CHAPTER 20: Escort Mission

Threepaw and I rested for an hour or so, hidden just beyond the tree line. My right hand was aching – probably from swinging the axe with the ring on. I made a mental note to identify it later and slipped it into my inventory. After we rested, I strode into the clearing as soon as the sun shone enough that the goblins could see who I was clearly. I didn't want any more cases of mistaken identity like the King Blecs had shown up in the little clearing where we fought the four commoners. I say "we", but looking back, I wish I'd been the one to fight them up close, not Threepaw.

I got my equipment together. I put the Ring of Mind Shielding onto my shield hand so that it wouldn't hurt. I adjusted the straps on my armor, and Threepaw did the same. I pulled her hood down and sent her in front. They'd see her first. Plus, she'd make for excellent cover if the horde fired arrows at us. She did a good job with the Shield of Expression. She was already a master of using its innate magic for making the face change appearances. I told her to make it look like King Blecs' face, and she did. Every goblin in the clearing must know who we are, but I had a light crossbow out and loaded, anyway. The first little jerk trying to come at me was going to taste crossbow bolt. I began speaking in goblin as we neared and cried out a goblin greeting. Blecs hailed us in return. No need for the crossbow after all. I held it down at my side… but I still wasn't putting it away.

"I'd say I delivered." I announced when I was in his presence.

"I'd say you did, Corporal." He said. "it took you long enough to figure out your distraction. But between darkening the town so that our goblin sight would give us an advantage and setting those fires to sew mayhem, I'd say you did an excellent job. You should be proud." I massaged my cramped shield hand and made my reply.

"Threepaw had the idea for the fires, actually. She did well." Blecs made a small smile and looked to her, then at her shield. His smile widened and when he looked back, she even blushed. I changed the subject. "So. 'Corporal'. Aren't I even an officer yet?" He chuckled a little. Then I told him about the crew of goblins that attacked Threepaw and I. He doesn't chalk this up to a case of mistaken identity, however. Apparently among the goblins, others wanted to vie for leadership of the tribe. They were maybe using my presence to rally support. Or wanted an ally of the king gone before they attempted a coup. Seemed perfectly normal to him and he was much more concerned for Threepaw's safety, which wasn't saying much. "Charming", I said. "What's next for your mutinous little crew?" The goblins were gathering around, and Blecs spoke a little louder, for their benefit.

"THIS. This place. That is what is next for us. We've been cooped up in that cave for a long long time, and we've just completed the most successful attack we'd ever had. No one can stop us!" The whole little horde started to cheer. "When goblins kill, we eat!" To this there were more cheers. Their king continued, "When goblins eat, we MULTIPLY!" Here, even louder and rowdier cheers came. "This town is our town. A GOBLIN town! I hereby christen our new home 'Bargivyekstead'! This will be our stronghold and a place of goblin feasting!" Blecs finished his little speech and the goblins went absolutely wild. With cheers the goblins went about their business scavenging the towns casualties for their meals and sometimes fighting over what they found. I was a little less swayed by the goblin leader's proclamations.

"Blecs", I said in Dwarven with a little concern, "we have to talk about Willow's Edge. I mean, about 'Ber-give'… err, uhm… 'Bar-give-yak…"

"It's pronounced 'Bar-give-yak-stead'. And save it." He said curtly. "Humans will never allow a goblin settlement." He looks wistful – hard to tell these features on any goblin, even one with more intelligence than average. His disappointment is there, though, and I understand it.

"Then why? Why let them think otherwise? Why not just take the loot and head back to the caves? That has to be smarter than staying here to fight and die?"

"Too much." The fact that I have no idea what he's talking about must be showing on my face, because I'm trying to nod wisely when he goes on to explain, "Too many goblins. We outgrew the caves already. And there are too many mouths to feed. It's simple math. After this feast, the goblins will be even more numerous. Besides that, they'll be full for a time, sure. Certainly, they won't be content for the entire winter. Not in a cave that can't nearly house them all. But stay here and fight? Many goblins will be killed, yes. Hopefully the ones that are less useful to me", he says with a scoff. "It's very risky. But humans will die, too. Maybe enough to feed goblins for longer, that way we can retreat to the woods with food and find our way back to the caves before winter. Start again next year."

The thought runs through my head. I can see the logic in it. It's a little cold, but very cunning. Something seems out of place, though. I hesitate to help Blecs but there's something bothering me about his plan. I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm thinking of how much a system inventory seems to be able to hold and how long goblin 'food' seems to last. "Blecs, what if you left everyone here, except the very loyal goblins? Then anyone that you left behind could fight and die for all you cared. That might even be better. You could use your storage to take some food back. No daring escape plans after fighting a human army. Just stay hidden through the winter and maybe it would seem like all the goblins died here.

"This idea has merit." He says thoughtfully, his eyes focused far in the distance. "IF we can pull it off. It would have to be a small force that went back to the caves, and we'd have to do it fast to avoid detection." He paused for just a moment then rested his eyes on me. "It's settled. We'll leave my least trusted officer in charge. We'll tell them that we'll leave in a few days, but we'll actually head out tonight before they can read any weakness in the actions."

"And I'll wish you luck. As for me, I'll make my way-"

"No. WE will leave. You're coming with us, corporal. Our numbers are much smaller on the return trip. There will be much fewer of us if we run into trouble. With me there, the goblins should be fine, but I don't want to risk it, plus I don't have your sense of direction. You'll help me ensure the tribe's safety and guide us back swiftly and unerringly. In return, you'll have my thanks and another promotion in rank."

"No offense, your highness, but your men haven't always had my safety at heart. You can take your 'RANK' and shove it up your -"

"I don't think you understand", he interrupts, "my SUGGESTION that you leave with us is in your best interest. I saw the wanted posters. You want to be on the roads when an army comes marching through? They might be on their way now for all we know, alerted by fleeing survivors." He says all this in a dubious tone and spares a glance around for effect, but I can't help it. I glance around, too. "and you certainly don't want to be here when the humans attack." His tone changes to one of gravity as he looks up into my eyes and continues "…But I'm also your commanding officer. In order to stay enlisted, however…" at this, he motioned a few close by goblins to draw near, "…one has to follow orders." I'm thinking to myself, as I'm amid half a dozen goblins, that the only person here I can't swat like a fly is Blecs himself. Maybe I can even defeat him. We both have the system, but there is no way for me to know who is stronger. He went on, though, "Thankfully," he continued, still in the Dwarf language, "as your commanding officer, I can also reward you for our safe return by letting you stay enlisted as you travel abroad. Think of it. The system might be different in both of us, but I can tell that being in this army is helping you work towards a background. Soon enough, those rewards will be yours. All you must do is help yourself by helping me. What do you say?"

One thing was for sure. Blecs was too smart and too powerful to stay alive. While he was talking, more goblins arrived. Blecs knew how to get me to say yes, and he knew how to stop me from saying no. If I stuck around for too long, he'd be in charge for good. First, I'll get him back to the caves. Then I need to get stronger. FAST. I made a point of not looking at the goblins around me and made a show of thinking and considering the Goblin King's offer. My real thoughts concerned my odds against the whole of the horde. I couldn't help but think, however, that no matter how easy it would be for me to fight my way through these goblins, the fact was that Blecs had somehow earned his rank back when he only had one leg. No matter what happened in the future, I wasn't ready to fight Blecs yet.

"That does sound very tempting." I said thoughtfully. "How long would you let me stay enlisted for?"

"Through the winter, and a whole season extra." He said. What a miser. It was clearly a lowball offer. It seemed to me that there was no reason for him not to keep me enlisted as long as I abided by the rules of his army; attack his enemies, don't attack his allies, and leave enough food to cover his extortion fees, my 'dues' for being in his army. I told him so, along with reminding him that I'd probably garnered enough meat to pay my 'dues' for a long long time. Something told me that while I couldn't be sure that Blecs wasn't stronger than me, he had no idea if I was stronger than him. I played up my strength and the value of my skills. We hammered out a deal in the end. I was extremely persuasive. Enlistment was indefinite, provided I followed the regular conditions, but Blecs added something extra. I'd have to kill an enemy of the goblins at least once a month to remain in good standing. Not hard to do, since goblins hate almost everyone, and since almost everyone hates goblins. Even other goblins were fair game, according to Blecs. No problem. I was planning on fighting my way through anything I could, if I was truly going to get stronger.

While we reasoned and haggled, Blecs handed out a few orders. We broke camp before nightfall, not trusting the false sense of safety that the little village represented. At Blecs' insistence, we did a funny thing. Those who were leaving spread out a bit and walked backwards away from town. He said it was to disguise our exit and our numbers. Makes sense to me. With the Boots of False Tracks back from Threepaw, I was leaving goblin tracks again, anyway. After an annoyingly long time of that we turned right-way-forward, and I led the little crew through the woods. There were only a few eventful things happening on our way back to the caves. There was the time I took a longbow shot at a deer and somehow failed so hard that the arrow bounced OFF A TREE and INTO MY LEG. There was also my deepening annoyance with goblins. More fun was my identification and attunement of the Ring of Mind Shielding.

*ting!*

Ring of Mind Shielding

Ring, Uncommon (requires attunement)

This ring prevents others from magically using unwanted telepathy on you or discerning your thoughts, lies, alignment, or creature type.

As an action, you can turn the ring invisible or visible again. This effect is undone when remove the ring or die.

I immediately turned the ring invisible. Other than something telling me that it was the right thing to do around these greedy, bloodthirsty goblins, it also felt very cool to do. At sight of the caves, the goblins scampered inside, all except for a few, including Blecs, Threepaw, and some officers.

"You have my thanks, corporal." Said Blecs easily.

"I think you meant, 'Sergeant'. Didn't you say that I was in line for a promotion?" I'm teasing, but Blecs' tone is deadly serious.

"Actually, I meant 'Horde Sergeant', which is one rank higher than Sergeant. We goblins take rank VERY seriously, and it pleases me that you do, too." Geeze. I think I gave this guy the wrong idea. "I am hereby promoting you to the enlisted rank of Horde Sergeant. All goblins here recognize your contributions. As you kill more enemies of this clan, you will ascend to higher ranks. When the system gives you the 'Soldier' background, I'll consider you an officer, a Second Lieutenant at least. Does anyone here object?" This had a very dramatic feel, except the goblins didn't seem to give a shit. "Then it is so." At this point, little Threepaw ran over and gave me a tiny hug on my leg.

"Think of us!" she said simply, running into the caves.

"I'll think of you every time I light something on fire", I said honestly. But she was already scampering off.

"Horde Sergeant, you're dismissed." With that, Blecs turned on his heel and left, and the remaining goblinoids followed him into the caves. A little anticlimactic, I guess. Still, I couldn't help but feel glad to see them go.

"Finally." A voice said from somewhere close. "I thought those smelly gits would never leave." The thickly accented voice came from somewhere close.

"Who said that?" I demanded. "Where are you?"

"I'm in your head, you beautiful idiot."