NOVEL NEXT Chapter 115: Byung Returns!?
The sun bled out across the ridge, turning the sky into a furnace of copper and violet. Byung crouched low in the tangle of thorn-bushes that clung to the hillside above the mine, one arm cradling Murkfang's fever-hot body against his chest. The goblin's breath came in shallow, rattling gasps, but his eyes were open now, glassy and fixed on the valley below. Maui knelt beside them, a mountain of green muscle and iron calm, her huge hand resting on Byung's shoulder as if anchoring him to the earth itself.
They had left the horse a hundred paces back, hidden in a dry gully. Now the animal wandered alone into the open ground before the main gate, reins dangling, saddle empty. The scent it carried goblin sweat, orc musk, the sour stink of sickness, drifted on the evening wind like bait.
Byung's heart hammered against his cracked ribs. Every bruise from the fight with Borg still throbbed, but the pain sharpened his focus instead of dulling it. He watched the orcs at the entrance stir, heads lifting, nostrils flaring.
"Loose horse!" a scarred orc bellowed.
"Smell that? Riders are on it—fresh!" Another orc barked.
Spears lowered. Boots thudded. five orcs fanned out in a loose half-circle as they chased the horse that was now running away from them but the fact that they couldn't see the horse clearly made this plan a success as it reduced the security at the gate drastically. Kraghul was not among them. Byung had no idea who these orcs were but their intention couldn't be good.
Kraghul would never sit idle at the gate like some common guard; he would be ranging, hunting, planning. His absence was the only crack in the armor they could use and unknown to this trio, they had dodged the biggest bullet possible.
Maui knew it would be impossible to squeeze past them with her size. She squeezed Byung's shoulder once, then rose to her full height. Seven feet of orc warrior, axe already in hand, cloak thrown back. She stepped out of the bushes and into the open like a storm breaking.
"Come on then!" Maui's voice rolled across the valley, deep and mocking.
"Which of you punks wants to die first?" Maui questioned, ready to launch an attack powerful enough to draw out the remaining two left at the gate.
Every orc head snapped toward her. A roar went up, half rage, half delight. Swords flashed as they charged. The loose horse had done its job in drawing two orcs as they gave chase.
Their sense of smell was good but it was nowhere as effective as the goblins.
Byung didn't wait. The moment the orcs surged toward Maui, he moved past them quietly.
He didn't need to help Maui, if anything, it was the orcs who needed help.
He slipped from the bushes like a shadow, Murkfang crawled behind him. The sick goblin weighed almost nothing now; fever had burned the fat and muscle away. Byung's legs burned as he scrambled down the back slope, keeping to the deepening shadows. The setting sun painted the rocks crimson and black, perfect cover. Behind him, the clash of steel and Maui's battle-laughter echoed. She was buying them minutes, maybe tens of minutes.
He darted from boulder to boulder, following the route they had scouted at dawn: a narrow deer path that curled around and dropped toward the entrance that Murkfang, himself, had shown him so it was impossible for them to miss. If the orcs hadn't found it yet, it would take him straight into the back of their camp. If they had found it… well. The mine would not be standing. Murkfang's head lolled against his shoulder.
"Maui…" Murkfang rasped. He was concerned she wouldn't be able to hold her own considering she was an orc that worked in the brothel.
"She'll be fine," Byung whispered, not slowing.
"She's the danger. There is so much you don't know, friend," Byung whispered to Murkfang and he knew he had no choice but to believe the words coming out of Byung's mouth.
Byung vanished into the rocks, carrying the last hope of the mine with him.
-
The sun was setting and night was about to encroach them which would spell another wave of anxiety for the goblins.
Some distance away, Kraghul prowled the night like a wolf with a thorn in its paw.
He had left the main camp an hour before dusk, he didn't take any orc with him because he couldn't weaken the formation set up. The mine was secure, goblins trapped, morale shattered, Vrognut's terror doing half his work for him, but Kraghul had not survived this long by trusting walls alone. These mines always had more than one throat. Vrognut had already proved he could slip through fingers like smoke; the cannibal would try again tonight, and Kraghul intended to greet him with steel and fire.
He moved along the northern ridge, checking every crack, every pile of tailings, every shadow that looked too deliberate. Kraghul's boots made no sound on the loose scree. His breath was slow, patient. His axe rested easy across his back, but his mind was a blade.
He crouched beside a patch of disturbed earth, fingers brushing the dirt. Fresh goblin prints, light and quick. He scooped up the dirt and took a sniff from the soil. A goblin had come this way, but not back. There had to be another exit.
The moon rose, cold and white. Kraghul finally returned to the entrance of the mine only to see two orcs beaten unconscious but the other two had returned and explained why they left to Kraghul.
"A horse as a decoy while they slip through?" Kraghul said, this was a simple tactic but it was well used in this situation to the fullest in such an innovative way.
Kraghul knew the there was no way a goblin could deal the amount of damage he was seeing with these two orcs but there was only one goblin who had an orc attached to him.
A creepy smile crept up on his face that sent chills down the spine of the very orcs in his presence.
"Byung is here..." Kraghul muttered under his breath. It was so easy for him to connect the dots.
He stood slowly, gaze sweeping the darkened valley. Somewhere out there, Byung was moving and Maui was making sure everything that posed a threat to him stopped being a threat.
Kraghul clicked his teeth once but the look in his eyes had changed, it was like the personality shift had occurred because the calm and collected Kraghul was nowhere to be seen. He turned to the two orcs.
"Back to your positions. Double the guards on every night watch and make sure no one moves around alone," Kraghul turned his back on them, salivating.
One of the trackers hesitated.
"The female—" The orc tried to speak as they saw Maui's back when they returned but they were too late to stop her.
"Leave her to them for now," Kraghul said, already striding down the slope.
"She wants a fight, she'll get one but not now. It is the goblin with the brain. He's the real danger tonight," Kraghul reminded them.
Vrognut wasn't the only danger present here anymore.
And Kraghul planned to take both of these goblins in... alive.