ying With Fire 1


    cknail was walking through the woods at the edge of Herads camp. He had gone out to empty the rabbit snares and reset them, as he did almost every day. Today though, he felt a cold shiver run up his spine a few minutes after entering the forest.


    The days had grown shorter and colder recently, but that wasnt what had caused him to shiver. cknail had felt eyes on his back. Something was stalking him. His ears twitched ever so slightly as they detected the faintest hint of noise in the trees behind him. Make that at least two things that were stalking him.


    He was careful to act normal, and not to reveal his awareness of the watchers, as he continued on his way to the traps. As he walked, cknail subtly scanned the forest around him.


    The nts had grown throughout the year and reached their full height now, and most the flowers had disappeared as well. Here, in the sunnier part of the woods, the taller nts reached up to his chest. Their once colorful summer blooms had withered and been reced by hard ck seeds, or white fluff that took flight when the wind blew through the trees. Autumn had crept up and stealthily disposed of summer when no one was looking.


    Of course not all the changes were bad. The trees had begun to bear fruit and nuts. These new treasures were hidden among the green branches of the forest canopy.


    The hobgoblin had beenpletely unaware that food even grew on trees. The very idea sounded silly to him. Wasnt food supposed to be harder to get? Now all he had to so was climb a tree, which was something he had recently gotten very good at.


    When Saeter took cknail out to hunt or track he would show him which fruits and nuts were edible and how to harvest them. Being a hobgoblin, there were many things that Saeter wouldnt touch that smelled delicious to cknail. Unfortunately, just because something smelled delicious didnt mean it wasnt poisonous. cknail learned that the hard way, after a night of fever and vomiting.


    cknail approached the snares carefully. He was listening for any hint of movement behind him that would reveal the position of his stalkers. He frowned in concern when he didnt hear anything. He knew they were there somewhere.


    Quickly, cknail gathered up the carcasses and started heading back. Around halfway there, he entered an area of the forest where the canopy was especially thin and the forest floor was bathed in sunlight.


    The animal trail cknail was following wound its way through a small field of tall weeds. As soon as he entered it, the hobgoblin purposely slowed his pace. When he was sure he was out of sight of any watchers he ducked into a small depression where the weeds concealed him. It was time to turn the tables on his pursuers.


    A few minutes passed as he waited. The only noise was that of morning birds singing, and then the shrubs rustled ever so slightly in the direction cknail had juste from. He tensed as he heard the sound of footsteps. His stalker was approaching!


    Eager energy burned through him but he patiently waited until the source of the noise had moved past him. Then, he burst out of concealment and sprung towards his pursuers exposed back. As he leapt, his jagged ws closed around the back of Khitas shirt cor, and she let a high pitched screech of shock as she jumped into the air.


    She squirmed and struggled to escape his grip for a few seconds. cknail had to brace himself to keep his hold. He was stronger than her, but their weight was almost the same. She calmed down after a moment when she threw a look over her shoulder and realized it was him.


    The young redhead flushed in embarrassment as she turned around and gave cknail a nervous look. The hobgoblin was frowning in disapproval as her held her.


    Master Saeter told-ss you not to go into the forest alone, he hissed at her.


    Most people found his hissing scary, but this insufferable female just found it sharp. She gave him a guilty smile, and shrugged her shoulders in a way that suggested she was trying to actposed.


    I wasnt alone. I was with you sorta, she replied dismissively. Besides, I was bored and thought a walk sounded like fun.


    Youre stupid. You know the forest is dangerous, master Saeter has shown you. Still-ss you try to sneak around by yourself. You are not very good at it, and will die, he replied usingly as he continued to listen carefully to his surroundings.


    Im used to danger, and Ive got my sword here anyway, she told him as she pointed to the de at her waist.


    cknail released her cor and continued to frown at her. Stealthily, he drew a stone from one of his pouches.


    A sword wont keep you safe here, he told her as he withdrew his sling and ced the stone in it.


    cknail then took the rabbits he had tied together and thrown over his shoulder and dropped them on the ground at the edge of weeds. Khita frowned as she finally noticed his odd actions and distracted manner. Before she could say anything though, cknail spun around and whirled the sling in his hand. A whistling sound filled the air as he sent a stone flying off into the leaves of a nearby tree.


    Twigs splintered and cracked as the projectile tore through the branches, and a high pitched squawk quickly followed. As both cknail and Khita watched, a small cloud of feathers and leaves fluttered down from the tree, and arge harpy took flight from where it had been hiding.


    The grey feathered creature was almost the size of cknail or Khita and had a truly impressive wingspan. It screeched and gazed at them with its ck hate filled eyes. The pping sound of its wings filled the air as it fought to gain height. A surprised Khita took a step backwards and then another one behind cknail.


    As the harpy screeched again, its eerily human like mouth opened to reveal its long needle like teeth and the ck feather crest on its head straightened to its full dramatic height. The enraged raptor hovered in the air. It seemed to be preparing itself to dive bomb them.


    cknail let out a deep menacing growl in response and stretched himself to his full height. He opened his mouth and shed his own impressive teeth back at the harpy. The stupid ugly bird thing didnt scare him. He was no longer a small weaponless goblin.


    The harpy eyed him carefully for a second, and then apparently decided this was a fight it didnt want to pursue. With onest squawk, it took off and vanished into the forest canopy.


    Khita let out a relieved sigh. When he was sure the harpy had disappeared, cknail turned towards her.


    Youre not a sneaky human. Ugly harpy followed you and wanted to eat-ss you. It knew you were a stupid brat and was waiting for you-ss to make a mistake, he exined disdainfully.


    Khita grimaced and as she looked down at the ground. She avoided his eyes out of embarrassment.


    Creepy bloody things with their damned human faces. I could have taken it though, She muttered nervously, as she looked up and scanned the canopy overhead.


    You see those ws? Theyre like-ss knives and very sharp, no? cknail asked her condescendingly.


    The hobgoblin then drew another stone. This time he whipped it by hand into the bushes beside where he had dropped the rabbits.


    There was a yelp of pain, and cknail pounced towards its source. Khita flinched and gasped at the unexpected quick movement. She was still high strung from thest surprise.


    Landing in the tall weeds, cknail felt his ws grasp something soft and pudgy. Immediately, he yanked his prey from its hiding spot and up into the air.


    Scamp hung limply in his hand. The goblinsrge eyes were wide and he had a nervous smirk on his lips. It reminded cknail of Khitas expression when he had caught her.


    Ello boss. I gonna carry rabbits for ya, Scamp told cknail hopefully.


    The hobgoblin glowered at the little liar. He wanted to tell the goblin that Varhs was his master not him, but he couldnt. Varhs was a terrible master. cknail was pretty sure he never beat Scamp at all! How was that supposed to work?


    cknail shuddered to think about what would happen if he wasnt around to keep Scamp under control. Why couldnt Scamp be as well behaved as he had been as a goblin?


    Unlike Khita, the goblin hadnt actually been forbidden to enter the woods. He was just annoying and cknail didnt want him around.


    The stupid little runt had no fear of the forest since he had been born there. He was also borderline suicidal, especially since he kept trying to steal cknails rabbits. No matter how many times cknail caught and punished him he didnt stop.


    Unfortunately, the young goblin was also very sneaky and thus unlikely to actually get himself killed. The same couldnt be said for Khita. cknail had to watch her like a hawk.


    Awhile back, Khita had gotten bored and decided she wanted to be a scout. So she had bugged Saeter until he had reluctantly let her join them on a few trips out into forest. cknail had been secretly hoping that she had finally annoyed Saeter enough that they were taking her out into the woods to be disposed of.


    He hadnt been so lucky. Now Khita considered herself an expert at navigating the forest, which she wasnt. To make matters even worse Vorscha had showed up and made it in to cknail that she would be holding him responsible for Khitas safety. How was that fair?


    You gonna drop me, boss? Scamp asked as the hobgoblin held him up.


    cknails arm was getting tired so he gave the goblin a quick growl and dropped him onto the ground. Then he gave him a hard kick. Scamp grunted as he was sent sprawling over to rest at Khitas feet, but he quickly pulled himself back up. Goblins were hard to hurt.


    Stay with her, he ordered Scamp as he began stomping back to camp.


    Okay, boss, the goblin replied cheerfully.


    Hey, why did you do that? Khita asked in disapproval.


    cknail ignored her; he didnt care at all about what she thought. She was stupid.


    After he didnt respond, Khita and the goblin immediately started following him. It wasnt like they had anywhere else to go.


    It took more than a few minutes to hike through the woods and get back to the camp. Khita was huffing in exhaustion when they arrived because cknail had set a quick pace. After a brief nod to the sentry on duty, who was no one important, they stepped out of the forest and Herads base came into sight.


    The seasons werent the only things that had been changing. Herad had her ambitions, and she was working hard towards achieving them.


    The camp was slowly but surely transforming. The small log buildings that the bandits had originally built had been expanded and several more of them had been constructed. Almost all the lean-tos had been torn down and reced. Even the forest had been pushed back, both for lumber and safety.


    Wooden watchtowers had been set up along the road at the edge of the woods, where they could be concealed by the trees. A small haphazard wall of wooden stakes was slowly being constructed along one side of the perimeter as well. All in all, the base was beginning to look more like a small woond vige than a bandit camp.


    After a quick look back to make sure Scamp and Khita were still following him, cknail headed for his campsite. He had to start preparing the rabbits right away or they would go bad. Actually, he would probably make Khita do it. He would have made Scamp help, but the goblin would just eat half of them.


    cknail didnt have time to waste preparing rabbits. Therger base also contained more ouws, and all those ouws needed to be fed. Thus, Herad kept her scouts very busy hunting for food. Buying supplies from town was expensive and cut into her profits after all.


    The bandit chieftain had continued to send out parties to recruit or wipe out anyone who dared operate in the territory she had imed as her own. Since her territory was a ratherrge and poorly defined area she never ran out of targets. The base contained over two hundred bandits now, or it would have if men werent constantly being sent out anding back.


    As she had nned, Herad had stopped raiding caravans and was instead charging tolls now. Bandits were still sent out to intercept travelers on the road, but now they were under strict orders not to kill anyone who didnt resist. They also werent allowed to rob anyone who paid Herads fee. Word of these changes and what was happening was spreading rapidly through the region.


    However, collecting tolls wasnt a job that Herad sent Saeter and cknail out to do. For some reason she thought they wouldnt be very good at it. cknail was pretty sure it was because Saeter was so grumpy. They had more important things to do anyway.


    On top of being her best pair of hunters Herad also used them for less dangerous jobs, like tracking down other bandits that encroached on her territory. Compared to some of the things that lurked out in the deep green killing a few humans and scaring the rest into submission was no big deal.


    His first trip out to fight men who had tried to encroach on their territory had been by far the most eventful. cknail was just very d they hadnt run into any more trolls.


    They reached the camp Saeter, Khita, and cknail shared. The hobgoblin turned and addressed the young woman behind him.


    Prepare the rabbits cknail told Khita as he held them out to her.


    Why should I? she asked him defiantly.


    So I dont kill you and hide-ss your corpse in the mud-ss, he replied with an annoyed hiss.


    Khita justughed, and gave him a cheerful smile.


    You wouldnt do that. Youre all nasty on the outside but inside youre soft as cloth, she told him.


    cknail snarled at her. He would totally do that! Well, he would if he thought he could get away with it. Unfortunately, if Khita went missing he would be among the first suspects. Then he would have to flee into the woods before Vorscha could smash him t.


    Sometimes he almost still considered doing it, though. At least it would be quiet out in the Deep Green.


    Do it, or Ill tell-ss Vorscha you havent been practicing, cknail told her.


    Hey, I have too been practicing everything she told me to, she replied excitedly as she red at him.


    I will lie-ss. She will believe me, the hobgoblin told her as he gave Khita a smug smile.


    I take it back. You are nasty and evil on the inside, Khita told him angrily.


    cknail just shrugged and held out the rabbits again. Khita threw him a mad re, but she grabbed them from him.


    Fine,e on Scamp lets she started to say; only to stop when she looked down and noticed the goblin was gone. He had been there a second ago.


    Khita gave a defeated sigh, and walked over near the fire pit between their tents and started to get to work. cknail could hear her muttering angrily to herself and saying rude things about goblins as she worked.


    He ignored her and set off to find Scamp. He had a feeling the goblin was going to get into trouble unless he stopped him. Mostly because that was all the little pest ever did. For what was far from the first time, cknail cursed Varhs for picking the goblin up. Why couldnt he have found a smarter goblin at least, or an attractive female?


    Apparently, the scout had been out hunting when he had stumbled upon the young injured goblin and decided to tame it. cknail found this story very suspicious. He suspected Varhs had been out looking for a goblin to tame.


    It would have been fine if Varhs had properly trained Scamp, but he hadnt. The man was far toox and undisciplined. That meant that if cknail didnt want people getting a bad impression of goblins he had to discipline Scamp himself.


    cknail scowled as he looked around and sniffed the air. Scamps trail wasnt easy to follow. The odor of many strong scents such as blood and garbagey thickly upon the camp, and it was sometimes hard to distinguish the goblinstest trail from his older ones. Luckily, the goblin had picked up some fairly pungent nt smells while he had been out in the woods.


    After several false leads and dead ends, the hobgoblin found himself standing outside Mahediums cabin. This made him more than a little nervous. He wasnt sure exactly what the mage did in there, but he was sure it was a bad ce for a goblin to be running loose. Things might explode, more than they normally did.


    Hells-ss, cknail cursed. He had been working on learning and using swear wordstely.


    After he had sworn to obey Herad and officially joined the band, Mahedium had quicklymandeered one of the cabins for himself. The former upants hadined but the mage had managed to convince Herad he needed it for ab.


    The mage had rarely left the building except for one trip he had made to Riverdown for supplies. Apparently, he was scared to go into cities because he had very powerful enemies. cknail had heard him argue with Herad over the cost of the equipment he needed, and arguing meant Mahedium had begged and pleaded until he had gotten what he wanted.


    cknail stepped up to the door of the building and opened it enough for him to slip inside. The interior was dark but there was enough light to see, even for a human. The cabin was a fairlyrge building because it had been originally designed to bunk a dozen men. The inside was only split into two rooms. There was a smaller front room and arger one.


    The floor of first room was packed dirt with a thin straw covering, and there were two small windows on each side of the room that let light in. A small bed was tucked up against one wall and there was a wooden table and chair against another. A few items and books were scattered around, but there was no one in sight.


    Idly, cknail examined some of the things. He was surprised to find the weird rectangr things were full of word covered paper. What could humans possibly write about that would require so many words? He certainly couldnt think of anything.


    With a sigh, cknail put the book down and fought the urge to pocket some of the things lying around. Mahedium seemed like the type of person that would notice if things went missing and cknail wasnt a thief anyway.


    Since it was clear no one else was there, cknail moved over to the door on the far wall that led to the next room. Carefully, he opened it and went through.


    The room on the other side was very different than the one he just left. Arge table dominated the center of the room. The floor around it was straw free but looked like it had been mixed with y or something before it had been ttened. It was much cleaner but also colder than the other room. A few smaller tables, a small desk, and some mostly empty bookshelves lined the walls.


    The windows here were all shuttered up, and the only light came from a pair of obviously magicalmps that flooded the room with a pure white glow. They looked like simple metal oilmps except the wicks and oil had been reced by brightly glowing crystals. One of them hung from the ceiling while the other had been ced on the desk.


    Seated in front of the desk was Mahedium. He hadnt looked up when cknail had entered. In fact, he seemedpletely ignorant that anyone else was in the room with him. cknail cast a look around the room for signs of Scamp, but didnt see any.


    Scattered across the tables and shelves were many ss beakers and cups of different sizes. Various fluids filled the containers, most of which were clear or muddy brown. cknail saw a few crystals, that he was pretty sure were magical,ying around as well.


    The hobgoblin walked up behind Mahedium and coughed to get his attention. The mage quickly sat up and spun around towards the unexpected noise. When he saw cknail he gasped and flinched, which caused his chair to rock and then tip over. The surprised mage iled and tried to catch his bnce, but failed, and hit the ground with a heavy thud.


    cknail frowned down the man. He hadnt meant for that to happen.


    Sorry, he told Mahedium, as the mage picked himself off the ground.


    Mahedium scowled at him as he brushed the dirt from his clothes. cknail didnt notice a difference; the mans clothes were pretty dirty to begin with.


    Ah, cknail. You shouldnt surprise people like that. Now what do you want? Normally I wouldnt mind talking with you, youre a rather fascinating creature, but Im very busy right now, he told the hobgoblin.


    cknail decided to take that as apliment.


    I followed Scamp here, and this is a bad-ss ce for him, cknail replied.


    Mahedium blinked in confusion.


    The little goblin? Well, he cant be in here. I would have noticed, Mahedium told him.


    cknail gave him a dubious look. He hadnt noticed a hobgoblin walk right up behind him, so he stood no chance of whatsoever of noticing Scamp.


    Before he could say anything though there was a sh of light and both cknail and Mahedium looked over to see Scamp reaching up onto a table to grab some crystals. One of the crystals in his hand had red to life and was the source of the bright glow. The goblin gave them both a startled look as he unexpectedly found himself the center of attention. cknail growled menacingly.


    Bye bye, Scamp blurted out, as he dashed for the door cknail had left open.


    Before anyone else could react he had disappeared through it. Mahediums eyes had gone wide with disbelief, and he looked stunned.


    He shouldnt be able to do that. Its impossible, the mage eximed in shock.


    Then he froze and clenched his jaw tight.


    Oh oh, if we dont get those crystals back right now this could be very bad, he told cknail.


    "How bad?" The hobgoblin asked suspiciously. He was beginning to suspect magic was more trouble than it was worth.


    "They might explode and take out half the base... or worse," Mahedium replied.


    cknail eyed the mage warily. Of course they would. As if explosions weren''t bad enough.


    The hobgoblin clenched his teeth and let out a low angry growl. When he caught Scamp the little goblin was going to get such a kicking.