Kaleidoscope

Kael watched Gerald dance amongst the fleeing goblins, his movements weren't particularly fast but they were skillful and lethal. Sparing only the shortest of moments for each kill the blue eyed boy claimed life after life from the goblins, chasing them out of sight and into the trees.

'We were holding him back...'

Kael felt envious, he had neither the skill nor the strength and speed Gerald had just displayed. Yet he was the hideous monster, he couldn't even say for sure that he would possess a human body again. Perhaps he would die here in the middle of nowhere in the form of an incomplete twisted being that did not fit into any one race, a reflection of who he had been in life a desperate unloved little boy.

Thinking on Gerald's combat superiority Kael felt a growing d.e.s.i.r.e to absorb the spider bloodline within him for improvements or drain all the goblin corpses and savour the sweetness of their blood. But neither was feasible, intergrating the spider bloodline would take a minimum of days and if he drained the goblins he would lose his mind and assault Kip and the others without Gerald's pressence to keep him in check. Tired, he sat on the ground and played with a leaf.

Gerald run as fast as he could, both his deviation and his body were strained from the effort but a glance back told him the hobgoblin was hot on his tail. The sprints to the miniscule clearing where they'd fought of the goblins was a short one. He seemed to burst out of the copse and into the tiny clearing just as he began to run.

Spinning he slashed at the now emerging hobgoblin visciously. The greater goblin's entirely black eyes widened in suprise but he handled it well, he dove out of the way with a well timed roll and rose from it with a strike of it's own.

The two exchanged a flurry of blows with dizzying speed. Kael and the others stood up and tried to assist Gerald but none of them could find the space to attack without getting in Gerald's way.

Kael gazed with envying eyes as they matched blades in a lethal dance. A handful of goblins showed their heads and stared on reverently as their leader battled the killer of their brethren.

At first glance Gerald seemed to be winning but Kael soon realised he was wrong. The goblin was just as fast as Gerald was and whilst the latter was far more skilled the former was well armoured and hence bolder. Gerald was forced into a more cautious defensive position and the few strikes he managed to get past the goblin's sword glanced harmlessly against its armour. Worse if their capacities were similar in size the Gerald would run out before it did. The only hope Kael could see was that the goblin wore a half helm and as such a well placed blade could split its face.

Kael had to do something, he stared on intently waiting for a chance to intercede but the two combatants spiralled faster and faster, their blades seeming nothing but silver arcs, streaking through the air and the erupting in sparks and clangs where they met. He was too slow and a mistake here would end in all their deaths.

Gerald kept swinging his sword, there was no time for anything else. His enemy was a shit swordsman but it's armour was unnaturally tough, he would not be able to break it, but perhaps if he could---

'F.u.c.k!'

The goblin had caught his blade with a gauntleted hand, Gerald suspected that even so the sword had cut into its hand as well but before he test his suspicions with a yank the goblin swung it's sword at him and he was forced to let go of his or get cut in two.

'F.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k!'

The goblin flicked his hand deftly and Gerald's blade danced in it's hands. Pleased, it began to attack him with both swords. It's sword play was poor to begin with and with two blades it only got worse, still Gerald was now unarmed and slightly slower meaning the goblin could focus on attacking whilst he was forced to avoid getting cut, it was only a matter of time till it got lucky.

Moving even faster than before Gerald side stepped one blade then ducked beneath the next. He seemed to know where each blade was heading before the goblin itself did, the demi human strokes became wilder and Gerald's movements became surer. Gerald led the goblin left, then jerked to the right, he spun out of the way of both blades and tackled the goblin to ground.

On the attack now Gerald slammed his head into the goblin's over and over again. Each time he raised his head it seemed bloodier, soon it dripped steadily with the blood of both fighters. Gerald smashed his head against the goblin's one final desperate time. His sight was filled with red and everything hurt but just maybe, maybe it would be enough.

Beneath him the hobgoblin growled, it's inhuman face was twisted with untempered rage. Not enough, Gerald raised a shaky fist, he would punch bastard to death even if it took all day. Unfortunately the goblin was faster, it planted a knee in his stomach and then knocked him aside with an armoured fist.

Rising, it grabbed him by his dirty matted hair, and started punching him.

'I will die here... no one will save me this time... no one can...' his head felt like it would break in two with every punch, by now he was no doubt unrecognizable.

Thunk! The goblin's helm was hit off it's head by a black flash. Growling it dropped Gerald and turned to face the fool who attacked it from behind. Kael's outstretched arm, shook feebly, when he planned this he had hoped the tentacle would take the goblin's head as well as it's helm but asides from a nasty gash the creature's head remaind intact.

It lashed out at Kael, seizing him by the neck. One hand lifted Kael off the ground whilst a foot pinned Gerald down. It raised it's head and howled, what remaind of it's followers would return to it now. They would be reminded that it's strength was absolute, that it was first amongst goblins and hence first amongst all creatures!

It never saw the club that slammed into it's head from behind. A single hit from the six foot Kip, snapped it's neck and killed it on the spot. The goblins that were returning fled when they saw others doing the same, a pack that might have become a true hoard was crushed with that blow, reduced to wandering bands. Some of which would die of, others would subsist, barely surviving until another hobgoblin emerged from their numbers, another first amongst goblins, another chacnce at surviving in a hostile world.

For Kael and his band it would be their first brush with death after escaping the Voth, being attacked by a single crazed rat did not count. It would help lessen the divide between the deviant boys and the ordinary men, teach them to trust and depend on. each other in the fights to come, whatever form they took. It was also their first major setback, Gerald's injuries were two serious to continue travelling and he was the teams muscle futhermore Kip, Bloke and Barnel had bleeding soles. After days of intense walking their blisters had become sores, the source of the blood scent that led the goblins to thinking attacking them was a good idea in the first place. The goblins had meant to separate their wounded members from the healthy ones and so what should have been a low risk hunt became a slaughter fest. The hunters were defeated and their intended prey grew stronger for it.

Elsewhere in the forest another pair of hunters found the same blood trail that led to the end of goblin pack. Eagerly they set down the same path perhaps however they would find a different end to their hunt, perhaps not. It is often difficult to tell the end of a hunt.