“So what does it mean Eloquent?”

Fritz was talking to the chief. They were both sitting next to a makeshift table, made of an unused wooden crate.

“It refers to people well versed with words.”

“And he is?”

Curan threw his last card down.

“Three of a kind. I won.”

Fritz didn’t even looked at the cards. He never beat the chief in the long game. He instead focused on the goblin and so did Curan, following his henchmen’s gaze.

“He doesn’t speak that well.”

The bandit proclaimed.

Gob was walking around the camp while stretching his limbs, a set of metal cuffs were keeping his legs from any unnecessary movements. Peter’s crossbow was also a merit one needed to consider before escaping.

The solemn man was following goblins steps. Not too close to let the goblin feel uneasy, but close enough to act as a silent reminder.

“He speaks that well.”

“A child could speak like he does.”

“A human child. Yes.”

Fritz didn’t feel the need to praise their merchandise too much. It was a goblin! Not some long-lost relative of his. Did everyone needed to be so polite to this slave? They never sold anything barely intelligent to anyone, so there was some gentle wiggle room, but it was way too generous for a goblin!

They killed humans and captured their women. They were already plenty intelligent to do that, yet no one was giving them credit for such achievements. Wonder why? He couldn’t just say it to Curan. Chiefs words were absolute.

“The merchant is late.”

“Viper reported that he will come.”

“I’m not arguing with that. It’s just really getting dark.”

It was getting late. Curan was anxious. He sent Piper to keep the torches lit. Then they moved closer to the fire.

As they continued to play Gob, Peter and Piper began to observe their duel. It took a while before Fritz lost once more. Curan took the winning marbles and started to hide them inside the pouch, but Fritz stopped him.

“Let’s play with four.”

“I’m not playing.”

Piper was fast to respond. Peter pushed Gob a little closer so he himself could join the table while still checking on the prisoner.

“Well. We do need one more.”

Fritz looked at the Eloquent Goblin, but he changed his mind instantly. He turned back to look at Viper. A single figure wrapped in a heavy coat was sitting atop a tree branch. It was truly hard to spot this guy. He would never look this way if he hadn’t known that Viper was in fact there beforehand.

“Viper what about you?”

He really tried to get to know this guy better, but he was once again ignored.

“Pfft.”

It was infuriating to work with someone who didn’t even show them his face once. He was forgiving to a degree. Peter could stay mute for the rest of his life and he wouldn’t mind, but this? Only Curan’s word was keeping him from any rush judgement.

He was still annoyed though.

“So it would seem that it’s just the three of us.”

“Eloquent, can you count?”

“Seriously?!”

Curan ignored Fritz’s disbelief and focused on the goblin. With a smirk the green skin responded.

“More or less.”

Fritz was dumbfounded. It happened all too quick. The chief moved from the basic rule set to a random quiz show. He shuffled the cards around and asked the goblin about their cost. He made him add their value and learned to recognize basic patterns.

Fritz was keeping his calm hiding behind his usual smirk, but it crumbled as fast as the goblin learned. He was making mistakes at first, but he adapted at an incredible pace. He rarely miscounted the cards. It was the combinations he had problems with.

However Fritz was sure it was just a matter of time. When they finally started to play, he couldn’t focus. Their marble tokens were equally distributed at first, but Curan was barely losing and when he didn’t lose he always took his marble toll as his own bounty.

Peter wasn’t the best player, yet the game of luck wasn’t always sided towards the strong. The solemn, silent man. He wouldn’t twitch even with the best cards on his disposal. It made him annoyingly unpredictable. Luckily this time he drew terribly. Making him the first to lose the marbles.

And then there was the goblin. He still had a few marbles in him. He even tied a round with the chief! He didn’t have the poker face of neither Peter nor Curan. He was clearly enjoying every minute of his little playtime.

Fritz couldn’t let this Eloquent nobody beat him. As Curan folded Fritz took the opportunity to end the goblin once and for all. He made sure to make the goblin use up his marbles while he upped the cost. It was the time to reshuffle the cards and draw five.

Fritz slowly placed the cards facing them up.

“5 North, 6 The Mule, 3 Peasant, 5 The Farmland, 4 Armor.”

He looked at Gob. He seemed upset. As Fritz was already assured of his victory, he placed his hand first.

“Double Peasant, North, The Mule, and double Farmland.”

“Six, eleven, seventeen… Twenty eight.”

He didn’t use his blacksmith and saint cards, but it was the most points, anyway.

“Twenty seven. The Farmland is worth five not six.”

Fritz recounted, and it was true. He missed one. He could actually used the blacksmith, armor combo for twenty three. He looked at the goblin. Did he just corrected him?

As Gob threw his cards down Fritz was visibly shaken.

“North, West, East, South, Priest.”

Twenty four! The goblin got the four winds getting up to twenty with no other correlation! If he had any weapons for the Priest, he will win with him! Wait. No. He needed the club. Priests couldn’t be paired with sharp weapons!

He looked at the green skin with anticipation. Did he had it?

He held his breath as Gob threw the last card down.

It was a sword. He lost.

As Fritz took a deep breath the goblin spoke.

“Do you have the club in hand?”

Fritz looked at him, surprised by the question.

“No why?”

Gob instantly looked at Curan. The chief smiled and revealed his current hand. Among his cards two out of three clubs were present. Fritz didn’t quite got what was going on. The goblin stood up and slowly went back to his cage accompanied by the ever silent Peter.

Deep in his cage he looked at the fairy with reproach.

“You said he had swords!”

She seemed clueless.

“Aren’t they the things you keep in your hands?”

“They are pointy!”

“You said that you will go to my home if you win! Let’s go now!”

Gob ignored her and thought about Curan. He knew how to play with the dragon’s deck from the very start. It was a popular game that most human soldiers carried around. The cards had illustrations, so he was interested by them even back in the forest. Did the chief caught up? He couldn’t tell.

Curan just smiled as he reshuffled the deck. In the next two turns he completely demolished Fritz and took the marbles back to the pouch. He almost wanted to keep this goblin around.

Almost.

~

It was deep in the night when the slave trader finally came. It was a chubby man that was searching for an arena fighter.

“Any beast will do. I’m searching for some fodder to up the game for my client’s new pet.”

“We have a perfect creature for you right here.”

“Doesn’t this guy look familiar?”

“Shut up. The boss is doing business.”

“So what kind of creature is this?”

“It’s a goblin my friend.”

It was thanks to the late hour that the bandits didn’t realize how pale Grimmar became.

“A Goblin!”

He shouted a bit louder than he was ready to admit.

“I assure you, he is in the top quality. He is called The Eloquent.”

Grimmar breathed slowly. He needed to buy whatever the bandit will offer. Eloquent? Why did the goblin was called that?

“Why would you call a goblin Eloquent?”

“It may surprise you my friend but our little green skin can speak the human tongue. He is also somewhat proficient in counting and we even ...”

Grimmar couldn’t keep up. The bandit chief was stating absurdities one after the other. Meanwhile Grimmar couldn’t stand up. His legs were shaking. He was sweaty already despite the autumn cold.

All he could see was an intelligent devil rummaging through corpses. Killing his man. Stabbing the horse. Intelligent little devil. It felt like he was in the shadows around the camp. Lurking. Readying his assault straight from Grimmar’s imagination.

“Would you like to inspect?”

“Oh, yes. Right. Let us inspect.”

What was wrong with him today? Get a hold of yourself Grimmar. You are.. You were.. No You Are an excellent merchant from a great family! Just unlucky at the moment. That was all.

As he followed the bandit named Curan towards the cage, he felt better. He would come back from the very bottom! It was his moment to shine. What did it matter that it was a goblin? He would make his fortune on this creature!

As they approached a cage covered with a large blanket, a silent man holding a crossbow tapped the cage lightly.

Grimmar froze as he saw a green hand holding a key open the cage from the inside. He recollected himself. He needed to stay sharp as a merchant. He wouldn’t fear any goblin that was…

As Gob emerged from the cage, with both his legs chained down he looked at his new owner with all the spite he could muster. He didn’t want to fight with his kin anymore.

He eyed down the chubby human until he took a step back. He didn’t want Curan to intervene, but he never even got the chance, as the merchant started to quickly walk away. The chief barely caught up to him near the camp entrance.

“He really is powerful. Not only intelligent, he is a very dangerous fighter...”

“no.”

Curan never got any other response. The merchant was already lost in the night’s shadows. He departed so quickly that Curan might swear that he was almost running away.

Completely puzzled he looked at Gob.

“Did you know him?”

Gob seemed to be as puzzled as the chief.

“Never have I seen him.”

“I’m sure I saw him somewhere before.”

Fritz butted into the conversation once more.

"Where exactly? We never traded with people like him."

"It was like his face was... I don't know."

As the discussion continued Curan looked back at his tent with disappointment.

Viper will need to leave for the town once more.