Chapter 11 - Day XI And XII: Siege?

As I was laying down on the cold floor of my not so ruined hideout, thoughts invaded my mind. I really wanted to start hunting.

Possibilities of achieving greatness were standing before me. All I needed to do, was reach for them. I needed to hunt, to get more crystals, but my body wouldn't let me. I could move pretty decently by now, although fighting was out of the questions. Then suddenly I remembered Will's words about forming an alliance.

Could I really trust that guy? He at first seemed like an obvious individual, and I thought I've figured him out, but I was wrong. He was a question mark. A couldn't tell what that guy has on his mind. Was he really an ally? Or maybe all he said had a simple purpose, to deceive me. Was he the killer? Or one of them?

I forced myself to get up and picked my bowl. As usual, I took my time to get to the city center. The view was unexpected. Instead of a few people chatting, making tools and weapons, I saw a crowd. Almost all injured. Some pretty heavily. Ripped, bloodied clothes, bruises, with red covering their hands and faces. Trying to figure out what happened I looked for familiar faces. Ian was the first one I was able to distinguish among masses.

- Hey Ian. What the hell happened here?

- Hey dude. Peter was it?

- Yeah, what happened?

- There was a big fight. They discovered a cave somewhere in the forest, with goblins. So few groups gathered and they tried to clear it. It was full of green ones. A lot of people died, and the rest got injured, but they managed to run away.

- Wait. Did they chase after them?

- Yeah, but they lost them at some point. Still, some guys went back yesterday, to the gate, and are building a barricade.

- Ok, thanks.

- Yeah. No problem dude. Watch out.

- Yeah, yeah. I will.

And he went on with his business. I needed a couple of minutes to process all of this. Then I looked around to check the mood. I could see pain, anger, and fear on people's faces. When you poke a lion with the stick, you should expect its response.

- And we are officially fucked - Will's voice came from behind.

That was actually the last person I wanted to meet.

- We were fucked even before, but I guess we are more now.

- Yep. If a horde of goblins will invade us, we won't stand. By the way, we are talking hundreds.

- You sure?

- Confirmed it with few people.

I took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.

- Fuck.

- Indeed.

There were few moments of silence between us, but at some point, Will broke it.

- So what are you gonna do?

- Have no idea. You?

- Well... I guess a smart thing to do would be to help with the barricade. Even smarter to get your things and run to the opposite part of the city, then hide.

- Which one are you gonna do, Will?

- None. I'm not a smart guy, so I'm gonna stick around, and hope they won't come out of the forest.

His tone was so dry, which, combined with those words, made me chuckle. Then it hit me. Maybe they really won't come - I thought. They disappeared when killed, alongside with weapons. Could there be more to it? If we also disappeared... No. People got killed, and their bodies remained. But if the bodies of native inhabitants of this city also were disappearing after death... Then we would find crystals earlier. They either vanished in a different way or didn't leave stones after death. The first idea seemed better to me. Why the hell are goblins leaving stones? - I thought.

- Hey, you there? - he asked.

- Uh? Oh... Sorry. Got lost in thoughts.

- What were you thinking about?

- This whole mess - I made a big circle with my hand.

- And? What are your conclusions?

- This place is strange.

He noded.

- We have the device, vanishing goblins, strange crystals, no animals, and a totally abandoned city.

He nodded again but I didn't add anything after.

- Aaand?

- And that's all I've got. Can't put this together. It doesn't make sense - I explained.

- Kinda. Maybe the goblins killed them? But then there would be bodies... Maybe they have eaten them?

- That's a possibility.

He noded while smiling. A peculiar thing, since I couldn't read the guy at all, but now he seemed happy. Even encouraged to theorize further. It was so obvious that I couldn't make myself believe its a mask. It just had to be genuine.

- But why didn't they take the city? - I asked.

- Maybe they took everything from the city, and brought it to their lair?

- Now when I'm thinking about that, there is no possibility for them to take this big ass city. Look at the walls. The gate. Thousands of people lived here. Even a couple of hundreds of goblins wouldn't be able to breach the walls and kill all of the inhabitants.

- Maybe they didn't have the guards? Or were smaller than goblins?

- No. Buildings indicate similar size to us, also gates indicate that they had to have guards or soldiers.

- Hm... - Will give in to his thoughts.

In the meantime, I noticed that there were several eavesdroppers listening to our conversation.

- What if goblins had something? - he asked.

- Like what?

- Magic? Or a bunch of bigger friends?

- Then I guess we are dead.

- No... - said somebody with fear beaming from the voice.

I looked in the direction it came from. It was the girl who sold me her hoodie.

- But we didn't see anything bigger in the cave - said another person.

It was a guy whose name I don't remember. Had a broken nose and a cut lip. Now covered by fresh scabs. Probably also a few bruises underneath his clothes.

- How big was the cave? - asked Will.

- I don't know. I guess something above two meters?

- Three?

- No, I don't think so.

- How wide?

- Three people could go in and fight without worrying to hit a wall or each other.

- Then I guess it's not that bad - he concluded.

- There still could be something deeper in the forest - I stepped in.

- I don't think so. We would encounter it by now. If goblins would work for something bigger, that something wouldn't just leave them be. To rule over a large number of people you need supervisors. There would be some among the goblins. Which means we would have seen it by now - argued Will.

- What if those things stay in the cave? But then they would come out of it during the attack, and you say only goblins came out? - as I was speaking, I also looked at the wounded guy.

He noded.

- Then maybe it's just goblins and the reason for this city being so empty is... just different?

- So there is hope for us? - Hoodie girl spoke again.

- There is always hope- I answered.

Then Will put his hand on my shoulder giving me a sign he wants to talk on the side. I followed.

- Let's go, and check the barricade.

- Why? I don't think we are in the condition to help.

- You are quite smart, at least by my standards. So we should go and help, if not with muscle, then maybe we can do something with our brains. Besides goblins won't ask if you are in a condition to fight them. If they really attack us I think we have a solid chance to block the body of their horde at the gate and kill smaller groups that will make it through. Some of us might be able to survive like this.

- Ok, let's go.

It was amazing how we could unite while facing the common enemy. We both left the rest, gathered at the city center, and made our way to the gate. The conversation which we started, continued without us. Those who felt like they can't do anything were asking a lot of questions, trying to figure out in what exactly situation they found themselves. Those who had the answers, provided them.

I actually never gave a good look to the gate. In my head, it looked like there should be some kind of portcullis, but I couldn't remember anything like that. There was no reason to pay attention to it before. I was too focused on hunting, and getting crystals. There was no heavy wooden door for sure. I would remember that.

- Hey Will. Isn't there a portcullis in the gate? Maybe we could just close it down. There is no chance goblins would force their way through thick metal bars. Wait... there is non, right? Somebody would think about that and we wouldn't need a barricade.

- There is non. There is actually nothing to stop anything to come through the gate.

- That's strange...

- Why?

- Shouldn't there be something?

- Maybe it got destroyed.

He had a point. We didn't continue that topic, and instead traveled in silence all the way to our destination.

What we saw at the gate was a group of people gathered around a bonfire, burning close to a haphazard barricade made of rubble and wood. It was blocking pretty well the whole entrance, leaving enough space for one or two green ones to pass. A few people were still working on it, but the rest was just staying alert. Ready to fight at any moment.

On the walls few people were looking at the forest, obviously trying to spot the incoming assault. The whole group counted maybe thirty people.

They put us to work from the beginning, and we started to gather whatever we could bring from nearby ruins. It was a slow job as we both had injuries that affected our movements. It made me think how stupid we were.

The empty city made us comfortable. We didn't expect to be attacked by anything here. We only suspected ourselves as enemies and even that only for a short period, which ended with the whole hunting thing. Then we thought we are the predators.

Working made me exhausted, so I sat close to the fire. Warriors talked among themselves waiting for the enemy. We all were very anxious, but in the end, goblins never came. Most of us waited the whole day, and also night. Then we switched to taking turns. Well, not me, but others did.

The next day I just went back to eat something, cause I was starving to the point my legs were shaking. I had this strange sticky goo in my mouth. I needed to drink something and get some sleep.

Anticlimactic wasn't it? This new world had its own rules and we, like you now, did not understand them.

I ate 12 points worth of food and drank 2 points worth of water. I lost my bowl in all this mess, so I had to borrow Aisha's. Fortunately, she agreed. After I sneaked out to my hideout, taking additional measures to block the entrance.

Day ended for me with 236 points on my account, and also many questions inside my head.. Luckily, I was too tired to think about the answers and just fell asleep.