Chapter 6

Rain blearily returned to consciousness with a groan. His eyes stung painfully as blood had seeped in, dried, and crusted over. He tried to wipe and clear them as best he could with the back of his paw but it just made it worse. Scrabbling around blindly he managed to find the edge of a ragged blanket and rubbed his face with it. It helped, a little bit.

With a pounding headache he slowly pulled himself up and crawled out the tent. He had to shield his eyes from the light emitted from the crystals above. He could have sworn that they weren’t quite so painfully bright before, but then again maybe it was the headache fooling him.

His paw touched at a knife wound he had taken. To his surprise it just felt like a normal touch, no pain. He examined himself more closely and found that he had entirely healed while he slept, and none of the cuts, scrapes, bruises, gashes, and wounds remained. He was whole. He was almost too shocked to process it, this body was aberrant to anything but some freakishly high levelers body. There wasn’t much to be done but be thankful for it.

With one paw over his eyes he looked around. To his relief the camp still seemed deserted. He had no doubt that many of the Goblins had gotten away and were most likely carrying a grudge. If he wasn’t on the verge of collapse there was no way he would have chosen to sleep anywhere near here. Unfortunately it was what it was and he was glad he had gotten lucky enough to sleep undisturbed.

He looked down at his body and grimaced. His fur wasn’t so much fur but bits and chunks of dried blood. Miserable.

“Gods, I don’t think it’s possible to be any filthier. I need to get back to that lake and wash off.”

He wandered through the camp. It wasn’t a large camp, only a few dozen tents, but he supposed if some of the larger ones had more than one Goblin sleeping in them it could keep plenty of Goblins sheltered.

He wiped at his nose and sighed realising it was plugged with dried blood. Blowing his nose and scraping at it with his claws managed to shift enough of it that he could draw air in. Unsurprisingly he could smell a lot of blood, but on top of that was the stench of the Goblin’s camp. The bridge of his nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Eurgh. Do these Goblins need to be as foul as possible?”

He wandered past the pile of dead Goblins much the same as it was when he passed out.

It was a lot of meat. He could already feel his mouth watering, his hunger waking.

“No, not yet. I need ... I need to wash the blood and grit out of my eyes first. Maybe they have potted water somewhere...”

He continued onward and came to the edge of the camp. He found what he was looking for and then some. A small lake of clear water filled about a fifth of the cavern’s floor space.

With a whoop! He rushed toward it and splashed in, cool fresh water washed over him and his aches and pains were soothed away. Blinking without irritating his eyes was an amazing relief. He sighed and shuddered as blood and muck left his fur leaving a big red stain in the water that spread around him.

Desiring something approaching proper cleanliness he swam away from the mess he’d made in the water and began scrubbing. It wasn’t ideal but his fur was glossy enough that he was able to remove most of the dirt and blood using furious application of rubbing with his paw pads. He had to find a fresh spot more than once as he turned the water around him red. After the third move he found the water was no longer being discoloured and he stayed in the same spot until he felt he had scrubbed himself as clean as was reasonable.

He waded his way out of the lake and shivered as water began to evaporate from his fur. He shook himself dry like a dog to hurry the process along. Drying fur was not a fun experience.

It was in the middle of a bodily shake when motion caught the corner of his eye.

He snapped his attention to it. It was a Goblin. Just standing there. Looking at him.

He snarled. “Fuck off! What do you want!”

His recent experiences with Goblins had left him with any desire to deal with the little green people again.

He stepped forward threateningly. To his surprise the Goblin stayed where it was.

“Look, I’m done with you, I don’t fear your tribe anymore and I’m not about to chase you down. So you can go. Get lost. Go.”

He waved his paw at the Goblin vaguely.

The Goblin seemed to hesitate, it looked behind as though considering whether to make a run for it. Then it seemed to make a decision and stepped toward him.

“Why?” said Rain.

“Because you aren’t the Dire Beast. The witch was wrong.”

He blinked at the Goblin who had spoken in a clearly female voice.

“Wait, it’s you, isn’t it? The one I chased here...”

She nodded.

“You know I was trying to kill you right? I needed to avoid attention and couldn’t risk letting you go.”

She set her lips in a line and nodded again. “I know.”

Rain dropped his paws in disgust.

“Then why are you here? I wouldn’t do this if I were you.”

“Because you are strong and you think and speak. Chance you are the better option for me than dying remains of a Goblin tribe.”

Rain was about to scoff at that but his own experiences hanging on the coattails of others and relying on their good will made him pause.

“I could just eat you.”

“It’s a risk yes. But that is life in a dungeon. Life is always always a risk.”

“True enough I guess. But what makes you think that I’d want you around me.”

She seemed to be caught unexpectedly by that and spent a second thinking furiously.

“Because I can carry stuff.”

“Really? That’s what you’re going with? You know this isn’t very believable. If I wanted revenge I would consider fooling my target into thinking I am benign and then get them in their sleep. Is that what you wanted? It is, isn’t it?!”

The Goblin shook her head furiously, then with something approaching resignation she withdrew a small knife from a string on her hip and hurled it far out into the lake. She watched forlornly as it sunk out of view. Then she turned on the surprised wolf and marched toward him with arms outstretched to either side.

Rain had to admit she was very brave, she clearly looked ready to die, but he wasn’t about to start trusting her.

“Stop, don’t come any closer.”

She paused, then continued walking.

“If you come any nearer I’m going to kill you.”

She stopped.

“I don’t understand your motivations. Don’t you want me to die? Look what I did to your tribe! Don’t you care? I eat Goblins for gods sake.”

“I don’t care, not really. Gobbos don’t make tribes for ties, they make them so they can fight better. I was born in a litter of five, we were left to fend for ourselves, my brothers and sisters all killed each other.” She shrugged. “The top Gobbos use us as playthings, the witch uses us for blood sacrifice, and the rest of us backstab each other everyday in the hopes of being one of the top. That’s how it is in a Gobbo tribe. No love lost ... I ... don’t think it is good.”