Chapter 17

  The headstart we were given was a welcome surprise, and with my map, we were able to cover plenty of ground in record time.

  Once I was satisfied with our progress, I signaled for the others to rest. More accurately, I was letting Oliver catch his breath. Fleur and I were perfectly able to keep running and had already slowed our pace for his benefit, but even so, he could not keep up.

  “Haa...haa…Thanks.”

  Oliver sat on the ground and tried to steady his breathing.

  “We should not stop so soon, our lead will be lost.”

  Fleur looked at him expressionlessly and voiced her otherwise undetectable annoyance.

  “No, it’s fine.”

  I cut in and approached Fleur.

  “I needed you to do something for me anyway.”

  She looked at me with mild interest and awaited my request.

  “Summon a spirit, preferably the slowest one you can.”

  During our preparations, we spent time learning each other’s abilities in detail. Fleur’s spirit sorcery included the ability to form pacts with—and materialize—certain spirits. It was nowhere near Poggy’s ability to allow any and all spirits into the world, but it was enough to meet my needs.

  She held a hand out, and in the blink of an eye, a blue water spirit popped out. It looked like a longer, skinnier dolphin.

  “This is Piki. What do you want her for?”

  Fleur cocked her head at me.

  I didn’t need to say anything, Piki’s next move told me what I needed to know. She suddenly stopped in mid-air, then fled as fast as she could back towards the road to Borderton. We quickly lost sight of her in the trees. Even though I asked for a slow spirit, it was still difficult to keep track of.

  “Thanks. You can dismiss her now.”

  Fleur snapped her fingers, and I heard a distant splash, presumably Piki had dematerialized.

  “What was that about?”

  Oliver piped up between whhezing gasps for air.

  “She was frightened of something, but she did not tell me anything. What do you know, Rex?”

  Seeing that Oliver was back up, I resumed walking while giving a rundown. Leaving out the important details she didn’t need to know.

  “The land here suffered from spirit corruption some time ago. She was fleeing the source. While we’re here, I want you to routinely summon her and keep track of which way she moves.”

  I handed her a less detailed area map I drew on a separate piece of paper.

  “Use this to mark your location each time you do this, and an arrow to show which way your spirit moves. With enough data, we can determine the central point of corruption.”

  She watched me circle our current location with an arrow pointing north and nodded in understanding.

  “Very well, thank you for bringing this to my attention, Rex.”

  Fleur looked grateful. Apparently, removing the source of the corruption meant a lot to her.

  “Uhh… is it really a good idea to get sidetracked like this?”

  Oliver, conversely, voiced his dissent. He froze in his tracks when Fleur glared at him. Her cold hostility took him by surprise.

  “Curing my home of spirit corruption is more important than a stupid test.”

  It was doubtful that the affected area reached far enough south to impact Fleur’s tribe, but I kept that to myself. Instead, I eased the tension between my teammates.

  “It’s fine. Fleur’s main role in the early stage is to scout around and make sure we don’t accidentally run into any hostiles. She can do that as well as look for the source of corruption at the same time.”

  “I guess…”

  “If you’re worried about it just being the two of us, don’t be. We’ll soon have many more friends to keep you company.”

  I laughed, but Oliver’s face only turned whiter.

  Fleur seemed equally unenthused about making some little green friends.

  “Good luck with that. I will return routinely to report my findings.”

  She quickly climbed a tree and leaped in a southerly direction, jumping soundlessly from branch to branch.

  I continued to lead Oliver to the east as he kept checking our progress in the notebook I left him. I had the area totally memorized already, so really, there was no need for me to check those maps.

  A large stone covered in moss, a sudden drop into a clearing, and a collapsed tree. These were the landmarks we passed that signalled we were close to the second Goblin tribe.

  Tiara popped her head out of my satchel with her ears perked up. She stared wide-eyed in a certain direction, looked quickly at me with a quiet meow, then went back to staring.

  “Found him. Let’s go quietly, Olly.”

  Tiara jumped out and ran ahead, and we followed slowly. Not long after, I heard what Tiara was hearing.

  Snort snort

  The ally I sent ahead earlier in the morning, four hours before the test began.

  “Kiiiieee!”

  The sounds of a struggle could be heard ahead. I crept up and looked through the bushes.

  There, Soot was rampaging, three dead goblins already lay on the ground, and another three tried to encircle him with their crude spears.

  Soot swung his head, and his large tusks snapped a spear with ease. He charged the screeching goblin and crumpled them against a tree trunk before the others could react.

  Oliver tugged at my sleeve, about to ask something. I motioned for him to remain quiet and carefully watched the fight. I could guess what he was worrying about, but he needed to learn when to keep quiet. He probably thought it would be bad to let goblins die when we were meant to be helping them. He clearly didn't understand my notes well enough.

  “Gek ki chitch chitch!”

  “Acha palooch! Stik stik.”

  The two remaining goblins bickered among themselves before agreeing that it was a good time to run as they dropped their spears and fled.

  Soot didn’t seem to notice, so I whistled to catch his attention. He looked over and noticed me, then saw the goblins.

  Snort! Dududududu!

  His thundering approach heralded imminent death, and another goblin was swiftly trampled. The last one lost their footing and turned onto their back to see the enraged boar’s approach.

  It was my cue to step in. I ran forward and jumped in between Soot and the goblin, delivering a mighty blow to Soot’s head.

  He dramatically swung his face, showing that my attack was effective, then I locked my hands against his tusks, and we pushed against each other. I forced him back, then, with an exaggerated roar, I shifted my weight to topple Soot to the ground.

  The goblin watched on in amazement, utterly unaware that Soot was just following our pre-planned performance. In reality, the only one who got hurt was me when my fist made contact with Soot’s incredibly thick hide.

  I threw myself on Soot and… did nothing. I just held on while he bucked around for a while before pretending to be subdued. Then, while mounted on the back of him, I urged Soot towards the goblin and heroically reached a hand out.

  “Skiggy kitch?”

  I finished the performance by speaking the goblin tongue, and the look of adoration they showed me indicated that the plan was a success.

  ***

  Soot, Fleur, and Oliver stood awkwardly to the side, surrounded by a dozen goblins and their beady red eyes. They had been led to the small ruin of what used to be a chapel near the roadside of the forest. Rex had been chattering away with the tribe’s leader, but none of them could understand what was being said. The two of them occasionally looked back at the group and cackled.

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  “Is it just me, or does he seem… comfortable?”

  Oliver whispered to Fleur, who had rejoined them not long ago. After earning the goblins’ trust, Rex told them an elf and a human would be coming soon and not to attack.

  Rex may have used different terminology to please the goblins, such as “Flower-picking-fairy” and “Stunted pale boy”. Luckily, they couldn’t understand any of that.

  They waited patiently, but could not relax in the current atmosphere. Finally, Rex came back with the lead goblin, who wore a crown made from bird bones and was covered in primitive war paint.

  “Gokil has explained the situation.”

  Rex gestured to the goblin, who flexed his skinny arms when the name Gokil was mentioned.

  “He used to be a shaman in the Blood Thunderer tribe, but ran away to create his own tribe due to creative differences with their chief. Gokil wanted to eat the kobold prisoners they captured, but the chief insisted their bodies be used to make weapons and armor.”

  Oliver swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. Fleur grimaced, which seemed to please the goblins watching her as they howled in laughter.

  “Tik tik skitch skii!”

  One goblin pointed at her, and the rest laughed even harder.

  “...Rex. What are they saying?”

  Rex was also snickering with them. But her cold voice caught his attention.

  “Just a goblin joke, don’t worry about it. Try not to look angry. Or sad… Just try to keep your expression neutral. Goblins like it when elves lose their composure.”

  She frowned harder, but the cackling only intensified. She put on a poker face instead, and they quickly grew bored with her and started poking Oliver with their sticks instead.

  The poor boy was quivering and sweating profusely, but Rex kept talking as if this was fine.

  “Since I have tamed the great fire pig, these guys have agreed to come back and rejoin the Blood Thunderer tribe. Gokil believes he will look like a great hero and can take control of the tribe.”

  “I see. So we will replace the goblin leader with someone who trusts us.”

  Fleur nodded, picking up on Rex’s plan. But he only smirked at her wordlessly in response.

  “Anyway, let’s head out.”

  Rex and all the goblins abruptly filtered out of the ruin.

  “Wait, we’re going now? We just got here, it’s only been half an hour!”

  Oliver called out in shock.

  “Goblins do everything quickly. Besides, we gotta move quick to maintain our advantage over the other teams.”

  ***

  The meeting with the Blood Thunderer deserters went well enough, now I had everything I needed to quickly bring the rest of the goblins to my side.

  I wondered how the others were doing. It was unlikely they had so much as located the other tribes yet, let alone earned their trust.

  “Hey! Fire pig, eat this!”

  “Fire pig! You burn many Imps, yes?”

  Two goblins were hovering around Soot while I rode atop him. One was trying to talk to him while the other offered him random bits of food he was pulling out from the large sack on his back.

  I decided to kill some time talking to the sack-goblin.

  “Oi, you. What’ve you got in there?”

  The goblin proudly puffed out his chest.

  “Many-many things. Clink collect only the best of goods to trade! Clink has plants for itching, plants for getting rid of itch, and oil! Lots and lots of oil! Burn real good!”

  The goblins nearby, who overheard us, cheered in unison.

  “Burn burn! Roasted flesh for us! Clink best firestarter!”

  Clink the sack-goblin tossed a spherical object to me, which I caught in one hand.

  “What’s this?”

  The object was making a faint clicking noise, and I could feel slight vibrations coming from within. The outer shell looked like two halves of a large nut that had been glued together with some sort of green gooey substance.

  “Spider-ball! Clink’s greatest invention. Throw at enemy and angry spiders come out.”

  “Oh? Very smart, it’s mine now.”

  I tucked it away into my pocket, and Clink nodded away happily.

  “Yes, yes, is yours now. You like, you buy more for shinies, yes? Clink like shiny.”

  Soot munched away at whatever Clink handed him. I wasn’t particularly concerned about what was being fed to him, Soot’s stomach could digest just about anything anyway. Similar to goblins, funnily enough.

  “We go this way!”

  Gokil pointed in one direction, but I nudged Soot to go a different way.

  “Fire pig says it’s this way.”

  I declared, and all the goblins cheered for Soot and followed him instead. Gokil looked angry, but followed us anyway. The way he was pointing would lead to the Blood Thunderer’s previous camp, but I already knew they had since moved it. Gokil probably wasn’t aware of that fact.

  We continue our march through the woods, and I noticed Fleur’s spirit occasionally appearing, fleeing, then disappearing. The goblins made a game out of trying to catch up to the spirit each time this happened, and I didn’t fail to notice the slight smirk that appeared on Fleur’s face.

  As for Oliver, our tiny green entourage would occasionally tug on his oversized robes and poke his sides with their gnarly clawed fingers, but he was too scared to respond in any way.

  He couldn’t understand them when they kept asking whether he was a tall albino goblin or a short human, so I told them he was actually a skinny dwarf.

  After much amusement, we reached our destination, and I halted the group.

  “We here?”

  Gokil looked confused, he must have been sure we were going to wrong way ever since I ignored his directions.

  “Yep. Those are your tribe’s markings, right?”

  I pointed to the dried blood on a nearby tree stump, which had been smeared to create a basic symbol resembling a lightning bolt striking a skull.

  “How you know secret markings?”

  Gokil looked at me with suspicion.

  “Fire pig knows all.”

  The goblins cheered for Soot again. He gave an indifferent snort.

  “Can you call them out?”

  I asked Gokil, who clearly didn’t appreciate losing his place at the top to a boar. But he did as I asked, though, and made a distinct whistling noise.

  We waited in silence, and Fleur came up to my side to whisper something.

  “They’re moving around us, we’re already surrounded.”

  I grinned and hopped down from Soot.

  “We need to put on another show to earn their respect… Don’t panic, and don’t attack unless they do.”

  I reached into my satchel and brushed Tiara’s fur. I felt her mana pour into me, and my senses sharpened. Only then could I hear the movement in the trees and bushes around us. I spotted one of them nearby and prepared for the fun.

  My hand rested on my axe, but I waited for them to move first. Finally, a particularly intimidating goblin stepped out into the open and called out.

  “Cowards, why you bring strange ones to my turf?”

  This goblin must be the tribe chief. He was covered head to toe in haphazardly assembled armor. It looked to be made from various pieces of scraps and had jagged edges sticking out in all sorts of places. The metal was either rusted or covered with dry blood. Probably both. The gauntlets each had three long, claw-like blades at the end, the stains there definitely weren’t from rust.

  “Gotrut! You no chief anymore! Me Gokil tame fire pig! Fire pig crush your bones and eat your heart!”

  Gokil stepped up and initiated goblin diplomacy.

  “Fire pig?”

  Gotrut cocked his head, his expression hidden behind the visor of his helmet.

  “Yes! Fire pig mighty! He kill goblins like ants, he break trees and shatter spines! And now he mine!”

  I watched the discussion with amusement, waiting for the right moment.

  “Stupid Gokil thinks he great shaman. Gokil only steal crown from real shaman. No power, only tricky words and scheming lies.”

  Gotrut spat on the ground and looked in the direction of one of the goblins hidden in the trees.

  I quickly spun, drew my axe, and threw it full-force.

  Thwooom… Thwack. Thud.

  It flew through the air in an arc and buried into the chest of the goblin, the impact sent them flying from their hiding spot and into the ground below.

  Despite my earlier warning, Fleur immediately drew her bow and nocked an arrow. I signal for her to wait with an urgent expression.

  “Oi! Humie!”

  Gotrut yelled at me.

  “Who you? Why you kill my boy?”

  This is the moment where I need to take a gamble. Gokil’s plan would never work. I knew he wasn’t a real shaman the moment I saw the state of his group, and the few followers he had were more interested in Soot and me than in listening to him. With that in mind, what I really needed was Gotrut’s trust…

  “My name is Rex. I know you have more men ready to attack. That was a warning.”

  I nodded at the goblin I killed.

  Gotrut cocked his head one way, then another. He looks at Soot, then at Fleur, both of whom were waiting just behind me.

  “They yours?”

  He pointed his chin at them while keeping his eye on me.

  “Yeah, they work for me. I’m the chief of this tribe.”

  “Kikiki… Flower-fairy in a tribe? Funny Humie. Why you with filthy coward Gokil?”

  “To find you. Cowards can still be useful if you use them right.”

  “Oi! What this, you betray Gokil the Great?!”

  I ignored Gokil’s protest. His opinion no longer mattered anyway, I could tell I had Gotrut’s interest.

  “Clever humie knows our ways. Clever humie knows our tongue. Clever humie want to join tribe?”

  “Hell no. I’m the boss of my people, you can have this lot.”

  I pointed to Clink and the rest who followed Gokil. I then presented my offer.

  “We work together. With our two tribes as one, I will help you take over the other tribes.”

  “Kihihihi, Humie find hidden goblin. Humie tame annoying elf and mighty beast… Okay humie. Kill Gokil and prove your words are true.”

  Gokil looked at me in horror. I simply waved my hand, and Soot exhaled an explosive burst of fire, engulfing the screeching goblin.

  The rest watched on with indifference; they had all overheard the conversation with Gotrut. So long as they weren’t next, they didn’t really care what happened to Gokil to begin with. Some were even cheering for their hero, the fire pig.

  “Kihihihi! I like you humie! Come, we discuss our future, yes?”

  I followed Gotrut deeper into the forest.

  Oliver and Fleur, unable to understand a single word that had been spoken, stood still in stunned silence.