"Aww, that's fucking nasty. Why are these things so disgusting?" a soldier called out after slicing a goblin's head off at the neck. It's almost black blood sprayed into the air, drenching him as it dropped at his feet. The air smelled thick with the smell of blood and death.
The battle became more of a joke after Kato's tactical decision. Goblin after goblin eagerly raced to a hasty death at our hands, making it clear that goblins are extremely fucking stupid. They marched at us eagerly, never stopping to evaluate the situation. The goblin in front of the line would die horribly and the next in line would simply step up to take their place. It made me, and everyone else in attendance, wonder how they had managed to set up that original ambush. Maybe the goblin in charge of strategy was dead and the rest of them were just bulk muscle. Whatever the case, they were idiots suddenly. I wanted to ask Kato about his thoughts on it, but he was busy.
As soon as we were safe behind the wall of shields, he checked on Steven, who lay unmoving with the same expression he made when he pulled the dart from his neck frozen on his face. Kato knelt beside him and gripped his hand as he spoke to the medic. The look on his face was a mixture of pain and hopefulness. After a few seconds of conversation with the medic, he whispered something to Steven. Then he nodded, stood back up and walked back up to me.
"How is he?"
My words were barely audible over the cheer that went through the crowd as yet another dumb goblin met its fate.
"He's going to be okay. Apparently, the toxin on their darts only causes temporary paralysis. That way, you can still feel it when they chop you to pieces."
He spit on the ground after describing the goblins' method of killing. His expression was hard and there was something dark in his eyes as he spoke. I guess he wasn't a fan of their process.
"So, you disagree with the way they do things, I take it?"
His hateful gaze landed on me. It was so cold I was surprised I didn't get frostbite. He also didn't respond to my joke. Was that the limit to his sense of humor, the lives of his men? Okay, so Kato was sensitive about his guys, noted. I turned my face back to the entrance just in time to watch a goblin take a crossbow bolt right between the eyes. A look of pained surprise was stuck on its face as it flipped onto its back. I had the sudden feeling that the quick deaths were merciful compared to the pain and suffering Kato truly wanted to inflict upon them.
The stream of goblins continued so long that the crossbowmen ran out of bolts. That was when the real fun began. At that point, the swordsman standing directly in front of the narrow entrance got to slay the unlucky soul that approached next. Kato jumped at the chance to take out his frustrations. He took the spot in front of the entrance and cut down goblin after goblin. He seemed to favor cutting off their heads, unless they managed to block his first swing or cause him to miss somehow. Then he hacked the little fucker into bloody chunks so small no one could tell what they used to be. When he was finally done, his armor was completely soaked in goblin blood and he breathed heavily. The look on his face was manic, though. The look in his eyes was one of pure bloodlust, and the crazed smile on his face made him look like a different person to me.
He took his place beside me again in the second line of swordsmen. The foul combination of goblin blood and sweat attacked my nostrils. I had to turn my head every few minutes to get a breath of fresh air. He didn't notice. He was completely locked in. The trained warrior in him had taken the reins, and all he cared about was death. I tried to rationalize the instinct and keep focused on the task at hand, but I was distracted. For the first time since meeting Kato, I felt alone standing by his side. I suddenly wondered if the rest of my life would be this way.
A loud metallic clang caught my attention as a goblin blocked a soldier's first swing with its own sword. The soldier let their blade move down toward the ground before swinging it sharply at a ninety-degree angle and taking the goblin's stubby left leg off. The soldier then swung their blade up diagonally as the goblin fell sideways, taking its head off. The soldier cheered as the mangled little corpse dropped at his feet. The rest of the soldiers joined in. The noise boomed in my ears. Damn, I missed the sound of silence.
After this was over, I was going to spend several days alone in my bedroom. I needed to remember what life was like before every person I encountered was a sword swinging maniac. For some unexplained reason, Simeon's face flooded my thoughts. A flutter of something moved in my chest, and I touched the area over my armor. What the hell was that about? Whatever it was, it ended quickly. The thoughts of Simeon lingered though. Was he doing any better? Would he be the same when he did recover? Could I visit him? Would I be seeing him around the village often?
"Mount up!"
Kato yelled the order so loud in my ear that it startled me. Everyone around us began getting back on their horses.
"What's happening?"
The frenzy of sudden movement had completely taken me by surprise. When Kato looked at me, something in his wild eyes changed, as if he had suddenly realized something. He held out a hand to help me back onto my horse.
"There's only a few of them left and they fled. Time to finish this."
He buzzed with energy as he spoke. I wondered how long it would take him to come down after being so amped. I took my seat on my horse and prepared to follow him as he did the same.
"Charge, kill all of those fuckers!"
Kato raised his bloodstained sword above his head as he yelled the command. His men flooded off the cliff side in the same single file line formation they had used to enter it. Kato didn't wait with me this time. He led the charge, leaving me to take up the rear. The only person behind me was the medic that was transporting Steven, and even they could go ahead of me if they wanted to. I was in no rush at all.
From what I could make out, there were only about 6 goblins left. They ran as fast back through the trees as their short legs would carry them. It didn't matter though, Kato was possessed. He moved so fast down the path that I thought he was going to forget about the low-hanging branch that almost took our heads off earlier. He didn't, but instead of ducking beneath it, he sliced through it with his sword. The cut wasn't clean or even effective. He still ended up slamming into it. It didn't slow him down, though. When it hit him, it ruptured into hundreds of tiny splinters and rained to the ground around him. He and his men raced past the wreckage with slaughter on their minds and insanity on their faces. What the fuck had my father signed me up for?
Kato made quick work of the remaining goblins. A few swings of his sword turned them into bloody, stinking heaps of fertilizer. Their corpses littered the landscape from the center of the tiny village where they had ambushed us and all the way back to the cliff side. I let my eyes travel along the trail of corpses as we stood in the center of the silent village and felt relief settle over me. It had taken from sunrise to sunset, but the ordeal seemed to be over. I was ready to take off this heavy ass armor and relax in a hot bath. Crazy Kato could take all the time he needed to calm down and become the guy I met originally. Then we could talk more about what this marriage was going to look like.
"They did it!"
A woman's voice called out from somewhere and I cut my eyes from left to right to see where it had come from. I wasn't ready for more fighting, but I swore if this bitch was trying to start something, I would kill her myself and then find my way back to Kato's village alone if I had to.
A door slowly creaked open and then another and another until people were peeking out at us from each of the tiny wooden homes. When they saw us standing alone surrounded by goblin corpses, they started a cheer of their own and came out to greet us. It was just as loud as the soldiers' cheers had been, but it was one of the greatest sounds I had ever heard as well.