A Bloody Road Read online

  “Ah, that would certainly make sense,” Wyre eventually mused.

  “What? Bloody hells, I hope that’s some sort of weird hobgoblin joke!” one of the other bandits exclaimed in shock.

  “If it is, then it’s not bloody funny,” another added.

  “My jokes are funny, but that wasn’t one.” Blacknail didn’t make a lot of jokes, but when he did, people laughed. He was fairly sure they were laughing with him…

  “Maybe he’s making this up! Are we going to trust his word?” another scared-sounding bandit added.

  “Why wouldn’t we?” Wyre replied sternly. “He has no reason to lie about this.”

  “I’m not a liar,” Blacknail hissed as he gave his captive a kick.

  The man on the ground grunted. “He’s telling the truth.”

  Blacknail gave the bandit who had questioned him a mean stare. Everyone else looked at the captive. They had forgotten he was still alive, because he certainly didn’t look like it. The man was lying on his stomach with his wounded arms out beside him. His face was turned away from them and pressed against the dusty ground.

  “See, you’re being paranoid,” Wyre told the blond man.

  “Bah, why are you defending a bloody hobgoblin? That thing kills everyone around him!” the blond man exclaimed.

  “I don’t kill everybody!” Blacknail countered reproachfully. “That would-ss be pointless and a lot of work! Look, I left this captive alive. We’re even friends now.”

  “You’re friends?” Wyre asked skeptically.

  The scout looked at the prone man Blacknail had chased down. The cuts on his arms had mostly stopped bleeding, but the long scarlet gashes and the trails of blood they had created across the dusty road were still visible. Even the slight rising and falling of his chest as he breathed looked painful.

  “Yep, we’re definitely friends now,” Blacknail announced as he gave the man on the ground another light kick. “I saved his life. From myself.”

  “We’re… the best of friends.” The man on the ground coughed painfully a second later.

  “I’d hate to see his enemies,” someone muttered.

  Wyre grunted. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how that works. You can’t save him from yourself.”

  “Then I saved him from you. If you had-ss caught him, would you have left him alive?” Blacknail asked with undeterred enthusiasm.

  “Probably not,” Wyre reluctantly agreed.

  “See, I promised to let-ss him live and everything!” Blacknail added to support his argument. He had kind of forgotten where he was going with this… but that wasn’t going to stop him.

  “And that’s actually a promise you intend to keep?” Wyre asked with morbid curiosity.

  “Why not? I have no reason to kill him. I’m-ss a nice person. Also, Saeter said lying was bad-ss. If you’re good and never lie, then people will start to believe everything you say. That sounds amazing!”

  Wyre blinked in surprise and stared at the hobgoblin for several seconds. The scout’s face was completely blank and revealed nothing as the hobgoblin beamed at him.

  “Ah, words of wisdom if I ever heard them,” he remarked deadpan. After a few moments, Wyre walked over to the prisoner. He crouched over the man and asked him questions of his own. When he was done, he turned back to Blacknail. “Let’s get going. Apparently we have a hostile army to avoid. Do you plan on leaving this guy here?”

  Blacknail hadn’t really thought about it. He wasn’t against Wyre’s suggestion though. It certainly sounded like the least amount of work. “Sure, he can-ss stay here. He won’t be able to catch up to us and no one-ss should find him for a while.”

  “Something will probably eat him, like wolves… or a hobgoblin,” one of the other bandits muttered.

  Blacknail ignored the comment and turned back to the man on the ground. “When you do get back to your comrades, remember to tell them how-ss scary I am!”

  “I will do that,” the man replied dryly as he stared in fascinated horror at the hobgoblin.

  Blacknail liked how his new friend was absolutely terrified of him. He should probably encourage this behavior in others.

  “Also, I’m going-ss to come back here soon and kill everyone in their sleep,” Blacknail cheerfully said to his captive. “I’ve been told I’m good at that! Make sure you tell-ss everyone that. I’ll let you live again though, because we’re friends.”

  “Thanks, I think,” the man replied quietly. He sounded somewhat delirious and out of it.

  Blacknail gave him an encouraging pat on the head to cheer him up.

  “Come on, leave him be,” Wyre told the hobgoblin. “We need to go. The longer we stay here, the more likely it is they’ll send someone to check up on their lookouts.”

  With a sigh of resignation, Blacknail nodded and got up. Altogether, the bandits started down the road again. One of them maneuvered the creaking wagon around the bodies of the fallen. The horse pulling it seemed more worried about keeping an eye on Blacknail than anything else.

  Before he got far down the road, Blacknail stopped and turned back toward the last surviving member of Werrick’s men. He’d had a great idea! “I’ll also spare people-ss who leave cheese out in the woods for me. Tell everyone!”

  When the hobgoblin had rejoined the others, Wyre turned to him and coughed loudly to get everyone’s attention. “We slipped the noose just now, when Blacknail took out those scouts, but we’re still in danger. The enemy is between us and safety and our wagon is far from stealthy. They’ll spot it from a mile away.”

  “Then let’s dump it,” a nervous-sounding man commented.

  Blacknail gave the man a mean glare to shut him up. His cheese was still on that wagon!

  Wyre also scowled and shook his head. “I’m not going to be the one to explain its loss to Herad. Are you?” When no one replied, the scout continued talking. “The road’s the only way back anyway. Blacknail and I might survive a jaunt through the forest, but I doubt most of you will. No, we’re going to clear the route for the wagon and then make for safety as fast as possible.”

  “By clearing the road, you mean killing people, right?” Blacknail asked.

  “Yes,” Wyre answered.

  “Good, I can-ss do that,” the hobgoblin replied confidently.

  Wyre ignored the smiling hobgoblin. “The enemy will have sentries posted somewhere along the road. I’ll take the north side and Blacknail will take the south. Together, we’ll sweep ahead of the wagon and take out their sentries unseen.”

  “You’re going to do everything by yourselves?” the sole female bandit present asked.

  “If we need help, we’ll come back and get it. If we don’t, then you’ll be a liability. It’s over either way if we get spotted,” Wyre explained.

  No one else had any questions after that, so they resumed their trek. Only when they got a little closer to where the enemy was supposed to be did Wyre signal for the wagon to slow. He and Blacknail then stepped into the woods on opposite sides of the road.

  The hobgoblin licked his lips as he slipped through the bushes. He was on full alert and excited as he stalked silently under the trees. Today was going to be such a great day! He was going to hunt people not once but twice!

  The speckled shadows cast by the branches above darkened the woods. Even though the road was so close, the forest here was dark and oppressive. Only a light covering of small leafy plants grew across the ground. It wasn’t so dark that the hobgoblin thought he would run into any giant spiders, but he kept a lookout for webs just in case. He really didn’t like those creepy things.

  Soon, Blacknail came across a well-worn animal path, so he stopped to sniff the earth. He smelled traces of rabbits and wolves. He thought he also detected a faint whiff of harpy. Wolves and harpies could be dangerous in large groups, but Blacknail wasn’t too worried about them. Food was plentiful in the spring and neither would risk attacking him. Even without a steel blade in hand and magic lurking in his blood, a hunting h
obgoblin was more than a match for them.

  With his focused eyes full of forest green, Blacknail continued on. There was little underbrush around, so he had to move carefully to stay out of the sight of any watchers. Tall tree trunks stretched out before him in every direction. Soon, the ground sloped upward toward a hill. Blacknail eyed it carefully. He didn’t see any enemies, but he couldn’t see the top of the hill, and it would be a perfect vantage point from which to watch the road. If there was someone up there, making the climb undetected would be difficult, so the hobgoblin waited and watched. Patience was often the key to catching prey. He couldn’t wait too long though. The wagon was still moving down the road and would shortly come into sight.

  However, his patience was soon rewarded. Blacknail heard a rustling sound then a murmur of voices. The hobgoblin’s long green ears perked up. The noise was clearly coming from atop the hill. There were definitely people up there.

  “Grab my bag when you go,” someone out of sight said. “If I’m going to be stuck here, I want it. And don’t take too long. There’s supposed to be two of us here.”

  Someone muttered a reply, and Blacknail watched intently from behind a thick tree trunk as a rough-looking man with brown hair made his way down the hill. This was perfect! Carefully, the hobgoblin drew his sling and loaded it with a rock. A second later, the unsuspecting man collapsed after a rock ricocheted off his head. Smiling smugly, the hobgoblin dragged his victim’s body out of sight. Blacknail then walked up the slope. At first, he moved silently, but then the last sentry’s back came into sight and Blacknail sped up. The man was preoccupied with watching the road and not looking his way.

  “Do you have my stuff?” the sentry asked without turning around.

  “Nope,” Blacknail replied as he bashed the man in the back of the head with a rock.

  The hobgoblin then waited a few minutes for the wagon to roll into sight. From atop the tree-covered hill, he watched it make its way across the road. When it was safely past the lookout spot, he jumped down the hill and ran to catch up with the others.

  “You’re back. Murder anyone while you were gone?” the leading bandit asked Blacknail when he stepped out of the forest.

  “Just two,” Blacknail replied as he held up a pair of fingers. “I found the enemy sentries.”

  “Good, did you find the camp?” the man asked.

  “Nope, I didn’t see it-ss. Maybe it’s on Wyre’s side of the road,” Blacknail answered.

  “It is, and we need to move faster,” the aforementioned scout announced as he stepped out of the woods. “There were no sentries watching the road on my side, but they had a few around the camp. I only got a quick look, but it’s not small or unorganized. It looks like a military camp and they have at least a few horses.”

  “You think they’ll notice their sentries are missing and send riders after us?” the female bandit asked.

  “Of course. The gods never miss a chance to mess with us mere mortals,” Wyre replied. “We’re simply going to have to move as fast as possible. It’s all we can do.”

  “What if they just ride us down?” someone who sounded nervous asked.

  Blacknail sympathized. Being chased by a bunch of horses with people on them didn’t sound like much fun to him either. From experience, he knew it didn’t usually end well for the person without a horse.

  “Depends. If there are only a few of them, then we’ll fight. If there are too many for us to handle, then we’ll make for the woods. They’ll have to dismount to follow us,” the short scout explained.

  There were a quick series of acknowledgements from everyone present, and they all picked up the pace. Wyre gave the chestnut horse pulling the wagon a slap on its flank. The beast snorted disdainfully and gave the man an annoyed look, but it moved faster as well. Blacknail did his best to ignore the stupid creature as he jogged alongside the others.

  “Can’t you humans go any faster? This is very slow,” Blacknail remarked after a while.

  “We have to keep this pace up all day if we want to make it back to camp,” one of the bandits replied angrily.

  “So? It’s still really slow. Stop being so lazy and go faster,” the hobgoblin told him.

  “I’m not bloody lazy! This is as fast as we can go. We’re not all hobgoblins, Vessels, or batshit insane like you!” the man shot back.

  “Huh, I guess,” Blacknail replied as he ran. After a moment of thought, he dropped back to talk to Wyre.

  “What do you want?” the scout asked.

  “We need to run faster.”

  “Unless you know magic—or at least an incredibly inspiring running song—that’s not going to happen.”

  “No, but I do have a plan! I could go to the back and poke the slowest runner with a sharp stick until they go faster,” Blacknail explained.

  “Tempting, but no. I’m going to have to pass on that.” Wyre chuckled.

  “Ugh, fine.” The hobgoblin sighed. With such slow idiots for companions, there was no way the group could outrun anyone. If they got chased down, he planned on being at the front where it was safer. All the slow humans could take the brunt of the attack. Maybe that would motivate them to move faster…

  The running continued for quite a while. As they moved, the sun slipped behind a cover of thick white clouds and its light dimmed. The creaking of wooden wheels and heavy wheezing from the nearby humans filled the hobgoblin’s ears. Up ahead of him, the road made a sudden turn. A particularly tall tree stood on the very corner of the bend. Its long trunk had grown on a slant and its drooping branches hung over the road. Blacknail was watching it out of the corner of his eye when he saw movement. As he focused, a figure stepped out from under the tree and froze in surprise. Several other people quickly appeared around him and pointed toward the hobgoblin’s group. Uh, oh. That wasn’t good.

  “There are men ahead-ss of us,” Blacknail hissed in alarm as he skidded to a stop.

  “Shit, I see them too.” Wyre swore.

  The rest of their party stopped. The horse neighed when one of the bandits pulled on its reins to stop it, and there was tension in the air as everyone stared at the new arrivals.

  “There shouldn’t be anyone from Herad’s camp out this way,” Wyre commented darkly.

  “Whoever they are, they’ve got us cut off,” someone added.

  More and more people came into sight up ahead. There were at least as many of them as there were bandits in Blacknail’s group, and who knew how many more were still out of sight. The hobgoblin heard one of the unknown men shout, and blades appeared in their hands.

  “Draw your weapons and get ready for a fight,” Wyre commanded everyone.

  Blacknail drew his blade and threw a worried glance at the wagon. It had finally happened… they had come for his cheese.

  Chapter 3

  Blacknail snarled as the unidentified humans on the road in front of him drew closer. They had weapons in hand and looked ready for a fight. Well, if it was a fight they wanted, then that was what they would get. No stupid humans would get their dirty hands on his tasty cheese without a fight!

  “We must defend the loot!” Blacknail growled loudly to his companions.

  Behind the hobgoblin, those of his fellow bandits who hadn’t already taken out their weapons did so. Wyre pulled out a bow and hurriedly strung it. It wasn’t a particular long bow, but next to his short stature, it looked large.

  “Why are we listening to the bloody hobgoblin?” one of the bandits whined with an edge of panic in his voice. “When did that start to make sense? They’re murderous savages! Maybe the horse has some tactics it would like to share as well?”

  “We’re not listening to the hobgoblin. We’re doing what Herad ordered us to, which is bring this wagon back to base,” Wyre responded in a harsh, commanding voice.

  “We should leave the wagon and head into the forest. This must be a trap! There are probably more of them coming up behind us,” the scared bandit said as he threw a nervous look backward
down the road.

  Blacknail growled. If the coward was allowed to run, then the others would follow, and that was no good. The humans had to stay and fight to protect his cheese! “I don’t hear anyone behind us. How could it be a trap, you stupid human?”

  “What does a beast like you know? We need to run!” the man shot back.

  Blacknail growled in annoyance and stepped up beside the man. “If you run-ss, you’ll never make it. Something terrifying out in the woods will kill you slowly and painfully. Me!”

  The bandit paled and stepped back from the hobgoblin, then threw a nervous look toward Wyre. The scout was too far away to have heard Blacknail, but he noticed the other man’s reaction.

  “Stand your ground, both of you,” Wyre ordered. “There’s no need to run yet. Blacknail is right. I see no sign of us being encircled, and they seem just as surprised as us to have run into company.”

  Blacknail did as he was told. Not because Wyre was his boss—he wasn’t—but because it was what he wanted to do anyway. Up ahead, one of the unidentified people detached from the rest and walked forward. His hand was raised to shield the sun from his eyes, and he appeared to be trying to get a good look at Blacknail and the bandits.

  “Hey, I think that’s Boots!” the female bandit standing next to Wyre exclaimed. “They’re not enemies at all; they’re from Herad’s camp. We’ve got reinforcements!”

  Blacknail turned and squinted at the approaching man but could only make out the blurry outline of a face. Well, most humans looked alike anyway.

  Wyre walked forward. “It seems we hit a spot of good luck after all. Come on, get the wagon moving. Let’s see what brings our fellows out this way. Not that I’m complaining.”

  There was a loud neigh and the creaking of straining wood as the horse hitched to the wagon moved again. Blacknail and several other bandits put away their blades and followed Wyre. Most of the tension from earlier had already faded away. Now everyone seemed relieved and excited.