Into the Green 9


    cknail ignored Khita and everyone else as he went to work on things that were actually important. The early morning sunshine shone down on him as he got breakfast going. Sleeping, like everything else, made him hungry.


    More meat was brought over by goblins and roasted over the fire. There was enough that all the humans got to eat their fill, and there were still lots for the goblins. During cknails absence, the goblins had gotten skilled at hunting small game. cknail had shown them how to make slings and snares before he had left. The tribe had certainly grownrger, and none of them looked hungry.


    I never thought Id be so happy to eat a squirrel, or that theyd taste so good, Geralhd said after chewing and swallowing a bit of meat.


    Theyre pretty nice eating, really. Much better than rats, Khita replied from where she was sitting on the ground by the fire.


    Geralhd blinked in surprise and he gave her a disbelieving frown. Khita noticed his reaction and shrugged indifferently. Its not like Ive eaten a lot rats, but when youre living on the streets and youre hungry you eat whatever you can get.


    Her exnation just made Geralhd look more ufortable. He fidgeted and looked away.


    I used to live off rats and bugs, but now I prefer human food. It tastes less like dirt and it doesnt fight back, cknail added cheerfully.


    Khita threw cknail a friendly grin, which cknail returned, but there was silence as Geralhd and the other nearby humans considered this piece of hobgoblin wisdom.


    Er, that stew from yesterday... What was in it? Elyias asked as put down the rabbit on stick he had been eating. A few of the others grimaced and looked queasy as well.


    Lots of stuff. Saeter taught me how to cook it, cknail replied. Thest part of his exnation seemed to reassure the humans a little. Most of them resumed eating.


    cknail smiled proudly to himself. He was a great cook, and he was d they had enjoyed his cooking, even if it hadnt been his best recipe. There had barely been any bugs in it at all! The next time he cooked he was going to make sure he had the ingredients necessary to give the stew a proper crunch. That was the best part.


    This foray into goblin culinary habits has been fascinating, but we have some more important matters to discuss, like our next move, Geralhd said after he had finished eating.


    There was agreement from the other bandits and they began talking about their ns. A few humans had grown tired of hiking through the forest, but it was quickly decided that nothing had really changed. They still had no option but to try and find a trail that led North. After the confrontation with Werricks men, there was no way there werent enemies watching the main road.


    So we still have to walk through those gods deserted woods for what will probably be weeks, one of the women said. Were lucky we made it this far without being eaten by something. Getting to Daggerpoint is going to be like trying to trek through one of the hells.


    At least we got to rest under a roofst night and eat our fill for once, said the bearded bandit who cknail kept forgetting the name of. Maybe he should just call the man Beardy. As the leader, he was allowed to change his minions names, right?


    It was still early in the morning when cknail led his troupe of humans, and two goblins, off into the woods. Several of the bandits visibly rxed when the goblin camp was out of sight, which was stupid. Things were at their most dangerous when you couldnt see them.


    The going was tough for the first few hours. The ground was uneven and there were plenty of obstacles, such a rock and trees, which had to be avoided. Most of the trees themselves were tall with long slender needles instead of leaves, and sap oozed from breaks in their scaly bark.


    After a while though, the ground evened out, and smaller leafier trees began to appear. That was when cknail noticed something strange; their group had somehow picked up an extra human.


    Hmmm, how many people are we supposed to have? he asked Geralhd, who was standing right behind him.


    What? Did we lose someone? the young bandit asked as he spun around to look.


    No, the opposite, cknail replied as he studied the bandits.


    They had all stopped walking and were gazing at the hobgoblin with confused expressions. None of them looked unfamiliar... but it was hard to say for sure. cknail couldnt always tell all his humans apart. Of course, the hooded man at the back of the line was deeply suspicious. cknail walked past everyone until he got to the individual in question. He had a nagging suspicion about the hooded figure, which quickly proved correct.


    cknail red angrily at the intruder as he spoke. What are you doing, Gob? Thats my cloak trick. I did it first! Dont copy me!


    The feral hobgoblin froze for a second and then made a shrug-like motion, before pulling down his hood. The cloak had been doing a terrible job of concealing his horns anyway; the tips had been pushing up the fabric. Underneath the cloak, he was still dressed in a loincloth but he was also wearing a brown shirt he had stolen from somewhere.


    By all that is holy! Elyias cursed as he jerked back away from the hobgoblin that had been revealed. This reaction annoyed cknail. The hobgoblin wasnt much of a danger now that he had been exposed, and his disguise had been terrible anyway. Only an idiot like Elyias would have been fooled by it. He wasnt even wearing pants!


    Did he kill and rece one of us? someone asked in horror.


    Everyone is still here. He just stole some clothes, Geralhd quickly exined to keep everyone calm.


    The two hobgoblins stared at each for a few minutes. Gob hissed and barked for moment and then cknail growled back. The humans watched the intery nervously.


    Why is he following us? Geralhd asked when they had both fallen silent.


    I dont know. He just keeps making weird noises, cknail exined.


    Please make an educated guess then.


    He wants to stay with me because Im such a great leader. Im so handsome, strong, and wise that he will follow me anywhere, cknail observed with a fair bit of self-satisfaction. Now that he had said the words aloud he realized that they had to be true. What other exnation could there be?


    Well, he cant stay! Beardy the bearded bandit sputtered. He sounded angry and more than a little fearful.


    Oh? Are you the leader now? cknail hissed menacingly as he rounded upon the man and leveled a cold stare his way.


    He hadnt actually wanted another hobgoblin around - they couldnt be trusted  but there was no way he was letting anyone else decide that! He was the leader, and now that Beardy was against it, cknail wanted Gob to stay.


    Hes a wild hobgoblin! another bandit protested.


    Which means hes way more useful than you, or anyone else here but me, cknail countered.


    A few more bandits tried to argue with cknails decision but he didnt back down. Eventually, they had no choice but to ept Gobs presence. cknail was the leader and more than willing to stab a few people to make a point.


    Are the goblins going to be alright without their leader? Geralhd asked with a level of concern that confused cknail. Why did he care?


    Yes, cknail replied simply. The goblins would probably be better off without the hobgoblinzing about and stealing their food.


    By this time it was clear no one was going to try and chase him away, so Gob turned around and yelled something iprehensible. Immediately, four goblins with spears and one carrying arge sac ambled out of the bushes and joined the hobgoblin.


    Bloody lovely, Beardy remarked sarcastically.


    If they can bring in food then Id much rather have theirpany than yours, a woman remarked.


    The addition of a few more goblins certainly didnt bother cknail. He just shrugged and walked back up to the front of the line. He then picked a direction at random and started hiking again. After a few suspicious res, the human bandits followed him, and behind them came the feral goblins. Scamp and Imp stuck with the bandits. If anything they seemed more distrustful of the neers than the humans were. Scamp in particr gave them a few nasty looks and hugged his collection of pouches close.


    The group walked for most of the day, with only a few breaks. The most interesting thing to happen was when they walked around a clump of bushes and spooked a herd of deer. The meeting was a surprise to both sides, but the animals were long gone before anyone could string a bow or try and bring one down. With fleet grace, the deer sprung away and vanished off into the trees.


    When it began to grow dark and they stumbled upon a half way decent campsite atop a rocky outcrop, cknail signalled for a stop. As they were setting up camp, the humans objected to sharing their space with the feral goblins, but cknail pointed out that he was the leader and they didnt get to decide anything. He also mentioned that it was better to keep the goblins close where they could be watched.


    They did share their camp with us earlier, Geralhd told the other bandits. This bit of unasked for truth earned him some angry mutters and res, but it did seem to cate some of the dissenters.


    However, it was the goblins'' ability to gather firewood, even when it got dark, which finally convinced thest of the objectors. When Gob built a fire for himself and the goblins the bandits shut up and took a seat around it.


    Geralhd even sat next to Gob and tried tomunicate with him for a few moments. It didnt take long for the feral hobgoblin to grow annoyed by the human. Gob threw cknail a suffering look that was clearly an attempt to ask for permission to gut the noisy human that wouldnt shut up, but cknail shook his head, so the feral hobgoblin was forced to try and ignore the man instead.


    In the morning, the ferals further impressed the humans by catching several rabbits and squirrels. As was proper, they offered them to their great chieftain cknail, and he in turn shared the spoils with everyone else, after he had finished eating his fill. It wasnt enough to fill everyones bellies, except cknails, but it was more than they would have had otherwise.


    The early morning birds were out in full force as they set out. The sound of their singing filled the air. However, cknail soon began to grow tired of walking through the forest. It was nothing but the same mix of trees they had seen over thest few days. He was careful to avoid the older and darker areas where giant spiders might dwell as well as the overgrown clearings that Mimics preferred. That was the safe thing to do but it was also boring. Some excitement would almost be worth the risk of losing a few goblins or humans.


    A sudden loud cracking noise jerked cknail to attention. Everyone else heard it as well, but the sound echoed through the forest in a way that made it hard to guess where it hade from. The group stopped in their tracks and they looked off in different directions.


    There was another loud sound like wood shattering. This time cknail zoned in on the origin. He saw only trees in that direction, but then he noticed a ce where the ground suddenly dropped away. He couldnt see whaty at the bottom of the hill, but if there was something dangerous there he needed to know about it, plus it might be interesting.


    cknail signalled for his followers to be quiet and then he stalked over to the top of the hill. The incline was steep and muddy. At the bottom, there was a clearing full of long grass, and it was bristling with activity. cknail stared at themotion below. The clearing was upied by ogres. The herd was trampling through the grass along the edge of the clearing where the trees were, and they were using the huge ws on their front limbs to pull branches off of the trees. The huge brown beasts then brought the foliage to their mouths and chowed down on the leaves before throwing most of the harder wood aside. This was the source of all the noise.


    Several of the bandits including Geralhd joined cknail atop the hill. They let out quiet exmations of surprise when they saw the ogres. Many of them had never seen the beasts before, so the group took a quick break to watch them.


    Wow, those are some huge hulking things, Khitas eyes were wide with surprise and awe as she watched the creatures amble about below.


    Ive heard of ogres but I didnt think anything got sorge, Elyias remarked. You dont see anything like them down south. They must be twice as tall as a man when they stand up on their hind legs.


    Do you think theyre dangerous? Are we safe up here? Geralhd asked.


    Before answering, cknail took a moment to think the question over. He had only seen a herd of ogres before once, but because he was the leader he wanted to sound like he knew what he was talking about.


    Were safe up here. Ogres dont chase people. They will crush you if something scares them into stampeding, but they dont actually chase people, he exined.


    What could scare those giants? Elyias asked with amused disbelief. He sounded like he thought cknail was joking.


    Lots of stuff, cknail answered. Trolls and drakes will hunt and eat ogres.


    Drakes are real? I thought they were just stories meant to frighten people...


    Of course theyre real. I mean, Ive never seen one but Ive read about them, Geralhd said.


    I saw one chase some ogres. It was way bigger than a house and its teeth were longer than a man! cknail told them as he held his arms out as far apart as possible to show everyone what he meant. Its roar shook the trees and even Herad ran away from it.


    Khita grinned excitedly as she listened and her eyes shone with glee. If we wait here do you think a drake will show up? They sound amazing! she asked.


    I admit to a certain schrly curiosity about the creatures as well, but thats not going to happen, Geralhd told her. Our journey is dangerous enough without purposely trying to encounter a drake, and we dont have time to waste.


    cknail had to agree with Geralhd. Waiting around would be stupid. He shooed a newly terrified Elyias back into line and quickly got everyone moving again. A long march stilly ahead of them, and they spent the rest of the day trying to shorten it as much as possible.


    After another night in the forest, and an early morning start to the days hiking, cknail was forced to admit that he had no idea where he was or how to get to Daggerpoint. Somehow, one of his minions had gotten them lost. Why were his minions all so useless?


    Your n isnt working, cknail used Geralhd as he pulled him aside. A confused expression appeared on the mans face.


    My n?


    Yep, the one where we walk North until we find a trail to a human city. I havent found any trails, cknail pointed out. Geralhd winced as if in pain and sighed. He apparently didnt like being told the obvious.


    Well, we cant turn back now. Well just have to keep going and hope that we find a road, although I think we should head more towards the East now. Thats the way Daggerpoint should be, he told the hobgoblin.


    Fine, whatever, cknail replied. He wasnt sure that was the greatest idea, but it didnt matter to him. He was fine with wandering the woods. It was as good a ce to be as any, and he still wasnt certain what he would do when they got to Daggerpoint.


    They resumed their march and quickly stumbled into a swampy area. Soon over half the standing green trees were reced by white skeletal husks, and the firm ground gave way to mud. Pools of standing water blocked the way forward, and no one wanted to go for a swim. However, the real problem was the bugs. Swarms of buzzing insects descended on the bandits and goblins. The humans threw their hoods up and the goblins quickly rolled in the mud, and then they made a run for it. cknail led the charge away from the swamp and up to drier ground.


    Now youve really gotten us lost, cknail used Geralhd as he swatted a mosquito that hadnded on his nose. They finally stopped running when they had reached a hill where there was enough wind to blow all the insects chasing them away.


    I have? What did I do? Geralhd replied indignantly.


    Its your n so everything is your fault, the hobgoblin exined.


    It hasnt failed us yet. Lets keep moving.


    Yes, lets keep walking off into the woods until we all fall over dead. That way the goblins get a free meal and dont even have to raise a hand against us, Beardy the bandit interjected. He didnt actually sound as if he actually liked Geralhds n.


    No, they just have to walk half a hundred miles. Thats stupid. The goblins are the only ones here that arent having any problems finding food, Geralhd replied dismissively.


    Ya, youre stupid, cknail added. He felt it was his duty as the leader to point that out.


    A few more of the bandits grumbled but they quickly shut up when cknail red their way. It wasnt like they had better ideas, or anywhere they could escape to, so the long hike through the seemingly never ending forest continued.