“Hurmph, it’s nothing like riding a pigeonhorse,” Stibs replied, giving Colb some momentary relief. “...It’s much more difficult than that.” Colb’s face turned frozen with fear in a heartbeat. “The cowmammoth is a bigger, more brutish animal. Hurmph, the ride will be bumpier, and of course the big difference is that it’s wild. Those pigeonhorses had been tamed specifically for riding, whereas this beast has…” Stibs trailed off, seeming to notice the terror building up in Colb’s eyes. Meanwhile, 27 slumped more of his weight onto the chef goblin’s side. “Hurmph, but I’ll help you figure it out,” the old goblin reassured.

A few hours later, with lots of instruction from Stibs, Colb had managed to calm down the animal, build a saddle for it, put the saddle on it, and get the whole goblin crew onto the mount. He’d also retrieved his instruction sheet and dozen healing crystals from the Yiklar Folding Cabin, stored them all back in their box, and given the set to Stibs to keep in his backpack.

With the cabin back in doorknob form, and the goblin crew mounted upon the beast, it was time to set out. Colb sat at the head of the cowmammoth, with Stibs behind him. Drek and 27 sat sleeping behind Stibs, securely tied to the saddle. The beast poked through a pile of berries Colb had set before it with its large, white tusks. It was picking out all of the blue ones, staining its teeth with color as it munched down on them.

“Hurmph, now that the steed’s been calmed by the wild tallyberries, it’ll let us ride for a few hours before it realizes how much it doesn’t trust us. It’s time to cut the rope,” Stibs instructed. With a shaky hand, Colb slowly sawed off the wicker rope around the creature’s stomach, strand by strand. Stibs twiddled his fingers impatiently while Colb carefully completed the task.

Once the rope was cut, the cowmammoth didn’t seem to notice, and continued to chow down on the berries. Stibs pulled out a seagullfishing pole, threaded it with a rotten applecarrot from deep in his backpack, and held it out to Colb. The steed stopped chewing the berries, and began smelling the air with long, deep breaths.

Colb accepted the pole, and slowly extended it in the opposite direction of the human city. The cowmammoth turned, raising its face into the air and aligning itself towards the smell. Then, with some loud stomps, the steed began to accelerate, eventually entering a full sprint towards the food. Colb held on for dear life, focusing all his willpower into keeping the applecarrot steady and forward. “Hurmph, feel that wind on your ears!” Stibs cheered as they rode along.

After two and a half hours of traveling roughly northeast through the forest, the cowmammoth suddenly stopped running, and began to cower. “Hmmm, what’s… what’s going on?” Colb asked with a whisper, still aiming the seagullfishing rod forwards. “...Did the tallyberries wear out early?”

“I don’t think so…” Stibs muttered. The cowmammoth started shivering anxiously, and began slowly retreating backwards. “Hurmph, I have a bad feeling in my gut,” Stibs said. “Let’s dismount, then figure out what’s going on. We don’t want anyone tied to the saddle if the cowmammoth starts to panic and thrash around.” Colb hopped off the creature, then helped Stibs dismount. The duo then cut Drek and 27 free to pull them off as well.

As they were setting their sleepy companions onto the ground, a loud CRAW! echoed throughout the forest. The cowmammoth immediately broke into a sprint in the opposite direction of the sound.

“Take cover!” Stibs shouted, waking up the others. Stibs hopped over to a nearby tree with his good leg, and Colb followed, dragging Drek and 27 with him.

“Rrghegh… what’s happening?” Drek asked as he watched the team’s saddled cowmammoth flee into the depths of the forest.

A moment later, Colb felt a popping sensation in his ears, as a thick shadow covered the forest. Above him, up in the sky, an enormous brown bird – adorned with sharpened claws that were bigger than Colb’s arms – flew by, aiming in the direction of the cowmammoth.

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“Hurmph! That’s a hawkbear,” Stibs whispered to the team.

“MMmMmmmm, I have little bit of ache in head, yes I do,” 27 mumbled, scratching behind one of his ears. “Is hawkbear a danger to us?”

“Yes,” Stibs replied sharply, keeping an eye in the direction it flew.

“Hurmph – from what I’ve read about them, they’re solitary creatures, and very territorial. We should keep moving as fast as possible, and pray we get out of its hunting area before it comes back.”

The crew moved northward swiftly by foot. Drek and 27 snapped back to reality as they realized the danger of the situation. Stibs hobbled along using a mapleoak stick as a crutch. As the goblins proceeded, the forest’s leaves popped and crinkled under their bare toes.

After half a minute of progress, something in the forest caught Drek’s gaze. “Rrghegh… I see purple human nearby,” he announced, pointing slightly westward. The eyes of the other three goblins followed his crooked finger towards what appeared to be a human girl, perhaps 11 or 12 years old, climbing up a thick mapleoak tree. She looked to be an inch under 5 feet tall. Her skin was a soft purple, and she wore a light white cloak held together by a couple of belts. Two bright pink swanraven feathers stood out in her otherwise dark blue-black hair. The tree she climbed was strange as well: it seemed to have frost marks all over it, which was atypical to see considering the warmth in the forest at this time of year.

“Hurmph, she must not realize the danger she’s in,” Stibs grumbled, looking back towards where the hawkbear had flown.

“Hmmm, we should warn her, yes?” Colb posed to the group.

“Hurmph, go give her a quick warning, but then we all need to keep moving. We’re not safe sticking around for a conversation,” Stibs replied.

27 and Colb broke off from the group, walking towards the tree. The others kept their eyes on the sky, wary of the flying beast.

“MMmMmmmm, human girl!” 27 shouted up the tree in Hewmish. The purple preteen stopped her climbing, and looked down at the goblins. Her nose was smaller than Colb had expected, and her eyes were wide and blue. Her purple ears were sharp to a point.

“I have no idea what you just said,” she called back, then continued climbing.

27 did a double-take at her reply. “MMmMmmmm, I am clueless to what that was, but that was most certainly not Hewmish, no it was not,” he said to Colb. The noble goblin shook his head with a baffled expression.

“Hmmm, she said she didn’t understand you, yes?” Colb replied, a little confused.

27 snapped his fingers, pointing at Colb’s necklace, which had started glowing. “AaAaaaaahhhh, well she’s not speaking Hewmish,” he said, “but it looks like your Yiklar Amulet of Open Ears can understand her, yes it can.”

“Rrghegh… stop taking so long,” Drek hissed at them from far away. The girl looked out at Drek and Stibs, then back down at Colb and 27.

“Hurmph, that thing could be back any second,” Stibs added.

Colb took off his amulet, looked the girl in the eye, then chucked it up towards her with all his might. She reactively reached out and caught it with one hand. The edges of the necklace became coated with frost the moment they came into contact with her purple skin.

Colb mimed putting a necklace over his head, and the girl complied, placing the Yiklar Amulet of Open Ears over her neck. “Hmmm, try now, yes?” Colb whispered to his noble friend.

“It’s far too dangerous to be here, yes it is!” 27 shouted up the tree. “There’s a hawkbear coming to kill us all!”

The girl tilted her head, then replied something in her unfamiliar language. Without his amulet, not even Colb could decipher the meaning of her words. She seemed to read their confused looks, and resorted to pointing towards the top of the tree she was climbing. 27 and Colb stepped back, then looked up at a wicker nest above the purple girl. It held an enormous brown egg with white specks on it, which admittedly looked rather delicious.

“Hurmph, what’s taking so long?” Stibs asked, hobbling over to the duo with his crutch. Drek followed closely behind, his Yiklar Bow of Returning Arrow drawn and preemptively aimed towards the sky.

“Hmmm, I think she’s trying to get that egg, yes?” Colb replied, pointing at the nest in the mapleoak tree.

“Rrghegh… that’s a big egg!” Drek observed.

“Hurmph! Too big,” Stibs worried. “That looks like a hawkbear egg… which means we’re right in the center of the beast’s territory. Hurmph – this is incredibly foolish – we need to move away right now,” Stibs sharply whispered, but it was too late.

No sooner did Stibs finish his sentence, than a piercing SCREEE! echoed throughout the air. The goblin crew felt a chill as an enormous shadow blocked out the sun. They slowly looked up to see a massive, fur-covered hawkbear flapping above them. It clutched a dead cowmammoth in its sharpened teeth, and looked furious to have found five small creatures going after its egg.