This chapter's delay is brought to you by...

THE FLU

R.I.P. November... the flu knocked me out for at least 2 whole weeks, plus 12 hour work days all November and December made things pretty unproductive.

------ Chapter 11 ------

The cold chill in my body fades.

Each beat of my heart rushes adrenaline through my fingers, toes, while raising hairs along the way.

I can tell that the goblin body guard next to the goblin warlord is looking at me, even at this distance. Its focus is fixed onto me, sizing up their next move.

The goblin shifts its weight and begins to take a few paces to the left, stepping behind a few of the other body guards.

Behind me I catch the sound of Pakt shifting his weight, the crunching snow beneath his feet produce dull groans. He must be aware of that goblin’s intentions.

The vanguard fighters slowly take steps to spread out a little more, with two covering the flanks. The goblins at our sides are appearing from behind the tents around us.

One of the goblins to my right begins to work its way behind us when I catch a glimpse of an arrow dart between some tents. The arrow makes contact with the goblin, piercing through the side of its head, entering through the goblin’s exposed ear where the copper cap did not cover.

With another dull groan, louder than foot steps, the goblin fall dead into the snow.

The camp becomes quiet, eyes glance over to that side for a moment.

Without any more delay the goblins and our vanguard jump into action.

I can track Arga and two other mercenaries charge forward to meet the bulk of the goblins from the front. Varrel follows close from behind.

Doore has taken a position to the left and he starts off mirroring the positioning of the goblins on that side. As they side step to work their way around our left Doore continues to face them while stepping around to cover our center.

When another arrow darts out and strikes a goblin Doore moves in and quickly blasts a wave of fire in their direction. Tents ignite in flames as the goblins caught close to the flame blast desperately try to extinguish themselves.

Two of the goblins outside of the fire blast rush in to give time for the burning goblins to pull back. I see one of the burning goblins taking an arrow into the head as well.

Doore parries the first goblin’s spear with the sword in his right hand, his left prepares a small stake of ice from the snow behind himself. When the second goblin attempts to attack Doore’s opening he shifts his weight and launches the spear into the goblin’s stomach.

The goblin reels back from the blow, it is not dead, while gasping for air an arrow flies out from between the tents and finishes the goblin off. The copper cap does does little to protect the face, with the right angle an arrow will avoid the armour.

“Let’s move!” Niya shouts, “Take Kordi and go left, I will support the right. Don’t get caught in that monstrous clash!”

Monstrous clash? I pause for a moment, what could she mean, is she talking about the vanguard? If that was the case then we are pretty safe at our distance.

Suddenly a powerful tug on the back of my neck lifts me off of my feet to pull me away from Niya.

Walloping wind blasts by, tearing the packed snow into the air. The impacting force shakes through my body even though I have just been pulled out of the blast’s path. I stumble on my feet as the tugging force releases me, Pakt steps out from behind me with his guard up.

I follow his glances towards the vanguard, Varrel and the Goblin Warlord position themselves and clash their weapons again releasing another burst of wind that tears apart a nearby tent. There is a mercenary and goblin nearby who had to dive out of the way.

Taking notice of the goblin warlord’s weapon, it is a spear of some kind at first glance. Its length is at least as tall as Varrel.

The warlord uses the staff for thrusts mostly, when it swings the spear the warlord is aiming to slash with the sharp edges. On impact there is a shockwave which seems to be caused when Varrel deflect with the magic from his mythril sword.

“Take cover with me Kordi, don’t move more than a few steps from my side.”

Pakt pats my shoulder, I had been watching the fight ahead for a little too long.

Even though I had caught my breath earlier the sudden rush of the fight has worked me up enough that I am breathing heavier. The misty breath clouds my sight a little, as it fades away I notice some puffs from behind a nearby tent.

When Pakt takes notice of this he takes a few gentle paces closer, his eyes check the area for anything more.

He acts quickly lunging toward the tent, his sword trusts through the thin leather cover. Pakt quickly withdrawals to stay close and gestures me to follow with his shielded left arm. With his guard up, we move past the tent.

I can already see some blood stains sprayed into the snow, only a few paces away I can see the remains of a goblin that collapsed moments ago. The amount of blood along the way is enough that a major artery was hit.

From the height that Pakt thrust at he must have hit the neck.

That is an impressive blow.

Though, I do have to ask myself what if that was one of ours. We did not check who it was before attacking.

I suppose from where we are and the direction of this tent that it must have been an enemy trying to ambush.

Suddenly surprising me the tents nearby almost explode from another blast of wind. The snow and debris spray around forcing to shield my face from bits of wood and snow.

Then, from under my arm, I notice a shadow appear.

Lowering my arm to look my view is quickly obscured by Pakt’s back. He jumped in and guards with his shield. From the corner of my eye I catch movement from my left.

I am a little quicker to respond, tightening my shield and turning to face the figure. A goblin has jumped out from behind another tent.

Debris from the blast is still blowing across my view, bouncing off of the packed ground and tents. In slower motion I catch the final moments as a wooden arrow darts into view, striking into the goblin’s collar.

Without being lethal, the arrow has cut off the goblin’s ability to breath, it falls over, grasping the arrow.

To my right Pakt has parried a goblin spear with his shield, providing the opening he needs to slip under the spear and stab under the goblin’s copper breast plate. Pakt’s sword thrusts up into the goblin’s heart, killing it shortly after he draws the blade out.

He knocks the limp body back to fall against a tent, collapsing the crude supports.

With the tent no longer blocking view fromt hat side I catch sight of another goblin moving between tents. The three goblins fought so far were all wearing the regular copper armour and leather the standard armoured soldier goblins wear.

I hope that we would have an easy time dealing with the signature black armour of the elite goblins. That would defeat the purpose of calling those goblins elites though.

Quietly I give my thanks to the archer behind us for the help, though I hesitate to turn to face him. The speed that these two goblins had jumped out at leave me wary to carelessly turn away.

Pakt glances over to his left again where I catch sight of another goblin run between more tents. In response Pakt begins to move back to put another tent between us and the goblin. I spot another two goblins moving around in that direction.

Shouts from those goblins bark out now, I cannot tell exactly where they are coming from exactly. I do find the goblins begin to organize their movements more instead of just running wherever, their route continues to work around our position towards our rear.

This causes pakt to speed up his pace as we run back in the direction of our archer support. I feel concerned about leaving the vanguard, if they take damage I am getting far enough away I would not be able to help.

Basted tent debris scatters into the air again which reminds me that I am probably safer back here.

Or at least, until Pakt and I are attacked again.

I can assume the threat of our archers is making the goblins more hesitant to be caught in a melee with Pakt again. So, they are working around to get at our archers.

When an arrow darts out from close one of the goblins falls out from behind a tent. Form the momentum of its fall, the goblin was running until the arrow struck into its thigh causing it to roll in the snow screaming.

The attack signalled the other goblins to rush in now.

From only a few paces one goblin is already close enough for Pakt to intercept, bashing it with his shield. The goblin tries to use its spear to block but recoils a little from the blow.

I check over my shoulder to see if an archer is giving us support; however, a tent and myself are obscuring the view of a nearby hunter. His attention is also divided towards another charging goblin.

While I am not close enough I quickly grab a handful of snow with my hands, using magic to slightly heat it and cool it to harden the ball.

The hunter’s arrow is blocked by the crude goblin shield as it stands only a few paces from the hunter.

I quickly throw the hard lump of snow with the strength I can muster.

It misses, flying just a little too high and ahead of target.

However, the goblin reacted to the lump passing close by, turning its attention for just a second my way.

The hunter uses the recurve on his short bow as a hook to push down on the goblin’s right shoulder. The goblin tries to resist, yet the hunter holds this opening for his right hand to stab a dagger into the goblin’s neck.

He quickly pulls the knife out and jumps a step back to avoid the retaliating attack. Then he follows up on the goblin’s wide swing with a swift jab into the goblin’s left eye.

After this, the goblin recoils on the snow leaving red stains as it struggles with the pain.

I notice the hunter is Yonas after he quickly glances my way.

I check that direction as well to find Pakt moving back to my side, he is not wounded thankfully and part of the goblin he fought is obscured by the nearby tent. Since it is not moving I would say Pakt has ended it.

Pakt takes a cautious glance at the goblin Yonas wounded, assessing its threat while keeping his guard up. Yonas and a second hunter have begun to engage a third goblin.

The other hunter is facing the goblin’s shield, Yonas uses this opportunity to land an arrow into the goblin. I catch a glimpse of the arrow sticking out of the goblin’s collar, just above its left shoulder as the goblin twists its body in response to the hit.

While Yonas’ arrow is not lethal the second hunter fires an arrow into the goblin’s unguarded right side. Caught between two archers at a right angle, the goblin takes a guarded pose trying to balance between the two hunters.

It focuses its attention towards Yonas, who it expects to be firing another shot.

That is when I notice that a second arrow from Yonas is already in the air, the goblin catches sight of this as well but cannot react fast enough as the arrow dives into the goblin’s head, just under the left eye.

Yonas is so fast at drawing his bow he already had a third arrow ready to fire, which gave me the impression that it was his second being readied. The goblin must have been tricked the same as I.

Before I can watch Yonas any further more goblins become visible, two close by charge towards Pakt. One goblin thrusts in with its spear, Pakt slides under the spearpoint and strikes upwards with both arms against his shield, knocking the goblin’s spear high.

He then brings his shield down in a striking blow to knock away the other goblin’s short bronze sword. With his sword arm he slashes at the goblin.

In that moment there is a sensation that radiated from my ears through my body. It is a strange sensation that is most noticeable when strong magic is used, as if my ears hear the mana.

I shift my attention over my right shoulder where Varrel and the Warlord are dueling, I expect another blast to come my way again.

However, I catch the dull groan of snow.

It is different from a normal footstep, this sounds more like someone dropped onto the snow with a lot of force.

As my eyes glance over my shoulder I catch the same kind of dark silhouette that came close to getting me before.

This time it is much closer.

I am going to die?

I feel my legs weaken, I know I cannot react in time. My shield is on my left arm, the attack is from my right.

I feel my weight dropping, there is no time to even feel fear but there is one thought in my mind as my body begins to give up and fall to the ground.

Twist.

Get the shield around to the other side.

Then as the strength in my body tightens to coil myself around I stop.

Suddenly a force impacts against my momentum and I feel myself being propelled the other way, spinning the other way as well.

I fall into the snow, the packed snow breaks up and sticks all over my face, melting against my skin, sticking to my eye lashes.

I roll myself and try to stand.

It takes a moment for me to realize what is up and down. Once my legs find solid ground I jump up to stand.

The strength in my legs is coming back but I cannot feel strength from my left arm.

Looking ahead I see where I was standing.

Snow flurries between my old location and where I now stand. Bits of debris still rain down from that blow he threw at me.

I keep my eyes on the goblin, clad in black armour, the same one that marked me after noticing I am a healer. His mace weapon must be made out of gobite from its appearance. The goblin also has a short sword and a shield.

This goblin guard begins to lower its stance again, I dread another sudden attack but I know these goblins can make very fast charges towards their target through buffing their body with magic.

Dropping onto my right knee I keep my eyes on him. I will not let him leave my sight, even each of the goblin’s breaths will not escape my watch.

With my copper sword in hand I lower it close to the snow, I have no idea what condition my left arm is in so I begin to use heat magic on the snow ahead of me. Warming the snow just enough to soften it to slush I then cool it so that this patch of snow will provide little traction.

I can do this much magic easily and it is fast enough that I finish it just as the goblin guard takes a deeper breath.

It is coming.

I would like an extra hand to support my arm, yet there is no time to assess my options. The goblin guard leaps forward with such speed that with the blink of an eye I would miss my chance.

Within the second I have to react I raise my bronze sword.

The goblin guard notices this and times a second step to just change its course to avoid colliding into my sword.

Yet the goblin guard loses its balance against the frozen snow I just made. With the force it put into that step sliding out from under itself, the goblin guard begins to spin, throwing off any chance to swing at me.

I feel the goblin collide against my left shoulder, mostly numb still. It knocks me on my back where I watch the snow kicked up from the goblin guard rolling across the snow breaking through a tent.

To avoid harming my left side anymore I roll onto my right before pushing myself back up to stand.

The collapsed tent wiggles and writhes as the goblin guard struggles underneath to free itself. Rolling out from under the leather covers the goblin guard is unharmed and clearly aggravated.

Glaring towards me it steps forward before glancing to the left, Pakt moves into view while breathing heavier. The goblin guard simply gives Pakt a look of frustrated annoyance. It puts away the mace in its right hand.

Pakt closes the distance, the goblin guard responds by drawing something that looks like a short bronze sword from a leather sheath. The sword does not have an actual edge, instead there are what looks like green-black glazed stones that have been crudely cut cast into the bronze to form a sharp and serrated edge.

With a swift swing Pakt is forced to pull back, I spot a clean cut through a part of his shield. Often I would hear some kind of noise from a blade hitting a shield, yet Pakt’s shield has such a clean cut from a grazing blow.

Those glazed green-black stones are clearly sharp, the green colour reminds me of gobite as well. I can guess that there is more to the stone than simple gobite. Pact’s reaction shows that he is being cautious of this weapon.

The goblin guard takes the initiative to step closer, both sides are raising their shields. The goblin is concealing his weapon behind his own shield as the two move around their shields to faint the other into attacking.

It does not take long before an arrow darts out from my left towards the goblin guard.

The goblin quickly pulls its head back, unblinking from the surprise attack.

I take notice that the goblin guard has maintained a position facing Pakt where it can still see our two hunters in the corner of its eye. When Pakt side steps to turn the goblin’s attention away the goblin responds by side stepping into Pakt.

The two exchange quick swings but break up. The goblin avoids an arrow aimed lower at its legs while Pakt pulls back to avoid his sword contacting the glazed edge of the goblin’s sword.

I do not know if Pakt’s steel sword would handle a direct hit, the copper rim of his shield was cut easily though. The goblin seems aware of Pakt’s caution and is perfectly timing its actions to avoid our archers and Pakt.

However, time is not on our side. The sound of more goblins joining the fight comes from many directions. I catch three charging towards Yonas and the other hunter, more are making their way between the tents towards Pakt and I.

In response Pakt steps in to face the goblin guard again.

The goblin strikes forward with its shield, Pakt knocks it away with his own revealing the goblin’s glazed blade. With an upward slash the goblin forces Pakt to step back, both have their guards lowered for a second.

Pakt steps in again with his sword ready for a thrust.

The thrust only grazes the side of the goblin’s black painted armour as it also stepped in to get close to Pakt. The goblin’s raised sword arm now strikes down, striking Pakt with the bottom of its blade handle.

Pakt retaliates with his shield arm, striking from his elbow into the goblin’s lower body. The goblin replies by striking with its own shield aimed at Pakt’s sword arm, preventing Pakt from getting another thrust in.

To keep the goblin’s sword arm in check, Pakt tackles into the goblin’s right shoulder.

One reinforcing goblin emerges from behind the goblin guard and begins to rush to join the melee.

I sense a strong release of mana mana again just as Pakt amplifies the force of his tackle, the goblin guard uses a little power to guard while jumping back.

The other goblin hesitates from the sight of the two clashing.

Pakt quickly steps in to throw a quick slash cutting through a large part of the goblin’s right shoulder. The goblin guard quickly rushes back to clash shields with Pakt while the second goblin reels from its wound.

From around another tent two more goblins emerge, one quickly charges in with a spear.

Pakt notices it just in time to step out of the way; however, the other goblin manages to cut at his leg. I can tell the cut managed to graze but cut through enough to flinch Pakt’s movements.

I quickly check my left arm, the shield is in pieces while still strapped on. I pull it off to find my arm has no cuts that broke through my silk shirt, though the splinters have cut the outer fur layer.

With a quick assessment I find that the bruising has pinched some of the wire-like tissues that run from my spine to every part of the body like branches. I find these are important for communicating feeling and muscle contraction.

Applying some healing to the bruising begins to clear up the feeling in my arm. Tingling sensations return as I can move my arm again. The bruises throughout my arm still ache but it seems the shield took most of the damage.

The rest of the impact must have been used up to send me spinning through the air.

I prepare to support Pakt with my recovered arm, gathering some snow again.

My eyes meet with the goblin guard’s again, it took notice of me.

Stepping away from Pakt, the goblin guard takes a quick glance towards our hunters. I can still hear fighting in that direction so, I cannot expect support.

Pakt is locked in melee with the sword armed goblin while avoiding the spear thrusts from the other. Even the wounded goblin has collected itself as it tries to muster the strength to strike Pakt.

The goblin guard has enough time to finish me, I can tell that much.

I will not rely on the same trick again, not when that glazed sword can cut that well.

Gathering strength into my legs I dash to the right, concealing myself behind a tent.

Following my action I hear the snow behind me give a loud groan as the goblin guard must have use that explosive jump to close the distance.

“KORDI!”

I hear Pakt shout.

What I am doing is a bad idea, that much I know.

I should be keeping close.

But there is something I have to try.

The snow I gathered is clumped together in my hands. I gathered enough to make a ball the size of my head.

With heat magic I begin to add as much heat to it as possible.

I make sure the lump is floating above my hands as well.

Running behind another tent I make sudden steps to change my direction, weaving between the tents.

Behind me I catch the thumping groans of heavy steps must be a few paces away. As soon as the goblin guard behind me has a clear view of me I change course to conceal behind another tent.

I add more heat to the ball of melted snow, then compress and contain it.

If I give the goblin enough time I can expect it to dash and catch me. I am betting that the goblin won’t do that kind of explosive dash through solid objects like trees or tent posts.

More heat.

I run behind another tent, checking my shoulder to make sure I am hidden.

The goblin leaps over the tent, the force it used to jump carries it well past the tent, aiming to land ahead of me.

Quickly I change course to put a tree between myself and the goblin guard.

The heat from the water becomes difficult to contain, yet I add more. Focusing on it with all my might.

I watch the goblin emerge from around the tree, it makes a quick dash to cut off my route to the nearest tent.

In order to stop I find the goblin guard braces itself a lot to prevent the burst of speed from tripping itself. This would be my only opportunity, with the hot water ball floating above my hands I apply a forceful push to launch it at the goblin.

This will just distract it, I quickly dive away to conceal behind the tree again where I should be able to run. The hot water will break up and make things foggy enough to run and hide.

BANG

Huh? That came from behind.

Before I can check a rush of hot steam blows past me, obscuring my vision.

“RRRAAAAAAA-!”

The goblin guard screams.

Then the screaming quickly turns to coughing and gasping.

From my position the steam is pretty hot to breath in but it quickly cools in the freezing winter air. If the steam is this hot here then it must have been boiling hot where it burst at.

My neck hairs stand on end, the feeling of fear turns to joy.

Take that, I say to myself.

“AAAR-cough-HHRR!”

I quickly push myself up and run. As much as I want to appreciate my attack the goblin is not dead.

It is even more pissed off now.

With haste I race between some of the tents leading back to the place Pakt is. The debris of tents makes a mess of this place, I leap over the big pieces that could cause me to trip.

As I head around another tent a goblin falls into the snow just ahead, using the momentum of being knocked back the goblin rolls back onto its feet to charge forward.

In front of the goblin I find Pakt locked in a grapple with another goblin, the third one that was here before now lays still in the snow. I spot the first goblin stop to pick up a sword in the snow before continuing towards Pakt.

I make my move, tackling into the goblin’s legs from behind

“KHaaaa!” the goblin cries.

I quickly push myself up and move back to avoid retaliation; however, the goblin fell onto the sword it just picked up. The blade gouged into its left shoulder.

The goblin glares at me, I can see the hatred in its eyes clearly as it pulls the sword point from its wound.

With its eyes fixed on me I notice that the goblin’s head begins to lean to the side, there is no change in expression as the head falls into the snow.

My eyes focus on Pakt who had quickly stepped into sword range, he must have had enough time to break away from the other goblin to swing at this one.

Pakt’s eyes glance to me, then quickly scan around before he jumps back in to fight the remaining goblin. He parries the goblin’s sword before striking his pommel into his foe’s head. The hit causes the goblin to stagger back giving enough range for Pakt to cut clean through the goblin’s neck.

“Where is the other one?” Pakt asks, his breath is strained and I can hear that he is holding back from moaning in pain.

I run close to start quickly healing him.

“I hit him with some hot water, he’ll be here soon.”

The wound on Pakt’s leg is the major focus I have right now, it is not deep but that kind of wound makes it hard for him to move around.

“Ah- Thanks.” he adds while scanning the area more.

The crunching groans of steps in the snow draw closer from behind. I notice Pakt tenses up to prepare himself.

Mending the wound is quick work for me, I reattached the muscle fibers that were cut along with some blood vessels. The rest will have to wait, I stand up and turn to look for the goblin guard.

It emerges from where I came around from.

Time for a second fight.

The goblin guard releases small amounts of steam, its body must still be hot from the hot water. Its face is welted and red against the normally pale skin of a goblin.

Each breath drawn wheezes and croaks.

Behind the bloodshot eyes I can see the goblin has gone beyond being angry, there is a singular focus on its mind.

Kill.

If I were to translate the feeling I get into words it is the word Kill repeated continuously.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

The goblin continues to step towards Pakt and I, the black glazed edges on its bronze sword continue to draw my attention. It is possible to easily kill us with a single hit from that weapon.

In an instant the goblin guard charges forward, closing the distance with great speed. Its momentum carries itself through the snow.

I spot the shield in its left arm wind back before the goblin hurls it towards Pakt.

With a loud crash the shield collides with Pakt’s own shield. Both splinter and break apart scattering the splints of wood around. The wool and leather layered into the shields hangs limp without the wood to support it and the metal rims fall into the snow.

Pakt attempts to deflect the impact of the thrown shield by angling his shield away from his body. Most of the splits break away in my direction forcing me to duck as sharp splints scratch against me.

The way is open for the goblin guard to continue its charge into range to attack.

Pakt evades the first swing by the goblin guard while replying with swing of his steel sword. The goblin pays little care to avoid and is grazed along its head. The blow does little against the goblin’s metal helmet, even if it is most likely copper or bronze painted black.

To keep distance, Pakt steps back to avoid being too close to the goblins dangerous sword. This does not stop the goblin guard from maintaining pressure as it keeps pace with Pakt, swinging for any openings it can find.

Their pace is too fast for me to keep up, I want to try and help, yet when I see their fight I can tell that there is little I can do.

When I throw a piece of debris at the goblin it does not flinch, I am mostly ignored as a threat. I check over my shoulder to find where Yonas and the other hunter are.

In the direction I last saw them I follow a trail of goblins dead from arrow wounds, I still maintain safe distance for the bodies in case the wound was not lethal.

Before long I find Yonas treating a shoulder wound on the other hunter.

Quickly I slide beside the wounded hunter.

Without word Yonas switches out and readies his bow to watch the surroundings.

The hunter’s right shoulder wound is deep, it punctured into his lung. I quickly close up the wound and mend the damage to muscles and blood vessels, there is little time to do clean work right now.

“We need to help Pakt.” I say to Yonas.

My voice is becoming more strained, the long run to the camp in the cold and all of the running around in the camp here has really made my voice rasp.

Yonas nods to acknowledge my words, he uses a hand signal to the other hunter to keep back. His wound is not completely healed afterall.

With Yonas leading the way we easily find the duel between Pakt and the goblin guard. Their fierce melee is intense as debris scatters around whenever one strengthens part of their body with mana.

As we arrive the goblin guard has drawn the mace weapon into its left hand, wielding both the sword and mace. To avoid the effects of the mace’s armour impacting power, Pakt evades or deflects the mace away.

Each time he does this a small burst of mana stirs up the snow nearby as the impact is redirected into their surroundings. However, Pakt is constantly defensive, against two weapons without a shield he is always retreating.

Against the rasp wheezing of the goblin guard’s relentless assault Pakt is driven into a tent. He makes a stand to push back just as Yonas looses an arrow from his bow.

The goblin guard swings its left handed mace upwards, rolling its upper body out of the arrow’s path. I catch an instant of the goblin’s eyes glancing in our direction, our attack is known.

Pakt follows through with an attack of his own, aiming for a killing blow.

With the momentum from the mace raised high, the goblin guard releases the mace to continue in the air. Without the mace pulling its left arm, the goblin quickly brings its left arm down to use both hands in a counter attack.

PING!

There is a metallic noise as a glint of silver flies into the snow.

Both Pakt and the goblin lock together.

I can see the goblin digging its blade against Pakt’s right shoulder; however, Pakt firmly locks the goblin’s sword in place. It cannot cut if it cannot be moved.

However, in one hand Pakt’s sword is missing half of its length, the other half must have been severed clean off just then.

The goblin strikes at Pakt’s head and arms with its elbows and knees. Pakt retaliates by smashing his forehead against the goblin’s temple. Both push and pull, fighting for control of the melee.

“Tch, can’t guarantee a good shot.”

Yonas locks his attention on their movements, his arrow ready to be fired. But the two are so close together I think he is worried about hitting Pakt.

“Kordi, get in there.” He commands.

I do not linger on the foolishness of this order and run straight ahead. My bronze sword drawn, I really have no idea what I will accomplish. Maybe I can grab the goblin’s leg and trip it.

From the right side of my head an arrow darts past, the air it displaces brushes against my cheek. The arrow’s path leads it towards the goblin’s exposed leg, Yonas must feel good about this shot.

Again I catch the goblin’s eyes glance towards us. I feel a shadow on my mind as this cannot be good.

The goblin trips up Pakt with a kick to his left leg before leaning back and pulling Pakt’s weight around. This brings Pakt’s left leg into the arrow's path.

My heart drops as Pakt cringes from the wound, he drops down on his knees as the goblin readies to free its weapon.

Another arrow whips by my face, this time aimed for the goblin’s face.

On impact the goblin’s head recoils back, the arrow appears to have struck true.

The goblin guard pulls back, drawing out the blade from Pakt’s grip before bringing its head back down.

An arrow in the left eye, it is not enough of a wound to kill if it did not go in deep. The recoil must have prevented that.

I strengthen my legs and jump at the goblin, my sword swings at the goblin’s own blade. If I hit it on the bronze my sword should be fine.

The goblin parries against my sword, pushing it away before I catch sight of its fist colliding against my face.

The blow knocks me back, pain radiates through my head and my eyes close shut.

My right hand is quickly gripped, with my sword pried from me.

“HUK.”

Falling against the snow on my back I open my eyes.

Before me I see the goblin in black armour without motion.

Beside him Pakt stands on one leg, his hands plunging my bronze sword down the goblin’s collar and neck joint. He draws the bloodied bronze from the goblin guard and pushes its corpse away before dropping onto his knees again.

I quickly pull myself up and focus on the arrow wound.

“Shit Yonas, what the hell was that?”

Yonas has approached closer to Pakt and I.

“A distraction and a new sword.”

Pakt gives Yonas a look that conveys both his annoyance and fatigue.

“Well, it is quiet here for now.” Yonas continues to say, “We will need to join back with whoever is left after you are healed.”

He steps back to check over his shoulder, behind Yonas the second hunter comes towards us. The hunter holds his shoulder, the wound is not bleeding anymore, it should be very sore still.

Pakt’s injury is the same as most arrow wounds to the leg, though I do spend a little more time removing the arrow. I have a lot of practice removing goblin arrows, ordumirt arrows are pretty different.

The arrow shaft is considerably smoother and well crafted, there are occasions where I would find the goblin arrow shaft cracked and splintering on a weak point. I notice right away that the arrow head Yonas fit to this arrow has no barbs.

Quite a few arrows are V shaped with sharpened points acting as barbs to make extracting the arrow more difficult and bloody. The arrow in the back of Pakt’s thigh punched through a lot of his leg, through the leather.

However, Pakt wore spider silk under his leggings that wrapped around the arrow head. The narrow arrow head looks like it would penetrate very effectively, being more like a thick spike.

This would explain how I continue find arrows punching through goblin skulls. The arrow would not cause much bleeding when inside, instead it would be able to reach more vital points behind armour.

After all, goblins mostly have leather on. Their silk fabric is not made well enough to stop arrows like this from piercing through, which is why most goblin silk fabric is reprocessed into sturdier fabric.

Yonas and the other hunter quickly begin to reclaim some more of their arrows, pulling them out easily enough is another advantage. They do have to put another arrow into a goblin to finish the crippled goblin off.

The rest of Pakt’s injury heals quickly and I touch up on the shallow shoulder wound. Much of the attack on his shoulder was caught by the steel cuirass.

I step back from Pakt, noticing this he begins to stand on his injured leg. With my throat sore I hesitate to speak so, I just watch Pakt’s reactions as he stretches out his leg.

“Thanks Kordi, I’ll clean it up later. We should make our way back to the others.”

Noises nearby tell the direction of where we will need to go. In particular, the noise is greatest from one directions.

While looking there some debris of a tent kicks up into the air, pieces of wood supports, leather covers, and clumps of snow.

“Guess that’s our target.” Pakt adds as he looks in the same direction.

I feel a little dread at the thought of being in a fight against something stronger than that goblin guard, or even more of the goblin guards.

Pakt stops for a moment near the dead goblin, he holds out my bronze short sword.

I step closer to take it, Pakt leans down over the goblin to take the strange sword and its mace.

“Guess these will have to do.” he says after inspecting them in each hand.

With that done I hear the steps of our two hunters coming close, Yonas seems to have finished grabbing what arrows he could nearby. I doubt he could get all of his arrows, a missed arrow that flew too far or an arrow buried into the snow would not be worth the effort.

Pakt nods to them before splitting off, the hunters move to our flanks and become concealed behind the tents that still stand.

Pakt does not seem to hold any grudge for the injury from Yonas, maybe he is letting it slide for now. I still would not want any fights between the two to happen but I guess that could happen later on anyway.

I would be feeling pretty hurt if a comrade intentionally shot an arrow at me to create an opening or distraction, that kind of hurt is something that would not heal from any magic.

Regardless, I push these thoughts back as I follow close behind Pakt. The camp has become more of a mess with twigs, splinters of wood, and leather tarps litter our path.

My body tries to muster itself again, raising my heart rate while quickening my breath, our pace is swift to join up with whoever is left. However, fatigue sets in, draining the warmth from my limbs. Sweat has built up enough to chill my skin as the cold attempts to dig down to my bones.

The mana I used to boil the water leaves me feeling closer to my limit, I did not pay attention to how much I put into the water ball. The heat in the water must have reached a point much greater than the boiling point.

Normally the water would boil and turn into vapour; however, I pushed back against the expansion to keep the ball contained. The force of contact against the goblin guard must have been enough to cause the violent steam to burst.

While I can compliment the effectiveness it had, if I was closer to it and breathed in the super hot steam my throat and lungs would have been boiled. How it must have hurt, even though that goblin guard was out to kill me, breathing in hot steam would be such a painful experience by itself.

I shudder when I recall the boils on its skin visible under the helmet and the bloody rasp coughs. The steam was limited to temporarily blinding the goblin anyway, maybe it would slowly drown from having its throat and lungs burnt.

Either way, the attack did little to stop the goblin’s rage from pushing it to its limits for revenge.

I certainly made it mad.

The chill over my body grows, it is not just cold but the thought about making a more deadly attack disturbs me. After all, I have been spending most of my time trying to heal people.

Even with the martial training from Arga and Esken, there is no way I am fit for fighting right now. My legs become heavy, my arms limp, and my thoughts freeze up when I am confronted with a dangerous fight.

Though, there is something I can focus on. From the few fights I have experienced so far, I can recall a moment when facing the goblin on Calbin hill when my mind clears.

The result was I drop kicked the goblin down the steep slope.

Desperation?

The steam blast against the goblin guard sure happened in desperation. However, I did not flee through the tents out of terror.

Maybe it is instinct, or something else that sheds the unneeded thoughts from the mind, focusing on what needs to be done.

I have watched many of the others fighting, Pakt fights in close quarters against more than one goblin. Yet he does not seem to make movements that look awkward up from fear.

Maybe I need more training?

Swinging a sword, running up a hill, using magic, all of these are awkward at first. Over time I became accustom to it, the motions and thought needed moves deeper into my mind where it is not easily noticed.

The motions become smooth and more precise.

However, in a life or death fight I cannot just train some part of me or a set of movements to overcome.

My attention catches the movements of Pakt as he charges to the left.

With a single swing of the goblin guard’s sword he cleaves a tent in half. On the other side two halves of a goblin slump into the snow.

It is a gruesome sight as the body’s organs flow out.

Oh! I should be paying more attention to the surroundings to avoid another surprise.

Or less attention?

Practice clearing my unnecessary thoughts right now.

I look around first, the number of tents standing here is enough to count with my hands, six nearby. There was a seventh a goblin tried to conceal behind, I was not paying enough attention to notice what gave the goblin’s position away for Pakt.

Before I start thinking up possible reasons I pry my attention away towards the greatest amount of scattered tent parts. Two of the mercenary vanguards are positioned there, one is resting on a pile of leather covers.

I identify the other mercenary by his robe, Doore stands watch before a number of dead or dieing goblins.

Some steam and smoke as cinders break from the roasted bodies. Others are impaled by ice or were frozen in place before stabbed.

Pakt and I make our way up to Doore quickly, there is no clear path through the wreckage of tents and I almost trip when I step on a part of leather tarp. The wreckage was only held up by a small branch which broke under my weight.

Fortunately my leg only dropped a foot down and was nothing serious.

I catch my balance as I hop forward on one leg.

“How’s his injury?” Pakt asks Doore, referring to the resting mercenary.

“Guts are a little bruised, he can’t draw strength from his stomach.”

When I catch up I immediately begin to feel along the mercenary’s belly. His steel cuirass was already removed. There is a pretty large dent in the metal from a strong impact.

The good thing is that the damage was not caused by a gobite weapon, or if it was, the impact was weaker than the injuries I have worked on before.

My priority is to contain any bleeding, which there is very little, mostly his left abdominal muscles are wrecked. It will be a little tedious to heal because there are many muscles layered in different directions around the belly.

“How is it on your end Pakt?”

“We got one of the black guards.”

“Nice chopper.”

Doore’s reply lacks the kind of enthusiasm I would expect from that kind of compliment. Maybe it is sarcasm?

“Yeah, this one guard we fought had it. I chopped a goblin clean in half without effort by putting a little mana into my swing.”

“Ah, obsidian gobite.” Doore comments again as he takes another look at the sword, “I havn’t seen any goblins cast the edges into bronze like that before.”

“It doesn’t look like much but I was sure cautious of getting cut by it.”

Pakt looks over the sword’s cutting edge, the gobite obsidian appears like a very smooth stone. The cutting edge is not ground and sharpened like a bronze or iron cutting edge. Instead I would say the sharpness comes from the stone being chipped in the right way.

The result is an uneven cutting edge.

Different pieces of gobite obsidian that are placed near each other along the bronze casted spine are not cut to the same shape and size. The jagged edge made this look very menacing in the goblin’s hands.

While I do not think this kind of weapon is easy to make, the availability of this gobite obsidian material seems uncommon enough that I have yet to find it on other goblins.

Though, some similar black glazed stones are sold as accessories, obsidian itself is not that common here.

“How is the treatment Kordi?” Doore asks me.

“Ah- the important part is done, I have just been mending the bruises.” I reply.

“Will he be fine to fight?”

“Yes, just sore.”

Doore looks at the mercenary who nods.

The mercenary stands up and moves his body around.

“Yeah, I can move, the soreness should sleep off right?”

“Uh, ya.” I answer, “Just don’t take any hits there or it will hurt a lot more.”

“Right.” he says as he picks up the steel cuirass and fits it over his torso.

“You, uh… will have some blood left over in your bladder and intestines.” I add.

The mercenary raises his eyebrow at me.

From the experience I have with treating these kinds of torso traumas, even if I heal the organs and tissues the blood and bruising tends to linger, especially inside the organs themselves.

His kidneys, bladder, and intestines all were pretty much… mush. Internal bleeding would have lead to his death without treatment.

The blood is still there though, I didn’t make it disappear.

“You will be… pissing and shitting blood for a bit.” I speak it with crude words.

“Really? I’ll be fine though right?”

“Yeah, you gotta clear it out though.”

“Ah…”

I felt I should have mentioned that, others who have been treated for those kinds of wounds would come back worried after relieving themselves. The priests and myself were a little concerned as well but the checkup showed no other problems.

“Then let’s meet up with the others.” Doore commands while turning towards the direction from where I keep hearing the sound of a big fight.

Pakt and Doore take position ahead to lead us forward, the mercenary takes his position behind me. I do not know where Yonas and the other hunter are, they are likely concealed nearby.

Up ahead there are bodies of goblins scattered around the wreckages of tents.

I find the body of one of the mercenaries along the way, casualties are something I should expect and I feel a little bitter with myself that I am relieved the fallen mercenary is not Arga.

There are at least two of our group whom I know are deceased and I know neither of them well enough to feel anything for their passing. Doore makes a passing glance at the mercenary’s remains, it is difficult to determine the cause, his body is covered in a lot of snow kicked around from the battle.

With a deep breath of cold air I try to calm my nerves and focus, though my nerves are numbing from the creeping cold. Under the bronze cuirass I am still warm, sweaty even. My fingers and toes stiffen as my blood cools too much before reaching that far.

While fighting the urge to use my limited mana to create heat I keep pace with Pakt and Doore. Paying attention to my surroundings while also watching my footing over the tent debris proves difficult.

We pass the area where we first encountered the goblin warlord, Varrel’s fight has drifted away from this place.

Snapping and cracking trees from the nearby woods signals the battle’s direction. The goblin camp expands into the woods from the clearing we are in, the trees and tents are torn as if a storm burst through a part of the woods.

The trees still stand; however, most of the branches are torn off, scattered around with the wood’s bark. Tents pummeled by the branches are torn and shredded.

I even spot a goblin with a piece of tree branch embedded in its throat.

Getting close to this fight might be a bad idea.

Or rather, how much mana does Varrel and that warlord have to throw around like this?

Over a defilade of snow and trees there are spats of snow being thrown into the air. Pakt and Doore quickly approach the top of the small mount before lowering their guard.

Curious, I catch up and look down.

It is Arga, grappling with a black armoured goblin in the shallow bank in the woods. Arga has the goblin grappled from behind with his left arm restraining the goblin’s upper body. Its right arm is limp and hangs awkward like it is broken or dislocated.

Packed and disturbed snow tells the two have been rolling around in the snow for a while.

The goblin struggles with its legs to try and push itself free; however, Arga pulls out a short dagger and jabs it through the back of the goblin’s head, under the helmet. It stops struggling instantly.

Covered in snow and small branches Arga pushes the goblin off to the side before standing up.

“Whoo.” Arga breathes out as he puts his dagger back into a hidden sheath under his armour.

He looks up at us as we stand watching.

“You guys look like shit.” He says with a smile.

Some of his white teeth are red, his armour is covered in dents, and the fur mantle he wore over his armour is in shreds.

“Looks like that one gave you a good fight.” Doore replies.

Arga glances down at the black goblin.

“He should have brought more friends.” He widens his arms to show his surroundings.

I can see disrupted mounds of snow with goblin limbs, heads, and blood spread around the narrow bank.

“Took me a while to find a good spot,” Arga sighs, placing his hands against his hips as he looks around, “This lowered bank here made it hard for the goblins to shoot arrows from a distance.”

Ah. I had began to forget that the goblins also used archers, our own hunters must have suppressed their archers. Arga seems alone here with no support so, he probably needed to do something against their archers.

“The others?” Pakt asks.

“Hm?” Arga only shrugs, “I peeled off a bunch of them away so the others could focus on the warlord.”

“Pretty risky of you.” Frowns Pakt.

“This was never a very smart plan.” Arga replies with a smirk.

He begins to try and move out of the snow bank, the deep snow reaches past his knees forcing him to awkwardly raise his thighs high.

Doore moves to the side where an old fallen tree acts like a ramp over the deep snow.

Pakt and myself follow with the other mercenary covering from behind.

I turn to see Arga fishing his sword out from the corpse of a goblin as I pass by.

“Holding up there kid?” he asks.

“Sort of.” my reply is vague.

Arga glances at my shieldless left arm.

“I see you took some hits.”

“One of the goblin guards marked Kordi, it was lurking around until it found an opening.” Pakt states.

“Survived a black goblin huh? Not many mirts can brag about that.”

“By the way, what did you do to that goblin when you broke away?” Pakt asks.

“I threw some boiling water at it.”

“HA!” shouts Arga.

“That was a lot of steam for just that.” Pakt raises an eyebrow.

“I put a lot of mana into it.”

“Boiling water, huh.” Doore comments, “not the most common use of water and fire magic.”

“Is it that uncommon?” I ask.

“Not when multiple spells are layered, but you do it without chanting. That is pretty rare.”

“Doesn’t the magic also lose strength when other elements are mixed?” Arga adds.

“Depends on how well the spell is prepared, skilled mages can balance how the layers interact.”

“Um.” Pakt interrupts, “Should we be talking about this right now?”

Our group continues to walk, Arga is stretching his arms, and Doore is cleaning out ice from his gauntlet. They glance at Pakt for a moment.

“I ain't in a hurry to run into that.” Arga emphasizes towards our destination.

Flurries of snow and tree debris rain down through the forest. The clatter of bark and branches continue endlessly.

“Shouldn’t we hurry and support?” asks Pakt.

“The goblins arn’t even dumb enough to interfere in that duel.” Arga draws his sword, “Still, is that… whatever her name is?”

“Niya.” Doore replies as both squint ahead.

There is a silhouette in the near distance, the long pole probably gives away her identity.

The group’s pace picks up as we close the distance.

Then I notice another figure fighting a goblin a little from Niya’s position. It looks like one of the mercenaries armed with an axe in one hand. His shield is mostly in pieces.

Niya is looking over the body of a hunter, as we draw close she acknowledges our presence.

From a bush nearby a goblin rushes out after she turns away; however, Niya twists around and thrusts with her staff. The sound of a loud impact carries out, the staff strikes the collar of the goblin knocking it senseless and breathless.

Niya follows up by quickly stepping in, drawing a dagger, and slashing the goblin’s throat. Quickly she steps back to her original position.

Arga whistles out.

“Glad you are alright.” Pakt says.

Niya nods to him before looking at me and gesturing towards the hunter laying against the tree.

“I stabilized what I could but you can finish the rest.”

“Okay.” I reply.

Kneeling down, I examine the hunters condition. His abdomen has a deep wound just under the stomach. The bleeding has stopped from Niya’s healing; however, the wound is still open.

While I prepare a loud crashing burst is heard to my right.

I look to see a wave of snow and debris surge through. My reflexes cover my eyes and the hunter’s body.

The mercenary who was with Niya fighting a goblin nearby is trying to remove his axe from the goblin’s collar when the blast came. Next to him a tree begins to creak and fall over.

Snapping branches ring out as the large piece of timber crashes down.

Between the debris and falling timber the Mercenary makes a desperate dash towards us.

Smashing down into the snow, more blows into the air, scattering debris around.

The mercenary looks over his shoulder as he runs, nearby I catch sight of Varrel’s blueish mythril sword dancing among the cloud of debris and the black figure of the goblin warlord.

Turning back to us, the mercenary doubles his pace. His face is clearly more panicked than before.

Their duel draws close enough I begin to make out their figures. In the hands of the goblin warlord is a spear, the sharp end is glossy black. The warlord wields this spear in both hands with considerable grace compared to other spear armed goblins.

Varrel is mostly using his mythril sword; however, strapped to his left arm I make out the sithril hammer I made. On a glance the strap of leather wraps along the handle before slinging onto his forearm.

I would say he added that to the handle in order to use both hands with his sword while keeping the hammer close to his hand.

With a thrust the warlord unleashes an attack packed with mana, Varrel quickly flicks the sithril hammer into his hand and launches a counter burst of magic.

Varrel’s wind magic clashes with the warlord’s exploding the air into a shockwave that shatters the cold branches around them. In a moment the shockwave thumps past me, the concussive force beats against my chest.

Ringing in my ears lingers from the impact.

I reel back a step while the sound around me escapes my ears.

Slowly the sharp ring fades as the pattering sound of falling debris rains around.

While I do catch in the corner of my eye the sight of Arga and Pakt breaking away to the sides my eyes stay focused in front of me.

I may hear something about more goblins coming.

Right now I am in a trance, my legs will not budge anymore as if frozen into the snow. Weak from the pressure radiating from the battle before me.

Because of the advantage of greater range, the warlord uses its initiative to make rapid jabs with its spear. Each thrust darts out at a speed I can barely follow.

Varrel keeps just out of range where he has enough time to react and evade each thrust, his movements are simple and clean. Much time has passed since the two began their battle yet Varrel’s breath is controlled, his stamina is conserved just enough.

Between these light exchanges the warlord throws another strong attack in by driving the point of its spear into the snow before raising the point in a vertical sweep.

Snow torn into the air quickly begins to crystalize into sharp spikes, surging ahead at Varrel. The ice begins to form around Varrel’s legs; however, he prepared the sithril hammer before swinging low and smashing into the surging ice.

Clashing magic shatters the ice sending the glittering shards through the air.

From my perspective I see the warlord attempts to use this and conceal its movements to flank Varrel. After thrusting its spear through the glittering cloud of ice the spear’s point is deflected to the side.

Varrel emerges under the spear, his mythril sword raised and pushing the spear to the side. The two draw into melee range.

The goblin warlord strikes at Varrel with the other end of its spear, because it is the shorter end the attack quickly reaches Varrel. In response, Varrel guards with the plate armour covering his right arm.

From his pommel, Varrel strikes into the warlord’s waist. At the same time, the warlord strikes against Varrel’s helm with the midpoint of its spear shaft.

Against the belly armour of the warlord Varrel’s pommel blow was loud but the goblin shows little reaction to it. The blow to Varrel’s helm was also on a bad angle so, the impact was also not strong enough to phase Varrel.

Both do not stop their brawl.

Varrel steps in closer while driving his left elbow into the same part of the warlord’s belly.

The warlord’s position in the brawl appears more difficult as Varrel has tucked under its long spear. In an attempt to drive Varrel’s body up, the warlord attacks with its left knee hitting against the steel cuirass plate covering Varrel’s body.

With his left hand, Varrel grabs his mythril sword closer to the tip. His sword is now pressing close against the warlord’s belly. Varrel unleashes short blows against the belly armour using his left hand’s hold to quicken each strike.

Elbow strikes from the warlord come down on Varrel’s head and shoulders as it tries to force Varrel down now.

The series of close range exchanges is broken as the goblin warlord’s armour suddenly explodes with mana.

Or so it appears.

I brace myself against the shockwave and cover my ears. The thump against my chest almost knocks my lungs empty and the strength leaving my knees lowers my stance.

With a deep breath I regain myself, my eyes quickly look ahead.

The goblin warlord has created distance from Varrel.

Ah.

I see, the warlord’s black armour is made out of a lot of high quality gobite. I have seen pieces of it before that Varrel brought back.

With the effect of the gobite the warlord must have released a powerful impact exploding out from its full set of armour. The damage from this would be deadly if someone was caught close.

Though Varrel was caught close, his mythril sword was probably used to amplify counter magic. The collision between the two gave the warlord the chance to break away.

Hmm.

Pieces of the belly armour Varrel has been focused on are now dangling. The armour looks to be made of pieces of flattened gobite connected with something like leather or silk straps.

From his focused attacks Varrel must have been able to drive his way between the plates and cut or break up the plates.

That would explain why the warlord broke away, Varrel can now drive his word through the goblin’s exposed belly armour. The opening is fist sized, more than enough for a sword point.

Visible clouds of breath steam from the warlord’s helmet quicker than before, what it did has left it more worn out than Varrel who retains more of his stamina.

In the distance the figures of more armoured goblins appears from the woods.

They keep their distance and have been content with watching. WIthout interfering in the fight they begin to pull back instead of advance and overwhelm us.

I am not sure why but the warlord spits to the side after witnessing this.

Varrel forces his way forward, the warlord’s spear thrusts in an effort to keep distance.

In a quick move Varrel steps into the spear’s range, as the next thrust comes aimed for his head Varrel lowers his stance to bob his head past the spear point to evade it by a few hairs.

With a second step closer the warlord thrusts out, the spear point glances against Varrel’s helmet sending sparks into the air. Varrel manages to deflect the spear with his mythril cross guard preventing himself from receiving a direct blow.

Sliding his blade along the staff Varrel keeps the spear aimed away while he steps closer, in response the warlord strikes again with the other end of his spear.

Varrel pulls his sword back as the attack is coming from his left and slashes from over his shoulder into the warlord’s spear.

The loud clang of metal striking metal rings out, the mythril sword splits the warlord’s spear in two between the goblin’s hands. Swinging the sithril hammer with his left hand Varrel connects with the exposed belly.

There is no magic defense from the armour.

Bloody mist sprays from the warlord’s helmet as it roars out, an attempt to counter with the spear head half in its left hand to stab the spear into Varrel’s collar.

By driving his cross guard against the goblin’s left wrist, Varrel stops the counter. After locking his sword and twisting the guard Varrel breaks the goblin’s grip on its spear. He snatches the loose spear head with the same hand holding his sword’s handle.

The warlord’s left hand slaps against Varrel’s helmet before a swift slash cuts into part of the goblin’s wrist. However, the goblin manages to use the remaining strength of its hand to hold the mythril sword in place.

Varrel’s left arm pulls down on the warlord’s left elbow, opening the way for his right hand, now releasing his sword but not the spear to stab through the gap between the warlord’s neck and head.

Both remain still as silence covers the battlefield.

My ears begin to pick up the sound of bloody gurgles and the warlord’s head sags to the side. The spearhead slips out as blood drips down from the warlord’s armour.

Yet the warlord does not collapse, its body is held up by the right arm locked under Varrel’s left shoulder.

Wait.

Varrel slumps to the side.

Both collapse apart.

Sticking out from under Varrel’s left armpit the other half of the goblin’s spear shaft reveals what I did not notice.

During the fight, Varrel’s left arm was keeping the goblin’s right in check until he made the move to restrain the goblin’s left side and exposing his own left.

My toes bite into the snow and I dash ahead.

Oh no.

Oh no.

The angle of the spear shaft is bad.

With a leap I dive onto my knees beside Varrel’s body.

There is a lot of blood draining out under his armour.

I try and unfasten his armour but my cold fingers shake too much.

I do not care and draw my bronze sword hacking the leather straps and pull the steel cuirass away from the wound.

With my hand I quickly pulse in some mana to feel where the bronze spear shaft is.

Shit.

No. No. No.

That is his heart, it is not beating after part is gouged by the pointed end.

Pressing on his shoulder with my right hand my left grabs the shaft and I pull it out.

The open wound fills with blood but I quickly begin work to heal the wound starting with the heart itself. It is muscle, different from the usual kind. The heart is not made with the same kind of fiber pattern.

Regardless of the difference I focus on replicating the pattern. There are four chambers in the heart, only one is actually damaged but this has caused the whole set to stall. It should also mean that without the heart pumping blood Varrel will not bleed out as fast.

The punctured lung is more difficult to mend but I have more practice and work quickly to seal the hole allowing the lung to hold pressure. Rib and chest muscles are next followed by closing up the skin and linking the blood vessels.

But what next?

The heart's not beating.

From readings, while it is possible to heal a wound to the heart, the ‘soul’ apparently leaves the body.

I cannot just accept that.

First, I will try to beat the heart by force.

Because the chest is pressurized again if I push down against his ribs over the heart it should provide a similar effect as a heart beat.

If I do not get Varrel’s blood flowing his body will suffocate.

I do not believe the ‘soul’ will leave the body so easily, the brain would be where his ‘soul’ resides and it needs blood.

With both hands I push against Varrel’s chest.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Blood from Varrel’s lungs begins to rise out from his mouth.

OH!

He needs air as well, I try and manipulate some of the blood in his throat through magic.

After opening his mouth I blow into Varrel’s.

Air surges out of his nose.

Shit.

I plug his nose and try again.

Slowly I feel Varrel’s chest rise.

Okay good.

I place my hands over his chest and begin beating.

I will do ten of these and breathe again.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Footsteps run up from behind as I continue to beat up to ten.

“Kordi! Wha- I don’t think that will work.”

The voice sounds like Niya’s. I blow into Varrel’s lungs again before continuing to beat ten more times.

“We have to go, he’s dead if that pierced his heart. Whatever you are doing won’t bring his soul back and the goblins are going to close in around us.”

I do not expect it to work right away, if it is like recovering a person from drowning then there is similar treatments. Clear the lungs, fill with air, and push the air out. If done soon enough the drowned person will regain consciousness.

It should be the same, or similar enough but the heart will not start up.

Does it need a ‘soul’?

I cannot make a soul, but he soul moves the body right?

No wait.

I have caused my muscles to constrict before by creating static.

Okay, bring my hands together. I need to create an unbalance of some kind between the two and then if I release my hold over it there will be a shock.

Right?

It hurt so, I did not test it again.

I place my left hand over Varrel’s chest above his heart and slide my right hand under his back. Both hands are aligned on each side of his heart.

Here it goes.

Release-

Surging pain overtakes my consciousness before I only feel I fall into blackness surrounded in complete silence.

Somehow this is familiar.

Snow.

Yeah I remember snow.

But it should be daytime, why is it night.

Wait, there are some lights hanging around.

My memory fades slowly engulfing me in the night sky.

Did I die…?

End notes:

Spoiler :

Sorry for the extra month delay, flu vaccines are pretty important.