Chapter 13: Seeking Help

In the middle of a ruined village twenty-five figures had gathered, the boys and girls nervously stared at one person who had asked them to gather outside their safe zone. Fear was evident in their eyes as they restlessly observed the surrounding. Finally, a boy raised his voice, the only boy who appeared annoyed rather than nervous.

“Hey, mister! Why did you bring us out?”, he glared at Shiv.

A natural reaction, Shiv thought. He was, after all, a stranger to them, even if he fed them once, and not to mention that they were burdened by memories of the vile goblins attacking their village. But Shiv decided to remain quiet as he knew that whatever he said would not have any impact on them and so he let the two girls who trusted him to do the talking.

“Agon!”, Cheryl dashed towards him and caught him by his ears. “What kind of attitude is that towards someone who brought you food to eat”, she scolded him as she punished him.

“Ouch! Ouch! It hurts Chery-nee!”, with teary eyes, the boy tried to break free of her hold.

“Then behave properly or else!”, when her voice turned heavy, the poor boy shrunk down as he apologized for his rudeness to Shiv. But the flow events only brought a smile to his face.

“Shiv-sama, please forgive this stupid brother of mine. Even though he has a loud mouth, he has his uses so please forgive him this time”, Cheryl turned to Shiv and bowed at him as she spoke politely.

“Wait a minute! You don’t need to bow at all. I mean, we are all kids here, I included. The way you address me as well as your behaviour is too polite. Just call me Shiv.”, Shiv panicked at Cheryl’s sudden change in behaviour. Being addressed with a ‘sama’ was not something he had ever enjoyed, especially by those close to his age, “Just act like you normally do with these children. Think of me as a friend, please”

“Eh! But…”

“I insist”, Shiv cut her off before Cheryl could finish.

Seeing the troubled Shiv, Cheryl let out a gentle smile. She was liking the guy more and more. ‘Strong yet kind and modest’, she thought to herself, “Then Shiv-san, please do what you wanted to”

Shiv returned the smile and nodded. He then glanced at Bella who was near him who too nodded at him. Bella then walked forward and faced the gathering before her with Shiv and Cheryl standing next to her.

“I know that all of you are confused and frightened. But please listen to what I have to say”. She appealed to the crowd in earnest even though they were children. “Our parents and friends were dragged away by those vile goblins, they have locked up our dear ones and now they want to sacrifice our loved ones for their own selfishness. Just because we are kids, the looked down on us, they throw us away thinking that we are useless, harmless, treating as trash. We are all scared, even I am, but what use is living without the ones we care for? And so I have decided to help Shiv-san here who has promised to rescue all of our people from the hands of those cruel monsters. I have gathered you all here to tell you my decision as well as to make a request. Please help me help Shiv-san” and the girl bowed deeply at the kids as tears rolled down her beautiful cheeks. Her hands squeezed her dress as stood still before the crowd.

Silence fell. Shiv could clearly see fear in their eyes, even Cheryl noticed it. She sighed even though she had expected such an outcome. She glanced at the teary girl who was bowing, her best friend had mustered all her courage to step forward and yet none answered, or so Cheryl thought.

“You finally decided to fight back eh, Bella-nee”, came a voice from the crowd startling even Cheryl. But Shiv smiled, he knew from the beginning that one guy would surely come to their aid. Shiv saw the fire in that person’s eyes, the desire for revenge, the desire to take back what he lost.

“Agon”, Shiv called out to the boy who was three years younger to him as he grinned at the boy.

The boy who turned his head towards Shiv and stared at him before walking towards Shiv. Without speaking a word, he stood next to Shiv with folded hands.

The kids were shocked, so was Cheryl and even Bella. But the two girls soon regained their senses and immediately walked towards Shiv. The kids nervously stared at the four who stood a little away from them, afraid to even whisper.

“I think; you guys have the wrong impression here.”, it was Shiv who spoke, “You all seem to be having the wrong thoughts. No one is asking you to fight”

Noticing that his words had caught their attention, Shiv continued. “The one who will be fighting the monsters will be me. But I alone cannot engage hundreds of them and so I need to prepare traps, counter measures, which I cannot do alone. All I need is extra hands to do this and that”, Shiv finished with a smile. He could see the fear in their eyes fade. And one by one the kids walked towards him.

---***---

A hole, twice the size of an adult acted as the entrance to the blood goblin hide out. The cave mouth was guarded by three blood goblins who equipped swords. Shiv, Cheryl, Bella, and Agon hid inside a bush a little away from the cave mouth. A head on attack would without a doubt attract attention and so Shiv decided to stay low. He had two weeks to prepare and so he decided to observe the enemy.

One of the four would remain hidden in the bushes as a lookout. Every three hours they switched the roles. Since they only needed one-day observation, each person had to do two shifts of lookout. Shiv started, followed by Bella, then by Cheryl and finally Agon.

By the end of the day, they came to the conclusion that, there was always three goblins guarding the entrance. Every eight hours a new batch of goblins would be placed on guard duty.

Shiv was somewhat delighted when he found out that the guards changed shifts only after eight long hours. Once he gathered the necessary information, he began devising plans for the next day.

On the second day, Shiv brought Cheryl and Bella with him and once again hid in the nearby bush. Shiv turned to Bella and Cheryl and whispered.

“You two ready?”

The two girls nodded nervously and then dashed out of the bushes. The goblins noticing the movements intercepted the intruders but when they found two beautiful girls before them, their lower region took over the control. The goblins let their guard down as they chased after the girls like dogs in heat.

Shiv moved the next instant. Invoking kaze and hono, he approached the goblins from behind. The goblin in the back did not realize the impending danger as it madly ran after the girls. Shiv with daggers in his both his hand, closed in on the monster. The daggers were then pushed into the either side of the goblin’s ugly neck, with no resistance the blade sunk deep into the flesh.

It only took Shiv a few seconds to fell the first monster. Without any delay, he dashed to the second goblin who had by then noticed him. While the first goblin chased after the girls, the second goblin stopped the chase. The goblin considered Shiv as a threat, a threat that had to be dealt immediately and so it brandished its poorly made club as growled in a deep voice.

The two stared at each other, leaking intense bloodlust. For some time, neither of them moved as they continued the staring contest. But suddenly the goblin fell on its face to the ground, an arrow lodged in its skull.

“That’s a nice shot Agon, you really are skilled with a bow”, Shiv chuckled as he complimented and from a tree a little away, a fourteen-year-old boy jumped down with a smile.

“This is what I do best”, exclaimed the boy with a prideful tone as he puffed his chest.

“The other one?”, Shiv asked.

“Bullseye” the boy replied with a thumbs up.

Shiv nodded his head. He then asked Agon stand guard at the cave entrance and then walked inside. The cave was a little dark, but the cracks on the wall let a little sunlight seep into the cave which greatly helped Shiv.

The cave walls were muddy which told Shiv that the cave was a result of erosion due to rain water. The roof also seemed weak, so weak that a small explosion might result in a collapsing of the cave. He touched the walls carefully as he inspected it for some time. Shiv wandered a little into the cave before he decided to go back to the village.

By the time he reached the village, all the kids had been gathered once again. Agon, Bella, and Cheryl were back and were talking to the others merrily. When Shiv approached, all them quieted down.

“Good morning guys”, Shiv wished them which they returned with great energy. “Before I start the attack on the goblins, there some things that have to be prepared. And it is for that reason I have asked for your help. First, how many of you can hunt or can use a bow?”

Excluding Agon, three other boys and a girl raised their hands. Bella then called them forward and made them stand near Agon. Shiv then continued,

“Of the girls here, is there anyone that knows to cook?”

And so Shiv divided the group of twenty-two into various departments. Five for hunting, four girls including Bella for cooking, two boys who could run fast for watch keeping, two girls and two boys were assigned the duty of transporting various materials from the village warehouse as per Shiv’s request. And the remaining, under Cheryl, was to aid Shiv in trap making.

Once the roles were assigned, Shiv asked the kids except the hunting group to gather axes, pickaxes, and spades. He then took the hunting group into the forest to give them a little hunting practice. But since Agon was good at it, Shiv soon let the group go out to hunt on their own.

The next thing Shiv did was, tell Bella to cure the meat to preserve it for long term use. Bella who roughly understood the process agreed to Shiv and left to make the necessary preparations.

When the axes and other things were assembled, Shiv made those under Cheryl cut down small trees. He along with the lids then began cutting down trees and when sufficient amount of trees was cut, he showed them how to make barricades and stakes.

The two boys who could run fast were asked to hide in the bushes to act as look out, there job was to run to Shiv if they noticed any movement near the cave mouth. And so four days passed, while Shiv slowly made the necessary preparations he cut down the guards every day to lessen their numbers. The goblins being a lesser intelligent being never noticed their brethren being slain.

On the seventh day, Shiv asked the Cheryl group to dig holes a little away from the cave entrance. The group nodded and began the work. The efficiency of the various groups was so great that the work accomplished was of great quality.

Every day the hunting group brought back meat and fruits. Bella and her assistants made sure to cure the meat and store it for the near future. They also prepared delicious food for the kids. The transport grouped, did what Shiv asked to. They brought sacks of sugar and salt, equipment, food etc at his request and when they had nothing to do, they helped out the Cheryl group in trap making or digging holes.

Shiv too did his part well; after all, he could not slack off when the other kids were doing a wonderful job.

Hey! guys! fell ill for the last few days! Sorry for the delay! Will try to make for it!