Chapter 016:

[A few words first, there may be some blood & guts stuff that some may not like. Just a heads up]

Three days had passed, the rain only finally receding late in the night of the third day. The clouds had parted and now let in the brilliant golden glow of a new dawn.

Being coped up for three days left Anton and Verona with a considerable amount of time on their hands. They spent most of the time training, both physically and magically. Verona had increased her control over her magic to the stage where it seemed like it was a natural part of her. Some things were still a little difficult, like total range of her magic and the amount of blood she could safely control. Anton guessed that it was about twenty meters before it became difficult to control but no idea on the total amount.

Now that the rain had stopped Verona seemed to be growing increasingly aggressive, spending her time checking and re-checking her armor and her vials of blood, one on each hip.

It turned out that the blood could only be kept for a few hours at most before it started to degrade, her control becoming increasingly tenuous and vague. Now, after collecting fresh blood from Anton just after waking up, she looked ready to go on the raid.

Anton was currently on the porch of the Main Hall with Jonathan and Zac, discussing what they had managed to accomplish. Verona was pacing uncontrollably up and down the porch, the thumps of her steps making it difficult to concentrate.

Jonathan had worked up a truly titanic effort and had completely used all the coal he had to forge weapons and armor. Now everyone that was willing to fight had some sort of forged weapons, the rest having the best of what was left. Despite the rain, he had traversed the hard rain and personally delivered each piece of weapons and armor.

Zac had been practicing his woodwork and metal work, making rudimentary wooden shields. They were not sophisticated but they looked very strong. He, and the other people from the construction group, had also prepared the wooden gates for each of the four entrances. They had found a use for the Obsidian Tower stone. Instead of trying to break it into small shards, he had arranged the whole slabs in a sort of mosaic fashion on the face of the gate with extra pieces of wood around to wedge them in place. Zac had assured him that it was incredibly strong, not even his full strength had been able to damage it. They only had one gate with the Obsidian Tower stone so they decided to use it for the front gate.

Anton was about to ask if Zac had taken into account the natural flexibility of wood into consideration when designing and building the gate when Verona had interrupted again.

“So, when are we doing this?” she asked for the tenth time.

The three men sighed, though Anton did not have the heart to reprimand her. A few days ago he had told her that she was going to be a part of the raid. Jeff had already been contacted to get a few dozen of his best soldiers to go with him, and now they were currently mulling around waiting for them to return.

“Soon Ver, very soon.” Anton told her. She calmed down a little, but the frustration was clear on her face and body.

With a dismissive sigh, she brought and rested her spear in her shoulder, then rested her head on his arm. Anton wrapped his arm around her head and brought her closer as he rubbed it vigorously. A smirk grew on her face, quickly followed by Zac and Jonathan.

“Good to see you two getting closer.” Jonathan said smugly, Zac sharing the sentiment.

Anton could not exactly deny their words. Over the last three days they had bonded quite a lot, he had caught Verona stealing glances at him more often than not. He was glad to have her company.

“Thanks,” Verona replied before Anton could, “The past three days we've been working together to better understand our magic. It's been really fun actually.”

“So, your magic is controlling peoples blood?” Zac asked Verona tentatively. Both of them had only heard of what Verona could do, not actually seen it. The stories had probably been wildly exaggerated by now.

“Basically.” Verona replied. She looked to Anton as to whether she should continue. “It's rather specific as to what I can actually control. I can't just take it from just anybody...yet.”

Both stepped back reflexively.

“She can only control blood that she's cut herself.” Anton clarified, both relaxing a little, “With time and training it might change, like how I could use the flame pillars. Someday she may just be able to rip a goblin apart with just a nick, we'll just have to wait and see.”

Verona gripped his arm tightly, he swore that he could see sparkles in her eyes.

“Really?!” her voice was almost a squeak under her excitement.

“With time perhaps. For now, let's just try and get this battle over with successfully.”

Verona nodded, the excitement barely dissipated as she continued to look into his eyes. The others looked a little frightened though Anton felt it may be them putting it on.

“Speak of which, are you two ready for this?” Anton asked, bring the conversation to a more serious matter. “Even if I manage to set off a massive fire-storm in the mountain, I doubt it would kill all of them. And we don't really know how many there are inside. There could be thousands coming here, pissed off and out for blood.”

Zac and Jonathan pursed their lips and looked at each-other.

“We're ready.” Zac said, “No matter what happens. Better to get it over with then getting picked off until we're all dead.”

Jonathan nodded in agreement.

Thirty well armed villagers came into the central plaza with Jeff at the lead.

“Looks like it's about to begin. See you both when we get back.”

Zac reached out and grabbed Anton's hand in a rough and hard hand shake, Jonathan's less so.

Anton took a deep breath and stepped onto the sodden plaza ground, knowing that now there was no going back.

---[]---

Jeff looked extremely happy today, there was a definite spring to his step. Spending some 'alone time' with Sam had worked wonders with him.

“Anton, Verona. You ready to do this?” Jeff asked, running up to him while ordering the soldiers to stop.

“Yep, we're ready.” Anton replied.

He noticed the amount of weaponry and armor that Jeff currently wore.

“Do you think that you're coming with us?” He asked, Jeff throwing him an odd look. “You'll be needed here, fully alert and rested, when the Yellow Goblins counter-attack. The people here cannot take that chance.”

Jeff seemed a little despondent.

“I thought that I would get to smash some of the skulls in.”

“Oh, trust me, there'll be a lot of that later.”

“In that case,” Jeff turned to the soldiers, “Anton will be in charge of you for this raid. Listen and follow his words.”

The soldiers cheered and vaguely saluted Anton.

“We've got enough supplies for two days, though you should be back by the afternoon.” Jeff told Anton.

“Thanks, that'll be more than enough.” Anton turned to the soldiers, waving them closer.

He knelt down and, using the but of Verona's spear, drew a basic map in the dirt.

“First, we'll head to the western gate. Then we'll make towards the mountain while hugging the forest, infiltrate the mountain, get whatever we can and burn it to the ground, then leg it back here. Pretty simple plan overall.”

The villager soldiers seemed to agree.

“We'll head to the western gate first, looks like you've got a few things to do first.” A villager soldier told him while pointing behind him.

Anton stood up and turned around. Standing outside the Main Hall was Sybil and Bertram, each carrying a small bag. Anton guessed that they were for him and Verona, probably their packs of supplies.

Zac and Jonathan had already left, hopefully to keep working on building the wall and preparing the village.

“Right. I'll meet you there.”

The villagers departed, some chuckling and laughing while gesturing towards him. Verona followed Anton as he walked towards them.

“Just made you these.” Sybil said excitedly.

“We've put a few extra pots in this one for you Verona.” Bertram said as he lightly shook the bag he had.

“Thanks, Bertram.” Verona said awkwardly as she took the bag from Bertram. Over the past few days she had become less hostile to Bertram, though some still remained. The knowledge that they fought just before his death still weighed heavily on her heart.

“Here's yours Anton,” Sybil said as she hand hers over, “I've put a few of those Karak fruits in here. Hopefully that will help today.”

“Thanks Sybil.”

Sybil leant down and hugged Verona, who returned it. She turned and motioned for him to bend over. As she hugged him, she leant into his ear and whispered.

“Don't let her get hurt. It's the happiest I've seen her in years.”

“You got it.” Anton whispered back.

Sybil seemed happy, letting go and standing beside Bertram.

They gave a final wave as they both headed off to the mountain.

---[]---

The grass leaked water with every step the villagers took, the rain having waterlogged the entire landscape. Everywhere they looked there were puddles of water. Anton had no idea how the Thumpers, or any animal on the plains, survived these great water events.

They had already been walking for several hours, keeping as low as possible while giving the mountain a wide berth. Judging by how close the mountain was, it would be not much longer before they reached their stopping point.

Throughout their trip, they had seen several Razor-Pigs and other large beasts, ones the villages told them were harmless. Thankfully, there was not a Yellow Goblin in sight. If a single Yellow Goblin saw them and made it back to the mountain, they would be overwhelmed and killed. Thankfully they had not seen anything, Anton guessed that they had retreated during the days of rain and yet not returned to their positions.

The western side of the mountain was relatively close to the forest, smaller trees growing close to the foot of the mountain. A patch of forest appeared to be very close and quite dense. The mountain itself was completely barren, only grasses and large rocks along its slopes, snow capping its peak.

Anton decided they should stop at the forest patch to the west to get their bearings and rest. Anton guessed that they would arrive a little before mid-day.

Verona walked beside him with a mixture of happiness and excitement, though it slowly seemed to be infecting the others. At the beginning they walked in silence but now they were happily chatting with each-other softly.

Everybody was still keeping a lookout for Yellow Goblins lying in wait. Their was still the missing scout Dana, he was sure her name was, that was either dead or captured by the Yellow Goblins. It would be good to get some definitive answers.

Verona stopped and looked back at the village.

“Something wrong?” Anton asked.

“Nah. Just can't wait for everything to, well, go back to the way it used to be.”

Anton waited until she started walking before joining her.

“I know that's impossible, the dead can't come back, but it would be nice. My parents would be proud of what we've done.”

Anton placed his hand on her head, she brought her own and placed it on his.

“I would have loved to have met your parents.”

Verona looked at him with a hint of loneliness in her eyes.

“Me too.”

A few minutes later they arrived at the rest stop.

The villagers fanned out, preparing a basic perimeter while everyone caught their breaths. They told him that they had been told to do this action by Jeff. Anton felt relieved that Jeff had been so thorough in planning this raid out.

Anton walked to the edge of the rest area closest to the mountain, where three of the villagers were waiting and watching, two women and one man.

“You guys seen anything yet?” Anton asked.

“Something really interesting,” One of the women said as she pointed to the base of the mountain towards the south,“ There are a lot of them goblins on the southern side, mulling around and carrying buckets out of the mountain. They look like they're carrying out water.”

Anton could just make out the small movements of yellow coming out of what appeared to be entrances into the mountain. They did appear to be bringing out large buckets of water.

Perhaps some of the entrances allow water into the caves. They probably got some valuables, material or otherwise, in what they would presume to be the safest area, the lowest levels. Now they're flooded.

The man pointed towards the closest section of the mountain. “Thankfully, it looks like there's another entrance a bit further to north. Closer to us”

The man pointed to a cave several hundred meters north of where they stood. In-front there were six yellow figures. They seemed to be relaxing, none seemed to be alert and keeping an eye on their surroundings.

“That will be our entrance.” Anton said.

“How do we get to them before they can warn the others?” Verona asked, peering through the bushes at the entrance.

Anton looked at the cave entrance. Like the rest of the mountain, it only had grasses and large rocks. The grasses were rather long, easily a meter, and quite dense.

“I don't think that we could get there without alerting them,” Anton said, leaning against a tree, “And the sound from my lightning or fire magic will probably alert them.”

The others groaned in disappointment. Coming all this way, only to be told they could not advance, was grating on their minds.

“So what now?” Verona asked, turning to Anton, “You can't send us back after getting us this far.”

He could see some serious anger in her face, something that he felt she needed to let out.

“It's a pity that we don't have someone small with us, someone that could sneak up and kill them without making a sound.”

Anton smirked at Verona, the other villagers looking at her as well.

“Why are you-” Verona said before her eyes shot open, “Oh, I get it. I feel a little stupid now.”

---[]---

Verona crouched low and slinked through the long grass. She had handed over her spear to Anton and kept her knife. Despite wanting to use the spear, she knew she could still use her power along with the knife. She also knew that, while traveling, there was a chance that she may accidentally raise her spear to where it could be seen and everything would be ruined.

Anton did make a point about the color of her hair. Since she kept it short she really did not pay it much attention. She soon realized that her silvery white hair would stand out easily against the green grass.

To fix this Anton got a dark brown cloth, that Sybil had wrapped some of the Karak fruit in, and wrapped it around her head. She felt she looked a little silly, though Anton assured her that she would be a lot harder to see in the grass, something that the other villagers appeared to agree with.

Every few feet that she took through the grass, she stopped for an instant, waiting to hear the noise of an altered Yellow Goblins. They did nothing as she made it to the slope of the mountain and arrived at one of the large boulders above the entrance.

Beneath her, the six Yellow Goblins lazed about. Three of them were sleeping, while another two were talking to each-other in their strange and creepy language of chirps and grunts. The last Yellow Goblin was urinating on a rock, a few feet away from the others. Each of the goblins had weapons, but unlike Verona's steel blade, they were wooden clubs. Judging by how much the wooden sticks could hurt from the other day, she was not going to underestimate them.

She looked towards Anton and the other villagers, finding them with a little effort. Her heart was grateful that the Yellow Goblins were not paying attention.

They were a little less then two thirds her size and looked weaker. Just one of them she could take out easily, but all six at once could be tricky.

She brought out her knife and rested it and herself on the rock. There was only one chance for this to work, and she had no intention of getting herself or Anton killed. This fight would need to be planned out properly.

Okay, what would Anton do? None of them are really paying much attention to their surroundings. I should probably get rid of the ones that are alert. Those two talking and that one peeing. Then, I'll be able to take the others out before they can wake up and run away.

With a tentative plan in her mind, she lit the fire within her. The sensation quickly traveled through her body. She took a deep breath to calm herself and readied to attack.

She moved her hands over the clay pots, bringing up the blood. Compared to the first day when Anton gave her some blood there was considerably more. She felt a little bad that she had to take his blood, though he said it was fine. She really wanted a better source, or at least to not take so much.

The blood formed two separate spheres, quickly forming two solid blood spears.

I can only control the blood for about 20 meters, whatever they are, or 60 feet away from me, that's what Anton said. I can't let them get further away and run into the mountain.

She raised the spears over the rock and readied to throw them at the chatting Yellow Goblins. While keeping the blood spears hovering over the rock, she moved closer to the lone Yellow Goblin.

It had just finished urinating, pulling up the cloth that covered its crotch and started to turn to the others, turning sideways to Verona.

Fearing it would gather with the others, she hurried close enough to lunge at the Yellow Goblin. As she raised her body to attack her foot slipped, sending a few tiny pebbles rolling down the slope.

The very blood drained from her body as the goblin stopped and turned towards her.

None of you bastards are going to get out of this alive!

With a burst of mana, she threw the spears as hard as she could at the chatting goblins. As the spears flew towards them she ran at the lone goblin with he knife in her right hand.

The two goblins knew and saw nothing.

Both spears drove through and broke the skulls of the Yellow Goblins. They did not quiver or scream as their head were pierced and driven into the ground along with the spears. As the crystallized blood hit the stony ground it shattered, the fragments flew up and floated around both of the dead goblins.

Verona turned her attention to the goblin infront of her.

It glanced towards its dead friends, then back to Verona. Fear and surprised wrapped its face, probably as it had never seen magic before.

The goblin raised its small wooden club to strike her as came within a foot of the creature. It swung the club down with all its might, the fear replaced by anger.

Shifting her weight and body to her right, she palmed and pushed the club away from her. A momentary look of surprise flashed over its face as it looked down and saw the knife coming for its throat.

The blade slipped through the thin flesh on its neck and severed its veins and arteries. Blood squirted out under the released pressure, all over her arms and face. Its body twitched as she wrenched the knife from its throat.

With a tremendous thud its body landed on the ground.

Her head was pounding and her breath ragged. Only three kills and she was shaking. Not even at the quarry had she killed so brutally or so many, her mind was full of the excitement and rush from the kill. The other times that she had fought she was barely aware, even afterwards she felt nothing like this.

That was unbelievable. I wonder what Anton would say after seeing this. Would he think that I'm-Shit!

Still caught up with the rush, she had forgotten about the sleeping goblins. A lot of noise had been made in the short time it took to kill those three.

She turned to the three sleeping goblins. They were no longer asleep, they had been awoken by the commotion and were grasping for their weapons, and getting ready to attack.

I could fight them with my knife, but one might try to run away. But, I can use my powers to stop them.

As she started to move the blood back to her body, something Anton had said to her came back to her.

He had wanted to know if the blood she released, through wounds and cuts caused the blood she manipulated, could be controlled.

No time to waste.

The blood spears still impaled the goblins as they slowly started to reform by themselves. She poured her mana into the spear and searched for any extra blood. Both of their bodies worth of blood felt like it was hers.

She thrust her left hand towards the bodies, clenched her fist and brought it into her body. Anton had told her that the action was not needed, but helped with mentally controlling the magic.

The blood erupted from their body, a stream of tiny droplets poured out of the wounds from their heads. A moment later their bodies were husks, their yellow skin now hanging loose over their flesh.

The blood formed a large ball infront on her. With another burst of mana the blood separated into three swirling balls of blood, quickly forming into large crystallized spears. Each was longer than she was tall and as thick as her arm.

Controlling this amount of blood was a serious drain, she would not be able to control it properly for much longer.

She turned to the remaining goblins. They were in a state of paralyzing fear, no one was willing to take the first move.

“It's not fun when you're getting attack in your home, is it?” Verona hissed it at the goblins.

Her rage, pouring out of her heart and into her face, terrified the goblins. With their weapons raised, though shaking, they started to back towards the entrance.

With a burst of mana she threw the blood spears. They flew a little slower than the smaller spears, but more than quick enough to strike them.

Each of the spears found their target, piercing their chests and impaling them into the stone. The tips of the spears shattered once again, crystal fragments floated around their backs.

That could have been bad...one's still moving.

The goblin in the middle clawed at the spear, trying desperately to free itself. As it struggled its screams became louder and louder. If there were any goblins nearby they would hear it soon.

“Shatter the blood”

The voice, the one she heard the first time she started using her powers, resounded within her head. It was a woman’s voice, though it sounded raspy and sickening. She did not trust it completely, but it had worked out so far.

'Shatter the blood'...okay.

She focused her mana on the middle goblin's spear, remembering her training, and broke it into tiny fragments, sending them into the flesh around the wound. Through the mana, she felt the shards tearing into the flesh.

Driving the shards deeper into the flesh she found the heart and drove them through it. The heart was shredded and the goblin died.

She held out her hand, reaching out with her mana to the dead goblins, and drew out the blood. Just like the previous two, the blood was wrenched from their bodies, but only two of them. The third goblin, the one on the left, only had the blood leaking out of its wounds ripped away.

As she walked closer she realized that it was still alive, just barely. Blood leaked from its mouth with every breath as its head slowly rocked from side to side.

She raised her knife and slashed it's throat, its life instantly leaving the monster.

She tried to draw the blood out, finding that she could take it all.

Once they're dead, I can take all their blood. I'll need to let Anton know.

There was too much blood that she had to control, so much so that she was quickly starting to run out of mana. She brought enough blood to refill both of her vials, then released her control.

The blood liquefied, the three goblins impaled onto the stone slid loose and crumpled onto the ground. Bloody chunks of stone tumbled loose as well.

Verona was surprised that she had thrown them so hard. Though on reflection, considering that Anton had broken the blood with her knife, it made some sense.

She looked around for any other Yellow Goblins, there was nothing around.

Turning around she waved Anton and the other villagers over. She wondered what Anton would think of how she did.

---[]---

“Bloody hell Verona, you really did a number on them.” Anton said as he observed the carnage.

His magic left things electrocuted or charred, seeing this amount of blood was still a little shocking. The other villagers had the same look about them, each taking care not to step in the puddles of blood or near the corpses, as if it would come alive again at Verona's will.

Verona looked ecstatic with a massive grin, blood staining her face and the cloth covering her head.

“I...don't really understand what that means?” She asked as she trotted up to him, taking the spear back from him.

“Basically, you killed them very thoroughly.” Anton replied. He reached into his bag and brought out another cloth.

As he removed Verona's cloth on her head, he used both to remove the blood from her face. He knew that she could probably remove the blood with her powers, but she only giggled as he scrubbed at her face. Half a minute later, her face was mostly free of blood.

“Thanks,” she said, reaching for her bag that Anton carried, “Going to need these extra pots.”

She brought out another four pots and some string. Anton quickly tied them to her waist. Now she looked like some sort of crazed alchemist, covered in and carrying blood.

“So, everyone, what do you think?” Verona turned and asked the other villagers. They had all been silent for some time.

“Um, glad you're on our side?” one of the men said, immediately hit in the gut by a female villager standing beside him.

The woman coughed, “Actually, I think I speak for everyone when I say that what you just did was very impressive.”

Everyone, even the villager hit in the gut, agreed. Verona let out a little cheer.

Anton patted her head to calm her down, he didn't want a cheer to send everything to go to waste.

“Verona, can you move the blood into one spot, even if its mixed with the dirt?”

“I'll give it a go.”

She held out a hand, Anton presumed that it was to help her control her power, and lifted it slightly.

The blood quivered and rose, though not all of it. The blood that had already mixed with the dirt remained motionless while that on the top rose into the air.

“Where do you want it?”

“Somewhere where it will be difficult for them to see.”

Verona looked left and right, deciding on a crack in the soil.

“We should move these bodies away too,” Anton said, grabbing a Yellow Goblin corpse by the leg.

They moved the six bodies to a small gap between two large boulders and covered them with grass. The blood still remaining on the ground had fresh dirt place on top. It wasn't a perfect cover-up, but Anton felt that it should at least buy them time if they get caught.

“A couple of you stay out here and make sure this entrance is clear when we need to retreat.”

“You got it.” three villagers stayed behind, two where the villagers that spoke before.

Verona walked forward to the cave entrance.

“How do we see in there? It'll get pretty dark when we go into there.” She said as she looked back concerned.

Pitch black probably. We'll need to make torches, I suppose. Unless...

“Has anyone got torches?” Anton asked tentatively.

Six of the villagers raised their hands, opened their bags to reveal several small torches.

“Huh, good that the plan was completely thought out. Although...”

Anton held his hand out and summoned several small fireballs. While they drained virtually no mana they did provide a massive amount of light.

One of the villagers used the summoned fire to light the torch, quickly spreading it to the others.

Verona refused a torch.

“I'll stay next to you. I need both hands to properly use my spear.”

Anton nodded as they started walking into the cave, having to Verona by the collar of her shirt so she did not run head-first into the pitch black cave.

---[]---

After a few meters the sunlight began to receded, the only light from the fires they carried. The tunnel did not look natural, though Anton guessed that it had been some time since it had been constructed. What were once flat and straight rocks had become rounded and broken over time.

The tunnel went downwards slightly as they walked. Nearly a minute later of traveling through the tunnel, a villager yelped in pain. He had stubbed his foot on a large rock jutting out of the floor.

“How do they see in here?” one of the villagers asked, helping the villager to keep walking.

“Their eyes are so much bigger than ours,” Anton replied, “With just the tiniest amount of light they could probably see quite well. That's why they always look so bizarre to us when we see them during the day.”

“Huh.” the villager said in return. Anton did not want to explain how that worked, thankfully they seemed to accept it.

As they moved further into the mountain it started to increase in humidity. The floor started to become wet to the touch, further in there were small trickles of water running through the cracks .

No wonder they needed to bail out water. This is just from one entrance, and that ones doesn't funnel the water in. We still haven't come to a junction yet and there's quite a bit of water. I wouldn't have wanted to have been in here the past three days in the other parts of the caves.

Roughly ten minutes passed and they reached their first junction.

There were two pathways, and the one to the left they could see that it branched off twice again, one going down very steeply. The water followed the grooves and went down the tunnel on the right.

Anton picked up a small rock and on the wall etched an arrow back to the entrance. Verona nudged him and pointed to the mark.

“To find our way out?” she asked.

“Exactly.” Anton replied. “We don't want to get lost in here.”

Under the light of the fire he could see that she looked very happy at figuring out Anton's actions.

“So, which way do we go?” looking expectantly at him.

He looked at the pathways. None seemed to be interesting.

The light flickered on the wall of the tunnel on the left heading sharply down. A tiny glimmer caught his attention.

As he walked closer he realized they were scratches running down the side of the wall. They looked like they were from a hand desperately clawing for freedom, definitely not the marks of a Yellow Goblin.

“Is that?-” a villager asked, pointing further down the scratch marks.

Verona rushed forward and grabbed something lodged in a crevice along the scratch marks.

It was a fingernail.

Anton sent a fireball further down, seeing the scratch marks continuing along the tunnel.

“Looks fresh.” Verona said as she peered at it more closely. “Oh, judging by the blood. It looks a few days old, maybe four or five.”

“How do you know that?”

Verona chuckled nervously as she scratched her head.

“It's just what the blood feels like. I can't really explain it.”

Verona had not turned off her powers, so she continued to glow red. If a Yellow Goblin found her in the dark it would probably think she's some sort of demon.

“I wonder...we lost a scout at about that time. Dana, I think her name is.” Anton pointed down the scratched pathway. “The other directions leads to who knows where. If we're right, we could rescue someone out of this.”

“We're up for it.” One of the villagers said, seemingly speaking the same thoughts as the rest. Verona agreed as well.

Anton started heading down the relatively steep tunnel. He made sure that he made as little noise as possible.

“If they're bringing her and the other villagers this way, it's for a reason. We've been lucky so far and not met any of them, but we soon will. Keep your wits about you.”

Verona dashed infront of him leading the way. With her bare feet she barely made a sound, while the others were have to go much slower to remain quiet.

Nearly every minute she would stop to allow them to catch up, though she only smiled sweetly and said nothing.

Very quickly the tunnel flattened out. Every so often they would see another scratch mark, becoming less deep. The person was running out of strength the further they went down.

Verona ran forward again, keeping her body close to the wall. She held out her hand to stop them, waving them to walk very slowly.

“Hide the fire.” Verona whispered.

Anton disposed of the fireballs and the villagers tried their best to hide the light. She grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him so he stood over her and could see around.

Along the continuing tunnel, off to the side, two large and heavily armed and armored Yellow Goblins stood either side, lounging outside of a torch lit entrance to another cave.

These were not like the others. They wore iron armor, lightly rusted by time, over their front. There was not much room for weapons to penetrate their armor, though it seemed that their back was completely exposed, just like the normal Yellow Goblins. Short steel swords rested at their hip and they held a small shield on their hands.

“They're guards, something valuable should be inside there. Whoa, back up.”

Anton pulled Verona back a bit and covered her silver hair.

A normal Yellow Goblin walked up to the guards, trying to get through. It screeched in their strange language, before being pushed back and falling onto the ground. The other goblin screeched and raged, standing up and charging again.

The guards drew their swords and blocked its passage. It took this as the signal to stop. With a huff, it began walking in their direction.

Verona pushed Anton back and drew her knife.

The goblin muttered something as it walked toward their direction, turning its head back towards the guards as it turned around the corner. Thankfully, it was so angry that it did not see the light.

As it rounded the corner and out of sight of the guards she attacked. Verona grabbed its mouth with her right hand and stabbed its chest again and again. Anton saw the look of fear on its face before its life left its body.

She held it tight and twisted the blade to make sure, finally resting it gently against the side of the wall.

The other villagers looked shocked at what they saw, Verona just smirked and tossed the knife between her hands.

“Ver?” Anton leant in and whispered into her ear.

“Sorry. I just get so worked up when I see them.” She turned around and leant into his chest. “Everything...I just loose control.”

“It's okay.” Anton held her close around her head. “We also got to take the others out. Can you do that while keeping your head?”

Taking a deep breath, she nodded and drew the blood out of all of her vials.

“I won't take any chances with them.” she said, her marks glowing a little brighter as they formed, what Anton would call, javelins.

“I think I can pierce their armor and if I don't kill them, I'll just shatter the blood and rip their bodies apart from the inside.”

“Is that what you did before?” Anton asked, genuinely interested.

“Yeah. There was the voice again and it told me to do that.” She turned and saw the look of worry on Anton's face. “I've only heard it a few times and it just tells me something new.”

She turned and peered around the corner. Both of the guards had resumed idling around. With a flick of her wrist, she flung the blood javelins straight at them.

The javelin pierced the gap on the neck of the closest Yellow Goblin, killing it instantly. It let out a wretched and bloody cry as it died. The other turned towards its friend, receiving the impact of the other javelin in the center of one of its eye. Some blood fragments, released from the impact, floated around the spear, slowly reforming onto the javelin.

As they both slumped down dead Verona glowed a little brighter and brought back the blood javelins, turning them back to liquid and back into the pots.

“Oh, Anton. When I kills something with my blood power, I can take all of the blood from the body. Taking and controlling a whole bodies worth of blood takes it out of me.”

“It seems too easy with you here.” A villager said to Verona. She shrugged but seemed to agree with them.

“Anyway, good work Ver. Move as much blood as you can and we'll move the bodies again.”

The bodies and blood were hidden as best they could as they continued into the tunnel.

The first thing Anton noticed was the smell. While the air was generally musty and still, this place was different. While it did smell a little more fresh, there was something else there. It was slightly musky, and became more intense as they continued forward.

“Ugh,” Verona said as she jovially covered her nose, “What is that?”

A female villager caught up and leant beside her. Anton recognized her as one of the women that came with them on the trip to the lake.

“Well, when two people who love each-other very much-”

“We're not doing that talk now.” Anton cut the woman off. She gave him a wicked smirk while Verona looked between the two with a blank face.

“I know what that means. I've....anyway, is that what we're smelling?” Verona tried to move the conversation forward.

“Yeah.” the woman said, taking a deep sniff as they moved forward. “There, can you hear that?”

Anton brought the group to a halt. In the distance they could hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

“Is that?” Anton asked.

“Yeah.” the villagers replied, charging forward.

Anton moved into their way and stopped them, surprise and anger on their faces. He knew, as so did the other villagers, that they were captured women. It was not hard to figure out what was happening.

“What-”

“Take a deep breath, everyone.”

The villagers did so, though their anger did not dissipate.

“We'll do this right.” he said, “And not just go charging in there. We will be getting them back.”

A light was at the end of the tunnel that bent away to the left, about thirty meters from the entrance. As they moved closer the noises continued to get louder.

Finally they reached the entrance the tunnel widened dramatically, allowing them to split evenly either side. Anton took one side with Verona, and peered around.

The sight shocked and sickened him.

A few torches inside the cave flickered over an unholy sight: dozens upon dozens of women were splayed and tossed around the large cave, each seemingly in a different state of pregnancy. Some looked bloated, easily looking like they had twenty or more babies gestating in their wombs. Their faces were bloody and broken, just like the rest of their bodies. Piles of waste were pushed near the entrance. He was sure there were bodies mixed in amongst it.

They had been treated worse than slaves, like pieces of meat to be used and discarded.

As he looked closer he could see many Yellow Goblins walking around, occasionally poking or prodding the captured women. Although, these looked different. While they normally just wore a loincloth, but most of these wore a a full body dress made from rags of clothes.

Are those...female Yellow Goblins? Can they not breed by themselves, or is it just easier and efficient to use humans.

The males here looked different as well; a little less deformed, slightly taller and a better build on them.

Using the strongest to breed?...Not a bad decision I guess.

A woman in at the front started to scream and groan, bringing a bloody hand and mutilated arm to her stomach. As her legs started to flail about the female Yellow Goblins rushed to her, followed by the males.

They grabbed a loose piece of cloth and jammed it in her mouth to keep her quiet, the other women cried and tried to hold her hand but could not reach. Tears streamed down their faces.

Despite the cloth the woman let out an almighty scream, she writhed and arched her back. A female goblin pulled back, carrying a small yellow baby in its arm. It looked down at it, its eyes inspecting it like a piece of fruit.

The villagers that could see suppressed their gasps.

Verona leaned around to look, quickly covering her mouth at the sight.

The goblin picked it up and dangled it by its feet. This goblin only had a single arm. A frown crossed the females face.

It swung the baby into the cold stone. The skull broke with a sickening thud, its body rolling on the ground. Blood started to leak out from its broken skull.

The female goblin returned to the others infront of the still groaning and whimpering woman, as if nothing had happened. A male, trying to get closer, stepped on the corpse and kicked it towards the entrance.

Verona yelped in surprise, Anton covering her mouth to prevent her from making any more sounds. The other villagers were equally holding back their cries but whatever means they could muster.

His eyes were transfixed on the dead baby, before Verona jabbed him in the stomach, bringing him back to the present.

“What do we do?” She whispered. He could feel her shaking lightly underneath his hand.

Anton looked again, counting the Yellow Goblins. There were about forty in total, thirty were females tending to the villagers with another ten males wandering about, looking for a 'willing' partner. He could also see that there were no other entrances, at least from where they stood.

“Okay you lot, you want your revenge?” Anton whispered to the others, nodding in response. “It's quite cluttered in there, so be careful not to get killed. I'll throw this fireball in to give you lot light and as a distraction. You ready?”

“You're not coming?” a villager behind him asked.

Anton shook his head.

“Going to let you guys get your revenge.”

The villagers readied their weapons to attack. Anton summoned a small fireball and pushed it to the center of the room.

As the room brightened, the goblins stopped and looked up. It took them a few seconds to realize what it was. Some of the males started screeching, looking towards the entrance. Their faces dropped as they saw the villagers heads poking around.

“Kill them!” Anton yelled, the villagers charging with their spears.

Panic overcame their distorted faces as they searched for another exit, but there was none. The Villagers, armed with leather armor and steel tipped spears, stabbed and tore apart the goblins with no mercy.

It did not matter whether they were male or female, all were killed.

Some tried to hide behind the captive women, only be be dragged kicking and screaming out into the open where they could be killed. Anton even saw one female goblin picked up by the legs and smashed into the cavern wall, its head crumpling in just like the child.

A few seconds of carnage and stifled screams, the goblins were dead. The villagers were shaking when Anton and Verona walked into the cave.

“Is that....that all of them?” a villager asked, turning around with his spear raised.

“That's-”

Anton was interrupted by a screech. A female goblin had survived at the far edge of the the cavern and was running to the exit, only a few meters away.

“Don't let it escape!”

Verona moved infront and drew out a vials worth of blood, forming it into a solid sphere, and flung it at the goblin's head. With a crack, the goblin flew back a meter.

She threw the sphere into its head, again and again, until crumpled. With a sigh, she brought the blood back into her vial.

“Good work Ver.” Verona smiled and saluted. “Now, what about them?”

Anton and the others walked to the woman still in the throes of labor. One of the villagers grabbed a cloth and draped it over her naked body.

Her face was horrific; she was missing an eye, teeth broken and bruises of all colors.

With her good hand she reached blindly for Anton. He grabbed her hand as she held his with all the might she could muster.

“Dana! Are you here?!” A male villager frantically searched between the women. He was the same villager that went on the scouting mission towards the mountain. Anton was not sure if he was a brother or a husband, not that it really mattered now.

“Here.” came a weak reply. The villager rushed over to the far side of the cave, barely holding back his tears. He pulled up a woman, bruised and battered but otherwise fine.

“Thank-you. Thank-you everyone for coming for me.” she said weakly as she clung to the villager. “I've only been here a few days but it's been hell. Take me home.”

Anton waved them over to the entrance.

“And what about the rest of you?”

“Please..” she said in a croaky whisper, “Kill me.”

“We can get you out of here.” Anton said, trying to stop her thoughts of death.

She shook her head and stared him in the eye.

“I've been here for months...I've given birth to hundreds of those things....we all have. I...I can't...” She weakly raised her arms and pointed to the other women. They only cried in response.

Anton placed his hand onto her head.

“I can, but only if your sure.”

“I just want to sleep. Please, let me sleep.”

Anton took a deep breath, gathering mana into his hand. He formed it into a lightning bolt and fired it straight into her head.

With a final twitch her whole body fell limp, the last breath leaving her body. A scorch mark on her forehead the only sign that she had died.

The cries and please of the women become louder, seeing that their fellow captive was released from their prison. Another villager offered to use a blade. They refused, muttering that they wanted to go out instantly and painlessly.

Anton took a deep breath and set to work on the grim task.

---[]---

Of the 38 women that were held captive, only Dana wanted to be saved. All of the captives had been there for many months, the mental strain proved to be too much.

Anton had been the one to end their lives.

Ending those lives, not in anger, left Anton drained physically and mentally. He leant against cave wall to keep himself upright. Verona hovered around him, trying to help, though she did not know what to do.

He told them that they would take a few minutes to get their breath and refresh their minds.

The male villager looking for Dana turned out to be her brother, so Anton felt a little a better about what he had done. Anton still wanted know everything Dana knew before they left.

“They dragged me through the caves, but not to here first.” Dana explained. “First, it was to a massive chamber at what I think was the center of the mountain...they...well.”

She looked down. No explanation was needed.

“There were almost two hundred of us at the beginning. They helped me as best they could. Then what could have been half a day later, it was hard to keep track of time, a whole bunch of Yellow Goblins left. They seemed really excited and worked up.”

Dana looked towards the cave and sighed.

“It really wasn't fun for any of us.”

“They launched an attack against us.” Anton told her. Dana frowned but Anton shook his hands. “They didn't kill too many, but we got just about all of them.”

“Thanks to you.” Verona playfully punched him in the side.

“Well,” Dana continued, “A few came back. They were angry, and some smelled burnt.”

“That's definitely them.” Verona said.

“They started fighting amongst themselves, and it quickly spread to us. It looked like some sort of power struggle. The other girls told me not to fight back, but it didn't matter. Over half of us were killed in the struggle before their boss, this giant Yellow Goblin covered in some green armor, took control. He sent us off to here, probably out of the way from the rest of them. ”

“How many are there left?” Anton asked. He needed to know to help him figure out the next plan.

“There were about ten thousand or so at the beginning. Now, there should be about eight or seven thousand.”

“That's still way too many for us.” Anton muttered under his breath.

“I'm sorry that I don't have better news for you.”

“Its fine. Do you know the way? We want to set off a fire-storm in the mountain and kill as many as we can before retreating.”

Dana looked at the floor, her brother rubbed her shoulder to comfort her.

“I don't want her to stay here any longer. We stopped them from making any more, so we should leave.” The brother told Anton as he started to take her away.

“With them dead, they'll come for fresh conquests. And then they'll take everyone, including her.”

The brother did not argue, stopping while cursing under his breath.

“There is something.” Dana said as she turned back to Anton. “Along the path they took us, towards the center. If you keep going along that path, it'll go down quite a fair way, then it'll start to go up to the main caverns. At the bottom, there's a whole bunch of caves. I caught a glimpse of some barrels, they looked like they were full of oil, maybe for the torches. I don't know, but there's a whole bunch of other stuff in there as well that looks valuable.”

Anton liked the idea.

“If we set that on fire, we might be able to kill most of them by filling the caves with smoke. How far is the main caves from the entrances?”

“Quite a bit. I think it's in the center of the mountain.”

“Perfect.” Anton said loudly. “We have our plan.”

The other villagers had been listening in.

Anton pointed to the brother. “You two, and a few others, head out and explain what happened. We'll find this hoard, set it alight, and get out of there. Understood?”

---[]---

Following the single path, it did not take long to find the hoard. Dana and the others made it to the exit tunnel safely, all looking very happy to be away from the cave.

Now, Anton was worried about how long it would take to find the women dead. He feared they would go for an all-out attack straight away.

Anton guessed that the Yellow Goblins that they currently saw were loyal to the current boss, to keep out the others, like the one trying to get to the women. It would explain why there were so few found so far, the boss did not want much attention brought here. Or maybe he did not have many to spare.

Verona had worked much harder than he had expected. During the whole time she had not turned off her power, and the few times they had met a Yellow Goblin, she had killed it without any hesitation. It made their travel very easy. Before reaching the hoard they only met eight single Yellow Goblins.

There were over a dozen armored Yellow Goblins outside the hoard. Verona killed them without making a sound, using two blood javelins and skewering the goblins like meat over a fire.

The hoard, such as it was, consisted of four caves off of the main tunnel.

Dana had not been lying when she said it was full of treasure. Two of the caves were full of gold, gems and fine weapons. Some weapons and armor looked like they were not made from steel; some were green, blue and black.

One of the other caves was empty, but the other was full of cloth, large wooden clubs and many barrels. He presumed these were the torches.

Some of the villagers stood guard, while most of the other villagers rifled through the treasure. They looked quite excited at seeing so much gold. Some were putting them into their pockets.

“Unless you have a way to take all of it now, I'm not interested in taking that back with us. Out of your pockets, now.” Anton told them.

A collective sigh ran through the villagers, as they emptied their pockets but retained the weapons and shields. He would need to ask Jonathan as to what sort of metals they were made from.

Verona seemed transfixed on a section on one of the piles. As she saw Anton's gaze, she apologized and tried to not look interested.

“What have you got?”

“Oh, I thought I saw something.”

She resumed searching through the pile. After throwing off some swords, she brought out a spear. It looked completely different to every other weapon there.

The spear was a little longer than her current one and a little bit thicker. The shaft was black, Anton thought it was metal but as he looked it turned out to be some sort of wood. The tip was a large red crystal, looking as if it was crudely shaped to a point. The wood joining the two parts together looked as if it had continued to grow around and lodge the gem into the top. Overall, it looked a little strange but Verona seemed quite smitten by it.

“It looks strange.”

Verona handed him the spear. It felt as heavy as her normal spear. He ran his finger over the edge of the tip, nearly cutting himself with a tiny amount of effort.

“Well, it's sharp enough.” Anton said as he handed it back. “Hope Jonathan won't be upset.”

“I'm sure he'll be fine. Everyone else here uses his weapons and they've taken new ones.”

Verona was right, thankfully they had kept their old weapons.

“Anyway, can you help with these lids? I want to see what's inside them.”

Anton tried to pry a lid open by himself, but Verona pushed him back. She used the new spear on the gap as a lever.

Inside there was a thick viscous liquid, probably tar.

“Perfect. We'll pour some of these out and set them alight.”

Anton was about to tip one over when a villager caught his attention.

“We found something Anton.” A villager waved him over in excitement.

She and another villager were holding a very large wooden chest between them.

“Something to take the gold out with?” he asked.

“Something better than that.”

The woman opened the chest. It was brimming with gold and weapons. Both women should not even be able to lift it off the ground, let alone with one hand with no problem.

Anton took one end, the whole chest was probably as heavy as Verona's new spear. He took out a gold coin. It was extremely heavy for its small size, just like gold is supposed to be. Movies from Earth had nearly always portrayed gold as lightweight, but he knew that it was an incredibly dense metal. There was only one way that he knew could explain this. Magic.

He looked around the chest and found nothing. After telling them to raise it he looked underneath. Scrawled underneath were five small white circles with a white gem in the center, one in each corner and one in the middle. The glowed ever so faintly. Anton pushed downwards on the crate, the marks glowed brighter for an instant before returning to its usual glow.

“It's got a device on the bottom that makes it easier to lift, by taking the weight. I imagine.” Anton said as he got to his feet. “Are there any more?”

“Oh,” the villager looked back to the cave. “Around five more.”

“Well, fill them up with weapons and any gaps with gold. Chop Chop!”

The villagers quickly started doing as he said. He turned his attention back to the barrels of tar. With Verona's help, he took half of them to the empty cave and poured a few of them out.

A minute passed, a few barrels of tar poured out onto the ground and the villagers continued to load the chests.

“Where are the Yellow Goblins?” Verona asked, “Surely there should be more coming.”

Anton listened, but heard nothing.

“There should be a patrol soon. I don't think this is all their treasure though. Probably has stashes throughout the mountain. Have you guys loaded yet?”

“Almost, we've-” Everyone stopped, a rock tumbled down the tunnel traveling further into the mountain. Screeches and clicks became louder quickly.

They stopped. Anton thought they may have gone through another tunnel. He was wrong.

A single Yellow Goblin peered its head down, and screamed, loud enough for Anton to recoil slightly. The scream carried up the tunnel, more and more goblins joining in.

“Well, they've made us. Time to retreat.” Anton said loudly.

“Just a little bit more. We're almost done.”

Anton saw them shoveling in whatever they could. They were almost full but the rapidly encroaching goblins did not stop them.

“That'll have to do you greedy bastards. Verona, I need you to get ready.”

She nodded, drawing out two vials worth of blood. Anton summoned a dozen fireballs and threw half of them at the tar. The tar lit, the fire slowly spreading to the leaking barrels. Thick black smoke began to rise from to pools of tar.

Within a few seconds the smoke had engulfed the entire cave. It was becoming difficult to breath already.

They ran as fast as they could, both Verona and Anton checking behind them for pursuers. The villagers seemed to trust them with this task.

When they made it to the junction, Anton stopped. Verona took a few more paces before stopping herself.

“Why have you stopped?” she asked, grabbing at his shirt.

“We need to buy a little more time.”

“So, how do we do that?”

Anton smiled, forming the circular mana in his mind. Along all the tunnels there was the sound of movement and the flickering of torchlight. From the tunnel they just came from, the smoke started to bellow out.

Before, when he allowed Esperit, the fire goddess, to take control, the mana rings had been pushed out like they were disks. This time he turned them, feeling that they would flow down the tunnels towards the center. He let go of the mana.

Fire spontaneously erupted at the entrance of the tunnels and roared along them. The goblins were close enough to scream as they burned.

When he stopped, there was a gentle breeze coming from behind.

Verona bounced impatiently as Anton stared down the tunnels. Far in the distance he could hear movement coming towards him.

That fire should have traveled hundreds of meters, especially in these narrow corridors. It may have given some air flow to the tar fire.

“Okay, you did whatever you needed to do. Now, we need to go!” She grabbed him by the hand.

Screeches and gawks still game from tunnels and they were closing fast.

“Good call.”

He ran, almost carrying Verona under his arm as they ran to the exit.

---[]---

The Yellow Goblins were relentless in their pursuit. Anton had no idea if his plan to suffocate them actually could work, but now he had no choice but to run.

After a minute of running, the goblins were already biting at their heels. Verona jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. He nearly tripped in surprise, but she patted him on the chest.

“Keep running. I've got this.”

Her saying those words, that preceded her bloodthirsty rage, did not help his concentration.

She brought up the blood from her six vials, forming spears. As she turned her head, she brought her hand to face the goblins.

Anton could not see, but he could hear, the sound of the crystallized blood smashing and shatter onto stone and steel.

Shit, they're so close.

They kept coming. Anton hoped that the entire mountains worth of goblins were not coming after him.

“Fuck this.” Verona hissed.

He turned his head, against his judgement, and looked back. The blood spears shattered, turning into crystals smaller than a coin. With a grunt she pushed them into the slavering horde and tore them apart.

The crystal shards flew further than the twenty meters. Anton thought that was her limit. It seemed that she could push herself, though not without consequence.

Through his back he could feel her pulse quicken then drop sharply as she collapsed on him.

He stopped and turned around. A tunnel of carnage greeted him. Shards of blood jutted out of the still bodies and embedded into the stone wall. Behind that he could hear still more goblins following. Scraping and screeches reverberated in his mind.

“Just die already!”

He formed a lightning bolt and fired it down the tunnel. The bolts arced and swirled wildly, sparking as it hit the goblins. They crackled and popped under the surge of power.

As the bolt traveled down further it illuminated the tunnel. There was nothing else following them. He guessed the shards had flown almost fifty meters.

She had used more magic in her first few days than Anton had. Such usage so early certainly would explain her tiredness. The fact she was still conscious and breathing was a testament to her strength.

“You still with me?”

She rubbed her face into his back, that was all she could muster for now. He held his hand over hers and used some prayer magic. Some strength seemed to return to her.

“That really took it out of me. I can barely feel my face.”

“We'll get you a Karak fruit when we're outside. That should help.”

The villagers had moved very quickly and had already exited the mountain when Anton and Verona escaped.

He heard a whistle from the forest, villagers waving them over. They remained on-guard, probably thinking the goblins were still on their heels.

They missed another moment of carnage. Guess we'll have to tell the stories.

The first thing he noticed was that it was late in the afternoon. Much more time had passed than he thought.

Dana was right, it is hard to keep track of time in there.

When they made it to the villagers they all let out a cheer, patting both of them on the back.

“Have a look there.” The male villager who was punched in the gut pointed to the south of the mountain.

Smoke poured out of the entrances. Against the smoke their yellow bodies stood out. Those goblins keeping guard were running around in a state of panic. Some were starting to come out, falling onto the ground in violent seizures. Others were being dragged out and did not move.

Never have a fire in an enclosed space....I should remember that for myself. I wonder how many are going to die.

“Ha, gets what's coming to them.” Anton triumphantly said. “We'll head back the way we came. No breaks, they'll be coming through that tunnel soon.”

With a groan, the villagers got up and started to carry the chest back to Atros.

Anton stopped for a moment. Carrying Verona was not as hard as he thought, but he still did not want to keep her in her current state. He reached into the bag, now hanging off his shoulder, and brought out a Karak fruit. With some hesitation she bit into the sweet fruit. She did not care about it dripping over Anton as she ate.

A minute later she seemed to be doing better.

“Is that what running out of mana feels like?” she asked drowsily.

“Pretty much. You want to go to sleep? I'll carry you back.”

“I guess. I don't really want to though.”

Anton handed her another fruit, which she ate more rapidly this time.

They walked in silence at the rear of the, now jovial, group.

Eventually, Anton broke the silence.

“You're very brave, you know that.” He felt her tilt her head. “Most people....I would expect people around your age just to freak out and scream at seeing that. You held up very well. I'm very proud of you.”

A slight groan escaped her lips.

“And what about you?”

“Hmm?”

“How are you holding up?”

He did not really know how to answer that. Killing those women had left its mark.

He patted her on the hand, trying to reassure her. She did not answer, but tightened the hold on his neck. Neither said anything until they reached Atros.

-------------------

Hello, speed writing!!!

I started this after posting the previous one, so I think I did very well for the time.

About the gore-ish things, I wanted to try and show that this world was not nice or pleasant in any way. Life, on the whole, is very cheap. Also, I've never written something like that, so it's rather new to me.

So, not much else to say. Maybe the next one in the same-ish time.

Thanks for reading!