Harper watched in horror as Finn’s horse bucked and threw him in front of the hastily formed spear wall of the goblins. Before she could do anything, the goblins had whisked him away. She looked at her former mentor. His calm demeanor surprised and steadied her. He looked like this was completely normal, like it wasn’t very dangerous for Finn or the two of them.

  “Juan. What are they doing with Finn?” she asked flatly. Harper really hoped Juan didn’t think she was getting soft on the new guy, not that he would tell Finn. Despite her experience, she really hoped Finn wouldn’t turn out like the last crop of new arrivals. She was a nineties girl, raised on rom-coms and goth. Her exposure to things that would help her was less than Finn’s. Yet she had survived and even thrived here, like this was where she was meant to be. Her old life back on Earth was shit.

  Juan placed a hand on her shoulder and watched the goblins. “Finn’s in excellent hands, mija. They are taking him to their healer, and he’ll be fine.” Behind them, the walls shook with the constant attacks of the brask. “We are going to have to deal with those beasts. The goblins, despite their martial reaction to our entering their stockade, are not prepared to deal with the brask.”

  Harper snorted. “How the hell are we supposed to deal with three brasks? One, maybe. I’d even be willing to try two.”

  Juan smiled. “Harper. We have the advantage. They aren’t charging as much as bashing themselves against this delightfully strong wooden palisade. And you know what that means, right?”

  Harper hung her head. “Yes. I have to sneak up on them.” She didn’t hate doing that, and was so very good at it. But it would’ve been nice for someone else to be the main damage dealer. She had specialized her class from the base Rogue to the Rogue Infiltrator when she received the subclass option at level 25. Yes, it was an extremely effective upgrade with several debuffs.

  Juan chuckled at her. “Oh, and please use your Demoralize debuff. My arrows love it, mija!”

  She sighed and rolled her eyes at him. It was infuriating how easy it was to fall back into her old behaviors around the old man. She’d have to work on that. After all, she was a grown woman, and no longer the moody and insecure teen that she had been.

  When Harper had chosen the Rogue class, she had been in love with the mystique of being so wicked. It had fit with the view of herself at the time. And what teenage girl really knows who she is? She was really glad that many of the darker or “bad” classes hadn’t been available. It would have been ‘hella cringe’ if she’d been able to choose a warlock or dark cleric class, at least in her eyes.

  Even most of the language she’d used at the time; it made her shudder just thinking about it. The whole valley girl thing. And being forced to try and fit into the white, rich, and pretty mold. Growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, going to especially white schools, made it even harder to fit in. Harper wasn’t even the token minority friend! That role had been taken by Chi Chi Juarez since kindergarten, years before Harper’s family had moved there!

  It was all her father’s fault. It was his work that took them there, away from her old friends and school. And he didn’t care at all; it was all about appearances with him. They had to live in the right neighborhood, drive the right cars, and have the right friends. It was constant hell for her, and she just couldn’t break through the rigid social system of the new school. Though she ended up making some friends, they were the wrong friends according to her father. Harper was a mess when she got here, and almost didn’t accept Juan’s help. Almost.

  Juan had put up with most of her teenage angst and outbursts, letting her get it out of her system. In that, and many other things, he was a far better father figure than Harper’s asshole of a father ever was. Like after her first year here, after her 17th birthday, he let Harper rage at him for everything she had gone through. Not everything she had gone through since getting here, but everything before that. About being torn away from the world she knew. From friends, her shitty high school. From her mom.

  How could she not still be angry?

  “And you’ll distract them so I can get to safety, old man? Shoot them and not me?” she asked.

  “Of course, mija. You go figure out your route and how long you’ll need, and I’ll go chat with our hosts about our plan and Finn’s care.” Juan walked off with a nod and a smile.

  The inside of the stockade walls was covered in scaffolding for the goblin guards to look over the wall. With the brask attacking the wall, it looked rather wobbly, shaking with every hit. It didn’t really matter much. She doubted it would cause her to fall. Harper went up the nearest ladder, not having to adjust to the rung height. Harper smiled; her being short had some advantages!

  At the top, she looked down at the beast attacking the wall. Just one brask. “And where are your friends?” she muttered. Harper glanced around, not seeing the other two. It looked like she had gotten lucky. Dealing with only one high-level monster was a much simpler prospect. Not only that, but there were even a few rock formations that could be used to get out of its reach.

  Harper could see where a sneaky gal like herself could easily move through the tall grass, almost up to the brask, which she decided to refer to as Snort. Snort was not happy with the wall preventing her from getting to her prey. Snort had not looked up at all, and Harper wondered if she could just drop onto the pissed-off Snort and ride her like a bull. Juan would be horrified. She laughed at the thought. The old man’s reaction in itself would make the stunt worthwhile.

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  She sighed. It had been a long time since she had done things like that. Besides, even if she could ride the thing, how would she get off without being ripped to shreds? Snort’s claws looked very sharp. The beast was twelve feet tall at the shoulder, with rippling muscles under its thick hide. Snort had to be one of the scariest-looking monsters she had fought, with teeth that could go through flesh like butter and oversized jaw muscles, strong enough to snap bone. She shuddered as the beast opened its mouth wide to roar its frustration.

  Harper decided she would go over the wall when Juan was ready, crawl through the tall grass about fifty feet out, and then swing around to be farther behind Snort. Then, she would sneak up, slice and dice, debuff, and run like hell to the nearest rock. If she were quick enough, and she thought she was, the whole attack and retreat would take her less than a minute. Easy-peasy, some slice-slice with a heaping side of debuffs before Juan finished the job.

  Harper almost felt sorry for Snort.

  “The goblin council has no problem with us taking care of the brasks. I offered to share the meat and some of the loot with them,” Juan said cheerfully. “And if we survive, we are more than welcome to stay with them as long as needed. You don’t mind helping out around the small settlement, do you, mija?”

  Harper scoffed. “It would be better to move on quickly. Don’t we need to get to the Allied Army HQ?” she asked. “You said it yourself; it is essential that we get a strong enough force to deal with the Steel Falcons. And I’m on a mission, remember?”

  “We can’t, not just yet. Marta stopped me outside the goblin’s council chamber and updated me on Finn’s condition. The boy is not out of the woods yet and needs to stay under her observation until he is. She was very insistent,” he replied with a shake of his head. “And they will have difficulty tracking us with the horses we stole from them, not without high-level tracking spells. Didn’t you notice the misdirection runes on the saddles? Damn things fool me even when I look at them! That’s really expensive work.”

  “Fine. It can’t be helped, I guess,” she grumbled. She ran her hand across her face. “Oh, and that mare he’s riding. She got loose and went looking for him again. It’s like she’s feeling guilty about it,” Harper muttered. “Very odd for a horse to get so attached so quickly.”

  “Hmmm. That’s not a bad thing. A horse like that will protect him well,” Juan said thoughtfully. “Have you figured out your route to the brask?” Juan asked, bringing her back on topic.

  “Yes. And Snort won’t see me coming.”

  “Snort? You don’t need to name everything, Harper.” He gave her a pointed look.

  The Cambion woman smiled as prettily as she could, just to irritate him. “Of course I do. No animal should die without a name,” she said and looked over the wall at the irritated brask. “Isn’t that right, Snort? You like having a name, don’t you?” The beast finally looked up at her, making a loud, angry noise. “Such a good Snort!” Harper said in false sweetness.

  “It doesn’t help to mock,” Juan admonished his former pupil. She knew he was right, but just couldn’t help it. He rolled his eyes as she just grinned at him. “Mocosa. You just do this to irritate me,” he growled in mock outrage.

  Harper widened her eyes, and she frowned. “Juan! I would never do that. You know how I love and respect you.” He turned away. Muttering to himself. “Besides, I couldn’t imagine irritating the person who would be shooting arrows in my general direction.”

  Juan ignored the implication and looked out at the ground from the base of the palisade out to the hill. The same hill that had originally hidden the fortified camp from the road. “So which way are you going to break after attacking the brask…. Er, Snort?”

  She pointed at the rock outcropping 30 feet out. “Those rocks off to the right. I think I can get on top of them before Snort can turn and run me down.”

  “Good. That should work. Where are the other two brask?” he asked.

  Harper shrugged. “I haven’t seen them anywhere. There are few places for one of them to hide.”

  “Harper, we know little about the brask, let alone all they can do. So please be careful, brat.”

  “Come on, Juan. You know me. And I’m an Infiltrator and one of the top scouts in the Allied Army. I’m always careful.”

  Juan grunts, getting his bow ready. “That’s what worries me. I’ll be ready.”

  She walked away from him, stepping around the two goblins on wall duty. She kept walking until she reached the corner of the stockade. The wall was easy to vault, and she easily dropped the thirty feet to the ground. As always, the rogue landed quietly on her feet, legs easily absorbing the force of the drop.

  She heard the goblin guards talking above her. “Hey Kevar, have you noticed those rocks before?” said the not-Kevar goblin.

  The other she assumed was Kevar grunted thoughtfully. “Saw them my last shift, after our guests showed up. But before today…” he trailed off.

  It really didn’t matter to her, as she was confident in her plan. Like a shadow, she disappeared into the tall grass.

  The purple-skinned Cambion Rogue moved slowly and quietly to her planned point, far enough from Snort that the brask shouldn’t know she was there. Harper stalked the massive beast, moving silently through the tall auburn grass. When she got within five feet of the brask she had dubbed Snort, the rogue called two lovely long knives into her hands. It was time. She mentally activated her nasty little sneak attack debuff, Demoralize. It would lower the beast’s natural defenses nicely and reduce its speed enough for her to have an edge in her tactical retreat.

  Five seconds. Four. Three. Two… She was speed. She was death. Harper slammed into the back of Snort and stabbed her three times, applying Demoralize and doing significant damage. The Rogue crouched, her legs springs aching for release. She began her backflip while the beast cried out in pain and fury. In the air, she arched her back, and threw her body into a tight spin, changing the direction faced before she had landed.

  She could only imagine what her old gymnastics coach would say to see the girl he had kicked off the team gracefully stick the landing. He might have a problem with her continuing her forward momentum instead of posing, but she could never please him. She practically flew over the ground running away from the howling Snort. Harper had landed fifteen feet away, facing the rocks, and ran for their safety before Snort had even gotten moving. She leaped confidently to the top of the pile.

  Then everything clicked, and she felt an overwhelming sense of dread. She remembered what the goblin guard Kevar had said. He hadn’t seen the piles of rock before she, Juan, and Finn rode in…

  That's a cop out.

  P.S. I almost gave something away. Almost.