Yuzuru followed the blood and found Gweyn wrapped under a snowbank. Her eyes were closed and it didn’t look like she was alive.
He shook her.
Gweyn’s head lolled. Blood was smeared all over the snow, hinting that she probably crawled here on her own. More was spreading from her shoulder, where the arrow was still lodged.
Yuzuru checked for a pulse. It was weak. Sliding his hand around Gweyn’s back, he checked for any signs of the arrowhead. He felt a slight bump. That was good. It missed the bone. Probably.
Grabbing the wooden shaft, he steeled his nerves. He recalled that he’d done something like this before with Taiga, so he could do it again.
That was a lie. This time was different. Gweyn wasn’t a stranger he just met. He’d traveled with her halfway across the Yellow Nation, was both stabbed by her and saved by her. And she was the daughter of the girl he loved and lost.
So, yea. This was pretty complicated.
With a hard thrust, he pushed on the arrow. Gweyn’s eyes bulged, her gasp exploding into a scream.
Yuzuru pushed again. Gweyn’s back arched and she twisted away, hands clawing at her shoulder.
“Almost there!” Yuzuru reached around Gweyn for the arrow. When he found the iron tip he yanked on it, feeling flesh parting along the shaft. Blood squirted against the snowbank. Gweyn locked up, then went limp.
It wasn’t over. Yuzuru shoved his palms against the gaping wound, sandwiching Gweyn between his hands. He singed the skin the same way he did with Taiga, cringing from the sizzling and the smell. He fine-tuned his control, pinpointing his Flame Touch to seal the wound without burning too much flesh.
The whole procedure lasted only a few seconds, but by the time Yuzuru was done, he felt like an hour had passed.
The ordeal was over. And Gweyn was still breathing.
Yuzuru shrugged off his wet coat and slung it around her.
From the lake, steam was still rising, but he knew the water would still be freezing. He didn’t know which side of the corridor they were on but crossing back to the Yellow nation was impossible now.
He heard splashing, just as broken gear began floating onto the lake’s surface. Yuzuru went over, cautiously fishing out a few arrows and leather straps. He used these as kindling and dried their clothes the best he could. Then, he checked what remained of their gear.
Both bags were intact if a bit frayed. Their maps were ruined, so Yuzuru was completely lost. Sunlight was waning, the sky taking on purple. They had to get to a lower elevation or risk freezing to death. He checked Gweyn’s pulse again and felt her forehead for any signs of a fever. She was okay, for now.
Yuzuru combined everything into one bag, which he slung across his chest. Then carrying Gweyn on his back, he forged into the snow.
He aimed for the only part of the horizon that wasn’t dominated by mountain ranges, and it paid off. As dusk arrived, he found the path down the mountain. He followed it, rejoicing when the snow turned to hard dirt under his feet.
“Almost in the clear,” he told Gweyn even though she hadn’t woken up once. He remembered reading about comatose patients still being able to hear what was going on around them, so on the off chance Gweyn was still aware of everything, he wanted to do what he could to ease her pain.
As the tundra morphed into forest, Yuzuru recounted every joke he knew. Most of them were cheesy as hell but he didn’t let that stop him. When he exhausted his supply of jokes he moved on to telling stories, first of movies he could still remember the plots to, then of his own life. Under the bright of the moon, he spotted a game trail and followed it, ending up by a river. He stopped to rest and clean their wounds. His was minor compared to Gweyn’s; the arrow had only grazed him. He ate a simple meal, filled up their waterskins and continued downstream.
By sunrise, Yuzuru found what could be considered a village. It was a group of huts snuggled under a giant willow tree, half-hidden among swooping vine-like leaves. Yuzuru doubled his pace, calling out at the first house.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
“Anyone?”
Doors burst open and short humanoid creatures stumbled out holding wooden clubs.
Goblins.
Yuzuru stopped dead in his tracks. He stared down the green-skinned creatures in terror, his body locking up as it tried to decide whether it was best to run or fight.
He couldn’t really do either, with Gweyn on his back.
The goblins all rushed over, crying, “Man!”
The flashbacks hit him first. Yuzuru backed away, the scene of the goblin couple looping inside his mind, but more goblins appeared behind him, shrieking as they cut off his escape.
“Give me a damn break,” Yuzuru muttered, desperately looking for a way out. He was surrounded, but then something happened that made him pause.
The crowd parted on its own, and a barrel-chested goblin wearing a crown of fruit hobbled through.
“Do not be alarmed,” the goblin said in a polished voice. “My children have not seen men before. They are more scared than you are.” He came over, trailing fruit behind him like breadcrumbs. He stopped in front of Yuzuru and reached for his hand. Unable to find it because of Gweyn, he settled instead on shaking one of Gweyn’s foot.
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“My name is Baron Loops, and you have found my domain. To what honor do the goblins of this forest owe this astonishing visit?”
It took a while for Yuzuru to find his voice. “My friend… she’s hurt.”
Baron Loops tilted his head up to look over Yuzuru shoulder, spilling berries from his hat. He gasped loudly before turning to the rest of his flock and shouting, “Get them to the medicinal hut!”
Yuzuru was led into one of the houses at the base of the willow tree. He had to crouch to get into the doorway, and it was even smaller inside. There was a single table in the middle of the floor space and no chairs. One wall was covered in tapestries while another had shelves filled with herbs and bottles.
Yuzuru heard the door close behind him. He turned to see the Baron sliding the iron bolt shut.
The goblin gave him a somewhat embarrassed smile. “Curiosity is sometimes more dangerous than fear,” he said, then went over to draw all the curtains shut.
Finally, he hobbled over and asked Yuzuru to lay Gweyn onto the table.
Yuzuru gave the goblin a good, long look. “You’re a healer as well as their leader?”
“Aye,” said Baron Loops proudly. “If you had not noticed, esteemed traveler, there are only my children here. And none are old enough to take up a profession yet.”
Yuzuru inched over to the table and carefully placed Gweyn onto it. The girl let out a barely audible moan. Her clothing had been burned near the shoulder, something Yuzuru hadn’t had time to plan around, and her wound was visible - a mess of pink and black flesh exposed like a bad secret.
Yuzuru gave the Baron a brief and heavily-redacted version of events, leaving out anything he thought the goblin might be able to use against them later.
Baron Loops prepared as he listened. He withdrew items off the shelves and combined them together on a nearby counter. He worked efficiently, so when Yuzuru was done explaining he had already finished the concoction, and now held it to Gweyn’s shoulder.
Yuzuru fell silent as he watched the liquid seep out of the bottle. It seemed to cling to Gweyn like a sentient being, translucent tentacles feeling along her skin. When it found the wound, the liquid changed color, from clear green to a bruised purple. Gweyn gasped softly as the… slime? Latched into her.
Yuzuru stood up, hands curling, but the Baron was quick to explain. “It is working. Please, do not interfere.”
Fear conflicted with hope, but Yuzuru forced himself to sit and watch as the purple slime got smaller, seeping into Gweyn like a second layer of skin until finally, nothing was left.
The Baron corked the empty bottle and placed it on a nearby shelf. “Thank you for your trust,” he said with a smile.
Yuzuru felt embarrassed. It wasn’t the whole truth, but he wasn’t stupid enough to give much more to anyone he didn’t know. When he reached for his coin purse, Baron Loops shook his head, flinging grapes to the ground.
“We have no need of gold here.”
“Then how should I repay you?”
Baron Loop’s smile grew wider. “Oh, your presence here is enough. My children have seen too little of this world. It will do them good to know there are creatures unlike them beyond the trees.”
“Right,” said Yuzuru. “That’s… great.”
On the table, Gweyn stirred. She tried to turn onto her side but gave up with a whimper. A tear ran down her cheek. Yuzuru stepped over and wiped it away. Her skin was hot and clammy, but when he asked the Baron what could be done, the goblin said sadly,
“The fever must run its course. I cut the infection from the root but her body must heal.”
Yuzuru couldn’t argue with that. It made sense even in the real world. He remembered placing cold packs on Sara’s forehead whenever she was sick. Even with antibiotics, her fever had to run its course before breaking.
“If you’ll excuse me, traveler, I must tend to my family.”
“Wait,” Yuzuru said to the Baron. “How did you know I was a traveler?”
Baron Loops laughed. “No sane man will ever venture into Tachelm lands without an army behind their backs. And the last time blue banners flew this side of the Corridors, I was too young to marry.”
Yuzuru leaned against the wall as the Baron opened the door. Tachelm lands. They had went too far north and missed the exit into the Blue Nation.
As the outside world seeped in, it brought the sounds of whispering. Shadows passed along the light.
“Sleep will be difficult, I know,” said the Baron. “But if my esteemed travelers do not mind the state of my dwelling, you would bring me great honor to rest here until you are well enough to travel.”
“Thanks,” said Yuzuru. “I’m sorry if I seem taken aback. It’s not every day I run into a goblin with a tight grasp on sentence structure.”
Baron Loops bowed deeply, spilling more fruit onto the floor. “It is not often I have the pleasure to house two fine, healthy young folks. Now rest. I shall send the pinnacles of this year’s harvest to you. Please enjoy.”
With that, the goblin pivoted and waddled through the door.
Night brought torchlight and the scent of smoked meat. Yuzuru sat by Gweyn’s table as he listened to the sounds of the gathering outside the hut. He compared the cries of Loops’s offsprings with the sound made by the husband and wife goblin he fought, and found similarities in their broken speech and tendencies to replace words with throaty exclamations.
If anything, it was the Baron who was the odd one out, and Yuzuru can’t help but wonder just who or what exactly this goblin was.
He heard a knock at the door, and got up to open it.
A tiny goblin stood by the entrance, a runt compared to its brethren dancing around the bonfire further away. More were running around with food and drink in their scrawny arms, their skins and stalky hair glowing orange from the flames.
“Food,” the tiny goblin said as it held up a tray piled high with fruits and nuts. To the side were two cups of dark liquid, filled to the brim.
Yuzuru took the tray. “Thank you,” he said. “Do you know where the Baron is?”
The goblin blinked. “Food,” it repeated before leaving and joining in the dancing.
Yuzuru closed the door. Having nowhere else to put it, he set the tray onto the floor. One of the blueberries in the bowl tumbled off, rolled off the tray and clattered against one of the berries dropped earlier from Baron Loops’s fruit crown.
Smirking at the memory of the old goblin’s ludicrous headwear, Yuzuru got up to tidy up the floor. As his foot stepped towards the berries, they jumped.
“What…?” He lifted his foot then stepped down again. The far end of the floorboard popped up, and stayed in the air.
Yuzuru got down, grabbed the board with both hands, and pulled. With a crack the floorboard came loose, revealing a fist-sized hole underneath.
A gust of stale air blew through. Yuzuru’s heart thudded as he caught the unmistakable scent of decay. He put the board aside and crawled to the hole. It was too dark to look through and he had no light, but something was glinting. He pressed his cheek onto the floor and peered closer.
The glint was a reflection of the light in the room. It came from something smooth and watery. As Yuzuru watched, the thing swiveled up, one black pupil dilating.
With another gust of putrid wind, the thing spoke a single word.
“Help.”
Yuzuru flung back, his back slamming into the side of the hut. Bottles shook from their shelves, crashing to the floor. Outside, someone shouted something and footsteps crunched in the sandy dirt.
He hurried over and checked that the bolt was locked. It wouldn’t hold, he knew, but it would buy time. He grabbed the floorboard and threw it over the hole. He’d deal with the voice later, if at all. Then he turned to the broken bottles, thinking of an excuse he could use to justify their breakage. But all thought left him when he caught sight of Gweyn.
She was curled on her side, nails digging into her shoulder. Everything below her elbow undulated in a single mass of flesh and goo. Inky slime dripped from the table, sloshing over the floorboards.
Yuzuru dropped everything came running.
Gweyn’s eyes shot open, black lines running within the red. She twisted around to face Yuzuru. When she saw him, she screamed, “Help!”