Making sure the steed was under my control, I began doing small tests to see if it would attack me and when I made sure that it didn't I unleashed the ropes it was bound to.

Standing in front me I could finally tell how the goblins had being able to capture the stallion, as compared to the one I saw in the forest this one was smaller and likely still a foal or teenager, with it barely reaching my height.

Whenever I approached the horse would trembled slightly, especially when I waved the rag around, but having mentally given it the command to not move it stood still, satisfied with the results I began thinking, " So how do you ride a horse?".

While I was contemplating this question, the headless corpse of the goblin I killed had entered the stream connected to the pond.

POV Shift- Goblin Corpse

The headless corpse of the goblin was gently following along the currents of the water as it was taken into a small stream, from there on the water suddenly became fierce and the current flung body its body around as it was dragged underwater.

After some time the corpse resurfaced and found itself in a river, gently flowing along the waves.

Like this the corpse floated peacefully for 30 minutes, until it found itself heading for a waterfall, unlike the small one at Aeron's base this one was at least a 15 meter drop.

Sliding of the edge the headless corpse freefalled with its limbs flying in all directions until it hit the surface of the water creating a big splash, and continued drifting on.

The corpse was about to enter another stream when from the bank a green hand reached out and dragged it out onto the shoreside.

With 10 goblins surrounding the corpse as well as two other deceased bodies,(the ones the decapitated goblin had previously killed) the warrior goblin of the group frowned as he spoke to another warrior.

"Chiefs son?"

"Likely, Hide gone, but always together with Mogi and Gige"

"Chief mad, who killed?"

"Goblin?"

The two warrior goblins although fairly sure they had already figured out who the perpetrator was with the stab wounds on the bodies, turned over the corpse to look for more clues.

When they did, they noticed the burn mark on it's back and booth looked shocked as they said.

"Red's".

...…..

An hour later and the group of goblins had carried the corpses to their base.

The base was located on a flat edge of the mountain and was surrounded by a simple wooden fence about twice the size of an average goblin.

Walking towards a gap in the structure they were greeted by two regular goblins who were seemingly standing guard.

When they approached the guards recognized them and let them through, not even giving a glance at the three corpses.

Inside the village they passed many goblins, small yurts, and thatch buildings storing food or weapons that seemed structurally unstable, but eventually they reached a hut made out of wood that was reasonably well constructed.

The building was also the largest building and was where the chief resided.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Standing in front of the house whose door was a long hide, the small entourage of goblins undecided and unwilling to be the one to call the chief out created quite a commotion, causing a warrior goblin wearing a fancy brown leather hide to come out from the building, followed by another more imposing goblin.

This goblin had a beer belly, and carried two swords instead of the usual one, standing at two meters tall, he also wore a fancy brown leather hide, and was naturally the chief.

Looking menacingly at the crowd causing the goblins to shrink back in fear, the chief asked "Why gather?"

Although a bit afraid one of the warrior goblin's in the group answered, "Found dead tribe mate, we think Logi".

The chiefs eye's narrowed as he said, "Show me body".

The warrior nodded and the regular goblin's carrying the three corpses brought them in front of the chief.

Seeing the headless and naked corpse of his son, he looked unsuprised and asked the warrior another question, "Found together".

The warrior responded by nodding his head.

Sighing the chief knew that it was his weakling of a son, although he would have been sure if the hide wasn't taken or head was still attached, but knowing that Gige and Mogi followed him around every where it wasn't difficult to deduce.

There was one question on the chiefs mind though, "Who killed?".

"Red's we think, burn mark on back", the warrior responded.

Turning over his son's corpse the chief confirmed the burn mark, the special signature of the red goblin mages fireball attack, and became infuriated, "Red bastards, Gi-le make group and kill three… no five red's, retribution".

The goblin who the chief just spoke to was naturally his other son, the warrior goblin who accompanied him out of the building. Gi-le hearing his fathers words nodded his head and replied, "Yes chief".

Like that the group disbanded and the chief walked back into his hut with a frown on his face, although he cared little for his son, he was enraged that the reds would dare to attack his descendant.

Logi had always been a disappointment in the chief's eyes, being born as a regular goblin, he was trash, the chief had even killed his wife after she created something so shameful with his seed. He considered killing Logi but eventually decided not to as it was still his child, but love or attention Logi was never given, he was even regularly beaten and ridiculed by his elder brother Gi-le.

Over the years however this also stopped, as Gi-le like his father would come to not even care about Logi anymore, seeing Logi as nothing more than dust, which hurt the young goblin even more than the beatings.

Logi's wish for recognition naturally made him want to prove himself and the only way he could was either by killing red goblins or taming a Muska alone, or horse as humans called it.

Knowing he would die if he tried to fight the Red's he naturally went with the second option, and after years of searching for the perfect one he could tame, he found it. Stealing a taming rock from the village's treasury, also known as the chiefs hut, he led the stallion into a trap, and using his two subordinates as help, managed to catch it.

Although he had to kill his subordinates and only friends if he had to be honest, to cover up that he had help, he found it worth it, if it would lead to glory in the tribe and recognition from his father.

Well sadly for Logi his dream never came true as the horse he had spend years on was now bound to Aeron, which might have been a better outcome as Logi would have soon realized that his father even if he returned with a horse, would still see him as his greatest failure and shame.

POV shift - Back to Aeron

It had taken me a few hours but I finally managed to ride Charcoal without falling off, and yes that was the name I decided to give it, there were a few options I was considering such as Darky, Speedy, or Choco, but eventually Charcoal stuck after I found that its body gave off a very slight black residue.

Although a bit annoying, with the cleanliness standards of civilization already being long gone I didn't mind much.

Anyways finding the right balance was difficult especially without a saddle, and Charcoal being able to run twice the speed of a regular horse also didn't help the learning process.

I did have to admit that the Bonding stone was a real life saver as I could communicate all orders telepathically and the horse would follow them, although it couldn't do anything to complex, but simple commands like: Forwards, left, right, jump, faster were all easily manageable.

Training for an hour I saw that the sun was beginning to set, having already brought Charcoal to the other side of the pond I told it to stay close to the waterfall and graze around a bit, unable to reject my orders Charcoal did as instructed.

While it might have been wiser to hide the stallion he wasn't easily hid and was to large to walk up the ledge to the cave.

Also having weighed the risks I found that there wasn't much to be scarred about, with the goblins returning to their base at night or at least I presumed as I hadn't seen a single one down the mountain after night fall, and Charcoal being an apex predator himself the only thing I had to worry about would be bears.

And that threat wouldn't change no matter where I hid, except for this little cave of course.

Returning to my base and cooking myself some snake meat, I fell asleep with a tinge of excitement as tomorrow I would finally be able to explore the peak of the Mountain! or well technically volcano.