'Now or never!'
I throw the bark shield like a frisbee. The goblins slobber dribbles onto her as it strikes him in the head.
He's sent flying.
Luckily it looks like nothing has happened to Natalia yet.
Tearing another piece of bark from the tree, I rush towards the goblin lying on the floor.
My heart is pounding in my ears. Despite knowing we should leave, I scramble over to the goblin and start bashing him with the shield.
He's doing his best to defend himself with his arms. But one drops, then the other.
My shield is raised, ready to finish him off.
"Kairo!"
Hearing a whistling noise, I frantically raise my shield. A strong impact throws me off the goblin, sending me into a roll that ends in a crouch.
Peeking out from behind the shield, I find the second goblin standing over his ally. His brows are furrowed and there's a weird glint in his eye.
The goblin I had been about to kill weakly starts eating a green plant from his belt, and his bloody arms slowly start healing.
I can only stare in surprise.
While his friend is healing, the other gobby charges.
Each of his strikes sends shockwaves into my arms. Pieces of the shield are flying off.
After all, nature isn't nearly as strong as iron.
"Never. Hurt. My. Liking goblin!"
"Wait, you're a girl!"
She snarles and swings. I move back but feel an impact on my leg. At first I think I'm fine, but when I go to put weight down a sharp pain shoots up from my thigh.
'Shit shit shit!'
The second goblin has finished healing and picks up his sword.
As I drop to one knee, the two of them charge together.
It's a storm of blades that I'm barely able to block.
I keep my shield raised. The attacks inch closer and closer, until one breaks through and hits my arm.
At first, I don't feel it.
Then WhiTe HoT PAIN!!!
It happens again. And again. And again.
Eventually, the shield falls away and the only thing protecting me from the cold iron is my arms.
'They're numb.'
I can feel impacts on my bones.
'At least now the pain is gone.'
Natalia is screaming but I can't hear what she's saying. There's black on the edges of my vision.
I can feel my consciousness slipping. My arms fall, and my eyes are so heavy.
'I guess this is it. Stay safe Matt, Natalia. Sorry Rat.'
The impacts stop.
Fresh blood splashes my face. Blood I don't think is mine.
With the last of my energy I force my eyes open.
Standing in front of me is a figure in a black cloak. A sword hangs in their hand, blood slowly dripping from it.
They turn toward me. It's not someone I recognize, and the deep hood doesn't help.
I flinch as he sheathes his sword, and drops to my side.
"Heal."
A green light floods over my arms.
I can see chips in my forearm bone fill in, then my muscles and tendons grow back, and finally my skin.
It's almost like nothing happened, except the place that was healed is clean while the rest of me is coated in blood and dirt.
I try to get up and immediately fall back to the ground. My head is spinning, and despite emptying my stomach earlier, I feel unbelievably nauseous.
I hear a sigh and look up at the man.
"You lost a lot of blood. I can't bring that back, so you're just gonna have to wait for a bit."
I nod my head in understanding. Another sigh.
"Honestly, that was stupid. What made you think you could take on two goblins with nothing but a shitty shield?"
I lower my eyes.
"Nothing. I just knew I had to save her. Who are you?"
"Ah, the hero type huh?" he says with a scoff, "Still, not a lot of beginners could put up a fight against two goblins at the same time. My name is Burch. I was supposed to be your guide, but I guess things didn't go as planned."
My head cocks to the side.
"Didn't go as planned? What do you mean guide?"
Burch waves off my questions as he stands.
"I'll explain later. You're something else kid. You've got guts."
He starts walking off. After a few steps, he turns back and crouches beside me again.
"One last piece of advice before I leave. Drop your current 'friends'. They'll only drag you down."
As he whispered this into my ear I can feel my face getting hot. Pine needles are crushed in my fist.
"You don't know what you're talking about."
Laughing in my face, Burch stands up.
"The boy froze in the tree, unable to do anything. While the girl isn't bad, there are stronger people in this group. People like you."
"We'll see."
He scoffs again.
'His two favorite things to do must be scoffing and sighing.'
"Yeah, we'll see where you'll all be in six months. I need to finish cleaning up, try to be back to the clearing within 30 minutes."
Turning on his heel, Burch vanishes with a swish of his cloak. Matt and Natalia rush over.
"Are you alright?"
"How're you feeling?"
I try to give them an energetic smile to hide how tired I am.
"I'm doing great! I mean, my arms were basically turned to paste, but he healed me right up and I couldn't feel any better! I still feel like a murder victim, so if I could get some help to the clearing."
We all break into an awkward laughter and turn to leave the clearing. As we walk past I try my best to ignore the two goblins that had been cleanly cut in half.