Chapter 4 – A Nightly Experience

Blaring horns shocked Onch into action. Not the kind used during war. This was an altogether foreign sound.

A projectile rocketed down a hard black road while flashing lights the kind he’d never seen. He dove out of the way into some shrubbery lining the road, swiftly followed by another body.

There was a screeching sound, then a solid thunk that sent yet another body flying, this time a little further away. A human emerged from the projectile looking right and left, perplexed. He eventually gave up and sat back in his box-like projectile which proceeded to drive away.

What a start.

Something began prodding Onch’s back, pushing him to get up. Onch annoyedly looked at Two and signaled that he was getting up. They both crouched in the bushes and surveyed the scene.

It was nighttime. A solid, pot-hole-ridden, road was being frequented by the box projectiles. On the other side of the road were similar bushes to the ones the two goblins were hiding in. The street was lined by shining lamps. The fire within burned so bright that there was scarcely a dark spot along the road. Large, colored buildings loomed across the street. A quick look backwards confirmed that it was the same behind him.

After ascertaining that he was in no immediate danger, Onch cast a look about, searching for his companions. Two prone, red feet poking from the bushes to his left solved one mystery. He could only hope the Qwizontite hadn’t died as soon as the mission had started. Of the two yellow goblins, there was no sign.

“C’mon Two. Let’s see if he’s still breathing,” Onch urged his companion. He tilted his head in the direction of the two red feet.

Two had masterful senses, but something was wrong. He was twitching his nose and rubbing his hands in the dirt in agitation. He had completely ignored Onch.

“What’s wrong?”

Two continued fidgeting. A sharp poke forced him to answer.

“I can’t sense things. It’s like it’s all blurry. The ground feels weird, the sounds are blending together. There’s this droning sound in the air that keeps interfering with my hearing,” he complained.

Not good. Onch had always been able to rely on his brother to sense danger beforehand. That might have to change.

“Stay put then. I’ll see if our muscle still lives.”

Onch crouched low and waited. No movement could be seen anywhere. He bolted as fast as he could on all fours to the prostrate Qwizontite.

“Hey, hey,” he whispered cautiously. He slapped the goblin’s back lightly. “I don’t even know your name. Wake up. You can’t be dead already.”

He received a groan in response. That was good enough. A short drag later and there were no more red feet lying about.

“I can’t believe you didn’t sense it beforehand,” a voice suddenly quipped.

Onch whirled around. Blip and Statter sat across a small garden with their backs to a set of stairs leading up to one of the buildings. They were sharing a bag of what looked like nuts, but one couldn’t be sure at such a distance.

“How’d you know?” he asked.

He was ignored by the silent Statter. Blip also took her sweet time.

“It must be a skill issue. One always looks through a portal before entering. That’s just common sense.”

It obviously wasn’t, seeing as three of the five had walked through without checking. And just how many portals had these two gone through before that they had so much experience?

“Is that building safe?” he said, pointing to the building behind them. “I think our red friend might be out for a while.”

Blip shrugged and continued eating her nuts. This was going to be a long assignment he could tell. It was probably better to rely on his own resources than to ask unwilling partners.

“Two, you sense anything in there?”

Two took a long, deep sniff of the air. He approached the stairs and placed a hand on the railing. Soon, he disappeared around the far side of the building into an alleyway between it and the next building.

It was better to wait for Two. He’d take his time, but the results were always good, well, usually.

Onch took the time waiting to study the buildings around him. They were all similar. Two stories in height with several windows on their outer faces and slanted roofs. They were all of different combinations of colors. Fences surrounded what he imagined would be a back garden similar to the front one. A large wooden door stood at the top of the stairs of every single home.

Home, that’s what they all looked like. It was like the goblin camps where there would be rows and rows of tents. In some towns, one could find little shanties lined up like this but never something so grand. He wondered how many humans lived in one of these buildings. It had to be at least fifty.

His assessment led him to apprehension. There were probably many humans about. Getting caught was not an option. Humans were known to kill goblins on sight.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Two made it back before Onch could rethink his plan. He looked confused but whispered his evaluation.

“Can’t hear anything going on. No movement felt, no particularly concerning signs. I think it might be empty, but I haven’t really been able to scope it out like I usually would.”

Interesting, thought Onch. No one home. That would be a perfect time for a raid. Greed bubbled up in the goblin’s heart. No sane goblin would give up the chance. Maybe they could poke around, see if they could take up residence?

“Let’s take a look inside,” he said greedily.

“Hmm,” Two mumbled. “And what about him?”

Onch looked back at the still-breathing, but totally out of it, goblin lying in the bushes.

“Eh, I think he’s pretty well hidden, don’t you?”

Two just shrugged. “Not like he owes me money. You lead.”

Onch stepped forward, crossing the open space in a few jumps to land next to the two lazing Triabians.

“Out of the way,” he commanded as he roughly pushed the smaller Blip to one side.

He mounted the steps, ignoring the smaller goblin’s protests, and took a look at the door. A handle protruded from its right side and nothing else. A quick test revealed the door to be locked.

“Hmm, should open up with a jiggle.”

He jiggled the handle a bit. Two and the other goblins now crowded around. He drew a dagger sheathed on a chest belt he’d worn since his days as a teenager. He tried sliding it through the gap between the door and the frame, but it was just slightly too thick.

A little maneuvering yielded no results. He was about to hack at the doorframe to gain more room when he was pushed aside.

“Move it. I’ll show you how it’s done,” Blip instructed as she pulled out a set of wires and small picks.

The three male goblins watched their female counterpart with varying degrees of interest as she worked on the lock. Two was trying to keep a lookout but failing, Statter had pulled a shortbow out of thin air and was nocking an arrow while pointing it to the sky. Only Onch paid any attention as Blip managed to elicit one click, then two, then three, until the door handle turned.

“That’s how it’s done. Not everything is brute force,” she proudly explained. “Next time, leave it to the professionals.”

Onch was fine with leaving it at that. There wasn’t much he could argue about. He proceeded down a hall lined with what looked like pictures, attentive for any signs of current residence.

The floors were swept, the walls clean and from the looks of it, a meal had been eaten not long ago on the table in the room at the far back. There was definitely someone living here.

Not one of the goblins held back though. Each stole off into different directions, looking for valuables. What goblin wouldn’t take the chance to pilfer another’s possessions?

Onch studied a large wooden structure with a glass door on its front. A circle with two hands ticked above the cabinet behind the glass. Some sort of time-keeping device, but what kind of giant required one so large?

He pulled the glass off the body with a yank. There was a splitting sound as some of the wood gave away. He glanced around to make sure no one had heard. One breath, two breaths. All that could be heard was the soft clinking and clanking of the other goblin’s thievery.

Gold rimmed cups and plates sat atop shelves. Onch picked one up, admiring how creative one would have to be to use such fragile material. This had to be worth a fortune.

He was slipping a couple of silver spoons into his jacket when there was a thump from above. A door slammed open. Thump, thump, thump.

“Gerrouta ma house a’fore I pump ya full o’ lead!” came a shout.

The goblins, scattered as they were, made to jump ship. One sprinted out the front door while another must’ve left through an exit at the back considering all the commotion coming from there.

“BAM!”

Thunder exploded around Onch just as he began to move. He dove head first into what he thought was an opening in the wall but actually turned out to be a window.

Glass shattered and scattered across the front lawn as four shadows tripped over each other to get as far away from the crazy homeowner as they could. Another shot rang out in the darkness, but Onch couldn’t tell if anyone was hit. Just their, luck. They'd tried to steal from what was probably a mage's house. No wonder there were so many valuables inside.

“Get the muscle!” roared Statter, speaking for the first time. He ran back towards the house hefting two rocks the size of eggs. “I’ll create a distraction!”

True to this word, there was a crash as another of the home’s windows shattered. Another shot rang out. Onch could hear someone hooting behind him as he ran toward the still prone red goblin.

“Two! Find us somewhere safe,” Onch ordered even as he sought to clear his mind. Panic was settling in, and he wasn’t in any position to take back control.

Two whistled in affirmative in their prearranged signals. Onch grabbed the Qwizontite beneath his arms and began dragging him along the road. Blip came running at a pelt with Statter close behind.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” she pleaded. “There’s a crazy human after us!”

“Two! Where to?” Onch shouted out even as he couldn’t see his brother. He continued dragging the fallen goblin who stubbornly refused to wake up.

“This way,” Two rasped. “Down as quickly as you can.”

Onch chanced a look back. About ten meters away, Two was tossing away a metal cover to some hole in the ground. Blip descended, swiftly followed by Statter.

Reaching the hole, Onch slid the deadweight body he’d been dragging around so as to drop him feet first. A shot rang out from behind him; it was much closer now.

“Heads up!” he yelled as he slid the red goblin down the hole.

Not waiting to see what happened, Onch jumped down himself. He grasped a metal pipe as he began to fall, only to realize that it was a metal ladder. Reorienting himself, he climbed down as quickly as possible.

Two jumped the last few feet, reaching the bottom before Onch. Ankle-deep water filled the small tunnel they were in. Slick mud lined the bottom making Onch’s boots slip. He looked up to see Blip and Statter both wearing frightened expressions in the dim light coming from above. Their red companion lay face up in the water at his feet.

Onch let his eyes adjust to the darkness. Goblins could see reasonably well in the dark as long as they were given a chance to adjust.

“Grab his legs. I’ll carry his shoulders,” he said to Statter. “Hurry up now. Who knows if the crazy human will come after us.”

“Where they go?” a questioning voice came from above.

Surprisingly, both yellow goblins spooked. They ran down the tunnel to their left without another word. The sounds of their feet splashing slowly faded away.

“Two,” Onch said, now whispering. “Help me move him.”

Two grunted and grabbed the fallen goblin’s legs. Together they managed to carry the body.

They followed the tunnel for almost an hour before it finally opened up into a larger, well-lit tunnel. Rats scurried about in the water and on platforms along both sides of the tunnel kind of like a sidewalk.

Both goblins hauled the Qwizontite onto a sidewalk with difficulty. Two still managed to signal that he would scout the area. With a nod of thanks, Onch sank down, exhausted.

“When I get my hands on those cowards,” Onch muttered. “What the hell is this job? We don’t even have any instructions,” he said to no one in particular.

After a few moments, he remembered the envelope he’d been handed at the base of the mountain about an hour or two ago. He pulled it out, happy to see it hadn’t gotten wet.

He tore it open and pulled out the single page within. There were scribbles all over the page. Writing. He’d thought there be picture instructions instead.

“Dammit. Where am I gonna find someone who can read?”