The killing did not resume. A good time after the goblins left the corridor, Delta ventured forward and closed the door. The two returned to their positions and slept on and off for the rest of the night. But there was no further attack.

When the sun crested the horizon, they had a good long look from the platform. There was some detritus and litter from what they had flung, but no sign of the goblins. “That was an awfully funny bloody nose”, commented Zipper.

Delta shrugged. “I guess the gods were watching. Or something like that.”

They went back down and had their breakfast and straightened up what they could. Delta slowly wrote a long report to add to the drop box to account for their actions. “Bureaucrats like this sort of thing”, said Delta, after reading it to Zipper.

Then it was time to see to the animals. Delta wrenched the outer door open, and Zipper got the cart ready.

“D?” asked Zipper, questioningly. “No one got in, right?”

Delta was pushing the door with her shoulder. All the battering and activity last night cluttered the swing path of the door and it was giving her a hard time. “Not down here, no.”

“Then why are the bodies moved around?” asked Zipper.

Delta looked up, distracted, and slightly annoyed. “Eh? Dead bodies don’t move.”

“This guy, with the scar on his forehead, was the other way around”, insisted Zipper.

“It probably shifted as we were moving”, said Delta, getting back to the door.

“You can’t shift 180 degrees”, said Zipper.

“Then your memory shifted”, said Delta. “Just make sure they’re tied down and come down and help me with this.”

Zipper sighed, fixed up the tarp, and came down. Together they were able to get the door open, and the cart backed out. They got their own stuff down from above and stowed. Zipper had difficulty harnessing up the mules.

“Come on Awesome”, she cajoled. “Stop being so jumpy.” She tried to get the bridle on him, but he kept backing away and thrashing around. “Something’s got him spooked.”

Delta climbed the wagon and did a quick look around. “Maybe one of the wolves from last night is still hanging around.”

“Why would they stick around in the daytime?” asked Zipper.

“Dunno”, said Delta. “Leave the bridles. Let’s just get them harnessed up and we’ll do a quick pass.”

The donkeys were not happy, but it was harder for them to duck out of the shoulder harnesses. The two grabbed their weapons and started making a circuit around the windmill.

Right under the blade structure they stopped when there was a low growling sound. “Wolf”, confirmed Delta, crouching down low. She could see the shape hunkered down under some bushes. “There’s something else there too.”

Zipper got down on all fours. “Goblin”, she said. “Probably that scout that leapt off the roof. I guess their wolves are loyal unto death. Might explain why they didn’t cart the body off like the rest.”

“It’s not dead”, said Delta. She had squatted down like Zipper. “It’s watching me.”

“Oh”, said Zipper. They watched for a while. “What do we do now?”

Delta fidgeted. “It doesn’t seem right to just leave it here.”

“I wouldn’t want to die like this”, said Zipper.

“We’re turning into terrible sops. First, we give water to a thirsty enemy. Now we can’t put a downed one out of their misery”, said Delta.

“Well, it worked out last time.” Zipper stood up. “Let me see if I can get the wolf away. She disappeared around the curve of the windmill while Delta continued to watch. It wasn’t long before she came back with a shallow bowl of water. Slowly, she eased forward, making cooing noises and holding the water at her furthest reach. Then she backed off.

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The wolf growled a lot, but then edged forward and lapped at the water. When it had finished, Zipper edged forward again. The wolf was alert but did not growl. She retrieved the bowl, and then held it out towards the goblin. When the wolf didn’t start baring its teeth again, she edged closer. Eventually she got it close enough to the goblin’s lips to tip a few sips in. The goblin slurped at it, tried to move to a better position, then groaned and subsided.

“We’ve got to check it out”, said Delta. She moved in, slow as Zipper, on the other side. The wolf actually backed off a bit to give her room.

“Smart fellow isn’t it?” said Zipper.

The goblin appeared to have fainted. They started to cut free its outer garments. “Not a lot of blood”, said Delta. “Internal injuries. That’s not good.” The knife founds something hard to cut. “A mail hauberk? Fancy.”

“I got thongs on this side”, said Zipper. She cut them free and Delta peeled back the mail. Then they both stopped.

“It’s a she”, said Delta.

“So are we”, said Zipper, after a moment. “It doesn’t make her less hurt.”

Delta grunted and resumed work. They started washing her down, trying to judge the extent of the injuries. She had soiled herself, which wasn’t fun to clean up. But they did it anyway.

The goblin regained consciousness and looked at them blearily. Delta gently probed the parts of her body and noted when she whimpered. When they had her mostly clean, they wrapped her up again with the best parts of her clothes.

“It doesn’t look good”, said Delta, grimly. “I think she broke her back in the fall. I’ve only done a little medic stuff, but I’d say she’s probably paralyzed from the waist down. Certainly, she doesn’t feel anything down there.” She shook her head. “I figured we’d make her comfortable, let her sleep it off, and then catch up with her folk when she felt better. But now I figure they left her behind because of this.”

“We can work a litter up from the smashed furniture”, said Zipper. “You’re supposed to keep someone with broken bones rigid, right? So, they heal proper?”

Delta nodded. “I don’t think there’s any healing from this. But, yeah, might as well.” She looked over at the wagon. “Worst case, it’s just one more body on the cart.”

The wolf was somewhat nervous when they bundled the goblin up. They weren’t sure how much the goblin was taking in, but it seemed more relaxed when they wrapped a blanket around her. In one of her better moments she made some tongue clicking noises to the wolf, and it settled down considerably.

It took the two of them to get her strapped down on top of the wagon, with her hood back over her head, since she really didn’t seem to like the light. The wolf paced below while they did this, to the great agitation of the donkeys. Then, when they climbed down again, it gave a great leap onto the top and settled down next to the goblin.

They looked from the sitting wolf to the donkeys and back. “How do you think the donkeys will take that?” asked Delta.

Zipper looked at them with a sneer. “I don’t rightly care. They’ve been nothing but a pain in the neck so far. Maybe they’ll go faster this way.”

The donkeys did, indeed, go faster. Given their late start, they needed to make up time anyway. The road continued to be poor but wound through the hills where the vegetation was sparser. Delta didn’t have to resort to bushwhacking with her glaive.

They spotted a well around midday and filled up their skins. Delta took some water up to the goblin. “How’s she doing?” asked Zipper.

“Sleeping”, said Delta. “They’re nocturnal, so she’s got to be exhausted.”

“Is she going to make it?” asked Zipper.

Delta sighed. “Probably. Possibly.” She shrugged. “I think if she was really busted up inside, she would be dead by now. But I don’t really know.”

“It was the right thing to do”, said Zipper, as much to herself as to Delta. “Mom always said to do by people the way you’d like to be done by. I figure she would approve.” She swallowed water. “Dad would think I’m nuts.”

Delta shook her head. “It’s like battle. What’s done is done. We just have to worry about what’s next. Right now, that’s simple, we just keep driving. We’ll have to see what the Montihouse troops think of this when we get there.”

The troops were not impressed at all.

“You’ve got a wagon load of dead bodies, a goblin and a wolf?” said the gate Sargent, unbelievingly. “I’ve got to see what the Lieutenant thinks of this.”

They had arrived just after dark. It was a pretty low-grade fort, not in the best of condition. The full complement of fifteen or so troops had turned out to watch. This appeared to be the most excitement they had seen in a while. Uniforms seemed optional.

The Lieutenant didn’t seem impressed much either. “So, let me get this right, the usurpers paid you, paid you, to haul a bunch of dead bodies here to bother us with? What, are they riddled with the plague?”

“Yes, sir”, said Delta. “No sir. Meaning, yes, they paid us to see them home. And no, they’re battle dead, not plague dead. We fought next to them.”

“But you didn’t go down”, sneered the Lieutenant.

“Martius’s luck”, shrugged Delta. The Lieutenant poked and peered under the tarp. “The prepped them as honorably as they could, sir. Put some sort of preserve spell on them so they could get back to their loved ones for a decent burial.”

“Good propaganda, that”, said the Lieutenant, sarcastically. The troops sniggered.

“They seemed to put great stock in that”, said Delta. Then, hurriedly, “not that I’m defending them, just that I’m sure that if our dice toss comes up ones, we’d rather we got back to be buried in one piece. They care enough to do that, and to hire guards so the bodies wouldn’t be looted.”

“Is that so?” said the Lieutenant, peering closer. He then turned and looked closely at Delta. “They’ve got their gear? Personal effects?” Delta nodded. He broke into a grin. “Well, we’ll have to see all that in the light of day. Make a proper accounting and all. Sargent! Park the cart with the rest, see our guests here to the supply tent. They can kip out there.”

“What about the wolf and goblin, sir?” asked the Sargent.

The Lieutenant was already walking off. “Let them keep their pets if they want. If they cause any trouble, kill them.”