Up in the canopy, hidden amongst the leaves, another elf warrior sat on one of the branches. He held a long bow in his hands, almost as long as his body, though he hadn’t drawn the string yet. Varre had no idea about this stranger’s archery skills, but from what he knew about elves, he assumed the man could easily fire off an arrow straight through somebody’s cranium. He’d only need a second.

  To make matters worse, the warrior wasn’t alone. Two more of his kind sat on other branches of the nearby trees, as if phasing through the dense foliage and announcing their presence.

  None of the guards had noticed them before. There was little need to look up. No one anticipated any threats from above. Perhaps given enough time one of the guards would have spotted the hidden threats, but they were busy with more important matters. First, the chase occupied their minds. They had to focus to avoid running into any obstacles. Then, the mortally wounded aurochs twisting on the ground presented a mortal danger to their liege. Finally, the mysterious woman had to be watched in case she tried anything hostile.

  Worst of all, though three archers now looked down onto the scene, no one knew how many more remained hidden. There may have been dozens waiting nearby. If both sides came to blows, would the humans come out ahead?

  They still had an ace up their sleeve. Forty Royal Guards stayed just a couple of minutes away. They were close enough to help, but far enough to stay out of the actual hunt. If Captain Hakon, or anyone else for that matter, gave them a signal with a horn, they’d rush here to save their liege as quickly as they could. But would that be enough? Even if they got here in time?

  It was certainly a force to be reckoned with, but few of them used ranged weapons. Some carried short bows as backup, but most left theirs at home. It was a weapon meant for patrolling castle walls, not riding on horseback. The knights did not anticipate threats hiding in the tree canopy. Most of the real dangers were ground based. Besides, what would happen if the elves hid an entire army of hundreds of warriors somewhere nearby? There was too much uncertainty to attack first.

  Luckily, Sofia wasn’t ready to turn to violence either. She noticed the shifting soldiers, furious at having fallen for such a trap, and decided to act before things got too far. “Wait! Please!” she called out to the humans as she stretched her arms, as if trying to physically hold them back, “Carlos!” she yelled out the lead archer’s name and then told him something in their language.

  The elf in the canopy squinted his eyes, but responded and the pair held a brief conversation. Unfortunately, none of the humans understood their speech, but Varre had other things on his mind than trying to pick up some meaning from their words.

  “Hold on!” he ordered his soldiers, “don’t attack them yet!”

  Hakon didn’t like staying in this dangerous situation, with weapons practically aiming down on him, but he understood that any sudden moved could easily escalate this standoff into a full blown battle. A battle where a single loose projectile could easily kill the monarch. The risk was too high.

  Instead, he quietly ordered the knights to come closer and start surrounding the king with a protective cordon. Though Varre left his plate armor behind, the enemies might still opt for a melee attack in the end. Or perhaps Elvira could come up with some magical shield to protect her liege. At least for a few seconds he’d need to escape. Either way, it was best to prepare while they had the time.

  Finally, Sofia turned back around to the humans. “We don’t want to fight. We just want to go. Okay?”

  “I agree that there’s no point in fighting,” Varre replied, “but I’d like to know what you are doing here. Do you live somewhere nearby? If we’re going to run into each other again, we need to be ready to talk.”

  He didn’t want to be too blatant and ask about their numbers directly, but he still needed to be sure of their intentions. They could have been a serious threat. Perhaps they were even planning to attack Ashbourne or another village all along, and this unexpected meeting just threw a wrench into their plans.

  “No, we do not,” the elf woman admitted, “we live far to the North. Or lived. We are travelling.”

  Varre kept pushing. “Where are you going then?”

  “Away. We are running,” Sofia said.

  “We are not running!” the other elf up in the tree, apparently named Carlos, shot back, “we are saving the weak! We will return!”

  The king had to hide a slight smirk. This stranger was clearly too proud to admit to fleeing from an opponent. “Fine. Then what drove you out of your homes?”

  The woman looked down on the ground, saddened. “Enemies. Our village was attacked. We had to run.”

  “What attacked you?” Varre insisted.

  “It was goblins. Goblins came and sacked our homes,” Sofia said.

  “We fought back!” Carlos added, unable to sit quiet, “and we killed many, hundreds of the bastards, but they just kept coming. Every day. Every night, there was more. They killed the children. They killed the elderly. They took our food and destroyed our homes,” he shook his head, “we lost many good people. We had to move or we’d lose even more.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Goblins? Here? In Gomera forest?” Kerryn called out, surprised.

  The king turned towards his teacher. “Is that unusual?”

  “I’d say! Those creatures live in the North, beyond the Grey Mountains,” the adventurer explained, “They sometimes migrate Eastwards, but I’ve never heard of them being a problem out West before.”

  “They came recently,” Sofia said, “they’ve been destroying our homes and kidnapping our people. Many were forced to flee. Now it is our time to join them.”

  “Are they really that dangerous?” Varre inquired, “I’ve always thought of them as primitive, unorganized groups. I thought they’re a suitable enemy for rookie adventurers, not an entire community of warriors.”

  “I don’t know who told you about goblins, but they’ve either bragged a little too much, or straight up lied,” Kerryn replied, “they’re vicious, bloodthirsty, and their numbers are never ending. Trust me your majesty, we are lucky that those bastards prefer to stay on their side of the mountain range.”

  “I can imagine they’re lethal, but come on. Can they really threaten an entire elven nation?” the king insisted.

  “Easily. Do you not remember the Goblin Wars? I know it was several decades ago, but many of our bravest knights travelled East to support the other human kingdoms when those foul creatures decided to expand their territory. It was a bloodbath and it’s a miracle that we managed to push them back in the end.”

  “I wouldn’t call it a miracle…” Hakon grumbled beneath his breath before turning to the strangers with a serious expression, “how far away are they?”

  He still didn’t trust these elves. He certainly didn’t appreciate getting hypnotized and wanted nothing to do with these people. But if there was a threat of a goblin invasion from the West, he had to be ready for it. As much as he wanted to drum up his country’s prowess in front of these potential threats, he knew just how devastating the wars were.

  “Our home was far to the Northwest. Very far,” the elf woman said, “we’ve been travelling here for many weeks.”

  “Through the Gomera forest? I was told it’s filled with deadly monsters,” Varre pointed out.

  “Deadly for humans perhaps,” Carlos fired back with a smirk, “we elves know how to handle ourselves.”

  Sofia shot him an angry look. “We lost many of our friends and families. Too many. But we survived.”

  The archer in the tree lost some of his proud smirk at that. “The road was hard, yes. But we had no choice. You know that. If we’d stay there, we’d all be killed!”

  “I know that,” the woman replied, but refused to look up at him again.

  “Alright,” Hakon cut in, once both of the elves went quiet, “but I still don’t get why the goblins attacked you. They love looting and pillaging, that’s why they’ve always been invading the human kingdoms. I’ve never heard of them going after elves before.”

  “Our homes are no worse than yours, human,” Sofia replied with an offended tone.

  “I think you misunderstood,” Kerryn quickly intervened, “We are very sorry about your losses. It must be terrible to be forced out of your homes, but the captain simply wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  The woman cooled down slightly.

  The adventurer scratched his chin. “I think what he’s really asking is why the goblins decided to go after you this time. You must agree it’s simply much easier to find and attack visible settlements on the open fields, than to scour through monster infested woods on the hunt for your hidden towns. He wasn’t suggesting that your lands are lacking.”

  “I see,” Sofia said after a short moment, “then I am sorry too. It’s a difficult time.”

  “I understand,” Kerryn replied, “but anything you can share with us will help.”

  The woman sighed. “We know they came from the East, but we don’t know why they attacked. They were never a problem before. They came a few years ago and started threatening small villages. First they harassed the scouts and hunters. Then the gatherers. It took some time, but then they attacked villages out right.

  “They left no survivors. They kidnapped those who could still work, and killed everyone else. Only a few lucky ones escaped, but it wasn’t easy. The goblins surrounded the villages and waited in the darkness. They didn’t want anyone to get away.”

  “Don’t think we just took it laying down, human,” Carlos added with a venomous tone, “of course we went after them! We wanted to rescue our friends and avenge the fallen, but there were simply too many of the bastards! For every goblin we killed, five more took their place. They had troops, they set up traps and defenses everywhere! And worst of all, whenever we’d destroy one of their camps, we’d find out the prisoners had already been moved somewhere else!

  “It was hopeless. Every day we lost more of our own. Every day, another village fell. Soon, it wasn’t just some outer borderlands that were under threat. They came after our towns, our cities. We had to leave while we still could.”

  “Wait, so the entire elven race packed up and left?” Varre asked.

  “No,” the archer shook his head, “and not at once. At first, the people from smaller villages moved to the bigger ones. Then to the towns. We thought we’d have safety in numbers, but those bastards simply brought more soldiers.”

  “We couldn’t go on like this,” Sofia continued, “some of our brothers and sisters decided to flee deeper in the woods. After a while, we decided to join them. I couldn’t just watch our people die. The goblins are dangerous, but even they can’t survive inside of Gomera forest.”

  “So you came all the way out here?” the king looked around, “how do you know they won’t make it through to Logres? I get that it’s dangerous, but they clearly managed to make it to your homes somehow right? Who’s to say they won’t follow you here?”

  “We’ve lived in Gomera our entire lives,” Carlos said, “we understand the forest like no one else. We know how to travel, where to find food and water, and how to avoid the worst monsters. The goblins are invaders. They’re dangerous, but even those creatures can’t fight against nature.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Varre grimaced, “for your sake. But I worry that if they’ve got the numbers to destroy an entire kingdom, they can handle the woods just as well.”

  “Even we can’t do that, your majesty,” Rodger protested, “I know Ashbourne like the back of my hand and I know just as well as they do how dangerous it is.”

  The archer looked like he wanted to argue the point. He certainly didn’t consider this lord to be anywhere near as experienced as the human thought of himself, but the elf decided to let it go.

  “Very well then, but I still don’t get what your plan is,” the king asked as he turned back to the strangers, “the goblins will decimate your nation and hopefully many refugees will manage to get away before it’s too late. But what then? Will this be the end of your people?”

  “Never,” Carlos responded while gritting his teeth, “we have more brothers and sisters who live in Gomera! Once they realize the nature of the threat, they’ll strike down like a bolt of lightning and burn those bastards to ash!”

  Sofia looked like she wanted to add something, but decided to let it go. Perhaps, she did not want to aggravate the archer further.

  But that still left Varre with a question. “I see that you still have hope. That is good. I wish you all the luck and I hope that your fellow countrymen will manage to restore your lands. But that still leaves you. What are you going to do all the way out here, weeks away from your home?”

  Since it is the holiday season, I will have to spend a little more time with the family and friends.

  But don't worry, the next one will come out on Thursday!