Life in a new Kingdom

Dark and humid, the tunnels descending into the nest reeked with foul odors. It was sickening and worse for Nana, who had heightened smelling senses. She didn't want to show it, but she was fighting back an urge to gag. I stripped off a piece of cloth and handed it to her. She accepted it without hesitation and wrapped her face to help ease the scent.

"I hope Gale and Lukia can handle the entrance," I say under my breath.

"They are a good team by themselves. They won't fail us. Just focus on living and completing the mission. Once we retreat, there is no looking back."

"I understand. But if this is where most of the goblins live, we might need to think of a way of sealing them." I ponder ideas of how to do so.

"They would just dig out. The little creatures are resourceful."

"Might as well try."

"Be my guest. Now quiet, we are nearing something."

Nana waves her hand, telling me to get down. Crouching low, I hold tight onto my blade. The dark tunnels and rocky texture are barely lit, and my sight is only barely adjusted. Staying behind Nana as a guide for my eyes, I have done my best to adapt to dark environments. Small amounts of movement appear in the distance as one goblin carries a torch and walks with two others.

"Patrol," Nana whispers before drawing a short sword from her side. Looking over to my position, she nods to my understanding to take them down quietly and quickly. I pull my dagger and hold my sword in the other hand.

Waiting for them to approach closer, the sounds of their footsteps on the wet rocky texture echo down the entire tunnel. The encroaching light flickers close, and they soon step adjacent to us, and for a moment, they don't notice the looming presence of death ready to strike. With one single motion, Nana grabs the one with the torch and lifts it up with her hand. Driving her blade through its chest before ripping the blade clean out. The two surprised goblins try to shout for help, but my dagger protrudes out of one's mouth, and my sword goes through the throat of the other. They struggle, and the sounds of their blood gurgling in their mouths and throats are chilling before they drop to the ground dead. Wiping my dagger and sword clean, Nana takes the lead once again as she props the bodies together hidden in the same spots as we were.

"If we keep doing this for hours, we might actually make a dent." I say with a soft chuckle.

"You would think so, but it isn't simple. Let's get going before it is too late."

Picking up the pace, the tunnel leads into a bigger chamber that has been clearly lived in for some time by many. The flat ground of the rocky texture smooths out into an open, clean field of goblins in tents and makeshift shelters. It seems these are the grunts of the horde that must live in the lowest of quality given, using camping kits from fallen adventurers.

"There is only one entrance and exit. This is highly unfortunate." Nana takes a deep breath before adjusting her sword.

"We can't have them running down and alerting the whole nest if we reveal ourselves, and we can't exactly have them backstabbing us when we need to leave. Either way, they got us here."

"This is really a nest made by a very smart creature. This Hobgoblin Shamin must be down much further. Who knows if they have more levels to explore before we reach any of their main chamber."

"It looks like we need to fight. There is only about forty or so here. We can take them."

"The chances of one slipping by to alert the nest is high. I may be confident in killing them all but even I can't defend the tunnel with my sword. The walls are too cramped."

"I could with my size, I am just barely bigger than these goblins, so I can stop them from warning the others."

"Would you do something so dangerous? You can't turn your back; otherwise, you will find their blade stuck deep in your head."

"You hunt them down, Nana; I can hold them back until you kill them all. We need to hurry; the more they delay us, the less time we can save any of the survivors."

"Not much choice then. If you can sneak by and get close enough to the other side, I will charge in. Everything will ride on you to stop them from escaping."

"Believe in me. I can do this."

"I hope you're right. Now go, I will prepare."

"Right." Taking a deep breath, I adjusted my gear and gently moved to the left side of the encampment. Slowly making each step calculated with each breath without losing focus. For once, I am glad I don't wear excessive armor other than the shin guards and leather chest piece. Nearing the tunnel further in the nest, one goblin stumbles past me and trips over my foot. The loud crash of the creature causes a quick commotion and I react to quickly step on its next. Not wanting it to make a sound, I quickly put all my force behind my foot to swiftly snap its neck.

Time was short, so I quickly moved to the tunnel and spotted Nana in the distance, watching over me. She raised her hand, letting me know that she was ready. I took a deep breath and drew my sword. Hitting the ground of the rocks causes the goblins to jump from their positions and turn to me. They snarl and let out inhumane noises before they quickly charged me. At the same time, Nana leaps from her position and swings her massive sword through a small group running at me. The blood sprays across the backs of other goblins, who turn around to see the tall beast woman wielding the massive blade in her hand. The blood of their fellow creatures dripped off the cold steel, creating a stir of fear within them.

"None of you will leave here alive!" Shouting, she proceeds to chase after the goblins with ease. The sounds of the dying creatures are cut off as she drives the blade through each of them.

The ones bold enough to face her all meet a quick end, while the ones too frightened or weak to consider fighting her try their luck on me. I stood still with my blade ready. With each approaching goblin attempting to attack, I quickly parried and slashed through one. Two more approaches and I took a step back to stab the nearest one; the other slipped by and attempted to run down the tunnel. I quickly jerked my sword free, drew my dagger, and threw the small blade into the back of that goblin. It drops to the ground, bleeding to death as the gasping creature grows lifeless. Defending against the rest of the goblins before Nana could finish the last of them, their bodies littered the ground with dark ink-red blood all over the rocks. Nana grabs the final goblin and snaps its neck before tossing it to the side like some broken toy.

"These creatures were much weaker than the ones who tried to ambush us. They were most likely from a different tribe, by the looks of it." Nana says while flicking the blood off her blade. She slowly approaches me with a satisfied look.

"Yeah, much smaller, too. This Hobgoblin has favorites, it seems." Blood drips from my sword, and I flick it off before sheathing my blade.

"That's good for us, I suppose. Just means we need to be ready for the real deal here."

"Agreed. We wasted enough time here; let's hurry." Turning around, we quickly picked up the pace and headed down the tunnel, leaving the many corpses and parts of many on the ground to rot and fester from the elements.