Into the Green 3


    The troll growled menacingly as it red at cknail. The sound was full of raw rage and hunger. A shudder went down the hobgoblins spine, and he instantly understood what the beast was trying tomunicate.


    Yep, you can have those, cknail stuttered nervously with false cheer. Consider the meat a gift!


    He carefully took a step back from the troll and the pile of bodies it had been feeding on. Ovee by terror, he kept his eyes lowered submissively. He didnt n on trying to assert his right to his own kills.


    With all that food in front of it, the troll probably wouldnt bother chasing down one small scraggly hobgoblin, as long as it didnt get angry. Unfortunately, trolls were famous for getting homicidally enraged over nothing and killing people.


    The hobgoblin continued to back away slowly, and the beast turned away from him. It continued eating again. cknail reached the edge of a patch of bushes. He took a step backwards and there was a snapping sound as his foot crushed a twig.


    cknail winced at the unexpected sound and his breath caught in his chest. He hoped the unwee noise didnt draw the beasts attention.


    He wasnt so lucky. The troll looked up and its furious eyes locked onto the hobgoblin. It growled, and its massive green bulk shifted as it took a step towards him.


    Fuck, cknail swore under his breath.


    With a hiss of rage, the troll lurched forward. Its mouth opened to reveal huge razor sharp teeth as it lunged towards the hobgoblin.


    In response, cknail yelped in terror and jumped. He twisted around in the air and was already moving when hended. Instantly, the terrified hobgoblin sprinted madly across the ground towards the closest tree. Its huge trunk might get in the way of the terrible beast and slow it down. It wasnt a great n, but it was the only one he had.


    The sound of ws tearing into the earth and growling quickly closed in on cknails exposed back, but his n worked. The hobgoblin reached the tree without getting eaten, and he put a hand up against its bark as he rushed around it.


    cknail threw a terrified nce back over his shoulder to see the trolls charge slow. It didnt want to collide with the tree trunk at full speed. The hobgoblin would haveughed triumphantly, but he still had nowhere to go and he was probably going to be eaten alive.


    Could trolls climb trees? The hobgoblin had no idea.


    Another menacing deep growl issued forth from the troll as it approached. It reached out with one hand and its ws tore into the tree bark as it came to stop. Fury radiated from the beast as it studied the hobgoblin hiding from it on the other side of the tree.


    Go away... please, cknail said as he stared at the unstoppable predator with eyes wide with fear. Im just a little hobgoblin. You dont want to eat me; I probably dont taste nearly as nice as a fat juicy human.


    He was totally fucked. The hobgoblin whimpered softly to himself and his stomach felt sick. There was no way he was going to survive this.


    cknail had seen how fast trolls could move and how hard they were to kill. It had taken arge squad of specially armed humans to take thest one down. This one was just toying with him, like he was rabbit or a mouse.


    So much for all his ns; cknail was never going to kill Werrick. This troll was going to chew the hobgoblin up, and then it would finish eating all the humans he had killed. Werrick wouldnt even get cknails message. It would look like a troll had killed the scouts. It had all been pointless.


    The troll smelled of foul meat and rot. Its muscles flexed as it crouched low and prepared to spring towards cknail. The hobgoblin drew his sword. It was a pitiful weapon, but maybe he would get lucky, and piss the beast off enough that his death would be quick.


    There was a rustling sound as a breeze blew through the forest and shook the branches on the trees. For a second, the scent of the troll was reced by that of leaves and soil. Then the moment ended, and the beast leapt. Its eyes glowed with hunger as its massive jaws opened in preparation to feed.


    Pure terror overwhelmed cknail and he froze. Time moved slowly, as his eyes widened with shock. The troll was fast and its jaws promised inescapable death. There was no way he could possibly get out of the way.


    As the beast lurched through the air towards him, something hit it. The troll was knocked sideways as a long wooden spear mmed into its nk and sunk deep. There was a thunderous crash as the beast hit the ground. It roared in fury and pain from the unexpected assault.


    cknail stood there and watched uprehendingly. He twitched slightly but didnt otherwise move. He had no idea what was going on. A second ago, he had been staring at the open troll jaws that had been about to bite down on him.


    With tremendous force, the huge spear was driven deeper into the troll. There was a snapping sound as it pierced right through the green predator and sunk into the ground, pinning it there. The troll began to roar and thrash around but it was held fast.


    Four arms held the long spear in ce. Each of them was muchrger than those of a human. They were also covered in bark. cknail had been saved by what looked like a mimic.


    A closer look revealed more details. The creature with the spear was undeniably simr to a mimic but also quite different. It had the same shell like armor that looked like bark, but its build was different. Its tall body was much bulkier and had fewer growths with leaves protruding from its back.


    The biggest difference was the face. Instead of eye stalks, it had a head that looked almost like a human wearing a polished wooden mask. Its dark eyes shone with intelligence instead of the dumb ckness that filled those of a mimic.


    The creature was silent as it held the troll down. No matter how much the troll thrashed and howled it couldnt get free or reach its attacker. After a few moments, it began to slow and eventually gopletely still. It was dead.


    Nothing happened for a moment. cknail watched silently. He didnt want to attract the attention of anything that killed trolls. That would be stupid.


    There was a quiet creaking noise as the tree-like creature turned to look at cknail. The hobgoblin cringed and reluctantly met its gaze. The thing was very tall and it had a very big spear.


    However, the creature simply looked curious as it studied cknail. At least, it didnt seem hostile, but it was hard to tell since its face resembled a solid b of wood.


    There was a soft muttering noise from behind cknail. He cringed again and nced over his shoulder. What was it now? Another troll? Hadnt things gotten crazy enough?


    Another creature stood behind the hobgoblin. It sort of resembled the spear-holder, but it was much smaller and only had two arms. It also had a carapace that resembled bark, but pale green flesh was visible in the joints.


    cknail felt his jaws go ck with surprise as he studied the second creature. It sort of looked like a human! In particr, it looked like a woman wearing oddly shaped wooden armor, even if it wasnt really human.


    A mass of long vine-like tendrils grew from the back of its head, and its face was soft and fleshy. There was no mistaking the resemnce to a woman; it even had breast-like bumps under its chest armor.


    The female tree monster met cknails gaze. Her face was serene and revealed nothing. The hobgoblin looked like someone had shaken him until he couldnt stand straight.


    The creature opened her mouth and iprehensible words spilled out from between her weirdly human lips. cknail just stared at her nkly. Her voice was soft and melodic but he had no idea what was trying to say. It sounded nothing like the words of humans or goblins. He hoped this wasnt a test.


    When cknail didnt reply, she turned to her muchrgerpanion and said a few more strange words. He answered her in a deeper voice that echoed like sound through a hollow log.


    When they were done talking, she walked over to the spear-wielder, and he shambled over to the troll and picked it up. Together, the pair then started walking off into the forest.


    cknail let them go. He wasnt going to question what had just happened. If trees wanted toe alive and save his life then that was fine with him. Also, he was still so shocked he had forgotten how to move.


    What were those things that had killed the troll? Saeter had never mentioned anything like them, and they seemed important!


    After a few moments had passed, cknail shook himself free of his paralysis. He was d that he had already repacked his bag and gear before the troll had shown up. It was time to get the hells out of here and meet back up with the others. He would be safer among his human meat shields.


    Without a word, the hobgoblin dashed back onto the trail. He moved as quickly as his legs would carry him, and he didnt look back. It was starting to get very dark out now. Dusk had passed and the sun was well past the horizon. Even cknails hobgoblin eyes were having trouble seeing through the gloom of night.


    The only sound that reverberated through the forest as cknail scrambled down the trail was the sound of his own heavy breathing and frantic footsteps. This didnt reassure him much. He hadnt heard the strange tree creatures approach at all, and they had been near silent when they had left. He simply had to hope that they werent following him or that he could outrun them.


    After a few long minutes of running, and almost tripping over unseen stones or branches a few times, cknail saw a familiar rock up ahead. It was taller than him and its grey bulk jutted out from the ground beside the path. It was the marker he was looking for.


    Off of the path, the darkness of the forest was almost imprable, but cknail turned and stepped into it. This was the way to the campsite where he had sent the others.


    A lot had happened today. cknail had fought a battle, lostrades, hiked through the forest, gotten into another fight, and then seen things he didnt understand. He was too tired and sore right now to even process it all.


    Even if it was too dark out now to see footprints or other signs, cknail could still follow hisrades scent through the forest. The campsite was just up ahead, and cknail was going to be very angry if there wasnt a hot meal waiting for him.


    They had no excuses. The hobgoblin didnt care if half of them had fallen into a sink hole or been mangled by a giant boar. None of his human tribesmen could navigate through the forest or help all that much in a fight, so they had better at least have set up a half decent campsite. If they hadnt, cknail was going to give them such a kicking in the morning.


    cknail stepped out of the forest. Moonlight shone down on the ground in front of him and illuminated the way. Up ahead, there was a rocky hill that ended at the base of a cliff. A small fire burned atop the hill, and it cast a host of shadows against the backdrop of the cliff.


    The hobgoblin had found the rest of his party. He raised a finger to his lips and whistled shrilly in a way that imitated the call of a particr bird. That was the signal he had arranged beforehand. He didnt want to startle anyone by sneaking up on them unannounced. They might overreact and then he would have to hurt them.


    There was no response, so after a few seconds cknail whistled again impatiently. What were they doing? Were thezy pink fools even listening?


    This time he did get a reply. It didnt sound anything like the signal, though. It sounded more like a frog being strangled than any sort of bird call. Still, it was close enough. cknail grunted in annoyance as he made his way over to light.


    The hobgoblin could see a pair of figures near the fire watching him as he climbed the rocky hill. Saeter had used this spot as a campsite because the open ground around the hill and the cliff behind it made it almost impossible to approach without being seen.


    When he got closer, cknail recognized one of the humans as Geralhd. The thin young man was standing with his back to the fire. The other bandit beside him wasnt important.


    Youre back! I was afraid something had happened to you, Geralhd announced happily when cknail was close enough to see by fire light.


    Is there hot food? cknail asked grumpily before yawning.


    He wanted to eat and then get some sleep, not deal with idiots. He looked past Geralhd at the dark shapes that were stretched out around campfire. Most of the bandits were asleep.


    One smaller outline obviously belonged to Khita, and she was very gently snoring. cknail was d he didnt have to deal with her obnoxious personality right now.


    Theres some stew. Its barely ptable, though. We only had one pot, and none of us had time to get proper rations, so we just threw whatever we had in, Geralhd exined as he pointed to a small iron pot that had been set on a stone beside the campfire.


    Fine, cknail grumbled as he walked over to it.


    The stew didnt smell very good, like boiled dried meat and grass. That wasnt surprising since that was probably what it actually was. cknail picked the pot up, sat down on the rock, and began slurping the stew down. As he ate, Geralhd continued talking.


    There was a small cache of firewood under an overhang where it would stay dry, and we gathered up a bit more from the forest before it got dark, but we will have to conserve it carefully if we want to keep the fire going all night.


    cknail didnt reply and just kept eating. None of that sounded important. As soon as he was done eating he nned on finding a spot next to the cliff, where it was safest, and curling up to sleep.


    Um, when you doubled back to check for pursuit, what did you find? Geralhd asked the hobgoblin.


    This caused cknail to finally look up at him. The hobgoblin blinked a few times as he sorted through events in his mind. He had no idea how to answer in a way that was both truthful and which wouldnt invite a million more annoying questions, so he lied.


    I didnt find anything worth talking about, he eventually replied.


    So then... what was all the screaming we heard about? Geralhd asked in surprise.


    cknail stared nkly at the thin bandit for a second, and then his gaze shifted to the mans tiny pink ears. Humans had such terrible hearing that the hobgoblin had just assumed they hadnt heard anything.


    But then I ran into some of Werricks men and killed them, cknail exined reluctantly. You dont need to worry about them. Were safe now.


    And the bestial roars? Geralhd asked next.


    I stepped on a pinecone. It really hurt, cknail replied deadpan.


    This answer clearly didnt satisfy Geralhd, but there was no way the hobgoblin was going to admit to even seeing a troll. It would bring up too many other questions he didnt want to answer, and the humans didnt need more reasons to be afraid and useless.


    cknail ignored Geralhds questions and told the man he was going to sleep. Reluctantly, Geralhd left the hobgoblin alone and went back to take his turn on watch.


    When he was gone, cknail found an empty spot and unpacked his nket. The familiar softness of the clothforted and rxed him. He yawned as he spread it over the hard ground and theny down. It smelled like home.


    The stars shone brightly in the clear sky up above, but a lot of them werent visible. The shadowy cliff loomed to one side, and wall of trees rose on the other. It was almost like cknail was looking up from the bottom of a deep pit or well.


    The only sound to be heard was quiet human snoring and a faint rustling off in the forest somewhere. cknail stared at the stars as his body rxed. However, for some reason, one corner of his mind couldnt let go of consciousness. It wasnt a problem hed ever had before.


    He was... troubled. He couldnt stop wondering about the future and thinking about the past. cknail was used to living in the present, so this feeling bothered him.


    It was like the illusion of the pit that surrounded him was real, instead of just in his mind. He had fallen into darkness. What did he do now that he had no master? What did he do without Saeter?


    The howl of wolves echoed from off in the distance. Their sound was faint, even to his amazing ears, but easily recognisable. cknail listened and a wave of memories washed over him.


    Saeter had found the sound beautiful. He had said it was the sound of the North. cknail didnt feel the same way. The howling reminded him of how vast the Green was, and of all the strange things that lived within in it.


    Wolves were just dogs and they were associated with his enemy. One day, Werrick would die at his hands. The hobgoblin focused on that thought until he drifted off to sleep.