POV Smith
"Well brother, I don't envy you." I patted the bastard's shoulder as he sighed one last time.
"Well thanks for at least seeing me off then." David replied with a wry grin.
I shrugged. "Bout to leave myself, Bartholomew got some orders and I thought they were interesting." I patted the sword on my hip.
He chuckled. "Always were a soldier weren't you? Stay alive bastard, can't let you beat me to the grave."
"Same to you old fart." I shot back. "Now get going before you turn into a wrinkly nanny!" I slapped his back and shoved him towards his small party. I watched as they left before turning my back on the lucky bastard and headed to the far side of the bailey.
I gave Alice a wide berth. The damn woman was so hostile, for what reason? I'd done nothing to her, neither had David or Rebecca to my knowledge. Whatever, better not stick my nose too deep in it, might ruffle her feathers.
I nodded to Rebecca as I walked past, she was up to something, like a wily fox. David mentioned her doing something about investing in a couple businesses in Hochfeld. She hadn't mentioned much when I'd asked about it. Mostly how it wasn't my business. Maybe it was women? Best not think like that, they find out quick and life will bec hell.
"Bart, where's today's patrol heading?" I asked as I approached the group of knights and squires.
"Ah… knightess Ponatoski will command today." He replied bitterly. A few more good patrols and he'd probably be promoted to knight errant, so his bitterness was understandable.
"Hey, maintain that professional bearing numbskull." I thumped his shoulder and turned to the knightess.
"I wish to add my sword knightess, may I be of assistance?" I bowed my head a bit as I gave an informal salute by placing my fist over my heart.
"We can use all the help we can today, we'll be investigating the forest and clearing it of any vermin." She replied with a wink.
I nodded and fell in with the rest so Ponatoski could inspect our equipment. This reminded me of my days in the service, making sure the grunts had the right shit and it wasn't broken. Good times.
When it came to my turn I presented my blade, a cheap but reliable thing I'd purchased from the castle blacksmith, nothing like David's fancy sabre. This thing was made for killing, preferably by hacking its foes apart. Aside from that all I wore was some leather padding, compared to the rest I was sorely under armed.
Ponatoski in comparison wore a steel cuirass and a leather Gambian underneath with leather greaves and gauntlets on her forearms and shins. Her blade was longer than my own, but essentially they were the same otherwise.
With that inspection out of the way we entered a storeroom and started grabbing essentials. A couple meals of food, tinder boxes, some basic medical supplies, and the like.
"Alright, let's set out. Handsome, up front!" Ponatoski directed me to take the lead. I got a couple glares from some of the guys as I took the lead spot and we left the castle. It was a bit of a hike and a lot of the squires chatted quietly amongst themselves.
Perhaps around the halfway point Ponatoski started walking beside me. "Why so vigilant?"
"Better to be prepared than caught unawares." I replied as I looked at a pair of knolls off to the left.
"I think I like you already." She muttered.
I pretended not to hear the comment. "How long have you been in?" I asked before realizing that question didn't really work to those outside the military I'd been in.
"In service to the Earless? A few months perhaps…" Ponatoski said thoughtfully. "It was quite kind of her to roster so many aspiring knights though…"
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"The Earless doots on her husband quite a lot, few nobles allow aspiring men to even become squires, though I do hear it is different in Verdan." she readily replied. "Few men hold any real power here in Monrovia, it's endearing to see those of them that try to climb the social ladder." she winked.
I slowly digested what she'd said. So Earl Barford was something of an exception? Being so involved in the day to day running of the realm? I tried to remember what my strolls through Hochfeld were like. I'd not seen many men about, and most of what I'd viewed as hard labor tasks, construction and the like did seem to have very few men, though at the time I guessed I wrote it up to the men working in the fields.
I continued in silence and Sera dropped back to talk with someone else. I didn't ponder her revaluations for long as we quickly arrived at what was left of that bastard's Belisarius's house.
"Alright, we're here to exterminate any monsters in the woods. Shouldn't be more than a couple goblins." Sera said as she took point and led us into the woods. It didn't take long.
"Stop." I could feel the hairs on my neck starting to creep up as I drew my sword and started looking around, little footprints were mixed with our tracks, bits of bone and piles of feces were scattered about the nearby shrubbery.
"Did you see something Smith?" Bartholomew asked nervously.
I studied the ground a bit more then looked around. "Something was here recently…"
"Are you a ranger?" Sera asked.
"Not really, I was a cav scout." I muttered, adjusting the grip on my blade as I caught sight of a pair of glowing eyes. Our eyes locked and the creature let out a screech as it and several others burst from the undergrowth.
"Leave mi forest hummies!" I quickly urged forward and my blade nearly went up to the hilt in the wretched things chest. I nearly gagged as the odor washed over me. The damn thing was covered in filth. In its dying breath it tried to claw me with its long nails. I kicked the thing away and swung to assist Bartholomew in dispatching his foe.
A few quick seconds and everything was done, greenish brown blood coated my blade like tar. Afterwards we cut off the ears, the guild would pay a few coins for them. We continued into the forest, cutting down more of the corrupted spawn as we went. But we halted when we heard laughter, it sounded like a little girl. Cautiously we crept up to some bushes and peered through.
A girl, about nine or ten in age sat in a small stream with a few goblins. "Stink Bad Kyle, wash!" She poured water from a small bowl over his head. The little grimey bastard used a rag and wiped itself as the girl poured more water on its head.
"Is clean! Kyle clean!" It protested as the girl poured more water on him.
The other goblins shook their heads as if passing judgement. "Kyle stinks, Kyle mistake for bad ones. Bad one hurt Xir. Stink bad."
"The hell?" I muttered softly. I certainly didn't think today I see a young girl and a bunch of goblins wearing loincloths so damn focused on cleaning one of their number.
I passed my ears to Sera. "I'll figure this out." She nodded and gestured for everyone to keep watch.
I stood and eased myself into the clearing. The goblins shrieked and pointed. "Tall one! Tall one! Is bad? No knows!"
These were some… interesting goblins. I looked at the girl, somewhat surprised her eyes were filled with terror. I slowly knelt down, "I'm Smith, what's your name?"
She fell backwards and the little goblins streamed forward, a few tried pulling her away and the rest stood between us. "Help Xir! Xir help! Slow tall one!"
I turned to the goblins, getting annoyed by their antics, though they weren't hostile. "Would you all shut the hell up?"
They all froze, shock and disbelief coloring their faces. I even felt shock from my compatriots behind me. What the hell was wrong with all of them?
"Tall one? Is bad?" The goblin called Kyle asked me slowly.
"I will not harm those that mean me no harm." I promised as I let go of the handle of my sword.
"Xir, Xir! Good tall one! Is not bad!" Kyle told the little girl.
"Xir? Is that your name?" The girl shook her head. "Mind telling me why you're with goblins?"
"Saved me, from bad men." She said slowly. She pointed at the goblins, "like family to me."
I pursed my lips into a frown. What had happened for a child to prefer the company of goblins to fellow humans? "Would you like to be with other humans?"
She shook her head. "They hurt my family!"
She cocked her head to the side. "You speak goblin too!"
"I do?" I muttered. Probably that stupid spell that brought us here, had some kind of universal translator. She shook her head.
"I'm… not from this land, it sounds like toddlers talking to me." I replied.
"Smith trouble." Sera hissed from behind me.
"Tall ones! Many tall ones! Many stinks! Coming fast!" The goblins squealed and began trying to pull Xir. But circled around her protectively when my comrade encircled them.
I drew my sword and spun around as a pair of massive goblins stepped out of the trees with a few dozen others that were of a more normal size.
"See Zeg, smelled females I did." The tall one on the left muttered while the other drooled.
"Hobgoblins." Sera muttered darkly.
Upon a signal from the hobs the goblins came rushing forward. We hacked and slashed, slaying the grimy bastards, suddenly my blade locked with another, I looked into the wild eyes of that drooling hob. It snarled. "I'll be having that morsel behind you."
"Over my dead body." I growled and twisted my blade, kicking out the goblin's knees and driving my blade into the back of its disgusting head. The goblins ran off, I looked around. Both hobs were dead, Sera and I seemed the only ones unscathed. One of the squires I didn't know well was lying face down in a pool of blood.
"Where's Era?" Bartholomew spun around. I did a quick head count and cursed. We were missing one, the young female squire. I quickly looked at the ground before sprinting into the woods. I sprinted quite a distance, stumbling over the occasional root in my haste. I could hear someone behind me trying to keep up to no avail.
I ground to a halt when I heard whimpers of pain, and cackles of glee. "Fun! Have fun I do!" I rounded a large tree and I felt my blood go cold. In mere seconds the scene I came across was utterly annihilated, my blade bled. I kicked the corpse of the goblin off Era and helped her to her feet. She clung to me, heedless of her appearance, muffled sobs being all that was heard when Sera and the others stumbled into the clearing.
The others tried to comfort Zera but she looked up at me, a cut ran from her left eye to her lower lip, it would likely leave behind a fierce scar. Her face was stained with tears and snot. "Am… am… I…"
"You are who you choose to be. You can let this crush you, or define you moving forward." I replied coldly.
"I couldn't even beat some goblins! How pathetic am I?" She cried.
"Get it together Era. How is a knightess supposed to act?" I asked her softly. I leaned in and whispered in her ear and she straightened her back at the remark I kept between the two of us. "You decide, how pathetic do you want to be?"
She sniffed but nodded and stepped back from me and looked at her ruined clothes in dismay. With a sigh I dug out a spare set I'd packed away and tossed it to her. I looked around to see Bartholomew and a few others bring Xir and her goblins into the small clearing.
"Hateful. Bad stinks!" A few of them started kicking the crap out of the beheaded corpses. Bartholomew handed Era her sword and what was salvaged from her armor.
Kyle, the little green shit slowly walked up. "Stinks bad, no good. Tall one help us? Help Xir?"
"What do you want?" I asked the little fucker. I had half a mind to cut him down. The rest of my party was of a similar mind.
"One in hundred goblins productive? Make young! Is common for bad stinks!" He gestured at the females of the group then at the dead goblins his friends were now tearing limb from limb.
"You aren't helping your argument." I replied.
"Help Xir! Help! Safe! Help Xir safe!" Kyle pleaded. I sighed, perhaps the reason I'm having trouble understanding this growling is that the language lacks a lot of words. But keep Xir safe. I looked at the girl, she was scolding the goblins that had gone overboard.
Maybe every race had its exceptions. But… Sera wouldn't harbor the goblins. David… I'll cross that bridge later.