Chapter 71 Blades and Blood - Part 2

Chapter 71 Blades and Blood - Part 2

His feet kicked up dry dirt as he sprinted in the direction of the noise. It hardly took him any time at all to reach the area where the shout had come from, but each moment felt like a lifetime as he willed himself to go faster. 'There can be no mistakes,' was the single thought that permeated his entire being in response to what he only knew to be an emergency.

He arrived, spying Nila's red hair as she looked around her with a distraught expression on her face and an arrow notched on her bowstring.

"What happened?" He asked quietly as he stood in front of her, his knife ready in the reverse grip as he scanned their surroundings. There was blood pouring from a wound from her hand, but as of yet, no enemies in sight.

She quivered and shook her head, tears in her eyes. "I-I don't know," she stammered. "I was tracking a deer... And... There was this horrible noise in the trees, like footsteps. Then it sounded like something was laughing at me... Then something cut my hand, but I couldn't see what."

She fought to control herself and explain things to him without the fear distorting her words. Beam watched the effort in real-time, and he felt his respect for her rising. He'd learned of late just how stabbing fear could be.

He grabbed her hand to look at the wound. Her hands weren't as soft as he'd expect a woman's to be – but they were so small. So much smaller than his. The red blood marred her white skin. The wound was deep. But they could afford to ignore it for now – it hadn't hit any major blood vessels.

"Nila," he said firmly, grabbing her by the shoulders and making sure her eyes were firmly on his.

She gasped at the sight of his lively eyes, as they were widened, as though trying to drink every treasure in the world in. But she nodded, to show he had her attention. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

These Goblins were of the same blood as the Hobgoblin that had shown him up so thoroughly. He had a debt to settle with them. 'Make no mistake – I'm stronger than I was,' he said to no one in particular and all the cells in his body roared in agreement.

"There's seven," Nila murmured behind him. "We're... We're done for at this rate," she said, struggling to keep her voice from cracking. "You could probably get away if you ran, right? Why are you standing still? We can't fight them."

"We don't have a choice," Beam told her, taking a step forward to give himself room to fight. "Do what you can. Stay close to me and let me know if you're in trouble. Watch out for their teeth – they're going to jump at you and try to bite."

"How—How do you know?" Nila asked, her eyebrows furrowed in bemusement. He was just a lumberman to her, after all. Just a dog of Greeves. There's no reason he should know how to fight Goblins – hardly anyone did. Especially not a boy his age.

Beam flashed a smile as the Goblins howled, one that he had to fight to keep from quivering – seven Goblins at once was an intimidating sight after all. And then, he said something that sounded like an outright lie. "I killed five last week – though the conditions were a bit different."

It sounded like a lie, but to Nila, in that moment, it radiated truth. The boy in front of her had an aura of strength billowing off him that she'd never seen before. It infected her like a flame, as though melting away her own fear. Her legs that had earlier refused to move unlocked slightly and she gave a deep and serious nod, finally seeing a path toward victory.

"Get ready," Beam warned, hearing the Goblin's cries reach a fervour pitch, as the party of seven spread out amongst the trees.

Had Beam been of sound mind, he would have cursed himself for being so excited despite the danger they were in. It was as though his body craved action. Ingolsol was clawing at him, howling with delight.