The boar charged, ripping up hunks of dirt as Futuke let out a strange battle cry. Matt dove to the ground and then somersaulted his way toward the nearest pair of barrels and hid behind them. The boar grunted and started its long turn to get another run at Matt while Matt counted the seconds for his mana recharge.

A heavy shadow streaked across the camp followed a moment later by strange green bolts that rained upon the ground. One landed near Matt’s leg and hissed as it burned a small hole into the ground.

“Great, goblins below and acid from above,” Matt grumbled.

It was then that he noticed the hoof beats were dangerously close. He wheeled around just in time to see Futuke only five yards away from the barrels and galloping toward them with his gleaming spear leading the way. Matt dove left as the barrels splintered apart, showering the area with pickled herring and bits of wood. Futuke snarled angrily and turned his boar around once more.

Matt had regained enough mana for another fireball. He threw it at Futuke’s boar, striking the ugly thing on its wet snout. The boar jerked wildly to the side, breaking off before Futuke could make a third run.

That’s when Matt heard the footsteps behind him. He jumped to his feet and prepared to fight the axe-wielding goblin with his hands if he had to, but luck was on his side. A pair of goblin-sized skeletons were rushing to his aid, running past him and toward Futuke, who was still attempting to regain control over the boar.

“Wa-HOOOOOO!” Garfumel shouted as he dove down from above with reckless abandon. Matt stood there with eyes wide as Choppa extended its bony talons and crashed right into the axe-wielding goblin, crumpling it to the ground and then going to work biting at its throat. Garfumel leaped from his mount, raised another two goblin skeletons with his green goop and then pointed toward Futuke. “Don’t make them do all the work, get in there!”

Matt turned around and saw the first two skeletons bravely stabbing at the boar. The animal lunged at each of them in turn, attempting to gore them but so far missing. Futuke, on the other hand, glanced at Matt and jumped down from the boar.

Futuke pointed at Matt and then drew its bony finger across its throat. An instant later Futuke’s spear was sailing toward Matt’s face. Matt sidestepped it, caught the weapon in mid air, and then hurled it back.

It was an impressive feat, something Matt never could have done in the real world, but his elation was short lived as the spear flew over Futuke’s head and landed in the dirt.

The goblin rushed in, brandishing a pair of curved daggers. It sliced and slashed at Matt, but Matt was quick to back pedal and dodge to the side. As soon as another fireball was ready, he threw it, but Futuke had expected that attack and dropped low to the ground and allowed the spell to pass over him. Matt was caught on the right thigh then by Futuke’s left dagger. The cut didn’t hurt a lot at first, but as he continued to move around the pain started to burn and grow, like a fire taking root on a piece of kindling before moving to larger fuel.

Garfumel arrived a moment later and splattered Futuke with a yellow glob. The spell’s kinetic force threw the goblin several feet through the air to land on his back, but it wasn’t until the smoke started to rise from the writhing body that Matt understood what kind of attack had just taken place.

Horrid screams erupted from Futuke’s squirming body as acid ate through his armor and then into his flesh. Garfumel started humming a song of sorts that sounded like the tune of Ring around the Rosie, but the words were vastly different.

“Acid on the goblin, acid on the goblin, acid, acid, you’re going to melt!”

Matt blinked a couple times at the seven year old’s avatar and started wondering what this kid’s home life was like, but he knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Good shot, Garfumel,” Matt offered.

Garfumel laughed and skipped down toward the boar, which by this time now had hooked one of the skeletons through the ribs and hoisted it into the air, violently shaking it and creating a veritable rattle while the second skeleton stabbed at the boar’s flanks.

Matt picked up Futuke’s spear as Garfumel dropped the boar with two magic spikes through the heart. Garfumel then surveyed his small goblin skeleton army and promptly raised Futuke’s skeleton from the dead as well.

“I thought you were supposed to be good,” Garfumel said as he looked back to Matt. “We’ve been in three fights and so far all I’ve seen you do is throw fireballs.”

Matt blinked once and stared back at Garfumel’s inquisitive eyes. “I just like fireballs,” Matt said.

“That’s weird,” Garfumel replied with a shrug.

“Let’s go look for those shards,” Matt prompted, which fortunately changed the subject and pointed the young child toward the cave. Matt was all too happy to let the skeletons go first as he and Garfumel walked in afterward.

The descended about forty feet and then the tunnel veered off to the left. Torches lit the way as the smell of damp earth overtook Matt’s senses. Other than a pair of small mice they saw no sign of life. The only sound aside from their breathing was that of their footsteps as they plodded along the dank corridor. They followed the path for what seemed far too long given how quickly Futuke had emerged from the tunnel when the other goblin had summoned him, but after another curve to the right the cave opened up into a decently large underground chamber filled with small goblin huts and one mini watch tower near the back.

“Looks empty,” Matt said quietly.

Garfumel shrugged. “We killed ‘em all outside.”

Matt wasn’t so sure. With his mana nearly fully restored he was ready for another battle, but nothing happened as they made their way through the underground camp. The goblin skeletons milled about the center of the chamber, weapons at the ready but bodies fairly relaxed. Garfumel went to the first tent and started rummaging about.

“Where are the shards?”

Matt shrugged and went to the next nearest tent. “They should be here somewhere. Futuke is the one that took them from the tower so…” Matt let his sentence trail off. He focused on the task at hand. He opened small crates, looked through piles of garbage and junk, but he didn’t see any shards.

“Got one!” Garfumel shouted after a few minutes.

Matt wheeled around but then frowned when he saw Garfumel holding a shiny silver goblet.

“Made you look,” Garfumel said as he tossed the goblet over.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Matt said. He sighed and chucked the goblet aside. They spent the next several minutes methodically going through the rest of the structures and crates they could find. Every so often Garfumel would shout he found one only to tease Matt about looking in a way that only a seven year old could without realizing the joke was being overplayed.

Then, in a small treasure chest beneath a few planks of wood in the second to last tent in the back of the chamber Matt found a shiny silver box. He let out a short, excited laugh and reached for the box.

“I’ve got one!” Matt shouted.

“I’m not falling for that,” Garfumel said. “It’s my joke. I know better.”

Matt puffed air and shrugged it off. “Fine, don’t believe me. That just means this one’s mine.”

That got the kid’s attention. He glanced over and saw the shard and pumped a fist into the air. “Wa-HOO!”

“Easy now, we still need to find the others,” Matt said.

Garfumel’s mouth dropped open. “How many more?”

“At least one more,” Matt replied cryptically. He didn’t want to give the kid the exact number, but he figured if they found all of the rest of them it would just make Garfumel that much happier. Keeping Garfumel happy was a good thing. The image of Garfumel blasting his own sister lingered in his mind though, dampening the celebratory spirit somewhat. Matt had no intention of dying like that in this game.

Unfortunately, by the time they finished searching the rest of the chamber, there were no other shards.

Matt sat on a crate rubbing his chin while Garfumel eyed the one shard box greedily. “There should have been more,” Matt said. “I know Futuke had more.”

“Maybe he traded them,” Garfumel said, his normally cheery tone replaced by something that sounded eerily similar to when the kid was singing his murderous song about acid eating the goblin.

“Who would the goblin trade with? And… if he did trade the shard, shouldn’t he have like a ton of gold to show for it?”

Garfumel shrugged and kicked at the dirt floor.

“I think I know where we can find more clues,” Matt said. “Maybe we should go back to that tower where I first met Futuke.”

“Fine. Let’s go now, but I want this one,” Garfumel said pointedly.

Matt, knowing it was pointless to argue considering he was not only outmatched should the two have a proper wizard’s duel, but he was outnumbered too what with the five goblin skeletons hanging around. Knowing the odds were most decidedly in Garfumel’s favor, Matt put on the best smile he could muster. “Of course, as promised, this one is yours. If we can find the other three we can split those too. I only want one more anyway,” Matt lied. He held out the shard and watched Garfumel’s jaw fall open.

“Three more?” Garfumel asked.

“I think so,” Matt replied. “But whether it’s two or three, I get one of them, deal?”

Garfumel nodded hungrily and snatched the shard box away from Matt. “Wally is so going down! I’m going to use this to upgrade my tower.”

“Sounds groovy,” Matt said as he started back the way they came. “Better get a move on, we don’t want someone else finding them first.”

The group made their way back up the long tunnel and had to shield their eyes from the bright daylight when they exited. As they emerged, a pair of men stood in the center of the goblin camp, one of them holding Choppa’s severed foot and sneering. One of them looked vaguely familiar, and the other was large, broad shouldered with a set of blood red pauldrons that stood out against the rest of his plate armor. Matt looked beyond the men to see Garfumel’s beloved mount dead in a heap.

“You have something that belongs to us,” one of the men said. Matt recognized the voice instantly. His previous compliance manager, the same horrid sadist that had forced Matt into submission early on. His thoughts turned to the fight at the Red Tower and Matt figured he’d better warn Garfumel about the manager’s powers, but Garfumel had already seen Choppa’s dismembered body.

“YOU!” Garfumel shouted. “I’ll get you both for this you slimy juice pouches!”

“Wait, Garfumel don’t!” Matt tried to shout, but it was too late. Garfumel ran at the pair, magic swirling from his free hand and about to shoot out when a large purple mist rose around him and swallowed him up. Matt couldn’t see what was happening, but he heard Garfumel shout for help.

The five skeletons rushed after him.

A massive maul lashed out from inside the mist and obliterated two skeletons in one swing, sending their shattered bones out across the camp.

Matt did the only thing he could think of. He ran, sprinting back toward the cave entrance and locating an easy place to climb. The mist was large enough that it obscured him from view. The lightning blasts within the mist cloud and Garfumel’s agonized cries told Matt that he’d guessed correctly about the outcome. The fight was much shorter than the one at the Red Tower, and this time there was no exploding shard to rescue them.

The purple mist vanished and revealed Garfumel on his knees. A gag in his mouth and strange shackles of lightning binding his wrists and ankles. Scattered bones told Matt that the other skeletons hadn’t lasted long either. This fight was entirely one-sided.

“Good thing I had you along,” the manager said to his partner.

“After the Red Tower, we can’t be too careful,” the armored man said.

“Let’s get this one back to the queen in Falchor. She’ll have plenty of questions for him.”

The armored man chuckled. “I get to question him first. After all, this is the second shard he’s found. I want to know how he did it.”

“He must be using cheats,” the manager surmised.

“Or he’s working with those hackers you’re hunting,” the armored man said. “Fear not, now that I am on the job, they won’t elude us for long.”

Matt bit his lip nervously as a portal opened behind the pair of men. From the portal emerged two large men. One of them took hold of Garfumel and carried him back through. The other stayed a moment while the manager pulled him aside.

“There was another player with him. Seems he’s run off to hide. Find him. We’ll take the shard back.”

“Of course, sir,” the large man said as he pulled a scimitar and started walking toward the cave entrance.

“Don’t worry,” the manager said. “If we don’t find him, I’m sure our prisoner will help us with clues.”

“Indubitably,” the man with the red pauldrons said with a chuckle.

Matt watched helplessly as the portal closed. Garfumel was now a prisoner in Falchor. He cursed himself, knowing full well what the compliance manager would do. He doubted the fact that Garfumel was a child would soften the methods they used to question their prisoners. He felt so stupid for failing to protect Garfumel, but then what could he have realistically done? He still wasn’t powerful enough to tangle with the compliance manager, and the man in the strange armor seemed even stronger.

No, he’d need the other shards if he was going to rescue Garfumel, but first, he had to deal with this scimitar wielding juice pouch walking toward the cave entrance.