Into the Green 5


    cknail and his new subordinates made good time on the road before they had to stop for the night. Thest time the hobgoblin hade this way, hed stumbled upon a hidden cave the size of a small room. It served as shelter from the elements and a hideaway, so he led the bandits to it.


    As his minions were setting up camp, and doing all the unimportant not-leader things, cknail went out to put up his snares. It had be a nightly ritual, and his human followers depended on the food he caught. They werepletely useless without him.


    Once finished, the hobgoblin took a few minutes to forage for edible shoots and leaves. Several of his followers had already been through this area in their own search for food, but cknail had neglected to tell them that Red Cress leaves were edible. In fact, they were the tastiest treat around, which was why he hadnt told anyone about them. More for him!


    When he got back to the cave, Geralhd was there to wee him. Most the other bandits were seated around the cave and resting. Days of hiking had worn them down and given them more than a few aches.


    Its a good thing you led us here. It looks like it might rain over night, and we didnt find much in the way of firewood, Geralhd told the hobgoblin. Were going to have to go most the night without any light, so Im d were not out in the forest.


    cknail nodded sagely in response. He didnt really care, but this sounded like something that important people talked about, and he was definitely important.


    Of course, Im the leader. I know of many secret hiding ces, because Im amazing. the hobgoblin replied as he grinned haughtily.


    After a brief conversation, Geralhd went to see if there was anything else that needed doing, and cknail let him. The humans could take care of themselves, probably. In any case, most of them were expendable, so it didnt matter.


    It quickly grew too dark to see outside. Even the inside of the cave was barely lit by a small flickering fire. As the leader, cknail didnt need to take a turn on watch, so he found somewherefortable to curl up and quickly fell asleep.


    When he rose early the next morning, the hobgoblin yawned sluggishly and started waking everyone else up. Several of thezy humans tried to sleep in, but cknail didnt let them. They had things to do, and a horde of murderous bandits to evade!


    Ah, let me sleep just a little more! Khita whined as she rolled over on her sleeping roll.


    Most the bandits had bedrolls or nkets of some sort, even if they didnt have much more than that. Before fleeing the battle they had grabbed what they could.


    No, Im the leader. Get up! cknail told her as he kicked her in the back.


    Ow, stop that! the redhead hissed angrily.


    No, Im the leader. Get up! cknail repeated happily as he kicked her again.


    He was enjoying this aspect of leadership quite a bit. Not only was physical discipline fun, but it was for their own good as well.


    Argh, fine! Im getting you back for thister, though, Khita growled grumpily as she sat up and turned to re at him.


    You cant get back at me, Im the leader, the hobgoblin exined condescendingly. Didnt she know anything?


    Well see about that, Khita responded as she got up and started rolling her nket up.


    cknail left her alone and went to get the nextzy human moving. It only took one blow to wake Elyias up. However, the still drowsy young man took one look at the hobgoblins face and yelped in terror. A second kick to the stomach shut him up. Minions were so funny.


    After a quick breakfast they were back on the road. Once the sun rose up past the horizon, it became a bright day with little in the way of clouds.


    The bandits continued on their trek North for several hours. They saw no sign of pursuers, although a small flock of screeching harpies flew overhead at one point.


    They were long gone before cknail could string his bow and try to shoot one down. His minions were alwaysining about being hungry, and a harpy had a fair bit of meat on it.


    As he was walking, cknails mind was focused on histest leadership problem. The top of his head was itchy because his horns were growing. They were still only a pair of small bony nubs, but they were definitely getting bigger. It was annoying.


    All hobgoblins had horns - or at least cknail thought they did - but he kept his filed down so that they didnt get in the way of wearing hats and stuff. Unfortunately, cknail had forgotten his file so he couldnt get rid of them.


    Even worse, none of his human minions had a file either. cknail had asked them, and then gone through their bags while they were sleeping, just to be sure they werent holding out on him, but he still hadnt found one.


    While cknail was scratching his scalp, an uneasy feeling came over him. It started with an itchy sensation like someone was watching him from out of sight, and then his gut twisted slightly to the left. Since he hadnt recently eaten any strange mushrooms, that meant something was wrong.


    The hobgoblin stopped what he was doing and scanned the tree lines on both sides of the road. He didnt see anything, but the feeling didnt disappear, so he raised a hand up and signalled for everyone to stop.


    Immediately, a surprised man walked right into cknails back. The man swiftly apologized and backed off, but cknail was still annoyed. Most of the humans hadpletely ignored his signal and were still walking!


    When I have my hand up like this it means youre supposed to stop! an infuriated cknail exined as he tried to stare everyone down.


    Oh, sorry, the bandit right behind the hobgoblin replied nervously.


    Everyone then slowly came to an uneasy standstill as cknail red at them. Who had trained these humans? They were terrible at everything! They must have been raised by awful masters.


    Grumbling to himself, the hobgoblin turned back to the road up ahead and listened carefully. A branch snapped and birds sang, but he didnt hear anything too out of ce or which exined his uneasy feeling.


    What is it? Geralhd asked nervously.


    Your great leader is not sure, cknail replied contemtively.


    We have a great leader? someone muttered.


    Its probably nothing. The hobgoblin is just being paranoid again, a bearded bandit then remarked.


    Really, youre going to question his instincts? Do you think your senses are better than his? Geralhd countered sarcastically with a voice full of ire.


    The bearded man shut up and didnt reply. Everyone else was quiet, as they waited for their hobgoblin leader to do or say something. After a few seconds of silence, cknail tilted his head back and sniffed the air. He smelled nothing unusual, so he began walking forward.


    Once he had moved a few dozen feet up ahead, the distracting scent of his stinky human followers disappeared. cknail sniffed the air again and then crouched down to press his nose against the dirt. He inhaled the scent of the road for a few seconds as he crawled around in a small circle.


    What is he doing? someone enquired.


    Er, did you catch a scent? Geralhd asked as the hobgoblin came to stop and stood up.


    Your glorious leader has found something important! cknail replied as he brushed himself off.


    What? Khita asked.


    The young redhead sounded tired and irritable. It was probably because she wasted so much energy being annoying. She should try and sleep a little more instead of talking so much.


    I found humans! cknail announced gravely.


    All the bandits nced at each other uncertainly. They frowned in confusion and more than a few of them rolled their eyes.


    Er, we know we are humans... Geralhd remarked.


    No, stupid minions, I mean different humans, cknail countered. There was arge group of people here less than an hour ago.


    It took the bandits several seconds to consider this, and then they all tried to speak up at the same time.


    Damnation, that could mean anything! someone cursed.


    What do we do? a woman asked her fellows. Its probably Werricks men!


    We need to know more before we do anything, the first person replied.


    Before the humans could get too loud and waste his time, cknail shushed them. They all fell silent immediately at the tone of his voice, and at the sound of his sword leaving its sheath.


    Im the leader, so I decide what we do! he told them as he brandished the de dramatically.


    And whats that? the woman asked guardedly.


    The other bandits also seemed nervous and unsure of themselves. Luckily, they had a leader to tell them what to do! cknail considered his options for a few moments before replying. Completely on his own, he quickly came to the conclusion that he needed to know more before he could decide.


    You all stay here, and try not to die. Im going to look around, he ordered his minions.


    There were murmurs of disagreement, but cknail ignored them. As the leader, his was the only opinion that mattered.


    Ille with you! Khita offered with sudden interest.


    No. If she tries to follow me then stab her, cknail ordered Geralhd as he turned away from his followers.


    Er, sure, the thin man replied uncertainly.


    Ill do it for you, if you want, a bearded bandit offered him.


    cknail ignored them and headed for the edge of the forest. No one followed him as he slipped into the shadows cast by the branches overhead.


    Stealthily, the hobgoblin slipped around trees and bushes. All his senses were alert as he searched the area for signs of any watchers. When he didnt see anyone, he began paralleling the road.


    It was only after several minutes of walking that he detected someone. As cknail was climbing over an old rotting log, a rustling sound drew his eyes towards a tree next to the road.


    There was a ck haired man crouching in the shadows there, where he couldnt be seen from the road, but where he could still observe anyone approaching from that way. cknail instantly recognized him as a sentry. His gear was also too simr to what Werricks men wore for it to be a coincidence.


    cknail crept closer to get a better look. He circled around a thick green bush and hid behind the base of a particrly wide tree. Once there, he spotted a dozen other concealed humans near the road, and there were undoubtedly more that he couldnt see.


    This was an ambush. Werricks men wereying in wait, and they were ready to pounce on cknails party if they went down the road. They obviously already knew that the survivors from Herads band were nearby, or they wouldnt be waiting like this. That meant cknail didnt have much time.


    It didnt look like the first sentry cknail had seen was visible to any of the other ambushers. The hobgoblin weighed his options. It was best to retreat as quickly as possible, and killing the sentry might alert someone. However, on the other hand, he <em>really</em> enjoyed murdering people.


    He was going to do it. He couldnt help himself.


    Quickly, cknail slipped out from behind the tree and closed in on the man. He was absolutely silent as he glided up behind the bandit and drew a dagger. Once close enough, cknail lunged forward, cut the mans throat, and then stabbed him under his ribs. The man barely had time to shiver and gasp before he bled to death in cknails arms.


    To avoid suspicion, cknail leaned the corpse up against a tree in an as natural a position as he could, and then hurried back the way he hade. Soon, the enemy would realize that cknails party wasnt going to walk into their ambush and they would give chase. The hobgoblin nned on not being around when that happened.


    There was a smallmotion when cknail stepped out of the bushes at the edge of the road. All hispanions looked his way and started talking all at once. cknail noticed that Khita was seated on the ground and sulking. The bearded bandit from before was standing behind her with a hand on his sword hilt.


    The hobgoblin huffed in annoyance and signalled for Geralhd to speak. He was the sub leader after all.


    Youre back, cknail. What did you find? the thin bandit asked nervously.


    cknail quickly filled everyone in. If they had been nervous before, they quickly grew terrified as the hobgoblin told them what he had seen. By this point, their reaction didnt surprise the hobgoblin. Had every coward in Herads band somehow made their way into this group? The only person who didnt look afraid was Khita, and that was because she was too dumb to feel proper emotions.


    Before anyone could ask cknail the predictable and stupid questions that he was always asked at time like this, the hobgoblin growled and stared everyone down. Then, when he had their undivided attention, he exined his n. It was a good n.


    We''re going to run away, he told them all.


    I think we should just take their ambush from behind! Khita suggested enthusiastically. Theyre scum, and well easily cut them to pieces!


    Shut up, nobody asked you, cknail replied dismissively.


    Where can we go? the blonde woman asked fearfully. We cant go forwards into the ambush, and there is nothing behind us but enemies!


    Were already almost out of food! We cant afford a detour, another bandit added.


    Their reactions annoyed cknail. It wasnt a minions ce to question the boss.


    Shut up! cknail hissed. Im the leader, and I say were running, so lets go.


    The hobgoblins angry tone caused several people to step away from him. They eyed each other nervously but none of them started moving.


    Lets go! cknai repeated furiously. Why werent they moving?


    Um, where are we running to? You havent told us yet, Geralhd politely pointed out.


    Oh, right. Were going into the forest, the hobgoblin exined. Ill lead us around the ambush.


    Can you do that? someone asked doubtfully.


    Yes, easily, cknail replied withplete sincerity.


    He wouldnt have any problem going around the ambush. It was everyone else that would have difficulty. They werent nearly as sneaky as he was, and they were dumb. Half of them would probably fall into a hole or something; the same hole, all at once.


    I guess we dont have much of a choice, Geralhd admitted. Every other option is worse.


    You really dont; Im the leader, cknail agreed.


    The hobgoblin then quickly got everyone moving. They didnt have much time so he herded them towards the forest. Once they were all off the road, cknail took the lead again.


    No one spoke as they hiked through the woods. With all the overhanging branches and bushes nearby, everyone was afraid of being overheard by someone out of sight. Only cknail had any idea in which direction the enemyy.


    They had just walked down into a small muddy gully when they heard shouting from back on the road. Everyone stopped and looked in that direction.


    Theyre on to us! We need to move before they find our tracks or get our scent, cknail ordered his followers.


    They wont be able to track us by scent, Geralhd replied. People cant do that.


    Not even if they put their noses really close to the ground and take really deep breaths? the hobgoblin asked uncertainly.


    No.


    Humans are so useless, cknail remarked disdainfully as he shook his head. Why do you even have noses?


    No one replied, so the hobgoblin picked up his speed. Everyone else struggled to follow him up the other side of the gully, but it didnt take them very long to reach the top.


    cknail wanted to move at a faster pace but some of the humans were frustratingly slow. He considered leaving them behind, but decided against it for now. He could always abandon themter.


    After fleeing through the forest for a bit less than half an hour, cknail began to hear sounds of pursuit. Someone had found their trail and was following it.


    The hobgoblin eyed his minions and considered his options. As he watched, one person near the back tripped over an exposed root and fell. cknail sighed as they quickly got back up. He was going to have to do something.


    Why was it always him that had to take action? Chieftains werent supposed to be the ones doing all the work. That was contrary to the entire point! He was obviously spoiling his minions rotten.


    Were being followed. Keep going forward and Ill deal with it, cknail exined as he turned and started heading back.


    Ill go with you! Khita suggested.


    No, youre slow, cknail quickly replied.


    Youre not letting me do anything! she whined in response. I want to fight.


    Instead of replying, cknail turned to look meaningfully at the person behind her. It was the bearded bandit from before.


    Stab her if she tries to follow you? the man guessed.


    cknail nodded happily before walking away. It was possible to teach grown humans new tricks!


    The rest of the survivors from Herads band headed deeper into the forest, and they soon were out of sight. cknail backtracked for a few moments before spotting a hiding spot at the base of arge rock surrounded by bushes.


    As he moved towards it, he pulled his bow off his back and strung it. He then crouched down and started waiting. The enemy would be arriving soon and the hobgoblin nned to be ready for them.