The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 20: 'Orrible Orcs and Gruesome Goblins
Far off forest, not far from Brady Oaks (and Delta Rune), the next day...
Somewhere, not far from where our heroes lived, deep in the forest, laid the camp of the Moonshadow Elves.
Rayla had just left her tent, still feeling a little nervous and disappointed about her failed test last night.
And she believed her teammates were upset with her as well.
Getting out her blade, she examined it with an unsure expression, then turned towards one of her teammates, Andromeda, who was currently pouring poison over her own knife. Andromeda just glared back at Rayla, so she decided to address Skor, another member, instead, who was sharpening his sword on top of a rock.
"Hey," she said, getting his attention, "could I borrow your sharpening thingie?"
Skor just looked at her and then said, correcting her, "Whetstone."
"Yeah, that." Rayla nodded.
Skor still just looked at her, and then said, "No."
Rayla looked down a little on that, until Runaan's voice got her attention, as well as the others.
"Everyone, gather." Runaan said, as the assassins gathered around in a circle.
"Brothers, sisters," he said, "we have been given the sacred duty as our followers of the past have been given, to watch over from the shadows, protect those who can't protect themselves and ward off evil that may threaten each of the realms."
Runaan then wrapped a binding around his arm, "On this day, we bind our lives to justice!"
On that, each of the members extended their arms as they made their vows.
"My breath for freedom!"
"My eyes for truth!"
"My strength for honor!"
"My blood for justice!"
"My heart for Xadador!" Rayla finished, as she extended her arms.
Seeing this, Runaan wrapped the binding around the wrists of each of his teammates, as he said, "Life is precious. Life is valuable. We protect, and take if necessary."
"Moon reflects sun, as death reflects life!" Rayla added, Runaan nodding to that statement, before cutting the bindings as they then glowed around the arms of each of them.
"It is done," Runaan said to his comrades, "and you are ready. Go forth, and fulfill your duties."
The others nodded in understanding, before heading off to prepare for their missions, until Rayla and Runaan were left, as Rayla was about to join them, Runaan got her attention.
"Rayla, come with me." he said, walking away further from camp.
Rayla started to furrow her eyebrows in worry, as the way he said it made her feel a little nervous, but did as she was told and followed him anyways.
The others looked back at them, and felt a little concerned about Rayla, as deep down, they knew what Runaan had planned for her…
A little later, they arrived in a clearing, with a little bit of a large rock nearby, perfect for sitting down.
Looking around, Rayla looked to Runaan, who stopped and turned to her, as she then asked, "Do you have something for me to do?"
Runaan looked down for a moment, feeling a little sorry to do this, then looked back to Rayla as he let out a sigh.
"You are to stay here until I return."
Rayla looked a little hurt on that, "What?"
"I'm sorry…" Runaan replied, "I thought you could do it, Rayla, but I was wrong."
"You're not wrong." Rayla said, placing her hand on her chest with a pleading expression, "I can do it."
"I know you've never taken before." Runaan admitted, "I brought you because you're talented. Maybe the fastest and strongest of any of us."
While Rayla a little bit appreciated what he said, she felt her heart sank as he added, "But it takes more than that. There's an instinct. A moment of truth. And at that moment, you hesitate."
"I won't hesitate again." Rayla begged.
"You will." Runaan said, as he saw Rayla look down a little in disappointment, he then sighed as he said, "Rayla, I know that you wish to be like your parents… like me… to be a great warrior, but I see that you're still just a child. You have a kind, strong heart, but I sadly fear that it isn't hard enough to do whatever it takes."
"I messed up. I know I did." Rayla shook her head "But that's why you have to let me make it right."
"No, it's too late for that."
"I bound myself," Rayla tensed, "my heart for-" before she could finish, as she placed her hands on her blades, about to pull them out, Runaan stopped her instantly, causing the young Moonshadow Elf to look at him.
"You'll be unbound when the job is done." Runaan said sternly, before sighing as he added, "Your role now is to stay out of the way." He then pointed to a nearby rock and added, "You will wait here, quietly."
Rayla pouted at this, but did what she was told and sat down on the rock with a grumpy look on her face.
"If we're not back by the next sunrise, go home." Runaan said, as he started to walk back to the group, but stopped as sadly said, "I'm sorry, Rayla…"
Runaan walked away and Rayla was left on her rock, her head hanging. A few minutes of thinking, she looked back up, then made a decision with a determined look.
Getting off her rock, she decided to go ahead and find something that will help make it right.
'I can fix this.' she thought to herself, as she ventured into the woods.
The Past…
Out in the forest, Hilda, at a very young age of 6, was enjoying a nice wonder around the woods, loving every bit of nature that was around her.
While she still wore her black beret that she would wear in future, she had pigtails in her hair, had a red scarf, brown sweater with a nice pattern with sleeves that looked a bit long for her arms at times, same black leggings and greyish brown rain boots.
She was enjoying the nature around her, from the sweetest butterflies to the extraordinarily different shaped rocks.
It wasn't until then, she looked up to the beautiful sky, as it was nearing a twilight sunset, and saw what were beautiful aurora lights, as she and her family have been enjoying every year when they headed down to the cabin… until she heard a whimper.
"What's that?" Hilda muttered, as she followed the whimpering sounds, until came from a small clearing nearby, where there were several rocks around.
She heard the whimper again, and noticed it was coming from a small hole from the pile of rocks.
She reached the hole and peaked in, "Hello?" she spoke, and spotted a shadowy figure of a creature, almost looking like a baby wolf or fox cub, looking scared and whimpering.
Hilda then realized that this poor little creature must have got caught in a small rock slide, and got trapped under the bit of rocks.
"Oh no…" Hilda felt sorry, and got up as she said, "I'll get mum and dad."
Before she could get help, a small yelp got her to look back, and saw the little creature struggling to get, knowing there wouldn't be enough time to get help, Hilda decided to help the poor thing herself.
"Okay, just hang on." Hilda said, as she tried to lift on the top rock out of the way so she could help the small critter, as it continued to struggle to get out.
It wasn't until finally, with all her strength, Hilda shoved the rock aside, and fell to her knees a bit, panting after trying to lift the rock. After catching her breath, she looked up… and was amazed by what she saw.
Finally stepping out of the hole it was trapped in, the critter revealed itself to be a white furry baby fox cub, though while it had a head, body, and tail of a fox, it had stubby antler bumps and hooved feet like a deer. It even had a fluffy tail that was roughly as long as its body, and it even had spots on its back.
"What are you?" she asked it, as it looked back at her as she added, "You're beautiful."
Hilda took a good look at the creature's face, most especially the stumps on its head, and let out a sweet gasp as she said, "Look at those horns, they like little twigs."
Hilda carefully reached out her hand, the critter took a good look at Hilda, before taking a small sniff at her hand, before slowly bringing its muzzle up, and placed it on her hand.
Hilda looked amazed at the little creature, and began to stroke it gently, the critter enjoying the stroke it was given.
Unaware to both, while this happened, Patrick, who was also a little younger at the age of 11, had arrived at the scene, as he was told to find his little sister, catch up with her and make sure she didn't run off without someone close by.
Patrick wore his usual jeans and green cap, but he had on a purple hoodie with the picture of a 20-sided dice with a dragon around it.
When he arrived at where Hilda was, he stopped and saw her good deed on helping that little woodland creature, and smiled at what was happening.
Patrick decided to slowly approach them, without the little critter to run scared (Patrick was also amazed by this creature, as he had never seen one like it before), treading nice and carefully.
The critter started to sense Patrick's presence and looked a little nervous, as the boy heard his sister ask, "It's okay. What's wrong?"
Hilda turned, and saw Patrick approach her, as he came up to her, and knelt down, bringing a finger to his lips, as a way of saying he was being quiet.
He then looked to the critter, and smiled as he looked at the nervous little animal, "Hey there, little guy." he smiled, "What are you, anyway?"
The mysterious animal was starting to calm down, and was starting to approach the two siblings again, until a new voice spoke up, startling the three.
"There they are!" cried Taylor's voice, as Hilda's older sister started to show up.
Taylor made it to the scene, dressed in blue with a yellow hair band, and soon was followed by their mum, who looked a bit younger with her hair a little bit longer, wore a long sleeve sweater with a polo shirt underneath.
And next to her… came their father, wearing a polo shirt like Johanna, but also had on a bright green jacket, and tan trousers.
"I found them, mum. Dad." Taylor said proudly.
"Thanks, Taylor." Micky said, giving her pat on the shoulder.
Johanna, meanwhile, looked a little worried sick, but breathed out relief when she saw Patrick and Hilda.
"Hilda, there you are," she said, "you frightened us half to death."
Hilda turned around to look at the mysterious little creature… only for her and Patrick to discover that it disappeared.
Getting up, both Patrick and Hilda returned back to their parents and middle sibling, as they heard their father point out to their mother, "Heh, technically, you were the one who almost freaked out."
Johanna eyed him at that, before looking at their youngest daughter as she said, "How many times have we told you, you know you're not to go too far without us out here!"
"I'm old enough to take care of myself, mum." Hilda huffed, in a lightly sassy way, earning a little chuckle from her father.
Johanna decided to play along, and smirked, "Oh, are you now? So if your father or I or even your siblings weren't here, I expect you know the direction to take to get back to the cabin, do you?"
"Of course I do," Hilda smiled, as she pointed in one direction and said, "It's this way!"
As Hilda, Patrick and Taylor walked in the direction for home, Micky nudged Johanna and grinned, "Guess she's all grown up after all, eh, Johanna?"
"Oh, please…" Johanna smiled, as she shook her head in a smile.
As the family continued their walk, Patrick looked to his dad and said, "Say… dad."
"Yeah, son?"
"Before you and the others showed up, Hilda helped a little animal out from under the rocks back there." Patrick explained.
"Did you now?" Micky smiled, looking to the youngest daughter.
Hilda nodded, "Yep. Though, I've never seen an animal like this one before."
"What did this animal look like?" Johanna asked.
"It looked like a white fox, but had little horn bumps."
"Interesting," Micky smiled, as he looked at Hilda and Patrick and replied, "if you ask me, I believe you just came across a Deer-Fox."
"Deer-Fox?" Hilda and Patrick asked, looking at their father.
"That's right," Micky nodded, "truth be told, deer-foxes are a rare and mythical type of creature, believed to be the stuff of legends, fairy tales and folklore. But if you ask me, I believe that they are as real as you or me."
"Really?" Hilda asked, eyes of wonder.
"Indeed, and not only that, deer-foxes can find themselves drawn to a kindred spirit, and become a fiercely loyal companion to whomever they come across. Once a deerfox has chosen a companion, it will remain loyal to that companion for the rest of their lives" Micky explained.
Hilda awed in wonder at this, Patrick smiled also as he said to her, "A kindred spirit like you perhaps, sis?"
"Yeah!" Hilda replied, then asked, "Do you think we might see that deerfox again?"
"Who knows, Hilda," Micky smiled with a shrug, "it's very rare nowadays on finding a deerfox."
"Oh c'mon, that's ridiculous!" Taylor doubted.
"Oh, yeah, we'll see!" Patrick grinned, as he and Hilda smirked as they then ran, the former crying out, "First one home will decide about being right about deerfoxes!"
"Hey, get back here!" Taylor cried as she ran after them, "No fair!"
Johanna smiled, shaking her kids, before looking at her husband, "Really had to say all that?"
"There's nothing wrong in believing in the impossible." Micky smiled, bringing her close to him as they walked.
"That's what I love about you." Johanna admitted, as she planted a small peck on his lips, before the parents continued walking with their children, while in the distance, the aurora lights started to fade away…
Far off forest, present day…
"...and did you ever see that Deerfox again?" Alfur asked, as he was accompanying Patrick, Hilda, Taylor, Luz, Chris, Callum, Ezran (with Bait in his backpack), David, Frida, Asriel and even King across the woods (with the exception of the twins and Chuckie, the latter at another dentist appointment).
Today, Patrick was given an important task on making a small delivery of several items and food supplies to the market in Delta Rune, having met up with the guy who gave them the items not far off, and decided to take a stroll across the woods.
While at that time, remembering about walking through the woods in the far off countryside, Patrick told the group about his family's time away from home, enjoying the woodland environment and going forest walks, and the one time during an evening walk, Hilda encountered the mysterious deerfox.
"Unfortunately nope," Patrick replied, "but I have to say that moment really treasured Hilda for life, she even did several great drawings of that deerfox as well in one of her sketchbooks."
"Aw, I wished I could have come to one of those trips to find that Deerfox, it sounded like such a little snowflake cutie!" Luz giggled as she could resist thinking of getting a chance to meet one.
Following what had happened with the abomination debucko back at the magic school, Luz had to make a wardrobe change while her other clothes were being washed (luckily, the story of her and the others ending up in the mud while having fun in the woods bought it to Luz's mother).
Luz was now currently wearing a lavender sweater that had the words 'OWO' embedded on it, light blue high-waisted jean shorts (with no leggings) and a pair of white and lavender loafers. She even had a grey hair clip on the left side of her hair.
"I bet he would be just as sweet as you, King!" Luz added, as she booped King on his skull nose, earning a little giggle from him.
"I suppose that's good to know." King grinned.
"Do you still enjoy these outings to this cabin?" Asriel asked, "It would be nice to go over and see it."
Patrick, Taylor and Hilda were silent upon hearing that, their friends looked a little uneasy at that too.
"We… kinda stopped going…" Hilda replied, "the cabin's been shut for a few years now…"
Before Asriel, Alfur or even King would ask, Callum quickly decided to change the subject.
"So, anyways, what's all this stuff we have to deliver?" he asked.
"Glad you asked," Asriel replied, pointing to the cart that they were pulling at the moment, "most of this stuff we're taking are just several treasures, a few architecture like vases or something and some fine furnishings. There's also a good amount of food and supplies too."
"Sounds reasonable," Ezran replied, and then looked at several of the stuff that was in the cart, while most of the stuff were what Asriel labelled, half of the stuff were boxes, bags and sacks full of crystals of sorts, all in different colours, shapes, sizes and cuts, but interesting enough, most of them had a small little glow on them, or a small bit of sparkles, "and what about this lot?"
"Those crystals are very rare," Asriel smiled, "my mom told me about them. You see, these crystals have magical and powerful abilities, such as being given a boost of strength to heighten your skills, strength, magic and power. They're sometimes called Dust Crystals."
"Which would make sense as many bandits, thugs and crooks wish to harness them," Alfur added (the group were able to sign the papers so they could see and speak to him prior to the task), "and the more reason to have a Paladin with us on protecting this cargo."
"Good thing the twins aren't here," Frida said, "imagine if they snagged a few and spilled it to Mr. E."
"Mr. E?" Alfur asked.
"Who's that?" King added.
"Edward Swindle," Taylor explained, "or 'Mr. E' as he likes to call himself, he's an old friend of the twins' parents, and is, technically, their uncle (I guess), who has been known to cause a bit of trouble, and, well, with their parents away, he's been asked to look after them."
"That doesn't sound bad." Asriel said.
"I wouldn't be too sure," Callum stated, "you see, that Swindle gut has been known to have a habit of getting in trouble, which unfortunately for us, is sometimes something the twins pick up from."
"Especially with his 'cockamamie' scheme scams." Taylor added.
Patrick and his friends remember Edward Swindle very well.
He was a (near-elder) man with brown eyes with cataracts, gray eyebrows, and gray hair, that was almost always covered by his maroon fez he usually wears, which bore a yellow crescent shape, albeit with straight edges and a dot next to it, resembling an oyster with a pearl in it. He beared a somewhat large, droopy, pear-shaped, bumpy, reddish-pinkish nose, large ears, and fair skin. As a result of his age, Stan had wrinkly skin, a hearing aid, and dentures. He usually wore a pair of rectangular glasses with a black rim which had a thin outline. Stan also had a perpetual five o'clock shadow covering his lower face.
He also wore a black suit, with the jacket buttoned closed, a bow tie similar in color to his fez, and a white dress shirt. He also wore big, light brown shoes, the aforementioned fez and his glasses. He even once mentioned owning a girdle, which he'd presumably wear while in the suit.
Callum nodded in agreement with Taylor about the schemes, "Exactly, just like that one time during one of what was supposed to be his and the twins 'bonding activities'."
(French accent) Flashback…
Edward and the twins were in some sort of warehouse, as the twins were busy helping him make counterfeit money.
"You call that Ben Franklin? He looks like a woman!" Edward stated to Raph, drawing a crude image of said person on the counterfeit dollar, until the three heard police sirens, noting that they were caught, as Edward then added, "Uh-oh."
(French accent) End Flashback…
"Yeah, that wasn't a good time to spend the first bit of summer in jail." Taylor stated.
"Agreed." the other humans nodded.
"Speaking of about Paladins, how goes the training, Patrick?" the tiny house elf asked Patrick, deciding to change the subject.
"Pretty fine, thanks," Patrick replied, "I just hope that all this training will be paid off for the rematch with Kriv soon."
"Well, I can't wait to see you in action!" Asriel smiled, "I just wish I could be able to fight as well as you, from what I heard of your fights with Warden Wrath and what happened back at Hexside."
"Don't remind us…" Luz sweatdropped a little, as she and Patrick felt a little uncomfortable on the latter memory.
"Do you really wish to fight as well, Asriel, I mean, you're already good with your magic." Taylor pointed out.
"True," Asriel nodded, but then smiled as he tried doing cool moves as he said, "but I would love to learn cool fighting skills, like a perry! Or a knife hand! Or a back kick! Or… or sweep the leg!"
"Yeah… I don't think sweep the leg is a thing in combat/sword fighting." Callum scratched his head, uncertain.
"Well, I think it should be!" Luz chirped.
"See? Luz gets it!" Asriel stated, earning a few giggles from the others.
Meanwhile, not far off, observing the kids as they continued on their way, little did they know that they were being watched by several orcs.
These orcs, all in different shapes, be it large, skinny or other sorts, all wore the same brown belt and bright red pants, wearing nothing aside from leather wristbands from the waist up. One of them, buff orc who was wearing an orc helmet (no doubt it was the leader), was looking at Patrick and his friends through a telescope.
"Gentleorcs, behold," the leader grinned, lowing and putting away his telescope, "a couple of little twerps, and a cart load of gold, jewels, fabrics…"
"Oooh, fabrics." one orc said in interest, though shut up when the leader gave him the stink eye.
"And gold." the leader continued, "Not only that, I even spy the little prince of Delta Rune with them. That's our target."
"Asriel Dreemurr? He's with them, Norog?" another orc, a skinny one, asked the leader, Norog, as the leader turned and nodded.
"You got it," Norog said, as he grinned, "we grab him, grab the loot, and we'll be stinking rich! Fortune has smiled on us yet again!"
"Fortune hasn't smiled on us before…" the orc that asked earlier stated, earning a glare from Norog, shutting him up too.
"Alright, Orc Bandits," Norog said, before looking at the orc that spoke but fortune not smiling on them as he added, "and Gary." This earned a worried frown from Gary, as Norog drew out his sword and continued, "The time has come once more for us, the strong, to strike down on them, the weak, and take from them, that is what holds precious… to them!"
Norog took a proud, mighty pose with his fellow orc bandits… until one raised his hand and asked, "Do I have time to pee?"
This ruined the moment, as Norog frowned and yelled, "No!" then took off and threw his helmet down as he added, "Darn it!"
Norog then grumbled as he allowed the orc to go, saying, "Well, if you hurry…"
As the group continued on their way, it was then that King perked up for some reason.
"What's up, King?" Chris asked, as the others stopped.
"I… don't know," King replied, "but I could have sworn it sounded like-"
Before he could finish, suddenly the group were surrounded by orcs, who all jumped out of nowhere, cornering them in every direction.
"That we're caught in a trap." Callum finished for King, a little annoyed by these surprise attacks.
Norog appeared in front of them, a grin on his fanged face, "All right, boys," he said, "grab the loot!" he then approached Asriel, who was behind Patrick, as he added, "I'll get the brat!"
"The only thing you're gonna get is a black eye!" Patrick said, as he brought out his amulet, summoning his armor.
The orcs looked shocked at this, as Gary cried, "He's… the Paladin!"
Norog just looked at Patrick in shock… before he grinned and said, "Guess we're doing this the hard way."
"Get them!" he cried, as the orcs charged at the group, Taylor, Luz, Chris and Callum trying to use what they could find to fight back, while Hilda, David, Frida and Ezran stood behind them.
Asriel, meanwhile, used a spell to make a quick into his Ralsei uniform, and joined in with Patrick to fight.
Of course, it was quite a bit tricky when you only have one person capable of combat and one who's a magical prince, as the others tried their best to fight back, using broken branches and even throwing rocks at some of the orcs.
Patrick, meanwhile, had a small bit of difficulty too, as Norog kept slashing his sword, trying to get a hit, though Patrick did manage to evade getting sliced or diced.
Asriel did the best he could to help Patrick fight off Norog, all while trying to defend the others and cargo, such as using his scarf to hold Norog in place, while conjuring a wind spell to blow away most of the orcs.
The orcs, meanwhile, played a little dirty, as they gained the upper hand, grabbing the kids' weapons (the branches of course) and used them against them a little.
As she fell over, Taylor looked over to her younger sister, Frida and David and cried, "Run, try and get help!"
"Okay!" Hilda nodded, as she and her friends hurried off, although one of the orcs spotted them and chased after the youngest.
Hilda, Frida and David ran as fast as they could, the orc almost catching up on them. Hilda then spotted a long branch of a tree in their way, and smirked as she got an idea.
As they ran, she grabbed hold of the branch and bended it forwards, and as the orc bandit was catching up, Hilda released the branch, as it sprung back at the orc, knocking him down.
"Bullseye!" Hilda cheered, though she didn't look where she was going, as while she did that, Frida and David stopped and saw Hilda slow down the orc, but as their blue-haired friend bounced backwards in celebration, they tried to tell her to stop and look out.
But it was too late, as Hilda bumped into them, and the three tumbled down a small hill.
Following the tumble, as Hilda and David were getting up a little, they heard a small cry of pain from Frida.
"Frida!" they cried, as they went over to her, as she was sitting on the ground, holding on to her left ankle.
"Frida, I'm so sorry," Hilda said, looking concerned for her friend, "are you okay?"
"I'm not sure," Frida hissed in pain, "I think I hurt my ankle."
"Don't worry," David said, "once we meet up with Patrick, I'll see what I can do to help with that."
"Thanks, David." Hilda smiled at him, as did Frida (who kept a strong smile, despite the pain from her ankle).
"No problem," David smiled back at the two girls, "not wanting to brag, but the first badge I got in the Sparrow Scouts was after all First Aid."
SNAP!
The sound of a twig snapping caught their attention, as they looked around.
David's calm smile faded and was quickly changed back to worry as he looked around, "W-what was that?"
The girls and David looked and heard a rustling from a bush nearby.
"Patrick? Luz?" Hilda asked, curious who… or what… was in the bushes…
And then she and her friends screamed as something pounced out of the bushes and charged at them.
Back in the fight, Patrick thought he heard Hilda screaming, only to miss his focus, allowing Norog to tackle him down and give the order to his gang, "Grab the loot and get the kid!"
At that moment, while the others grabbed the cart, Gary and another orc bandit (a large one with wall eyes) approached Asriel, but before they could grab him, Asriel, as he stepped backwards, bumped into Ezran, causing him to drop his bag, resulting in Bait to fall out of his bag.
As the glowtoad saw the orcs in front of him, Bait panicked and instantly let out a flash of bright light, engluving the two groups.
"Gah! Ezran!" Callum cried, covering his eyes.
"It wasn't me! That's what happens when Bait gets startled!" Ezran cried back, also finding it hard to see, yet managed to pick up Bait.
"What happened?!" cried one of the orc bandits.
"I don't know, just grab the kid and scram!" Norog's voice shouted, as soon as the light faded, the orc bandits were spotted running for their lives, the cargo with them.
"They're getting away!" Chris cried.
"Hang on," Callum said, as he looked around, and then realized something, "where's Ez?!"
Patrick and others looked around, and then back to where the orcs had fled, as Patrick realized, "Crud! They must have captured Ezran and took him with them!"
"But why would they want young Ezran?" Alfur asked, scratching his head.
"I'm not sure," Patrick said, nervous, as he looked back to where he heard his young sister screaming earlier, "and I have a bad feeling that he isn't the only one in trouble."
"You think they got Hilda and the others too?" King asked.
"I don't know… but I'm gonna find out," Patrick said, as he looked to Callum, "Callum, you go and try and follow those orcs to get that cargo and Ez back. I'll go and find Hilda and her friends."
"I'll go with you," Taylor said, "she's my sister too, you know."
"I'll come too!" Luz raised her hand.
"Me too!" Asriel smiled, while Alfur nodded as a sign to join in as well.
"The King of Demons wishes to join as well!" King demanded.
"Then I'll go with Callum." Chris volunteered, as Callum nodded in agreement.
"Alright," Patrick nodded back, "stay safe and be careful."
The group soon split, with Patrick, Taylor, Luz, Asriel, Alfur and King going to find Hilda, while Callum and Chris followed Norog's gang to rescue Ezran.
Unaware, minutes after splitting, high in the trees, Rayla watched as she decided to follow Callum and Chris, knowing that if she can take down some thugs that she heard them talk about, then she can truly prove to Runaan that she had what she takes.
"Hilda?" Patrick called out, as his group made it to where they heard the kids' screams.
"Hilda, where are you?" Patrick called again, still no response.
"Hilda? David? Frida?" Asriel cried, "Where are you guys?"
"Any sign of them, Luz?" Taylor asked, looking nervous, as Luz and King returned from part of where they were, only for Luz to shake her head in response.
"We've checked every bit of the spot," King replied, "nothing but trees and rocks-"
He was cut off as he stepped in something, then squealed in annoyance, "Gah! Why is there so much raccoon poop?!"
"Where do you think they could have got to?" Alfur asked, "They couldn't have gone too far, would they?"
"I'm really not sure, Alfur." Patrick said, beginning to worry, "Hilda and the others know well to stay safe at times."
"Isn't there anywhere they could be, like a clubhouse or something?" Asriel asked.
"There is a clubhouse of sorts," Patrick replied, "Fort Myers, it's a special place made for one of our friends, Harry, who usually spends his time there to escape everyday life, and even invites Hilda and the others there at times."
"But that's in a different part of the woods in the other part of town." Taylor said, adding that statement, then sighed with worry, then thought aloud, "I'm starting to feel how Harry's mom felt when Harry went missing…"
"Who's Harry?" Asriel asked, looking at Patrick and Luz, until Alfur responded.
"I've heard a bit about Harry Myers, during my time with Patrick's family," he explained, "Harry is an old family friend, and Patrick usually played a big brother figure at times for him, last I heard, Harry had disappeared the night before Patrick found the amulet."
"Great, now you've got us thinking about both Hilda and the others AND Harry!" Luz stated, before letting out a sad sigh, "I just hope Harry's doing good… wherever he is…"
Patrick still felt sad inside the minute Harry's name was said, he was about to give a small bit of comfort, when they all heard a 'hoot'.
"Did you hear that?" Alfur asked, as he and the others looked around.
"Hoo."
There it was again.
"Is that… an owl hoot?" Patrick asked.
"Maybe… seems a bit of deja vu." Luz stated, remembering about an owl (being the owl from Eda's staff, Owlbert) was responsible for introducing them to Eda.
"Up there!" Asriel said, as he pointed up to a tree, and the others saw the owl.
Up on a branch, was what appeared to be a great horned owl, that looked scruffy, battle-scarred and very unkempt, who was also missing a talon on his left foot, and it also had a little bit of a lazy left eye as well.
"It's an owl!" Asriel said.
"Is that the owl, Owlbert, that belongs to Eda?" Patrick asked Luz.
"I don't think so," she replied, "Owlbert looked a little young, this one looks a bit old, and a bit scruffy."
The owl hooted again, getting their attention, then flew off it's branch, flying around them as he hooted.
"What's it think it's doing?" King asked, raising an eyebrow (sort of).
Patrick took a good look at the owl's flight pattern, and noticed that during part of it's flight, it flew a bit further in one direction, before flying back up to them, and then it dawned on him.
"I think it wants us to follow it!" he cried, "Maybe it knows where Hilda and the others are!"
"You think so?" Taylor asked, lighting up a bit as well.
"It's worth a shot!" Patrick grinned, as he and the others followed the owl in the direction it wanted them to follow.
Later…
After a good trek following the owl, Patrick's group arrived where the owl wanted them to go.
Far off in the distance by where they were in the woods, was an old scrapyard, known as Disch's Disposal, that was filled with old cars, appliances and other sorts that were broken down, damaged beyond repair and even downright worthless.
The owl landed on a nearby branch of a tree, and looked to Patrick's group, stating that they had arrived at their destination.
Patrick and the others looked at each other, then back to the owl, who, oddly, nudged his head to one side (as a way to tell them to go on).
Seeing this, the kids went on ahead, treading carefully as they went, until they reached some trees, climbed up one and looked across, seeing a bit of a clearing.
This clearing looked a lot like a camp, as it had a small campfire, with something roasting over it, and the trees that surrounded the camp. Patrick and his friends looked and noticed there were cages hanging from them.
But nothing could prepare them for the inhabitants that were around the campfire.
There, surrounding the camp, were several creatures, up to about 15 to 22 of them, and by how they appeared, they look almost like a little bit big frogs/toads (and, perhaps a mashup between amphibian and reptile?), but most of them walked on two legs, while a small few of them walked on all fours, they had either odd dragon wing-like ears or floppy dog-like ones and pretty sharp teeth.
They listened as some of them sounded feral, with the growls and snarls, while a few of them had the ability to speak.
They even noticed another small few of them were wearing a small amount of clothes, as they noticed one of the floppy eared creatures was wearing a blue coat with mustard yellow shoulder pads and rolled up sleeves and a red pirate cap hat.
"Give me, give me." they heard the red capped creature say to one of them munching on something, as it was no doubt meal time for these creatures.
"Hey, hey, give me a leg!" they heard him say again to the creature, who acted a little confused and blunt, as the red cap creature said again, "Give me a leg. A leg!"
The other creature was holding onto a leg of something in it's right hand, but it handed something else in it's right hand to the red capped creature.
"That's not a leg!" the red capped creature snarled with annoyance, before yoinking the leg gestured it as it said with a grumble, "This is a leg! Imbeciles."
"Oh, my gosh…" Taylor muttered quietly, so the creatures wouldn't hear them, "What are those things?"
"Oh, gracious…" Alfur said, looking wide eyed with worry, as he replied, "Goblins."
"Those are goblins?" Patrick asked.
"Yes," Alfur nodded as he explained, "goblins are known to be most times prankish and mainly mean-spritied and very violent brutes, though at times not so bright. There are even a few that are a little nice at times, too."
The group looked back to the pack of goblins as Alfur then added, "Much like with elves and even trolls, these types of goblins are Bog Goblins, known to live mainly in swamps and bogs, but also to live in forests as well."
"Also, you see the colours of their skins?" Alfur pointed out, as the kids indeed noticed, as the goblins varied in shades of green, brown, orange and dark yellow. "The ones that are coloured green, brown and orange can walk on two legs and even speak, while the dark yellow goblins are a little feral and walk on all fours."
"I must admit, that's clever colour coding and description." Luz admitted.
"Still, we have to be careful," Patrick said to the group, "they may be not bright as Alfur said, but they can be still dangerous. We must focus on finding Hilda and the others and then getting back to help Callum save-"
"There they are!" Asriel said, as Patrick, Luz, Taylor, Alfur and King turned to him, as he was pointing to some of the cages nearby, and saw Hilda stuck in a cage of her own, while Frida and David were trapped in one themselves.
Seeing where they had to go, Patrick placed his finger on his lips, as a way of saying 'don't make a sound', and the others nodded in understanding.
As they carefully climbed back down, and quietly treaded to where the young kids were.
But as Taylor was walking by the cages, her back to one of them… something grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and quickly brought her close to the cage, as something quietly cried, "Don't move."
Before Taylor could yelp, or the others could say a word or do something, the thing simply shushed them and whispered to Taylor, "Slowly lift your foot."
Taylor looked down at her feet, and noticed, hidden in the grass and old leaves of the ground, was a thread of rope, which ended in a small noose, and that her foot was on it.
She carefully lifted her foot, and as she did, she and the others saw a little bird fly by and landed near noose, and as it hopped over… the rope was pulled back, causing the noose to tighten the poor bird's feet, and causing the bird to get caught and whizzed pass Taylor, as she turned and saw the bird get eaten alive, and the creature that was eating it.
The creature that was in the cage, munching on the bird, was about the size of the goblins the group saw, it even looked like a goblin, only it bat-like features, being a large, fleshy nose and huge ears no doubt adapted for high-frequency hearing. It wore a brown buttoned up trench coat, inside the coat pockets were several plastic forks, knives and spoons.
Taylor stepped back a bit, only for the creature to grab the sleeve of her shirt, as it cried "Wait, wait! Don't go out there. They'll see you. Unless…"
It then looked and spotted Patrick and others approaching Taylor, and then instantly asked, "Wait, who are you? Are you with them or with me? Whose side are you on? State your side!"
"It's okay, we're on your side!" Patrick said, hoping to calm the creature down, looking at his sisters, "We're on your side, right, Taylor?"
Taylor got what he meant, and nodded as she added, "Yes, we're on your side, definitely!"
The creature looked at them, before smiling, "Then we must shake on our alliance." He then picked his nose, and held out his hand to shake, the booger still on his finger, much to the disgust of Taylor and the others.
"What? It's good." the creature stated, before eating the booger.
'Who… what are you?" Luz asked.
"I am Hogsqueal." the creature, Hogsqeal, introduced himself, "and I am a humble Hobgoblin."
"Hobgoblin?" Taylor asked.
"Oh boy, I know them," Alfur murmured aloud, as he explained, "Hobgoblins are a less malicious but a little more mischievous kind of goblins. They can be a little troublesome, but also a bit helpful at times too… though I can't be to sure on that at times…"
"Hey, I am helpful," Hogsqeaul replied, getting the group's attention, "and right now, I am here on a mission to destroy the troll, Ghoular!"
"You're after Ghoular?" Luz asked.
"That's right," Hogsqueal nodded, "that no good troll was responsible for killing my family!"
"Oh, you poor thing," Luz said, feeling sorry for him, "if it makes you feel better, we're on a mission on stopping this Ghoular guy too!"
"Really, that's great!"
"Patrick, do you think he can help us?" Luz asked Patrick, who had a small thought about it, but then decided to go on ahead, especially as Asriel joined in the agreement.
"It would be nice to help him, especially if he can help us with our problem." Asriel stated.
"Okay." Patrick nodded, before approaching Hogsqueal and said, "Hogsqueal, I want you to know that we can help, but first, can you help us save friends from these goblins? Please?"
"Yeah! Sure!" Hogsqueal replied, though it sounded like he was unsure, especially as he added, "I was gonna suggest that, right after you let me out of this cage."
"So, come on! Free me!" he cried, as he shook his cage.
"Okay, okay, calm down." Patrick said, as he carefully took down the cage, laid on the floor, and opened it, allowing Hogsqueal to come out.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good." the hobgoblin said, as he then climbed up a tree, the group following him, as he added, "Now get behind me and keep your mouth shut."
The kids followed him to the top of the tree, looking down on the goblins in their camp, as Hogsqueal then spoke, "Okay, here's our plan. I will find a safe position over there and create a distraction with my stick. Then you leap out with your knife and finish the beast yourself. Ooh, I like that plan. That's a good plan. I'm smart."
"What beast?" Taylor asked.
"The troll, of course!" Hogsqeual replied, "Ghoular!"
"I don't think Ghoular would be out and about here, my dear hobgoblin." Alfur pointed out, "Trolls can come out at sunset or in the night."
"Alfur has a point, Hogsqueal," Patrick said, "we just want to save our sister and her friends."
"Again with the sister and-?" Hogsqueal said, looking like he was a little annoyed, but kept his cool, took a deep breath and nodded as he said, "Okay, fine. If we kill those goblins, saving them will be much easier. Trust me."
Hogsqueal then climbed down the tree as he gestured to the others to follow him, "Okay, let's go. Follow me."
Patrick and the others looked at each other, a little unsure about trusting the hobgoblin on his 'plan', but if they wanted to rescue Hilda and her friends, they would have to trust him, and decided to follow him.
Back with Hilda, Frida and David, they looked down at the goblins, as they were munching down on their meals, the latter two looking scared at this (David moreso), while Hilda looked a little nervous by what's going on.
"What do you think they're gonna do to us?" David asked, nervously.
"Don't worry, David," Hilda said, trying to comfort him with a small smile, "I'm sure we'll get out of this, and find Patrick and the others."
Hilda's smile faded a little as she muttered to herself, "I hope…"
Suddenly, there was a small little yelp that got her attention.
In another cage right next to her's, she saw a small, white creature that looked like a hybrid between a deer and a fox. It had black antlers on the top of it's head and had a long, bushy tail, and some spots on its back.
It looked a little nervous too, but while Hilda looked at the creature, she felt like she had seen this type of creature before…
And then it hit her like a dodgeball, and realized that this was a deer-fox! Just like the ones that her dad told her about! Like the one she saw when she was very young!
Hilda looked to the deer-fox, slid carefully towards it and said with gentle smile, "Hello."
The deer-fox's ears perked up when it heard her, and turned to look at her and slowly got up to her.
"You're a deer-fox, aren't you?" she asked, as she gently brought her hand up to the nervous deer-fox.
The deer-fox looked to her and brought it's muzzle up to her hand, it then took a sniff at her, and its ears perked up, before allowing itself to place its head on her hand, earning a quiet giggle from Hilda as she stroked it.
Hilda looked back at the goblins, knowing with worry that they may try to eat the poor deer-fox, then decided to help it escape, after all she did helped out one before a long time ago.
"Don't worry, little guy," Hilda said, as she looked back at the deer-fox, "I'll help get you out."
Carefully holding onto the deer-fox's cage, Hilda checked every bit of it until she finally found the cage door, which was tied up with rope, and carefully untied it so the goblins didn't notice.
Once the rope was off, the door to the cage opened.
"Go, quickly!" Hilda said to the deer-fox, "I'll be okay. Be free!"
The deer-fox looked at her with a seemingly worried look, before doing what it was told and jumped out and ran into the woods.
Just then, Hilda's cage jerked a little, as it started to come down, as did David and Frida's cage, as the blue-haired girl saw the goblins were looking at them, hunger in their eyes.
Back with Patrick's group, they reached another tree witn the hobgoblin, as they were getting ready to fight, when they saw that their friends' cages were being lowered.
"Oh no," Asriel said with worry, "They're about to be goblin chow!"
"Don't worry, guys," Hogsqueal said, proudly, "with my full proof plan, we'll have those kids saved before the goblins could even lay their youngest on them."
"It's now or never." Hogsqueal lightly cried, "Come! Victory or dea-!"
Hogsqueal's battle cry was cut short, as a bird suddenly flew by, catching his attention.
"Bird!" He cried, as he suddenly started to chase after it, leaving the others behind as he cried out in hungry excitement, "Delicious! Come back here!"
"Hogsqueal?! Wait!" Patrick cried out, "Where are you going!?"
"I'll be back! Don't worry!" They heard Hogsqueal call back to them, as he continued chasing the bird, "Kill them if you get a chance! Remember the plan!"
Alfur sighed as they watched Hogsqueal disappear into the woods chasing the bird, and said, "I not gonna say I told you so but…"
"We don't have time for this," Taylor cried, "we have to find a way to save Hilda and-!"
Her words were cut off as where they were standing became a little loose, causing the branches they were on to break, and caused them to fall… right into the camp of the goblins, getting their attention.
"Patrick! Taylor!" Hilda cried.
The red capped goblin looked to Patrick and his group, and grinned and he said to the others, "Look, lads… fresh meat!"
Taylor and Luz got behind Patrick and Asriel as the goblins started to approach them, the kids worried about what's to happen.
Suddenly, came a 'hoot', and the kids, both young and older, turned and saw the owl that helped Patrick's group swoop in to the rescue.
"Birdie!" the red capped goblin cried, as some of the goblins tried to grab it, but it seemed like the owl seemed like a natural, as it was also quick to avoid getting grabbed, and in a comically fashion, several of the goblins wound end getting bashed into trees or into each other as they tried to grab the owl.
Patrick and the others knew that was the signal, and charged ahead, attacking several goblins, kicking them out of the way as they reached the kids' cage.
Summoning his armor, Patrick used his sword to cut open the cages, allowing the kids to get out.
"You three okay?" Patrick asked.
"We're good." Frida replied.
"Alright, let's get out of here, fast!" Taylor stated.
As they started to run, the red capped goblin, unaware to them, saw Patrick summoning his armor, and looked wide eyed at this.
"The Paladin!" he cried, as he watched the Paladin escape with his friends.
"C'mon, lads! After them!" He ordered his goblins, as most of them followed him as they chased after the humans that escaped their camp.
Patrick and his friends ran as quickly as they could, though Asriel and King heard the snarls and grumbling growls of the goblins that were slowly catching up with them.
"Guys," King said, looking back, "those goblins are gaining on us!"
"Just keep moving!" Patrick cried, "We have to find and meet up with Callum and Chris once they find Ezran!"
"What happened to Ezran?" Frida asked.
"He got kidnapped along with most of the stock that we were delivering by those orcs!" Taylor explained.
"I just hope that they've found him and the stock already." said Alfur, as the group continued running as fast as they could, the goblins still charging after them.
As the group and the goblins ran off, the deer-fox appeared, and looked to the running groups, and let out a concerned whimper, thinking about Hilda and how she helped him out of the cage… she helped out once, and she did it again.
The deer-fox then ran in the direction the two groups went, knowing that it was time to return the favor.
Meanwhile, with Callum and Chris…
"Do you think Patrick and Taylor will be able to find their sister?" Callum asked Chris, as they continued walking through the forest, trying to follow the footprints of the orcs that captured Ezran.
"They'll find them, Callum," Chris replied with determination, "I'm sure of it, just as we'll find Ez."
"I hope so…" Callum muttered aloud, "but why would they want Ezran? I am uncertain if he's important for something."
"I think it's possible that they might have got Ezran by mistake or something…" Chris had a thought, "but still, if they have him, they'll no doubt use him for a ransom or something."
"More reason to rescue him then." Callum understood what Chris meant.
They continued trekking to follow the orc group's tracks, they soon began to realize that they started to lose sight on where the orcs could have gone.
Suddenly, they stopped as they thought they heard something, the two boys looked around the woods.
"Ez?" Callum asked, as he and Chris looked in one direction, then asked his friend, "You think he got away from the orcs?"
"Not sure…" Chris replied, as he went over to a few trees, to see if someone… or something, was there on the other side.
Callum looked a little nervous, but curious, as he then heard the rustling again.
Unknown to him, Rayla emerged from some trees behind him, then silently approached him, readying her blades.
As she nears him, Callum started to hear footsteps and smiled, expecting Ezran, as he knew Ezran had a bad habit of trying to sneak up on him at times when they were young, and Callum always caught him, and now the rustling of feet on the leaves and twigs made it more easy for him to catch his half brother.
"You know you can't sneak up on me." Callum smirked as he turned around to face Ezran… only to exclaim in fear upon seeing Rayla instead.
Rayla stepped closer to Callum, a determined expression on her face.
Callum looked nervous as he stuttered seeing someone other than his brother or one of his friends, "Uh-uh, you're not who I thought you…" Callum took a good look at Rayla, and started to seemingly recognize what type of creature she was, "Wait… you're one of those, with the pointy…"
Rayla just gave a smug smile as she said, "Oh, you don't like my ears?"
"No-no-no, no," Callum stuttered, "I mean, yeah. Yes, I do, I guess. I mean…" he flinched Rayla brought up her swords, "I meant the pointy swords."
Luckily for Callum, Chris just came back around from another part of the woods he checked, and when he spotted Callum being threatened, he secretly picked up a broken branch, tip-toed carefully, and let out a battle yell, getting Rayla's attention.
However, Rayla was one step ahead, as she kicked the branch out of Chris's hands, grabbed him from the collar, then tossed him onto the ground, pinning him down.
Callum and Chris both looked a little nervous, as Rayla held her swords to Chris's neck, as the latter asked, "Who are you?"
Both boys stayed nervous as Rayla still held out her swords… only to retract them and put them away as she said with a small smile, "Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you."
"You already hurt me!" Chris pointed out.
"I mean, anymore." Rayla said, as she got off Chris, allowing him to get back up.
"You're an elf, right?" Chris asked, as he looked at Rayla, remembering about the conversations with Alfur and Hilda about the different types of elves.
"Yes, I am." Rayla nodded, before introducing herself, "And to answer your question, my name is Rayla, and I hear that you're looking for someone?"
"That's right," Chris nodded, "Callum's brother, Ezran."
"Chris, what are you doing?!" Callum looked at Chris, "Don't be polite with the warrior elf girl who pinned you down with swords!"
"Technically, I'm an assassin." Rayla smirked, showing off her skills with her blades.
"Much like a rogue." Chris added, much to Rayla's confusion.
"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nevermind," Callum quickly said, before adding to change the subject, "the point is, we're trying to find my brother, Ezran, who's got abducted by some orcs, along with several deliveries that we were making, and we're trying to figure out where they are and how to find them."
"The trouble is, we seemed to have lost track of where they went." Chris then stated, "Do you think you could help us?"
"Well, I'm not much of a full-on tracker, but I did learn a thing or two from some trackers I learned from on how to find anyone or anything." Rayla said, as she then began to monitor and focused on the ground, checking for anything, until suddenly, she spotted some wheel tracks going in one direction.
"That way!" she said, "That's where the orcs would be with both your friend and supplies."
"Lead the way." Chris smiled, as Rayla nodded and led the two boys in the direction, Callum still a little skeptical of her as they went.
Meanwhile, again…
"Hold on, wait, hold on now," Norog said, as he and the other orcs were busy sorting on what to take after stealing from Patrick's group, "here's the idea: what if we take the gold and jewels, but leave the fabrics?"
"Wait, maybe I should take the fabric," one of the orcs said, as he explained about one roll of fabric, "that pattern is really hard to find these days."
"Wait, really?" Norog asked, looking back at the roll, and began to rethink, "You know… it really is a good pattern."
"What about these?" another orc asked, holding up the bags containing the Dust Crystals.
"Dust Crystals?!" Norog said in excitement, "This is awesome! With these, this'll make our raids easier!"
Norog swiped some of the bags and placed them around his belt, "Can't wait to use them."
Norog then looked to his men… uh, orcs, and said "Okay, guys, focus! It's time to set our plan in motion! We have ta focus on setting up this ransom!"
Norog turned to Gary and the wall-eyed orc, the latter holding a sack in his arms (no doubt containing their captive) and said, "Gary, do you and Walleye still have the kid?"
"Sure do, Norog." Gary nodded.
"He's like a cozy little bug in a rug." the wall-eyed orc, known as Walleye, said, as he put the sack.
Norog and his gang approached the sack, as the leader let out a smug smile.
"Alright, little prince," Norog grinned, ready to open the sack, "I know how much your mommy and daddy are gonna be worried on where you are, but rest assured you'll be alright with us, and we'll give you back to them… after they pay us millions!"
Norog then opened up the sack… only to reveal Ezran, holding Bait under one arm, and had a jelly tart in his hand.
"Uh... Jelly tart?" Ezran said, with a nervous grin, offering his jelly tart to Norog.
Norog just stood there, wide eyed at the moment as he saw Ezran, but kept a calm look on his face as he looked to the boy and asked, "Um… you wouldn't happen to be named Prince Asriel, would you?"
Ezran looked to Norog and shook his head, "Nope, I'm Ezran. And if I were a Prince, I'd be the Prince of Jelly Tarts."
"And Bait would be a tyrant king." he added, as he held up Bait, who grumbled a little grunt.
"Uh-huh…" Norog just said, still a little calm… until he threw down his helmet and yelled at the two orcs, "DARN IT, GUYS! YOU MORONS GRABBED THE WRONG KID!"
"Sorry, it's just that that flashing frog thing brightened up everything and we grabbed the first person we came up to!" Gary replied.
"Bait's a glow toad." Ezran corrected.
"Bait?" Gary asked, then understood what he meant, "Oh, so it's like a dark humorous name for him?"
Ezran nodded, "Yep, and he loves jelly tarts just as I do."
"That's just cute." Gary smiled.
However, the moment was ruined as Norog threw down his helmet and picked it as he yelled at the orc, "Darn it, Gary! What did we talk about? Don't get friendly with the hostage!"
"Sorry, it's just… he's still a kid…" Gary explained, before then adding a statement, "And it's Gahri, sir."
Norog just sighed a groan at this, before taking a small breath and looked to Ezran and said, "Still, if that kid was with Asriel, at least he may be worth something besides the prince."
"Wait… are you gonna hold me for ramson?" Ezran asked, mispronouncing the last part.
"It's ransom," Gary… I mean, Gahri, corrected, "we're holding you for ransom."
Norog just facepalmed a little, then shoved Gahri out of the way, before looking to Ezran, "Still, you're gonna pay us a fortune when we let your friends and the King and Queen know where you are."
"Well, what if you give me back to my friends for some jelly tarts?" Ezran offered.
"That does sound like a tasty deal." Walleye pointed out, much to Norog's annoyance.
"We don't rob for tarts, guys!" Norog grumbly stated to his gang, before adding, "Also, I'm vegan." he then looked back to Ezran, "And second, you're going until we say you can go."
Ezran looked at Norog, before asking, "So… Can I go now."
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No!"
"Pretty, pretty please?"
"No!"
"Let him go."
"I said NO!" Norog yelled… only to realize someone else spoke, as he turned and saw Callum, Chris and Rayla nearby, the Moonshadow Elf pinning down one of his goons.
Norog sighed an annoyed groan as he looked at Gahri, "This is just… uh, you know… you could have… I don't know… uh, give me a head's up?!"
"I couldn't think up the right words." Gahri admitted.
This really ticked off Norog, "How about… um, I don't know… maybe… 'AAAAHH!'?"
"You okay, Ez?" Callum asked.
"Fine, thanks, Callum," Ezran waved back to his brother, then saw Rayla, "Who's your friend?"
"Yeah, this is Rayla and she's here to help save you." Callum stated, as Rayla (sort of) waved back to the kid.
"Hey." Rayla said.
"Hi, Rayla, I'm Ezran." Ezran politely introduced himself.
"Yeah, hi, whatever," Norog rudely interrupted, looking annoyed as he looked to his gang, "get them, guys!"
The other orcs charged at the three, but luckily enough, Rayla was able to out manuther most of their attacks, an example as she dodged two that tried to strike her down with two axes, as she did a backflip and landed on the handles of both axes, before punching both orcs.
One orc charged at her with a spear, but she was able to disarm him with her swords, slicing them down until the orc had only a small bit of the spear left in his hand.
The orc just saw this, then dropped the piece as he nervously backed away, saying "I gotta go pee again."
Chris and Callum, meanwhile, used two branches that they picked up on the way here and attacked the orcs again, striking them in the face or stomach of even the gruk-nuks as well.
Callum then came up to Ezran, "You okay, Ez?"
"All good," Ezran nodded in reply, then looked to Rayla with wonder as he added, "She's so cool!"
Callum looked back at Rayla, who was doing quite a good job on taking down most of the orcs, and smiled a little as he admitted, "Yeah… she is pretty good."
Just then, Norog appeared, as he tried very hard to slash Rayla with his axes, only to keep getting blocked by her swords.
"Just… let… me… slice you!" Norog cried with each swing and a miss with his axe.
Norog was about to bring down his axes again, until a sword blocked his weapons way, revealing Patrick had arrived with the others.
"May I cut in?" Patrick smirked at Rayla.
"Sure." Rayla smiled, while a little surprised.
"Darn it!" Norog snarled, before attacking Patrick again.
During the fight, as Patrick and Rayla used their weapons, the Paladin looked to the Moonshadow elf, "I don't think we've introduced yet. I'm Patrick, by the way."
"Rayla." Rayla introduced herself, while sidekicking an orc.
Then, two orcs charged at Rayla, readying their swords and axes, but after a twirl of her blades, Rayla managed to dodge any advances they pulled by leaping over them, then forced them to the ground by sweeping their legs with the bent part of her weapons.
"Hey, you swept the leg!" Asriel pointed out with a grin, getting Rayla's attention, as the prince grinned at Callum and added, "Told you it's a thing!"
"Wait, what?" Rayla asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nevermind that." Callum replied.
Norog spotted Asriel, and then shoved Patrick and Rayla out of the way, and ran and instantly grabbed the prince, and Hilda who was next to him, held them at axe point.
"Hilda! Asriel!" Patrick cried, getting the others' attention, as he prepared his sword to attack, but stopped as Norog spoked
"Alright, nobody moves a single muscle!" he called out to the others, "lower your weapons, or I cut off the prince's ears!"
"Asriel" Luz cried with worry.
"Hilda!" Ezran, Frida and David cried also, as the older kids looked nervous and angered at Norog's move, they couldn't let him get away, but they also didn't want Asriel or Hilda to get hurt.
"That's it, now just let us through and then we'll go our separate-OW!" Norog's words were soon cut off into a scream of pain, as suddenly something was biting his leg.
Looking down, Norog, Asriel, Hilda and the others spotted the deer-fox that Hilda rescued, biting hard on Norog's ankle.
"Is that a deer-fox?!" Rayla asked.
"It sure is!" Hilda replied with a smile.
"Gah! Get it off me!" Norog cried, as he tried to shake the deer-fox off his leg, though while he did, he left an opening for Hilda and Asriel to escape, the minute the prince had escaped, this aloud Rayla to strike just as the deer-fox let go Norog, the Moonshadow elf pinning the orc down, her swords drawn out to Norog's throat, ready for the kill.
The others were a little shocked by what had happened and what Rayla was about, but Norog, meanwhile, was downright terrified.
"Whoa, whoa, wait!" he cried, as he begged nervously, "I get it, you're mad that what I said, I get it, just don't do this! We can just pretend that that was all a joke, right?!"
Rayla just raised her blades up, ready to bring them down, as Norog winced in fear, knowing that he was gonna get killed for good.
Rayla held her weapons up… and she was about to strike…
Then her arms started to slowly shake…
And Rayla lowered her weapons, sadly sighing as she looked down in sadness, as she mumbled to herself, "I'm sorry, Runaan…"
She then stepped off Norog and looked at him as he started to get back up.
Callum, meanwhile, was looking at Rayla for a reason, and began to realize that while she was an assassin… she never made a kill before…
"Waitaminute…" Norog then said, as he let out a hurtful light chuckle, "You've never taken a life before, huh?"
Rayla never looked back up to Norog, she stood there, and slowly nodded her head.
Even though he was skeptical of her, Callum went and said, "So what if she never killed before."
Rayla looked at him as he continued, "Now, I may not know for the longest time, but I'm starting to see that she's a really good fighter. Sure, her job is to take lifes, but I think that there comes a time for even an assassin to make a choice on whether or not to kill. It doesn't matter if she will have to kill or not, she's still learning the very best she could. And that's something to be happy about."
Rayla smiled at this as she looked at Callum.
Norog only snorted as he then said, "Whatever…"
Before anyone could do anything else, the goblins suddenly burst through the bushes and surrounded the group.
"There they are!" the red capped leader cried, "Get them!"
Norog then rushed over and pushed Rayla and Callum aside, as he snarked, "They're all yours!"
He nodded at his gang, as they pushed Patrick and the others down as well, giving the orcs time to escape.
"Hey, that's not nice!" Luz cried out to them, angrily.
"Hey, we're bandits! It's what we do!" Norog snarked, as he and the other orcs ran off, before Norog then added as he yelled to the group, "Smell ya later, Paladin!"
As the orcs ran off, Gahri looked to Norog and asked, "Wait, what about the goods? We left them behind!"
"For once, nevermind the goods, Gary," Norog said, as he patted one of the bags containing the Dust Crystals as he smirked, "we hit the jackpot with these!"
Patrick, his friends and Rayla, meanwhile, were now cornered by the goblins, as the little monsters snarled and growled, ready to pounce and strike at them.
"So, you're the Paladin, huh?" Rayla asked Patrick.
"Yep." Patrick nodded, "I bet you've heard a lot about me?"
Rayla smirked as she said, "I kinda pictured you a bit older."
"Hey, I'm almost 17, you know." Patrick spoke back.
"Guys, focus on goblins here!" Callum and Taylor both cried out.
"Get them!" the red capped goblin cried, as the goblins charged at them.
As the young kids, King and the deer-fox stood behind them, Taylor, Chris, Luz and Callum used branches to knock the goblins away from them, Asriel used his scarf as a whip and a weapon too, while Patrick and Rayla used their blades to attack them also.
"Gotta say, that's good swordwork." Rayla complimented Patrick, after giving one goblin an upper kick as it was trying to strike from above.
"Thanks," Patrick replied, after taking on a goblin, "you're not bad your-LOOK OUT!"
Patrick spotted the red capped goblin coming in, sword in hand, and quickly blocked his attack with his Vorpal sword, the blades clanged as they fought, until during one block, Patrick slashed the leader's left with his sword, scarring him.
"Thanks." Rayla replied.
"No problem."
"Is there any other way to stop these goblins?" Ezran asked.
"They should listen to me, they would make proud members of my army of darkness." King stated.
Ignoring that, Luz asked Alfur, "Alfur, are there any weaknesses that goblins have? There's also a weakness for any of the foes we encounter in playing games!"
"Why ask me?" Alfur asked, turning to Patrick, "Surely Patrick has learned about goblins in Brief Recapitulation of Xadador Lore?"
"Um…" Patrick could speak, stay focused on the fight.
"You still haven't read the book?" Alfur asked with emotionless annoyance.
"Hey, I had other books to read besides that, such as 'Acting 101' for the play!" Patrick stated, remembering about reading plenty of books on the acting to help out with the school play, along with any Shakespear books as well.
Alfur was about to snap back, until Hilda spoke up, "Wait, Luz maybe on to something on that!"
"You got something, sis?" Taylor asked.
"I do," Hilda nodded, "I a little bit remembered seeing something about goblin defences in the book, and that tomato sauce can burn a goblin's skin like acid!"
Asriel got what she said and added, "And most of the food in the cart are tomatoes!"
"Got it!" Hilda smiled, then looked at the deer-fox, "Can you help us get to the cart?"
The deer-fox nodded, and led the kids and King out, barking and frightening most of the goblins, while the kids and King ran as quickly as they could to the cart.
Back with the older kids, the goblins soon gained the upper hand, as they managed to grab hold of the branches the kids were using, breaking them up and even munching down on them, leaving most of the kids defenceless.
"Looks like you're out matched, Paladin." the red capped goblin snarked at the group, wiping his now scarred eye, before looking to Patrick, "How about you make it easier for us, and that you give us the amulet we'll leave you all alone."
"Why would you lot want the amulet?" Rayla asked, until Patrick and the others had a nervous thought, as Luz spoke up.
"Unless you're really working for Ghoular!" she exclaimed, thinking about Hogsqueal and his talks about Ghoular.
"Indeed," the goblin leader grinned, "and he has big plans for the amulet, if the Paladin would be kind enough to hand it to us."
"Here's a two word answer: Nah-ah!" Patrick said, hand on the amulet.
The goblins growled as they got ready to pounce… then suddenly something small and red hit one of them, as the goblin screamed in pain, as part of it's skin was dissolved off, oozing dark green blood and smoke came from its body.
Both the older kids and goblins looked stunned and shocked at this, until Ezran's voice got their attention.
"Hey!" he cried, as he and the younger kids all had some tomatoes in their hands, "We're to fight goblins and eat jelly tarts!"
Ezran then smirked as he added, "And we're all out of jelly tarts!"
The kids and King then attacked as they threw several tomatoes at the goblins, all while King began to act like a tyrant, "Fear me, fools! Tremble before me! Tremble before your king!"
Goblins panicked and cried as some of them got hit and killed upon being hit with the ammunition, as the red capped leader also panicked too, as he looked at most of his fellow goblins falling one by one.
"Retreat!" he cried, "Fall back now!"
The goblins heard the order, and instantly ran as they legs could carry, the red capped goblin leading them away.
The young kids cheered as Patrick and the others lowered their weapons.
"Good work there, sis!" Patrick smiled, as he and Taylor approached her, bringing her into a hug, "So glad you're safe."
"Thanks, Patrick." Hilda smiled back, then looked down as the deer-fox came up to her, "And thank you for helping me there."
The deer-fox let out a cute yip on that.
"So that's a deer-fox?" Taylor asked.
"Yep, told you they were real." Hilda grinned, "Dad was right."
"Yeah," Taylor chuckled a little, "he sure was."
"And we should be thanking Rayla for the help too," Patrick said, as the group looked to Rayla, "you did well in helping us defend against those orcs and the goblins."
Rayla scratched her head a little, feeling a little embarrassed, "It was nothing."
"Nothing? You were amazing!" Ezran smiled, as he swung his arms around, "You beating up those orcs like you knew kung fu!"
"Kung what?"
"Another word for karate." Callum stated.
"Well, I appreciate the compliments… but I should probably go…" Rayla said, her smile slowly turning to a sad one.
"Why? We could use a skilled fighter like you." Patrick said with a smile, most of the others nodded in agreement.
"I know, but… I'm not suppose to be out here," Rayla explained, "and if the others that I'm with found out that I snuck off, I could be in big trouble."
"Don't worry, Rayla," Callum said, placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort, "We'll help you out."
"That's right," Patrick nodded, as he went over and leaned on a nearby tree with his hand, "we'll get you back to where you need to be, and no one will know that you've been gone."
"I know."
The new voice that spoke startled Patrick and the others, as the tree that Patrick leaned on suddenly changed into someone that Rayla recognized… and dreaded as she saw Runaan, arms crossed, and a stern look on his face, as if he knew Rayla was in trouble.
"Rayla," Runaan said, as he gave Rayla the eye, "you've got a lot of explaining to do."
Later, back in Castle Dreemurr…
Patrick's group soon made their return back to Castle Dreemurr, with the newcomers being Rayla, Runaan and the deer-fox accompanying them.
Once they returned, while David helped out in patching up Frida's ankle, Patrick explained what had happened during their travel in the woods, and how they confronted orc bandits and some goblins that the latter no doubt worked for Ghoular.
"...And after the goblins retreated, we were able to bing most of the stock to the marketplace," Patrick said, as he was finishing off what had happened to the King, Queen and Blinky, "though unfortunately, we lost most of the dust crystals, as the orcs snagged them before making their escape."
"Goodness, I'm sorry to hear about what had happened with those ruffians, Master Patrick." Blinky said with an upset look, "Though if you'd have contacted us, we would have been able to aid… well, most of us, of course."
"All the same, we're happy that you and our son are safe and okay," Toriel smiled, before looking to Rayla, "thanks to the help of your new friend."
"And don't forget about Twig!" Hilda smiled, as she held up the deer-fox like a pet dog or cat, who let out a sweet yip.
"Wait, Twig?" Patrick asked, with a smile, "You named it?"
"Yeah, he's been quite close to me ever since I rescued him from the goblins." Hilda said, trying to contain a giggle as Twig licked her cheek, "That, and his horns are a lot like twigs."
"May I see him?" Toriel asked, as Hilda brought Twig up to her and Toriel observed the deer-fox, then to Hilda and smiled.
"This deer-fox has been through a lot," Toriel said, "and it sees a very strong, kindred spirit in you, Hilda. After helping it out twice, it wishes to be your companion."
"Wait, what do you mean twice?" Hilda asked.
Alfur soon started to get what Toriel meant, as well as the story Patrick told them before the events of today happened, and put two -and two together.
"Hilda, I think that this deer-fox is the same one you helped and met several years ago!" he stated.
Hilda, Patrick and Taylor looked stunned at this, then looked down at Twig.
"So… you're the nice little deer-fox that I met before?" Hilda said with a surprised smile, which the deer-fox let out a small bark, probably as a way of saying yes.
"Well, what do you know…" Patrick smiled, as did Taylor, as he added, "And I guess it's true that bonds last a lifetime. Twig must have remembered you from a long time ago."
Hilda looked to Twig with amazement and wonder upon this, then looked to her siblings as she instantly asked with a grin, "Can we keep him please?! I promise to take care of him everyday!"
Patrick and Taylor both chuckled at this, and looked to each other, then back to Hilda, who made the cutest puppy dog eyes no one could say no to.
"Alright, Hilda," Patrick smiled, "you can keep him. It would be nice and interesting to have a mythical creature to have as a pet."
"Yes, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Hilda cheered, while the others had a light chuckle on what was happening.
"Now, about Miss Rayla." Asgore then said, as they all looked to Rayla and Runaan.
"Your majesties," Rayla said, speaking up before Runaan could speak, "I want to say that I'm sorry for what has happened, and for your son to almost get hurt."
She then looked to Runaan, "Runaan, I'm sorry for defied your orders, but I wanted to show you what I can do to prove myself, even by helping the Paladin protect his friends. But I hesitated… again, and I feel like I can't be a great warrior, let alone an assassin, like you."
Runaan looked to Rayla for the moment, a minute silence between them, until Runaan finally spoke, "I did say that your heart isn't hard enough to do whatever it takes to take one's life."
Rayla looked down on those words with a small bit of sadness.
"But your heart is strong enough to help protect them."
Rayla looked surprised upon hearing that, as Runaan looked to her and said, "Which is why you should stay and help the Paladin and protect him and his friends."
The others smiled upon hearing that.
"And perhaps, help the Paladin learn a thing or two about fighting like an assassin." Runaan grinned.
Rayla smiled at that, before smirking as she said, "Well, his swordwork needs a little fine tuning."
"Hey!" Patrick said, a little annoyed, "I thought you said my swordwork was great!"
"I said it was good," Rayla smirked, "but you're gonna need my help if you have what it takes to fight well."
The others chuckled a little at this, as Patrick couldn't help but smile a little, as having a top notch elf assassin (sort of) joining the team, meaning that they were gonna need all the help they can get if they ever came across those orcs or even those goblins again.
Meanwhile, a little later…
"I am disappointed in you, Redcap," Ghoular snarled, as he arrived later at the goblins' campsite, and he was very mad at the goblin leader, Redcap, and the other goblins for what had happened, "you had the amulet within your reach and you fail to get it!"
"Forgive me, Ghoular," Redcap qwifered with fear, as did the other goblins, "but they attacked us with tomatoes, and they even had an elf with them!"
"An elf?!" Ghoular growled, as he grabbed Redcap by the head, threatening to squeeze him.
"A Moonshadow elf!" Redcap cried.
"Steady on, Ghoular," Horvath spoke, getting both the troll and the goblins' attention, as the young warlock, his familiar and Mokdu approached them, "leave the goblins, they've had a pretty rough day today."
He then snapped his fingers and pointed down, a Ghoular growled and did what he was told, letting Redcap go as the goblin fell to the ground.
"It is bad that a Moonshadow elf is here, and if there's one then there would no doubt be a group of them around here somewhere." Horvath stated, "Which is why I'll be heading off to help out in finding them, along with a few more pieces of the bridge."
Redcap looked at the young warlock and asked, "Uh… how will you do that, master?"
"Oh, don't worry," Horvath smiled, "I have a few friends here and there who can help me out. I even made a few calls to help out around here too, so there won't be any problems."
"Of course, Horvath." Redcap replied, while Ghoular just grumbled at this.
"Now then, Redcap, I'll be needing your help for a bit while I'm gone for a while," Horvath then said to the goblin leader, "so listen carefully…"
Meanwhile, in one of the trees, not far away, Hogsqueal was listening in a little on what was going on, and while he couldn't hear most of what the warlock was talking about, he knew that with Ghoular with him, it was pretty bad.
"Oh no," he muttered, "this is not good, must find the humans, I must warn them."
As he climbed down the tree, he suddenly thought to himself as he muttered, "Or maybe I should hide? Ooh, I like that plan…"
Author's Notes:
Sorry if this has taken a long to be released, as I had a lot going on back on my end, such as preparing a fresh new start (such as finding a new home and such) but all and all, I'll still continue this brilliant story, and thank you for your patience.
Now for a bit of chapter reference:
The disposal dump that the goblin camp is nearby is named after Thomas M. Disch, who created the Brave Little Toaster novella, especially as one of the settings of the story, takes place in a disposal dump.
Next time, our heroes must face… a new beast?
Until next time, True Belivers
Excelsior!