Orn cleared the debris off the bed and drug it away from the door.

“What are you doing?” Kao asked watching him slide the bed across the small space. It had taken her a few moments, but she managed to regain control of herself again. If I interfere I will be come a marionette, but as long as I am supporting him I can move. It is a tough balance, but I can do this. I have to do this.

“I will need to get through the front door when I run,” Orn replied, sliding the bed under a window. “and I cannot really reach the window without it.”

He turned beaming at her. “They are shorter than I am, so I will be out of reach.”

“They can climb the walls, and they can fit through that hole.” Kao pointed out and shook her head at the tugging sensation. I am just making him aware of the danger.

“Yes, but the window is a lot smaller than the door. And higher.” Orn considered the distance to the floor. “They will need to climb a couple feet to get up to me.”

“If you cannot close the shutter fast enough when they do, they will rush in.” Kao shook her head, to fight back the force tugging on her consciousness. I was only stating the danger! He has to know so he can fight, I am not trying to stop him.

Orn clambered off the bed and gathered all the arrows in the hut. Placing the ones that did not fit in his quiver against the bed, he climbed back up and approached the window.

“Really? That is not bad at all.” He shot her a toothy grin. “I was worried they would jump through it.”

“That is also possible.” She replied flatly, but when she tried to ask if he still wanted to do this her head swam, stopping the words form forming.

Clearing his throat he gestured around the hut, “Do you know how many there are?”

“Generally,” she said, tentatively. “Why?”

“Just trying to get a feel for how many there are outside the window.” Orn rested his hand on the bar holding the shutter closed.

She was about to explain how neither she or her sisters could see monsters unless they were standing in front of them, when her nature seized control again. Kao began an internal diatribe only to be struck speechless as she looked through the walls at the goblins outside. I cannot do that. They do not have threads. How? What is happening?

She once again heard her own voice as if it came from a different person. “There are around twenty outside or close by. The others are spread out between here and the queen.”

“Any at the window?” When Kao shook her head, he unbarred the window. Gripping his bow tightly, he pulled the shutter in and aside.

He flinched when the old hinges squeaked at the sudden motion. Outside a group of goblins was gathered at the base of a tree no more than twenty feet away. All five turned in his direction, then opened their mouths emitting the same high-pitched squeal he first heard days ago. In unison they began toward the hut as other squeals from all around echoed theirs.

Orn only hesitated for a moment before he let the first arrow fly. The arrow struck the lead goblin in the chest. He felt a grim satisfaction as the goblin let out a rattling wheezing sound as it fell. He did not have time to appreciate what he did, as the goblins around it instantly turned on the injured one tearing it apart. Orn froze, staring at the morbid spectacle.

“Keep shooting!” Kao managed, fighting to retake control of her own body. But, the words were enough to get Orn moving again.

Goblins from around the hut and even some from the woods rushed to join the grizzly feast. The writhing mass made an easy target for Orn. He loosed arrow after arrow into the group, while Kao continued. “Goblins eat their injured and dead when they are hungry. These are starving.”

He knocked another arrow when a group of several goblins began to stream out of the trees. The first goblin joined the feeding frenzy, preferring to tear into the bodies of its own rather than approach him.

The rest though avoided the mass, and headed straight for Orn.

“They know!” Kao could hear the concern in her own voice. The force restraining her could as well, and she instantly felt it trying to take control as the group of goblins rushed at the window.

Internally Kao yelled at him to close the shutter, but the strange force held her mouth closed. This left Kao helplessly watching as the goblins raced for the hut. Orn’s arrows flew out to meet them, but there were too many. You hav eto close the shutter NOW!

“Not yet.” Orn mumbled, as if hearing her and shooting another arrow. The arrow sank into the goblin’s face causing it to tumble and trip the one running behind it. A second arrow caught the one standing back up in the shoulder knocking it back down. The two new bodies caused the ones coming behind it to stop. But even as they fell on their own wounded and dead their numbers were growing. Orn could not shoot arrows as fast as the goblins appeared from the trees, or were eating their fallen.

Arrows hit one after another. Goblins screamed and fell, but he was losing ground. They were would reach the windows in moments.

Unable to speak Kao stared at him, as the goblins closed the distance faster and faster.

Finally recognizing the danger, Orn threw his bow aside grabbing the shutter, and slamming it closed. The goblins were already at the base of the window. Placing his shoulder against the shutter, he grabbed for the bar. As his fingers touched the bar, he was nearly knocked backwards by the force of something hitting the shutter.

The flexing of the bed beneath him caused him to sway backwards. As he regained his balance and tried to shove the shutter back, it caught on something. Through the gap, a group of long nailed fingers appeared scratching at the window frame trying to push the shutter open.