There was a rustling sound that came from the other side of the rock they were hiding behind. That didn’t matter to Bjorn as he was focused on going to help Meira’s killers so he could be the one to kill them. He broke Adriana’s grip and bolted down the hill running as fast as he could to try and intercept the goblins. As he was doing that he was mentally giving Malachi the order to come find him and to kill anything that was a goblin or a warg.

  He had no idea if the golem would be able to differentiate goblins and wargs from elves, orcs, and aasimar. It seemed likely that Malachi would be able to though as he had no issues following orders in the past, even when Bjorn’s orders weren’t the clearest. Bjorn didn’t really care as Malachi probably wouldn’t be able to kill any of them even under the best of circumstances.

  While Bjorn was running like a chicken with his head cut off towards the battle, Adriana had more sense. She heard the rustling sound and decided to investigate what was the cause of the sound. She nocked an arrow and as fast and as quietly as she could she moved around the rock. Her stealth was probably already broken but there was a chance that she could get the drop on whatever was making the sound.

  When she cleared the stone she came face to face, well more face to ass, with two goblins. They were larger than she was, which was odd as most goblins were close to 3 and a half to 4 and a half feet tall. It was rare for them to break 5 feet, at least as far as she knew. These goblins were bigger and almost well muscled, they didn’t look like the thin sickly creatures she knew.

  She was in luck as the goblins hadn’t noticed her when she came around the rock. They were talking amongst themselves in their guttural language, probably trying to figure out if they ran after Bjorn to try and attack him from behind. They wouldn’t get the chance. Adriana drew her bow and sighted on one of the two, the slightly bigger, and slightly less ugly one. There was a slight creek from her bow when she got to full draw.

  This sound cause the goblins to turn towards her, but it was too late. The arrow was already in flight. The high steel tipped arrowhead rocketed away from the bow and caught the goblin she was aiming for in the neck. He let out a gargled screech as the arrow ripped through the soft flesh of the goblins throat.

  She pulled another arrow from the quiver on her back and moved the arrow to the string. Before she got there a stone flew at her quickly crossing the 15 feet between her and the goblin. It struck her high in the chest with enough force to fling her back and onto the ground. There was a soft slick sound of metal being pulled across leather and the goblin advanced on Adriana.

  It took not even 10 seconds to make it to the ground level which blocked Bjorn’s view of the battlefield. The sounds of dogs growling, metal clanging against metal, and the bailful cries of the dead filled the air and drove him onwards. In his anger he didn’t even think to look behind him for Adriana. He was a man of single focus, he had a mission, something he had to do.

  Barely 30 seconds after the fight had begun Bjorn burst forth from the trees and he took in the field of battle. He didn’t know it exactly but he had just broken the 400 yard dash world record back on earth. His magically enhanced body crossed the distance at inhuman speeds and with ease.

  He took the barest of moments to take in the field of battle. There had been loses on both sides of the battle. Of the original 11 goblins 4 were still on their warg mounts. 3 of them lay lifeless on the ground. Of the 4 that were left on the ground from the bandits side, one of the people he didn’t recognize, the elf lay dead among the other two who had fallen earlier. Vincent had a nasty looking gash in his right arm and it was hanging uselessly at his side. Vivian was pulling herself up off the ground as something must have pulled her out of the tree. Sonia was behind Vincent's back with a small crossbow trying to reload it.

  One of the 4 goblins who remained on their warg was dressed differently than the rest. It was dressed in what looked more like ceremonial robes, bones and pieces of dead animal decorated its body. Its hands were wreathed in the pale yellow light that only came from air magic. A vicious grin was plastered on its face.

  He finally understood what must have happened to Vivian in the trees. The goblin caster had used air magic to target Vivian in the trees had the spell must have knocked her from her perch. Based on the fact that she was laying on the stony beach she must have been pulled. And from what the colors that covered its hands it was casting another spell.

  Bjorn had to make a decision until this point he had yet to be seen, by either party. Did he think that whatever spell this goblin was going to cast would kill one of the three he wanted to kill himself, maybe, but probably not. They were like cockroaches, almost impossible to kill. But there was still the chance, on the other hand he could use this time to cast a spell that could turn the tides of this combat. He would have just one chance before the enemies would see him and be on him.

  He made his choice and began channeling. One.

  2 of the goblins who remained on their rides finished their charge and were trying to turn their mounts around. One of the gobins who was on the ground made an overhead chop down towards Vincent, his sword rose to meet the swing.

  Two.

  Vivian finished getting back to her feet, she started to look around, as if debating if it was worth staying or trying to flee. She must have made up her mind because she started to pull an arrow from her quiver. At the same time Vincent’s blade successfully stopped the attack that was aiming to cut him and started his counter attack. The remaining human scored a good hit against one of the smaller goblins who were on the ground knocking him back in a spray of blood.

  Three.

  The fellow fighters that were attacking the human managed to take the place of the one who was knocked back. One of the two plunged a dagger into the humans thigh. He let out a scream as he dropped to his knee. The other goblin drew back its blade to thrust it into the human’s face. Sonia finished reloading her crossbow and started to take aim at the goblin right next to the mage. Vivian managed to draw her bow back and took sight on the goblin mage. She let go. The goblin next to the mage pulled another arrow out and put it to its horn bow string. Vincent’s goblin managed to parry the attack and with its free arm tried to grasp at Vincent’s sword arm.

  Four.

  The goblin mage’s spell finished. The color that surrounded its hands colelested and started to form a ball of yellow energy that floated directly in front of the goblin's face. The wicked smile turned evil. Vivian’s arrow crossed the distance between her shot and the goblin, it slammed into an invisible barrier that flared yellow when it struck. Thin spiderweb cracks appeared on the barrier before it faded from view once more. The goblin’s blade finished its decent and stabbed into the mouth of the human who had raised his hand to try and protect himself in a futile attempt to save his life. The two mounted goblins finished their turn around and started to accelerate back towards the fighters. Vincent’s goblin caught his sword arm and started to yank him towards the now descending blade of the goblin. Sonia turned her crossbow on the goblin and pulled the trigger sending the bolt into the goblin at almost point blank range.

  Five.

  The ball of energy that had collected in front of the mage hung in suspension. With a thrust of its arm the ball of energy shot forth from its now outstretched hand and quickly crossed the distance between the mage and Vivian. The ball crossed the distance in a moment and a concussive wave of force slammed into Vivian’s form sending her flying. The goblin that Sonia shot let go of Vincent’s hand, which gave him time to pull his blade back, cutting as it went. A red line appeared on the throat of that goblin. The goblin that had the horn bow pulled back on the string and sighted on Sonia. He loosed the arrow and it rapidly accelerated away. The one that killed the remaining human was riding the lifeless body to the ground. The other was following after to make sure that the human was well and truly dead.

  With the full 5 seconds of channeling done Bjorn didn’t even contemplate delaying this cast. He released the built up energy.

  The rock that hit Adriana was enough to throw her to the ground but not enough to do any real damage to her. She wasn’t graceful enough and didn’t see the rock coming so she didn’t have any counter measures prepared. Instead when she hit the ground small cuts appeared on her hand as the jagged rocks dug into her forearm and palm. She paid the pain no mind and her training with Bjorn began to kick in.

  With her legs she began trying to kick at the ground to create some distance between her and the goblin. She was too close to return to her feet. The goblin would have been on her and killed her before she was able to. With one hand she pulled herself backwards aiding her legs. With her other hand she fumbled at her belt to draw the knife that she kept there.

  The goblin advanced on her, not really hurrying, he was relishing in the fear that Adriana gave off. Though it wasn’t anywhere as much as he expected it to be. Instead of pure terror on her face like most soft fleshbags had when Is-Uul was nearby, there was another emotion that he didn’t recognize. Defiance? Maybe? Whatever it was it would soon be gone and the terror he expected would take its place.

  He raised his sword to bring it down on the stupid human. He didn’t want to kill her, no that would come later, first it was pain that he wanted to invoke in her. He caught up to her in a few moments and with one foot he stepped on her lower leg pinning it to the ground. He drove the tip of his blade into the inner flesh of her thigh.

  When the sword broke the skin she gritted her teeth. Over the last few months of traveling and fighting she rarely took any real damage or pain, Bjorn did that. He took everything and put his own body in harm's way so that she didn’t have to deal with pain. But she was still no stranger to pain, she had been hit many different times and Bjorn hadn’t gone easy on her. Still the pain of having her leg skewered was more than she was used to. She somehow managed to not scream out in pain.

  However she actually used the fact that she was stabbed and pinned to her advantage. The goblin tried to pull the blade out but was stopped by Adriana’s free hand. She grasped the blade tightly and held it firmly in place. Sure the goblin was stronger but her training wasn’t for nothing.

  What the goblin didn’t see was that Adriana’s hand that had been scrambling for the dagger had found what it was looking for. With the sword held firmly in place and in one fluid motion she lunged upward with her dagger. The sharp blade bit into the bicep of the goblin.

  He was not as well versed in combat or used to the pain and he screamed in pain. It only lasted for a moment before his good arm pulled back and punched Adriana across the face. She flopped back down to the stone head slightly dazed. The goblin said something in its vile tongue, but she didn’t understand what was being said.

  The creature wasn’t through with this human that hurt it. It towered over her and bent down wrapping its long gnarled fingers around her throat. As it began to squeeze it used its considerable strength to pick her body off the ground and let her feet swing uselessly as it choked her out.

  Adriana’s vision quickly began to darken and it became harder and harder to think as the goblin restricted the flow of blood and air to her head. She didn’t know this but it had no intention to kill her yet. It had plans for her. But to Adriana this was a matter of life and death. She struggled weakly to break the goblins hold on her throat. Her hands scrambled uselessly at the gnarled fingers but she couldn’t get any purchase.

  Finally she caught one of the fingers that was slightly raised in comparison to the others. With a vicious yank the pulled back on the finger. There was a loud snap that she couldn’t hear and the pressure on her throat lessened slightly. Her eyes and head cleared just enough to register the scream on pain that left the goblins throat.

  The release only lasted for a few moments before the pressure returned only this time the goblin meant business. This time it meant to kill her. However in the brief moment that her vision cleared she got an idea.

  When the pressure returned it was hard to implement however. Her vision started to get black spots in it and her brain reverted to animal instincts of survival. She began trying to grasp ahold of the hands or fingers as she did last time.

  When her vision was just a pin prick of light she managed to override her animal instincts of survival and enact her plan. Reaching into her quiver that was on her back she grasped at the fletching of an arrow. She just hoped that the arrow she got hadn’t broken in her fall. With a yank she pulled the arrow out and with the rest of her strength she tried to thrust the arrow into the goblin that was holding onto her throat.

  The last thing she remembered before her vision went black was the feeling of something wet and warm on her hand.

  The ball of greyish energy that had gathered in his hand finally was released. It shot into the ground and a moment later the ground 10 feet away from him ripped open. A dull pale green light emitted from the hole in the ground. Bjorn didn’t know what he was going to get this time but he hoped it would be helpful in this situation.

  A long slender hooked arm caught the edge of the ground soon followed by a second one. The creature clawed its way out of the ground and Bjorn got a good look at it. It was a winged horror. This one was smaller than the last one that he summoned. It didn’t matter to Bjorn however. He summoned it to fight, he was going to make it fight.

  Not even taking the time to use W.A.I.L.A. on the winged horror he ordered it to attack the mage. The monster let out an absurd sounding screech and took on in an awkward run/crawl towards the mage. After a few feet it opened its arms, spreading its wings and took on flying towards the mage.

  The sound and light from the summon was enough to get the attention of almost everyone on the battlefield. When they all looked over at the creature their attention was immediately drawn to the 2 and a half foot tall abomination that was screeching and flying towards one of the goblins. A few of the combatants were able to pull their eyes away from the horror long enough to look at Bjorn. Upon seeing another human who entered the fray both Vincent and Sonia got a look of hope in their eyes. Vivian was still on the ground and Bjorn couldn’t see her reaction.

  “Just you wait fuckers. That look of hope will only last so long.” Bjorn thought to himself as he put one of his venom coated arrows to his bowstring. He pulled it back and sighted on one of the wargs that had turned towards him. He pulled, sighted, and released. The arrow crossed the distance in seconds, slamming into the beast, taking it high in the breast bone.

  This wasn’t enough to kill the beast but it initially staggered. That stagger was its downfall as the venom rapidly spread through its body and took over. Its muscles locked up and it tipped over on its side taking both it and the rider down with it. The warg landed on top of the goblin’s leg pinning it to the ground.

  “One down, 5 to go.” Bjorn mumbled under his breath as he pulled a second arrow out and in a motion that revealed his high attributes was able to get another shot off before the second warg made it to him.

  The winged horror crossed the distance in the same amount of time and slammed into the magical barrier that separated it from the mage. Its maw was wide open showcasing a mouth almost 2 feet in diameter. Unfortunately the mages shield held and the horror bounced off of the shield. The shield however was riddled with spiderweb cracks. The sneer that had been plastered on the goblin’s face began to falter.

  It was the same as the goblin that had the horn bow. It had never actually seen a creature such as the winged horror before. On top of that goblins were true cowards at heart. It didn’t take much to unnerve a goblin. Seeing Kree falter like she was unsettled the archer. He had never known her to struggle or show any kind of fear before. All it would take is a little more for the scales of battle to tip and the archer to run away.

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  However he never would get the chance to run as an arrow came streaking through the mid-day sun and slammed into the goblins chest. The force behind the blow was more than the arrow should have been able to produce. It was enough to knock him off of his mount.

  Wargs are just barely trained animals that are more wild dogs than wolves. Once the wargs rider was knocked off it went wild. It knew that its friends were the goblins and the other wargs. It no longer had commands, so it took off for the first thing that it saw. The little ball of rage sprinted at Vincent and Sonia.

  The arrow that caught the charging warg was enough to kill it, however the rider this time was more than prepared for its mount to be shot out from under it. It leaped deftly off of the dying monster and landed on its feet. It stumbled briefly and ran after Bjorn, trying to close the 40 or so feet between the two. The goblin knew that Bjorn was a deadly archer there was a good chance that if it took that away from him then it would have the upperhand.

  However Bjorn wasn’t just an archer. With his right hand he drew the sword at his left hip after he dropped his bow. He raised it to a defensive position ready for the goblin to finish its charge.

  Something about Bjorn unsettled the goblin however. It might have something to do with how easy and fluid the motion of drawing his sword was. It could have something to do with how calm and collected Bjorn looked. It could have even something to do with how almost Bjorn’s entire right arm was completely replaced by wood, wood that he obviously had control over. Again goblins were cowards at heart.

  The hesitation didn’t last long however as its fear was overridden by the fact that it knew Bjorn was outmatched. It had seen Bjorn fire arrows, and cast magic, there was no way he was proficient in melee as well. That would just be ludicrous. This had to be a front, a show, to try and scare it off. This had to be the case, but there was no way that this goblin would fall for it. After all, the best way to stop a mage is to get in close and kill them.

  The goblin didn’t realize it but this line of thinking was influenced by Bjorn. He and Adriana were in the habit of forming the war party every day. He also gave himself the tank role every day. When the goblin got within 50 feet of Bjorn he could have activated his taunt power. However he waited wanting to see if it would be needed or not. When the goblin hesitated Bjorn smiled briefly and activated taunt. He could see the resolve set in on the goblin and knew that it would attack, all he had to do was wait.

  His focus was on the goblin coming at him so he didn’t notice the other two goblins that had killed the last human to get to their feet and start heading over towards Bjorn. He had fought that many opponents before but it was always a risk. However it didn’t matter.

  Along the river the loud crunching footfalls of Malachi could be heard storming up the beach. He was fast for an almost 3 foot tall stone golem but he was still made out of stone. It had taken time for the golem to catch up and join the fight, however it had been going on long enough that Malachi was able to fully join.

  The world spun as Adriana returned to consciousness. Her body was automatically drawing in deep heavy breaths, trying to replenish the air it hadn’t been able to get while she was being choked. She had no idea what happened or how long it had been. All that she knew was that the pressure on her throat was gone.

  She slowly opened her eyes to take in her surroundings. At the same time she did so she became aware of something heavy laying on top of her and that she was on her back. She saw the goblin laying on top of her, an arrow sticking out of the side of its neck. She had caught it just below the jaw and the arrow tip dug deep into the neck stopping somewhere mid chest.

  It wasn’t dead, not yet. The goblin was taking in equally deep and ragged breaths trying in vain to suck air down the windpipe that had been severed with Adriana’s arrow. That was when her sense of feel returned to her. She could feel the warm, almost sticky, black blood that coated her body. It was rapidly cooling and drawing the heat away from her body.

  Her sense of hearing finally returned and she could now hear the ragged breaths. The goblin was weakly trying to spit invectives at Adriana. The attempts were mostly in vain as there wasn’t much air to push past its vocal cords to speak.

  It was weak now as almost dead. Adriana pushed the creature off of her and winced in pain as the wound in her thigh reminded her that she had been stabbed. The pain wasn’t going to stop her from doing what she needed to do. She gingerly turned herself onto her belly and got up onto the knee that was attached to her uninjured leg. The stabbed leg remained completely straight behind her.

  She pulled the dagger out of the goblins bicep and positioned it over the goblins throat. With a yell she plunged the dagger downwards stabbing into its throat finally finishing the job.

  She left the dagger where it was buried in the goblin's throat and pushed herself into a seated position. There she got to work.

  With her finger she began probing around in the wound trying to make sure that there wasn’t any foreign object left behind. It never hurt to be careful, the goblins' scimitar looked mostly fine and with not too much rust but there was still a chance that it chipped off inside her leg. The only real way to know for sure was to search the wound fully.

  She took the leather of one of her shoulder straps in her teeth and bit down. She began digging around in the wound. The pain that shot through her body was worse than she had ever felt before. In that moment she gained a new found respect for Bjorn, he took wounds like this often during their fights and he never complained. What she didn’t know was that Bjorn felt 20% less pain than normal due to breaking most of the bones in his body.

  When her finger didn’t find anything that felt out of place she withdrew her finger and let go of the leather. She would never admit it but tears were streaking down her face, the pain was just so much.

  It took her around a minute for her pain to subside enough for her to concentrate. She began casting weak slow heal. It was hard to concentrate on the spell as it required some hand gestures, each one making the pain in her leg threaten to overwhelm her mind.

  When she made it through the spell blessed relief flooded her leg and her mind. The red hugh of healing magic sunk into her leg and began to knit the muscle and wound back together. She got an intense inching sensation that was deep down in the muscle in her leg. It was difficult to resist the temptation to scratch at it but she restrained herself.

  After the magic of her spell was spent she pushed herself to her feet slowly. Her leg was able to hold her weight but there was still a dull ache. It would have to do for now, she wasn’t completely recovered for now. She made her way around the rock and surveyed the battlefield below herself.

  The small stone golem came in like a wrecking ball. He was small and short and he knew how to use it. He ran straight at the two goblins advancing on Bjorn, aiming for their legs, specifically their knee caps. The sight was equally adorable and terrifying. Malachi crossed the remaining distance between Bjorn and the goblin who was taunted and just kept moving.

  He barreled into the legs of one of the goblins. There was a sickening crunch as he slammed into the front of the leg. Malachi lowered a shoulder so he rammed right into the kneecap. The leg bowed backwards as the rest of the goblins body stayed in place. Now no longer supported it toppled forward slamming into the ground.

  The goblins companion was briefly stunned and didn’t know what to do. However, watching her brood companion charge at Bjorn she trusted him and decided to join. Together they could take out the mage/ranger. Then they could take out the tiny stone comet together.

  The winged horror had remained attacking the barrier of the mage unrelentlessly. WIth its flight stopped in its tracks it took its long talented claws and began equally scraping at the shield and stabbing at it. Each time a blow landed on the shield the spiderweb cracks grew bigger, and deeper.

  The goblins face had gone from uncertainty to fear as the winged horror was going through her shield faster than she thought would happen. She only had a few seconds before it broke through and she only had a few spells that she could cast in that time. However she wasn’t sure where to target her spells, the ranger would be a problem, but if she didn’t respond to the winged horror she would be dead.

  That moment of hesitation was more than enough to spell out doom for the mage. Another arrow came streaking through the air and slammed into the spell barrier, the force behind the arrow was incredible. If not for the winged horror it wouldn’t have been enough to puncture the barrier.

  There was a sound like shattering glass as the arrow pierced the barrier. The arrow had enough momentum that it continued its trajectory and hit the mage. It no longer had the deadly precision nor the power behind it to kill the mage but it broke her concentration and the spell she was trying to cast fed back into her body. This was enough to overwhelm the mages mind if just briefly and her world went to static.

  The air was filled with the sound of glass getting stepped on as the rest of the barrier of condensed air began to dissipate. With a screech of pleasure the winged horror made its way through the space the barrier once occupied.

  With a mighty leap it crossed the distance. The warg the mage was sitting on tried to turn towards the winged horror now that it wasn’t under the tight control of the goblin on its back. It wasn’t fast enough. The horror slammed into the mage 2 foot mouth wide open. It fit almost the entire upper half of the goblin in its maw at once.

  Its momentum carried both it and the goblin to the ground. Teeth that weren’t there a moment before appeared at the edge of the maw and with a surprising amount of power bit down on the goblin. It wasn’t enough to bite off the top half of the goblin, but it was enough to deal serious damage. A brief scream of pain escaped the winged horror’s maw as it opened its mouth again and bit down. This time with enough force to cut the goblin in half.

  The goblin that charged at Bjorn quickly learned that his assumptions of the human were wrong. It was possible to be deadly with a bow, a powerful mage, and a competent fighter all at the same time. He charged in recklessly trying to get the drop on Bjorn. However Bjorn was prepared.

  Even though the goblin charging at Bjorn was of the fighter class of goblins it was no match for Bjorn’s superior speed and strength. Bjorn easily dodged the first swing, and blocked the second. That was all that the goblin was able to do before Bjorn’s blade shot out deftly disarming the goblin. He followed the blow through with a stab to the goblin’s chest. His blade easily punctured through the goblin.

  There was a brief gasp of surprise as the power of Bjorn’s taunt skill wore off and the goblin understood its mistake. The gasp was the body's last attempt at survival. It was futile as right after the gasp he died. His body went completely limp.

  Although the blow was effective it caused a problem. Now Bjorn had a 150 lbs weight attached to his blade. He tried to remove his blade from the goblins chest by putting his foot on the body and shoving. The blade had punched right through the goblins sternum severing it into two different parts. Now that the goblin was dead and its body was limp, the halves of the sternum trapped the blade and refused to give it up so easily.

  WIth the last of the two goblins charging at him he had to make a choice. There was no way he would be able to pull the sword out in time so he had to drop it.

  It took him just slightly too long to make that choice. The goblin charged at him with her weapon raised. She saw her opening and took it. It was an overhead chop down with her rusty short sword. It was perfect, he was still trying to remove his blade from her brood companion’s chest so he was stuck in place. There was no way her swing could miss.

  Bjorn saw the descending blow and raised his right hand instinctually to block the blow. The look of complete and utter shock on the goblins face was satisfying. The blade sunk slightly into the wood of the spriggan but didn’t do any real damage. A smile crossed his face for the briefest of moments at the look on the goblins face. It only lasted a moment because Bjorn’s left fist soon made its appearance.

  It slammed into the goblins face pulverising the flesh. Teeth were sent flying back into the mouth of the goblin. She crumpled to the ground, her body going limp as her mind tried to flee the real world. This was the only thing that stopped her from going flying from the 44 points of strength that were behind the blow. Instead she almost did a one eighty and landed head first on the ground right where she stood.

  He didn’t wait on ceremony and pulled his dagger from behind his back. He quickly dispatched the goblin and began to survey the field. Vivian was looking around the battlefield an arrow to her bow half pulled looking for the next threat. Vincent and Sonia had managed to kill the warg and were standing over its corpse. The winged horror had turned on the warp and used its sharp claws to tear the body of the warp apart. It was currently standing in the chest cavity of the creature feasting on its innards. Malachi was mercilessly punching the goblin who had his knee broken and then landed on his face. Malachi had gone for the head and was punching the area where the neck met the head. The fight was over.

  Seeing no other threats immediately he stood and went to go retrieve first his sword, then his bow. Storing the bow in his bag of holding he walked over to the river and began cleaning his blades as well as the blood off of his hands. It only took a few seconds, he needed that time to collect his thoughts and decide what to do next.

  When he finished he pulled himself up from the edge of the river and looked over to where the bandits stood. Sonia was on one side of Vincent bandaging up his arm. Vivian was next to them with a decerning look on her face. All three of them were staring at this obviously deadly stranger who appeared in their midst.

  Bjorn stood and began walking over to where the group was standing. When he walked past Malachi he ordered the golem to stop punching the corpse of the goblin. When he walked past the horror he ordered it to follow after him. He walked up to the three wary bandits and stood there staring at the group. His visage was awe inspiring. He had the mini stone golem on one side who was drenched in the blood of the goblin. On the other side stood a creature that was the fuel of nightmares for many, adults and kids alike. This man had shown that he was proficient in all three kinds of combat. Something they had only ever seen Kairon be. And to top it off the entire right arm of the man was made out of some kind of wood. It was black and had red veins of energy running through it.

  Adriana had finished hobbling down from the top of the hill and made her way over to the tree line. She entered stealth and started to get into a better position. If things went sideways she would be Bjorn ace. So far the bandits likely didn’t know about her, they thought it was just Bjorn. She would do what she could in her state, but there wasn’t much she could do other than provide ranged assistance. She was outside the 100 yard range of Bjorn’s sphere of influence so they weren’t able to communicate telepathically, that was her first goal.

  It was Vincent who broke the silence. “Hello stranger. Thank you for your help, what brings you out to this neck of the woods?”

  Bjorn didn’t respond at first, just kept walking closer. He stopped when he got to around 30 feet from the group. He could see from their shifting that they were uncomfortable. He forced a small smile on his face. “I have been tracking this group of goblins for the last week. There were 5 more out when I first started tracking them, do you know where those were?”

  Bjorn’s answer obviously took the group by surprise. It wasn’t what they were expecting to hear. “Um, I wasn’t aware of there being any more.” Sonia said. “Our companion Kreesa.” She indicated the dead hobgoblin. “Said that there weren’t any more of them here, and that they were just a scouting party.”

  “What about you? What brings you all the way out into nowhere?” Bjorn asked.

  On his second question Vivian started to squint, as if she saw something she didn’t like, or understand. Her body language immediately became guarded, Sonia and Vincent didn’t see her reaction but Bjorn could.

  “We are a group from a village nearby. We were a scoutting party and ran into this group of goblins. We were trying to figure out if they or another group of goblins were settling in the area. Have yo-.”

  “Are you from Escar?” Vivian cut Vincent off.

  The interruption obviously annoyed Vincent and he shot Vivian a dirty look. She gave him a slight shake of her head. The meaning was obvious, not now. This also served to establish some sort of hierarchy in the group as Vincent let it fly.

  “No, I am not from Escar. I am from the Seratted mountains to the south of Escar. I have spent the last 3 years of my life fighting in the war. This band of goblins raided mine and my party's camp at night and myself and another were the only survivors. I have been hunting them down for the last 5 months.”

  You have gained a new skill: Lying. There are many things that allow society to function. None are as important as lying. The wrong word at the right time can lead to entire empires crumbling.

  There was one part of Bjorn’s lie that Vivian latched on to. “Another? There are two of you?”

  Bjorn shook his head. “Unfortiantely he was weak. He died a month into the hunt. I am alone now, I have been on this hunt by myself for a while.”

  Vivian’s distrust seemed to be infectious as Sonia started to get a guarded expression as well.

  When Vivian didn’t ask another question Vincent pressed on. “We have a safe and warm place to sleep tonight not too far away from here. If you want you are more than welcome to come spend the night. Especially seeing how you finished killing this group.”

  Vivian started to glare at Vincent and as he kept speaking the glare turned into open hostile looks. Thankfully he stopped speaking before she hit him.

  “How did you manage to gain a stone golem? I saw you talk to it, it is obviously bound to you or something.”

  “Bjorn, I am here and hidden. I have my bow and can have an arrow headed towards Vivian’s black heart in a second if you wish.”

  “No, don’t do it. Not yet. She is a professed ranger, I don’t know what kind of talents she has, and I don’t want to chance her being able to detect if she is the target of a weapon or spell. Wait for my command.”

  “Copy.”

  “That is for me to know. Some things are meant to be kept close to the chest. I am sure a woman such as yourself would never give up your own closest secrets to me just because I asked.”

  Vivian’s eyes grew wide. Whatever it was that had bothered her about Bjorn finally clicked in her mind. She immediately went to raise her bow at the same time she spoke just loud enough for the other two to hear as well. “You're the farmer.”

  “Now!” Bjorn mentally commanded Adriana.

  “What?” Vincent and Sonia said almost at the same time.

  An arrow came streaking out of the woods from almost right behind Bjorn. The arrow was aimed at Vivian.

  Unfortunately he was right, Vivian must have had some sort of ability or talent that let her know about the danger. She abandoned her attack, leaping to the side. Adriana’s arrow shot through the spot where Vivian had been standing just a moment before. Vivian hit the ground and executed a graceful roll where she ended up facing the direction that the arrow came from.

  At the same time that this was going on Bjorn had to make a choice, it would be easy to take down Vincent and Sonia in their current state. Vincent was injured and weak, Sonia was just weak. The real problem here was Vivian. Checking his timer he still had around a minute left on his summon.

  “Get her.” He said to the Winged horror. Luckily for Bjorn his mental connection and complete control over the monster allowed it to understand his meaning. It shot forward heading after Vivian.

  “What farmer?” Sonia asked as Bjorn advanced on her and her lover.