The remainder of the journey from the flatlands to the Adderwood border took three days and was unremarkable in almost every way. This in itself was surprising, considering Daana’s small company was still being followed by an untold number of goblins. The curious onlookers kept their distance, however, seemingly content to catch a glimpse of the infamous Snaglebrag Flint from afar.

Although the trailing goblins left the traveling party unbothered, their ever-lurking presence was having a noticeable effect on Snag. He hadn’t said much since the encounter with his den brother, but Daana caught the melancholic glances he slipped over his shoulder when he thought no one was looking. His long ears stayed drooped and his leathery skin looked less green than normal. And then there were the sighs. Long, pitiful sounding things that grew more frequent as the hours in the saddle slowly inched past.

Ashwyn normally excelled at lightening even the dreariest of moods, but she was as miserable as Snag. The last three days she hadn’t done more than eat and sleep when she wasn’t preoccupied with keeping herself from slumping off her horse.

“There it is,” Snag announced from his position as the lead rider. “The great and mighty Adderwood border.”

Daana shielded her eyes against the gray light provided by the overcast sky and squinted. The vast, undulating sea of brown and tan grasses extended nearly all the way to the horizon, where it was bisected by a snaking river. Beyond the river, the open tundra stretched a ways before disappearing beneath a scraggly tree line. The trees grew thicker, until eventually the ground was lost to sight altogether, swallowed by the mighty Adderwood forest.

Daana had expected to feel an overwhelming sense of relief. They’d successfully reached Adderwood and were one step closer to finding Oralia and proving to Daana’s mother that she was both competent and capable. It took her by surprise when it was tears of sadness, not joy, that stung the edges of her eyes.

“Good gods. I know why that one is blubbering all the time,” Snag said, gesturing to Ashwyn who wore the misery on her face openly and without shame. “What’s the matter, girl, huh? Did you get broken up with too when I wasn’t looking?”

“It’s just…” Daana’s voice trailed as she smudged her tears away with the back of her sleeve. She took a quick breath before finding the strength to finish her thoughts. “I’m going to miss you.”

The tattered remnants of Snag’s left ear raised slightly higher than the other. “Am I going somewhere?”

“No, see that’s the thing. I don’t think you are.”

Snag’s befuddled expression indicated that he was not following her, admittedly, scattered logic. “You want to run that by me one more time?”

“You got us to the border, as asked. You’re part’s done and I think you should stay.” Daana found it suddenly difficult to look him in the eye and averted her gaze elsewhere. It didn’t help ease her pooling sadness, but it made talking slightly easier. “Your family welcomed you back with open arms, Snag. They practically begged you to come home. Let’s not kid ourselves, you don’t have a stake in this war. You deserve to sit this one out with people who want to be with you.”

His voice cracked with hurt. “You don’t want me?”

“Of course I want you! If I had my way, you’d stick around forever. But that’s fair. Not to you. You deserve to be happy and I think staying in the flatlands might actually be your chance to have that.” Daana shifted uncomfortably in the saddle, fighting the fresh crop of tears that trickled down her face. The crisp air burned against the hot tears, which was a bit of a relief actually, as it served to distract her from the hurt welling up on the inside. “You helped me find my family and now maybe it’s my turn to send you to yours.”

“She makes a good point!” a disembodied voice called from the surrounding grass.

“Lots of points!” another readily agreed.

A third said, “Come be happy, Snaglebrag. Join your family and leave the gloomy orc and elf behind.”

“Great.” Ashwyn straight ahead with a scowl, as if ignoring the newcomers would make them cease to exist. “The bacon bandits are back.”

“No we’re not.”

“Yeah, there’s nobody here but us wild grasses.”

Ashwyn clicked her tusks at the three young goblins. “You brats better scram or I’m going make good on my threat to eat you. Goddess knows I’m hungry enough to try!”

“We’re not feelings, orc. You can’t eat us!”

“You’d have to work to catch us anyway.”

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“Yeah! An’ if you move as slow as you think, we’re gonna be just fine.”

Their taunting served as the final nail in their shared coffin. Ashwyn not only reached her breaking point, but went hurtling over it like a pole vaulter conquering a wall. She leapt from her steed and barreled into the long grass at a speed fueled by untethered rage. Daana remained seated, watching the chase unfold with fascination. Although she’d seen Snag gallop on all fours when the situation called for it, Daana hadn’t realized orcs could do the same. Ashwyn stayed low to the ground, concealed by the wild overgrowth as she hunted her prey down with startling agility.

A thunderous roar lit the air seconds before she jumped. Ashwyn’s burly form sailed over the top of the tundra grass before it plunged back into the tangle of vegetation. The pounce must have been successful because, after a short tousle, complete with lots of undignified shrieking, the orc stood and strode out of the grass, carrying a squirming goblin by its ankle.

“It wasn’t me!” the goblin wailed. Daana recognized him as Twig, the tallest of the three goblin teenagers. Twig suddenly didn’t look very tall hanging upside down by an orc three times his size. “It was the others that said all that nasty stuff. I like orcs.”

Ashwyn came to a standstill alongside Daana’s horse, her wailing prize still in hand. She held the goblin at arm’s length as the anger drained from her curled lips. “Huh,” she said, broad shoulders heaving with each labored breath. “I kinda feel like the dog that caught the carriage here.”

“Put me down!” Twig sobbed.

A smirk broke across Snag’s gnarled features. “Now, now, show some follow through, Ashwyn. You caught the damn thing, now eat it.”

“No, no, no! Don’t do that! I’ll make you sick.” Twig ceased his useless struggling and twisted his head, eyes darting across his upside down surroundings until his stare settled on Daana. “Elf, help me! You don’t want my death on your conscience, do you? Talk some sense into the big meany.”

Apparently even teenagers could pick up on the fact that Daana was a giant softie. Still, it’d be worthwhile to try and get something out of the altercation before Ashwyn grew bored of her new plaything. She addressed her companions instead. “It seems shortsighted to eat him straight away. Shouldn’t we press him for information first? Ask a few questions? See what he knows?”

“My only question is what goblin tastes like.” Ashwyn’s threatening smile consisted almost entirely of bared teeth. “And I’m about to find out.”

Daana slid from her shaggy horse onto the ground. Placing her hands on her hips, she strode closer, only stopping until she and Twig were inches apart. “What are you doing out here anyway? I thought we told you to stay away.”

“Nothing! Just enjoying the outdoors, is all.”

He knows you’re the softie. Prove him wrong. Make him squirm.

Daana narrowed her eyes, channeling some of the venom from her expression into her voice. “Do you know what happened to the last little runt who lied to us? Ashwyn took a stick, just like this one” — Daana ripped a hollow reed from the soft dirt and rolled it around in her hands — “and stuck it through his skull and gave it a good stir. Turned his brain to soup. And then, once it was nothing more than pink sludge, she slurped it through the stick like a straw just like this.”

Twig wasn’t the only one scared speechless by Daana’s disturbing slurping sound. Both Ashwyn and Snag were staring at her with their mouths agape, horrified.

Apparently we draw the line at pink sludge soup. Noted.

Considering the damage was already done, Daana supposed the only thing left to do was to stay committed to her new role as the deranged elf. It was better than being softie, at least. Daana took the hollow reed in both hands and snapped it, smiling when the splintering crack jolted all three back to their senses. “Are you still with us, friend?” she said to Twig. “It looks like you might have blacked out on me for a second there.”

Twig’s mouth trembled as a babble of senseless sounds rolled off his tongue.

“Oh good. There you are.” Daana tapped the broken end of the reed against his cheek. “Anyway, what was it you were saying about being out here?”

“Our den leader sent us!” The words flew out of Twig’s mouth faster than he could string them together. “Word is the infamous Snaglebrag turned down his familial den. He’s free game now.”

“You’re hunting him?”

“Hunt?” The young goblin’s face scrunched in genuine confusion. “No. To recruit, dummy.”

Daana raised one eyebrow at him challengely. “Dummy?”

Twig’s head shrank into his shoulders as he stammered his apology. “Sorry, miss. It’s all this blood rushing to my head. Makes me say things I don’t mean.”

Daana waved her hand at Ashwyn and said, “You can put him down now. I’m certain he’s not foolish enough to try and outrun you a second time.”

The sour look on Ashwyn’s face read as ‘oh, I take orders from you now?’ Thankfully the orc bit back her displeasure and played along, flipping the goblin head over heels and setting him back on his feet. She kept a firm grasp on the back of his neck. Not to keep him from running, Daana realized, but from toppling over. The sudden quake in the poor boy’s legs looked severe enough to drop him on his face.

“Alright, you’ve sufficiently scared the piss out of the scoundrel. Congratulations.” With a grudging sigh, Snag abandoned his horse and wandered over. Daana didn’t know whether it was curiosity or pity that fueled his involvement, but Snag snatched the broken reed from her hands and wagged it at her. “I’ll take it from here, thanks.”

“Seriously?” Daana had only been playing the part as a means to acquire information. Which failed to explain why she suddenly felt cheated, like the fox poised to lose its hard earned kill to the wolf. “You choose to swoop in now? After I’ve done all the work to soften him up?”

“Simmer down, secretary,” Snag chided. “Your part’s done here.”

Daana shifted her weight to her right foot to keep from stomping it. “I haven’t been your secretary in weeks!”

“I know. I miss it more and more each day. It was a simpler time. Quieter, people not hounding me from dawn to dusk.” Snag tossed the stick over his shoulder, adding wistfully, “Less talk of brain soup.”