章 8: Chapter Six: Twist! A Betrayal and An Deus Ex Machina!
"Look who finally made it to the Iron Coast! Lot slower than I expected for an elf boy!" Cier called out towards Mythere and his group. "Aww, looks like you have new clothes too! Isn't that cute!"
Mythere gritted his teeth, but didn't want his anger to take over the conversation. If anything, he wanted to handle this with the least amount of fighting, despite being an excellent fighter.
"Where's the goblins?!" Maeve yelled out angrily.
"Aw, it looks like the one with the good body lived after all! Look at that Mako!" Cier pointed with disgust at Maeve.
"Hmph." Mako responded as if he had no care for whatever Cier was saying.
"Whatever, I knew she wasn't going to die anyway. Didn't expect her to be so snappy though." Cier chuckled. "Ah look at that, the pretty one who escaped is with you too! I was certain she was just going to be caught by another trader with that face of hers."
"Shut up!" Gaz yelled. "Just give it up! We've caught you!"
"Oh? Those pretty eyes must not be able to see much. Look around. Do you see any caravan?" He smiled with an evil twinkle in his eye. "NO. You made the wrong choice!"
Unfortunately, he wasn't lying. Only three of the bandits were in front of them and nothing else. Cier, Mako, and the hooded mage, Max. There was no caravan in sight.
"We've actually been waiting out here for a couple hours now, so even if you were right, we would've been able to sell off the goblins by now!" Cier then began to laugh maniacally. This prompted Hooly to begin growling at him. "Oh? You have a wolf now too? Really scraping the bottom of the barrel huh? Hahaha! Where's the cat girl?" He asked while looking straight into Mythere's eyes. Mythere kept his face straight while he eyed Cier down. "Oh, don't tell me you sent her to Rivelakia with the big dumb baldy? That's hilarious! You trusted a complete stranger than you found out to be a bandit to go alone with a beautiful delicate lady? Why-"
"Cut it." Mythere calmly interrupted. Kha'na was in no way a delicate lady. Beautiful, yes, but delicate? Or a lady? Not very lady-like, he thought. Regardless, he didn't want to hear trash talk about his companion, nor did he want to hear about the possibility that her travelling alone with Xane was a bad idea. "Why even bother to wait outside of the Iron Coast if the buyers are in Rivelakia?"
"Did I strike a nerve talking about the cat girl? I'm sure her nerves are being struck as we speak, there's no resisting her cheating charms, especially that big oaf." Cier attempted to tease. Mythere didn't break a sweat though, his trust in Kha'na wasn't as weak as it was when he left. And from the limited time that they conversed, he could tell Xane wasn't bad. Though it did cross his mind that he could be an incredible actor. The silence that Mythere offered as a response made Cier more uncomfortable. "No response huh? You're no fun. Probably that dumb orc brain." His insult still fell flat. "Nothing? Fine. I'll answer your question, only because you're going to find out anyway." His energy dropped when there wasn't negative responses to feed off of.
"Thank you. I'll repeat it, in case you forgot. Why are you at the Iron Coast if the caravan went to Rivelakia?" Mythere asked confidently and plainly.
"Isn't it obvious? Mako! Tell them, would you?" He tried to command Mako.
"No." Mako responded.
"Oh well, I was just giving you a chance in the limelight. Well, the reason we're here is because of-" he began to start fake gagging. "Of-gack, y-you! BLEH." He finished his throwing up routine.
"Me?" Mythere confusion wasn't evident on his face, but it was abundant.
"Well, not just you, but the pretty goblin and the cat girl." He clarified.
"Us? Why?" Mythere questioned as Gaz looked worried towards him.
"How sheltered are you? Despite my personal distaste for half breeds, they fetch quite the price on the market. An elf-orc hybrid? As rare as they come! Some may even consider you a fine specimen, despite your existence being an affront to God. A lynxion-human hybrid? Not as rare as you, but one as pretty as her? And finally the goblin-elf girl. Do you know how extremely rare a goblin elf is? For an elf to get past its own beauty and fornicate with a goblin? And for that to bear a child?! Yes, that goblin girl would net a fortune."
"What?" Mythere questioned without an air of hesitation.
"I'm not a half breed! I'm all goblin! What are you talking about?!" Gaz shakily shouted at Cier.
"Are you dense? Have you seen yourself compared to that one?" He pointed to Maeve. "It's a world of difference. You're lucky you inherited the elf face and have hair. I couldn't imagine being bald." He scoffed.
"I'm just a different kind of goblin, my father would've told me if my mother was an elf! And why wouldn't she ever see me?" Gaz weakly replied. The realization that there would be no reason for him to lie started to hit her.
"Aw, I'm the one to break the truth? I've traveled an awful lot, and let me tell you, there's no goblins out there that look like you. With hair? Yes, but none with a stomachable face." He then began to fake gag again.
"Okay fine, so she may be a half breed, and I'm a half breed, what's the point? We're worth more?" Mythere questioned.
"Yes! You've got it! Unfairly so, half breeds usually inherit good traits from both parents. Which is why you are an orc who is handsome to humans, but also an elf who has the strength of an orc. You're genetically cheating! But, some people find those traits extremely valuable, and I'm here to make money off of them." Cier has a clear hatred towards half breeds.
Mythere didn't know exactly how to respond. It's true that due to his parents, he's above average in most aspects, but that's not his fault. Moreover, he worked hard to be strong, it wasn't something he was born with. He scoffed at Cier. "Sure, that makes sense. But if I'm such a cheat, how do you expect to capture me?"
"I have my ways, but you can always peacefully give up. I would suggest that. You shouldn't underestimate pure breeds." Cier remarked.
Mythere wasn't underestimating pure breeds, he was estimating Cier specifically, who he thought wasn't that much of a fighter. "I didn't want to fight, but I guess you're not going to just let us through."
"What? You don't want to run away? Maybe try to save the caravan sent to Rivelakia? Or save the cat girl?" Cier taunted.
"Well I figured while we're here we might as well register with the guild, you know, become ranked adventurers and whatever." Mythere shrugged as he snarkily responded. "Kha'na can handle herself, even if she has to fight Stroffo and Xane." He crossed his arms confidently.
"HAHAHAHA. You think she could handle Stroffo? Even a one on one would be a bloodbath! Not to mention he's got our rogue with him as well, so it's a one on three! Hopefully you said your goodbyes!" Cier taunted.
"Blah blah blah, how long is this gonna go on? Do you want to get this over with or are you just going to stall all day because you're afraid to fight?" Mythere retorted. If there was a reason for Cier's time wasting, it wasn't an obvious one.
"Afraid? I don't even need to dirty my hands with you. Mako! Take care of this one." Cier commanded. Mako nodded in response.
The two swordsmen walked closer to each other to create a standoff. Mako gripped his sword and clicked it slightly out of the hilt. Mythere gripped his sword as well, but didn't unsheathe it. "I've done this exercise plenty of times." He taunted.
"Hmph!" Mako grunted. The action was almost too fast to follow. Mako charged Mythere, there was a loud clash amidst the blurred movement. When things were clearer, the two had returned to their starting positions, swords back into their sheathes. "Finished." He firmly stated.
"Wooo! That was a quick one. I commend your speed Mako, but that's it?" Mythere let out a gusty sigh.
"Yes." He replied. "I am finished."
"WHAT?! YOU DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING AND YOU'RE DONE?! GET BACK OUT THERE AND DISABLE HIM!" Cier shouted with extreme malice.
"No. I'm not being paid to kill or be killed, and this battle would certainly end with one." Mako walked away from the battlefield.
"Hey that works for me!" Mythere shrugged and smugly smiled.
"How could you possibly know how the battle would end?! You drew your sword once!" Cier complained with his voice cracking.
"I drew it as fast as I could. And he blocked it. There's no point in furthering this."
"What do you mean, no point? Draw faster! Use your fighting spirit to do better or something? Why would you start out with your fastest!? Just fight him anyway and I'll finish him off, or you could fight him with me!"
"No point. He's either as fast as me, or faster. Why would I wait to speed up? It's just efficient to start out not holding back. I'll fight more if you pay me more." Mako calmly answered.
"Pay you more?! You didn't even capture him, why would I pay you more?! Forget it! I don't need you." Cier shouted and readied his spear. "HYA!" He then began to charge towards Mythere, who drew his sword.
Cier began to thrust repeatedly and swiftly towards Mythere's chest, which caused Mythere to back step and side step to avoid getting stabbed. Cier wasn't even getting close to touching Mythere though, and Mythere didn't even need to use his sword to block anything.
"Maybe you should think about paying Mako some more." Mythere jeered as he ducked below a spear swipe.
"Maybe," he spoke in between spear thrusts. "You should, huff, pay, huff, attention!" He yelled while forcing Mythere to step further and further back. Suddenly he reached behind his back and let loose a ball of powdered smoke into Mythere's face. Of course, Mythere attempted to block it, which just caused it to expand and blind him temporarily.
"Ah man! You got me!" Mythere cheerfully replied, since he thought that was the best Cier could do. Thrusts continued to come, due to Mythere's obscured vision, he back stepped even further. "Alright, cut the games!" He slashed the smoke away with a powerful swing. "Now let's-- huh?" The smoke split, but Cier wasn't behind it, just his spear.
"Oh? Looks like you got fooled!" Cier's voice came from the left of Mythere.
"Mythere!" Gaz called out, wrapped in Cier's arms. "He got me!" She feigned struggling out from him.
"Oh noooo, you caught Gaz! Not her, she's sooo helpless." Mythere began to sarcastically whine. "Please, oh please let her go, I'll do anythingggg." He said in the flattest, non-worried voice one could muster. "By the way Cier, what type of metal is your armor?"
"My armor? It's iron. Aren't you going to do anything for your help was goblin?" He asked and then pulled out a short dagger.
"Oh, no. She can handle you." He smirked and sheathed his sword.
"What? How can she- What the?" He looked down to see a spark come from her hand. "You're telling me that she has magic and you don't think that she's a half breed?!" He shouted.
"Who knows!" Gaz began to exude a beautiful amount of sparks from her hands and then suddenly pressed them against Cier's armoured arm. Immediately, as electricity tends to do, it surged through his armour and shocked his entire body. His shocked body fell backwards still holding onto Gaz. "You're too heavy!" She huffed as she pushed one of his arms off of her. "Jeez, hopefully that didn't get him too bad." She then dusted herself off as she walked back towards Mythere.
"Great work Gaz!" Mythere held his hand up for a high five.
"Duh!" She smirked as she jumped up to slap his hand. CLAP.
"Gaz! I'm glad you're okay." Maeve added.
"Thanks Maeve." She replied.
"Right, well, if you two aren't going to try to fight us, we'll be going through now." Mythere began to walk past Mako and Max and Gaz right behind him, with Maeve lagging a bit. Suddenly, a fireball landed at his feet. "Hey- what the?!" He turned to see Max, the hooded mage, staff drawn surrounded by floating fireballs. "Okay, you still don't want us to pass, I get it." Mythere drew his sword. But before charging or anything, Max dropped his fireballs and held his hand up as to say just to stop for a moment.
CLUNK
CLUNK
CLUNK
"You think that's gonna take me down?!" Cier yelled as he threw his armor to the ground revealing a skin tight suit that accentuated his slim cut body. He was much more muscular than his bulky armor would lead one to believe. His hair was spikey from the electric shock, but other than that, he just looked angry. "Now you've done it!" He readied himself, then lunged forward at an insane speed. His armor was just a handicap for his speed.
"Gaz, stay close! Hooly, guard Maeve!" Mythere commanded, right before a spear was thrust towards his face. "Hey! Aren't you supposed to take me alive?!"
"Forget that! Your corpse is worth more to me now you stupid half breed!" He screeched as his thrusts gained speed more and more. This was actually making Mythere worried, one small misstep and he would be done for. Every thrust got closer and closer to his skin, and some grazed his pelt. He both had to deflect and dodge the thrusts this time and he was given no window to slash back, if this was kept up, he'd lose.
"Hooly! Give me a hand!" Hooly jumped into action and charged Cier. Unfortunately, calling it out made Cier aware of the wolf and so he times it so while Mythere was preoccupied with dodging a thrust, he could kick the wolf with a significant amount of force.
"HYUT! Dumb dog! Know your place!" He shouted as Hooly's body flew and rolled on the ground.
"Damn it!" Mythere shouted. "Gaz, don't!" He ordered as he saw Gaz trying to move in. "Go check on Hooly!"
"But- fine!" She dashed away. "Maeve get over here!"
"Huh?? What?? I-i" Maeve stuttered as she froze in fear after her companion was kicked to the wayside.
"Move it! Maeve-" Mythere called out as he got closer to the goblin girl.
"Not so fast!" Cier shouted, then quickly loosed another powdered smoke bomb. But the trajectory wasn't even near Mythere's face. He missed! Mythere thought. But then Cier thrusted his spear into the bomb himself, detonating it right next to Mythere's face.
"Damn it!" Mythere lunged backward to see around the smoke instead of fiddling inside of it. He saw that Gaz was alert and still okay with Hooly.
"You think I'd go for the same girl twice?!" Cier exclaimed as he had Maeve pinned down with his spear. The blade rested between her chest, a millimeter from piercing her skin.
"What, are you afraid she has lighting too?" Mythere taunted.
"You realize this pure goblin isn't worth keeping alive if it means I don't get you. You shouldn't be taunting me if you care for her life." Cier somewhat calmly, as if he'd won the battle.
"I wouldn't do that if you want to live." Mythere's demeanor completely changed.
"If you want her to live, you need to surrender yourself." Cier smirked menacingly.
A few seconds of the standoff felt like hours. Mythere knew that he couldn't reach Cier before he could plunge his spear into her. And a spear to the chest is not a wound that is livable. "Fine. You win." Mythere sheathed his sword. "But you can only take me, not Gaz, Maeve, or Hooly."
"As if I'd want your weak dog. You're worth plenty in the shape you're in. It's a deal. Get rid of the sword and keep your hands up."
"Gaz, strap this on to Hooly." He tossed the sword in their direction. He knew that Hooly was still alive, he played dead the first time they met as well. He's a lot tougher than he seems.
"On your knees now, half breed!" Mythere complied, dropped to his knees and put his hands up. Cier released his spear from Maeve, but she stayed still in shock.
"Mythere don't!" Gaz cried out. "You can't leave me!" She didn't think he could give up, but the circumstances were serious.
"You should've just given up from the start." Cier chuckled as he began to tie Mythere's hands together.
"Oh? Then you wouldn't have gotten shocked. Couldn't have that." Mythere let a light breath through his nose.
Then Cier kicked his back. "Can't talk to me like that now." Mythere stumbled forward a bit, but was able to keep straight. "Up, let's move. You see that Mako?! Max?! Not that hard, and I'm barely hurt!"
"Have you looked in a mirror?" Mythere commented.
"Shut up!" He angrily burst following up with another kick.
"Stop it!" Gaz shouted.
"If you really want the kicks to hurt, you should do it from the front." He taunted.
"You're going to regret saying that." Cier moved over in front of Mythere and let loose a kick straight to his stomach.
"GUH-!" Mythere coughed. "I wasn't ready for it yet." He continued to taunt as he looked Cier in the eyes.
"You think you're so tough huh? Even tied up?" Cier leaned closer to Mythere's face. "You can't just rely on the strength of your genes." He whispered inches away from Mythere's face.
"You're forgetting something about me…" Mythere struggled to say.
"Oh yeah?" Cier smirked.
Mythere looked into Cier's eyes, and then back down slumping his head. "Horns." He whispered and then suddenly thrust his head forward into Cier's head. "HYAAA!" Gruesomely, his horn pierced one of Cier's eyes.
"AHHH YOU SON OF A-! MY EYE! DAMN IT! SOMEONE HELP ME!" Cier called out to his companions, one of which warned him of the outcome. He clutched his eye as blood gushed between the gaps in his hand. "You… scum!"
"Sorry about that, but my horns are a pretty defining feature, and they're bone hard, so you shouldn't have forgotten." Mythere kicked up Cier's dropped spear and cut the ropes that bound his hand.
"Mako! Get the girl!" Cier ordered. But Mako wouldn't have been fast enough anyway. Mythere ran to Maeve's frightened body.
"Hey, hey, hey, Maeve, you're okay now, okay? Everything is okay." He assured as he clutched her against his body.
"My-mythere…" She struggled to speak. "I'm sorry…"
"It's fine, it's not your fault Maeve, you did fine, it was Cier who-"
SCHLUK.
"Guh-!"
"I'm so sorry…" She repeated. Mythere looked down to see that his abdomen was stabbed by Maeve. She was using the knife that Cier previously had.
"Maeve… why? Cough." He dropped her back to the ground and clutched the knife inside of his side.
"Looks like we're both injured now!" Cier laughed as he held his eye.
"Mythere?!" Gaz yelled as she watched him stumble over with blood dripping. "What did you do Maeve?!"
"Well, since you didn't adhere to our deal, looks like I can take the goblin and the wolf after all." Cier smirked.
"Maeve why?!" Gaz shouted at her, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Hooly! Up boy! You gotta get out of here Gaz!" Mythere cried out, struggling to stand up.
"Woof!" Hooly barked, as he stood up firmly.
"I'm not leaving without you Mythere, I can't!" She yelled as she tried to dash towards him.
"Hooly, grab her!" He commanded, and Hooly listened as he bite a hold onto Gaz's shirt.
"No Hooly! Let go! Please! Please!" She cried as her face flooded with tears and voice started breaking. She struggled to loose herself from Hooly's grasp. She began to spark at her hands.
"Gaz DON'T! I'll be fine, you'll come rescue me this time! Coughs Just get out of here! Get to Cain or Innkeep, just go!"
The sparks subsided and she reluctantly stopped struggling. Hooly whipped her onto his back and then started dashing away.
"I promise I'll save you! Don't give up!" She yelled as she turned away with tears running down her face. She wiped them with her arm and then didn't look back as she rode back onto the trail.
"Catching you is still pretty good, we'll get her when she tries to 'save' you, hahahahHA!" Cier pushed Mythere back to the ground. "You dumb halfbreed. Why would we release just a single goblin back to you who was perfectly healthy? Sure, she was underfed, but even if she was going to die, why would we give her up? We would just throw her to the side of the road!"
"But you have to keep the deal right?! Stroffo said if I get you Mythere that you'll leave our village alone and let go our people!" Maeve whined.
"Ah ah ah, he said we'll do that if you got us BOTH the half breeds, and we only have one. And he's injured." Cier revealed the 'fine print' of the situation, even if they weren't specific with the deal at the time.
"You can't do that! It was a deal!" Maeve cried. "I did it for my family Mythere! I'm not selfish, I swear!"
"Aw, looks like Mythere isn't going to talk to you." Cier boasted referring to Mythere looking down away from Maeve disappointingly. "I'll send word to Stroffo and have him decide, he has the goblins after all. Now get lost, before we capture you again!" He shouted as he drew his spear.
"But I don't have anywhere to go! And I'm all alone! You were supposed to have the rest of my people with you!" She argued.
"Oh, was I now? Oops. Better luck next time. If you want, you can work with us, I need someone to carry that useless armor anyway." He offered.
"Oh… okay." She reluctantly accepted. She wouldn't make it alone as a goblin in a human centric area. Especially with the way she looks. If she had the rest of the goblins with her, they could travel back to their village, but they would be with Stroffo in Rivelakia. So, to stay alive, she'll work under Cier. She went to retrieve his iron armor that he took off.
"Wow! What a good girl. Maybe you should stick with us for the long run. What do you guys think?" He turned to Mako and Max. Max didn't respond and Mako turned his head away. "Whatever, halfbreed! Can you walk? I don't want to have to carry you."
Mythere groaned in response and clutched his wound as we struggled to walk.
"Oh well! Good enough for me. Just don't die on me. The walk isn't that far. Let's go." He commanded as he walked towards the city.
Mako walked over towards Mythere and held out his sheathed sword in front of him. He then proceeded to close his eyes and put his hand in front of his face in some sort of sign, and then whispered under his breath things that Mythere couldn't even hear. The hilt of his sword glowed for a second then he handed it to Mythere. "Take this. Use it to help you walk. If you don't make it, I don't get paid."
"Th-thanks?" Mythere confusedly responded. He barely tried, but it did seem like the sheath was locked on to the sword. It's not like he was in any condition to fight anyway. Mako then turned away and started walking after Cier. Then Max came up to Mythere. "Wha-what?" He sputtered.
"Move your hand. And don't make a sound." A soft, feminine voice came from under the hood. He nodded in response. Max moved to where there was almost no space between the two. Mythere saw under the hood was a beautiful face and white strands of flowing hair. Normal eyes would probably not see the sight he's seeing. Max then placed their hands onto Mythere's stab wound. "Silence." Max preemptively whispered. Then they channeled fire magic into their hand, effectively cauterizing the wound. Mythere's eyes widened in pain, but he bit his tongue to stay quiet. Though a slight whimper could be heard.
"Let me guess, you want to keep me alive to get paid too?" He struggled to say.
"Nope. I need you for later." Max smiled and looked up at him, revealing their face extremely clearly. It had a very pale complexion, likely from always being covered from the sun, but the pale complexion added to the attraction. Their eyes had slight bags from sleepless nights, and their hair was a mess, though it seemed that most of it was tied back. "Shhhh. Pretend you're still bleeding." Max put their finger up to their lips pantomiming the quiet gesture and then pulled their hood down further and began to walk after Cier.
Mythere was dealing with incredible pain still, but at least he knew he wasn't going to bleed out. He hoped that the stab avoided any major organs and began to struggle walking after the group. Maeve was behind him, carrying the armor of Cier.
"Now, we actually have a place in this city, so we're going there first. Then we'll be dropping the half breed off and let them deal with him." Cier stated. They continue to walk into the city in complete silence. Cier with a damaged eye and no armor. Mako with one sword. Max the same as before, but with a smile that nobody can see. Mythere wounded using a sword as a cane. And Maeve, carrying the fried armor that's still usable, but to be thrown away.
↭
"I expected you to be here faster." Stroffo stated, sitting on the edge of the caravan. "These people are probably hungry, just waiting for some salvation." He gestured to the caravan of boxes and sheets covering cages.
"We didn't exactly take our time." Kha'na responded. "What did you expect?"
"Well, I've been here a few hours, so maybe a couple hours faster?" He joked.
"Alright, let's cut to the chase. Easy way or hard way?" Kha'na asked.
"Oh! What's the easy way here?" He sounded surprised and even was taken aback.
"You give me the caravan, and we call it a day. We've both been travelling for a while, you really want to fight a losing fight just to be injured at the end?" She taunted.
"HA HA HA HA. That's an interesting deal. Here's mine, I'll give those guys the caravan and I take just you in return. What do you say?" He seriously offered.
"First off, gross. I didn't know you were a pervert. Second, look at the field. You have yourself, and I have a group, myself, and this muscle oaf." She explained.
"Xane, you don't want to fight on my side?" Stroffo asked in a fatherly manner.
"No thanks, I like Kha'na, and I don't like bandits. You lied to me." He said, without sounding dumb.
"Ah! So you figured it out! No matter, I'm not alone here anyway." Kha'na gritted her teeth, but didn't want to be obviously worried. Stroffo whistled. "Come on out! It's fight time." From the shadows leaped out the rogue. "You never were formally introduced to this one. And you still won't, but this is the same individual you met previously."
"Only one more? And you still don't want to give up, huh?" Kha'na taunted.
"To be honest with you, girl, I don't even need the rogue to fight with me. I was hoping you would reconsider. I don't want to damage valuable property after all." He clarified.
"What?" She questioned.
"Are you still confused? You. You're the property. Half breed, beautiful, capable, you would sell for more than any or all of those goblins would, so of course I would do a simple trade." He explained, menacingly. She showed no response. "So, would you like to do the trade?"
Kha'na considered it. She can handle herself, Xane too, but the Bright Rigel group might be in danger, and she'll free a lot of goblins by giving herself up. "I…"
"No way! Don't even ask anymore, we'll fight to the death if we have to!" Tuc yelled out. The group cheered behind him.
"You just might have to." Stroffo calmly stated. "Attack."
"No! Quick, cover your necks!" Kha'na yelled. The rogue looked like it disappeared as they began running through the crowd and throwing knives. The group listened to Kha'na and they all held their necks with their hands. Unfortunately, their hands were bare. Lots of yelling came after the dash through and reappearance of the rogue. Blood started dripping from all the members. Some had their hands sliced, some had a knife thrown into them. But, they were all still alive. "You! You were just going to have them all killed? What is wrong with you?!"
"They said they'd fight to the death, I was only lessening the time of the fight." Stroffo affirmed. "Now it looks like it's a two on two, unless they're really intent on dying."
"This isn't over for us-!" Tuc shouted, wrapping his hand up.
"Stop! You all will really die if you try to fight, just hang back." She ordered angrily.
"It's just some scratches, they just caught us off guard!" Tuc explained.
"No! Trust me, you shouldn't fight. I'll handle it with Xane." She pleaded.
"Now now, if the men want to fight they should fight. I'll only use one hand and I won't have the rogue attack. Don't worry, I'll hold back too."
"He's overconfident Kha'na, he doesn't know our strength, this is our chance! Attack!" Tuc shouted holding his crossbow up.
"Don't! You're the one that's overconfident! Numbers don't always-" but before she could finish, they began to fire their arrows.
One would think that nine arrows simultaneously fired would be impossible to block with one hand, but it wasn't. In fact, Stroffo seemed to have no trouble catching and deflecting the arrows that were fired at him. Though that didn't deter the group. They continued to fire relentlessly hoping to tire him out as they moved in closer to shorten the distance. Stroffo showed no signs of slowing down. As they got close enough to attack with their hands, Tuc commanded them, "Keep him occupied!" Half of them kept shooting, and the other half began to rush. Their melee weapons consisted of spears, knives, and short swords, but they didn't hold back.
One would think that only using one hand to deflect arrows and fight off five charging men would be impossible, but this also wasn't. Stroffo deflected a wave of arrows and then grabbed one of the charging members and used him as a human shield. Despite their lack of proper training, the shooters stopped firing when their comrade was held up as a shield. Stroffo took this opportunity to go on the offense and threw the body at those who were shooting, knocking them all down like bowling pins. That left only three fighters standing, Tuc included. The best plan of attack is all at once, and so they all charged weapons first. When Stroffo grabbed a hold of one of them, the other one jumped on his arm to weigh it down more. Seeing that his arm is completely occupied, Tuc launched himself at Stroffo, sword going directly for his chest.
THWACK.
Unable to loosen his arm from the grip of the two men, Stroffo instead stopped handicapping himself and punched Tuc directly in the chest, straight out of the air. His body flew at those attempting to get up from being knocked down previously, knocking them down once again. Then, since he already used his other hand, he grabbed both of the fighters and threw them at the bowling pins once again.
"You cheat!" Tuc gasped for air since the punch knocked it out of him.
"There are no rules in fighting. Did you think I would just let you plunge that sword into my chest? You should feel accomplished that you made me use both arms." Stroffo bragged.
"You-! I'll…" Tuc fainted from the pain.
"Now, ready to give up? Looks like a two on two." He offered.
"I…" Kha'na was stunned at the fight that had just happened before her. She considered giving it up before, but since the rest of the party is already out of commission, her giving up would just be rude. "No way! I knew those guys were weak from the start! You think that display would sway me? PLEASE. I could do that one handed AND blindfolded." She bragged.
"If you insist, hahaha! I like the fight in you, girl!" He feigned dusting himself off. " Ready when you are!"
"Xane! Keep the rogue occupied!" She ordered.
"No problem!" He responded. Xane was afraid, but he didn't show it. He only had the dumb look on his face, but he just witnessed Stroffo take out eight men at once. Not only that, but he's seen Stroffo and the rogue in action before.
"Think fast!" Kha'na taunted as she exploded into a sprint as fast as the rogue before her. She immediately threw knives at Stroffo from different directions while following up with a knives in hand. He deflected the thrown knives and her as well, but couldn't attack back due to her speed. She relentlessly attacked him from multiple directions stalling until a knife she threw straight up would come down upon him. The falling knife was inches away from piercing Stroffo and he was clueless, due to having to look down while fighting her.
CLANG
Her knife was hit out of the air by another knife. "Damn it! Xane keep them MORE occupied please!" She ordered.
"Clever girl! You would've gotten me good with that one, but those types of tricks only work once." He smirked as he slapped her knives away. The fight was a lot of knife throwing, knife deflecting, and then her swiftly picking them up to throw more.
The fight on Xane's side was also a little stale. He was much slower than Stroffo, so the rogue seemed faster than he could even understand. Though, his skin was strangely tough, enough so that the knives didn't pierce his skin. For Xane, it was like trying to hit an annoying mosquito. The rogue realized this as well and decided to use it's speed as much as it could. For a moment, the rogue disappeared from Xane's eyesight and he worriedly looked around. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his back. He reached the spot of pain and looked at his fingers to see blood.
"What?" He questioned.
The rogue would run away, only to turn around and gather as much momentum as they could and use that to power a knife through his skin. The rogue could only do this if Xane was completely oblivious to the attack though, because any change in direction would weaken the strength of the stab.
"Turn around you dummy!" Kha'na yelled out to him.
"Pay attention!" Stroffo yelled as he slapped her so hard that it sent her to the ground. She used that force to leverage a flip and landed back on her feet.
"That's all you got? Might as well give up now!" She wiped her face with her arm.
"Ahg!" Xane had been stabbed once again.
"Damnit Xane!" She shouted angrily. "Sorry about this, give me one second." She smiled to Stroffo.
"What? No!" He turned on the offense and began swinging as she started retreating.
"You could've just waited!" She shouted as she threw smoke bombs at him. "I wouldn't breathe that!"
He covered his mouth as he punched through the smoke. "GRRRRRRA!"
She threw a different knife directly at him which he punched away with his metal gauntlets. Unfortunately for him, the knife was made of flint and the punch created a bunch of sparks that ignited the smokey powder around him causing a large explosion.
"Man, maybe I should've started with that!" She exclaimed as she saw the black smoke overtake the area that he once stood. "Hey buddy! You need a pep talk!" She shouted towards Xane. She then came up to him and gestured for him to bend down so she could whisper in his ear. She covered her mouth as well as whispered as quiet as she could so she could barely hear herself.
The rogue saw this huddle as an opportunity to attack Xane once again and sprinted away to get a running start for another stab. Xane was still bent over listening to Kha'na allowing for the rogue to stab straight into his back. But as soon as the knife went into the flesh, Xane tensed his back causing the knife to get stuck. In the confusion of the rogue trying to free his knife, Xane grabbed their wrist, squeezed it, and slammed their while body forward. Some cracks could be heard by Kha'na's ears.
"Yikes big guy, well, keep ahold of them." She stepped away and turned around to a crisp Stroffo running full power towards them. "Uh oh."
"GRRAAAAAAAH!" Stroffo yelled in an anger never heard before. He cocked his fist back as he neared Kha'na, who was frozen like a deer in the headlights. Xane threw the body of the rogue at Stroffo to try to slow him down, but Stroffo caught it and threw it at the unconscious bodies of the Bright Rigel group.
"Kha'na, move!" Xane yelled. But she was stuck in the intimidation energy that Stroffo was strongly emitting. Xane grabbed Kha'na and whipped her behind him and began to charge back at Stroffo.
They clashed, heads against each other, fist in each others hand. The veins in their arms bulged as they struggled for power. Suddenly, Stroffo winded his head and charged it straight into Xane's. The sound was similar to two rocks being thrown at each other. The head slam did not effect Xane as Stroffo had hoped it had. The sound of the clash snapped Kha'na back to reality.
"You're more headstrong than I thought!" Stroffo praised as blood dripped down his forehead. It seemed that he was letting up in the power struggle. Kha'na took this opportunity to attack, and threw knives at his back. Stroffo then engaged his muscles, catching Xane off guard, and used that opportunity to swing Xane in the way of the knives. They all stabbed into his back, which was too much for him to handle causing his grip strength to loosen. Stroffo took advantage of the more limp Xane and picked him up over his head and threw him as far as he could. Xane's body flew out of sight.
"What the?! How-?!" Kha'na exclaimed.
"This has been fun, but we should really get going now. I told you it'd be easier to just give up from the start." He dusted his arms off.
"No! I'm still up, it isn't over!"
"Come on girl! You saw what I've just done! All your allies are down and I hardly have a scratch on me! You can't win! You can run, but if you do, you'll never see these people alive again."
Of course, running wasn't something that had even ever crossed her mind. She charged him with as much might and speed as she could. She was fast. But as she approached him, he simply slapped her away with an insane amount of force.
"Don't you get it?! It's over! I'd rather not have to bring in damaged goods, so just give it up!" And yet, she didn't back down. She charged him multiple times, just to get slapped to the floor each time. She had no equipment, her morale was destroyed, and there she barely stood a chance against him. "Stop!" Instead of slapping her away, he grabbed her hand and held her up. "Give up!" He punched her stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs.
"Guh-!" She struggled for air as she coughed. "No!" She kicked his chest as hard as she could, which made him stumble back a bit. He increased his grip on her arm, slowly and steadily, bringing it to the brink of cracking. "AHHHHHH!" She tried to resist crying out at all, she bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood, but ended up letting out blood curdling screams. Yet when his grip was loosened, she didn't give in. "I'm too valuable for you to break huh?" She smirked.
"Yes, but I can break you in places they can't see." He drew a small dagger from the floor and placed it against her stomach. "Just say the word."
The stare down felt like a millenia. The silence and tension created a pressure strong enough for an average person to go insane. He pressed the knife into her stomach, piercing her armor and skin, and blood slowly began to drip. "I can stop here, just give it up."
She spat on his face. "Just the tip? Pathetic." He began to slowly press it in deeper. She gritted her teeth through the pain. Suddenly an arrow whizzed through the air and pierced Stroffo's shoulder, causing him to drop Kha'na. "No!" She called out looking towards the direction it was shot from.
Tuc was laying on his back, his crossbow on his lap. "G-get out… run!" He coughed.
"Stronger than I thought." Stroffo menacingly mumbled. He then flipped the knife in his hand and then threw it with a monstrous amount of force directly at Tuc. It pierced his armor and went deep into his stomach. "No more of that business."
"Tuc!" She cried, but her sorrowful expression flashed to anger as she charged Stroffo once again, catching him off guard and slashing his already scar ridden face with her claws.
"Still!? You're too much trouble."
She charged and slashed repeatedly, making contact multiple times. Blood dripped from her hands. None of the slashes were deep enough to debilitate him.
"This will hurt my profits, but maybe it'll be enough to get you to stop. It's not like they want you for your ability anyway, just your looks." He said as he caught her once again. He grapped her by the neck and lifted her high into the air. He then grabbed her leg and held her horizontally over his head as she clawed into his arms and struggled to breathe. He held his knee up, lining it up with her spine. "Just STOP!" He let out a monstrous, angry growl as he whipped her body down onto his protruding leg.
CRACK.
Her body dropped to the floor in front of him as he was pushed far back.
"Woah woah woah! That scene looks a little familiar to me. Can't have that happening now. I mean, sure, I don't know the whole story, and you could be the good guy here, but what kind of good guy tries to break the bad guy in half? I mean, I guess they could be really bad, but, better safe than sorry." Kha'na looks up from the ground, unsure if she's in shock or if nothing happened to her. Her vision is blurred, but she can see an extremely hairy man, who she assumes is part ape, reeling back in a wooden staff. Behind him are two scaly humans with tails, green and pink. Her eyelids felt heavier than ever before, but she wasn't going to slip into unconsciousness.
"Apeling? Dragonkin? Must be my lucky day. Not for you apeling, you're not worth anything."
"Okay, now I'm pretty sure you're the bad guy, and that's not my bias towards women being innocent, it's the creepy vibe you're putting off by listing our races." The apeling spouted.
"Bad is relative. I'm simple rehoming this cat girl and making money because of it." Stroffo attempted to downplay his objective.
"And all those bodies over there? I see they're alive, even the one bleeding quite a bit. Speaking of, Nasha, Abel, go help that guy."
"What?! We're strong enough to fight this guy!" Nasha argued.
"Sure maybe, but so can I, and that guy looks like he's bleeding out." The apeling replied.
"But-!"
"Nasha come on, he can handle things himself." Abel pulled the pink dragon away.
"So you're stronger than the dragonkin? Maybe you are worth something. Well, those dragon kin are adolescents, I suppose most people are stronger than them."
"Oh shut up, I'm just going to warn you that you should just go. You won't win this fight." The apeling retorted snarkily.
"Hahahaha! You sound like the girl did!" Stroffo guffawed.
"Looks like the girl did a lot of damage, so maybe you're weaker than you thought." The apeling mocked, referring to the many scratches that look like cuts on Stroffo's body.
"Get out, he only wants me…" Kha'na coughed out reaching for the apeling.
"Huh? Oh, don't worry about it. I'm Sun freaking Zhankun baby, ever heard of me?" He smirked and crossed his arms and was met with silence. "... Well, I'm a big deal! You'll hear about me from other people soon and then you'll be like, oh that's the guy who kicked my ass, and then you'll be sorry you ever crossed paths with me!" He fumed.
"Big words for such a small man. I dealt with someone twice your size not too long ago." Stroffo remarked.
"Alright, you wanna get this over with? I gotta take care of these people soon. Abel! Nasha! How's that guy doing?"
"He's alive! I- I think he'll make it! He's lost a lot of blood though." They responded.
"Okay, I'll just have to handle you quicker." He stated.
"Hahaha! Fine, I'll make it quick!" Stroffo shouted as he charged Sun Zhankun with his full strength. As soon as Stroffo was about to make a grapple, Zhankun disappeared.
"Whoops! Gotta be quicker than that." He taunted from up in the air. He then somersaulted mid air and whacked Stroffo's back with his staff.
"What?! Faster than I thought, I guess I shouldn't hold back now!" Stroffo shouted, but those words had no backing. He was already fighting at almost full capacity, and although not terribly, he was injured from the scuffle. He charged the apeling once more, this time slightly faster with even more killing intent.
"The same thing twice? Try someth- WOAHHH-!" Zhankun started a taunt again, but as he was in the process of whacking Stroffo with his staff again, Stroffo made a swift grab of his staff and then slammed it with Zhankun attached into the floor. CRASH! "Eeeeooooooow. I get it, you're mad." Zhankun rubbed his head before hopping to his feet and dusting himself off. "I don't think I've been hurt before, so congrats on that!"
What the hell?! This can't be… Stroffo was stunned, but outwardly looked the same. "... Otherworlder?" He questioned confidently.
"Oops! You got me! Well now that the cats are out of the bag, let's end this." Zhankun's expression turned into a hyper serious one as he dashed at an impressive speed to attack Stroffo. Stroffo readied his stance to counter the charge. "Here goes!" Zhankun came to a skidding stop as he readied his staff for a swing like he was swinging a bat.
"Heh." Stroffo held up his bracers to absorb the impact, but attached to the bracers were round chalky balls. The staff slammed into them, causing a giant smokey explosion.
"What?! Did I just turn that guy into dust!?" Zhankun looked around while trying to wave the smoke away.
"No stupid! That's were smoke bombs!" Abel called out to him, watching from the distance.
"You guys have those? Aw frick." He spun his staff to dissipate the smoke only to reveal that Stroffo was gone. "Do I chase him?"
"No! What if he didn't leave and he's just waiting for you to leave to abduct or murder us?!" Nasha shouted at him.
"Oh, uh okay then, I can't seem to see where he ran off anyway." He shrugged and turned to the dragonkin. "How's the stabbed guy?"
"Breathing, he didn't take the knife out, so he hasn't lost as much blood as he could've. I took it out and breathed a bit of fire to try to close the wound, and wrapped it up." Abel explained.
"What? You can breathe fire? And you know how to close wounds with it?" Zhankun asked, very surprised.
"Huh? Well of course I can breathe fire, I'm a dragonkin. And I've had a lot of experience with closing wounds." He said while wiping his hands off.
"Ooo that seems pretty dark, so I'll let you tell me those stories when you want. Anyway, it seems like that guy is gone for the count, I guess we should start helping these guys." Zhankun looked around at all the unconscious bodies around him. "Oh boy."
"Gahhhh. Man it's a good thing that you came when you did." Kha'na let out a huge sigh as she rolled onto her back and gazed at the sky. "I can still walk, but you know, after I lay down for a bit."
"Oh hey! You're still conscious. Have you been conscious the whole time? Should I say my name again? What's your name?" Zhankun questioned, extremely curious and happy that someone is awake and talking.
"Zhankun or something? Yeah, I held on to consciousness. I'm Kha'na, I'm a half breed. The guy you were fighting was trying to capture me and sell me because I'm valuable or something. And those guys, they mostly helped me…" Kha'na started to trail off until she slowly faded into resting.
"Welp, I guess our journey to Rivelakia is going to have to wait a bit. We have to take care of these people." Zhankun sighed.
"Zhankun, Rivelakia is right over there!" Nasha yelled while pointing in the distance! "And look, we can haul the people in this caravan!"
"It probably belonged to them anyway, or the bad guy, so we could take it to help them out." Abel requested.
"Alright, looks like most of them aren't fatally injured or anything, so let's make some room in the caravan." Zhankun stated while looking around and feeling the bodies of the group. Then he walked towards the caravan and opened the sheets covering the opening. "Looks like a bunch of boxes in here, should be able to just lay them in here!"
"Is- is someone out there?! H-help us! P-please!" A young voice came from inside the caravan.
"Shush! Stay quiet or they'll make us stay quiet!" An older voice tried to convey in a hushed tone.
"Well I'm going to guess that it was the bad guys caravan. Speaking of, did anyone catch his name?" He turned back to Abel and Nasha who shook their head no and then jumped into the caravan. "Kha'na would probably know, I'll just ask her later. Now for these boxes." He pried the lid off of the box he heard the voices from slowly. Opening it revealed two very starved looking goblins, one extremely wrinkly and the other much younger sobbing in the corner. "Eugh-" Zhankun started, having not seen a goblin before and also nobody in this condition. Then realizing that they spoke earlier. "Hello there? Uhhhh, I don't know what you were expecting, but if you were captured to be sold, you're free now?"
The older goblin looked at Zhankun at a loss for words before tears welled up into his eyes and he started wailing. "Thank you! Th-thank you so much!" He knelt in front of Zhankun to praise him.
"No problem. Uhhhhhh, guys?" Zhankun leaned out of the caravan to get the attention of the dragonkin.
"What?" Nasha responded as they both looked towards Zhankun.
"Can I get some help over here?" He asked.
"What?! You can carry all these people faster than we could get one! Why would you ask us to help you-?"
"No no! Not with that, with what's inside." He cut Nasha off to get her to come over faster.
"Huh? Okay…" Abel responded as he walked over towards the caravan. "Hyup!" He said as he jumped inside. "Woah! Nasha!"
"What?! Are we rich now or something?" She hurriedly jumped into the caravan. "Oh, no."
"Yeah, I don't know what to do here."
"Did you talk to them?" She asked the monkey. To which he responded by just shrugging. She shook her head in disappointment. "So, what happened to you all?" She asked the two freed goblins.
"D-dragonkin! We really are saved!" The younger one shouted.
"Dragonkin?"
"No way!"
"Heroes!"
"Help us!!"
Voices came from all the boxes and sheet covered objects of the caravan. The three non goblins looked shocked beyond belief and suddenly just whipped around the caravan opening and freeing every goblin from their cage.
"Hooooooly." Zhankun started as he stared at the dozen or so goblins that were held captive.
"This is…" Abel was at a loss for words.
"Right! Well, we're a little in a rush, there's actually a lot of people who were trying to save you beat up outside the caravan, and they need help soon, so if you all can get us up to speed on what happened, that would be great!" Nasha spoke. All of them looked at each other, many of them were reuniting with others that they hadn't seen for a while. Eventually they all looked towards the eldest most wrinkled goblin.
"Ahem. Our village was raided by a group of bandits. There were six of them, led by a human named Stroffo. He came to take a specific goblin girl named Gastrid, she was a half breed, but only the elders of the village knew that. She herself didn't even know. But, he also captured many of us to sell along with her. She escaped from her cage during a stop and ran into a forest. We then had to travel to villages to see if they had any information. Stroffo apparently discovered a village that housed two exceptional half breeds and decided that they were worth more trying to catch than Gastrid and so he devised a plan to catch both of them. This plan hinged on them believing that he was a bandit and he made himself extremely followable. He let one of his men free to distract them and one of us, Maeve, who made a deal to split their party up in exchange for her freedom and his word that the village would no longer be attacked. She was supposed to lead half of their party to the Iron Coast, but did she come rescue us after all? She's a goblin girl with a womanly figure!" He looked at them and they looked at each other in response, not having seen a goblin before now. He sighed disappointed, "well, at least our village will be safe. But Stroffo, did you defeat him? Did he get the cat girl?"
"Well, I didn't exactly defeat him, but I did make him run away. And no, the cat girl is resting outside." Zhankun responded.
"What?! We have to give her to him! That's the only way that he'll let us free since you couldn't even beat him!"
"OH BELIEVE ME, I COULD BEAT THE HELL-!"
"What? You want to give in Kha'na, who travelled all this way to try and save your lives? She fought until she passed out from exhaustion and this is how you want to repay her?" Nasha asked in an angry tone.
"But, she wouldn't have had to fight if she just gave in! Nobody would've gotten hurt!" The elder pleaded.
"She would've! You don't know what they do to women slaves! We've been running our whole lives from the fear of being captured as slaves, and she risked it all to try to save you and you want to turn her in?! For yourselves!?" Nahsa started yelling as tears dripped down her eyes. Abel held her hand tightly and she gripped back.
"But-!"
"You are all free to do what you want, but we're not going to give up an innocent person." Abel stated. The goblin group responded with silence and shame.
"Where are we supposed to go?" One of them piped in. The three people looked at each other, all with no immediate answer.
"Well, I guess you can come with us or you can go back to your village. We're going into Rivelakia." Zhankun suggested.
"Back to our village? That's a two month long journey! We won't make it without help!" The elder pleaded. The three looked at each other again without immediate responses.
"Well, we can't exactly take a two month detour right now, but after we help these guys, we can probably escort you," he then turns to the dragonkin, "if you guys are okay with that?"
"Ummmmm we've got no plans I guess." Nasha plainly responded as Abel shrugged along.
"Oookay. Then after we take the injured to Rivelakia, we'll go to your village. Maybe we'll get some horses or something, make it faster." Zhankun explained. "They're mostly unconscious so we have to put them in this carriage and pull them, which is no hard feat for me." He smugly smiled as he posed and then jumped out.
The two dragonkin dragged all the bodies towards the caravan, Zhankun put them inside the caravan while the goblins just waited inside. "So we got eight dudes in a uniform, we have Kha'na, and we have a masked individual. Is that everyone?"
"Yeah, no more bodies that I can see." Abel called out.
"Hey Zhankun, are we sure all these guys are the good guys?" Nasha asked.
"Nope. But these uniforms don't look like the evil henchmen type. Do you recognize any of these bodies as your attackers?"
"Uhhhh, I can't say we do, the uniform isn't familiar and it was night time when they attacked, so it was hard to make out specific features." The elder responded after conversing with the other goblins.
"Well let's get going now!" Zhankun hopped out of the carriage and started strapping himself up to pull it when he noticed the dragonkin looking very serious and in combat ready stances in a specific direction.
"Huh? Hello, is Kha'na around?" The bumbling, bleeding, beat-up, bruised, bald oaf asked.
"Who's asking?!" Nasha yelled back.
"Are you a good guy or bad buy?" Zhankun shouted firmly.
"Oh, good guy, was bad, now good." He replied simply.
"WoAHHHHH. IT'S HIM!" A goblin peaked out from the carriage and started yelling in fear from recognizing Xane.
"Him? What do you mean?" Zhankun turned back and asked.
"He's one of the bandits that abducted us! I would recognize that stupid face anywhere!" The goblin replied regaining their composure.
"Oh, yeah, I did that." The too truthful brute responded.
"You just said you were a good guy!" Abel shouted.
"Well to be fair, he did say he was bad and is now good." Zhankun explained. "What are you here for?"
"I was fighting and I got thrown that way, so I ran back to keep fighting."
"You were thrown that far?" Abel asked.
"Yes, by Stroffo."
"Woah, he was that strong?" Nasha asked.
"Well he did escape from Zhankun, so." Abel replied.
"Hey! He used dirty tricks, I would've taken him if it was fist to fist!" He tried to defend himself. "But yes, Stroffo did escape. So whose side were you on?"
"Kha'na. Where is she?"
"Well let's wait a second here, you're pretty cut up yourself and Kha'na used knives when she was fighting Stroffo, how do I know you're not lying?" Zhankun tried to suss out whether or not he was bad.
"It was the other rogue who stabbed me, not a good guy." He replied.
"Uh oh." Zhankun rushed in to see the rogue still unconscious. "I guess we better tie them up. So what are your plans, big guy?"
"Me? I travel with Kha'na." He plainly answered.
"Right right right, I suppose you should get some medical help as well. Abel can patch you up and then you can walk with us. I'm going to go tie the rogue up."
Zhankun jumped back into the carriage and tied up the rogue with whatever rope or strings that he could find. Abel patched up the wounds that Xane had and cleaned him up as much as was possible. Then, Zhankun strapped himself to the front of the caravan and began pulling it with the other three walking beside it.
"I'm Zhankun by the way, I'm an otherworlder and stuff so I'm hella strong."
"He-lla?" Xane questioned.
"Never mind, anyway, the green dude is Abel, the pink dude is Nasha, they're dragonkin if you couldn't tell. And we're uh, travelling for… fun? Yeah, fun. And I guess to save people."
"Me too. Can I see Kha'na?"
"Uhhhhhh sure big guy, she's right inside."
Xane walked over to the carriage and peaked his head inside. The goblins were cowering in the back, and the unconscious bodies were piled in the front. He spotted Kha'na and moved towards her to wake her up. "Kha'na. Kha'na. Kha'na." He repeated her name as he nudged her. She seemed to mumble in her unconscious state, but wasn't ready to wake up.
"Looks like she's down for the count. Come one, let's finish patching you up and then get going." Abel popped in behind Xane and led him in front of the caravan where he proceeded to patch any places that were bleeding. Xane's body is very durable, so the deep cuts seemed to stop bleeding on their own.
"Onwards!" Zhankun called out as he picked up the front of the caravan. He could sprint all the way, but that probably wouldn't feel the best for the passengers. Xane also probably wouldn't keep up. So he just walked while pulling it, steadily towards the city as the sun started to set.
クリエイターの想い 
principleshark
principleshark Boom! How did you like that?! I remember imagining this climax as soon as my world was created. Just the culmination of the journey finally getting to where I wanted it to go, it's *chef's kiss*. Next time, wrapping up!
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