by Logan Jacobs
“Mahini, if there are any crossbow-goblins, you should take them out first with your arrows,” I explained in an excited voice. “Then Eva can kill the spear-goblins with throwing stars and daggers. Elissa, you guard the wagon and knock any goblins that try to climb inside it the fuck out.”
“Got it.” My wife nodded, and her emerald eyes were emblazoned with determination. Her fear was gone, and I wondered if it had to do with me being a little more commanding this time.
“You can count on me,” Eva assured me with a confident smile.
“Goblin blood will coat the ground before the sun goes down,” Mahini said with vehemence.
“There’s no one else I’d rather have by my sides,” I told the three warrior women who sat next to me.
We went about our plan, and we parted ways to go into our separate hiding spots, but it wasn’t much longer before the goblins started to appear through the trees.
This time, the girls followed my instructions, and the goblins began to fall left and right before we even left the cover of the trees. Then we rushed out as one while Elissa swung her mace from the top of the wagon, and the three of us converged on the vehicle with fierce battle cries.
“Kill them!” I shouted as I twirled my feather sword around with a flick of my wrist, and then I used my blade to beat aside a spear before I drove it between the beast’s ribs.
Thick black sludge leaked out of the wound to coat my feather sword, and I used my foot to push the goblin off my blade. Then I immediately turned to parry a blow from a sword coming from my left before I scanned the battlefield for the feather-haired goblin shamans. I spotted the top of a staff on the other side of the wagon, and I climbed up and over to reach them.
Once I made it up to the bench, though, I heard a goblin giggle from behind me, and I turned to slash my blade across its throat. The black blood oozed out as the goblin let out a pained garbled yell and fell backward to the dirt road.
“How’s it going?” my wife asked in a cheerful tone, and then she rushed to the back of the wagon to smash her mace into the skull of a sword-wielding goblin who had drawn close to our treasure.
“Pretty good,” I laughed, and then I headed toward the other side of the wagon and the shamans. “Hunting magic wielding goblins, how about you?”
“Keeping their grubby little fingers off our loot!” she chirped, and then she turned to smack her weapon into yet another goblin. “Have fun!”
I chuckled to myself as I hopped over the other side, and I had a magic shield summoned before my feet hit the ground.
The goblin shaman I was after saw me coming and squawked with fear before turning and running in the other direction. I couldn’t see where the other shaman had run off to, but I’d hunt him down after I killed this one.
I chased the shaman around to the back of the wagon, but when I rounded the corner of the vehicle I heard a loud whoosh, and I had to duck to avoid the ball of flames lobbed at my head.
Two could play at that game.
“Humans kill all goblins,” I growled in the goblin’s own tongue, and I watched gleefully as the monster’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open.
They definitely weren’t used to humans being able to speak the same language as they did, that was for sure.
The goblin shaman raised his hand to summon another ball of fire, but I was faster, and my ice ball was flying across the space between us before his flames had even burst into existence.
I’d aimed right for his hand, and the ice struck the ball of fire forming in his palm, snuffed it out immediately, and continued in its trajectory to smack the goblin in the face. The little bastard grumbled and stumbled back away from me, but then the shaman swept his staff out like he was going to hit me upside the head with it.
I ducked again, rolled forward, and shot an ice shard upward as I came to my feet. The frozen magical dagger tore through the shaman’s thin leather armor and sliced into its chest like the goblin was made of softened butter, and the poor bastard collapsed dead to the ground.
Then the other goblin shaman stepped forward from where he’d been hiding beneath the wagon, and the next thing I knew, there were icicles raining toward me from his hands.
“Fur!” I quickly created a blaze of fire to combat the chill, and the icicles turned to water droplets several paces away from me before they rained harmlessly to the ground.
While I’d never fought against two magic users at one time before, they could each only perform one spell each. Good thing I had spells to counter both, plus some the goblins wouldn’t even be able to comprehend.
I smirked as I waited for the shaman to throw out his next round of magic, and I quickly negated his second ice spell the second he completed it.
The shaman’s eyes went wide as saucers, and it garbled out something unintelligible before stumbling over its own feet in an effort to get away from me.
I stepped over the shaman’s dead comrade and grinned wickedly down at the remaining magic user.
“Human kill all goblin,” I repeated as I knocked the goblin’s staff from its grip with my feather sword.
“Human speak goblin?” The shaman looked terrified as it cowered before me, but that wasn’t reason enough to let it live.
“Human know all words,” I said. “Human kill goblin now.”
Then I flicked my wrist, and my feather sword sliced a deep furrow across the shaman’s torso. The icky black blood gushed out, and even more spilled from the goblin’s lips as he tumbled over face first.
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, and then I turned to scan the battlefield for another target.
The girls were doing fine, and there were only a couple spear-wielding goblins remaining, so I took a moment to wipe my blade clean on the dead shaman’s leather armor. Then I hopped up into the back of the wagon where Elissa stood guard over our treasure with her mace held at the ready.
A pained gurgle to my left alerted me to the death of Mahini’s opponent, and then a goblin shouted out a death cry to my right as he met Eva’s fatal attack. The girls stood and took heavy breaths for a moment while we all processed what we’d just done.
All the goblins were dead, and our treasure was safe, but the road was littered with the stinky corpses of our enemies. The black sludge that pumped through their bodies coated the dirt road, and it even covered a lot of the plant life on the edge of the tree line.
“You did good,” I said to the three women who stood proudly before me. “I will do better at trusting you three to hold your own in a battle from now on.”
“Thank you.” Eva grinned. “That’s all I could ever want.”
“What do we do now?” my wife asked as she looked around at the destruction we’d caused.
“Now, we see if there’s anything valuable on these assholes before we carry on our way.” I shrugged. “At the very least, let’s strip all the weapons off them. I’m sure Jax can sharpen them up, and then the guardsmen in Bastianville can use them.”
“I’ll take the bodies on the left of the wagon!” Elissa chirped in a cheerful tone, and the redhead hopped over the edge to land in a squat on the road.
“I’ll take the ones in front and around the horses,” Eva offered, but she grimaced at the odor emanating from the corpses already.
“I will take the right side,” Mahini said with a wry smile.
“That doesn’t leave very much for me to do,” I argued.
“Good!” my wife giggled from the other side of the wagon.
A short while later, we’d finished scouring the goblin bodies for weapons and loot. We took all the swords, spears, and crossbows, but I also made sure to grab the shamans’ staves. Then we piled everything up into the back of the wagon so I could check the stats on each item.
Part of my abilities as the God of Time was being able to see the stats on weapons, armor, and magical items. It had come in very handy ever since I’d been summoned to this world, and I was always on the hunt for better
gear and weapons.
I checked one of the two staves first by pressing my pointer finger to the gemstone at the top.
Durability - 85%
Weight - 1 lbs
Quality - Average
Magical Aspect - None
Magical Ability - +10 fireball.
The next one was almost exactly the same except it said ice ball. Then I checked each sword, spear, and crossbow, but I didn’t find anything surprising. Most of their durabilities were very low, and the edges of the blades were covered in nicks and dents, so I hoped Jaxtom would be able to salvage them.
Worst case scenario, the blacksmith could reforge them into something of better quality like he had done with the armor I’d taken from Lucian Bullard’s corpse.
The girls also found a couple pouches full of copper coins, and we tossed them into the back with the rest of our loot. When we were all finished, we worked together to pull all the goblin bodies off the road since I didn’t want them to cause an accident by spooking a traveler’s horse or anything like that.
Finally, we regrouped at the wagon, and I took a moment to scratch Goliath since he’d stayed completely calm during the goblin fight. The girls climbed up onto the bench, and they all had similar questioning expressions on their faces as they gazed down at me.
“You’re going to ask what happens next,” I said before any of them could open their mouths. “Well, these goblins had to come from somewhere, so I think we should look around a little before we continue on down the road. There could be a whole bunch more of them ready to ambush us as soon as we make camp.”
“We shouldn’t leave the wagon unguarded.” Elissa furrowed her brow, and the expression only made the tiny goddess even more adorable.
“Of course.” I grinned. “Why don’t you and Eva stay with the loot while Mahini and I have a look around?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Eva nodded, and she twirled the blade I’d lent her around in her fist like she’d been using it her entire life. The duke’s daughter had taken to the daggers like a fish to water, and I could tell I was going to need to upgrade her weapons once we were back home.
The same went for Elissa and Mahini as well, but I’d have plenty of time to outfit my ladies in the best gear in the land once we made it back to Bastianville.
“Should we stay together or split up?” Mahini asked as her ice-blue eyes flicked to the tree line.
“Stay together,” I said. “Otherwise we could end up dealing with a bunch of goblins on our own.”
“I would not like that.” The desert goddess frowned.
“Me, either,” I laughed. “Come on, let’s start over by the water. Even goblins need to stay hydrated, right?”
“Right.” Mahini nodded, and then the two of us turned our backs on the wagon as we headed into the woods.
The desert goddess stayed close to my side, but she kept her bow out and at the ready. Her ice-blue gaze saw everything, and her face was stoic. She was all business, but that was exactly why I’d chosen the former mercenary.
We went to the water and then began to fan out to cover more ground. I made sure to keep her within my sights, but we made a lot of progress through the woods in a short amount of time. The light was beginning to fade when I signaled for a halt, and Mahini let out a small sigh of relief. She’d never complain out loud, but I could read her subtle body language enough to know she was ready for a break.
“I don’t see any signs of any goblins,” I said. “Maybe the ones we killed were travelers themselves.”
“I didn’t see any packs on them,” Mahini pointed out. “All they had were their weapons, so they could only have traveled a short distance.”
“I can’t imagine them starting a new nest this close to Bastianville after what happened in the mines.” I frowned. “But if I need to I will send out a group of men to hunt them down. I want to make sure the town is safe from any and every threat.”
“The best way to do that is to be there,” the desert goddess said.
“You’re right,” I sighed. “But it was necessary for me to leave. We accomplished what we set out to do, though, so let’s go home.”
“We won’t make it the rest of the way there tonight,” Mahini argued. “We will have to make camp for now.”
“Good.” I grinned. “That means I get one more night with just you girls before I have to share my time with all the townspeople again.”
“I didn’t think about it that way.” Mahini’s eyes brightened, and she took my hand as we turned back in the direction of the wagon. “We will have to make sure tonight is extra enjoyable, then.”
We headed back to where the other two girls were guarding our precious loot, and then the four of us continued our journey back to Bastianville. The sun was already sinking toward the horizon, but I wanted to put some distance between us and the pile of dead goblins just in case it attracted other enemies.
Sorreyal was a wonderful kingdom full of magical creatures, but not all of those creatures were friendly.
We continued traveling until the sunlight had almost completely faded, since I wanted to get as close to Bastianville as we could that day, but then the moon rose above the trees, and the pale dirt of the road practically glowed in the twinkling moonlight. We ended up making camp while the sun finished its descent, and once the fire was built and our large tent was erected, the four of us sat around the flames huddled beneath one of our blankets.
“This is close to where the werewolves attacked us, isn’t it?” Eva asked as she glanced around at the trees with a suspicious look. “That’s not going to happen again, right?”
“We aren’t too far from where we camped when they attacked,” I answered with a shrug. “But, no, that won’t happen anymore. Racine is dead, and so is the duke. While I still have enemies, there’s nothing I can’t handle.
“That Racine was evil.” Elissa shuddered by my side. “The way he treated his employees was shameful.”
“It is a blessing he is dead,” Mahini agreed with a sage nod. “It’s getting late. I will take first watch over the wagon while you three sleep.”
“Thank you.” I gave the desert goddess one of my famous charming grins. “I’ll come relieve you in a few hours.”
“Get some sleep first, please, Great One,” my bonded warrior woman insisted in an urgent tone.
“Maybe I’m too excited to sleep,” I countered with a wink. “We will be back in our own bed tomorrow night.”
“Aww, it’s our last night in the big tent?” Elissa pouted, but then a thought crossed her eyes, and her expression brightened. “I can’t wait to see how the house is coming along! The builders should be getting done with their work soon!”
Mahini shook her head in amusement as she pushed herself to her feet. Then she planted a kiss on my forehead, tweaked Elissa’s nose, and gave Eva a small wave before she turned toward the wagon.
“It is getting late,” I pointed out in a low voice to the two ladies on either side of me. “What do you think about taking this cuddlefest inside the tent?”
“Yes, please,” Eva practically moaned. “I am so ready for bed.”
“Oh, alright,” Elissa giggled.
Then the three of us climbed into the tent, curled up against each other, and went to sleep. I woke up a short while later to relieve Mahini, and my watch was uneventful. I was yawning by the time Elissa came to take over for me, though, so I eagerly crawled in next to the desert goddess and slept til morning. I wasn’t even aware of Eva and Elissa switching spots, I just woke up with a different woman in my arms than I fell asleep with, but I didn’t mind. They were both awesome snuggle partners, after all.
It didn’t take us very long to eat a quick breakfast and get back on the road, and we were all eager to finish the final leg of our journey. The horses moved at a quick pace, and their ears flicked in all directions as we trotted down the well-worn lane. The territory was beginning to look more familiar to me, and my blood coursed quickly through my veins
the closer we got to town.
The walls of Bastianville came into sight in the early afternoon, and I slowed the horses so as not to cause any alarm by our arrival. We hadn’t left in a wagon, so it might seem like we were strangers. I spotted watchmen in the archery towers, and I waved my hands over my head in an effort to signal to them that it was me.
“Oh, that is a sight for sore eyes,” Elissa breathed by my side. “I can’t wait to tell my father about our last adventure.”
“He probably won’t believe I made you get a job,” I laughed.
“My father would never believe you managed to get me to muck out stables,” Eva said with a sideways smirk. “And a few months ago, I wouldn’t have believed it, either.”
“You did a lot more than muck out a few stalls,” I complimented with a wink. “You made the city go up in flames.”
“Just don’t tell Jax that I had to sew,” Mahini pleaded with desperation in her ice-blue eyes.
“Oh, I’m gonna tell him,” I chuckled.
Mahini opened her mouth to argue with me as her eyes turned to daggers, but before she could get another word out, a loud cheer echoed from the gates of Bastianville.
There, standing in the opening to the town, was a crowd of people all waving, jumping, and shouting at us in greeting. I spotted Jaxtom’s tall form, Elrin’s auburn hair, and Theodora’s dirty-blonde hair among a bunch of other people. Many I recognized, but some were unfamiliar to me, and I made a mental note to get to know all of the residents of my town again.
I pulled the wagon to a halt in front of the crowd, and then the girls and I hopped down to say hello to everyone.
I shook Elrin’s hand, clasped Jax’s forearm in mine, and then I felt a feather light touch tapping on my shoulder. I spun around to greet the next person, and the next thing I knew, Caelia was throwing herself into my arms.
The beautiful shopkeeper’s cheeks were warm as they pressed against mine, and her body trembled in my grasp.
“I missed you, Great One,” she whispered in the sweetest voice.
