The two lowly knights were utterly unaware of the wounded predator stalking them in the darkness. In fact, there was barely any way they would ever find out; she wasn’t exactly even that close to them. But, they both had a weak aura of magic, so she stayed just beyond the reach of the torch.

They didn’t look too terrible of opponents, leather armor mixed with a few steel plates and a helmet that covered all but their eyes. Alone Rina could rend the leather into strips or even crush the steel along with their skulls had she not been so restricted.

“Over here!” The knight holding the torch whipped the flame around, reacting Rina ducked her limp arm touched the ground making her wince. He lit a narrow crevice to his side. The spacing would be nearly impossible for either of the two knights to fit along with the armor they wore. Inside was one of the many areas Goblins would store their young for protection.

The knight with the torch spoke up, “I knew I heard something...those little bastards.”

The other one approached with a two fist-sized ceramic pot in both of his hands. “Stand back.” He touched the wick with the flames, the coated rope alit with nearly invisible fire, the only way to honestly tell the device was armed was the massive amount of smoke that was produced.

He tossed in both pots, one shattered at the far end wall the other bounced from the ceiling and broke in the middle of the youngling gobs. The containers didn’t explode in the sense of fragmentation but sprayed highly flammable liquid around when the liquid touched the burning wick; the whole place was turned into an inescapable kiln.

The youngling goblins coughed, screamed and tried to escape their burning hell. But any that dared leave the hiding hole was granted a quicker death.

“Fucking vermin.” the torch knight said, spitting.

“C’mon. I’ll be damned if those two get the reward first.” The other one said, at the edge of the torchlight.

The look of that device was both dangerous and exciting to Rina. From what she could see that device held absolutely no magic within itself, yet conjured flames. These guys were undoubtedly dangerous on a hidden level.

They stayed until the sounds of dying goblins silences and was replaced by the echo of chains moving around the cavern; The two knights looked at each other nodded and took off. Surprised Rina took after them they way they were going was the same way that the magic was, and the scent was incredibly intense. Possibly the strongest she’s seen so far.

The darkest part of the cavern was where they reached their goal. Six females of varying occupations were chained to the rocks. Each girl had a different reason for being captured. Some were from raids, others were a part of a city's militia and happened to venture too far out into the forest. But the results all remained the same for each of them, incarcerated with the punishment of giving birth to baby goblins. As Rina slipped in, she noticed, less than half of the girls could even produce a strong scent. The massive amount of magic was coming from somewhere else in the room.

“Intrudersss?” A hoarse, hissing voice pierced the darkness. The two knights drew their blades.

“Reveal yourself!” The torch-wielding knight yelled.

Just beyond the darkness, Rina could see the aura spreading throughout the chambers, The aura danced like a snake, covering the walls. In seconds sconces on the walls exploding with flaming life. The magic being produced was overwhelming.

Both of the knights began backing away towards the entrance they came in. A hooded goblin using a staff to walk struck immense fear in the two. The added whooping crowd of goblin soldiers also added to the fear factor.

“A-a damn shaman!” The shaking in his voice was nearly incomprehensible. The other knight lit his bombs and threw them at the shaman.

With a point of his fingers. The goblin caused them to explode prematurely coating some of their armors in the burning liquid; They were forced to discard, making them practically defenseless.

“Ahhhh!” the shaman exclaimed. “You will make great young onesss!” He pointed in between the two knights, directly at the stone-faced Rina. The two knights turned back to face what he was talking about.

“What?”

“How the hells?”

The men were more than a bit confused; They should have noticed a silver-haired female trailing them if she was that close behind them. This was mistake number two for them, The first being that they took their eyes off their opponent.

She walked slightly forward; She was close to the knights whom she ignored, mainly because the most potent source of magic wasn’t coming from him, He was strong. But he was small fry compared to the source.

The goblin shaman had just released some earth magic. The floor began to crumbled and break away sending the knights and the caught up Rina into the abyssal depths below.

The goblin shaman smiled licking his pointed teeth as the three fell, once the two were dead getting the female wouldn’t be so difficult, so he thought.