Blink tracked the goblins better than I could have as the sun sank behind the ridge of the valley we were in. I could feel where she was, so I could follow along as well.

Blink must have known what I wanted to do. Because, before I could arrive, the fight had started. I felt my bond with her get all icy cold, and then I felt a rage much like my own roll across the bond.

Not two hundred feet ahead of me, I heard the hiss of an angry Ropola. She had hissed at me in the past, but there was a difference between her little, almost playful hisses and the noise that she was making now.

Her hiss seemed to draw out a feeling of dread, almost like I would get even thinking about the rattle of a snake’s tail. There was a primal fear that traveled up my back even as I raced toward the sound. The only thing that kept me moving towards the pronouncement of anger and death from an apex predator was the bond I had with it.

I was in an all-out rush forward. Any thoughts I had about sneaking up were out the door when Blink engaged. I knew that if I could arrive soon, we would be able to win even with the boar.

It was just a few seconds before my mad dash had me at the edge of the battle. The moons were casting just enough light for me to see what was going on as I broke through the last of the brush blocking my view.

Blink was surrounded by the gremlins and was facing off with the boar’s rider. She had done the most important thing in the fight and cut their mobility and power by hamstringing the boar.

It was about ten feet away, thrashing and grunting on the ground. Its back legs both were bleeding heavily and were dragging behind it as it was trying to pull itself forward towards the fight.

The prisoner was a few feet behind the downed boar, and she looked like she was suffering from a stunned debuff as she was just sitting there looking at the fight.

I was coming into the battle just a little behind and to the left of the goblin. The gremlins saw me coming, but either didn’t care for the goblin or didn’t think enough to warn him.

I hit the goblin in the back with a fully charged fire-strike as it was swinging a frying pan at Blink. I almost stopped when I saw the weapon that he was using out of the shock of the sheer stupidity of it. I had already taken real weapons from other goblins, and this guy was using a frying pan.

My fire-strike from my staff hit him square in the back, lighting his ratty shirt on fire and sending him stumbling forward.

Blink did her part and went airborne onto his back. She struck with all four sets of claws as she used him as a springboard to change direction.

Blood fountained out of his back as she launched towards one of the gremlins which had been surrounding her. As she went to my right, I went to the left.

I closed quickly, spinning my staff around my head to build speed as I let it slip through my hands to gain reach. I went from having a middle grip on the stick to a baseball grip and swung for the bleachers as I powered a strike with fire again.

My staff hit the little beast right below the ribcage and picked him up, sending him doubled over up and out of life.

As I recovered from my overextended swing, I felt the thud of one of those little spears land on my armor. This time it didn’t go through my fur armor; however, I felt the added weight of the 6-ounce spear as it dangled off my back.

I turned toward the one that threw it only to see that the gremlin was already doing its best impersonation of an angry toddler who wanted the cookie in your hand. It was screaming as it was jumping at me.

I brought my leg up into a shin block and caught the beast on my new greave. Unlike blocking a strike, however, this guy hung on, which off-balanced me.

Feeling the pull forward, I went with it. Gremlins were only about twenty pounds, so I figured that my 250 or so would make short work of it in a fall. I twisted as I went forward to make sure that the front of my raised leg was the first part that would hit the ground.

As we went over, I pushed off with my back leg to add speed to the fall. When we hit the ground just a half-second later, I heard the crunching sound of the gremlin’s rib cage collapsing under the crushing force of my weight.

I rolled forward and off the carcass only to be shown why the frying pan could be called a weapon.

The goblin, which I wrongly had thought was down and out of this fight, cold clocked me across the side of my head with the flat of the cast iron pan. This did two things simultaneously; first, it sent me to the ground to my left. Second and far worse, it gave me the dazed debuff and the stunned debuff both for 45 seconds.

The second hit was to my face as I was trying to sit up. Once again delivered with the flat of the pan, but this time to my nose, which was level with his shoulder.

My nose erupted with blood as I felt it break, and I gained a bleed debuff and a concussion debuff with a 2-hour timer.

I saw and managed to block his third attack only to receive paralysis debuff to my left arm. This debuff was showing 30 seconds. I felt back to my butt and started to try to get up with a dead arm as I saw yet another attack come in.

Right as the pan was coming for my face again, I saw the most beautiful thing. Blink, in all her anger, landed on the goblin’s left arm, knocked him to the ground, and buried her teeth into its neck. Then, she ripped back, and gore and blood flew into the air as I collapsed under the debuffs.

I felt myself being helped up by someone almost as tall as me.

“We have to get you up and us out of here. This might be our only chance to get away.” A sweet melodic voice said as I was staggering up. “That pan is something else, for a goblin to have something that is enchanted is amazing and terrifying.”

I got my feet under me and looked around. The battle was over, and while we had done a great job of rescuing the prisoner, I once again got my butt kicked.

“We need to head out, I can get you back to my camp and we should be safe there.” I said to the woman holding me upright.

I scanned around and hobbled over to my staff and tried to pick it up. As I bent over, I almost fell because of the concussion debuff. She caught my arm and pulled my staff up to me.

“Here is your staff. We need to get out of here before they know where we are.”

I glanced around, trying to figure out where home was.

“Blink, where is home.” I asked to the air.

The Ropola popped out of nowhere and clicked her tongue, and then started to walk off towards our left.

“We follow her.” I said as I looked at the lady holding my right arm.

“We follow her?”

“Yes, she is my bonded. She will get us back,” I replied.

We took just a few moments to grab the frying pan, and then we headed out slowly. If I didn’t treat my concussion soon, then the goblins would likely catch us. I was just shuffling along, and the girl we rescued didn’t look much better.

“Hold on, I need my water skin.” I said as I shook my arm free from the girl.

“We don’t have time for a drink! We have to get out of here before they come back. I don’t want to get captured again. They will eat both of us if we get caught.” She pleaded back.

“It will increase my recovery rate and might let us get out of here.” I said as I took a pull of my water.

I passed it to her once I saw the increased heal rate icon show up. Then I dropped my pack and pulled out a prepared salve. Salves were to be used on the injury to aid recovery, but I wasn’t sure how they would do with an internal injury. So I rubbed the nasty mixture through my hair and then offered one to her.

“I am Arn, what is your name?”

“Do you think now is the time for introductions?” She hissed at me.

“Well I can call you girl if you want, but I figured knowing your name now would make it easier to work with you.” I replied with a smile that hitched some because of the low pain in my head.

“Lannah. Now what is this stuff and why are we not running?” She asked me as she held the salve.

“That is a healing salve rub it on your worst wounds and it will help them to heal faster.”

“You don’t have a potion?”

“No. Let’s get going, you're right that we need to move but we needed to start healing faster.”