Chapter 13

It was late in the afternoon, and the sun was starting to go down. A Goblin was kneeling on the floor, checking and observing what seemed to be animal tracks. Beside the kneeling Goblin, there were three more just like him. They were carrying wooden clubs for weapons.

The Goblins at the back was eating what looked like the leg of an animal. It was munching on it like it was the most delicious thing on the world, even though blood was still dropping from it. It was still fresh. The other Goblin wanted to eat as well but was screamed at by the one holding the meat. It retreated in frustration, with nothing do, it sat down beside a tree.

Only one Goblin was being alert. It shifted it's gaze from side to side, trying to see if there was potential danger. It held the wooden club on its right arm, and stood with confidence.

Swish!

An arrow whistled through the air, hitting the confident goblin right in the eye. The arrow pieced through, causing some of its brain and blood to spurt on the goblins beside him. It took a few seconds for its body to fall down, bleeding from its eye socket. The rest of the group was alerted, and they all stood up. Gazing at the quiet and seemingly empty jungle in fear.

They held their clubs in a defensive manner. Staring at the direction the arrow came from, they slowly backed away. After a few meters, they turned around to run only to find someone blocking the way.

" Take this! " Sam exclaimed as he slashed the iron sword with all the strength he got. It tore through the head of a goblin, but it's skull was tough, only managing to slice a few inches. Sam pulled out his sword and the Goblin slumped into the ground.

" I was 100 percent sure that I would've been able to cut a goblin in half, guess I'm over estimating my self. " he said aloud, seeing one of the remaining Goblins swing it's club, he placed his sword by his stomach to block.

To Sam's surprise, he was moved back by the blow a couple of steps. He raised his sword to go for the counter attack. The other Goblin immediately pounced on him. Sam rotated his sword, using it like a bat, he swung at the pouncing Goblin, causing it to stumble a few meters away.

The other Goblin was about to do the same thing, but an arrow pieced through its chest. The Goblin stared at it's chest, dropped it's club and fell down. The last Goblin recovered from his tumble, it opened it's eyes only to see a sharp glint of a sword, last thing it ever saw.

Sam sat down beside a tree, he was exhausted. It was the first time he was ever in a battle. Even though what he killed were monsters, the idea of ending lives still bothered him. Xyra was by the side, pulling the monsters bodies, she piled them beside a tree and covered them with a bush.

She then stood in front of Sam. " Are you okay my Lord?" Sam was breathing heavily, his hair wet with his own sweat. He looked up at Xyra and smiled. " I'm okay, I just over estimated my self a little. You did a good job." He exhaled deeply and stood up, cleaning his butt off of some dirt.

" It's only because of your brilliant plan my lord. " she answered with a smile as well. "You praise me too much."

*****

The Goblin camp was located a few thousand meters away from Sam's territory. Since the entire Dark Forest was large, it was located near the west, close to the border of a dessert. There was still a very large area of the Forest Sam and Xyra didn't get to explore.

To be honest, it seemed to be more like a Goblin Den than a Camp. The only difference was that they had made shelters of their own. They were crude and tent like, made from the skin of many different animals. The houses were close to each other and varied in size.

Goblins were everywhere. They were hundreds of them. They were doing whatever they wanted. Some were fighting over food, other were lazing around and some were even mating. The camp was like a house crowded with crazy and bloodthirsty kids.

It was also very dirty. The ground was littered with bones and decaying meat, there were even decaying bodies of old Goblins. Goblin excrement was scattered around, the place was like a nightmare, no sane person would want to live in.

" My God! the smell could even reach this far. " Sam was covering his nose. Beside him was Xyra, calmly observing. They were crouching behind a heavy bush, just 30 - 50 meters away from the Camp.

When they fought with the four Goblins, they rested for a few minutes then proceeded deeper. With Xyra's taking lead, they reached the Camp within an hour.

They have been observing the camp for a few minutes. Seeing how the Goblins were living, made Sam sick. The only difference they had with wild animals were the shelters they made. " Are they even considered intelligent monsters? " Sam was a little confused. If they were like this, wouldn't they have been wiped out, or preyed on by a much stronger monster?

Maybe there's something we can't see from here. We need to find a much better spot to observe from. Sam thought, as he gestured to Xyra. They moved slowly through the bushes and went up a small hill. It had a much better vantage point, they could see the entire Camp in detail.

In the middle of the camp, there was a large tent, much larger than the others. It has no walls, but has wooden pillars to support the wide roof made from animal skin.

At the center of the wide tent, they was a Goblin alying down. 'Goblin' because of it's features and skin colour, but not like a Goblin at all. it was Big, three to four times bigger than a regular one. It was eating a leg of an animal, and it had a huge belly, even so, based only on it's physique, it looked very strong.

Beside it were other Goblins, they were holding big leaves and fanning it towards the Big Goblin. They looked at him respectfully and fearfully at the same time.

" So this would be their boss? Like a king or something?" Sam said in understanding. If this Big Goblin was the leading the Camp, they would surely have a chance to survive.

" So he's the reason they are thriving in this jungle. This isn't going to be easy, is it?