She got up slowly. It wasn’t that she was terrified; it was that she was still in shock. She backed away slowly as the Goblin Chieftain pulled something from behind his back.
Erin closed her eyes and tried to ignore the horn as it blew from far away. The Goblin Chieftain wasn’t moving fast. He was probably walking, saving his energy for when he got here. He was in no hurry.
She thought about the small Goblin who’d attacked her. She thought about families, and thought about her parents. She thought about the Goblin Chieftain and his axes and armor.
The front door had a single locking bar of wood on it. The stout door and the band of metal around it splintered inwards as something struck it. Louder than she could imagine anything sounding. A crash of wood. It barely lasted seconds as a second foot broke the rotted, weakened section of the door. A second—and the Goblin Chieftain burst through the door, charging into the inn.
There was worse than malice there. Hatred. All the intent in the world. Hatred and a shaking rage. Erin hesitated. The chair was in her hands, and she’d raised it to throw. The Goblin Chieftain was looking at her with all these terrible things behind those eyes.
The Goblin Chieftain roared and charged Erin. So fast. He put his shoulder down and hit her before she could even throw the chair. Erin barely felt the impact. She did feel it as she smashed through the table behind her. The chair she was holding flew out of her hands. She felt something in her body crack.
Blood. It was running from her stomach. Erin held her hand over the wound and tried to make it stop. But she was bleeding now, faster and faster. And the Goblin Chieftain was getting up.
The Goblin Chieftain clawed at his face and sank to the floor. He was screaming still, but the sound he made was so very small. She heard him choking. Screaming quietly in agony. She understood. There wasn’t enough sound in the world to convey it all, and the screaming would make the pain worse. But still, he had to scream, so he did it quietly.
Klbkch assessed the situation. The Goblin Chieftain was a great threat. He could be killed if necessary, but—he was already dead. Dead. A threat capable of wiping out low-level parties of adventurers by himself had been killed by…a girl?
The Goblin Chieftain. Her eyes fell on his ruined face, on his motionless body. Erin paused and ignored Klbkch’s repeated questions. For a while, she just stared at the body until Klbkch dragged it out of the kitchen. When he returned and she looked back into his face, she’d completely forgotten what she wanted to say.
“I have disposed of the Goblin Chieftain’s body. However, there are many Goblins still hiding nearby. If you feel safe here, I will dispose of as many as I can. If not, I will escort you to the city and then return with reinforcements to—”
