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I
brought Haze to a trot, suddenly apprehensive.
The big goblin fixed
its eyes on me, opening its mouth in a wicked grin. Again it bellowed
something in its guttural tongue. This time the goblins didn't hesitate.
They turned their backs
on the dwarves and ran down the road.
Directly at us.
"Oi," Joen said.
The dwarves, for their
part, were no cowards. As soon as the goblins turned and fled, six of
the eight dwarves leaped into pursuits. The others moved to the back of
the wagons, to the tethered horses.
Joen hopped down from
Haze, drawing her daggers. I followed, pulling my saber from its sheath
and slapped Haze across the rump, sending her running.
"Brace yourself," I
said "The goblins are fasters than the dwarves."
"Oi, but not the
horses," Joen answered. And indeed, it appeared she was right. Even in
the thick mud, the horses easily outpaced the little orange-skinned
humanoids.
But the goblins has a
head start. The first of the ugly things reached us just as the riders
overtook the last rank of goblins.
The first goblin leaped
at me with abandon, spear tip leading. I brought my saber around, easily
parrying its crude thrust, and rolled my blade up along the shaft. The
goblin hardly even tried to slow itself, and my sword cut cleanly
through its filthy leather jerkin, gashing its chest and dropped it to
the ground.
But two more goblins
were right behind.
I darted left, away
from Joen, bringing my sword in a horizontal slash aimed at the nearest
goblin's head. This one had its sword in line for a parry and knocked my
sword high. But before it could recover to attack me, its own companion
slammed into its back, pushing it to the ground.
I brought my sword down
from on high in a heavy chop. The newest goblin, stunned from its impact
against its companion, didn't have time to react before my sword killed
it.
Joen, for her part, was
a blur of motion, twirling and stabbing, quickly felling the first
goblin to attack her then fending off the next three simultaneously. Our
time at the Tower of Twilight had not been wasted. Her dance was fluid,
perfect, mesmerizing.
But mesmerized was not
something I wanted to be at that moment, as the goblin on the ground and
two more charging all lashed out at me.
I fell back, trying in
vain to withdraw my sword from the dead goblin. I couldn't move quickly
enough to evade the attacks with the fouled weapon, so I let it go,
choosing life over my blade.
A sudden thunder of
hoofbeats heralded the arrival of one of the dwarf riders, who had cut a
bloody swath through the goblin swarm. His horse shoved aside the two
standing goblins that were attacking me. Its hoof dropped onto the prone
goblin, landing with a dull thud and the crack of bone.
But the horse stumbled
on the creature, throwing its rider. The black-bearded dwarf landed
heavily in the mud. I feared the massive impact may have killed him, or
at least knocked him out.
Instead, he was back on
his feet in a flash, laughing and brandishing an axe. With one light
tug, he pulled the sword out of my goblin victim and tossed my sword to
me. |
