I grinned at Oracle, and she shrugged before smiling back at me, then flying off the side of the ship to take her usual perch on Bob’s head. I walked to the side of the ship, waiting as Flux climbed down and rejoined his people, and I looked down at my small strike force. There were six guards from the Tower, three Mer, and a giant skeleton tank with a wisp riding his head. I couldn’t help but smile at them, and of course… do a superhero landing.
I jumped from the side of the ship, landing with one hand thrown out behind myself, the other flat on the ground. One knee was planted firmly, and I had thrown the other leg out to the side. I gritted my teeth as I straightened up, enjoying the looks of surprise from the others, and I forced myself to walk forward through the group, taking up my place at the front as we started into the forest to follow the tracks that disappeared into the sun-dappled wilderness.
Chapter Nine
I tried to hide the pain; there’d been a damn rock under my knee when I’d landed, and it was killing me, but after a second, I felt a gentle pulse of power spreading through me, and I sent Oracle a silent ‘thank you’ through our bond, receiving an impression of gentle laughter in return.
So, I’d been caught by her; that was fine…I could live with that.
“Lord, Cheena here is a skilled scout; might we…” Flux asked me, stepping up to walk alongside me and gesturing ahead. The trail was easy to follow for now; easily dozens of beings had stomped, dragged, and occasionally shit their way through the forest. The literal piles of crap that littered the trail on occasion were enough to make me want all goblins to die a painful death alone.
I nodded to Flux, watching him dispatch Cheena to rush ahead, just as I heard a foul squishing noise behind me and heard Cam start cursing. He’d just learned a valuable lesson about watching where he stepped. The smell was awful, but the occasional tracks that stood out were worse.
There was a multitude of small goblin tracks, and the occasional huge cave troll footprints, but the worst were the clear drag marks. I was very new to tracking, but even I could tell that Decin’s crew were being made to carry a heavy load. I hoped they were carrying loot from the ship, but I was all too afraid they were carrying their dead instead.
“Spread out and keep your eyes open!” I called to the group as we moved on, following a slight incline. As we jogged along, I took the time to work on the tracks. I tried to single out an individual set of tracks, then followed that one for as long as I could, picking up the trail again and again as quickly as I lost it, and pausing periodically for people to catch their breath. After a few minutes, I got a skill level notification, then another within forty minutes after that.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 3 in the Skill ‘Tracking’! No longer will you have to hope that your date will be in touch; now you can follow her home! Once this skill reaches level 10, you may choose its first evolution.
After an hour or so, Cheena seemed to appear from the forest a dozen feet ahead of us. One second, she was nowhere in sight; the next she casually leaned against a tree. I slammed to a halt, carving a small furrow in the covering of forest mulch, and leveled my naginata at her before I realized who it was.
“Impressive, Lord…” she said, her voice low and carrying an atonal thrum that I had to guess was amusement.
“Cheena… report please…” Flux huffed, coming to a stop alongside me. I turned to look at him quickly, confused as to why he seemed to be flagging so badly; he seemed pretty fit and healthy? I looked back to find the massive youngling also struggling along, far in the rear. His weapons were stowed, but he had to keep grabbing trees to pull himself along. I was distracted by Cheena’s voice as she spoke up.
“The camp is a mile or so further up the hill. Two scouts are outside, neither of which are worth a damn. The camp looks to be a large collapsed ruin, as you suspected; the entrance is simply a hole that leads down, with maybe half a dozen goblins in and around the entrance. I can’t get close enough to sense any deeper.”
“Sense?” I asked Flux, and he gestured to his tendrils.
“What you called sonar earlier, Lord Jax, I…”
“Seriously, Flux, we’re about to charge a goblin-held ruin and fight side by side. I think we can drop the ‘Lord’ for now, okay?” I interrupted, and he nodded gratefully.
“Very well, thank you, Jax. I suggest we pick off the scouts first, then use your archers to kill as many of the remaining group as quietly as possible. We have no way of knowing how many are inside, after all.”
“Cheena, can we get close enough to drop down behind the goblins? To stop them from running into the camp hole and warning the others, I mean?” I asked her and she shrugged.
“I probably can, as could Flux, but you and your people…forgiveness, Lord but you are poor at woodcraft; even your hunters.”
“I know,” I said, looking back up the trail in the direction of the camp.
“My people are freed slaves and villagers. We can fight, but don’t expect a huge amount of skill or experience yet. All we have in abundance is heart.”
“We have more than that, Lord,” came a voice from my left, and I turned to face Lydia.
“I don’t mean to question your abilities, Lydia. I’m very proud of you and the entire squad, I simply mean…”
“Yeh mean that we’re new to fightin’, and we
