Maff was a dump. A few small houses were huddled inside an aging palisade, the hamlet’s economy clearly dependent on travelers having no choice but to spend the night. For once, the soldiers weren’t unhappy about camping outside.

After a night on a thin mattress that didn’t really deserve the name, the parties joined captain Vellis outside the gate. Gerrit, in good spirits as always, handed out final assignments.

“As we discussed on the march, the army sweeps close to town, while our three parties split up, head further out and start searching there. Have you organized your men, captain?”

Vellis, in full battle rattle with helmet in hand, gestured to his soldiers. They were lined up in four smaller formations, each with a bannerman at the head. By now, Edwin could recognize the differences in their uniforms that set the squad leaders apart from the regular soldiers, like the white border on their tabard and the other small details of their uniforms that had eluded him the first time he saw them up close.

“Each squad is assigned a cardinal direction and will sweep outwards from the palisade. Lieutenant Elm will lead the first squad heading east; I will accompany the fourth going south. The banner will reassemble in this location at nightfall.”

“Great.” Gerrit said with sunny smile while rubbing his leather-gloved hands. “My party will move back along the road we came and search in the north, Doren’s will take the western road for a while, then search there, and Bordan’s will head east, then loop around south. I think that’s everything. Any questions?”

Instead of answering, Vellis grabbed his helmet and put it on, beginning to fasten the strap. Nobody else had questions either, and moments later the meeting location was deserted, the large gathering dispersing into their assigned directions.

For a short while, Edwin and companions walked alongside third squad. When they reached the forest, the soldiers fanned out to turn off the road, their bannerman turning to the adventurers and saluting them by touching the white gull stitched onto his tabard with a closed fist.

“Good hunting.”

Bordan returned the gesture with practiced ease.

“You too. Stay safe.”

The plan was to continue on the road for an hour to make distance, so while the soldiers were clinking into the undergrowth behind them, spears at the ready, Edwin and his companions were kept going. Having left their traveling companions behind while the nest was drawing ever closer, the unease they had experienced when they left the city was back again. Curiously, Edwin also felt a certain peace of mind. It was just the four of them once again, and after a month of fighting and living together, he trusted his teammates, understood how they acted, and relied on them. In a way, it was more reassuring to have them by his side than any number of other people, no matter how competent or well-armed they might be.

“Alright, guys, let’s focus.” Bordan said. “Remember what Gerrit said about the group they fought: Ten to twenty, and better armed than the ones we killed. We’ve fought worse, but that doesn’t mean that a knife in the ribs isn’t going to kill you. Be on your guard, stay together and watch each other’s backs.”

“Not like we’re going to find anything.” Leodin grumbled. “Gerrit gave us the direction that’s closest to the edge of the circle, which means that it’s least likely to have hunting parties. He’s treating us like the new guys.”

“That’s because we are the new guys.” Bordan reminded him sharply. “We’ve only been adventurers for a season or so, while the others have been doing this for years. Hells, Gerrit has probably been an adventurer since before you were born. Confidence is fine, Leodin, but overconfidence is not, and neither is pride.”

The younger man ducked his head and Bordan continued more calmly.

“Also, you’re wrong. Remember, the circle shows where the nest is most likely to be, calculated from the position of the hunting party Gerrit found. However, the hunters head out from the nest, not the place where we found the first of them, which means that it’s highly likely that there are hunting parties outside of our circle as well. We’ll only know where to look for those once we’ve found the nest.”

Edwin blinked in surprise. He, like Leodin, had been so focused on the map with the circle denoting their search area, that he hadn’t spent any time thinking about what it actually meant. If the nest was at the very edge of the circle, half of the hunting parties had to be outside of it. That meant that they really couldn’t make assumptions about where they might find the goblins.

“Just focus and complete this mission like the other ones we’ve done so far.” Bordan said, shooting them a grin to add some levity to the situation. “Except maybe without Edwin getting bitten. Or stabbed.”

At this point, ‘Edwin always gets hurt’ was an intrinsic part of their banter, so he didn’t even bother reacting.

They reached their turnoff and headed into the forest. It was nice and sunny, although the days were clearly getting colder now. If anything, that suited Edwin just fine. He wasn’t exactly susceptible to either hot or cold weather but hiking through a forest in a gambeson (he had replaced his shredded one, although the new one didn’t fit as well) was an activity better suited to milder temperatures.

They walked in silence, listening for sounds that might give away the position of their prey. While they didn’t hear anything suspicious, when they came to a small brook, Leodin spotted something, pointing it out to the others.

“Definitely blood.” Bordan agreed. “And there’s a bit of fur over here. Something was killed here, probably a deer. Can you tell what did it, Leo?”

The marksman carefully examined the traces, shaking his head.

“I can tell you that it was recent, maybe yesterday or the day before. I don’t see any bones, so it probably wasn’t eaten here. Maybe a predator took a few bites, then grabbed the rest to haul it back to their den.”

“Or maybe it was shanked to death by a horde of goblins.” Bordan mused. “Any tracks?”

“Several, all on top of each other. This must be one of the primary water sources around here, with a lot of animals passing by. I don’t see anything from a goblin, although that doesn’t mean much. A lot of blood, though, considering there’s no remains. Most animals kill pretty bloodlessly, breaking the neck for example, and if they don’t the prey usually bleeds out on the run.”

“So, maybe it’s goblins, maybe it’s an animal, or who knows, maybe a direbeast is moving into the area.” Edwin said, looking around. “Helpful. What do we do?”

Bordan looked around one more time, then shrugged and stood. “Nothing to do, at least for now. We’ll continue our search, and if we don’t find anything, we report this when we’re back in town. Our job is to do reconnaissance, and any kind of information we turn up might help us form a bigger picture.”

They moved on, looping around to the south of Maff, making sure to keep away from the soldiers’ sectors. Hours passed by slowly as they hiked up and down the wooded hills, always on guard. They were following a game trail through a thicket when Bordan suddenly cried out in alarm. The dense brush around them came alive as small, green figures burst out of it, charging towards the adventurers from all sides like a tidal wave with razor-sharp teeth, rusty knives and wooden spears.