Rayne's leg ached as he walked. The crude cloth he'd wrapped around it had soaked through with blood long ago, but the wound was far from healing. It sent a dull pain up through his ankle with every step. His pain tolerance skill could only help so much, after all.
Kesh only had a bit of potion left, which Rayne didn't want to ask for, and his injury hadn't looked as bad before. He simply pushed forward, hoping that Fort Algar's healers would do their job regardless of his standing.
Behind him, the party moved through the thinning forest. Nate carried a man on his shoulders while Kesh kept fiddling with the sword on his hips, grim-faced since the battle. Others looked similar to him, beaten down and having had no good sleep. The ambush from the night before clung to all of them like soot.
Only Bran walked ahead, looking out for any monsters that might be in the vicinity.
Rayne looked back for a second before his eyes flickered through the trees. He could see no sign of the red goblin tailing them.
He had let it go before Kesh's watch but had seen it near the camp until they left at the first ray of light. It hadn't tried to attack them, and Rayne wondered if the goblin was simply trying to stay near to feel safe till the morning.
He wouldn't put it past the creature.
It had been far more cohesive than the grey one. Though, he hadn't liked the answers it had given. Rayne doubted it was lying, but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
He hadn't talked about it to anyone, and they probably assumed he had killed the goblin and thrown its body in the forest. Should he simply talk to Axel about it? Or should he tell Bran?
The veteran hadn't thought his plan feasible, but for him, it was simply a matter of trust. He had already been burned once with Fredrick, but Bran had come out as far more fair and had even supported him.
He also knew that Axel would need more than just his words.
Hence, Rayne stepped up to catch up to Bran, ignoring the throbbing in his leg.
Bran glanced at him, eyes moving through the canopy. "We are two hours away from the fort. We should be out of the forest soon. Gonna head straight to the bath?"
"Healers," he said, grunting in pain.
Bran noticed the slight limp in his leg. "You should have told me it got worse. I should have looked for some herbs."
"I doubt herbs are going to solve this as quickly as a healer."
Bran nodded. "You are right. But something is better than nothing."
He patted his shoulder as if telling him that it was nothing big for a soldier. Rayne appreciated it, but he wasn't here for small talk.
He kept his gaze ahead, careful not to step on a gnarled root before speaking. "I want to talk about something."
"What?"
"The goblin. I managed to get information out of him."
Bran paused for a second, eyes narrowing at him. "What are you even saying? What information?"
"About other nests," he said. "I was able to get the locations. Didn't get the chance to verify it, but I don't think it was lying."
"And you're telling me now?" he asked, biting his lip. "How do you even know what you got is true? It's a goblin, for fuck's sake."
"Just hear me out," Rayne said. "It knew of four nests and I was able to get it to pinpoint the location of them. One directly north of the cliff we passed by, another near the river. I believe the other two are near the edge of a cave, and the last one—I wasn't able to make it out."
He mixed up most of the truth with a lie and continued, seeing Bran clearly struggling to believe what he was saying.
"I got various landmarks made on the dirt and had it nod its head if the nest was near it. Before that, I asked how many nests it knew of, and I'm pretty sure it pushed out four fingers."
Bran scoffed. "A goblin that knows numbers."
"If they could set up a trap, they at least know that much," he said. "I know it's not something you believe in, but I don't think there's anything wrong in informing Axel about it."
The old man raised an eyebrow. "Without confirming them for ourselves?"
"Axel will be happy just getting the location of potential nests. He told us to give him anything we find, and he certainly would need something good after learning how we almost lost our party in a goblin trap."
Bran simply grunted in response. Silence stretched between them as they trudged on, the forest slowly thinning more as familiar paths reappeared beneath their boots.
Bran was clearly taking everything he had said, thinking it over. He didn't have to believe everything he told him. If he simply believed enough to check the nests, then he would know they were there.
As Rayne stepped over a large stone on the ground, Bran spoke again. "You were able to get anything about the trap?"
He looked back at him before slowly nodding. "Not much. But I learned one thing."
"What?"
"They have a leader, and it was made by it. It commanded the others. The goblin might have been trying to tell more, but I was only able to get that."
In truth, Rayne had learned far more. Apparently, this leader of theirs hadn't been part of the nest till two weeks back. It had been a wandering goblin that had entered it and led them to hunt bigger beasts. The goblin had indicated it being some sort of a lizard monster.
After that hunt, everyone had listened to it, and it had started to send out scouts to look for humans, which had been the prelude to the ambush.
Rayne wanted to tell it all, but then Bran would know he was lying about his way of gaining the information.
"A hogoblin?" Bran asked.
Rayne shook his head. "The goblin indicated nothing of that sort. I even drew a larger, scarier goblin on the ground, but it simply shook its head."
At first, he had expected the involvement of a hogoblin too, which was simply an evolved version of a regular goblin. But his captive had denied any such thing.
"How could a regular goblin come up with something of that sort?" Bran asked, more to himself than Rayne.
Rayne stayed silent, having no answer. He shifted the weight on his legs again. The throb was getting worse, but they were finally on the grasslands, and he could see the roads leading up to the fort nearby.
Just a little bit more and he would be in safety.
Bran kept to himself as they stepped onto the road, but the others grew cheerful. Even the ones that were being carried started talking. Rayne moved to join them as, for the first time in a day, Kesh talked excitedly about getting a good bath and a nice rest on a bed.
Bath was the one thing everyone was looking forward to. Other than hitting on the few women in the fort.
Nate was the first to talk about it, speaking of someone named Natya that worked in one of the other squads as a cook.
Rayne joined the conversation too. "Do you really think she will let you even touch her?"
Nate snapped his head at him. "What's wrong with me?"
"Your eyes look scary. She will think you're trying to extort her."
A few men snickered. Kesh had a huge grin on his face, pointing at Nate's snake-like eyes.
Nate frowned and slapped the man he was carrying on the head, who was laughing the hardest.
"I will drop you if you don't shut your trap. She likes me, and you all will know that soon enough. You should see the way she talks to me."
"I'm pretty sure she just feels bad for you," Kesh said, and Nate turned toward him.
"At least I don't look like I'm still sucking at my mother's tits."
"Hey! Don't go—"
That's when someone let out a low whistle.
"Look up," the voice came.
Rayne did that and froze.
Smoke curled through the air. Thick, dark, and rising in the distance. It wasn't a cooking fire or a forge plume. It was heavy. Ugly. Curling in the sky like a fist.
And it poured out from the direction of Fort Algar.
"That's coming from Algar's direction," Bran said, voice suddenly hard, confirming Rayne's suspicions.
Kesh paled. "No way the fort's burning… right? Is it an attack?"
Rayne gripped the hilt of his sword. "No one should be attacking this close to the border. Unless something went very wrong."
"It could be an accident," another said, but they already felt tense.
Rayne knew for a fact that it was hard to start a fire at the fort. He had seen men everywhere around it, and even if one started, it would get whisked fast. But the smoke was thick and dark, as if the fire had been burning for far too long.
"We need to run, if only to check what it is," Bran said, already running.
The others followed him without question. Even Rayne, with his leg hurting with every step, kept pace, hoping that his pain tolerance skill would see him through the run.
The road was empty, and they were able to move at a brisk pace despite some of them carrying others, until the silhouette of the fort finally came into view.
Rayne's breath hitched. Fort Algar loomed in the distance. Its outer walls scorched, smoke pouring from a collapsed watchtower. Screams echoed faintly from behind the wooden barricades.
And in front of the gate roared massive beasts.
Trolls.
The same slimy green skin he had seen before, but there were two of them now, swinging their hands at the walls and roaring with rage. Sentries fired arrows from the safety of the walls, but it barely seemed to make a dent.
Rayne skidded to a stop, his heart thundering at the sight. "Shit! How the hell are they here?"
The others caught up, breathing heavy, weapons half-drawn.
"What now?" Nate whispered, eyes wide, pushing down the man he had been carrying.
"Gods," Kesh said. "They're going to breach the wall."
As he said that, Rayne saw one of them punch the wall hard enough for it to shake. One of the sentries fell, screaming, and the other troll closed in. The sentry rolled just in time to save himself from being pulped to death.
The barrage of arrows intensified as the sentry ran for his life.
"He's going to get crushed," someone said from behind. "Where the fuck are the squad leaders and Mage Casper? Are they still tucked in their goddamn beds?"
"Those bloody cowards aren't even going to open the gates to let the soldiers save the man!"
Rayne ignored the chatter, solely focusing on the man who ran for his life. They were far enough for the trolls not to notice them. But if they stayed still, the man was going to either get smashed by the trolls or get punctured from the arrows flying everywhere.
His hand shook as he gripped his sword tight.
Was he really going to do that? Was he really an idiot? He wasn't sure, but he knew the trolls would give good experience. Was saving a person and gaining experience a good reason to put his life on the line?
He didn't know. And honestly, Rayne didn't care.
He simply recalled the bodies on the day he had woken up. If he didn't do anything, the man would end up the same. And Rayne sure didn't want to feel guilt over it.
"I'm going to go fight the trolls," he said, taking out his shield. "Anyone want to follow?"
Nate looked at him confused. "Are you fucking crazy?"
"Rayne, those are trolls. At least level 25," said Bran. "They've got tough skin and regeneration. You'll barely be able to slow it down, you know that. You're just going to join that man in the halls of Hathras."
Regeneration… thought Rayne, looking down at the wound on his leg
"I don't know. I can't leave him be. And those trolls look like good experience."
And hopefully a new skill, he added mentally.
With that, he stopped talking and ran, the pain forgotten already as he sprinted down the road.
One of the trolls noticed him halfway through his sprint and roared, spit flying everywhere.
It charged right at him, and Rayne widened his eyes, momentarily surprised by the speed. He jumped sideways, missing the troll's fist and rolled to a stop.
The troll turned. Its ugly face seemed to sneer at him as it swung its fist.
Rayne ducked under it before charging right at the troll, using everything he had learned from his last battle with it. He gripped his sword and stabbed it right in the monster's foot.
It screamed, and Rayne rolled on instinct, tasting mud and raising his head to look at the troll. It glared at him and charged, swinging both fists at the same time. And he did the only thing he felt viable.
He ran. The troll came at him hard as Rayne moved toward the wall, getting the troll right under the range of the sentries. They didn't disappoint, as arrows hit it everywhere.
Taking the chance, he moved in again, using his shield to ward off the arrows. His blade flashed up to slash its thigh, and its hand came down to swat him away. This time, Rayne wasn't able to dodge.
He lost breath for a moment as pain assaulted his body and he hit the ground hard. The ground trembled under him, and he rolled to see the second troll moving toward him, an arrow lodged deep in its neck.
It didn't seem to have any effect on it, unfortunately, as it covered the distance in a matter of seconds. He raised his shield to block the attack, but saw an arrow whistle over him to hit it right in the chest.
He didn't get the chance to see who fired it as a hand pulled him up, and he saw the sentry who had fallen earlier.
"Are you fucking crazy?"
Rayne opened his mouth to reply, but his instincts screamed at him, and he jumped right at the man, getting them both out of the way of the troll's charge.
Feeling a bone crack, he grimaced and looked at the man under him, then pulled him up before turning to the sight that gave him chills.
Both trolls looked at them with rage in their eyes. Arrows drew blood all over their bodies, but it didn't seem to have any effect as they roared. His ears picked up some sort of commotion on the walls, but his eyes never left the trolls.
"What are we going to do now?" the sentry asked, and Rayne had no reply.
He simply gripped his sword and shield, looking the trolls right in the eye. Their screams rattled his bones. Adrenaline coursed through him, and he raised his blade—
"Who dares attack Fort Algar?!"
His head snapped at the voice and his eyes widened.
On top of the walls, Captain Edran stood, wearing a red breastplate that glinted under the rays of the sun. Casper stood beside him, alongside Axel, Hobbs, and a few unfamiliar faces.
Rayne's shoulders sagged at the sight. Even the trolls turned to them—and then, to his surprise, Edran jumped from the walls.
His sword glinted with a reddish hue as he charged at the trolls.