lot of evolutions to get through today.”

Oltak nodded, his eyes wide with an expression Risha couldn’t quite place. Although, If she had to put a name to it, she’d call it awe.