YDB assembled his bombs with Kitty and Dizzy’s help until the light began to fade. The orcs replaced Gunag with another orc, this one named Bat due to his bat-like face. Like Gunag before him, Bat mostly kept out of the goblins’ way. His sharp eyes missed nothing.

The orcs stood around all day, not helping but not hindering the goblins as they prepared for a second raid on Driftwood Landing. Weapons stolen by Slugger’s squads were handed out, the new and well-made blades giving confidence to the goblins. Kitty restocked her medical supplies. YDB carefully packed his bombs into several bandoleers. This time, more than one goblin would get to use them. Dizzy passed out three bandoleers, one each to Lazybutt, Slugger, and Dreg’s replacement, a young female goblin named Twill.

“Careful,” advised YDB as each goblin accepted the belt of homemade grenades. Slugger wrapped the belt from shoulder to hip. Lazybutt and Twill both wore their belts around their waists.

YDB slung his own bandoleer over his neck and shoulder, then handed three of the little bombs to Dizzy. “Extras,” he said.

“Yeah, extras. Thanks, YDB,” answered Dizzy.

Dizzy slipped the three little bombs into a pouch on his belt and closed the flap over them. While he was doing that, Kitty finished organizing her medical supplies. She looked up at her friend.

“Do you feel it?” she asked.

“Feel what?”

“The tension. This isn’t a goblin raid, this is an orc raid.”

She looked around the village, as the tribe prepared for the second attack on Driftwood Landing. All around, goblins were setting their gear, packing their supplies, and sharpening their weapons. No laughter, no bold threats, no challenges were being passed around the fires.

“Everyone was excited to hit Driftwood a couple of days ago. We got some good stuff, set things on fire, and messed up a human wedding. It was fun! Dangerous, but fun. Now, look at us. We’re all so serious.”

Dizzy nodded, then shrugged.

“So, what should we do about it?”

“I… I don’t know. Maybe we should warn the humans?”

“What? They’d kill us as soon as we stepped out of the woods!”

“I know! But I’ve been listening to the orcs talk. They plan on hitting the town harder than we ever could. Something about terrorizing the other towns nearby. But with only seven orcs, they needed more troops.”

“So they picked us? Why us? Why not find more orcs?”

“I don’t know. But if these orcs are pirates, maybe their ship was sunk by someone else. They might not have any others they can recruit.”

Kitty looked as worried as Dizzy had ever seen her. She was right, raids were supposed to be fun, not deadly. Goblins or humans might get killed on a raid, but that was never the goal. The goal was to grab good stuff, cause chaos, and make sure the humans knew the goblins were formidable. If goblins were a little dangerous, people would avoid them, but if goblins were excessive, the humans would counterattack in force. A raid allied with the orcs would make them think the goblins were too dangerous to leave alone in the swamps.

“I’ll try to think of something. If we warn the humans, maybe they’ll listen and prepare strongly enough. Then Isaar and his bunch will have to get more orcs, and not use us,” said Dizzy.

“Maybe,” answered Kitty. The look of concern didn’t leave her face.

***

The goblins continued their preparations until Isaar appeared at the top of the steps.

“Listen up! That’s enough for one day. We’ll leave first thing in the morning, back to Driftwood Landing!” he shouted. The orcs had formed a rough ring around the assembled goblins, keeping an eye on them as their leader spoke.

“Tomorrow we will march! When we get to Driftwood, we will take the town! Not just a raid, not just smash and grab! We will conquer the entire town! We will take everything, and burn the rest!”

The goblins closest to Isaar cheered wildly, but Dizzy, Kitty, and YDB just nodded.

“Now get some sleep, my warriors! After tomorrow, you will be richer than any goblin has ever been, and feared across the lands by everyone!”

As they cheered, the orcs moved around the edge of the crowd, heading to the temple. Dizzy held back for a moment, then slipped towards the temple himself. Realizing he would be seen coming up the main steps, he ducked around to the side of the temple, hoping to stay hidden in the shadows. Glancing back at the dispersing goblins, Dizzy saw Kitty and YDB heading for a hut near the edge of the swamp. None of the goblins normally slept in that hut as it was too close to the swamp, and tended to attract snakes.

A huge pine tree grew near the shrine, but even the lowest branches were too high to consider climbing. Dizzy settled down between two massive roots and peered into the temple to spy. The orcs were having a meeting.

“Isaar, what are we doing here?” asked one of the orcs. The other orcs had formed a rough semi-circle around their leader. “These goblins will be worthless in a fight.”

“I’m not using them to fight. I’m using them as a distraction. I already have someone inside the town.”

“What? Why didn’t you say something?”

“A warrior doesn’t reveal his plans until the last moment. Tomorrow, we march to the town. We’ll see what the town’s security looks like, especially now that these goblins have already stirred them up. When the goblins hit the ground, everyone will start chasing them again. We will go in through a side gate that will be unlocked by my contact. From there, we will need to find the dwarf that goblin Slugger warned us about. He should be the only dangerous warrior in town, the rest will just be militia troops and town guards. Soft.”

The orcs nodded to each other, excited that they might be able to take an entire town so quickly and easily. As their excitement grew, Isaar dropped the other boot.

“Captain Stormhoof wants us to destroy the place, raze it to the ground.”

“Why? If we kill everyone, we can’t raid them again later,” asked Bat.

“A true warrior doesn’t reveal his plans,” repeated Isaar. “Captain Stormhoof has plans for this coastal area. He needs the locals to fear us while we’re still relatively weak. If we destroy this town completely, the other towns will think there are far more of us than there really are.”

More nods of agreement from the orcs, while Dizzy’s jaw dropped. If the orcs razed the town, the other humans would easily find proof of the goblins’ involvement. Even if the orcs were defeated, the humans wouldn’t forget the goblins. They would enter the swamp in force, seeking revenge.

“So, just the dwarf? That’s the only dangerous warrior in town? No wizards, no elves?” asked Gunag.

“Slugger only mentioned the dwarf. Driftwood is a small town, I don’t see any reason elves or a wizard would want to visit. There are no libraries or rare ingredients in the area,” replied Isaar.

Dizzy grinned in the darkness. The orcs didn’t know about the elves. If the orcs were killed by the elves, especially if he was able to warn them before the attack, the humans wouldn’t retaliate against the goblins. Or so at least Dizzy hoped.

With the beginnings of a plan in mind, Dizzy slipped away from his hiding spot. The hut he had seen Kitty and YDB entering beckoned. He would tell Kitty his plan, and she would help improve it. Once the orcs were gone, everything would be back to normal.

Ducking into the hut, Dizzy saw Kitty and YDB already cooking a stew over a small fire. The little pot bubbled as the meat cooked.

“Smells good. What is it?”

“Frog,” answered YDB.

Dizzy sighed. Frog. Again. He had hoped that there had been a bit of chicken or pig. He said as much to Kitty.

“You want a pig? Go kill a pig, and bring it back. Slugger wouldn’t share the side we captured yesterday. The orcs took most of it as tribute. The Chief took the rest for himself.”

“Really?” asked Dizzy.

“Yeah, really,” replied Kitty, annoyance clear on her face. “I had a hope, a small hope, that these orcs might be good for us. Strength and size, to go with our speed and abilities. But nope.”

“Bad,” added YDB.

“Yeah,” said Dizzy. “They’re bad, and I think things might get worse for us goblins,” Dizzy explained what he had overheard. Kitty and YDB listened as Dizzy explained the mysterious Stormhoof’s plan to raze the town to instill fear in the other nearby communities.

“But why? What is this Stormhoof up to?” asked Kitty.

“I don’t know. Isaar himself may not know. He wasn’t willing to tell his own troops. We’ll have to see.” Dizzy looked towards the pot. “Let’s eat.”

The three tucked into their meal of frog stew. Kitty gave each of her friends one of the meaty legs, and divided up the rest of the bullfrog equally. The hut was filled with the crunch of bones and the smack of goblin lips as the three ate. Soon the pot was empty.

YDB looked at Kitty. “More?”

“Sorry, that’s it for now,” answered Kitty.

YDB looked into the pot, then shrugged.

“Lick?”

“Yes, you can lick the pot. Put it over there when you’re done.” Kitty smiled as YDB slurped up the remaining bits of frog and onions. With a hearty belch, he sat the pot on a pile of others that needed to be cleaned out.

With dinner out of the way, YDB rooted around the hut and found some burlap bags. He wadded one up to make a pillow and threw the other one down as a pad.

“Night.”

“Good night, YDB,” said Kitty. A few moments later, soft snores could be heard.

Kitty looked at Dizzy. “Well? Got a plan yet?”

“Maybe. The orcs don’t know about the elves, or that they can do magic.”

“What, really?”

“Slugger never saw them firing spells down at YDB and me. So if we can get to the town ahead of the rest, maybe we can warn them. Show them the wand, tell them that an attack is coming.”

“That… actually might work. But we will have to get away from the orcs first,” said Kitty.

“We’ll have to see what happens on the march back to Driftwood. There’s a lot of danger in the swamp, things the orcs don’t know about. If a gator attacks, maybe we can slip away in the confusion.”

“That’s a mighty big 'if,' Dizzy.”

“It’s all I’ve got at the moment. Maybe the elves will listen if we get to them first. They might be able to take out seven orcs all by themselves.”

Kitty sat and ran the plan through her head. It wasn’t a good plan, but it was all they had at the moment.

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow then. Good night, Dizzy.” She rose and headed to the hut’s entrance.

“You’re not sleeping here?” asked Dizzy.

“Nope. You two are boys, and I have the two concubines in my hut right now. I don’t need their comments tomorrow. Plus, I have a comfy mattress. Enjoy your burlap bags!”

Kitty slipped through the entrance and was gone.

Dizzy rolled his eyes, then looked around the hut. There were more grain bags in the pile YDB had found his. He grabbed three and shook them all out. Dust flew about the room. YDB sneezed in his sleep but didn’t awaken. Dizzy made himself a pallet and pillow and flopped down.

Tomorrow. Things would look better tomorrow. He was asleep within seconds.