LITTLE THINGS - Chapter 7

When Amy came to, she was under a heavy blanket that didn’t cover her feet. Slightly further above her was a loosely-woven roof of grass and sticks, with lines of sunlight streaming through gaps in the construction. She groaned, trying to sit up, and instantly regretted it as pain lanced across her midriff.

She fell back with a thud, sighing. Whatever she did to mess herself up this badly couldn’t have happened at a worse time. She was supposed to go monster hunting today, but with as bad as she felt it would have to wait until--

Amy shot up, recoiling from the pain, but she did her best to ignore it. She remembered what happened. She got hit by one of that freaking goblin’s traps! She needed to figure out where she was and what was going on, now.

She forced herself to her feet, bumping her head against the ceiling and flinching at the way the entire hut shook from the impact; it wasn’t very sturdy at all, really, whose house was this? When she went to take a step, though, she collapsed again.

Her ankles were tied together.

She also landed on her front, and since the floor was made of plain dirt she became suddenly intimately aware that her shirt was gone. Her undergarments were still in place, thank goodness. She didn’t even have time to be embarrassed over that realization, because she was distracted by the huge, ugly bruise that covered most of her chest and stomach.

No wonder it hurt to move so much.

Her wrists were tied in front of her, too. She really must have been out of it to not notice.

Amy heard a rustle, and she looked up at the door of the hut. The treebark door slid to the side, and Amy gasped when a goblin walked in. It wasn’t the same one from before; it might have been just as short and gangly, but this one was undeniably female.

She noticed Amy was awake and hurried towards her, prompting the wannabe adventurer to start struggling and pulling at the ropes binding her feet.

The goblin reached her and grabbed Amy’s wrist, holding her in place. “Stop, crazy girl!” she said in a hushed voice. “You want to hurt yourself worse?”

Her voice was raspy, but something about it made Amy stop. She sounded like Madam Rosie, or Mrs. Walden at her most stern. Before she even realized what had happened Amy had been pushed back into a lying position on her back.

“What?”

“Shh!” the goblin shushed her. “You don’t want others to know you awake yet. Big trouble. Bigger trouble.”

“What’s going on?” Amy said more quietly, thoroughly confused.

“Grek bring you to camp,” she answered. “Stupid gobshite thinks he know what’s best. Sad thing, he probably does. He not want you dead, so he bring you to Karta and I fix you up.”

Amy blinked, and took a proper look around the hut. Herbs were hanging around the place to dry. A shoddy table, composed of a wood plank sat upon two large rocks, held a bunch of bottles, none of them the same shape or size, and all filled with pastes ranging from green to yellow. In places where the branches making the walls formed hooks, tools made of stone hung. Exactly one thin, metal knife took a place of prominence among the arrangement. It was well-maintained but clearly very old.

“You’re… a healer?” she asked, eyeing a decorative banner hanging behind her bedroll. It was a very thin bedlinen with a simple diamond symbol cut into it rather than dyed.

“Karta puts foolish gobs back together when they come to her,” the goblin woman said. “Never had to fix up human before. Grek is very convincing.”

Amy considered objecting to being called ‘human,’ but there were more important things to think about right now. “Grek?”

“Goblin what bring you here,” she repeated.

“The one who…” Amy shook her head. “Ugh.”

She tried to sit up again and Karta pushed her back down again. “Stop moving. Or don’t. Chief still wanna kill you, and Karta don’t wanna waste time.”

“Why am I still alive?”

Karta shrugged. “Grek is very convincing.” She pointed at the ropes binding her limbs. “Not that convincing, though.”

“I don’t understand.”

The goblin’s eye shifted, leaving the other behind, and Amy abruptly realized that Karta’s left eye was glass.

“...!”

Karta grimaced as shouting started up outside. Amy did as well, because the voices involved weren’t pleasant sounding. One of them was familiarly raspy, but the other was guttural, like the speaker was trying to hurt the words as he spoke them.

Amy propped herself up on one elbow, to Karta’s annoyance.

“You wanna heal, you gotta stay down.” She grabbed a bottle off her table and popped the cork off. “Don’t wanna stay down? Then Karta has other options.”

“I--If you’ve got something to make the pain go away--” Amy sniffed, and recoiled. “Eurgh, what is that smell?”

“Karta’s poultice. Devil’s claw, spotty mushrooms, special mold. Few other things,” the goblin smiled. “Rub it on your chest, make you forget all about the pain.”

“I bet.” She fell back. “I’ll stay still.”

“You do that,” Karta agreed, stoppering the foul concoction again. “I’ll be back.”

The goblin left the same way she came, leaving Amy alone again.

What was happening?

She looked around, and was relieved to see her satchel under the table. Carefully scooting over to retrieve it, mindful of her injury, Amy took inventory. Hopefully she could find something sharp to cut these ropes.

All her rations were gone, but that was fine. She didn’t have many to begin with. Her spark rocks were still there, so if all else failed she could burn her way out of wherever she was. She wasn’t going to, but the option was there.

By the mercy of Willow, Rosie’s guide was completely untouched. Amy wasted no time in flipping to the section on goblins.

Goblins didn’t take prisoners. Did they? It wasn’t like she’d ever met one before this week, and no one talked much about them or any other monster because all the soldiers made Oakwood the safest place south of the Pillars. Or it was supposed to.

Unfortunately, Rosie wasn’t much help. Her notes on goblins weren't that robust; she only encountered them once or twice, early in her career, and everything else she mentioned was of the ‘everyone knows’ variety. 

‘Everyone knows’ goblins are savages who only steal and pillage things. They didn’t kill people often, but not for lack of trying. ‘Everyone knows’ that if they were stronger, a goblin would kill you as soon as look at you.

“...!”

“...!...!!”

Amy looked at the entrance with a frown. Packing her pack up again, she grit her teeth and crawled towards the bark door and pushed it just slightly open.

…Yep, that was definitely a goblin camp. Wooden and leafy huts and skulls on posts. Not real skulls, they were stylized. Looked like they were made of wood and painted white. And goblins were everywhere. Sitting around the central bonfire, building a new hut, stringing bows wrong, and even just laying on the ground asleep. One in particular was bashing rocks against each other to make flint arrowheads.

The yelling was coming from in front of what could only be the chief’s house. It was bigger than everything else, centrally located, and the most like a proper building out of the entire camp, with an actual sloping roof and all. Something was weird about the way it was built that Amy couldn’t put her finger on, but she couldn’t pay much attention to that when the argument was happening.

Her familiar goblin (carrying her bow and quiver on his back!) was standing there glaring at a taller male with darker green skin and gold earrings. The Chief Goblin, for that could only be him, was wearing a headdress made out of an actual cow skull. Standing next to him was another female goblin, wearing a surprisingly decently-cut dress made out of fox fur. She was the first goblin she’d seen with hair on her head.

“You showin you true colors, old man,” the Chief spat. “What you think you doing protecting a human?”

“I am protecting a child,” Grek pressed.

“Didn’t look like child to me. Look almost grown. Almost able to kill gobs.”

Grek scoffed. “Girl is no danger to gobs, Grimbly. She’s persistent but stupid. Falling off cliffs and running into traps even after third time I set them off.”

Amy bristled, but not as much as the big goblin did. 

“If you caught her in traps, why din you kill her?” the chief insisted.

“Chief,” Grek said, sounding exasperated, “Think for once in your life! If we kill the girl, the human soldiers get angry and come down on us like a landslide!”

Grimbly smacked him, throwing the smaller goblin to the ground. “They gonna do that anyway, stupid! Goblins less than dirt to human!”

“That’s why we gotta be smart about this!” Grek got to his feet, teeth bared. He looked at the lady goblin. “Kantsi, you smarter than this! You know making the soldiers mad never works out!”

Kantsi huffed, tossing her head and letting her hair hit him in the face. “Grimbly says we gotta make the people treat us better, pa. We can’t just sit there and take it no more.”

“And you wanna do that by doing the same thing gobs have done since before dawn a time?” Grek asked, incredulous. “They think we mangy beasts what only kill. How killing things gonna make them see different?”

“You just wanna hide in shadows like scared rabbit,” the chief grumbled. “And yet you’s the one who let the people know we here.”

Grek shrank back at that. “...Wasn’t supposed to get caught.”

Amy frowned at the back-and-forth, and she wasn’t the only one… They were attracting a crowd, lots of goblins stopping their work to come and watch. Most of them seemed to be on the side of the chief. She spotted Karta off to the side, mirroring her own frown.

“You’s old and no good anymore, Grek,” Grimbly said, looking away in disgust. “I’m the chief now, and I say--” 

He froze, and Amy abruptly realized that he was looking her way. She threw herself back inside, but it was too late, and the large goblin marched over, tearing the door away--Karta shouted in protest--and squeezing inside the healer’s hut with her.

“You think you can hunt gobs in my turf?!” he roared, pulling a club off his belt.

Amy tried to get away from him, but her bound state limited her options.

Grek was suddenly between them. “Don’t do it, Grimbly.” He drew Amy’s knife and held it at the ready. “No killing children.”

“Why not?!” the chief demanded. “Not like humans or elves ever held back against gob kids!”

Amy’s eyes widened. It had never even occurred to her that goblin children existed. Would they really…?

Grek hesitated. His knife arm lowered, just a fraction, but Grimbly noticed and sneered.

“That’s what I thought. Now outta the way, old man.” He shoved Grek aside and raised his club, and Amy closed her eyes.

“Chief! Chief!”

The big goblin growled, swiveling on the spot. “Now what?!”

A smaller goblin ran into the hut, bouncing off the chief’s belly and falling to the floor. He shook his head, realized what happened, and prostrated on the floor. “Sorry, sorry!”

“What is it, scout?”

“Soldiers!” the scout blurted. “Five a’them! Huggin the big wall, headin this way!”

The chief stared at him, then turned to Grek and spat. “What I say?”

Grek shook his head. “It don’t make sense? Girl only just found us, she had no chance to tell someone.”

“We shoulda killed her before.” He sneered at Amy one last time and walked outside. “Karta! Keep the prisoner in your hut and don’t let her out til I get back!”

The scout followed after him, and Grek and Amy looked at each other. The goblin frowned sadly and ducked his head. “Sorry.”

And then he left too, putting the door back in place behind him.

He took her bow with him too. That jerk!

----------------------------------

Llew returned to Oakwood exhausted.

Llewellyn was not the only hunter, that’d be ridiculous, but Thorndyke was convinced for some reason that he was the best of them, and so it had to be him that led the charge in finding the monster nest. Llew had to find the goblins, because obviously the soldiers weren’t going to do it. They spent all their time waiting for monsters to come to them, what did they know about tracking them down?

Llew didn’t actually think that was true, but it hardly mattered what he thought. The mayor said go, so Llewellyn went.

He was about ready to tell the mayor where he could stick it. He was exhausted and he wanted to see his daughter.

“Good afternoon, Llew!”

The elf looked over and smiled tiredly. “Mrs. Walden.”

“Any luck?” the woman asked, rocking back and forth in her chair.

“None, I’m afraid.” He sniffed. “Say, is that apple pie I smell?”

Mrs. Walden smiled cheerfully. “Ah, I wish I had a nose like yours. Yes, it’s cooling right now. Would you care for a slice?”

Llew rubbed his stomach. “I wouldn’t say no. But not just yet,” he added as she started getting up. “I need to check in with Captain Gerry. I’m more and more convinced the goblins aren’t even in the deer woods.”

Mrs. Walden nodded. “Aye, the mayor was of the same mind.”

Llew paused. He gave her a confused look. “What’s that now?”

“Yes, my Marcy stopped by for lunch just a bit ago,” Mrs. Walden said, delighted as getting to spread gossip. “She’s a barmaid at the Heart’s Wood, remember? Captain Gerry went in to fetch some of his boys from their break. My daughter overheard him saying the Mayor found the goblin camp up against the Wall.”

Llew blinked, taken aback. “He did?”

“I know, it’s amazing isn’t it?” Mrs. Walden agreed. “I imagine they’ve already gone off to take care of it. You could probably catch up if you want to join in.”

Llew considered it, then shook his head. “I’m exhausted. Let Gerry take care of it.”

“How about that pie, then?”

“Thank you, but later,” Llew promised. “I’ll be back for it though, don’t worry.”

They said their goodbyes and Llew set off again towards the center of town.

Mayor Thorndyke found the monsters? That didn’t seem right. The mayor was older than Llew, and he couldn’t remember ever seeing the man in anything less than his preferred green robes. He didn’t come across as the sort to venture out into the wilderness.

Llew shook the thoughts away as he entered the town square. The Oak that gave the town its name loomed overhead, and Llew took a moment to bask in its presence. Sometimes, if he was honest, he didn’t get the connection that other elves had with trees and plant life. He was much more comfortable with animals. But then he’d see the Ancestor Oak and he’d understand it all over again.

People were quiet around the great tree. Even the dwarfs knew not to raise their voices around it. Only birdsong and distant voices could be heard. Although, the birds weren’t as numerous today.

In fact, he realized with a mild shock, he didn’t think he heard any birds the past few days. He didn’t even notice.

Before he could dive too deeply into that troubling revelation, he noticed Madam Rosie sitting at the base of the Oak, and walked over.

“Madam,” he greeted.

The older elf opened her eyes and smiled. “Well, hello dear. Back from your little goose chase?”

“Ha. You know,” he said, taking a seat opposite her, “We could use your experience on the hunt. We’d probably have found it by now if you were helping.”

Rosie grunted. “Yes, but you wouldn’t have learned anything from it, would you? I’m old, and you young folk need to learn how to pick up after yourselves. Like your girl Amelia.”

“Oh?” he responded.

“Yes, that girl’s finding her spark. Eliza would be proud of her, I think.”

Llew nodded, smiling softly. “She would be, yes.” He waited a moment, then asked, “Do you know where Amy is now?”

Rosie gave him a look. “Are you going to get upset if I tell you?”

The hunter squinted. “...I didn’t think so, but now that you’ve asked…”

Rosie chuckled. “She’s off hunting the goblins herself with that familiar of yours.”

“Jaunt isn’t a familiar, he’s my--what do you mean she’s hunting goblins?!” he demanded.

“Oh, she didn’t tell me, as such.” Rosie shook her head fondly. “She hadn’t actually made the decision yet when she came to me, but I’ve seen that look she had on countless young faces. We’ll make an adventurer of her yet.”

Llew had a bad feeling. Things were adding up and he didn’t like the answer he was seeing. “Do you know where she went?”

“No,” she denied. “I haven’t put much thought into it myself.”

“Because the mayor seems to think the goblins are against the Wall.”

The healer tilted her head. “Sjin? That knucklehead? What would he know about it?”

“Mrs. Walden said he had Gerry gather up some men to investigate.”

Rosie snorted. “Well, it’d be a damn foolish thing for a goblin to do, set up against what’s essentially a military base. Which means it’s probably true, no one ever accused a goblin of being sensible.” She grinned. “They better hurry though, or Amelia will beat them too it, eh?”

Her grin slipped away as she took in Llew's expression. “Rosalyn, have you noticed the lack of birdsong?”

Rosie looked up with a frown. “I have, yes. Odd, that. What about it?”

She looked down and saw Llew getting to his feet. “I have a bad feeling. I think I’m going to catch up with them after all.”

“Oh?” Her voice was light, but her eyes narrowed. 

Llew didn’t bother answering. He was already away and running.

---------------------------------------

Amy struggled against her bonds. Who knew goblins were so good at tying knots?

Trying to pull her hands free only gave her rope burn, and with her hands tied together she was having supreme difficulty with the ones around her ankles. So far she’d resorted to teeth, but it was slow going. The ropes were tough and, more importantly, tasted awful, like they’d been soaked in mud.

She kept at it though, because if she didn’t get out of here she was as good as dead.

Unless the soldiers won. They probably would. But would they even be able to find her after that? What would the remaining goblins do if their chief never came back? What if they blamed her?

So. Teeth.

She bit her tongue and swallowed a curse. “Ugh! Where did they even get this rope? I know they didn’t make it.”

“Chtrp.”

“Not now Jaunt,” Amy snapped. “Can’t you see I’m--JAUNT!”

The fat squirrel hissed, squeezing his bulk through the crack in the door while making shushing motions.

“Jaunt, I’m so glad to see you!” she said, quieter. “Where even were you? I lost track of you during the chase!”

Jaunt rolled his eyes and pulled on her wrists, prompting her to present them so he could start chewing through them with teeth much better suited to the taks than hers.

“Jaunt, someone else must have had the same thought I did, because the goblins are going after a bunch of soldiers heading this way! We need to meet up with them!”

The squirrel perked up. “Chr?

“We need to stop them. Ow!” 

She stifled a shout as Jaunt accidentally bit down too hard and pinched her. Thankfully, it was the last bit the rope needed to break. “Hrn?!”

She rubbed her wrists contemplatively. “I don’t--I don’t think--” She didn’t know what to think. She’d heard the goblins saying a lot, and she didn’t have time to think about any of it. “Nevermind. We should probably meet up with the soldiers anyway, for safety. Right?”

Jaunt relaxed, thankful to hear her talking sense again, and finished gnawing through the ropes binding her ankles.

“Also, that Grek guy stole my bow and I want it back.” Amy sprang to her feet. The hut shook in place when her head hit the roof.

Jaunt crawled up her shoulder as Amy rubbed her head, hunching forward and stepping over to peek out the door again.

She blinked. She hadn’t exactly gotten a good look before, but weren’t there more buildings here before?

Goblins were scrambling, running all over the place and dismantling huts, digging up torches, and walking around with arms full of miscellaneous junk. She and Jaunt watched, baffled, as a group of five surrounded the Chief’s weird-looking hut. Now, she saw why it looked off to her: it was made up of separate overlapping panels that locked together. And she knew this because one of the goblins reached under a wooden board and, with a loud click, detached an entire section of wall. He stumbled under its weight, but managed to set it on a waiting sled without falling over, then went over to help with another panel. As they watched, the largest building was broken down into eight different pieces while Kantsi the lady goblin piled everything inside it into a burlap sack she slung over her back.

“What in the world?”

“Mm. We good at moving camp.”

Jaunt squeaked in alarm, and Amy flinched as Karta popped up next to her. “Uh, h-hey!” She smacked herself on the cheek. “I mean, hey! I’m leaving and you can’t do anything about it!”

Karta scratched her cheek. She twirled a stone knife in her fingers, and Amy remembered she was unarmed. She was also twice as tall as the medicine woman, so hopefully that would be enough of an advantage to overcome a dagger.

After a few seconds, though, the goblin sighed and looked away. “Grimbly wants me to keep you in Karta’s home, but he is not too smart. Healer needs to move first when moving camp. I’m the most important gob here, after all.”

Amy snapped her fingers. “T-That’s right! So if I wasn’t here you could get to it!”

“Mm.”

Kantsi finished her task and wandered over. “Ma, I’s got alla Grimbly’s things, but the sled’s full--you!” She gasped, dropping the sack to stick a finger in Amy’s face.

“Just carry it yourself, Kantsi. You a big girl. Or get a gob to do it, or is being Grimbly’s wife worth even less that it seems?”

“Ma! The human is out!”

Amy looked around. A few goblins were looking her way, but most of them were too busy packing their things to care. Why didn’t they look worried? Amy was worried. 

Karta put a hand on Kantsi’s shoulder and steered her away from Amy and Jaunt. “Yeah. Lemme help you with that bag, now.”

“Ma!”

“You can let Grimbly know about it if he gets back with your pa and all the other fighters. We gots more important things to do.”

The two walked off, the younger looking decidedly unhappy.

Amy looked around. All of the fighters? Now that she was looking for it, none of the goblins running around had any armor or weapons. As far as she could tell, they were all either old or women or both.

No babies, a part of her noticed, but she ignored that for now. They weren’t going to fight her, and she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Where did they say they were going? The Wall?

Amy ran east, jumping over a dismantled palisade and going as fast as her aching chest would let her. That didn’t end up being as fast as she’d like, but that was for the best. It gave her more time to figure out what she would do once she got there.