“Not this stench again,” Sable said, shaking his head, trying not to breath in through his nose as the group wandered the sewers once more.


    According to Scallia’s intel, the goblin they were looking for frequented the sewers running beneath the west side of Chrimoria, so Holden, Sable, and Mathias wasted no time trying to find this goblin.


    “You’ll get used to the stench,” Holden said, having made several trips through sewers during his time as a spy. As disgusting as they might have been, sewers were one of the best places to go to make a quick getaway. There were lots of long tunnels, plenty of intersections and turns that could easily confuse most people, and they typically ran throughout the entire city, which meant one could use the sewers to get almost anywhere.


    Sable’s face contorted with disgust when he realized how accustomed Holden seemed to this place. “You’re sickening. Absolutely sickening. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’re part sewer rat.”


    “I have to go with Sable on this one,” Mathias admitted. “This is kind of gross. The fact that you seem so comfortable is disturbing.”


    Holden just ignored the two of them. It wasn’t like he enjoyed being in the sewers, but Holden was essentially nose-blind to many of the stenches found within them. They’d likely be spending a few hours down here, so Holden was thankful for this advantage. Meanwhile, Sable and Mathias had to stop a couple of times when the stench got really bad, because they thought they were going to vomit.


    Around the second hour of exploration, Holden heard the faint sound of footsteps echoing throughout the sewers. He gestured for Sable and Mathias to stop, then put his ear to the ground.


    It was hard to identify which direction the footsteps were coming from, but they were getting louder, suggesting that whoever was making that sound was getting closer.


    Soon after, the trio saw a small, green creature with long, pointy ears, and a long, pointy nose rounding the corner of an intersection just a head of them. This creature was a goblin, and judging by the wide-eyed expression it had on its face the moment it spotted them; the goblin hadn’t expected to encounter anyone.


    The moment Holden tried opening his mouth to ask a question, the goblin bolted off around the corner. Holden and the others ran after it, sprinting as fast as they could. Sable wasn’t able to keep up with Holden and Mathias’s significantly longer strides, so the cait-sith had to resort to continuously using minor teleport as it ran to keep up.


    After about a minute of running, Sable gave up on that strategy. Instead, he decided to teleport onto Holden’s shoulders. Sable had his back legs on Holden’s shoulders, while his front legs were firmly planted on Holden’s head.


    “Get off me, Cat,” Holden howled. “I’m not your carriage.”


    Sable stood there flicking his tail back and forth. “This isn’t pleasant for me either, but I can’t keep up with you on foot. Now giddy-up. Go faster.”


    Holden growled. The anger he felt at that moment did make him run faster, though, and he was soon within a couple feet of the goblin. That was when Holden grabbed Sable off his head, tossed him, and said, “Make yourself useful and catch that goblin, Cat.”


    Ahh! Sable screamed as he was tossed in the air. He then used minor teleport to appear on the goblins head. “We just want to talk to you. Please stop running away.”


    The goblin tried pulling Sable off of its head, but Sable dug his claws into its skin.


    Aahhh! The goblin cried. “Get off of me. Get off. That hurts.”


    Holden finally caught up to the goblin, grabbing its shoulders. “Stop right there. We just want to talk.”


    “You guys are awfully aggressive for people who just want to talk. Get your hands off me.”


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    “Oh, sorry.” Holden let go of the goblin’s shoulder. Sable then jumped off its head.


    The goblin rubbed its scalp from the pain caused by Sable’s claws. “You’re all a bunch of nitwits. Now what do you want?”


    “Sorry about that, “Holden said, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’ve been looking for a goblin who roams the sewers. We believe they might have seen the sword we’re looking for.”


    The goblin started fidgeting all of a sudden. “Oh, a sword, huh? Yeah, I saw a sword recently.”


    “Was it floating?”


    The goblin cringed at that question. “Yes it was. Did that sword belong to you or something?”


    “Actually, it belongs to me,” Mathias said.


    “Well, when you find that sword, tell it to keep its mouth shut, would you? It’s got a nasty personality for a floating hunk of junk.”


    “What? Nasty personality? What are you talking about?”


    The goblin sighed. “That sword of yours can talk, right? I saw it floating there and thought I’d sell it for some digmata.”


    Sable looked up at the goblin with a curious gaze. “Are you sure it was the sword that was talking? Not some invisible creature, like another goblin, or maybe a fairy. Or a pixie?”


    The goblin crossed its arms. “I’m sure it was the sword. The voice I heard was being projected right into my head. No fairy or pixie can do that.”


    “Speaking of fairies and pixies,” Sable said. “Have you seen any wandering around the sewers lately? Possibly with a coin-sith, too?”


    The goblin looked at Holden and Mathias. “What’s with this cat and fairies?”


    “Excuse me, foul goblin. I am not a cat. I am a cait-sith.”


    “You’re the rudest cait-sith I’ve ever met. But if you must know, I did see a red pixie flying around here about a week ago. Don’t know where she went off to. Just saw her enter through a manhole for a brief minute before leaving.”


    “Which manhole? Which one? I’ve been searching for that pixie for days now.”


    “Not sure. I think it was a manhole leading up to an alley by some old tavern. Oh, it was the same one in the alley where I saw that sword.”


    Sable started prancing around in excitement. “Did you hear that Holden? The pixie was here. The pixie was here. We have to track it now. We don’t want to lose its trail.”


    Holden groaned at Sable’s overly enthusiastic demeanor. “Did you even listen to the goblin? The pixie was here over a week ago. That’s around the same time you escaped. Not going to help us much.”


    “Oh, you’re right. I guess this floating blade is our best lead. Let’s go, foolish humans. The red pixie awaits.”


    Sable started running off in a random direction before realizing he had no idea where to go. He then returned to the group with droopy ears, embarrassed by his behavior. Sable than looked up at the goblin and asked, “Do you happen to know where this sword went off to?”


    The goblin shrugged its shoulders. “It said something about me not being a worthy master, then it flew off somewhere once it escaped my grasp. Sounds like a pretty stuck-up sword if you ask me.”


    “Doesn’t sound like this red pixie you’re after is involved,” Mathias pointed out. “But my sword never had the ability to talk. Could we be following a different sword?”


    Holden had thought the same thing the moment the goblin mentioned the sword it tried to grab spoke to it. Talking swords did exist, but they usually were the vessels for a spirit or demon. There were weapons and armor that had the soul of a person embedded in them, which somehow made them more powerful. Holden didn’t know exactly how that worked, but those weapons were created using forbidden techniques that were outlawed all over the world of Thanador.


    There was one other possibility that Holden considered. “Mathias, it’s possible that your sword has been possessed by a spirit or demon of some sort. Have you ever come across any places with high spiritual energy?


    “Uhm, I’m not really sure. How would I even know? I can’t use magic.”


    “Any places that felt strangely ominous to you? Or maybe you felt like someone was watching you even though no one was there?”


    “Oh, there was this dragon alter I slept at a few days before I arrived in Chrimoria. It seemed like a safe place, since animals avoided it for some reason.”


    “Dragon Alters are places of worship for old religions from centuries ago,” Holden explained. “There is tons of spiritual energy in those places. A spirit probably possessed your sword while you were sleeping, then it wandered off after you passed out in the tavern.”


    Within the world of Thanador, there were spirits that had no sense of self. These spirits would wander aimlessly looking for things to possess. Sometimes they were inanimate objects, other times they were dead bodies. Once they possessed something, the spirit would take on the identity of whatever it was that it possessed. If it was a corpse that was possessed, the spirit would have all of the memories of the person, or creature from when it was alive. As for objects, the spirit would gain a sense of awareness, be able to sense everything happening around it, and had the capability to telepathically communicate. It would also slowly develop a personality over time.


    “But why would it leave me just like that?” Mathias asked.


    Holden shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows. It sounds like it wants a worthy wielder. If that’s the case, I think I might know where it might’ve wandered off to.”


    Holden than thanked the goblin for its assistance, and handed it a couple copper coins for the trouble. Holden than led the trio back to the Undercity with a particular destination in mind.