by Logan Jacobs
Chime.
My repeated movements became more natural as well, and although Mahini was still able to smack me with the flat of her blade a few times, I started landing my own blows. By the time I hit attempt number twenty, the parallel to dancing became even more apparent, as we continued to lunge for one another only to leap away again. Mahini would come so close at times that I could feel her breath on my lips, and it was a wonder I didn’t drop my sword and just ravish her right there. I continued to practice with the desert woman, but I lost count somewhere around the sixtieth Chime, and then we kept going over and over, until I could easily predict her movements as soon as she gave even the tiniest hint in her shoulders or hips.
Chime.
Chime.
Chime.
“Your form is excellent,” she said with a smile. “I’m not sure why you asked me to spar with you. We should save our energy for the mine.”
“I’ve had a lot of practice,” I chuckled. “Let’s go a bit faster this time, I’ll try not to hurt you.”
“This time?” she tilted her head to the side.
“Just don’t hold back!” I laughed as I lunged forward with my blade out.
This might have been the two-hundredth time, or maybe it was the thousandth time, but I easily danced around her strikes, smacked her thighs and ass with the flat of my blade, disarmed her with a flick of my wrist, and then pulled her muscular body to me as I let out a low purr.
Mahini gasped as our chests and hips slid together, and her blue eyes glanced down at my lips with equal parts surprise and hunger.
“You are very skilled with your sword, Great One,” she whispered.
“I had a good teacher,” I whispered.
“Who?” she asked.
“You,” I whispered.
“You… You say the strangest things, Great One.” Mahini’s cheeks darkened from the compliment. “We’ve only sparred for half a minute, and it is quite clear that you outmatch me.”
“I’ve known you for longer than you can possibly imagine,” I whispered. “I’m quite in love with you, Mahini. I’ve never met anyone as wonderful, steadfast, and as beautiful as you. You’ve made every second on this world enjoyable, and I’m eager to avenge the death of your family by killing all these fucking goblins.”
Her mouth hung open, and she blinked a few times at my words.
“So, let’s get to it then,” I said as I slowly pulled my arm from around her lower back so she could slide away from me. “There are goblins to murder.”
“Y-y-yes… Great One.” The warrior-woman quickly bent down to pick up her bags, and then we continued on our walk.
Mahini walked a few steps in front of me, since she knew the area better than I did, but she kept glancing back over her shoulder at me every minute or so with a dumbfounded expression on her stoic face.
The poor girl just couldn’t figure me out, but I was okay with that. Gods should be weird and eccentric.
After about twenty or so minutes of hiking, Mahini began to angle toward the trees to the west. I glanced in the opposite direction as I followed her, since I knew the mine was situated at the base of the Great Mountain, but the path continued to cut through the tall grass for a while yet.
“Shouldn’t we be going that way?” I asked her as I pointed toward the east. “The mine is over there.”
“Yes, but goblins are nocturnal, and we should attack them at dawn,” the desert goddess said. She stopped when she realized I wasn’t following her. “That is the plan, isn’t it?”
“Let’s do it now,” I said. “Night is only just beginning, so they’ll still be tired.”
She was silent for a bit as she stared at the western forest. I wondered if she was trying to put off the fighting for as long as possible. It couldn’t be easy for her to go into the mine where the Golden Swords were slaughtered, and I could only imagine the inner turmoil she would be feeling when we crossed that threshold.
“If we wanted to attack at dawn, we could just stay in town,” I added when she remained quiet. “But that would mean we would spend all night making love, and we might not wake up in the morning.”
Mahini spun around so fast that I could almost hear the joints cracking in her neck. Her face was deep red, and her eyes were open as wide as possible.
“That’s--But--We can’t--” she stammered.
“We can,” I replied, “but I can see you’re not quite ready for that yet. Once we clear out the mine, we’ll talk some more. I am a god, but I still have needs, as do you. We belong to each other now, so we will be lovers.”
“I see…” she whispered, and she cleared her throat as she looked away from me.
God damn, the stoic warrior woman was so sexy when she blushed.
“Work before play, though. Time to kill some goblins and avenge your fallen mercenary band. Let’s get to the murdering.” I stepped back onto the path leading to the mine and continued to follow it. There was a long pause before I heard Mahini’s fast footsteps as she trotted to catch up to me.
“Forgive me for being blunt, Great One, but this idea is crazy,” the desert woman whispered, and when I glanced at her, her cheeks were still rosy with her blush. “We will have a harder time eliminating the goblins by attacking at night.”
“Yeah, but I’m a god.” I shrugged. “We’ll breeze through the place before the little assholes even know what hit them. If we are tired afterward, we can camp-- that’s why I wanted us to bring the supplies, but I’d rather just get this over with so you can I can focus on more pleasurable things.”
“Yes… Great One.” Mahini whispered and shook her head. She may not believe me now, but she was going to be quite impressed with me at the end of this.
The dirt path of the plains turned to gravel for a few yards into the grass, and it led straight to the entrance to the mine. Mahini and I followed it, but kept to the side to avoid our footsteps crunching on the gravel. We had no cover now that we were out of the tall grass, but it was easy to slip behind the trees at the edge of the path if we needed to.
The entrance to the mine was a dark hole in the side of the mountain that was held up by a pair of thick wooden columns and a crossbeam. A pair of lanterns hung from each of the columns, but neither of them were lit. A pile of picks sat to the right of the entrance, and as we had expected, a pair of goblins stood at each side of the dark hole.
They were short creatures, maybe about three feet tall, but were quite muscular for something of their sizes. Their skin was mottled green and black, and they each wore a set of leather armor. Their hands were much longer than that of a human, with most of the length accounting for their branchlike fingers, and I had to imagine their feet were the same. Their faces were kind of squashed when compared to a human’s, with large black eyes, a huge carrot-like nose, and ears that were almost as long as my dagger’s blade. Each was standing with a spear in the upright position, and a sheath at their hip concealed a blade of some sort. They were more alert than I had been expecting, and they looked like they would put up quite a fight if I had been alone.
Good thing I had a badass warrior woman on my side.
Mahini put her finger to her lips and made several hand gestures toward the goblins and the trees. It took me a minute to figure out that she wanted us to split up and attack the two of them together. Once I understood, I gave her a quick nod. She nodded back and then darted across the path, leaping over the gravel like some kind of graceful deer.
I admired her lean figure until it disappeared into the trees, and then I made a new save point.
With a deep breath, I made my way toward the entrance and did everything in my power to keep my armor from creaking. Jax must have done a fantastic job oiling the joints because the metal only clinked if I moved too quickly. It was slow going, but when I finally reached a good ambush point, I signalled to Mahini on the other side.
She nodded, and we pounced.
The goblins didn’t even know what hit them. Mahini had her sw
ord through the goblin on the right before it had even swung its head around in her direction. I had gotten really good at moving in my armor from the sparring sessions with Mahini, and by the time my goblin raised its spear, I was already slicing my new sword across its throat. Thick black blood oozed from the wound and seeped into the goblin’s leather armor like some kind of sludge.
“Ewww, that’s gross!” I said as I kicked the dead creature away from me.
“Shh!” Mahini hissed as she rushed to my side. “There are more guards just inside, Great One!”
“Meh…” I shrugged and drew my dagger as we slipped into the entrance of the mine. The gray light of dawn faded back into darkness as we made our way in deeper. Torches should have lined the wall every few feet, but since goblins were sensitive to the flames, they had snuffed out the majority of the light sources. The entrance tunnel was completely dark, but light at the end told us that the goblins kept some of the torches burning.
This was gonna be fun.
Two more goblins were waiting for us at the end of our tunnel. They stood as alert as the two outside, and they fell just as easily as Mahini and I leaped from the shadows. I was pretty much a professional swordsman at this point, so we killed them quickly and avoided making any scuffling noises that would alert the other goblins.
That point in the tunnel acted like a junction, with a new tunnel leading off to the left and the right. A small alcove sat at the back wall, and only one of the two torches here was lit. A barrel filled with unused torches sat just inside the recess, and Mahini grabbed one and lit it with the burning torch on the wall.
As the flames filled the area with light, I was able to get a better look at our surroundings. As per the maps, there were large wooden beams acting as supports for both of the tunnels leading away. The walls were roughly carved, were made of a mixture of dirt and rock, and some kind of mineral sparkled in the cracks when the firelight hit them just right. The ground was mostly trampled earth, and it muffled even my metal-filled footsteps.
“Are you okay?” I whispered to Mahini. “I don’t know how far you and the Golden Swords got before, but--”
“Do not worry, Great One,” the desert warrior said with conviction. “I will not let you down.”
I studied her expression for a long moment. Her blue eyes were filled with determination, but they swept around the junction as if remembering the battle that had happened here only a week ago. Were her ears filled with the echoes of her companions dying? Would we come across their bodies or patches of blood soaked ground?
I hoped the goblins had disposed of the bodies if only to save the stoic goddess from having to see their corpses again.
Mahini gestured for me to take the lead down the leftmost path. I nodded and headed down the tunnel with my two weapons held at the ready. I couldn’t hear anything moving up ahead, but I wasn’t about to take any chances. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I willed it to calm down. My deaths might always be painful, but I was never in any real danger since I could just reset.
I was literally incapable of perma-death, so I had nothing to worry about.
Something glittered on the floor in the torchlight, but before I could figure out what it was, the tunnel filled with the cackling of goblins ahead. One of the creatures darted forward, just out of my reach, and when I took a step to confront it, the worst pain of my life shot up my left leg.
The bones in my ankle crunched as a pair of powerful jaws sprang up from the ground. Metal teeth dug into my flesh, and I felt the blood trickling out of the new wounds. I let out a scream as my leg collapsed beneath me, and I soon saw my attacker was a large bear trap. It must have been the glittering that I had seen.
Mahini shouted from behind me and dropped the torch she was holding, but her attack didn’t matter in the end.
Barely five minutes in and I was taken out by a freaking bear trap, but that’s okay. I expected to do this a few dozen times, maybe even a few hundred.
Chime.
I took a deep breath, and Mahini and I took care of the first set of goblins guards without any problems. I even kept my mouth shut this time when the black sludge oozed from the goblin’s throat, and the warrior woman gave me a nod when she saw how cleanly I’d murdered the green-skinned asshole.
The inner goblins went down just as easily, and I took my own torch from the barrel before heading down the left tunnel.
“Don’t you want to light it?” Mahini asked in a whisper.
“Naw,” I snickered. “I need it for the trap up ahead.”
She gave me a puzzled look, but didn’t question me as I led the way down the tunnel. When we came across the bear trap, I shoved the butt of the torch down and quickly drew my hand away as the metal teeth snapped the torch like a twig. Mahini let out a gasp, but I was already taking on the goblin that had taunted me before.
The creature must not have expected me to know where the trap was because it didn’t even try to defend itself. One minute it was sneering at me, and the next it was spraying black sludge everywhere from the open wound in its belly. A second goblin leaped out of the shadows, and I was able to parry its attack, even though I hadn’t really expected it.
It wouldn’t be long before I was breezing through my new life here and not have to chime with every fight.
Mahini came up from behind and thrust her sword through my attacker’s throat. I covered her as a third goblin appeared, and when it was parrying my sword, I drew my dagger and sliced it across the face. Mahini swung her torch at two more goblins, and when they shuffled back, I lunged forward and drove my sword into the left goblin’s chest.
The second goblin swung its dagger at me, but I parried it right into Mahini’s sword. Its arm fell off in a spray of black sludge, and its scream was cut off as I drew my dagger across its throat.
“We make a pretty good team,” I said with a smile.
Mahini answered with her own smile before touching the flame of her torch to an unlit one on the wall. She did the same on the opposite side, and the tunnel was flooded with light.
“If we do this the whole length of the tunnel, we should be able to keep our enemies from circling around us,” she pointed out.
“You are a genius,” I purred.
“Thank you, Great One,” she whispered.
“Let’s check the map.” I sheathed my dagger and pulled the map out of the small space between the armor on my forearm and the padded shirt beneath. The first room was just up ahead, and I guessed that was where this first group of goblins had come from. I led the way, and the tunnel curved off to the left after about ten steps. Mahini lit the torches at the junction before we slipped into the room.
There was nothing interesting waiting for us. The goblins had clearly been using the room as a sleeping space because the floor was littered with dried grass and animal skins, and the air was filled with the stench of what I could only assume was goblin shit.
“Ugh, let’s get outta here,” I groaned as I covered my nose with the back of my map hand.
We left the room behind and continued along the main branch. There were no other bear traps buried in the ground, and every time we came across a new set of torches, Mahini paused to light them up. Thick wooden supports held up the tunnel every ten feet or so.
Three goblins seemed to materialize after we stepped past the third set of supports. They sprang forward with evil grins on their faces, and two sets of jagged daggers came swinging at my iron-clad legs while the third goblin jabbed its spear at Mahini with a cackle.
I dodged one of the daggers, but the second skipped across my armor with a piercing tinny sound. I swung my sword up and caught the left goblin across the nose, and its black sludge blood splashed onto the ground as it screamed. I slipped my dagger into the other goblin’s side as it drew back for another attack, and while it staggered to its death, I silenced the shrieking one with my dagger to its spine.
Mahini had already finished off her spear-goblin and retrieved her torch.
She had to backtrack to the last set of torches since hers went out, but the light that filled the tunnel was a warm presence.
“This seems too easy,” I muttered. Everyone had said that goblins were trickier than kobolds, but so far the battle was going really well. “If they’re supposed to be more active at night, why aren’t there more of them coming at us?”
Mahini’s face was twisted with worry, but she had no answer for me besides a shrug. My only guess was that we had attacked too early, and the beasts were still sleeping or eating their breakfasts somewhere.
It beat the alternative of them knowing we were coming somehow.
The tunnel continued to curve around as we followed the trampled path. Mahini stopped to light torches every few feet, and I kept my eyes on the ground as much as possible to detect any more bear traps. But other than the distant giggling of goblins, it seemed pretty quiet.
The closer we got to the junction where the Golden Swords had been ambushed, the more rapid Mahini’s breathing became. She may have meant the words she said at the entrance, but it was clear that returning to these tunnels was triggering her PTSD. I had never personally known anybody who had lived through trauma like that, so I didn’t really know the best way to comfort her.
Probably by killing every single goblin in this place.
“This is it,” I breathed as we reached the junction.
The torch filled the intersection with fiery light, and after Mahini lit some of the other torches, we could see for several feet in all directions. We stood back to back for a long time, and I tried to keep my heart rate down with slow deep breaths. If there was going to be an ambush, we were ready for it.
Nothing happened.
There was no sound as we stood there. No giggling goblins, no swords being drawn, not even the sound of dripping water. Only our breathing cut through the silence, and the longer we stood there without any incidents, the quieter our breathing became. Even Mahini seemed to calm down with each passing minute.
“I don’t hear anything,” I whispered. “Should we check the rooms first?”
