In a few more hours, we have indeed reached our destination. Something which I wouldn’t have realized if Emrum didn’t state that fact aloud while walking next to me.

In my eyes, this place looked like any other cave which we passed along the road, not even sparing a second glance at them.

I guess that’s just one of the many differences between dwarves and surface elfs which I counted myself to be.

Our military column stopped, and Emrum, along with the other officers, were called away for a discussion. Leaving the rest of us to our own devices while we waited for the meeting to end and receive new directions.

Silent minutes passed as we stood in an orderly line.

I fidgeted absentmindedly, glancing curiously at the surrounding soldiers, robbing off a splotch of pesky dirt from the silvery shaft of my staff, lifting my weight from one leg to the other, then back.

Usually I wasn’t bothered by waiting, not even in the slightest. Alas, this time around, it was different. I wanted to get over my task as fast as possible. To finally get rid of the weight of responsibility and the haunting possibility of failure.

It was getting the better of me and now standing next to our target caused my anxiety to climb into a previously unknown height.

Luckily, it didn’t take a lot more time for Emrum’s silhouette to reappear on the horizon, and we have received our long awaited orders along with a bunch of ominous news.

The moment Emrum stepped beside us, he began to explain the situation.

“Our scouts have found traces of recent activity in the chambers ahead of us. Based on the found marks, they suspect that a tribe of goblins took residence here for a time.” — He stopped for a second, his eyes hovering over me for a few redundant moments.

“While the found traces are at least a few days old, we cannot know for sure if the goblins are still here or if they have left for good. The expedition commander decided that we would send in half of our forces to clear out any potential danger, while the rest would stay on guard outside of the cave’s main entrance.”

Tymur asked the next question.

“So, which group are we in? The one who goes in or the one who stays outside?” — Based on his expression, he was already suspecting the answer to that question.

“Since our main objective is to keep Selora safe, we will naturally stay outside.” — Came the immediate answer.

To which everyone nodded if a bit reluctantly. They wanted to fight. They were warriors, after all; I have already summarized as much, but they were not so undisciplined as to drop their given orders in search of personal glory.

None the less that didn’t stop them from emitting an aura of annoyance. Thankfully, it wasn’t directed at me, not even in the case of Regmir. Come to think of it, the man hadn't spoken to me since the spider incident. That could hardly mean anything good.

It took about ten more minutes for the two halves of our forces to organize themselves, and for just about half of our men to disappear into the main entrance of the smaller independent cave system.

While our side of the army has created a defensive perimeter around the main entrance.

I was standing in the deepest part of our formation. From where I could also see most of the coming and goings. All thanks to the fact that I was a bit taller than the average dwarf.

Which offered me the comfort of peeking over their heads, especially when I strained my neck and stood on my tiptoes.

A sight that managed to elicit a few smirks from my closest companions.

Tum getting enough of my antics called out to me. — “Stop straining your neck lass, you are making a fool out of us all with those actions of yours. Do I have to tell you again how unlikely it is for us to actually get attacked here? OUCH?!” — Tum shouted, rubbing the side of his head.

Everybody froze for a second, staring at the man who himself seemed quite startled by what had just happened. Then he noticed a small round pebble dropping down to the ground.

He picked up the small stone. Then pointed an enraged stare at the stupidly chuckling Regmir.

“You?” — Tum demanded, nostrils flaring with anger.

The other man didn’t seem to be flustered by his dangerous reaction. Instead, he decided to pour oil at the fire. — “Oh come now, it was but a joke… only if you have seen your reaction… I bet you would be a lot more appreciative!”

Tum didn’t seem to accept that explanation, as he slowly stood up from the rock which he was resting on and began to walk ominously towards Regmir.

“I will see if you are equally appreciative of me when I smack off that retarded smirk from your face!” — He said while starting to roll up his right sleeve.

Regmir mirrored Tum’s movements as the two men slowly began to circle one another.

“Lets see if you can, Goldbraid. You are still ten years short to beat me in a real fight.” — Regmir attempted to rile up Tum, clearly unsuccessfully for the time being.

I decided to step between the two men, attempting to smooth over the confrontation, which has proved to be a huge mistake on my part. Even before I could attempt to clear the situation, Regmir’s chuckle sounded.

“Ah… I see… Now you need a woman’s help to keep your honour, Goldbraid… I never knew that you can sink deeper in my eyes…” — I saw as the edge of Regmir’s lips twitched slightly, seeing that his bait had worked.

“Selora! Stay out of this, damn girl! I am going to teach this bastard a lesson once and for all!” — I stepped back from the intensity of his angry glare… there was clearly a history between these two which I wasn’t aware of. Still, I wasn’t really surprised by the news since Regmir wasn’t exactly the type of man who was easy to get along with.”

At this time, Skod, Tymur and Emrum, among other dwarfs, have also noticed the growing commotion and hastily arrived at the place with the same intention of smoothing things over.

“What is going on here?” — Emrum demanded, breaking down the conflict in a matter of seconds as he pointed his death glare at the two troublemakers.

I felt a sense of relief wash over me, sensing that the situation passed over without stupid injuries, which I would have to heal in the end based on their seriousness. While I also realized something important through this event.

It was not the same to interrupt a conflict between testy men as a girl as it was while I was also a part of the male gender… The situation could easily become more uncontrollable, through my mere presence. Just as it did now.

“What was the reason for this commotion? Answer me!” — Emrum shouted, but before there could be any sort of explanation coming from the two men. The impromptu interrogation was cut short by distant sounds of commotion and the resonating bell of alarms going off around the defensive perimeter.

Emrum, just like the rest of us, turned around simultaneously in apparent bewilderment. Searching for the cause of the alarm.

With an annoyed grunt, Emrum started to push through the still flabbergasted soldiers heading towards the front-lines. His sudden movements served as a waking call for the other soldiers, jolting them out of their daydreams as they similarly hurried to their premeditated positions.

I attempted to follow Emrum, but was stopped by a hand closing around my right wrist.

“Where do you think you are going, elf?” — Appeared the still very much annoyed voice of Tum. He was clearly frustrated with my earlier actions, and likely just as annoyed by the current ones.

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I slowly turned around, attempting to pull off a clueless smile, but he didn’t even listen to what I intended to say.

Instead, he turned around and pulled me along to a nearby cover of shields where we had made our defensive position. He finally let go of my wrist but remained standing by my side, way too close for comfort. As if he was expecting me to try to slip away. Something that has annoyed me deeply.

The man nodded towards Tymur, who was eyeing us from the shieldwall. He nodded in our direction, then looked forward.

Tymur called out to the soldiers. — “Don’t forget, men! One eye always stays on the ceiling! We don’t want a repeat of the previous incident!”

“Yes!” — Came the simple answer from the five soldiers. Aside from Tymur who gave the order, Emrum who left to investigate what was going on, and me, who was too overwhelmed to realize that I should have reacted to that too.

Well, obviously not counting the two fallen soldiers that we have lost facing that Arachne knight. I didn’t even know their names… I mean; they introduced themselves but it took some time for me to remember these strange dwarven names and we didn’t really speak much in the short time we traveled together.

I glanced at the back of the other two dwarfs. They were standing in line, tightly holding their weapons and shields. I silently decided that I will get to know them after this. If I remember correctly, one of them was usually called as Kol, while the other’s name was something along the line of Ali, or Oli? I wasn’t entirely sure which one…

Ugh… whatever… I will ask them later.

While I peered over the group of dwarves, I noticed some movements in the distance. I narrowed my eyes and tried to make out what exactly was I seeing.

Then I heard multiple warning shouts resonate through the forty something dwarves. — “Goblins!” — “Goblins sighted!” — “Prepare for battle!” — And many more similar statements.

A cold shiver ran up my back as the memory of my previous and so far only encounter with goblinkind came to mind. I narrowed my eyes, staring over the heads of the dwarfs, preparing to engage.

Indeed, now I too could see the small group of goblins appearing at the other end of the chamber.

Meanwhile, the dwarfs closed their battle-lines in front of us, preparing to face the enemy.

My heart raced with a sense of fear, seeing how the initially small group of goblins continued to grow in number, as more of them appeared out of the tunnels connecting to this larger cavern, which we currently occupied. In a matter of minutes, there was a horde of goblins with the occasional hobgoblin standing in front of us, encircling our position and cutting off our way of retreat.

The enemy was mostly made out of smaller, dwarf sized goblins and some tall goblins, which could only be the so-called hobgoblins.

Luckily, there were a lot less of this type among their ranks. Because the tall, heavily armored creatures proved to be a fearsome sight. Some of those beings were at least a hundred and eighty centimeters tall, the height of an above average sized human male.

The ragtag armored goblins were slowly closing in on our positions. They were surprisingly well coordinated.

I suspected that there was something like a goblin commander as well.

This whole situation might have been a carefully laid trap to split up our forces. Their timing was too perfect for it to be coincidental.

I definitely hoped that was not the case, but every reasonable proof was pointing in this direction.

There were at least a hundred goblins and more than ten hobgoblins forming the core of their forces slowly marching towards us.

A sudden idea popped into my mind, seeing the encroaching enemy lines.

I started to look around the cave floor, searching for a rock at the right size. Expecting to find one laying about right away. To my utter dismay, I couldn’t seem to find a single rock that was larger than your average pebble.

“Curse it…” — I can’t believe there isn’t a right sized rock to cast that stupid spell. How is it that I can’t find one at the only stupid time I actually needed it? I have seen countless rocks that would be ideal on the way, here argh!

“Ah!” — I squeaked unintentionally, covering my ears with hasty movements as the cave was momentarily filled with terrible animalistic shouts. The entire chamber seemed to shake with the beastly roars, and soon enough, it was filled with the tremors of incoming footsteps and approaching battle-cries. The battle had begun as the goblins charged at our lines with enraged fury.

“Curse it!” — I stomped my leg in distaste. Realizing that the perfect opportunity to launch a pyroblast at the cursed beasts had already passed. I couldn’t quite send such a destructive spell into the lines of enemies while they were intermingled with our men.

I would be skinned alive afterwards, aside from that my self consciousness wouldn’t accept such a drastic measure.

I was already struggling with the thought of actually killing pseudo intelligent creatures. However, the blood thirst with which they were throwing themselves at our people was giving me the necessary motivation to do it anyway. I will have time to be worrying about moral questions later.

Not even mentioning that Emrum has never come back from the front lines. Meaning that he was fighting at the very core of the chaos.

Constant sounds of metal hitting against metal, shouts, screams, and animalistic growls filled the air. It was loud. Much louder than I could ever anticipate it.

We stood at the back of the line, meaning there were about ten meters between us and the frontline, but it was impossible to communicate with each-other without shouting into each-other’s faces.

The experience ludicrously reminded me of my younger days, when I was still going to the disco at weekends. The only difference being that instead of banging the bass and axing down drinks, here, people tended to bash in each-others head and spill their blood.

The battle only began, but the ferocity with which the two sides were crashing against each-other was shocking. I could see some of the hobgoblins attempting to break through the tight formation of dwarven shield walls with delivering powerful strikes through the use of their two handed maces.

One tall hobgoblin flanked by regular goblins on both sides managed to push back the dwarfs at the left wing, only for it to be pierced in the neck with a swift and precise spear strike. Thanks to a nearby dwarf warrior.

Still, the smaller goblins immediately pushed into the breach no matter how hard the recovering dwarfs tried to beat them back.

Soon, panicked shouts filled the air, screaming over the all-consuming noise of war. — “Reinforce the left flank!” — “We need reinforcements!” — “The enemy is breaking through!” — “We need more men at the left flank!”

Tymur, hearing the panicked shouts, called out. — “Regmir, Oli, Kol and Skod! Go reinforce the left flank!” — His voice made it obvious that this was not a suggestion, but an order.

It only took a few seconds, then the four soldiers gathered themselves and, as a group, rushed towards the left flank of the battlefield.

I wasn’t a military specialist in no sense of the word, but even I would have figured out that the situation wasn’t looking any good if we were already sending in the reserves.

I was anxiously thinking over any possibility that could potentially help out in this battle.

Pyroblast, my only area damage spell, was already out of the question, not even mentioning that I still lacked one important ingredient to the spell.

Aside from that, I couldn’t really use lightning blast in this situation, since there was no curve to the lightning, it flew in a straight line. Meaning, I couldn’t aim it above our soldiers’ heads and hit the enemy with it.

I even thought about aiming my lightning at the ceiling. There was a forest of stalactite hanging from it at a certain part. Yet I once again had to dismiss the idea, since I couldn’t be sure what else might decide to fall on our heads from the consequences of the spell explosion.

I wasn’t willing to attempt to pull off spells that I didn’t practice beforehand, since there was a lot of unknown detail to every spell that needed to be learned through experience.

I only knew how to cast the spells and had a general knowledge of magic. I did not know how they exactly functioned after all. If I fail, I could be injured, or worse, hit my comrades, but at the minimum, I would waste a sizable chunk of my mana for nothing. As a result, my choices were quickly exhausted.

I stood anxiously at my spot, watching helplessly as our lines were slowly but surely pushed backwards, herded towards the cave entrance.

Something wasn’t right about that… what were they planning with this move? There were multiple exits from that cave. If they wanted to corner us, it would never work. That was the reason I was brought along to begin with.

Just then, a memory swim to the surface of my subconscious. As if to warn me of an overlooked danger.

I remembered how much time it took us to leave the dwarven outpost. It took around half an hour just for the soldiers to get outside, not even mentioning the luggage… All because the main entrance was so narrow that only one, or at best two people, could walk side by side at one time.

Still, this cave entrance was a lot wider than that. In this case, five people could walk side by side comfortably. However, this was the widest tunnel leading into the future outpost. The other exits were narrow tunnels, based on what they told me. If we are headed into that part of the cave, and panic breaks out, we will end up separated in a minute, then the goblins will pick us off one by one. Or simply guard all the exits from the outside and lock us inside.

My eyes widened, new beads of sweat appearing on my face. So that was their plan… I realized as the growing fear gripped my soul.

I couldn’t see a positive outcome from that position.

If we were cornered into that place, then we wouldn’t be able to leave as a unit. Our mobility and battle formations would be completely useless.

If we attempted to leave through such narrow passages, we could be easily ambushed on the other side. To top it off, we might actually get attacked in the middle of passing through from both sides while we are the most vulnerable.

There were many such examples in medieval warfare. When battles and even complete wars were decided by ambushing an overpowering enemy in such a vulnerable moment.

Not even mentioning that we are the ones who are outnumbered here. At least until we manage to reconnect with the other half of our army.

Come to think of it, where are the rest of our soldiers? Shouldn’t they notice by now that all hell got loose out here?

Except, of course… if they are struggling with their own problems.

I turned around and stared into the darkness of the corridor right behind us.

I had a really bad feeling about this.