“It’s not fair.” Amanda’s whiny voice cut through the remains of a stone house they’d holed up in. Jen knew how she felt. She’d never heard of a goblin capable of keeping up with a warlord or shrugging off a sorcerer’s blast like it was nothing more than an inconvenience. She glanced out the opening through the shimmering field Kat had raised to keep their pursuers at bay. Golden eyes blinked back at her. If there was one out there, the rest probably weren’t far away.

“So let’s hear this theory,” Jen said.

The professor sat up straight. “I believe they’re modified goblins. Improvements over the original creatures.” He cleared his throat. “I may have accidentally freed them from some sort of holding field when I was poking around a half-collapsed citadel three days ago.”

“You let those things out?” Kat leaned forward like she wanted to punch the old man and Jen didn’t blame her. Unfortunately they needed him intact until he told them about The Harvest.

“As I said, it was an accident. Things happen when you’re doing fieldwork. You need to learn to roll with the punches.”

“I’ll give you something to roll with.” Amanda lunged at him, but Jen caught her before she reached the professor.

“Easy.” Jen eased the short-tempered sorcerer back into her place. “What altered them and how do we either kill them or escape?”

“As to what altered them I’m not entirely certain. The builders of these ruins certainly, but who or what they were I have yet to find definitive evidence. I believe the shapers—that’s the name I gave the unknown individuals, catchy isn’t it? Anyway, I believe the shapers used a combination of sorcery and demon blood to strengthen and alter the appearance of those goblins to create a more useful class of servant or soldier.”

“They aren’t demon blooded,” Kat said.

Dorius drew himself up to his less-than-intimidating height so he appeared to be looking down his nose at her despite sitting on the ground. “How would you know?”

Kat shrugged. “No aura of corruption. If they had even a drop of demon blood in them I’d sense it. I don’t know what they are. They don’t even have a core, their soul force is evenly distributed through their bodies. I’ve never seen anything like it. That’s what makes them so hard to sense, the power is diffused, like a sorcerer using invisibility.”

The professor’s mouth dropped open. “But, but, then how? If demon blood wasn’t the catalyst and certainly angel blood wouldn’t result in such monstrosities, what did they use?”

Kat shrugged again. “Don’t know. Like I said, I’ve never felt anything like those things.”

Dorius held his head in his hands and rocked back and forth. “I was so sure. I’ll have to rewrite my paper from scratch,” he muttered.

“Professor!”

Jen’s shout shook him out of whatever funk he’d fallen into. “I’m sorry, my dear. Learning years of work has just fallen to pieces overwhelmed me for a moment. I’m fine now.”

“Good, because we’ve got a dozen nasties out there and you’re the only one that has any experience with them or familiarity with the area,” Jen said. “We’ll be relying heavily on you to get us out of this alive.”

He puffed himself up. “Of course. You ladies may depend on me.”

Amanda groaned. “We’re doomed.”

Kat swatted her shoulder. “Quiet.”

“Are there any other exits?” Jen asked.

“I haven’t found any.” Professor Dorius’s forehead crinkled as he thought. “But I’ve only been here five days, so who can say for sure?”

“Why don’t we just fly out of here?” Kat said. “Those things didn’t have wings.”

“I thought about that,” Jen said. “But if we leave them alive and there’s another exit, even if we seal the one we found, those things might still escape. I know we’re a long way from civilization, but eventually they’ll find a village or caravan and when they do a lot of people will die. We either need to seal every exit or figure out how to kill them all.”

“Let’s blast them from the air.” Amanda bounced to her feet. “It’ll be good target practice.”

“How much did you hold back when you hit that one earlier?” Jen asked.

Amanda frowned. “I don’t know. I used the same amount of power I generally do. I try not to use too much soul force in any one blast as it will drain my core too quickly. Why?”

“Your regular blast didn’t do much more than annoy the one you hit,” Kat said. “If we try to blast them from above we’ll have to use way stronger attacks than normal.”

“So?”

“So they’re fast enough to dodge my attacks at warlord speed,” Jen said. “I doubt you could hit one of them from any sort of long range. We either need a trap or to kill them up close.”

“A trap you say.” Dorius chewed his lip. “I came across a pit a couple days ago, maybe twenty feet deep. Would that suffice?”

“It might.” Jen was cut off by a screech followed by enraged screams.

Three goblins raced across the path and began scratching at the barrier. Their claws slowly cut through the soul force wall.

Everyone leapt to their feet. It wouldn’t take a minute for them to open it up enough to get through.

Jen thrust her sword through one of the gaps they’d cut in the barrier. She nicked one of the monsters, but it avoided a lethal blow.

“Should I reinforce it?” Kat asked.

“For a second anyway.” Jen turned to Dorius. “Where’s this pit?”

“About half a mile back toward the entrance. I can guide you.”

“Good. Can you two scoop the goblins up and carry them that far?” Jen had to raise her voice to be heard over the goblins’ screams and the scrambling of their claws.

“I think so,” Kat said. “What do you have in mind?”

“You dump them in the pit and I’ll cut them down as they try to climb out. If they’re smart enough to not try and climb out we drop boulders on them until they’re nothing but bloody smears.”

Amanda grinned. “I like this plan.”

Kat nodded. “I’ll handle the primary containment, you plug any holes they make. Okay?”

“Got it. But how will we convince the rest of them to show themselves?”

“I’ll draw them out,” Jen said. “Be ready to act as soon as they all show themselves.”

“We will,” Kat said.

“Open a gap on my mark.” Jen drew deep from her core and sent soul force through her body. “Now!”

The instant an opening appeared in the golden barrier she shot out at lightning speed, screeching goblins on her heels. Jen slowed to warlord speed and set to work playing with her opponents.

She ducked and dodged, avoiding openings that would leave her exposed to an attack from one of the other goblins. With her accelerated senses she had no trouble telling when the other goblins joined the fun.

Soon she was dancing around eleven of the ugly brutes. Where was the leader? As she spun and ducked her gaze darted all around the area. There was no sign of him. She couldn’t keep this up much longer.

Damn it! They’d just have to hunt the leader down after they handled the others. “Now!”

Golden bubbles appeared around each goblin and dragged them together into a single large container. Immediately the captive goblins scratched and tore holes in the field. Amanda reinforced the gaps, but at this rate they didn’t have much time.

“Dorius! Let’s go,” Jen said.

“Right.” The old man emerged from the shelter and set off at a brisk walk back the way they’d come.

Jen ground her teeth. They’d never make it at this pace.

Amanda must have realized it as well. A disk appeared at her feet. “Everybody on.”

She guided the construct through the ruins as the professor indicated. Both sorcerers were sweating like they were running a marathon.

Come on, come on.

If they didn’t hurry the sorcerers would pass out before they reached the pit.

“There it is.” Dorius pointed.

Jen spotted the deep hole he’d mentioned. It was about ten feet across with vertical sides. Perfect.

The sorcerers guided the writhing, goblin-filled sphere over the pit and let it vanish. Wailing monsters rained down into the hole.

Jen leapt off the transport and took up position at the edge of the pit. If these ones climbed anything like the big one she was going to be busy. Behind her the sorcerers slumped to the ground. Transporting the goblins must have completely exhausted them.

Movement caught her eye. The goblin leader stepped out of the shadows of a tumbled-down structure. It focused shining yellow eyes on her.

Uh-oh.

How was she going to deal with the trapped goblins and the leader at the same time?

Jen glanced back. Both sorcerers had their heads between their knees sucking air. No help to be found from that quarter.

She was on her own.