Before long I returned back to the meadow surrounding the cave.

“Fizkip!”

I waited, not seeing or hearing anything. I stepped out into the meadow to make sure I was seen, specifically looking up at the spot where I knew I’d seen someone or something watching me.

“Fizkip! I brought a mana trap that should be able to contain the anomaly.”

I pulled the trap from my inventory to hold it up. It looked like a small wooden box, but banded with silver threads running all over it’s surface. How a wooden box was supposed to keep magic from escaping this little thing was beyond me. I was a knight, a tank. I protected the innocent and those who can’t defend themselves. Magic was beyond me.

An arrow sailed out of nowhere, whistling by my hand. I pocketed the mana trap and grabbed my sword from it’s scabbard. I really needed to get some better armor if I was going to be the protector of the realm that I was destined to be.

“Where are you, you dogs, come fight me like a man!”

I whirled around, scanning the edges of the forest for any signs of life.

There! To the east I saw movement. I ran at the flash of green just behind the trees, a yell building up in my throat as I leapt through the wall with my sword pointed forward.

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Yeeeeeaaaahhh!

Behind the mass of leaves, my sword penetrated something fleshy.

You pierced Kobold Brute for 7 HP.

A guttural scream echoed from the forest followed by “You no take home!”

A meaty green hand connected, like a forest version of The Hulk. It hit me so hard I flew backwards and landed on my back in the meadow.

Kobold Brute socks you for 6 HP.

I whirled, trying to shake the stars in my vision.

With a roar, the Brute burst from the forest edge. In his hands he carried a two-handed axe held behind his head. He flew through the air with a snarl and savage look on his face.

For a split second, I froze. This was it. I was going to die. I tried to grab for my buckler to deflect the attack, but deep in my mind I knew it was useless. With his height, size, and strength, plus gravity, that axe would chop me in two.

I winced for the blow, but none came.

Instead, the Kobold Brute hovered in the air inches from me.

“What?” we both said simultaneously. We shared a confused look when Fizkip came out of the forest with his hand outstretched.

“Filnak, I told you this traveller was coming back to help us, and yet you still insist on fighting him? I will hold you here all day long if I have to, do you promise to be good?”

Filnak snarled and roared. “He intruder, he must die!”

Fizkip sighed and looked at me. “I’m so sorry about this, but, well, my brethren aren’t quite as evolved as I. They still succumb to their more baser instincts. I do worry about what would happen to them if I weren’t here to reign them in.”

I scrambled backward, to get out of the way of the massive Brute floating above me.

“If we kill him, we can never go back to the cave. You do want to go back to the cave, right?” Fizkip asked his much larger cousin.

Fizkip and Filnak had a staring contest for a minute before Filnak finally relented. “Fine, I no kill, but he be on short leash.”

With that, Fizkip released the spell and Filnak fell on the ground in a heap.