The guard only followed me for a few dozen feet down the tunnel, then merely shouted curses and threats at my back while I ran. I left him behind and hurried towards the entrance. The evening sun beaming into the opening was perhaps the most beautiful thing I had seen in a long time, with the exception of Silvy's naked body.
I ran until I had fully escaped the tunnel, then stood there for a moment with my hands on my knees, chest heaving. I wasn't particularly out of shape, but I hadn't run like that in a long time. After spitting the stone out, I stuffed it into my pocket, then looked around.
Massive trees towered in front of me, with smaller ones filling in the spaces between. It created a canopy that blocked most of the sunlight, but enough filtered down to make it relatively easy to see.
I studied the boot prints on the ground and decided to follow some of the smaller ones. They fanned out in multiple directions, most going into the forest. I picked one of them and followed as best as I could until I stood among the trees. Silvy had explained what the plants would look like, so I spent a few minutes scanning the ground as I walked along the treeline, looking for any herbs or anything that looked like the brightly colored potatoes.
Of course, I found nothing.
After fifteen minutes of that I felt like giving up, but I thought about how that would look, going back to Silvy empty-handed. Not only had I failed at finding any food, but I gave up after a short period of time. Suddenly ashamed of myself, I went back to studying the ground, looking for anything edible.
To my delight, after another ten minutes I found a small bush covered in bright yellow berries. I picked half of them and put them in the bag, then continued on my way.
After another five minutes, I saw more footprints and a few patches of soil where something had been dug up. Jackpot. I looked all around and decided to follow those prints. They were smaller than the heavy bootprints I had seen outside the tunnel, and lacked the blocky heel of men's boots. Honestly, the prints made me think of soft slippers.
I found more areas with churned soil and smiled to myself. If someone else was digging up food here, then I had found exactly what I wanted.
The sound of someone scurrying away through bushes suddenly came to my ears, and I stopped. One of the goblin men would have probably just killed me, which meant this was likely a woman.
I set my canvas sack on the ground and raised both of my hands. Looking around, I couldn't see any sign of her.
"I'm not here to hurt you," I said. "I'm just here to find some food. Maybe you can help me?"
A faint gasp came from a thick bush near my left. I looked over at the bush and after a moment, saw a pair of bright green eyes watching me. She blended in perfectly with the foliage around her, and I only saw her because I knew what to look for. I took one small step closer, still holding my hands up.
"Hey," I said. "I'm Aaron. As I said, I'm just looking for some food. It looks like you've already dug up some stuff, so do you think you could help me?"
After a moment, she straightened up enough to look at me from over the top of the bush. My jaw almost dropped when I saw her.
Silvy's beauty had almost startled me when I first saw her, but this young woman was on another level. Her hair was dark green, nearly black, and framed a face with a bone structure most models would kill for. Full, lush lips were pressed into a thin line and her large green eyes watched me suspiciously. Of course those large goblin ears poked through her hair on each side. I couldn't see anything of her body, but my imagination ran wild.
"You speak the goblin tongue," she said. Her voice was high-pitched, not in a childlike way but in a manner that somehow fit with her small frame. It was absolutely adorable, just like the rest of her.
"Yes, I do," I said, silently thanking Silvy's magic.
She stood up the rest of the way, still eyeing me with caution. A linen-colored blouse bared most of her shoulders but covered her down to her wrists. Even with the loose-fitting shirt, her large breasts were still apparent, just like the knee-length skirt she wore did nothing to hide the curve of her hips and thickness of her thighs. In one hand she held a large sack, much like mine, and in her other she clutched a thick-bladed knife. The way she held it made me think she knew how to use it, so I kept my hands up.
"Why do you speak our language?" she asked.
I didn't want to come right out and say magic, because Silvy had told me that many goblins were suspicious of magic.
"I am a friend to the goblin people," I said, hoping she would buy it. I needed to find a way to show her that I meant no harm. "I'm just here to collect food for Silvy, to repay her kindnesses." The moment I said that, I cursed my loose tongue.
The beautiful young goblin woman frowned for a moment. "Silvy, the witch woman?"
I sighed and nodded.
"It is a shame how she is treated," the woman said. "She does no wrong, but is treated as an outcast. And you say she helps you?"
"Yes," I replied. "I, uh…. Look, it's a long story but the summary is that I come from a far-away world. I don't know anything about your world here, but I found myself inside the tunnel to your city, and Silvy found me and helped me." I decided to leave out the part about the goblin guard kicking the shit out of me.
"Are you a magical creature? Your clothes are very strange," the woman asked, one eyebrow slightly raised.
"I don't think so," I said.
She frowned prettily. "Shame. I have always found magic rather fascinating, although many goblins fear it. Well, mostly just the men, but they are the ones in power." She studied my face for a moment. "I am Zia. I will help you, but remember that I have this." She held her knife up.
"Thank you," I said, finally lowering my hands. "My name is Aaron. Hmm, Zia. That's a pretty name." A bit of flattery never hurt anyone.
"Thanks," Zia said. "It means 'warrior queen.'"
"Interesting," I said. "I think my name means 'strong,' although it's been a while since I've looked at any of that stuff."
"Are you?" she asked.
"What?"
"Strong," she said. "If that is what your name means, then I would hope you would be strong." She took a step towards me and finally lowered her knife.
I shrugged. "I suppose I am," I said, remembering Silvy's spell that grew my muscles a bit. "Say, can we start looking for food? I've been out here for half an hour and all I've found were these." I reached into my canvas bag and pulled out a handful of the small, yellow berries.
Zia hissed and took a step forwards, slapping them out of my hand. "No! Those are poisonous. You cannot eat them."
I turned my bag over and emptied it on the ground. "Well, I'm certainly glad I found you," I said.
"Come. I will show you what you can eat," she said, turning and walking away.
The way her ass moved in that skirt was, indeed, just like Silvy's. I did my best not to stare too much as I hurried a few steps so that I walked beside her.
"These are good," Zia said, stopping for a moment to kneel on the ground next to some green shoots. Using her knife, she cleared away the soil until she pulled one of those strange, orange potatoes from the ground. She pursed her beautiful, plump lips and blew on it, knocking more of the dirt from it, then handed it to me.
"Perfect," I said. "Those are exactly what Silvy wanted. And some herbs, if we find any."
"Here is another," Zia said, digging it up. Once she had pulled it from the ground, she stuffed it into her own bag and then looked at me. "Do you not have anything to dig with?"
I frowned at my hands. "I suppose not."
Zia shook her head. "She sent you out here unprepared. Shame." Looking about her for a few minutes, she finally dug up a partially buried rock about the size of my open hand. It was flat as well, and would probably work as a crude digging tool. She handed it to me, and I thanked her.
Together we dug up a dozen of the strange orange potatoes. As the sun began sinking closer to the horizon, Zia suddenly hurried over to a small cluster of bushes. Using her knife, she cut several sprigs off and stuffed them into her bag.
"If she wanted herbs, here they are," she said.
I approached her and knelt right next to her, examining the plant. It reminded me of basil, but the leaves were much smaller and lacked the pointed tip. Selecting the smallest plant, I pulled the entire thing up from the soil and placed it in my bag. Zia gave me a strange look, so I explained.
"Silvy said if I found any herbs to bring the entire plant," I said.
"But it will die without sunlight," Zia said.
I shrugged. "I said the same thing, but Silvy insisted she could make it work."
"Magic truly is amazing," Zia said. "If men weren't so afraid of it, we could use it to grow all the food we wanted, without a need to come out here and dig in the dangerous forest."
"Uhh, dangerous?" I asked. I had seen elves the other day, but Silvy insisted they were friendly.
"Yes," Zia said. She looked at one of the massive trees, her head craning back as her eyes followed it all the way up. "Not everything that lives out here is kind like the elves. Gnolls roam the area. As tall as you are, they might not bother you unless there were enough of them. They attack goblins on sight, though. They think we are magical beasts, and that consuming our flesh will grant them magical powers."
I blinked. "Wow, I wasn't expecting that."
Zia nodded. "That is why we don't venture far from the mouth of the tunnel unless we have a man to guard us. A pack of gnolls would attack me without hesitation, but they know better than to mess with our men, especially the guards. If there are enough of them, though, even that won't deter them."
I looked around the forest, suddenly feeling unsafe. "It's no wonder the elves live so high up in the trees," I muttered. "What else lives around here?"
Zia frowned and looked around with me. "Nothing nice," she said. "Fortunately, the orcs are further away. They aren't always bad, but if a mood takes them they might just go into an uncontrollable killing frenzy. Harpies sometimes roam the area at night." She looked over at me. "I'm mostly safe from them, but not you. They'll sing to you, using their song to hypnotize you. You'll walk right into their claws, smiling while they shred you. And sometimes trolls pass through here."
"Trolls?" I said. "Well, shit. No wonder you live underground. This place suddenly sounds horrible."
Zia's frown remained. "Yes, after speaking of it, I have little desire to stay outside, especially since you have no weapons. The sun is setting, so we should head back inside."
I let her take the lead, both so I could stare at her ass and because I didn't quite know where I was. We wound through the forest, moving quietly and taking the long way back to the underground city. As we approached a small tree, Zia clapped her hands with excitement.
"Oh, these are wonderful!" she exclaimed. "The branches of this tree bend far too much to climb it, so you'll have to help me up. Come here."
I looked at the tree as I stepped up to her. Small fruit hung from the branches, like plums but sky blue in color.
"Okay, how am I helping you?" I asked.
She pointed to the ground in front of her. "Kneel."
I chuckled. "Yes ma'am."
She blushed, but as I knelt in front of her, she climbed on my back and sat on my shoulders. Her sitting there pushed her skirt high up on her thighs, and it was impossible to miss the faint warmth of her pussy as it almost touched the back of my neck. I placed my hands on her thighs to hold her in place, then stood up.
"Don't get any ideas," she warned. "I still have a knife, and you don't."
She directed me to walk around the tree while she picked the blue fruit from the branches. At one point I simply reached out and grabbed onto a branch, bending it down so she could pluck more of the fruit from it.
"That should be good," she said.
I knelt back on the ground, and she slid off, hurriedly pushing her skirt back down, blushing slightly.
"Thank you," she said, reaching into her bag. She gave me half of the fruit, which I put in my own canvas bag. "Shall we head back now? Are you still staying among us?"
"I am," I said, pulling the shadow stone from my pocket.
"Well, let's go home, then," she said with a smile.