That awful, twisted cackle was cut off abruptly, snuffed out like a candle. Yunxia looked up at the sudden silence, still shaking with terror. Looking up, her eyes went wide, and her breath caught in her throat-one of the larger guards had grabbed the sadistic goblin by the throat, and lifted it up off the ground.Gruk's feet kicked heplessly at the airas he dangled in the much larger creature's fist, choking as he found himself looking into a beady pair of eyes that just glimmered with malice. The smirk that Gruk quickly found himself looking at was a nasty thing, that onlu promised pain. And that promise came true a few seconds later, when the fist released him, and his world exploded. To the young elf watching the scene, it looked like the large guard had dropped the smaller goblin, and then caught him in the chest as he fell with an armored knee, sending him flying across the camp, before coming to rest in the dirt, digging out small trench. She did not feel the bones shatter, or black out while flying, nor did she leave a trail of blood and skin while skidding before coming to a stop. However, she did witness it, and that sight (along with the grin that the beast gave her when it looked back into the cage), put any thoughts she had been entertaining of escape firmly out of her head. She gulped, suddenly finding her mouth very dry.
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Zak-the-Magnificant, Chief of the Bloodtooth Clan, was pissed. Again. He was roaring at the poor trembling scout in front of him, who had the misfortune of bringing him the news that yes, a contingent of heavily armored knights was, at best, several days away. The lithe goblin's body shook as he looked up at his angry chief, who's face was a shade of dark green as the rage threatend to overtake him.
"How many knights did you say there were?"
"Uh, uh..10 or 11, sir, and a number of squi-"
This last sentence was cut off when a chalice they had "liberated" from a previous pasing caravan found itself emptied of its contents, which ended up drenching the unfortunate scout in a strong-smelling liquid that he supposed might have been dwarven ale. At the very least, drunkenness would explain some of the chief's anger. That damn Warmaster had raided so many caravans they had attracted the attention of the local duke, who had pulled together a sizable force of knights, just to take them out. And making the whole matter worse, the Warmaster who was responsible for their predicament wasn't even available, because he had taken a party down south to deal with a incursion from the Skytear clan, who had been running out of sufficient food for their rapidly expanding population. The string of mental invectives the scout was running through caused him to miss the question directed at him, earning him a slap to the face for his lack of attentiveness. Cheeks burning, he turned back to Zak.
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"I said, you useless heap of maggot fuel, were there any magic users among them?"
"N-no, sir, none that we could see. One man carried potion flasks on his belt, but none among them carried the tools of Magic."
At this, Zak let out a breath, sinking back into his chair.
"Thank the Sky... You can go, then, but breathe a word of this to anyone and I'll make you eat your own liver, piece by piece." The poor goblin turned and sprinted out the tent, never looking back.
Zak frowned as he thought over this latest development. 12 knights, coming for his camp, when most of the best warriors and his Warmaster were gone. They woudn't be slaughtered, they'd be entirely eradicated, and that would not do. So, Zak did what any self-rspecting Goblin Chief would do-he called the smartest Goblin in the Clan, Drok, and entrusted the entire enterprise of defense to him. That way, when it failed, he couldn't be held responsible, and if it worked, he could just take the credit. What he was not expecting, however, was the feral grin that crossed Drok's face when he was told about the impending mass death heading their way. For the first time in his admittedly short life, Zak-the-Magnificant felt pity for a foe.
And he didn't even know how they were going to win yet.