Abby's Adventures, Ch. 02

He soon returned with some water for me. I took the glass and sipped. I took a few more moments to think. "I'm not comfortable playing slave girl at the moment. I need to feel I can trust your organization before I could do something like that given what happened tonight."

He sighed. "I do apologize once more. We did not give you a positive first impression at all."

"I am considering doing the scouting mission. However, I need more details first. Why do you suspect the goblins? Why would your patrol blunder into them in the first place? Why might they want to try and capture a patrol?"

"The Stone Teeth Goblins are the local tribe. They live up in the mountains and we've had a hands-off relationship with them. We don't send adventurers to attack them, and they don't raid our trade caravans. It's been this way for a few years."

"However, we just learned that they set up a camp in the foothills. It's not territory we claim, but there were concerns that it might be an advance camp for hostile actions. As a result, we increased patrols in the area."

"Now, one of those patrols, a four-person, all female, patrol, vanished. I don't the goblins took them, but we need to know for sure. If they did not, they might know something."

I thought about it for a few minutes. "All right. I'll take that job. I'm just going to look. I'm not going to fight, and if they need to be rescued, I'll come back here and tell you." He agreed, and we spent the next little while haggling my fee before I was led from the building and went back to the inn to get some sleep.

The next day, I went to the Adventurer's Guild. I registered with the Guild and spent the day studying the maps of the local area and doing my best to plan the route I'd walk. I also went to the market and purchased a few days of rations.

After another night at the inn, I checked out, pulled my backpack on, and headed out of the city. I spent the morning walking along the trade route and stopped to have lunch around noon. I occasionally passed by other travelers and the day was a simple one. I found a nice spot to camp for the night.

After an uneventful night, I headed more northeast and was soon in the foothills that led towards the lands of the Stone Teeth. I had not seen anything so far to make me think a patrol had come this way.

My pace got slower, as I was moving both gradually uphill and through forested terrain. But, it felt good to get the exercise and I was enjoying my walk. I had lunch along the banks of a stream, and I chose to walk along it afterward.

After about an hour I started to see markings on rocks, sigils of the Stone Teeth goblins. I kept moving until I found a trail leading up into the hills, and I took it. I walked for about a half hour, then I found a fallen tree to sit on and I waited.

It was about an hour before I heard the noises. I stood up and extended my arms out to my sides. "I'm unarmed. I'd like to speak to your chief."

Soon, a goblin came out of the trees. He was wearing a leather breastplate and pants and had a spear in his hand. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"I'm Abby. I would like to speak to your chief. I come from the human city, and I am not here to cause trouble for you at all."

"You all alone?"

"Yes." I knew they likely knew that already, but I was making sure, to be honest with them, to prove I was not trying to fool the goblins.

"You want talk chief?"

"Yes. I just want to ask him some questions." I replied. "Could you take me to him, please?"

"You need to be a prisoner. Just to make sure you not tricking us." the goblin said to me.

I put my arms behind my back. "If you insist, I'll agree. But, it will be easier for me to keep up with you if I can use my hands. You are much more nimble than I am." I was not sure that was true, but flattery rarely hurt. As I spoke, two more goblins came out of the woods, and the three started to rapidly speak in Goblin.

After they finished, the one who had been speaking to me turned back to me. "You can be not bound. The trip is not easy. Follow us."

From there, we moved up mountain trails, steep ones at times, and ones I did not think a horse could take at all. It took a few hours, and I know that I slowed them down quite a bit, but by late afternoon, we had made it to the village.

The three goblins escorted me through the village. It was built into the side of a mountain, with most houses' front walls being the only visible parts of the house. There were a few wooden buildings, as well, but they seemed to be stores or taverns. Lots of goblins came to stare at me, and I guessed they did not get many visitors here.

Soon, we reached the town hall and they took me inside. There were more goblins here, including a few clear guards as well as the chief. The goblins with me took a few moments to talk to him, and then he looked at me.

"Why are you here?" he asked me.

I stepped forward toward his 'throne'. When I got close, I sat down in front of the throne, so that he did not have to look up at me. "I have been asked to come to see you from the human city. They are asking for your help." I knew there was no way the patrol could get horses up the trails we had been on, so I did not think that the goblins had the girls.

"We have no human girls here!" he said, with anger in his voice.

"Yes, sir," I said. "They know that. The humans hope that you might know who does have the girls. They are embarrassed that they do not know what happened, and hope that your tribe can offer some insight into why the girls vanished."

He looked me over, and his eyes lingered on my ears, a clear sign that I am not human. "What do you think of the humans?"

"I like a lot of humans," I said honestly. "But, the leaders of the city I've met so far, well, I don't hold them in high regard. They have not impressed me."

"Why should we help humans? They would not help us."

"I think you are correct that they would not," I said. "That is why you should. You should show them that you are willing to help people that would not help you. But, that is not the only reason you should help."

"Why else should we help?" the goblin chief asked.

"A reward. If I find the girls, I get a reward. If I rescue them, I will get a bigger reward and I will share it with your tribe if you help me."

"How can we trust you?" It was a reasonable question, and one I was ready for.

"I'll swear an oath before your gods to return with your share of the reward, and if I do not your gods may punish me."

The goblins gasped, as they did not expect that at all, and there was a conversation in the Goblin language between the chief and a few of the other goblins. One of them left, and a few minutes later an older goblin came into the hall, and then the chief had another talk, this time with the older goblin.

When they were done, the chief looked at me. "You will take the oath first, and then I will tell you what I know."

"Alright," I said. "But, I don't get a reward unless I find the girls." I reminded him. I rose to my feet and walked over to the older goblin. "How does the oath work?" I asked him.

The old goblin walked around me, tapping a gnarled stick on the floor. "I will call upon our gods. You will state the terms of the agreement, and then I cast the spell. You will feel the power, and if you fail to keep your word, our gods will choose your punishment."

"All right. I understand." I said to him. "Let's get started." The shaman nodded and walked more, chanting in Goblin. When he nodded to me, I spoke. "My name is Abby. I pledge before the Gods of the Goblins to share whatever reward I get for finding or rescuing the missing human girls equally with the goblins. Half of what I get, I will bring to the Stone Teeth tribe. "

The shaman stopped in front of me, lifted the staff over his head, and called out a long word in his language. I felt the magic wraps around me like a blanket. It seemed to envelop me and then it was gone. But, I knew the spell had worked.

The shaman smiled. "The oath is sealed," he said to the chief.

I then walked over to the Chief. "I need to know what you know. I need to find them to get the reward that I swore to share with you."

The chief looked at me. "We know of the patrol. It came down the main highway as all patrols do. It was the first time that the patrol was all women. Our own scouts noticed that, and so they kept an eye on the group. We didn't do this for nefarious reasons, but just because it was unusual." He leaned back and continued to talk. "That's why we know what happened. They were ambushed by the new ones."

"Who are the new ones?" I asked.

"We do not know what they call themselves. They live in caves in the foothills closer to human roads and lands. They are taller than goblins, but a little shorter than most humans. They have reptile-like heads, one arm, and one tentacle where the other arm should be."

Another goblin spoke then. "The patrol fought well. They killed two of the new ones and wounded three, but there were at least a dozen of them. One after another the creatures managed to spray something from the tentacle into the girls' faces and they collapsed. They were carried off, and the horses were killed and also carried off."

"Do you know where they were carried off to?"

"Yes." The goblin drew me a map. "I could lead you there."

"May I stay in the village for the night?"

"Yes." said the chief, and I was led to a small guest house. I ate and went to sleep. In the morning, I had some breakfast and met a goblin guide.

We spent the morning making our way back down into the foothills and then into the forest once more. We paralleled the road for most of the day, eating rations on the move, and around 3:30 we had reached a hilly part of the forest that was about a quarter mile off the main road.

"That's the cave." my guide told me, and, then he said, "Get down." We both dropped to our bellies hiding among the brush. One stepped out of the cave and looked around.

It was a He. I could tell because He was naked. He was about 5'6, and he did have a slightly reptilian head. His torso, legs, and one arm looked human-like, and his left arm was a tentacle just as I had been told.

He soon returned to the cave. "I'm going in." I said after we both stood up.

The goblin looked at me. "Are you crazy?"

"I need to see if the girls are there. If I am not back by sunset, go to the human city, and give the senior inquisitor this letter." I took my pack off, pulled out some paper, wrote what I knew, sealed it in an envelope, and gave it to him.

He took it. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I don't think it is at all, but I still need to do it." Then, I started for the cave, each step slow and measured. What would I find inside it? The creature? The girls? Nothing at all? Only time would tell.