“Crag, come back to bed,” Lir said sleepily from behind him.

Crag stood next to their bed for the night, feeling restless. For some reason, he couldn’t sleep. Something felt wrong to him, but he didn’t know what, but he had a feeling of impending doom as if something wasn't right.

Lir rolled over to him and stroked his leg gently, and he enjoyed the feeling of her fingers tracing his flesh. He did not regret choosing Lir as a mate for the night. She was very enjoyable companionship and very resourceful, he remembered with a smile. The memories of last night made him crawl back under the blanket that covered Lir’s tantalizing shape. She pressed her warm body against his cooled flesh, sighing with satisfaction as she snuggled herself in his arms.

He stroked her back gently, considering his options. He was still a very inexperienced goblin compared to the other members of the tribe. All the choices in mates he had were countable on one finger. His childhood friend Lir. Lir had spent the night mostly with Tor or with him, sometimes with one of the older goblins.

He always felt good when they slept together. He wondered how, when his status in the tribe would have grown, it would feel when he would sleep with the other women. Would it feel the same? Would it be different? He was eager to try it out, but first, he would have to do something about his lowly status in the tribe.

The sound of her cute snore resounded against his chest and he felt happy, his hand stroking her shapely behind, enjoying the feeling of the soft flesh under his hand. He felt happy and satisfied. Her warmth entered him and he felt himself grow heavy, his eyelids closed themselves as he felt himself drift to sleep.

-------

A wash of water flushed over him, startling him awake with the sudden burning all over his body as his wounds were filled with the rapid waters. He felt himself being jostled around, his body screaming in pain as his limbs were moved in all directions.

He opened his parched lips and took a mouthful, before closing it and holding his breath. This wasn’t easy as he was getting slammed into a wall. Pain flared up in his back and arm, and his chest protested profusely against the rough treatment.Dragged further along by the water, his face had somehow surfaced and he felt air rushing by. Swallowing the rancid water quickly, he took a deep breath and did his best to keep his head above water.

Feeling water running up his nose, he exhaled as hard as he could to dislodge it. Taking another quick swallow of water, wetting his parched throat, he felt a bit more optimistic about his life now, despite the painful jostling. When there was nothing you could do, you could try to appreciate the circumstances you were dealt with. He had been thirsty beyond belief, and now he had gotten something to drink. Always stay ...

Gasping from pain as his body was turned around suddenly, he felt water rushing into his throat. Hacking and coughing in pain he felt how he was pinned against something soft. After coughing the water out of him, he felt it becoming a bit easier to breathe, his head clear above the rushing water line.

The water rushed against him but didn’t rise any further, pinning him in place, jostling him now and then, but the biggest rush seemed to be over. He tried to open his eyes and found he could open a very tiny sliver of his right eye. He could discern the bricks above him whilst he was sloshed left and right whilst being pushed against the soft backing.

The water no longer irritated his wounds. It felt nice and cool even, and he felt himself relax in the gentle movement, his head bobbing left and right with the currents. The pain in his muscles grew less, as his body was not being torn into all kinds of wild directions anymore. He felt tired, deep within his bones. He felt himself grow heavy and allowed the soft rocking to lull him to sleep.

-----

Grabbing another bug from the basket, he chewed on it, whilst he considered the words of the [Shaman].

“What about the others?”

Rohg shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a few bugs for himself to snack on. He could be very talkative or just remain mysterious. He disliked that about their [Shaman], it was like hitting your head on a brick wall. The guy would hardly ever outright say what he’d wanted you to do. Just hints, goading you in some direction, but he would always let you make the decision yourself.

Crossing his arms over his chest he studied the muscular goblin that was choosing which bug to devour from the handful he held. On the one hand, he could do it and gain some status for himself. But on the other hand, he would have an opportunity that his friend and lover wouldn’t have and that was unfair to them.

In the end, his decision was predetermined by his nature of course. Status and prestige were important in the tribe. Any chance to gain some would have to be taken with both hands, or remain underfoot of the other goblins.

“Alright, I’ll do it then.”

With a knowing smile, Rogh got up and motioned Crag to follow him.

“I’ve always had an inkling that you would be the sort goblin we need for this. That’s why I approached you first.”

They halted by the storage area and Rogh opened a crate for him. Leaning over to peer inside he saw that the crate was empty. He looked at the [Shaman] quizzically, not understanding.

“When I asked you if you were willing to do a dangerous job alone, I forgot to detail how dangerous.”

Motioning him away, Rhog replaced the lid on the crate.

“We need more supplies, to feed those who cannot forage themselves. But the tunnels near to our camp all but stripped of easy gatherable food.”

“Yes, I know, but what’s dangerous about it?”

“I need you to travel beyond our territory, where you will be alone with nobody to help you, to forage for food. You need to go alone so that you draw lesser attention than as a group. One goblin can hide. Three goblins become problematic.”

He nodded at the wisdom in those words. It would be easier to hide somewhere from the humans if he didn’t have to worry about the others, giving away their presence.

“We’ll need you to find new sources of food, so you’ll have to sample new things, to see if we can eat them. Be careful though because some things can be poisonous.”

Crag nodded fervently at that. He remembered laughing for a day straight after eating some weird mushroom he had found. He would only eat very small bites of new things he would find.

Rogh rummaged in another crate and pulled out a cloth something and handed it to Crag, who held it up quizzically. It was a bit big for a loincloth.

“That’s a sack. You can put things in it in that hole, then tie it up with the string on the top, to make it easier to carry. When it’s full of food return here so we can top up our stores.”

Crag nodded and slung the sack over his shoulder where it rested limply. He would be the best forager his tribe had ever seen!

-------

Grumpy and disappointed Mereah threw open the barracks door and stomped inside. They had held at first interesting strategy meetings all day long yesterday, but they had very soon grown boring and extremely repetitive with only minute details changing. Going over plans, contingency plans, and fallback plans until her brain was bored out of her mind of the inaction. She would have welcomed a bout on the practice field yesterday evening, trying to survive between the puppets.

Today they had marched towards the sewer entrance, to bring their great strategy into practice, excited for their first real battle against monsters. She had sharpened and oiled her sword extra well in preparation, as had her comrades. They were ready for glory and the adventure of the battle.

But then the rains had started pouring down as if the gods were emptying their chamberpots over them. The captain had ordered them to march back, as the sewers would be too dangerous for them with floodwaters from the street entering it. They had been extremely disappointed at having no outlet for their energies.

So now she was here, under orders to rest up to gather energy for when the rains would subside and the sewer water level had returned to normal levels. She stripped off her armor and started the process of oiling it. That calmed her down a bit, but she still felt restless. But not as restless as forgoing to maintain her armor.

Whilst she was rubbing the oil over the inside of the leg paddings, she considered what she would do with the rest of the day she would be cooped up with the rest of her comrades, forced to rest up.Normally she would do some exercises, go to the training yard, practice with her weapons, but all that was forbidden, as they were ordered to rest up.

With a disgusted sneer, she placed her leg padding in her chest and grabbed the other piece, and started to rub fresh oil into the leather. Maybe she could go for a walk in the city, look at some shops. She might even try a meat pie from that old lady three streets down. If they had to relax and spare themselves, she could just as well relax in the city.

After she had finished maintaining her armor and hanging her gambeson to dry, she changed into her civilian clothes. A nice stout dark green woolen dress, and a brown cloak. She put the pin on her chest that would designate her as a trainee soldier, depicting two crossed swords in a dull grey.

She moved over to Flut and invited him along, without giving him much choice in the matter. It would do him no good lying on his bed all day. He needed the exercise and fresh air, and she needed the companionship. After some “convincing” him about the best way to spend the day, he had changed into his civilian garb, gray trousers with a white tunic, and a blue scarf tied around his neck. As they walked to the door Flut threw on his gray cloak and pulled up the hood against the rain. She followed suit and they went out in the rain, which was pouring by the bucketload from the heavens.