„But what if it is another person?"
Mikael talked back, but the next moment his worries subsided, replaced by wonder.
"Shrieeeek, ghaa...!" came the crying sound, not humanly possible.
"Like I said, Goblins also lurk around these parts." Robert calmly said.
"They are pretty timid in nature,so if we scare them enough, they should just run."
"But how did you know? Anything could have made that sound!"
'It shouldn't have been just luck, should it?'
"They made too much sound." Diana answered, also shooting blindly towards the undergrowth.
Another shriek confirmed she hit something, and the first, greenish brown bodies showed themselves.
"Humans either are more careful, slowly walking and being cautious, or talk, making as much sound as possible, showing their presence. That keeps dangerous animals at bay, and lures in only the monsters that are worth hunting."
"They should be almost morally depressed." Robert called, another arrow whistling and hitting the shoulder of the foremost creature, sending it backwards.
More and more of them came forth, first two, five, quickly growing to fifteen, as the amount lessened.
"Oh boy, these are quite the amount."
He smiled, but awkwardly, like he knew that the upcoming fight would be unnecessary troublesome.
Arrows flew, either injuring, killing or just missing these targets. Now sure of their numerical advantage, the Goblins charged forward. They held simple pointy sticks, thicker branches or only rocks.
But still, no one wanted to get hit by those.
The enemy was only down around 3, not counting these laying behind the thicket.
"Too close!" Robert tossed his bow backwards, away from the enemy, and took out the shovel he still had strapped to his belt.
Diana in the meantime said to Mikael:" I have to leave you for a bit, else we run to big of a risk to get swept up."
Taking out a simple double bladed sword, she stood close to Robert, backside to Mikael and slowly retreating.
"You also move backwards!" Diana called, when the first blood, dark red in color shone on the edge of Roberts weapon.
"We want to have the water to our back."
Mikael understood, making his way towards the water as fast as he could.
At first, the two fighting assumed Mikael would remain closer to them, as it was a simple tactic for them, but forgot he never fought with them.
So when they looked back a moment, he was already standing a bit away, sideways and open from their initial position.
"Idiot, you..." Robert wanted to say, slashing with the sharpened edge at the neck of a near Goblin.
Not as sharp as a sword, the cut was shallow, but the force behind it was greater, so a shudder producing cracking was heard, followed by the body, which laid motionless on the ground, to the demise of another, who tripped over his dead comrade.
But that also saved him from any more attacks, as Robert and Diana concentrated of the other Goblins, that stood now more distanced, beginning to throw their weapons and rocks at them.
Some hit, others missed, but they inflicted at least more damage than initially.
You could hardly evade dozens of rocks flying towards you. They protected mostly the head part, and the occasional stone only made a bruise, lessened by their clothes.
They moved closer towards Mikaels position, but hindered and slowed.
But the knocked down Goblin looked up, searching for the pray he and its fellows could eat up.
He then saw the lone boy standing frightened looking by the water, saying something along the lines of, "easy pray and alone", at least for the creature.
It stood up, running towards the boy who saw it coming. Already tasting the tender meat and tasty bone, saliva began dripping from his mouth, and picked up a stone, creeping closer.
'Ehh, what...' Mikael, seeing that thing walking towards him, felt again this unsettling threat. The same when he was pursued or hid on the tree. But now there was nothing between, no branch, forest or even a reasonable distance.
"Robert! Diana! One of them is coming!" he cried. He never fought, apart from playing. But this Goblin wanted him dead.
"Dammit!" escaped it Roberts mouth. He had to decide between abandoning Diana and help Mikael against one single Goblin.
'But if I were to do this, they would come running up, risking their life to get one of us down.'
And no way Robert would place someone else over her, no matter how much she would scold him later.
Diana also wanted to help, but had a similar thought process to Robert.
"Fend for yourself, just a few moments!" Robert called, closing in towards the group of Goblin.
"They are almost breaking." Swinging left, right and occasionally injuring or killing Goblins, the Creatures retreated, slowly.
"Fend for myself? How?"
His feet were like stone, not moving away as per his command.
The Goblin, around his height, a bit smaller and thinner, stood a few meters away. It lunged at him, closing in, the rock up high and speeding towards his head.
"No!" he expressed, holding his right arm before himself, blocking the stone.
"It hurts!" he wailed, not expecting the puny arm to inflict that kind of force.
Falling backwards, the greenish monster towered over him, saliva dripping to the ground.
For a moment he lost his breath, but the Adrenalin kept away most of the pain.
"Go away! Please! Help!" he kicked, his foot connecting with the torso, so the Goblin also fell backwards.
It had a high up center of mass, so its stability was the worst. And it worked for Mikael, who didn't know that.
He saw it falling, struggling with his hurting arm to stand up. He looked around, searching for something to use as a weapon, when his sight landed on his bag, containing the vial and knife.
'The knife!'
He quickly crammed out the memento, as t was right now the only thing in his mind that could inflict damage great enough to kill that thing.
Confused, the Goblin also stood up, reorienting its sight to look for the stubborn meal.
It then felt a sharp pain in his chest, seeing the boy before him.
Mikael felt the blade piercing the skin, as well the resistance from the thorax.
The warm breath, the stench all felt surreal to him.
The creature wailed, smashing the rock he still held at Mikael again.
He managed to evade, pain coming from his wrist when pulling out the knife, but not hindering him.
'I have to make it fast!' he thought. He felt weak, this little exchange draining him like a full day of work.
He naturally knew the weak neck was a good point to attack, so he used a moment the Goblin held his chest, closing up the wound.
Clutching the handle as hard as he could, he motioned a wide swing, connecting the tip with the soft neck.
Only a gurgling sound came from the creature, slumping down and facing the ground a second later.
Mikael held on his grip, the blade sliding out when the corpse fell.
Standing there, triumphantly, relief flooded him, but his excitement from the short exchange quieted down, and he fell on his but, pain washing over him.
The wrist, both arms and lungs hurt, and only some seconds passed.
The smell, fusing with the metallic blood and excrements getting out , made him nauseous. He bend over, wanting to throw up whatever was in his stomach.
Robert and Diana also finished up, corpses littering the ground and the surviving Goblins fleeing, scattering around, but not one towards Mikael, as their backs faced him.
"Haaah" A deep breath escaped Roberts lips, and he brushed away some blood that flowed brom a shallow cut above his eye. A lucky throw hit him, making him close one eye the whole time.
"Lend me a bandage, please." he said, shoving his weapon in the ground and relaxing his hands on his hips.
"Here," she handed him one, as well some clean cloth to make a tourniquet.
"I take a look at Mikael." She said, already seeing the corpse laying beside him, only wanting to see if he needed medical attention.
They took glimpses at him during their suppression, leading them to receive more attacks than necessary.
She patted his bend back, him coughing heavily from emptying his stomach, only gall coming out, hurting his throat.
"Come!", she helped, leading him away, towards a cleaner spot.
"Are you injured? Anywhere?"
"Only my arm got hit, but nothing serious."
he played it down, wanting to relief their stress.
"Show me!"
"Really, it is okay."
"While Goblins are shy creatures, they posses knowledge of various herbs, mainly some to harm their prey. You get where I'm going?"
He tilted his head. " It was only a rock."
"And you don't think they would smear that poison on it? Just because it is a rock. Here!"
She showed him a small, crude bag, barley worth calling it one.
"This was taken from one we slew back in the day. Many of them carry some, using it when they deem it necessary. So, Show me!"
Her Blue eyes stared him down, leaving no room to retort.
When she examined him, she gave the clear sign.
"All okay, but your arm is still beat up." She clapped his back, quickly apologizing.
"I'm done here, too. We got quite the haul." Roberts voice traveled. Holding up a string, some pieces still dripping stripped on it.
"What are these?" Mikael asked confused. Taking a closer look, he noticed the peculiar form.
"Ears?"
"Yep, used to show we encountered them and slew this amount. We get some money for it, as they are seen as quite the plague. Sometimes coming from the woods when the season changes or food is scarce, digging up field and ruining crops."
"Can we go then? I want to leave this place, before the smell attracts more nasty animals."