The sun rose into a clear blue sky, and with it came the humans. They were tiny wretched things, hardly bigger than goblins as they began to come into the fields surrounding the black castle. They were thin, dirty creatures, scraping and churning up the soil, cutting down plants and making piles. Their every effort seemed a waste of time. Did they eat plants like rabbits did? It was not until an hour or more later that Gnak saw what he thought could serve as his sacrifice. Thundering down the road a pair of armored warriors upon great white beasts passed him, leaving the castle headed south, the way he had come the previous night. If he could capture one of those, it would make a god happy. Two hours later he could hear them returning, but more slowly. Also, it sounded as if more had joined them. Wriggling about inside his stack of weeds, he turned and made himself another hole upon the opposite side. There the armored men came, dismounted from their beasts, following his own tracks across the field. Now there were four of them.
Gnak pondered his situation a moment. Eyeing his opponents, it was obvious that they were better armed and armored, but they were smaller and slower than he. Closer and closer the humans came, and knowing he may not get a better chance, he waited until they were on top of him before he sprang.
Like an explosion of dust and weeds he rocketed out of the stack of drying grass, landing on the nearest human, driving it to the ground. Stabbing his sword up under the edge of its helmet, he drew it back covered in red blood with a replied gurgle and spasm. He was on the next human before they knew what hit them. Stabbing this one beneath the arm, he watched as copious amounts of blood spewed from the small man as he staggered backwards, reaching for the wound. Then, finally it was a fight.
The remaining two armored humans charged simultaneously, each bearing a large two-handed sword longer even than his own. He parried the first swing and dove aside to avoid the other. Coming to his feet just in time, he deflected yet another blow, before striking out at the attacker. The other human vanished from his peripheral vision, but Gnak was no fool.
Charging the human in front of him, he smashed the smaller man’s blade aside with his own before grabbing the man by his breastplate and lifting him up and off his feet. Twisting, he spun upon one heel, raising the human overhead before he threw him at the now charging second assailant. The human in his hands managed a minor jab that barely pierced his shoulder as he was flung away. That would have been it. Kill one, claim the other and flee back to his clan. Except just when the end he needed was in sight, a horn was sounded from atop the wall of the vast black city, and the thunderous sound of mounted warriors erupted in the distance. Dozens more came for him, maybe more. Against his warrior spirit, there was only one thing for him to do. Gnak ran.
Turning back the way he had come, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He thought he could at least match the pace of the beasts the humans rode, but he doubted he could outrun them.
Screams arose from the road before him as he took to the smoothest trail possible in hopes of stretching his lead. Women, children, and men alike dashed away at his approach, but then he had an idea. Ripping the sack from his belt he tore the strings upon it open, and reaching in he drew out a handful of the metal disks, stones, and jewelry the goblins had carried. Tossing it into the air, he listened as it fell to the paved road behind him in a symphony of tinkling sounds. The dirty, field-working humans’ reaction was perfect.
One instant they fled him, the next they rushed back to the road, dropping to their knees to collect the trinkets. With thunderous hooves still behind him, he tossed more and more trinkets into the air to either side of the road as well as straight upon it. Let the armored warriors crest a rise only to trample their own kind beneath their beasts. Let their beasts stumble beneath them, throwing them to the ground. And they did.
Listening as he ran, human screams sounded as the beasts carrying the humans also screamed and the thunderous warriors ceased momentarily in their pursuit. Glancing back he was surprised to see that even some of the warriors had dismounted to claim that which he had discarded.
Following the road to prevent leaving tracks, on and on Gnak ran, sprawling more trinkets here and there even after there were no more humans. He hoped they would stop time and again to collect them before pursuing him. For more than three hours he could hear them following in a broken pattern, each hour their sound growing more faint.
It was after midday that he found an intersection in the road. He could continue straight, back the way he had come, but he knew that no humans were in that direction. But with a road before him that turned eastward, towards the mountains that stood upon the horizon, he could not but help believe that it must lead to another human camp.
Turning down the road, he was surprised to find that this road quickly became less and less a road, turning into no more than two parallel tracks within the distance of a mile. Here, instead of sticking to one of the clear dirt tracks, he ran along the grassy center of the trail, stretching out his stride to the max. Two more hours passed, the afternoon slipping into evening as Gnak topped a rise in the road and immediately froze. Sliding to a stop, he backed up slowly before he turned and trotted back down the trail a short way. Ahead were more fields with more dirty humans. He could not risk a repeat performance.
Instead he dove off the trail, and dropping to all fours he slowly and carefully circled the crop fields and humans working within them. It was dusk when he neared one of the humans’ buildings. It was a large thing in comparison to the other nearby shacks. It had a wide door upon one side, and a small door as well. Creeping stealthily inside, he found nothing but tools the humans used in the fields and stacks of bundled, dried, grasses, all tied up with cords. Silly humans. storing weeds. Gnak shook his head.
It was only an hour or two until dark, and as such he climbed up over the top of one of the giant stacks of weeds and dropped down behind it to wait. Just in time too. No sooner had he landed and turned to face the door he had entered, than a small male child of the humans came rushing inside.
The child cupped his face with both hands, sobbing as blood dripped from between his clutched fingers.
“I hate you!” he tried to scream back the way he had come, his voice muffled by his own hands.
“You do not,” a small girl replied as she followed him into the building.
Gnak’s whole world spun for a moment, his mouth falling open. Not only could humans speak, but they spoke the same tongue as his own people. The thought was absurd. None thought humans smart enough to do anything but stack stones into buildings and make weapons and armor. Yet here were two of their young, holding a conversation. Gnak listened in.
“Yes I do, Jen. I hate you more than I hate peas,” the boy continued.
“No you don’t, Jonny, you’re just mad cause I beat you up again. You know I need the practice,” Jenny replied.
Then Gnak saw it. Yes the humans could talk, but they used way more words than they needed. Stupid humans.
“Go and practice on Nick or Patty, why it’s gotta be me all the time?”
“Cause you are my little brother and I love you the most,” Jen grinned at her sibling. “Now come here, and let me see it.”
The boy approached the small girl, and Gnak watched as he lowered his hands. Across his face was a wicked gash where he had been struck by something hard. Not only did the gash bleed, but so too did his nose, which twisted to the side oddly. Gnak watched as the girl calmly approached the boy and raised her hands to his face. She did something odd then that Gnak knew he would never forget. Leaning her head back she spoke soft words into the air, her eyes closed towards the heavens. Within seconds her fingertips began to glow, and he watched as the boy’s face mended within moments. It was difficult, but Gnak managed to fight the urge to jump up and down laughing, pee himself, and leap upon the girl right where she stood and haul her off. This is what the gods wanted him to bring them. The girl was a healer, but not like a shaman. He had heard of such things but never believed in it. The girl had magic!
r />
“Now don’t you go tellin’ Ma and Pa again, or I’ll whack you harder than I did today, you understand?” Jen asked Jonny, to a replied reluctant nod. “Good. Let’s go home then,” she added.
Gnak watched the tiny humans leave, closing the door behind them as they departed into the darkness. He would be smarter this time, wiser. He knew he could not just snatch the girl and make a run for it. No. She would need food and supplies if he was to keep her alive. She would be difficult to carry, especially through the pass guarded by the giants in the mountains. He needed to plan and would have to make preparations. The journey home would be slowed dramatically with her as his prisoner. Now that it was nearing dark, he needed a better lay of the land.
Creeping out from his hiding spot, he pushed the door to the building open slowly and froze, having only opened it a few inches. Outside, the familiar thrumming of the warriors upon their mounts grew louder and louder by the moment. Had they managed to track him?
Not wanting to find himself cornered within the building, he opened the door barely wide enough for himself to slip through before pushing it closed once more. Slipping around the building, opposite the approaching warriors, he waited and watched as things unfolded.
It was only minutes when the first of the mounted warriors appeared, leading the others by a good margin. A man from the human camp that Gnak hid within the outskirts of, came out from his home brandishing a torch to fend off the darkness. The man waited as the warriors neared and came to a halt.
“Sir Geraldo, is that you?” the torch holding man asked.
“Aye, Tanis, is all well in your town?” the warrior replied.
“Aye, Sir Geraldo, we’ve had no trouble here. Should be we expecting some?”
“I doubt it, Tanis, just tell the folks to bar their doors. An Orc was sighted near Raven’s Keep but escaped to the south. We are uncertain of its whereabouts.”
“I’ll keep my eyes peeled, Sir Geraldo, don’t you worry ‘bout that. If we see it I’ll send one th’boys to come and fetch your men.”
“Thanks, Tanis. Be safe,” the warrior concluded.
Gnak watched as the mounted warriors turned into the night and rode off on their mounts, oblivious to his presence. With his face, bicep, and shoulder wounds he was almost happy he would not have to fight this night.
Making his way around the outskirts of the human camp, he crept through the shadows watching the human named Tanis go home to warn his clan. It was a weak clan, one he could kill easily, but he did not want to raise alarm.
It was yet another hour before Tanis returned to his own building, and Gnak was free to explore a bit. He found the homes rather interesting, especially the holes cut into the walls that he could peer through to see what was within. Rounding the corner of one building, he came to a sudden stop as an animal began to growl at him. It was a small thing, mostly fur and bones, but it did not run at his presence. In fact, it even barked once, marking it as some tiny breed of wolf. Without delay, Gnak dispatched the foul animal in a single blow, careful not to rupture its flesh and leave blood behind. Snatching up his kill, he tucked it in his belt and continued to search.
Within an hour he located a building with various food items, including meat. Something he would not require this night. Another building had leather and cloth items in abundance, and yet another had what he desired most. Together in the same room, both Jen and Jonny slept upon separate beds. The young magical healer slept within reach of the window. Gnak grinned wickedly.
He could have left the very first night. Snatched the supplies he needed, the girl too, and headed south. But he didn’t dare. Not with a girl who had magic. Who knew what she could do? She might turn him into a toad or something. He would have to watch and see if she did anything else peculiar before he snatched her. And that was exactly his plan.
Heading out, away from the village, Gnak jogged into the forest east of the buildings and went a few miles into the trees to assure himself that none of the humans would see. Once assured, he pulled his kill from his belt and tossed it on the ground before gathering some fallen wood. Pulling his fire rock from his pocket, he struck it over and over with the blade of his sword, watching the sparks of fire land upon the wood. Within a couple of minutes a small blaze crackled.
A little while later he had the miniature wolf all gutted and skinned and upon a small wooden spit, where he turned the handle slowly. Patiently he waited until the meat browned, and only fat dripped from the creature before he snatched it up and ate it ravenously. It was two hours later, with a full stomach, when Gnak stomped out his small fire and turned back towards the human camp.
Returning to the building he had first inhabited, he again slipped past the door and better inspected the inside. Though his first hiding spot was adequate, he noticed one that could possible serve him better. Climbing the ladder up to a space above the room, he could see both down into the room, and out one of the portals in the wall facing the humans’ camp. He could see the home of the small human female called Jen from here, and nearly every other home as well. Victory would be his.