“What do you mean? When did this happen?” I asked Rulan looking around the cave room, I noticed for the first time who had been in there to witness Lubus return. There were the injured, of course, laying on the floor wrapped in fur blankets, Lilian was there, but I had been too distracted by the state of my sisters and then by Lubus that I hadn’t taken the time to greet the other two Naga in the room. Suma was standing by the back wall looking shocked by all this, she had light red almost pink scales whit long blond hair tied in a long braid down her back as was popular among the young. Suma was a strong swimmer I remember and could hold her breath for a long time while diving, she was often praised for how much fish she caught and how many pearls she brought back. With the home cave so far from the shore, she must feel strange, is that why she is here in this cave with all our injured? Suma was not a hunter, sure she was great at spearing fish, but she would not excel at defending us from invaders, with some practice maybe but her time was better spent here for now taking care of the wounded. Almamu was a different story, her time was best spent here, but not because she was not capable of wielding a spear, she was competent. When I had left, she had been one of Nala’s best warriors, helping her train the young hopefuls. Why she was here and not out there helping guard us against the goblins became apparent as I looked at her. Almamu’s right arm ended in a stump at the elbow, it was wrapped in plant fiber and tied tightly against her bicep. She looked as muscular and fierce as ever with her black tail and brown hair cut short in the style of the warriors, she would never hold a spear or shoot a bow ever again. Her green eyes still shown with determination and she sneered at me as she saw me staring.

“One of the goblins flung ice at me, and I used my shield to block it, the little shit didn’t let up, and I struggled to reach him, blocking the ice all the while as I got closer,” Almamu said in her proud commanding voice. “I finally managed to get close enough to stab the thing through the eye,” she grinned savagely at this, but her face darkened as she looked down at what was left of her arm, “turns out blocking the cold for that long was a mistake. I should have dodged, flung myself to the side. My fingers blackened soon after the fight, the corruption slowly traveled up my hand and arm, and we had to cut it off to stop it from spreading.”

“Should you be up and about, Almamu, after such a loss,” I said, trying to offer what little comfort I could.

“You think I can just rest now that my sisters are suffering?” Almamu said as her scowl returned, “no, I will not sit idly by as everyone around me suffers. I am not bleeding, and the pain has lessened, I might as well make myself useful. I may not be able to fight anymore, but I still have experience, I am not the only one who has suffered this corruption of the flesh. I will help the young learn to fight, lend a helping hand where I am needed, there's not much else I can do, I will not be a burden, not now,” I grinned at her resolve, and Almamu’s scowl slowly eased from her face.

“There may be more ways than one for you to contribute,” I said grinning even wider, Almamu looked intrigued as I continued. “I have learned much on the mainland, of new weapons and powers. We need people to wield these new things, you can be one of them if you have the will.”

“So you managed it, you were successful on the mainland?” Came the voice of Suma, who had been quiet up to this point, but was practically brimming with excitement now.

“Yes, it was,” I said, and it was true, I just needed to get Red back on my side again, and we could make weapons as the mainlanders do. Although I didn’t like relying on the gem, we would have to count on it, at least to start with, until we could learn to make steel weapons ourselves. “This is Lubus, and Lilian,” I said as a way of introduction. “They wield similar powers as the goblins, and Lubus here has offered to teach us,” all eyes in the room turned to my guests, and they shone with something I wasn’t entirely comfortable with, hope. It was a good thing, but if I failed to live up to their expectations, all that hope would come crashing down. “But first we need to go after Vista, Rulan, when did they leave?”

“It was when we were out scouting and found you, the guards at the entrance didn’t think to question the movements of an elder and her party, but when they didn’t return the guards told me,” Rulan said after a moments thought.

“Good, they shouldn’t have gone too far, Lubus and I will go after them,” I said, this was met with protests from the others.

“Don’t you want anyone else to come with you? The jungle grows more dangerous by the day,” Suma said her eyes gaining a feverish glare. “I would gladly sacrifice myself for our people.” I slithered over to her and hugged her gently before saying.

“It would be a waste, you are doing much more good staying here,” I said gesturing to the Naga with bandaged wounds in the cave room.

“She is right you know, you shouldn’t throw your life away when you still have much good left to do,” Almamu said and laid a hand on Suma’s shoulder.

“Maybe you’re right,” she sighed, “I feel so useless, though, and guilty, while my sisters suffer I have been safe here in these caves, I’ve not suffered a single wound in defense of these caves,” Suma continued looking at the ground.

“You are not the only one, everyone can’t be spent fighting, everyone has a role to play if it is tending to the wounded or making food. If we are going to win this fight everyone will need to contribute, and as I told Almamu, there will be other ways we can do that now,” Suma’s expression brightened at my words, some of the hope returning to her eyes. “I can explain later when Vista is back.”

“I am coming with you, I can calm the plant life, and I know the safest way to the goblin caves,” Rulan said, holding her ground. It was true that bringing Rulan would make the trip a whole lot easier. I did know where the goblin cave was, I had been the first hunter after all, but the jungle had changed so much that I was unsure of the fastest or indeed safest path there.

“Fine, you can come,” I said, and Rulan nodded “but I don’t want to bring too many people, a small group will move faster, and I don’t want to weaken the defenses here to badly if the caves are attacked while we are gone.”

“Of course Eshanai, I can keep order here, don’t worry,” Almamu said, and I saw Rulan nod at her in gratitude.

“We are traveling to the goblin cave,” I said to Lilian, switching to the mainlanders tongue to speak to her. “It will be a dangerous trip, we will need to bring supplies now that Red is acting up. You could stay here and help defend the caves while we are gone or you can come with us and help us save our people. I will not tell you what to do, you will have to decide for yourself,” I poked her in the chest as I said this. She hesitated for a moment, looking around uncertainly at Suma and Almamu before she squared her shoulders and gave me her reply.

“I will come with you if you don’t mind,” and so we gathered some supplies before Rulan led us into the jungle, a crowd of Naga waiving goodbye to us and wishing us luck.

Rulan and I were wearing the hunting leathers we normally used, Lubus had managed to use magic to shrink one of the sets of armor for Lilian to use. The man himself had refused any form of armor, saying his magic would be protection enough. Having Red summon all me supplies had been very convenient, but now that the gem was throwing a hissy fit I had a sack of food and gear slung over my shoulder, and a waterskin strapped to my waist. The rest of my companions were similarly burdened as we moved through the roots of the massive trees. It wasn’t all bad though, I squeezed the marvel of a bow I was carrying, its grip feels good in my hand. This was one of the improvements Rulan had helped make to combat the goblins. With her magic, she could shape wood easily, and make it as hard and flexible as was needed. With me standing upright, the bows tip would reach my upper chest, it was indeed a beast of a weapon, and the big arrows strapped in a bundle on my back would do some truly terrifying damage. I also had a flint-tipped spear on my back just in case I needed it. We avoided any strange scents, and the vegetation made a path for us at a motion from Rulan.

We couldn’t avoid everything as more of those hyena monsters found us, but they fled from us as Rulan turned nature against them. Vines and roots would spring from the ground to entangle their limbs and wrap around their throats, choking them to death, the few left alive were dealt with by Lubus and me. I got to test out my new bow, it was genuinely monstrous as I had predicted. It would shoot one of the big arrows at incredible speeds to run straight through a hyena, sometimes pinning them to the ground. The corpses were absorbed by Red, but the annoying core still refused to talk to me or write to me I guess. I was starting to wonder if bringing the thing was really worth it when the sound of fighting reached us through the trees ahead.

“We aren’t close to the goblin cave yet are we?” I asked, trying to figure out what was going on. I could hear the sound of voices among the sounds, of commands being given, maybe we had made good time, and we had reached Vista's group before they could reach the goblins. It was confirmed a moment later when both Rulan and I flicked our tongues through the air, and I smelled both Naga, goblins, and something else. There was a roar from ahead, and our group nodded at each other before moving forward silently to get a better look.

What we saw surprised not only me but I think every one of us was staring at the scene below. There were about six or seven Naga launching shafts of arrows into… something in the clearing below us or trying to climb its back to get to, and this was the surprising part, the goblin riding on the monsters back clutching a glowing, jagged, red gem. I suppose the goblins could enslave other things as well, not only my people. I could see Nala down there, giving orders, but when the arrows bounced off or penetrated shallowly into the things carapace, she directed them to aim at the goblin. The monster was big, about as tall as three or four of our huts stacked on top of each other, but not as big as the humongous beasts I had run across on my way to the home cave. It looked almost like a tall crab, with six legs, three on either side. It had two big claws that it used to swipe at my sisters or try to grab them, it had an elongated upper body with a smooth shell, making it difficult to climb. Rulan and I made our way down to help as Lubus, and Lilian discussed how to best use their magic.