“So why did you follow me, Ashur?” he asked as they made their winding way through the forest.

They had set out in the early morning and true to her word, Ashur had followed his orders to a tee. She tied up the skins with weaved string that Utho had spun himself and pushed dirt onto the smoldering coals.

“Oh well I didn’t want to stay in that village anymore,” she said brightly. She had a spring in her step as they walked along. Not only that, she was adeptly swerving around thorny vines and dodging snapping plants with a sort of goblin-like grace, not needing any warnings from Utho. It was no wonder she’d managed to follow him so well.

“Oh huh, any other reason?”

“Ummm, I guess it was boring there?” she said, tilting her head to one side. She nodded, seemingly happy with her response and ran off gleefully after a small lizard into the undergrowth.

Utho sighed, but he wasn’t entirely surprised by that whole exchange. It was seemingly entirely how she communicated.

Giving chase, he shouted after her, “Won’t anyone from the village worry about you?” He found her with the wriggling lizard in her hands. She looked up at him quizzically.

“Why would they mister? My parents are gone. No one miss me,” she said plainly. The lizard wriggled free and scuttled off.

“Not the other kids?”

“They still have each other.”

“Not even the elder?”

“Elder still have kids.”

He couldn’t say anything further to that.

***

Just as their journey through the forest was beginning to grow monotonous for both Utho and Ashur, they finally stumbled out of the forest.

The tree line ended and expanded into a flat plain that stretched out as far as they could see. Occasional rock piles were strewn here and there along with the odd tree or two. He could see a glimmer in the distance which he assumed was a river The sky was a deep blue with light flighty clouds high up in the atmosphere.

They headed for the river first as it would be their best chance of reaching civilization. Even with the elder’s despairingly insufficient map drawn into the mud, they had no idea where the nearest settlement was. The goblins had simply never ventured beyond the forest before this.

They kept to the tree line, tracing it towards the silvery ribbon in the distance. Utho had no idea what dangers lurked beyond the forest, so staying close to cover seemed the best option. For now at least.

He looked up at the sky and calculated the river’s orientation and confirmed that it flowed from east to west. This was good, west was towards the human settlements.

*THUMP*

His head jerked around. Ashur had stopped too. It sounded as if a large boulder had been dropped onto the floor.

*THUMP*

Again the sound came, this time they realised it was coming from the forest.

*THUMP*

“Get back!” he cried, leaping away from the trees. Ashur jumped away as well.

*THUMP*

*THUMP*

A huge lumbering pile of rubble seemed to spew out of the forest. It crashed through the thick undergrowth and with a groan of sliding rocks, stopped at the very edge of the forest.

“My god,” he whispered, “it’s a golem.”

They watched as the pile of stones unraveled itself to reveal a large hulking figure. It looked like multiple boulders had been stuck together to form a somewhat humanoid shaped. Thick, squat mossy legs supported a chiseled grey slab for a torso. On either side sported segmented arms with smaller and smaller stones until they ended with hands of pebbles.

It had no head or neck where a humanoid shape might normally have one. Instead, a glowing blue core could be seen, embedded into the chest of the stone golem. It was the forest guardian, a non-sentient guard of the forest.

With slow motions, it took one jerky step. And then another.

“Ashur, run,” he said, turning around and heading straight for the river. His physical attacks, as he was now, would be useless. Poison would do nothing against this thing and he doubted even Ashur would be able to put a dent in its core. Their best hope was to outrun it and hopefully get away by floating down the river.

As they drew close, he could see another humanoid figure. Just as he felt about to panic at the prospect of being sandwiched by two opponents that they had no chance against, he noticed it was much smaller and seemed to actually have the shape of a head.

Great, not a golem but this was still bad. If they managed to lose the golem, would it attack this individual? He could only assume that the golem would target the closest being once they were well away.

He had a dilemma on his hands.

On one hand, they were pretty much guaranteed to escape once they reached the river. Golems were slowed and weakened in running water. The waters looked swift and would no doubt bog down the lumbering giant.

On the other, allowing the golem to attack an innocent bystander was against his code of honour. Although he looked like a goblin externally, he still held the memories and feelings of his past life as a knight. To “Protect and Save” was their code. This was, to some extent, interpretable in regards to what the words actually referred to.

To him the words meant: “Protect the weak. Save the innocent.”

That being said, slowing down to take this person with them might put them at risk of the golem catching up.

“There’s a mister at the river,” Ashur said, pointing, “let’s take him with us.”

Yes, I suppose there’s no point in debating.

“Okay, but we’ll need to be quick,” he huffed back. His stamina was getting better but he was still not in good shape.

As they approached, it looked as if the figure was kneeling by the river, staring into the river.

They yelled out to grab the person’s attention and the figure turn around, standing up.

It wore a dark brown cloak, obscuring its features, but was undoubtedly not a golem. It looked to be human, but he couldn’t be sure. Something didn’t seem human about this individual.

It waved at them and incredibly, started walking towards them in a casual stride. Did this lunatic not see the hulking golem tearing up the earth as it chased them?

“Go into the river! Into the river,” he shouted in an attempt to direct the person. They stopped, seemingly confused by his instructions.

The golem gave a grinding roar as it saw the third figure, putting on a burst of speed.

The figure had turned back to the river and looked about ready to kneel down again. Utho had enough, this person seemed too crazy to take along with them. Also, if they weren’t crazy, then surely they must be crazy strong to ignore a charging golem.

That didn’t seem to match Ashur’s conclusion as she dashed forward, grabbing the hem of the individual’s cloak.

“Come on mister, let’s go!” she said, tugging on the cloak. A clasp must have come loose as the cloak came loose and was pulled over the person’s head and onto the grass.

However, what was underneath was not a person at all. No, it was a golem as he had feared.

But not a golem that he’d ever seen before.

It had a metallic mask-like face, with silvery lines embedded into the grey metal. Two glowing blue eyes peered out of silvery eye sockets. It had magic inscriptions etched into the mask, written all the way down to its torso. It had a smooth embossed metal breastplate built into the upper region, which tapered gradually into its waist. Its legs were slender, yet seemed reinforced with silvery plates, studded along its length with more blue gems. Its arms were the same, with fists clenched in gauntlets of steel.

He had never seen this much detail in palace sculptures let alone a golem wandering in the wild. The golem was perfect in every sense of the word.

Before he could react, it struck at Ashur with an incredibly quick punch.

She twisted out of the way at the last second but its fist still managed to graze her arm. She cried out in pain, clutching her arm.

“Get back Ashur,” he barked at her, glancing at her arm. He didn’t think it would be broken, but with the speed of that punch she would be wearing a nice big bruise for a while.

“Mister,” she said through gritted teeth, “I’m sorry we aren’t here to fight you, there’s a golem coming and we wanted to help you.”

No you idiot, you can’t reason with golems. It already tried to kill you, get back already.

chirped the golem brightly.

Huh?

the golem continued. Its voice was neutral and somewhat tinny. It reverberated from a grill underneath the mask.

Utho was floored. Forget sentience as a golem. It could speak as well! (and so eloquently at that)

“We got it from the White Death,” Ashur said proudly, showing off the white fur coat Utho had made for her, her injury instantly forgotten. He had limited talents for making clothing so it was more of a fur poncho than anything.

“Um, guys, I think we should get out of here,” he began. The giant was slow, but the thud of rock on grass was getting louder.

The golem’s eyes seemed to be pulsing as it leaned down to admire the fur.

“Yep. Yep! Ashur is very strong, strongest in her village!” she boasted, positively glowing with pride.

Did the golem just blink? I think it blinked. Praise the Light, it has eyelids!

“Hey guys, let’s cut the chat we kind of have a situation on our hands…” he started getting nervous. It was great that the golem no longer wanted to kill them and that Ashur now had a friend. However, the golem was uncomfortably close. If they dawdled any longer, they would have no choice but to fight the forest guardian. “Can we get a move on?”

This golem was getting way too carried away, swept up in its praise of Ashur. Ashur normally didn’t mind these praises either, but she too was getting worried about their situation.

“Thank you mister, but mister Utho is right. We need to go!” she said urgently.

The golem was almost upon them. Utho cursed under his breath and darted to Ashur to pick her up. He planned on leaping into the river. This airheaded golem would have to fend for herself.

the golem shouted the last words as the forest guardian charged at her.

Utho was about to yell “leap” but was shocked into silence at the ferocity in her voice. He stopped because he realised she aimed her statement at the charging golem.

She extended her metallic arm with her fingers splayed, palm towards the golem.

A spark ignited from her fingertips and arced towards the golem.

With a bang, the golem’s core exploded in a blazing fireball. The golem’s charged slowed as it crumbled, it’s limbs falling apart as the magic that held it together was undone. Hundreds of rocks and stones rolled and stopped at their feet. With a last groan, the body collapsed. Its core was completely destroyed, incinerated by her magic blast. Only a hole remained where the core used to be.

Utho and Ashur watched in awe, their mouths left completely agape.

The golem cocked her head to the side.

The golem tapped a ponderous finger against its chin, completely lost in thought.

“Utho, did you see that?” squeaked Ashur.

“How could I miss it,” he responded, transfixed by the golem. Not only was it built impressively, it could talk and use magic. High tier explosion magic no less!

His mind was racing. He doubted any human mage, blacksmith or craftsman could create such a complex and powerful machine. Furthermore, how had he never met this creation before? Perhaps the dwarves had somehow managed to create this masterpiece deep in their caves. He had never heard of such an incredibly project before, but that was hardly surprising as they were a very secretive race.

The golem finally spoke, extending her hand towards Ashur this time to shake her hand.

“My name is Ashur,” she replied, taking it. “And this mister is Utho. He is a mighty warrior!”

the golem asked, turning her gaze to him.

Uh oh, I should say something before they get any ideas, thought Utho.

“Oh well I’m not that great, really,” he said depreciatingly, “I couldn’t compare to the power you just showed.”

Lenora’s glowing eyes seemed to pulse in pride,

“Can I ask what you were doing out here?” Utho probed. The golem didn’t seem dangerous, at least not when provoked. It would be good to see if they could help her so that she would join their party. It would be a welcome boost to their combat abilities.

the golem raced over to the riverside.

Nevermind, this golem is a psycho. This is a bad idea. Let’s get out of here.

“Um Utho, what is torture? Is it yummy?” Ashur asked, tugging at the fur around his waist.

“Hush Ashur, let’s get going,” he whispered, pushing her backwards. Just as they were about to leave, the golem was back.

“Oh, um Lenora, well we’re just going to get on our way now. We wouldn’t want to waste your time,” Utho said with a cheerful smile on his face and a bead of cold sweat running down his green back.

Ashur giggled gleefully as the golem picked her up and set her on her shoulders.

“Just curious there Lenora, why were you torturing a gnome?” asked Utho hesistantly.

the golem said resolutely and his heart sank.

“So you don’t know who your creator was?”

the golem paused and turned to look at him. He felt a chill run through his spine.

“Well the best for information would be the town of adventurers – Aeston,” he said.

the golem laughed.

“Oh okay great,” Utho said faintly.