A few minutes later, Boro returned. He gave low roars and made strange gestures with his head and claws. Liza and Ben couldn’t understand what he was saying, thus they turned to Eliot.

“He said there are monsters there. They’re cooking a horse and there’s a human crying too.”

“What?! There’s a human there? We need to move quickly, you can never know what those monsters could do. Wait here for us Ben. Let’s go, Eliot, Boro!”

“Sure thing, you guys go ahead and save that poor fellow. I’ll be waiting here.”

Liza drew her bow and ran in a half crouching manner, followed by Eliot and Boro. They didn’t make a straight line for the rocks, but dashed in an arc, making sure the stones protruding from the earth would cover their approach.

They managed to get close undetected and pressed their backs against the tall rocks. From the other side they could hear the crackling of fire and the buzz of goblins as they jeered in their native tongue.

Liza made a gesture for Eliot to stop and very slowly and deliberately approached the edge of the rocks. She crouched on the ground and took a quick peek to understand the situation better and gather the enemies’ position.

In the open space in the middle of the rock outcrop was a campfire. An orc was seated by it, working in a methodical fashion. He hacked large pieces of meat from the dead horse at his side, seasoned them with some powder and skewered them with wooden sticks. After preparing the skewers he would stab them on the ground, keeping them close by the flames.

A sizzling sound and faint fragrance were already emanating from some pieces, making the more courageous goblins approach the fire. The orc made no reaction, his full concentration on hacking more meat and making more skewers.

Encouraged, one little goblin extended his hands to grab a skewer when a loud shout boomed to the side of his big ears. Startled, the goblin rolled backwards on the ground for a long distance. The orc watched the creature roll with a terrifying gaze and scoffed.

The remaining goblins laughed at their companion’s misfortune and went back to hissing and harassing a crying human that was protected by a faint layer of white light. They surrounded him, tossing stones, kicking and even pissing on him, but nothing passed through the faint light barrier.

Liza retracted her head and made some mental annotations.

[Orc by the campfire, carrying a large one-handed axe. Seven goblins surrounding the human, but he got a barrier spell and should be fine for now. Another five goblins lazing around. That’s a lot. Before I’d have to run away as fast as possible encountering such a group, but now…]

“Climb this rock and wait Eliot. I’ll draw their attention. When they get near, give them hell,” Liza whispered.

Eliot climbed the rock in no time and waited obediently. Liza readied and arrow and took a deep breath. She abandoned cover and released the shot directly at the orc.

Orcs are large creatures, around two or two and a half meters tall, but that doesn’t mean that they’re slow. Hearing the whistling sound, the orc jumped from his seated position and grabbed his axe. This sudden movement saved him, as the arrow aimed at his head ended up piercing his left arm instead.

Shouting in their strange language, the orc directed the goblins that were still oblivious to the assault to attack the intruder. In less than a few seconds, Liza could see a small wave of tiny creatures followed by a large orc running at her. She could only make a few more shots before they closed in.

The scruffy man crying inside his protective barrier finally realized what was going on and shouted desperately at the top of his lungs.

“Over here, save me please! They’re going to kill me after the spell fades off, you’ve got to save me!”

[No shit,] thought Liza.

She tried another shot at the orc, but he protected his vital areas with his large arms, making killing him in a few shots an impossibility. Since that was the case, Liza shot down two goblins and retreated with speed. They’d soon be upon her.

Seeing his potential saviour ran away, the scruffy man gave a heart piercing cry and fell to his knees. This quick change of emotions from despair, to hope only to end up in despair again was too much for him to handle.

The monsters followed Liza outside the rock outcrop. They failed to notice anything strange about the situation and chased without thought. What could a single fragile human do to them?

“Now, Eliot!” shouted Liza.

Eliot jumped from his position atop the rocks, followed by Boro who dived at high speed. It was like the gods of death were descending from high above. They landed in the middle of the goblins, killing five of them from the get-go.

Taking advantage of the confusion their surprise entrance had created, Liza took down another two goblins with her arrows. She was completely relaxed. The orc might need Eliot to put forth a slight effort, but that was it. The situation was under their control. Her tranquillity was soon shattered however, as a loud ethereal voice could be heard some distance away.

“Stop! Don’t come near! I have weapons and I’m not afraid to use them!”

Liza was stunned. Did one of the monsters not chase after her? Even if that was the case, how could they have found Ben that was waiting in the back? Unless… it was a patrol group! The orc probably tasked some goblins with scouting around their campsite!

“Damn it! Eliot, you and Boro finish things here! I’ll go look at what’s happening to Ben!” shouted Liza.

“Okay!” replied Eliot while fighting against the orc.

“And don’t you dare eat them!” exclaimed the retreating Liza.

“Oh, dang it,” complained Eliot.

This exchange both startled and infuriated the orc, who attacked with increased ferocity. Eliot dodged his strikes with ease and landed a blow of his own after one of the orc’s attacks.

“You’re not that strong. That bandit guy was stronger.”

-

Liza rushed with all her speed back to where they’d left Ben behind. An arrow was already nocked on her bow and she was ready to draw it and let it loose at any time. In the end, she didn’t have to.

Ben was sitting on the ground, sweating non-stop and breathing roughly. A few meters away from him were two dead goblins. One had a throwing knife stuck on his chest, the other had one in his belly. They also had a few other cuts from knives that missed their target.

Liza returned the arrow to the quiver and put her bow away before nearing the crestfallen Ben. She clapped her hands vigorously, bringing him out of his daze.

“Well done! You had me scared with your shout, but lo and behold! You can do it if you try.”

“You were scared? I was terrified! My targets were always a plank of wood or a tree, I’ve never tossed against a living creature before! Much less to kill!”

“Yet, you did just fine. You missed a lot of throws, but that’s normal. You’ll get better with time.”

“Yeah, maybe. In all honesty, I wasn’t thinking straight. I shouted, but they kept coming closer with their daggers drawn. In the end I just panicked and hurled my knives at them.”

“How are you feeling? Can you get up? Eliot and Boro should’ve finished their side by now. I need to go back and make sure he doesn’t try eating their hearts.”

“I’m not sure how I feel, I guess weird would be the best description. I’ll go with you, just help me up please.”

Liza held Ben’s arm and pulled him up from the ground. His knees almost buckled down again, but he manged to steady himself.

“Why the sudden change though? From what I’ve remember, you didn’t prevent him from eating goblins’ hearts before,” asked Ben.

“The only thing I’d strictly forbid him from eating is flesh from the common races, though I wish he could acquire a more normal diet. However, this time is different. We just rescued a stranger. Could you imagine his reaction if he sees Eliot eating the monster’s hearts?”

“Oh…”

By the time they returned, the corpses of twelve goblins and one orc littered the ground. Eliot was hacking their chests open, removing their hearts and livers and tossing them to Boro. The dragon chomped them down in a few bites, waiting impatiently for the next piece.

“Hey Ben! Why were you shouting back there?” asked Eliot.

“Goblins attacked me.”

“How many were there? Did you manage to run away till Liza got there?”

“Only two. I managed to kill them,” said Ben in almost a whisper.

“You did? Cool! How about it, do you like fighting now?”

“Nope.”

“Hum, strange. Maybe you need to kill a few more?”

“I’ll pass, thanks.”

“All right guys leave it be. Let’s see how that fellow we saved is doing.”

The group walked towards the center of the rock outcrops. The entire fight didn’t take long, three minutes tops, as such the poor man was still kneeling there, lost in despair.

He had medium height, light brown hair and dark eyes. His light beard gave his languid appearance a scruffy look and the white translucent barrier made his terrified face seem even more pale.

Hearing the steps coming his way, the man’s dazed eyes regained focus and his heart leaped to his throat. Large tears marred his eyes.

“You’re alive! That means you’ve killed them all! You saved me, thank you! Thank you! I’m Lawrence Grafton, a traveling merchant, and I’ll be forever in your debt. Yet, I’m afraid I won’t be able to reward you for your troubles,” said Lawrence feeling embarrassed.

“Why is that? It seems you’re protected by a barrier scroll and those cost a lot. You should have some coin to give us, right?” asked Liza.

In truth, she wasn’t expecting a reward. They had no idea the monsters were holding someone captive when they decided to hunt them down, thus they weren’t hoping to make much when they wiped them out.

It’s just that one of the first things this guy said was that “he would be forever in their debt” followed by “I won’t be able to reward you for your troubles”. It felt like he was snubbing them, and that rubbed her the wrong way.

“Please don’t misunderstand heroes, I really cannot! I took loans to make a big trade in spices and that orc wasted half of it on that horse’s meat! He killed my horse and seasoned it with my merchandise! If I don’t take the other half back to the capital to break even, I’ll be sold as a slave! If it comes to that you might as well just kill me where I stand.”

Liza stared the man in the eye and judged he was telling the truth.

“Relax, you can have your goods. We’ll just take everything else the monsters have,” she said.

“Thank you! You saved my live twice today,” said Lawrence, bowing deeply.

“Since the deed is done, we might as well enjoy a good amount of seasoned meat,” said Ben.

“Right, you go ahead,” said the merchant with a pained smile.

Ben took charge in preparing and looking after the food, while Liza went out to collect the spoils. She recovered Ben’s throwing knives and searched the goblins one by one before cleaving their ears off.

Killing goblins was usually a thankless task. Apart from their ears that could be exchanged in the guild for some coin, they rarely carried any other valuables. Only new adventurers would usually take missions involving goblins.

Liza had no expectations, but she searched them all anyway. It had become part of her routine after a fight. It was to her surprise that in one of the goblins’ shabby garments she found a raw gem. She was stunned for a good thirty seconds, holding the stone in her hand and looking dazed at its red luster.

“Well, I’ll be dammed! This turned out to be a highly profitable endeavour! I’m glad I was thorough, otherwise I might have lost such a good thing! How did you manage to hide this from the orc, little guy?”

The orc was rather poor in comparison, carrying only a pouch with some coins. Liza removed his tusks with difficulty and, after making sure she’d left nothing behind, returned to the others.