Lin was carrying Kai through the skies. It would have been almost romantic, if the reason why the fairy had taken to the skies was not discussing seasonings below them.
Seasonings, which Lin could guess were meant for them.
"I don't get it! What are the goblins doing so close to Mirstone?" Kai asked, as he gripped at Lin's back for dear life. Oh, if they survived this, he was going to make sure Lin got a full-body massage. Kai had been taught by a fellow gnome on just how to get kinks out of someone's back.
"They are hungry," Lin could barely breathe, let alone talk. Still, he did not want for Kai to know that. Kai had risked his life time and time again. It was time for Lin to pull through for them!
"Yeah, I get it, but…" Kai stopped mid-sentence when he saw it. Right there, hanging on a branch! A wasp nest!
"No," Lin told him, sensing where things were going. "The wasps are about as big as me! Those are giant wasps!"
Kai snorted. Yes, and that was precisely why his plan could work!
"Lin, just fly to the nest," Kai was ready to do his tried routine of asking the wasps to side with him. After all, most wasps did not attack gnomes, deeming them too skinny to bother.
It paid to be tiny, Kai thought with a smile.
"We can die!" Lin screamed; the goblins below started to laugh. Their situation was dire, and the goblins knew it.
Why a goblin would follow a gnome and a fairy for so long was a mystery to Lin. They did not have enough meat on them to provide a good meal.
If Lin had been a goblin, he'd just go pick some fruit and be done with it.
Kai let go of Lin, flinging himself towards the wasp nest!
"Kai!" Lin called after him, but the gnome just waved, showing him that he was ok. The goblins saw that, and began to climb up the tree, discussing if they should use garlic in the stew or not.
Kai took off his whip from his hip, and started to whip the wasp's nest with it. A wasp wearing a bathing robe came out. Kai grinned. Ah, these wasps thought they were human!
"Do you know how late it is?" the wasp asked, already taking off his sandals. Ready to use the projectile at a moment's notice.
"The goblins want to steal your women!" Kai pointed at the goblins which were climbing the tree. The wasp threw his sandal at one of them. The goblin actually snapped his teeth around it!
"Oh, you did not!"
Many would say that the wasp cursing for the better part of five minutes at goblins was uncalled-for. But this wasp was actually a ladykiller, and he hated it when goblins told him he was pretty.
Not because he found the goblins ugly, but because the goblins tried to eat their dates. The wasp had suffered through one such date, and now he had the scars from his stomach operation to show for it.
"To war, brothers! They are coming for our women!" The wasp retreated back to the nest. He was not the wasp he once was.
A fire burned inside his heart. He would save his strength, the little he had left, to protect the young.
Let his blood color the nest, let his last breath be given for the future!
Lin watched in mute horror as the giant wasps came out of their nest wearing armor and having flags waving over their heads.
It was a war he was witnessing, he knew. Something that will go down in the scrolls of history.
And Kai was still on the tree!
Without even thinking about the consequences, Lin flew to where Kai was overseeing the fighting right atop the nest. Lin flew, a goblin tried to bite off his pink wings.
The only think Lin could see was Kai. He dived out of reach of the goblin's fingers, then turned to the right, only to crash into a wasp.
The wasp's eyes were wide. Lin knew that the being would not care who he stuck with his stinger.
Lin turned to the left, flew under a falling goblin, and then kept on flying towards Kai. He did not care that he was losing speed, or that he was getting tired.
He had to save Kai!
A wasp started following Lin, lost to the bloodlust. Lin flew higher, hoping beyond hope that he could survive.
The whip cracked; the wasp fell to the ground.
Just a tiny bit more, Lin thought to himself, as he reached out towards Kai. Just a bit more, and they could fly to safety!
Lin's fingers brushed against Kai's, his eyes shining with hope.
A wasp crashed into the fairy; Lin fell.
As he saw how the ground was getting closer and closer, he prepared himself for broken bones, and the possibility that he might never walk again.
Lin closed his eyes, wishing Kai only the best. Hoping that he would survive.
The whip cracked in the air, wrapping itself around Lin, pulling him up.
As the fairy wondered why it was still not a broken pile of bones on the ground, he cracked an eye.
Kai was pulling him up! Kai had saved him once more!
The gnome was huffing and puffing. Lin was small, and a fairy, at that, but pulling him up was no easy work. As soon as Lin's feet touched the branch, Kai collapsed next to him.
"You know… I think you should lay off the chocolate," Kai said, closing his eyes.
"I… ok," Lin did not know what to say. He was saved, but how were they going to get down from this tree? "What is the plan?"
Kai shrugged. Oh, it would have been nice to have a plan…
"We ask the wasps to get us down nicely," Kai blurted out.
Lin's right eye twitched.
0000
The flying pig had found a big enough cliff, and it was now resting on it. It was just something like a column.
The sand demons were trying to break it.
The flying pig asked itself if Karma had taken a vacation. It had been promised support through its quest.
It oinked in rage, then it pulled its contract in a system screen and began reading it. Something it should have done long ago.
Nothing was right in the world.
And yet, it kept on spinning.