AGoblin'sTale

by Scott

  Even the broad-leafed plants grew sparse and disappeared until most of the ground became dark, naked soil with a scattering of old decayed leaves and the occasional fern. The lack of obstacles meant Blacknail could see rows and rows of tall, leafless trunks stretch out before him.

  As they moved forward, Saeter took a second to pull up his hood. He then pulled a torch from his backpack and lit it with some flint and steel. The flame lit the dark woods and scattered tall, shifting shadows all around them as Saeter lifted the torch high. It momentarily hurt Blacknail's eyes, and he covered them with his hands as they adjusted. He didn't know why his master needed the torch. True, it was dark here, but he had seen humans walk through darker places without light.

  “Come take the torch, Blacknail,” Saeter commanded.

  Obediently, the goblin took the torch from his master. With his hands now free, Saeter pulled out his bow and nocked an arrow.

  “Now walk ahead of me,” he told Blacknail.

  The goblin gave his master a wary look but tentatively walked forward as he had been commanded. Saeter trailed him from a dozen feet back. Why did Saeter need his bow? Blacknail didn't like where this was going.

  Blacknail shuddered and brushed his face as he walked through a spider web. He spat in disgust; the web tasted horrible. Looking around, he noticed quite a few webs, even high up in the trees. In fact, some of the threads were weirdly thick and stretched from tree to tree. As they walked, the webs became thicker and thicker.

  Blacknail glanced backward toward his master and saw Saeter scanning the branches above them as he moved carefully forward. He seemed to be moving cautiously and looking for something, or looking out for something. In this part of the woods, there were no bushes or leaves near the ground to hide behind though, so surely nothing here could be large enough to challenge his mighty master. He was a stupid goblin for being so afraid.

  Blacknail noticed a large lump a ways off to his right. He eyed it suspiciously, but it seemed to be nothing more than a pile of pale bones, dirty webs, and brown dried-up leaves.

  “There,” Saeter suddenly mumbled.

  The old scout drew his nocked arrow. He swiftly loosed the arrow at the trunk of a tree ahead of them. However, instead of embedding itself into the trunk, there was a shrill hiss and the arrow fell to the ground with something stuck to the end of it.

  To Blacknail's surprise, whatever the arrow had hit squirmed and hissed as it lay on the ground. To his horror, he realized that it was a spider, a huge brown spider with a body larger than a rat's. It was cat-sized almost and had long legs that thrashed and clawed the air as it died. Its eight bright red eyes seemed to stare hungrily at Blacknail even as it stiffened in death.

  Saeter gave Blacknail a serious look. “We're lucky I saw the light in the timber spider's eyes before it jumped. Otherwise, I would have had to shoot it out of the air.” Saeter added, seemingly as an afterthought, “Or shot it off of you once it had bitten you.”

  Blacknail's eyes widened as he realized that he had been bait for the spider.

  Saeter saw the goblin's look and chuckled grimly. “You would have been fine. Their venom just paralyzes. Then they wrap you up for later. I would have killed it before anything lasting happened.”

  “Thank you, master, for saving me,” Blacknail whimpered.

  Saeter looked off into the distance. “Don't thank me yet, goblin. This is the wild North; no one here is safe. Not you and certainly not me.”

  “Let's leave this dark place, master. Blacknail no want to die!” the goblin whined.

  Surely his master could see that it was too dangerous to stay here. Blacknail would rather be chased by a whole pack of hungry dogs than go near a spider like that. Blacknail was never entering these dark woods ever again! No giant spider thing was going to bite him.

  Master had a thick hooded cloak to protect him, but what did Blacknail have? Nothing! The goblin realized that the pile of bones he had seen was the remains of some large animal that had been paralyzed and wrapped up by a spider. He shuddered again and squeaked in alarm.

  He could almost feel the touch of spider legs against his back and the ghost of its fangs against his neck. One bite, then he would be wrapped up in silk to join the bones here forever.

  “Only fools are done in by timber spiders. There are much more dangerous places to be, but we’ll be gone soon, so no worries,” Saeter told Blacknail.

  Saeter retrieved his arrow and cleaned it, first with dirt, then a rag. Then he took out a knife and cut open the spider. He reached in and carefully removed a small sac from the incision. He placed the sac on the ground and pierced it with three of his arrows. Blacknail saw something stain the arrows as Saeter removed them from the gland. That done, Saeter wrapped the arrows in the rag and tucked them away.

  “We're done. Let's get out of here.” Saeter grunted as he stood up.

  Blacknail thought that was a great idea. “Okay, we go.” He nodded enthusiastically, making the torch he was still carrying bob about and cast a swarm of shadows around them. He stood and waited for his master to start moving.

  Saeter gave him an annoyed look as he nocked another arrow. “You're still going first. Head back the way we came. It should be safe.”

  Blacknail gave his master a pitiful look, but Saeter ignored it and pointed the way with an outstretched hand. With a bitter sigh, Blacknail nervously walked back the way they had come. He hugged the torch tightly as he scanned the dark trees around him for glimpses of long legs or red eyes. He saw nothing though. Giant spiders were now Blacknail's least favorite animal, even worse than horses or harpies.

  Blacknail trudged on through the dark woods. Several times he circled around areas with lots of cobwebs or where he thought he saw something above. He really didn't want to be bitten by a spider, fatal or not.

  At one point, Blacknail saw what he was fairly sure was a goblin skull resting against a tree. Its empty eye sockets stared at him. Now he knew where goblins sat in the local food chain. He heard Saeter's footsteps behind him, but he glanced backward to make sure he was there anyway. Surely he was safe so close to his master.

  While it was true that Saeter was much nicer and beat him much less than his old masters, Blacknail was disturbed by the seemingly endless amount of things that ate goblins in the forest. It wasn’t as though goblins had never been killed in sewers, but at least he knew the dangers there. In the forest, he had no idea what would come after him next. Anything could happen, and that terrified him.

  Much to Blacknail's relief, the spider webs soon grew thinner and disappeared. The woods grew brighter and the underbrush thicker as well. Blacknail felt relief wash over him when they were obviously out of spider territory. He hoped his master would never make him go back to that dark terrible place ever again.

  “Stop, Blacknail,” Saeter called as soon as they were completely out of the darkest part of the woods.

  Blacknail stopped walking and turned back to his master. Saeter took the torch from the goblin, then snuffed it out. After letting it cool for a while, he placed it back in his sack.

  “Follow,” he commanded as he once again took the lead.

  Blacknail thought they might be headed back to camp, but Saeter veered off in a new direction. Soon their way was blocked by a wide creek that meandered through the woods. Tall reeds and other aquatic plants grew alongside it. Birds called to each other joyfully from the nearby treetops. Blacknail had never seen or smelled such clean water. He wanted to run over and get himself a drink.

  He approached the creek to get a better look but was stopped by a sudden, painful tug on one of his ears. The goblin jumped back and yelped in surprise. Saeter had grabbed the point of his ear and was scowling at him.

  “Stop,” Saeter commanded quietly but sternly.

  Blacknail instantly froze.

  “Bad goblin. I told you to follow, not lead. Don't wander off and get yourself killed,” Saeter said.

  He turned away from the goblin and eyed
the creek suspiciously. Then he picked a stone off the ground and threw it at the water. It bounced off of a rock larger than Blacknail in the water near the bank. Much to Blacknail's surprise, the rock sank below the water with a splash and disappeared.

  “Tyrant snapping turtle,” Saeter whispered menacingly into Blacknail’s ear. “Go near that thing, little goblin, and it will drag you under the water and chew you up.”

  The goblin's eyes widened in horror. He hated deep water, and he definitely hated being chewed on. “Blacknail is sorry, master. He stupid goblin, but he thanks you for saving him.”

  Saeter gave him an irritated look and pulled the goblin by the ear again. Blacknail stumbled and stifled another yelp as he was pulled behind Saeter. His poor ear hurt so much! Why did his master keep pulling on it?

  “Follow,” Saeter commanded sternly before heading downstream. He stayed a fair distance from the water.

  Blacknail followed him while rubbing his sore ear. Soon they came across a part of the creek where the water became shallow and bubbled over a rocky bed. Saeter jumped down to the water and crossed the creek without a problem. The water barely submerged the toe of his boots.

  Blacknail also jumped down to the water. He cupped the water in his hands and brought it to his mouth. The stream was cool and tasted refreshing. It also felt nice and relaxing as it flowed between his bare toes.

  After crossing the stream and moving through the brush for a while, Saeter stopped and examined the ground. Blacknail smelled some type of scat. He didn't know the animal, but it seemed fresh. Saeter got up and inspected some small branches on a bush. He then moved forward slower and more cautiously.

  As soon as they moved through the brush, a green wall of branches and bushes rose up in front of them. They approached the bushes and broke through them into the edge of a clearing. Short grass and sun-loving flowers filled the meadow. The occasional small tree or bush grew, creating small blind spots. Most of the area was open grass and plainly visible though.

  A large pond sat in the middle of it. Reeds and lily pads grew around the pond. The sound of frogs croaking could be heard. Blacknail licked his lips. Frogs were a tasty treat. He had caught a few back in his old home. You simply had to sit next to the water and wait long enough for one to come close enough to grab. They were slimy, soft, and sweet. The best part was the legs. He loved to chew them.

  Without a word, Saeter scanned the clearing, then cautiously moved over to a cluster of green bushes surrounding a large stone on a hill at the edge of the woods. Once there, Saeter set down his bag. He crouched, unwrapped the arrows he had covered in the rag, and placed them on ground. Then he sat and made himself comfortable with his bow in his lap. Blacknail sat down beside him.

  Saeter didn’t move for several minutes, and nothing happened. The frogs continued to croak, and the occasional bird swooped down to grab an insect.

  They waited for several more minutes. Saeter barely moved beyond the rising and falling of his chest as he breathed. He silently watched the clearing from his concealed spot. The wind blew through the long grass, making it wave and rustle.

  They waited for what seemed like an hour. Blacknail began to lose patience. His instincts wanted to find a scent trail and follow it back to a burrow. He didn't want to sit around all day and wait for nothing to happen! What kind of hunting was this?

  Then he saw movement in the grass. After a moment, the brown head of a rabbit peeked through the grass as it stood up on its hind legs. Surely they hadn't come here for a rabbit, had they?

  Blacknail threw a look Saeter's way, but his master hadn't reacted. The rabbit soon disappeared back into the grass. Blacknail sighed with disappointment and shifted into a more comfortable position. He grew dozy as the afternoon sun warmed his skin. After several more minutes of staring at the grass sway in the wind, Blacknail wondered if there was a way to get back to sleep without his master catching on. He wasn't doing anything but sitting there anyway, and it was boring.

  Then the bushes across the clearing shook. Instantly, they became the focus of Blacknail's undivided attention. Was it just the wind? The bushes moved again, and a tall animal moved slowly into the clearing.

  It was shaped like a horse but smaller and much thinner, with white spots on its brown fur. It trotted over to the pond, and after a brief look around, it began to drink. Blacknail half expected one of the massive turtles he had seen earlier to burst from the water and drag the beast under, but that didn't happen.

  In one fluid motion, Saeter rose to his feet, nocked an arrow to his bow, pulled the bow back, and let the arrow loose. It flashed toward the animal and struck it in the side of its chest under its neck. The beast cried out in surprise and pain and turned to flee, but it lost its footing in the wet mud and stumbled. Blood dribbled from its wound as it staggered away. It only managed to go several dozen feet before it collapsed onto the grass. It twitched feebly a few times and lay still.

  After another quick look around the clearing, Saeter ran over to the animal and pulled out a knife, which he used to slash its throat. Dark red blood pooled onto the ground beneath the deer, and the light faded from its frightened eyes, leaving only emptiness. The blood smelled delicious. The goblin licked his lips as he looked at the beast.

  Saeter walked to the edge of the forest. Once there, he selected four long, sturdy sticks and tied them together with rope to create a crude sled. He lifted the deer and tied it to the sled. Next he took out his long knife and cut a hole through the deer's muzzle, right behind the nose. He took one of the short sticks he had collected, shoved it through the hole, and tied the rope to it.

  “Time to head back,” he told Blacknail as he loaded the rope over his shoulder and began to drag the sled and deer back toward the camp.

  Around halfway back, they heard a rustling in some bushes a few dozen feet from them. Saeter readied an arrow. With his eyes locked on the source of the sound, he handed the sled's rope to Blacknail.

  “Pull it. Go,” he commanded the goblin.

  Blacknail eyed the sled doubtfully. His master did realize how large the beast was, right? Blacknail was only a normal-sized goblin, not a giant human. Saeter threw Blacknail an impatient look, and the goblin hurriedly pulled.

  With a grunt of effort, Blacknail copied his master and tugged the rope. At first he couldn't manage it and the sled refused to move, then he felt something give way in his chest. A cool energy rushed through his body, and the sled slid forward.

  It was tiring, but he managed to drag the sled. Luckily for him goblins were stronger than their small size made them appear. Every time he thought he had reached his limit, he felt another rush and managed to keep going.

  After a while, when he didn't hear any more noises, Saeter relaxed. Much to Blacknail's disappointment, Saeter didn't ask for the sled's rope back. His master seemed content to let the goblin drag the sled. Blacknail wanted to ask Saeter to take the rope back but didn't dare.

  So instead, he threw his master a pitiful, begging expression. Saeter ignored him and Blacknail had to keep pulling. All right then, how about this? Blacknail shook and slowed down as he pretended to be more tired than he was. Something hard impacted his behind, and Blacknail surged forward again with a small yelp. Saeter had kicked him in the butt! Ow, that had hurt.

  Blacknail reluctantly kept pulling, but now he was annoyed. It was unfair of the large human to make him do all the work. Not to mention he had been used as spider bait!

  “Ugly Saeter. Stupid Saeter. Smelly Saeter,” Blacknail muttered quietly enough that he knew his master couldn’t possibly hear it.

  “You're kind of strong for something your size,” Saeter remarked a few minutes later.

  The unexpected compliment caught the goblin off guard, and he felt a flush of pride at his master's words. This newfound pride warred with the annoyance within him and won. He had started to slow again, but with a surge of energy, he put a little more effort into pulling and sped back up. He would show his master how st
rong a goblin he really was!

  As they walked through the forest, it grew darker as the sun began to set. Blacknail had grown tired and his legs burned painfully. He huffed and puffed as he strained to drag the sled. He really hoped master would give him a treat for this.

  Thankfully, they saw no spiders or other creatures, except a startled rabbit and the occasional bird, before they neared the camp. As they got close to it, Saeter finally took the sled back. Blacknail suspected he was trying to hog all the credit for the work. That seemed unfair, but the goblin didn’t really care; he was just excited to be so close to safety.

  In his eagerness, Blacknail ran ahead of his master. A big grin was plastered across his face as the camp came into sight beyond the last stretch of trees. The joy was lost, however, when something hard and heavy smashed into his skull and sent him sprawling across the ground and into the dirt. As he blinked in hazy confusion and lay on the ground with a painful headache, a large shadow fell over him.

  Chapter 7

  What had just happened? Had he been attacked by something? Ow, it hurt to think. Instinctively, Blacknail tried to get to his feet, but he was far too unsteady and quickly fell over again. That was when he heard laughter.

  “Ha, that’s what green shits like you get! That’ll teach you to walk around like a man,” a deep male voice said.

  Blacknail had been attacked by a human. Apparently the camp wasn’t so safe after all. He felt his insides twist with regret, but he didn’t quite know why. Things like this hadn’t been uncommon in the sewers; Blacknail just hadn’t thought it would happen here for some reason. How stupid of him.

  Blacknail painfully turned his head to get a look at his assailant. It was an average-sized man with brown hair and ugly red spots all over his face—where they weren’t hidden by a ratty beard. His clothes were even dirtier and rougher-looking than most of the other bandits, and that was saying something. Blacknail could practically smell rotten food and vomit from where he lay.

  With a vicious smile, the man walked toward the goblin and raised a foot as if to stomp on him. Blacknail feebly curled up in an attempt to shield himself. This was going to hurt.