“Sar Noda!” several children cried at once.

They ran to her and began to treat her wounds. Abner (or was it Aster?) helped turn her on her side, Briegthon, the boy who had met her first at the ‘Door That Must Never Be Opened’, ran to get bandages. Others fetched water, blankets and other items that Lilijoy didn’t recognize. It was an impressive display of teamwork and competence.

They really whip these kids into shape early, she thought. She felt a little bad for looking down her nose at the group earlier. She wouldn’t know what to do in this situation, other than look for med bugs.

Soon, the Sargent regained consciousness. She ignored her injuries and started barking orders to the children.

“Andrew, close the main gate. Get Simon and Tralia to help you with the portcullis. It’s rusty as hell. Briegthon, you and your friends get armed and armored. Who has a bow?”

“Me, Sar,” rang out around the fire.

“Get your butts in leather and get up on the walls. Heads down and no shooting unless they’re knocking on the gates. I mean it Berthude!”

This was directed at a gangly redhead who slumped her shoulders in response.

“Hatha, Logan and Golden, strike the fire. Dirt only, no water.” She slumped for a few seconds, then resumed, “Bosta, Toad, Marga, get your butts to the armory and pull out everything that still has metal in it. Bring it to the keep entry and start sorting crap from total crap. We need spear and shield most.”

She looked over and her eyes found Lilijoy.

“Who the fuck are you?” she said. Her mouth moved to say something else, but her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed again.

The courtyard was a hive of activity, children running purposefully to their appointed tasks, finding shovels, donning armor, stringing bows. Lilijoy stood there feeling a bit lost.

“Does anyone know what we are preparing for?” she yelled over to Hatha, Logan and Golden, who were busy scattering the flaming logs of the fire and shoveling dirt over the embers.

“Probably goblins!” Logan or Golden shouted over his shoulder without pausing from his frantic shoveling. “What do we do next?”

Lilijoy stared at him blankly. Why did he just ask her that?

“I’ll check on the Sargent,” she said.

She jogged over to where Sargent Noda lay awkwardly, arrows protruding, her face flushed and mottled. Lilijoy could tell that her body temperature was high, but oddly distributed, with cold and hot patches. She bent down and listened at her chest. The heartbeat was fast and weak; Lilijoy was at a loss for what to do. System, she thought, a little help please?

Suddenly, Lilijoy had a feeling she should check Sar’s eyes. She pulled up an eyelid and zoomed in a bit,

. She noted her patient's hands and arms were shaking, as if she was shivering . .

With that, Lilijoy somehow knew she had to remove the arrows immediately. The children had been well trained and knew not to disturb a wound they didn’t understand, but if those arrows didn’t come out, the poison would kill the Sargent in an hour or less. She rolled her over to focus on the highest arrow in her back. When she took her evil knife and cut the woman’s armor away from the wound, she could see a black tar on the shaft.

It didn’t seem as if the arrow was too deep, but she didn’t know what shape the head was. Her vision didn’t help, so she tried different clicks and hums to echolocate through the flesh until she had a very rough idea of what the arrow looked like. She turned her head, to see Hatha, Logan and Golden watching her with confused expressions. She realized that clicking and humming loudly into someone’s back was probably not a form of medicine commonly practiced. Ever.

She decided to imitate the Sargent. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be doing for this part of the Trials, but...

“Hatha, get a bandage. Logan...” she watched carefully to see who responded to the name “...you are going to pull this arrow out. Just pull steady and straight. Golden, get more bandages.” She shamelessly copied the Sargent’s way of speaking.

Logan hesitated, on the verge of tears. “We’re not supposed to pull out an arrow without a medic or a healer,” he said. “It might kill her!”

“Poisoned arrows will kill her faster. I would do it, but long arms and a strong back are needed to do it fast. I might pull it out at an angle, or not be strong enough to get it out.” It wasn’t flattery, as Logan was almost a foot taller than she was. “Now do it!” she barked.

He clenched his jaw and pulled, probably a bit faster than he should, but the arrow popped out.

“Let the wound bleed!” Lilijoy hated pretending to be an authority, but at the same time loved working with her system. The knowledge was entering her mind so seamlessly she couldn’t even tell it wasn’t hers.

I wonder how much of who we are is what we know? a little voice in the back of her mind said. Lilijoy stuffed the thought away for later. She had arrows to remove.

She moved to the next arrow and scanned. This one was in the meat of the Sar’s thigh and much deeper, any poison on the shaft completely encased in flesh. The arrowhead had a hook to it and lay close to the .

“Going to push this one,” she knew to say. “Your turn Golden.”

Golden looked terrified as she handed the bandages to Hatha and approached. She grabbed the arrow around the crude fletching and pushed at it.

“Harder, Get your weight over it! And be careful not to push the fletching into the wound.”

Golden gathered herself and straddled Sargent Noda. With one sudden motion she leaned on the arrow, and with a ripping sound, the arrowhead emerged from the front of the Sar’s leg. Then she quickly jumped off and ran a few steps before losing her dinner noisily. Ignoring this, Lilijoy severed the shaft just in front of the fletching with her evil knife and pulled the rest of the arrow through.

Just as she finished, a boy approached and said, “Sir, the enemy has been sighted. Two hands or more approaching the back side.” He was trying to talk like a soldier, but his trembling voice gave away his fear.

“Hatha, Logan, Golden finish the job here. Push the next one, let it bleed, then bandage as tight as you can. Keep pressure on the back wound.” She turned to the new boy. “Run to the gate as fast as you can. Get the portcullis up a foot, no more.” The boy looked at her blankly. “Figure it out! Now go!”

She watched as he turned and ran to the gate house, then she started jogging to the nearest stairs up to the wall, looking for the archers. The idea to open the portcullis just a bit had popped into her mind, whether inspired by her reading or her system, she couldn’t tell. Or maybe it was just her own idea? Whatever its source, she hoped she wasn’t making a huge mistake.

***

The goblin scouts moved through the brush that had grown up in the formerly cleared area around the old human building. Spread out but maintaining a line of contact, they slowly moved down the wall, looking for an entrance. The wounded human had fled here for safety, but they had tracked her easily and were looking forward to looting the body. It was too bad the meat would be spoiled by the poison on their arrows, but that was the cost of killing a human warrior with no losses on their side. A quick scratch on the cricket let each other know to hold position. Someone must have spotted something. Soon an all-clear sounded, and the scouts moved forward again.

They rounded a corner and continued until they hit an open area, the main road into the fort entrance. Back against the wall, the advance scout edged along until he found the gate. There was no door, and the portcullis was sitting a foot off the ground. Entry would be easy. There was a lingering scent of wood smoke in the air, and the smell of humans. More than one.

The call pattern for regroup at distance sounded and the scouts moved off to a safe location to discuss the situation.

***

From the wall above, Lilijoy watched the glowing bodies of the ten scouts move below. It was funny to her, watching them move so carefully, certain in their stealth, when she could see their crouching forms like beacons in the night. Unfortunately, they seemed to be otherwise competent, moving in coordinated patterns, signaling each other with some device that sounded like a night insect.

She wasn’t sure why they had withdrawn, though she guessed they might have a sense of smell like hers. She could easily smell the sweat and fear in the air from multiple individuals, and the smoke-scent from the fire overlaid the area like a heavy blanket. She was disappointed they hadn’t taken the bait of the open portcullis. Still, the night was young.

She glanced back down to the courtyard and found the form of Sar Noda lying next to the warm area where the fire had been. From up here, Lilijoy couldn’t tell much, just that the Sargent lived and all the arrows had been extracted. Her system sense told her that the odds of the woman living past a day were very small. There was no cure for hemlock on the Outside. The Inside had different ways to cure things, she figured, maybe magic? But Lilijoy didn’t think a random healing wizard would wander into the fort at this point.

Scanning the wall, she saw the six children she had assigned to the gatehouse towers waiting quietly. The other two were poised on either side at arrow slits, ready for the goblins to attempt entry. It had been a good plan, and she sighed in frustration.

She looked over at Sar Noda and had an idea.

***

The goblins were in a circle, discussing their next actions, when a fresh smell of fire came wafting from the fort. The sound of weeping and lamentation drifted over to their location. The goblins looked at each other and smiled. Soon, they had their plan and their orders.

They split into two groups and filtered over to either side of the gate. Looking around the edge of the stone, a fire burning in the center of the courtyard was clearly visible, as were several small figures huddled around a body, weeping. Human children.

Stupid humans, the fire would destroy what little night vision they had. Here was a chance for unspoiled meat!

“No poison,” the leader hissed. “Sneak in and surround.”

Another gestured with his bow, “Let’s shoot them from here, through the grate.”

The leader spat in disgust. “Tunnel too long. No range.”

There was a corridor about fifteen feet long between the portcullis and the courtyard. Clearly the archer disagreed, but he knew better to argue with the leader.

“Go two by two, two stay back with bows.”

Two goblins rolled under the portcullis and smoothly regained their feet, followed by two more, and then two more. The first pair had already made their way about ten feet down the narrow-arched hall, pressed against the wall, when arrows shot from the walls on either side and the portcullis began to close. At the same time, arrows began to rain down from the tops of the protruding gate towers, targeting the four remaining on the outside.

“Ambush!” several yelled as the first round of arrows took their toll. One of the goblins in the hall took an arrow to the throat, another escaped injury when the inexperienced archer grazed the side of the arrow slit, sending a pinwheeling shaft across the hall. The rest of the goblins inside undertook a variety of uncoordinated actions. The two closest to the descending portcullis quickly rolled back the way they came, while the other three broke into a run for the open space of the courtyard.

***

Lilijoy watched with satisfaction as her plan unfolded. She stood next to the entrance to the courtyard, against the wall and out of sight of the goblins in the hall. She heard the pelting feet and hissed, “Now!”

Andrew, as his name had turned out to be, and Logan swung light spears from either side of the gate at goblin knee level. Andrew’s spear encountered a running goblin with perfect timing, catching him across the legs and downing him on the spot. Logan’s timing was less perfect. The goblin dodged around the spear tip and continued at full speed into the courtyard. However, the goblin running on his heels couldn’t see the haft swinging toward him and tripped into a long sprawling fall.

In a blink, Lilijoy was under Andrew’s outstretched arms and around the corner, attacking the first downed goblin. The evil blade sliced across his spine easily, sending an arc of blood spraying onto the air. Berthude fired from her post next to the arrow slit, aiming low in case she missed, and caught the running goblin in the calf. The three children at the fire pulled out spears whose points had been in the flames and stood ready, defending Sar Noda.

The goblin who had sprawled into the courtyard gained his feet and considered his options as he pulled a bone knife from his belt. They were:

A: Three children with red hot spears facing him with fierce expressions.

B: Five other children converging from the sides of the courtyards with spears and swords (the swords were wooden, but the goblin can be forgiven for failing to notice.)

C: A three and a half foot tall, short haired girl carrying a bloody foot long evil glass blade which emanated an aura of immense satisfaction.

He chose all of the above, or rather it was chosen for him and his arrow ridden compatriot too, when the children converged on both of them.

It was a small miracle that the children managed to avoid hurting each other. It would have been a very large miracle if either of the goblins had survived, or even resembled goblins by the time the children were done. Unfortunately for the goblins, the universe only had a small miracle to dispense, and so the combat in the courtyard rapidly concluded in spectacularly bloody fashion.

Outside the gates, the archers on the towers were having trouble to firing downward at an awkward angle, particularly as they were shorter than the original design specifications of the tower. They manage to bring down three of the six, and injure one more, before the goblins fled into the night. Turning to survey the scene in the courtyard, the archers on the tower cheered in victory, a cheer that was soon taken up by the rest of them, including Lilijoy.

Her plan had worked! She was a little disappointed that three had escaped, as she worried they might run off to fetch more, but now they had more bows and arrows and she had confidence they could hold out from the walls if they had to.

Cleanup followed. Bodies were dragged, blood was covered up by dirt and ashes, loot was plundered. The cricket devices, small hollow wooden boxes with carved ridges were particularly coveted, and Lilijoy had to split up fights more than once before a system of choosing by lot was implemented.

The final tally included six small bows, seventy-two arrows (ten were poisoned), three disturbing bone necklaces, two less disturbing bone necklaces, a copper bracelet, many bone knives, bone awls, unidentifiable bone tools, fire starting materials, bone carved beads, bone totems, shiny rocks, a bone cup, and even an entire bone place-setting. Everyone was very satisfied to have a variety of goblin-carved bone items to commemorate their first battle.

What concerned Lilijoy was the relative lack of food, water and other such traveling amenities. Surely a band of goblin scouts in human territory far from their own lands would be carrying food and water? Possibly they were just very good at living off the land, but she thought it likely that they were performing short range scouting missions from a larger group. She needed to talk with Sar Noda, but the woman was stubbornly unconscious and likely to remain so.

Lilijoy contemplated leaving the Sargent in a room of the keep and trying to bring the others back to civilization, but the protective enclosure of the old fort was not easily abandoned, and in the end, she decided it would be more dangerous to run into goblins outside its walls. If there weren’t any more goblins in the area, then staying a few days wouldn’t hurt either. Presumably, the wagon drivers would notice when no children and no Sargent returned, and send for help.

That decided, she organized a watch for the remainder of the night, got everything settled down, and logged off.