Rising from the Abyss Rising from the Abyss - Chapter 111

Yaric wished he already had the kind of power true Mages and Wizards wielded. Their impressive opening assault had fizzled out sowhat, and the size of the goblin horde had been noticeably reduced before their arrival, but Yaric was confident that they could have annihilated the goblins if the four of them had access to the sa spells. That kind of magic, combined with the full-strength militia, could have possibly done the job without any casualties at all.

Still, the new arrivals were getting sowhat bogged down. None of them specialized in combat, and they likely hadn’t had any practice in decades, not to ntion that there were only six of them. There was never any danger of actual injury; they were just being forced to slow down in order to deal with the vast numbers converging on them at all tis. It could have been a problem if they were facing the entire horde, but they weren’t, and devastating spells were being thrown around like insults at the docks.

Caelfall’s arcanists killed most of the goblins they struck, but there were still many that were crippled or mortally wounded for the militia to dispatch. The Mages and Wizards had arrived on their left, drawing goblins across the field, while Li Na was already stationed on the right, so she moved up to cover the flank. Broken goblins sailed through the air in ever-changing arcs, their trajectories determined by the mace that sent them on their way. Most had gone after the Mages and Wizards, however, with only those closest to the battle line still continuing forward. The goblin shower was quickly petering out.

Stress and fatigue were starting to weigh on Yaric by now. He’d been up most of the night, and he’d also been involved in combat for far longer than the others. Simple spells were still okay to perform, but more complex spells were beginning to beco difficult to cast, leaving Yaric with the feeling that they were going to backfire at any mont. Basic air blades and fireballs tore into fallen goblins instead.

Even that eventually beca too much, and without any polearms to dispatch goblins from a safe distance, Yaric was forced to join the others with the wounded.

Those with open wounds had already been treated as far as Lauren and Sven were able. Now it was the turn of those who had been on the receiving end of clubs, of which there were two. One with a broken hand and the other with a shattered kneecap. Yaric silently helped Lauren place the splint on the man with the broken leg. It wouldn’t help the prone man much at the mont, but it would be invaluable when it ca ti to transport the wounded back to town.

The rest of the militia were a forlorn sight. Bandaged civilians lay to one side, clothing bundled under their heads. Another six were lying in a separate area, and from the looks of them and their bloody bandages, they were the most severely injured. Lali lay with the smaller group, her abdon wrapped tightly with bloody bandages after sohow surviving her injuries.

And then there were the dead, laid out in a single row with their weapons beside them. Non-combat equipnt had been left further back, and none of it had been brought forward yet, so the dead were lying as they had fallen, so with their eyes still open. Yaric might have thought they were simply so wounded who hadn’t been treated yet if it weren’t for the fact that they were so utterly still.

Even then, the most significant difference between the survivors and the fallen was the shiny, wet-looking eyes of the living, who likewise stared out with the sa hollow gaze as those who could no longer see.

Kostas was one of the only people speaking. He sat clutching his head while mumbling and swearing to himself, surrounded by his squad. They all seed to be ignoring him and each other, but they kept in close proximity. Others were huddled in small groups, usually made up of no more than two or three, even if those small groups also clustered together as a squad. Whip-like cracks and muffled booms still ca from where the older arcanists were tearing through the remaining goblins.

“Where were the supplies stashed?” Yaric asked Lauren quietly.

“Just past that hill,” Lauren replied, pointing. “Less than a kiloter away… I can’t believe we were pushed back so far.” The realization was an unpleasant surprise.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. It’s better to start bringing everything here instead of moving everyone there.”

“There isn’t anything more I can do here; I’ll co with.”

Food was brought first, along with enough tents to properly wrap and cover the dead, including those who hadn’t been recovered yet. So bodies were deep behind where the front line had ended, and no one had moved to collect them just yet. Yaric and Lauren began the process themselves.

Others of the militia ultimately roused themselves and joined them, most of whom were looking for squad mates. The sll was terrible and the mood poor, but people were finally beginning to talk quietly amongst themselves instead of sitting in silence.

“Ho, students!” soone shouted.

One of Caelfall’s arcanists strode across the battlefield, heedless of the goblins that littered the ground. Rivers of flas washed out behind him as his colleagues took over the job of confirming the fallen goblins were all dead.

“What happened to the rest of your forces?” he asked. The man looked too young to be a Wizard, but his concerned frown and anxious gaze almost seed to show his true age.

“You don’t know?” Yaric asked in return.

“We gathered that there was so sort of disaster, but we didn’t think it was on this level.”

“You don’t understand,” Lauren said. “This is the original militia force. Almost everyone that the Baron summoned is still here.”

Yaric and Lauren shifted awkwardly in the uncomfortable silence that followed, until the man turned and moved quickly back to the other arcanists from Caelfall without saying a word.

“That’s it?” Yaric asked. “He doesn’t have any questions? Anything else to say?”

“He knows sothing about this,” Lauren replied, tugging on Yaric’s sleeve. She pulled him toward a large group of militia mbers who were working together to clear a space further down. They had found the remains of Mikayla and her squad.

“Wrap them first, then carry them back,” Lauren suggested quietly. It was a gory scene.

Li Na made her way back to the group while Sven continued to move amongst the mbers of the militia, assuring everyone that the fighting was over and that they would soon be going ho. Yaric and Lauren joined him so that the wounded could be watched over more consistently.

“I hope one of them has dical experience,” Lauren mumbled quietly. She glanced up to see the Caelfall arcanists still in deep discussion. They seed to be arguing amongst themselves.

“We’re going to have to get so of these people back to Town either way,” Sven said. “A few of these injuries are really bad.”

“Do any need to go back now?” Lauren asked. Yaric looked at Sven as well. Both he and Lauren were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to get the critically injured back in ti as they had no wagons left. If there were no imdiate concerns, there also wouldn’t be any urgent problems.

“I don’t know. Six of them are hurt very badly, but I don’t know how to tell if they are life-threatening in the short term. I’d rather get them back as soon as possible.”

That didn’t help answer the question either way, though they were all trying to treat the situation as urgent, just in case.

“They’re all going to need help,” Yaric pointed out. “Look at them.”

“We should make a fire.”

Everyone turned to stare at Li Na.

“What? We should. Everyone gathers around fires. It’s comforting.”

“We’d need a lot of wood,” Sven argued.

“The stakes,” Yaric and Lauren both said at the sa ti.

Just then Orrell and Jude approached the group. They both looked to be in fairly good condition in comparison to many of the others, and their expressions were hopeful rather than concerned.

“Can ssengers leave to let the locals know what happened?” Orrell asked. “They’ve all buttoned up because of these things, and they won’t risk going out until they receive word. Huh, they’ll probably start barricading themselves if they don’t hear from us, thinking we lost.”

“Sure,” Sven replied. “Is anyone capable of…” Sven trailed off as he watched Orrell and Jude turn away and wave their hands high above their heads the mont he’d given them confirmation. A group standing and watching them imdiately waved in reply and took off, jogging away in different directions. Evan and Halvar were among them.

People were far more animated now, moving around between groups and checking on friends. Several left the area they had been sitting in to go and collect the rest of their equipnt, while many more started clearing the area around them, primarily by tossing dead goblins back the way they’d co.

“Let’s go,” Li Na said, already heading toward their dismantled rows of stakes.

So many had been pulled from the ground that it didn’t take long to collect armfuls of wood. They would make a lot of smoke, but that may even be an advantage, with the sll of woodsmoke helping to mask the stench of battle.

A mini migration began once they started setting up the wood in two separate places. The area everyone had dropped in was fast becoming a makeshift camp, and everyone still in camp and capable of carrying wood moving to collect yet more.

Simple fireball spells were struggling to ignite the cone of stakes, while incendiary fireballs would cover too large an area, but Lauren soon stepped around Yaric and used the sa spell she’d spent the entire morning casting. Incendiary fluid soaked the pile, and Yaric ignited it to a small whump, the victorious sound of the fire igniting drawing the gazes of many in the camp.

All four of them then moved around between the many rapidly forming piles, and before long most of the militia were setting up tents at a safe distance and then eting up around the fires spread haphazardly amongst them. Yaric and the others let the unorganized groupings go without a word.

“Mage Dedrick,” a voice said behind them, with the Mage from earlier introducing himself. The argunt between the arcanists from Caelfall was evidently over, as all five of the others were standing around him as well. “This was a shitshow,” he added, lifting both arms limply to indicate everything around them.

“We did everything we could,” Li Na replied defensively.

“Oh, we appreciate your efforts. Things should have been worse than they are. We were just discussing how you managed to keep the casualties so low. But that doesn’t change the fact that you were leading civilians in a fight with such overwhelming odds, and…”

“We weren’t leading them,” Sven said, interrupting the Mage. “Not officially. We’re just observers. This militia was raised to clear out the horde, while we were added as support. None of them had any proper training, so we beca the de facto leaders despite the official structure.”

“Which was?”

“Nothing really. The militia was raised, weapons and scraps of leather were issued, and orders were made to clear the horde. No one set up any command structures,” Sven explained.

“Yeah, and why weren’t all of you here from the beginning?”

Mage Dedrick’s expression darkened for a mont. “We knew nothing of this until that ssenger arrived. All of us raced to get here as quickly as we could. The whole town knew of the militia and why they were there, but no one knew how small the force was or how poorly equipped.”

“The local Baron didn’t even ask for your help?” Sven asked, sounding very surprised.

“No. It’s illegal to solicit our help without paynt.”

“He’d have to make an offer…” Sven said, looking dumbstruck as he stared into the distance.

Lauren frowned. “Of course he would. That’s just the law. What has that got to do with asking for help?”

“They might accept,” Sven mumbled.

“So? That’s the point, isn’t it?”

“Not if he doesn’t want to pay. The only way to make sure he doesn’t have to pay for the services of Mages and Wizards is to avoid any offer at all. There are minimums to the offers he can make to prevent the exploitation of local arcanists by the authorities. That ans he can’t make an offer low enough to ensure no one accepts.”

“You’re making it sound like he wanted the goblins running around his lands,” Yaric said. “And with all the other issues around Malvec…” Yaric left the rest of the sentence unsaid.

“No, he has too much to lose. Everything, really. I don’t know what he’s doing. Father would have a Baron publicly flogged if he did sothing like this on our lands.”

“Your family are nobility?” another Mage asked in surprise.

“Our lands are much closer to the Capital, but yes.”

She looked disappointed when she heard where they were located, but no one made any comnt.

“Is he going to make trouble for you guys then?” Li Na asked. “You responded to an official request for help from the militia. What?” Li Na asked, turning to her friends. “I also know how -.”

“No one was surprised,” Yaric said, cutting her off and nudging her shoulder.

Mage Dedrick looked between them for a mont but still answered. “He can’t. We didn’t receive a request for help from his militia.”

“Yes you did,” Lauren replied. “We’re here in an official capacity, attached to the Baron’s militia.”

“We choose to interpret your ssage as a request from Academy students. Helping the militia was incidental.”

“It won’t work that way,” Lauren objected. “We have an appeal. We’re effectively part of the militia.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Mage Dedrick said, smiling as if to himself. “A panicking ssenger dropped an ergency ssage on our laps, and we responded imdiately. None of us noticed the details. Prove we were helping the Baron’s forces and not fulfilling our responsibility to answer a call for help from the Academy. I deny your accusations,” he grinned.

Yaric saw where he was going and couldn’t keep the smile off his face either. The local Baron seed like a real piece of work.

“It will be tough to do more than we’ve already done though,” one of the other arcanists ntioned. “We can’t agree on how the Baron would react, and we all have lives here.”

“We wouldn’t ask,” Lauren said. “The real danger is over anyway; only the cleanup is left.”

“Do you think these people can handle that?” Mage Dedrick asked. He seed to be the spokesperson for the group.

“We will destroy the goblin villages,” Li Na declared confidently. “These people can go ho.”

“Good,” Mage Dedrick smiled.

He was going to say sothing else when they were interrupted by an approaching squad from the militia. They had a few of the bags containing the non-combat equipnt that had been left further back, but they were also leading six tired looking horses. They were covered in a sheen of sweat, their nostrils flared. None of them looked comfortable.

“Thank you,” another of the arcanists said, moving forward to take the reins. She imdiately started leading the horses back toward the hill they’d co over, not even looking back.

“Are those the injured?” another asked, pointing to the row of people Sven had tried to patch up.

“Yes. We’ve only just started learning basic first aid, but we’ve done what we can.”

No one made any comnt, but two of the arcanists walked around them and headed toward the injured to check on them.

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“We’ll stay here tonight and head back with these people tomorrow if you four will take responsibility for breaking down the villages,” Mage Dedrick said.

Yaric was about to agree, but Sven looked uncomfortable. Li Na didn’t even ask. “Go do your reporting paperwork stuff, we’ll be fine,” she said. “It won’t be hard to burn down so goblin villages.”

“There will still be a few goblins left in those villages,” Mage Dedrick warned.

“So? There won’t be when we’re finished.”

They left it at that, and Sven went to see if there were any problems with the wounded. There was, though nothing he didn’t know about already. One of the injured had better stitching done, as the area required a different thod to the general one the students had been taught, and two of the six severally wounded people were apparently hurt worse than Sven had thought, but there was nothing that could be done for them at the mont.

The arcanists did cause a stir, however. Yaric didn’t know if it was because they were locals, and therefore ‘one of them’, because they had been the real rescuers who had saved their lives, or if they were simply already well known amongst the locals, but everyone seed to want to talk to them.

Two arcanists made themselves comfortable next to one of the fires and kept to themselves, but Mage Dedrick and the others walked around, happily talking with militia mbers as they went. The mood changed drastically as the arcanists moved through the small groups and thanked them for their efforts in clearing out the horde.

Enough people offered their tents to the arcanists that they were eventually pressured hard enough to agree. Even the wounded were visibly more relaxed in the arcanists’ presence. The danger of the horde had given way to the security of Mages and Wizards.

The change in morale also allowed the four students to do a more thorough inspection of the militia. Their condition brought two contradictory surprises.

First, almost everyone was injured in one way or another. Most injuries were bruising, but they weren’t the slightly painful bruises one got from bumping their shins or bumping into sothing. The barely serviceable leather scraps everyone wore had been enough to prevent stone spear tips from tearing through flesh, but the physical impact of the thin stones against their bodies had still led to injuries. Slingers had caused even more damage, with over half the militia suffering bruising from high-velocity stones impacting their flexible armor. Leather was good at protecting from cuts and slashes but was far less effective at distributing impact forces.

At the sa ti, sixteen died. Another sixteen militia mbers who would never return ho. Amongst those were two of the original group who had beco squad leaders. Bertram, who had barely finished his schooling, had been butchered beyond recognition. Michayla had joined him and her long-dead husband, who had also been killed by an infestation a few years earlier, along with her entire squad. The rest of the dead were scattered amongst the various teams, though none were people Yaric had known personally.

Yaric felt a pang when he thought of the promise he had made. Michayla, Bertram, and the others had deserved better.

They were lucky; there were only six who were too severely wounded to move. If Yaric had known that sixteen more militia mbers would die, he would have expected even more to be badly injured. Fighting against goblins, with their primitive weapons and lack of any actual tactics, seed to swing between light injuries or mortal wounds. There was very little room in between.

Looking at who had survived and who had fallen, Yaric found it challenging to understand how random it seed. Bertram was young and fit, yet he had been killed by the horde, while old Andriy was battered and bruised but sitting with his squad and playing his flute. Michayla had died while getting revenge for her husband, and sadly, Yaric felt she may have even hoped for it to happen that way, but Carina, who had been too sick to train properly when they first t, had survived with almost no injury, despite still having coughing fits.

Kostas was also a concern. He’d fallen asleep after the tents were set up, and most of his squad wanted to wake him up. The slinger who had struck him in the head had done so with enough force to knock him out for a mont, leading the others to worry about allowing him to sleep.

“Was he talking before he went to sleep?” Lauren asked.

“He just kept complaining about a stupid bet he’d made,” one of his squad mates replied.

“But he was making sense?” Lauren queried.

“As far as Kostas ever makes sense, yes.”

“Then leave him. There’s nothing to suggest internal bleeding. Sleep will help him recover from the hit he took, so it’s best to leave him be for now. That doesn’t an you can’t check up on him though,” Lauren added.

Yaric and the others then spent most of their ti clearing a wider area around their makeshift camp while the others rested and recovered. The locals were physically tired, but more than anything, they needed to spend ti just trying to enjoy themselves.

The sun was already beginning to dip behind the gentle hills when a procession of villagers silhouetted themselves against the crimson sky. They all carried large bundles or baskets, with Halvar’s tall fra leading them from the front.

People cheered when Halvar shouted and waved the large jug he was carrying. Almost three dozen villagers made their way into the camp, bringing the sll of freshly cooked food with them. They all walked with wide eyes through the twilight gloom, which grew even wider when they saw the vast expanse of charred and broken ground that was absolutely littered with corpses from the goblin horde. Flickering firelight cast their long shadows across the scene of devastation as they all gazed in astonishnt from a safe distance.

None of them seed to have understood just how many goblins had been nearby, and their realization of the danger shook many of the villagers. Their reactions made it evident that they were there to find out what had happened as much as to help the militia.

A yellow glow on the horizon heralded the arrival of yet another group of villagers, this ti carrying torches to light their way, as well as a wagon to carry the food they brought. Piles of buns and rolls, along with several barrels, filled the rear of the wagon, while the deep shadows cast by the burning torches hid the carcasses of four pigs and two sheep, all of which were already dressed and prepared for a spit.

More than that, though, one of them carried a dical bag. A doctor.

Jude hurried him over to their injured with barely a word, and several villagers lit additional torches and held them around the doctor to give him better light. He didn’t have good news.

“All six are critically injured,” he said, cutting to the chase. No one had even introduced themselves yet. “But these two need proper dical care right now. I don’t have the tools or experience to deal with them, but this one is bleeding internally, and I’m certain that one has nicked an intestine,” he explained, pointing to Lali. “I can’t see how an injury that deep could miss.”

“So what do we do?” Sven asked, speaking up just as Lauren was about to ask the sa question.

“They need to get to Caelfall. Imdiately.”

“How?” Sven asked. “It’s a two-day journey at our regular pace. Isn’t there anything you can do in your village?”

Yaric didn’t hear the answer because he was already making his way over to the wagon.

“How much to buy this?” Yaric asked.

Mage Dedrick interrupted them before they could begin negotiating. “I will ensure the wagon cos back to you,” he promised the owner.

It didn’t matter in the end.

“Makes no difference,” he replied. “Been boarded up in store all day. Need to stretch legs,” he added sagely.

Li Na took his aning imdiately. “Can you travel at night?” she asked.

Three of the store owner’s friends imdiately offered to accompany him. The discussion attracted the attention of more villagers, and soon there were eight people to help the store owner on the journey. His two mules would need to rest, but they would have nothing else to slow them down, and proper security along the way.

The doctor directed the loading of the injured and wrote out a small note for whoever treated the patients. Twenty minutes later the wagon was trundling off into the distance, flanked by eight n, with a brightly burning torch leading the way and another bringing up the rear.

All of the food and drinks had been unloaded to make space in the wagon, so Yaric and Sven organized for everything to be distributed. The at was placed over so fires, drinks were poured, and the local villagers settled in amongst the militia.

Their celebrations that night weren’t entirely comfortable. So couldn’t entirely shake the events of the last two days; others found so peace at the bottom of their mugs, and all made toasts to those who hadn’t made it. Yaric made several toasts himself.

But it was cathartic, and more and more militia mbers settled in as the night went on. Even a grumpy old dwarf.

“Wake up little man,” Li Na demanded, kicking at Kostas’s boots. She had to kick him twice before he started to rouse himself.

Kostas sat up in confusion, glancing around at the celebrations that had been going on around him. Firelight illuminated the entire camp while everyone ate and drank together. He looked up at Li Na with bleary eyes and took note of the mug in each hand and the large plate balancing over both arms.

Reaching up, Kostas took one of the mugs, then, noticing her struggle to shift the plate with a mug still in one hand, Kostas took the other as well. Yaric took the plate anyway.

“Where’s your drink?” Kostas asked gruffly, pointedly taking a sip from both mugs.

“Back there,” Li Na replied imdiately, jerking her head over her shoulder. “The rest of your squad is there too.”

“Is that so? Drinking without ?”

“Yeah, everyone forgot the little man in the dark,” Li Na said brightly.

“I’m not ‘little man’,” Kostas spat, making Li Na flinch. She seed utterly taken aback at Kostas’s reaction, especially when he continued to glare up at her defiantly. Then his shoulders sagged, and all the fight seed to go out of him.

“Call ‘girlie’.”

Partying late into the night was just the release everyone needed, but that didn’t an that the bill wouldn’t co due. Intense combat, painful injuries, and then a night of drinking quickly caught up with everyone. People looked almost worse than they had the day before.

Of course, most did feel better in ways that couldn’t be seen.

“You four will need to clear out the outpost villages as well as their central one,” Mage Dedrick inford them unnecessarily while they prepared to head off. The militia were slowly packing up so they could head back to Caelfall, and from there, back to their families and their lives.

“We’re aware,” Sven replied diplomatically.

“Make sure you head out all the way to the Mountain; it may have a hidden outpost due to its position.”

“Mountain?” Li Na asked, squinting and scanning the horizon around them.

Mage Dedrick barked out a laugh. “Ha! Yes. It’s not really a mountain, just a large hill, but it’s many tis larger than anything else around here, and it has very steep sides, so locally we call it the Mountain. You won’t be able to miss it. It gives an amazing view of the surrounding area and also has dense underbrush around it, making it difficult to approach.”

“We’ll have a look,” Lauren promised.

They took the ti to say goodbye to each squad, particularly the squad leaders. Another village had sent a delegation with food and dical supplies that morning, so everyone was busy, but they all spared a mont to speak with the students. Lali had left the night before to get to a surgeon before sepsis set in, but all the others were there, even Girlie.

“Kill the bastards,” the surly dwarf ordered Li Na. “Not one survives, you hear?”

“I’ll let them know you said hi,” Li Na assured him, getting a nod in reply.

“Are you going to be back before we have to hand in our equipnt?” Orrell asked, a hopeful look on his face. There was a strong possibility that the militia would be penalized for missing or damaged equipnt. Many of them were under the impression that they might actually owe money after their battles, despite their service to the barony.

“Sven isn’t coming with us; he’s going with you,” Yaric said. Sven nodded.

Everyone looked relieved, like a weight had been visibly lifted from their shoulders.

“I hope the absence of your esteed colleague won’t cause too many difficulties,” Beso said. “Our plight is not worth risking peril on the final leg of your mission.”

“Don’t worry about us,” Lauren smiled. “We’ll be fine.”

Yaric led them out after their final goodbyes. He already knew exactly what route to take to get to the nearest outpost, having made the journey twice, and he’d seen the footpaths between the outposts that were forming from having so many goblins moving back and forth.

Clearing out the outposts almost felt routine after the events of the last two days. Around two dozen goblins guarded the walls, with most lazing around inside.

The first assault started with Lauren and Yaric launching explosive fireballs at the walls, taking out guards and blowing holes in their defenses. Li Na charged forward imdiately, her mace already in her hand, but Yaric made sure he targeted the goblins closest to her every ti he cast a spell. One after another fell to his wind blades. Yaric laughed to himself as he switched to shards of ice, sending the glittering projectiles through goblins just monts before Li Na reached them, leading her on a chase through the village where she tried to get to a goblin before Yaric could kill it.

She failed.

All the goblins were killed without Li Na getting in a single strike. She idly swung her mace back and forth as she walked with slumped shoulders, but her glare at Yaric made it clear that she knew he’d done it on purpose. Yaric stuck out his tongue to tease her.

The outpost was engulfed in flas when they left, marked by billowing clouds of white-grey smoke that would be visible from over the horizon.

All of the other outposts seed to be prepared for their arrival, not that it mattered. Li Na was more prepared as well, having picked up two stones soon after they left, which she now lobbed over the walls. Yaric knew she must have anchored spells to the rocks, but he was surprised when her follow-up fireball ignited the mass of butane they released. She had channeled enough arcana to release two massive clouds, both of which spread out along the ground, heavily contained by the walls and kept low by their density. Ignited was the wrong word, however, as they detonated in an imnse explosion that blew pillars out of the ground and flattened huts inside.

Li Na smirked at Yaric.

That started off a competition to see who could clear the most goblins, and with only two dozen left behind, there wasn’t much ti before the targets were cleared.

The hours were marked off by the plus of smoke each outpost sent into the sky above them, as each outpost fell one by one. They moved in a circle at first, but then shifted to take the central village. It was disappointing, being only slightly larger than the outposts and featuring the sa number of defenders.

It was already midafternoon by the ti they reached the last outpost on the far side, and the Mountain was clearly visible beyond it. Running together and clearing out the infestation had been fun in the beginning, and Yaric still wasn’t tired, but it would be nice to have a change of pace, so he was looking forward to getting the last outpost cleared so they could move on.

Lightning, ice, and fire lanced across the gap between them and the wall, striking down the lookouts and drawing attention to their presence. They had found that hitting goblins one at a ti or when they were in dense groups was far more effective than wide-scale attacks like Li Na’s initial assault. That tended to result in badly wounded goblins that played dead. Instead of larger attacks, extrely powerful spells now struck them one by one, and instead of trying to knock down the largest number, they competed to see who could achieve the most obvious overkill.

The assault ended as quickly as it began, and with the outpost burning behind them, Yaric, Lauren, and Li Na split off to scout the Mountain more quickly. It wasn’t very large, and the three of them should be able to cover the entire area in half an hour.

Yaric stalked quietly through the bushes, keeping low and frequently listening for movent. The area ahead of him was right against the edge of the hill, its steep sides casting a cool shadow over everything within sight. It was only thirty ters high, and he’d already seen Li Na moving around on top, so he knew that the hill itself had been cleared. But the area in front of him was flattened enough that goblins may be nearby, building another outpost.

Shifting forward with sword drawn, Yaric paused.

Goblins were everywhere. At least one hundred goblins were spread out before him, possibly more, the flattened bushes littered with others that had been torn up by the roots.

Blood painted everything.

None of the goblins moved, their broken bodies torn and shredded. Whatever had killed them had done so violently. Limbs were strewn about haphazardly, with unidentifiable pieces strewn between them. Most of the gashes on the bodies of the goblins seem to have gone right through, leaving organs and gore hanging from the leaves. Every spear was shattered.

Yaric backed away slowly and began to circle around, using the edge of the hill to limit the directions he needed to observe. Slowly, inch by inch, Yaric crept forward, his ears straining. Whatever had done this had likely moved on, but there was no way to know for sure. Worse, the other two were still searching the area, completely unaware of the devastation Yaric had just stumbled across. He had just decided to take the risk and shout a warning when a tall thicket ahead of him shifted.

A massive beak poked out; its cruel hook was coated in blood. The beak twisted in place, standing two ters off the ground. Then it drifted forward, with the branches around it parting to make way for an even bigger face.

“Uhhh… guys?!” Yaric called.

“What?!” Lauren shouted.

“Did you find sothing?” Li Na had been excited to go exploring, and that excitent shone through in her question.

“Ummm… just co here quick! But go slow when you get close!”

Li Na popped her head over the crest of the hill just two minutes later. She couldn’t see through the bushes at that angle, but she slid over the edge and began to climb down. A rock gave way three ters off the ground and Li Na slid the rest of the way down, bringing a shower of dirt onto her head when she landed.

“This better be good,” she grumbled, though she was more embarrassed than annoyed. Li Na was still sitting on the ground and shaking dirt out of her hair when Lauren picked her way through so bushes next to Yaric, staring at the goblins strewn across the ground. She looked up and gasped.

“Princess?”

Li Na stopped ssing with her hair and lifted her head in confusion.

“Huh?”

Princess stuck her head out further, bringing herself into full view of the others. The griffon was bleeding from several minor cuts around her face. She looked sick.

“Co on Princess,” Lauren said softly, trying to cajole her into the open. “What’s she doing out here killing goblins,” Lauren whispered, still facing the griffon but talking to Yaric.

“Don’t know,” he whispered back. “I just found everything like this.”

Li Na had made her way beside them as well, and all three gently coaxed the griffon out of the dense bush it had hidden itself in.

“Did Princess do all of this?” Li Na whispered, nodding her head toward the goblins.

“I think so.”

“Why didn’t she just fly away? How did they hurt her like that?”

Princess was almost entirely out of the bushes by now, and she clearly had much deeper cuts along her flank. One wing also seed to be injured. But none of the visible injuries were enough to explain the state she was in. Her fur was matted, her feathers ruffled, and Princess looked like she hadn’t eaten in weeks. The mighty griffon looked pitiful.

“I don’t get it,” Lauren whispered.

The bushes rustled again, and another beak poked out, followed by four more. These were different though. Not only were they much smaller, but they weren’t much higher than Yaric’s ankles.

Li Na gave a little squeak when she saw them, and she quickly stepped closer. Princess reared up, her head cocked to one side. It wasn’t aggressive in any way, but she did seem slightly alard.

Freezing in place, Li Na ignored the griffon, her focus entirely on the tiny beaks still protruding from the bushes. No one moved; even the air seed to go still.

Then Li Na flopped to the ground, right where she stood. Small, fuzzy heads extended from the bushes. Their tiny bodies followed just seconds later.

Princess watched the baby griffons as they cautiously approached Li Na. She sat where she was, not moving a muscle, but the griffons still stopped when they were just out of arms reach. They shuffled around where they stood, but none made any move to get closer.

Li Na fell backward, lying with her arms outstretched, looking up at the blue do above them.

One of the griffons crouched, twisting its rear feet in the ground and wiggling its body. Then it pounced.

The tiny ball of fur landed victoriously on Li Na’s stomach, letting out a mighty chirrup. Five more furballs bounded over to climb all over Li Na, and two more tiny heads poked out of the bushes to watch. Li Na was giggling as the baby griffons clambered all over her. Princess made no move to stop them.

“She was protecting her babies,” Lauren whispered. Yaric picked up the tremble in her voice and put his arm around her shoulders. They moved forward slowly, mindful of the protective mother keeping watch. Half of the babies imdiately jumped off Li Na so they could clamber over the newcors.

One of the babies pushed itself between Lauren and her arm, twisting in place before curling up with its beak tucked into its body. It quickly went still, its tiny chest expanding and contracting rhythmically in ti with its breathing. Three more were curled up on Li Na, their little bodies effectively pinning her to the floor. Judging by the way she was stroking the balls of fluff, Li Na didn’t seem to care at all.

Yaric had one curl up on his knee, and another climbed over both Yaric and Lauren where their legs touched, only to push its way into the gap between their waists and then go still, its warm little body already asleep, cuddled between them. There was no way they could move apart now.

“We can’t leave them here,” Lauren whispered.

“’ Course not.”

“And we have to help Princess.”

The light dimd slightly, and there was a heavy thud behind them. Princess barely reacted, so Yaric looked over his shoulder casually.

Another griffon stood tall behind them, but this wasn’t one they recognized. And it was just as emaciated as Princess. The only thing keeping Yaric from panicking was the sight of the collar around its neck. It was another griffon that frequented the Academy.

“We have to help all of them,” Lauren anded.

“The Academy,” Yaric said.

“Yeah.”

“We can send word to Lorelle or Nils,” Yaric whispered.

“And help them get food while we wait,” Lauren said.

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t they eat the goblins?” Yaric asked, almost to himself. “Or get fed at the bestiary?”

“They can’t go far from the babies. It’s been too dangerous. And maybe they can’t process goblins or sothing,” Lauren suggested.

“Would you eat goblin?” Li Na asked. “Princess is not a monster!”