“A child?” Kek asked, confused. “No, a trow… filthy adventurers.” Switching to goblin, Kek spoke to his followers, “Take the human, drop the vial when you pass the small one.”
“Dick, the hoblin is going to drop a vial when it passes Harry,” Tom whispered. “Can you grab it?”
“I can try. Ghost hand might not be seen,” Dick said.
“Do it,” Tom said. “I don’t like this. I think it’s going to be a trick.”
“Okay, slide a little. I need to be able to see,” Dick said, moving to Tom’s left.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Tom and Dick watched Harry as he walked slowly down the tunnel. They could just see where the room began and the couple of large hoblins standing at the entrance. Another hoblin came into view, holding a chain that was attached to the manacles of the person it tugged after it. The man that followed looked haggard and worn, his feet barely clearing the ground with each step.
“Guess that’s David,” Tom said. “He looks rough as fuck… is that dried blood?”
“Yeah, he’s been roughed up by either the goblins, the hoblins, or both,” Dick said, focusing on the hoblin as it walked toward them. “It’s holding the vial,” he whispered.
The hoblin’s right hand was clutched around a glass vial that it was trying to hide. It jerked roughly on the chain as it walked, making David stumble. Harry paused in the hallway when that happened.
“Hey now, asshole, don’t rough him up more,” Harry snapped.
“Walk, or the deal is off,” Kek snarled at Harry. “The farmer is moving, so don’t stop or we’ll kill you both in the hall.”
Harry started moving again, slowly, matching his pace to the hoblin. As he walked, he would hitch a step or two so he was walking slower. When he passed David, he caught sight of the hopeless look on the farmer’s face. Movement in his periphery let him see the vial as it was released from the hoblin’s hand. Harry almost stopped, but a shimmer in the air snagged the vial just before it hit the ground, and carried it toward the group. Hoping that was Dick doing the manipulation and not Kek, he kept walking.
“Got it,” Dick whispered. The hand glided just above the ground, bringing the vial behind David.
“Good. Get back and I’ll let them pass. Once they do, take the chain and kill that fucker,” Tom growled.
“Roger,” Dick agreed, backing up to tell the others what was happening.
Harry slipped the acid vial he still had into his hand as carefully as he could. If you fuckers want to play games, I’ll play games, too, Harry thought as he got closer to the big room. The closer he got, the more he could see past the two large hoblins guarding the archway.
The room expanded just inside the archway. A quick headcount gave him another fifteen hoblins watching him, plus one with animal bones and feather fetishes tied to its body. That one, presumably Kek, was holding a large femur as a club. Kek smirked when Harry met its eyes, the innate evil of the shaman clear.
“Damn, you’re ugly,” Harry said, letting his steps slow further.
“Keep moving, trow,” Kek sneered. “I’d hate to break the deal now.”
Harry shook his head, clearly hearing the lie in Kek’s words. “So would we,” Harry smiled as he heard Tom move the table to the side. “In fact, I have a gift for you for dealing with us in good faith.”
Kek’s eyes narrowed. “Grab him,” Kek ordered the large hoblins right next to the archway.
Harry chuckled and tossed the vial at Kek as the two hoblins reached out for him, then turned to run. The moment he turned away, he vanished, then darted back toward the surprised hoblins. Quickly slipping by the hoblins, who were now in turmoil, Harry used his second charge of vanish to make sure he had enough time to get to the back of the room. A pile of furs called to him and he ducked behind them, hiding as best he could while surprised shouts erupted from the front of the room.
When the hoblin moved past Tom, he reached out and took the vial of green gas that had been following it. The sudden commotion in the room made Tom look up just in time to see Harry vanish. “It’s on!” A gurgle came from behind him, but Tom didn’t look back as he rushed down the tunnel.
“Take him and go,” Dick called out as he rushed after Tom.
“Come on, David,” Michael said, leading the farmer away from the dead hoblin behind him.
“Go on,” Marie said softly before she started after Tom and Dick.
“Michael?” David blinked, surprised to see a familiar face.
“Liars!” Kek shouted. Barrier stopped the acid from hitting the shaman, but the vial did shatter and coated the hoblin closest to it in caustic fluid. Kek made a casting motion as it rattled off a string of arcane words toward the tunnel.
Tom came to a dead stop twenty feet from the archway when the tunnel suddenly became full of super sticky webbing. “Fucking casters,” Tom yelled. Some of the webbing made it around the table and glued him in place.
Dick came to a halt behind Tom, “I can burn it off.”
“Do it,” Tom growled as he heard Kek start casting again.
Dick was digging in his bag for his striker and a torch when a hissing, crackling sound caught his attention.
“Dick, I think he’s using acid,” Tom said when one of the rope lengths suddenly parted.
“I’ll get you free! Hang on,” Dick said as he pulled out what he needed, catching the torch after a few strikes. “This might get you some.”
“Just do it,” Tom growled.
Dick thrust the torch into the webbing near the edge of their shield, backing away rapidly once the flame caught. The webbing went up in a matter of seconds. Tom screamed in pain as he got burned, but he did not use his clotting blood. He wanted to save it for later; the flames only inflicted small wounds on him.
“Move,” Tom shouted as he charged forward.
Arrows hit the charred table in rapid succession, causing pieces to chip and splinter away. Tom kept moving forward, ready to drop the table when he cleared the archway.
“Kill him, kill him!” Kek shouted as a chunk of ice crashed into the table, breaking a large piece off it and peppering Tom with shards of ice and wood.
“Dick,” Tom shouted, “slip, now!”
“Right,” Dick said, casting the spell as Tom reached the archway.
Tugging on the quick release knot, Tom dropped the table when the hoblins just inside the archway fell. He hopped on top of the table, sending it sliding across the area affected by the spell. “Surprise, motherfuckers!” Leaping off, he smashed his fist into the hoblin between him and Kek.
Dick tossed the torch into the area as he ran across the table. Another slip spell left his hand and caused more hoblins to collapse, but only briefly, because the second slip made contact with the first one burning away.
Marie and John threw an ice burst and cacophony into the second slip area. The two spells devastated the hoblins that had started to burn, killing most of them immediately. Following Dick, Marie lashed out with her staff and John with his sword as they ran over the table toward the two larger hoblins, who were screaming in pain from the fire and spells.
“No, I won’t let this happen,” Kek shouted, turning to run.
“You tried to betray us,” Harry snarled, his blade digging into Kek’s gut when the shaman turned. “Bad move.”
“No,” Kek spat a gob of blood. “Thunder comes!”
Dick tried to shout a warning, but it was drowned out by the thunderous boom that flung everyone within fifteen feet of Kek away. Harry went flying into the room, while the other four all hit the walls near the archway. Fortunately, the fire had been snuffed out by the spell, or they would have landed in the midst of the flames. The hoblins were also tossed across the room, and some of the injured ones were killed.
Dick, Marie, and John groaned, feeling the numerous injuries they had taken from that single spell. Harry rolled to his feet wincing, his broken rib making him breathe shallowly. Tom shook his head when he stood, clott
ing blood erasing the damage he had just taken.
“Now you’re mine,” Tom snarled as he ran for Kek.
Kek took off running for the far side of the room, a string of arcane words coming from its twisted mouth. Glancing back, a wad of green fluid flew from its hand. “Die, dwarf, die!”
Tom tried to use body like iron, but the acid cut through the ability and burned him badly. Screaming in agony, glad he had closed his eyes and turned his head, Tom staggered and went to one knee.
“Yes, yes! I can still make you pay,” Kek sneered and came even with Harry, the large femur club whipping through the air at the trow.
Harry did not try to block the attack. He ducked under it, the wind of its passage ruffling his hair. “No, we’ll make you pay,” Harry gritted out as he swung back at Kek.
Kek did not even move, a shimmering barrier in the air stopping the blade from harming it. “Fool! I’m a shaman, master of the occult.”
“You have to be tapped out by now,” Dick snarled and threw a jinx ray at Kek.
With a howl of pain, Kek ignored the ray that hurt it, instead swinging again at Harry. “No, I still have tricks!”
“Stop,” John yelled at Kek, but the hoblin shaman just shrugged off the command.
Harry gasped when he failed to dodge, the club smashing into his side and sending him to the ground. His sword fell from nerveless fingers as the pain from his ribs radiated through his entire body. Gasping, he could not find air.
“No!” Marie shouted as an ice ray left her hand and struck Kek.
Kek hissed but ignored the spell, raising its club to crush Harry’s skull. Kek had forgotten about Tom, and was unaware when over two-hundred pounds of enraged dwarf slammed into it.
“He’s my friend!” Tom roared, his hands battering into the shaman over and over.
“Harry!” Marie yelled and rushed forward to help him when she did not see him trying to get up.
“Kill them,” Dick told John as he threw another slip onto the few hoblins running for the tunnel, no longer interested in staying to help Kek.
A burst of sound hit the hoblins just as slip coated the floor under their feet, sending all of them crashing down. “I’ll light it! Go help Harry,” John shouted. He used his last spell to summon another burst of sound over the two larger hoblins that had started to get to their feet.
Kek used the very last bit of energy it had, and a burst of thunder sent Tom flying. “I will not die, I’m immortal…” Kek sneered as it wobbled to its feet.
Tom landed next to Harry, gasping in pain when he felt his left arm break. “Dick…”
“I got him,” Dick said. Unerring orbs flashed across the room, striking the shaman square in the face.
Kek tried to summon a barrier only to discover it had no energy left. The unerring orbs ripped the last of its life away. Dick threw a jinx ray at the shaman just in case before looking to Tom, who was struggling to get to his feet, then to Harry, who was being looked at by Marie.
“He’s alive, but he’s right on the verge of death,” Marie said as she started pulling bandages from her bag. “Maybe I can help him.”
Harry’s sight began to waver— he just could not get any air. Marie filled his vision as darkness encroached over his sight. Looks like I’ll be joining you sooner than I had thought, brother, Harry thought as the darkness claimed him.
Chapter Twenty-nine
With a groan, Harry opened his eyes to see Marie leaning over him, tears dripping from her eyes. “Sorry…” he let out with barely a whisper.
Shaking her head, Marie gently touched his forehead. “Just rest. The hoblins are all dead. John went to get Michael and David. We’re going to stay here until sunrise.”
“Oh good... I didn’t... want to move,” Harry wheezed, using too much air.
“Don’t talk, just rest. I was able to get you breathing again, but your ribs are pressing on your lungs. That’s why it feels so hard to take a breath.”
Harry gave a small nod, then looked to Tom. His eyes widened when he took in the condition his friend was in.
“Like an avocado fucked an even older, angrier avocado, right?”
“Which then lost a fight with a food grater,” Dick added.
“Ass,” Tom chuckled. “I’m okay. It hurts, and I’m sure that not even a trow would find me attractive now, but I’m not the one a breath away from death.”
“We all took some damage from that spell, but Tom took acid to the face,” Dick clarified for Harry. “Because he’s being his usual self, we know he’s fine. We were worried for you.”
Harry tapped his wrist questioningly.
“Maybe a handful of minutes,” Tom said. “Marie got you stabilized. I’m worried about our ability to adventure without her around, honestly.”
“I didn’t do anything you can’t do,” Marie said. “It was simple medicine.”
Harry touched his chest gingerly, finding something hard there.
“I used a few splints to help firm your chest back up,” Marie said, moving his hands. “Want some water?”
Harry nodded, thankful his friends had been there for him and that he would get the chance to get Kevin back on his feet after all.
~*~*~
John came back with Michael and David in tow, though the farmer was very reluctant to enter the room. “He wanted to stay outside, but we convinced him to come back in.”
“They’re all dead?” Michael asked, looking at the carnage.
“Yeah. We need to move the bodies out of the room,” Dick said. “Was waiting for you, since you’re the healthiest of us.”
David had been staring in shock before he crossed the room and began to kick one of the bodies. “You asshole! You motherfucking, piece of shit, cocksucking, whore, ass, bitch, dogfaced fucking…!”
The group blinked, watching in amazement as David vented his anger on Kek’s dead body, the long string of expletives getting more and more outlandish as he continued. After a solid five minutes, he ran down and stood staring at the corpse, panting.
“Feel better?” Tom asked.
Looking at the disfigured dwarf, David backed up a step. “Oh, darkness…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know… hey, do you have a blind sister?”
“Dude,” Dick sighed.
David chuckled then cracked up entirely. It took a few minutes before he could stop laughing. Wiping tears from his eyes, he extended his hand to Tom. “Thank you for coming for me.”
Tom took the hand, gripping it firmly and meeting David’s eyes. “We didn’t. We came to kill them— you were a bonus. We saved you because Marie wanted us to. Because we saved you, this is my face now.”
David blinked, clearly at a loss for what to say, his mirth of a moment ago forgotten.
“Tom, don’t do that,” Marie chastised him. “We were very glad to find you still alive. We would never willingly leave anyone to these things.”
With a nod, David moved over to her and took a seat. “Thank you. Michael told me that you’re adventurers that showed up in Greenways.”
“Let’s move these bodies,” Dick said. “Marie, you okay here?”
“Yes. I’ll chat with David while you all work, and get some food ready for you.”
“Food?” David asked suddenly, his eyes full of hope. Swallowing hard, he looked at her bag, “Can I?”
“You will be joining us, of course, but you might want some of the softer food for a day or two since you’ve been without for a few days. And here, sip this,” she said, handing him her waterskin.
When the guys returned, they found David asleep next to Harry and Marie. “He was exhausted,” Marie explained. “We’ll have to move slowly when we leave. He doesn’t have the strength he thinks he does.”
“Days without food and very little water can do that to a person,” Dick nodded.
“Did you loot?” Harry wheezed the question.
“The bodies? Yeah,” Dick nodded. “We got some coins. We still need to go over this room.
”
“Where is the greater vargr?” Michael asked. “I didn’t see the body with the ones we moved.”
Everyone froze as they came to realize they had not seen the greater vargr.
“Maybe it didn’t come back after the last time?” Tom suggested.
“Possibly. If it thought we could kill the hoblins, it might have run off,” Michael said slowly. “They are said to be cunning.”
“Is that a problem?” Dick asked.
“It means the wolves in the area are going to become more aggressive over the next few generations if it sticks around and takes over a pack. Overall, we did much more than I had thought possible. I’ll make sure my hunters are wary of the wolves and we’ll deal with it if it comes close to the village.”
Greenways Goblins (Resurrection Quest Book 1) Page 27
