Chapter 5 – Part 2

The dolgrim squealed in pain as the byeshk-covered end of the club hit the misshapen thing across both of its mouths, knocking yellow teeth and black blood in a wide fan. The squat little aberration hoisted its two spears and stabbed blindly at its attacker, but got nowhere. The aged orc was already bringing the club around again on a backswing, and the dolgrim’s skull cracked mightily. The spears fell to the ground from numb hands. A second later the dolgrim itself hit the ground with a sound like a rotten apple falling.

“More stragglers that way!” Ama’shay roared in the druidic tongue to the hawk that was circling overhead. It was dark out, but there were enough moons showing to give the bird of prey some light with which to see where the orc pointed. The hawk squawked a response, and wiggled its talons with magic. Seconds later fire rained down on the smarter dolgrims, who had fled the massacre of the rest of the warband.

The orc grinned as the hawk landed and transformed in Pienna. “I think we got all of them,” she said. Her oak circlet glowed as she murmured a spell, giving her something more to see by. “I saw Missy and your companion corner the archers.”

“We haven’t seen the dolgaunt yet,” Ama’shay warned. “And you should find a form that gives you blessed orc nightsight.”

“The dolgaunt must not be around,” she said. “My detection of aberration spells did not show a presence for him, just the dolgrims.” She peered at the night sky. “It is well past midnight, it should have showed itself by now.”

“Two hundred dolgrims and more!” roared the orc, pumping a fist into the air. “So many over the last week that I have lost count! Not in years has my beloved club smashed in so many foul, twisted little skulls! If only you had been here to see my earlier victories!” He paused, letting his exultations settle into a frown. “But the main foe has not been found. A dolgaunt commands them, I tell you, why else would they come forward in so many waves?”

“Then we hunt,” Pienna said. “We cannot let our guard down. The dolgaunt, or some other who commands them –”

“Dolgaunt,” Ama’shay insisted.

“Cannot return to Khyber with any information to report,” she concluded. “But hwo do we find the thing if our spells do not register, if not one of our charmed animal servants have spotted it?”

“Excuse me,” a soft voice said in the Common Tongue.

Both Ama’shay and Pienna whirled around, startled. For all their woodslore, the speaker had snuck up behind them. A short figure with green skin, a bow on its back, stepped into Pienna’s light.

“The sneak,” Ama’shay grunted dismissively. The orc no longer spat when the goblin spoke, but he did not carry a civil tone with the goblin. Of course Ama’shay still spoke in Druidic, so theoretically the goblin did not understand the orc.

“Brezzy, where have you been?” Pienna asked. “I was so worried!” Her face showed real emotion, and it was obvious to Ama’shay that the human woman really liked the sneak for some reason.

“Hunting,” the goblin said, grinning a big, stupid grin. He held up his left hand and tossed something forward. It rolled on the ground and stopped near Ama’shay’s foot. Raw flesh of a head with no eyes and covered in fine cilla.

The dolgaunt’s head.

Ama’shay grunted in shock. “Pienna, how did your sneak do this?” The orc looked at the goblin with new eyes. For a moment he thought he saw cloaked rage, but only for a moment.

Pienna’s response was not an answer, but to kneel and hug the goblin forcefully. “Oh Brezzy, what would we do without you?” she whispered.

“Brezzy is happy to stop the daelkyr-made unthings,” the goblin said. He smiled now, staring at Ama’shay.

Oddly, the smile did not seem to touch the goblin’s eyes.