NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41
Soon after I was carried behind the shield wall and saddled on my horse, the cacophony of screeches got louder but seemed to be stalled behind the burning pile of leaves and branches at the cave entrance.
For a few moments, the agitated screeches started to quiet down as if they were waiting for something, that was until the guttural screech sounded again, followed by a yelp and a scream, as out of the smoke, a goblin was thrown at the fire.
The thrown goblin crashed into the burning matter and scattered the burning wood. As the goblin flailed around to get rid of the burning embers that were seared to its skin, it unwittingly cleared a path by knocking away more of the burning debris.
When there was a somewhat clear path, the guttural screech sounded again like a war cry, and goblins started streaming out of the cave and beyond the curtain of smoke, directly into a hail of crossbow bolts from a line of men behind the shield wall.
Before the crossbows could be reloaded, the next wave of goblins came rushing out of the cave and clashed against the shield wall. The men were using normal kite shields, so they had to bend low in order to compensate for the height difference, or else the goblins could easily duck under their shields and attack them.
As the goblins clashed with the men, the front row of men cut down the goblins, and the goblins who survived or avoided the sword strikes of the front row were stabbed by the men in the back who abandoned their crossbows for spears.
Within a minute, it was obvious that the men at arms were going to have a flawless victory as they were cutting down goblins like they were harvesting wheat. That was until the Hobgoblin who towered above the other goblins around showed itself, along with a bunch of better armed and armored goblins.
The moment the hobgoblin and its posse exited the smoke, Dad commented to me as he pointed, “It seems this nest had enough time to produce a natural born hobgoblin.”
I squinted as I scrutinized the group that just appeared, and I noticed that one of the goblins was slightly taller and had more refined features compared to the surrounding goblins, that must be a juvenile hobgoblin.
It seemed like the knights commanding the men at arms also noticed the goblins and hobgoblins that just revealed themselves, these goblins along with the juvenile hobgoblin seemed better fed and were wearing planks of wood held together by rope as armor and were armed with rusty daggers and farming tools, as for the adult hobgoblin, it was wearing a rusty chainmail shirt with some holes in it and was wielding a shortsword.
The adult hobgoblin raised its sword to the sky and screeched out a war cry as it led its “elites” in a charge. Dad just turned to Sir Ector and told him to handle it.
Sir Ector just nodded as he charged forward, sword and shield in hand while shouting, “Coming through!”, and with practiced motion, a gap opened up in the line to reveal a goblin standing in Sir Ector’s way, only for it to get a shield bash that caved in its head as he strode forth to engage the hobgoblin’s group.
The moment Sir Ector cleared the line, the gap closed and I witnessed Sir Ector scythe his way through the goblins. Within mere seconds, he was before the hobgoblin, sword raised and slashing down with a well-practiced swing of many battles.
The hobgoblin barely managed to bring his blade up to meet Sir Ector’s downward chop, but it only managed to deflect the blade from splitting its head in half and ended up biting deep into its shoulder despite the chainmail, almost taking off the hobgoblin’s arm.
While Sir Ector’s sword was embedded in the hobgoblin’s shoulder, the surrounding goblins and juvenile hobgoblin took the opportunity to strike at Sir Ector. But with fluid movement, Sir Ector blocked the strikes with his shield and kicked the hobgoblin away to dislodge his sword, then proceeded to behead a few goblins in a wide horizontal slash that also caught the juvenile hobgoblin in the neck who fell to the ground while holding its neck to stem the bleeding.
Sir Ector did not waste time and advanced forward to stab the juvenile in the heart and walked forward to the adult hobgoblin who was getting back on its feet. When the adult hobgoblin looked up, Sir Ector just beheaded it.
After seeing how knights in this world fight, I can say, that what they lack in technique, they make up for in pure brutal perfection of simple no-nonsense combat movement.
After around a minute of the goblin elite being slain, the rest of the goblins on the field were put down, and the men used this pause to check their wounds. From what I could see, there were a few faces that got scratched, but nothing these goblins had on them could get past the thick leather and gambeson the men at arms were wearing.
After the quick check was done, the knights rallied the men to stamp out the fire. After the fire was out and given a few minutes to clear, the knights called 20 volunteers and entered the cave.
There is more to this subjugation? This should be all the fighters, are there more inside? I asked Dad about it and he said, “I do not think you should be around for this next part?” as he started leading me away.
“But why? What is left? Aren't we going to loot the cave to see if the goblins collected anything, the bestiary said goblins also like to collect shiny things?” I asked.
Dad shook his head, “This is something I do not think you are ready to witness. But when eliminating pests we must pluck them out, root and stem, or else they will soon return even stronger after learning from their mistakes.”
I chewed over his words for awhile until it hit me. The goblin females and younglings, they are about to get Anakin Skywalkered. And as I asked myself if I could bring myself to do what I know needs to be done… I was not so sure, but for now, it is safe to say I do not have the stomach to do what those men are about to do to the rest of the goblins.
As Dad led me and 2 knights back to the supply wagon, apparently it was not far or fast enough as the screeches of goblins echoed out from the cave. As I heard the screams, I could not help but imagine human women in children in the goblins’ position, bringing tears to my eyes as I futilely wiped them away.
I am pretty sure Dad noticed me crying but pretended not to notice.
After some time, 10 men at arms came out of the treeline and one of them went to report to Dad while the others went to get crates from the wagon.
The reported goblin casualty was 93 goblins, including women and children, and 2 hobgoblins, it seemed like everyone was way off on their estimation of their numbers. As for the men at arms, they just suffered from some scratches and bruises, nothing a good rest would not fix.
The next thing that caught my attention was the clinking of glass from the crates the men were unloading, and when I asked, it was explained that they were jars of some kind of preserving solution.
The men at arms’ pay also includes looting rights unless said otherwise, and some of the goblin, especially hobgoblin organs can be used in alchemy, so these men are going to harvest and sell the organs to get some extra coins.
Gross, but who am I to deny these men the money that is just lying there? They have families to feed.
Talking about family, I somehow feel tired… emotionally. It would be nice to go home, hug Mum, and play with my siblings and friends to take my mind off of this.