5 Pine Bark Shield

(Now or never!)

I throw the bark shield like a frisbee. It strikes the goblin in the chest and sends him flying.

I immediately tear another piece of bark from the tree and rush towards Nat and the goblin on top of her.

It's trying to bite at her face, slobber dripping out of his mouth and onto her. She's screaming and cussing, tears leaking out of her eyes.

Frantically, I kick the goblin off of her. He rolls two or three times before stopping.

My heart is pounding in my ears. Despite me logically knowing we should leave, I scramble over to the goblin and start bashing him with the shield.

He's doing his best to defend his face with his arms, but one drops, then the other.

My shield is raised, ready to finish him off.

"Kairo!"

Hearing a whistling noise, I frantically raise my shield. A strong impact throws me off the goblin, sending me into a roll that I end with a crouch.

Peeking out from behind the shield, I find the goblin with the sword standing over his ally. His brows are furrowed and there's a weird glint in his eye.

The goblin I had been about to kill weakly starts eating a green plant from his belt, and his bloody arms slowly start healing.

I can only stare in surprise.

While his friend is healing, gobby number 1 starts attacking me.

Each of his strikes sends shockwaves into my arms. Pieces of the shield are flying off.

After all, nature isn't nearly as strong as iron.

Something hits my thigh. At first I think I'm fine, but when I go to put weight on my leg a sharp pain shoots up from my leg.

(Shit shit shit!)

The second goblin had finished healing, and he just stabbed me.

As I drop to one knee, the two goblins charge together.

It's a storm of swords that I'm barely able to block.

I keep my shield raised, the attacks feeling closer and closer, until one breaks through and hits my arm.

At first, I don't feel it.

Then White HOt PAIN!

It happens again. And again. And again.

Eventually, the shield falls away and the only thing protecting me from the cold iron is my arms.

(They're numb.)

I can feel impacts on my bones.

Still no pain.

Natalia is screaming but I can't hear what she's saying. There's black on the edges of my vision.

I can feel my consciousness slipping. My eyes slowly shut.

(I guess this is it. Stay safe, Natalia, Matt. Sorry Rat.)

The impacts stop.

Fresh blood splashes my face. Blood that's not mine.

I force my eyes open.

Standing in front of me is a figure in a black cloak. A sword hangs in their hand, blood slowly dripping off of it.

They turn toward me, and I can see that it's Burch.

He sheathes his sword, and drops to my side.

"Heal."

A green light floods over my arms.

I can see chips in my forearm bone fill in, then my muscles and tendons grow back, and finally my skin.

It's almost like nothing happened, except the place that was healed is clean while the rest of my arm is coated in blood and dirt.

I try to get up and immediately fall back to the ground. My head is spinning, and despite emptying my stomach earlier, I feel unbelievably nauseous.

I hear a sigh and look up at Burch.

"You lost a lot of blood. I can't bring that back, so you're just have to wait for a bit."

I nod my head in understanding. Another sigh.

"Honestly, that was stupid. What made you think you could take on two goblins with nothing but a shitty shield?"

I lower my eyes so the only thing I need to look at are his boots.

"Nothing. I just knew I had to save Natalia."

"Ah, so you're the hero type?" he says with a scoff, "Still, not a lot of people have single handedly killed a goblin in this test, let alone put up a fight against two at the same time."

My head snaps up in surprise.

"You're something else kid. You've got guts. Someday, you'll be a force to be reckoned with."

I fight the smile trying to come to my face.

"Thanks...I guess."

He nods, then starts walking off. After a few steps, he turns back and crouches next to me.

"One last piece of advice before I leave. Drop your current "friends". They'll only drag you down."

He practically whispered this next to my ear.

I can feel my face getting hotter as I clench my fists.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

Laughing in my face, he stands up.

"Actually, I do. The boy froze in the tree, unable to do anything. While the girl isn't bad, there are stronger people in this group. People like you."

"We'll see."

He scoffs again.

(His two favorite things to do must be scoffing and sighing.)

"Yeah, we'll see where you'll all be in six months. Try to be back to the clearing within 30 minutes."

He turns on his heel and leaves with a swish of his cloak. Matt and Natalia rush over.

"Are you alright?"

"How're you feeling?"

I try to give them an energetic smile to hide how tired I am.

"I'm doing great! I mean, my arms were turned into a paste, but he healed me right up and I couldn't feel any better! Still might need some help walking to the clearing."

We all break into laughter and leave the clearing, ignoring the gruesome sight of the two goblins that were cleanly cut in half.