8 Eight

It was always a mystery to Fang how things could go so wrong so fast. Not two days before when he scouted out the scenic town of Quiet Wood it had been the picture of a lush town in the middle of harvest season. In a few hours it would be lucky to have even a few unburnt buildings.

The attack was swift, starting at dawn when the humans were still asleep and spreading over the town like wildfire. Though he hadn't been there to see it, he knew just how attacks like this happened. Though, it was odd to see such a fully fleshed out and executed plan such as this one.In the span of the day or so he had been gone finishing his contract with the nobleman an entire band of goblins had struck the unassuming town and hit it hard enough to topple the mediocre guard the town had set up.

Thirty goblins all decked in armor, wagons for the supplies, and a detailed plan.

Now that took quite the brain to plot.

Someone must have really wanted this town burned to the ground, and if Fang had to guess it would probably have something to do with the Goblin King. These days it was far too easy for the domesticated townsfolk to forget the once and still fearsome presence of the bloated mole that dominated the entirety of the Underearth Caverns hidden beneath the feet of the entire kingdom. All it took was one little insult and boom, there went your entire life, and probably your families as well.

For a punishment of this scale the insult must have been significant. The last time the Goblin King or any other goblin party struck like this it had been over the collapse of one of the tunnels leading to and from their trade capitols. This time of year, mid harvest when many feet were testing freshly farmed fields, he could easily see that being the cause once again.

It be a shame if it was. Such a loss of life and livelihood over such a small dispute. No doubt in a couple years this town would be little more than a ghost town off the main road, only inhabited by the last dregs of goblins who chose to stay above ground.

One thing was for sure; Not a single one of the townsfolk would see their homes ever again. By the time any reinforcements would arrive the place would be too swarmed to be recoverable and therefore too much work for the kingdom to reclaim. Those who escaped would have what was left on their backs and what was out of town.

Fang himself was lucky enough to have gotten there in time to save his charge. Just barely.

The sight of the puny human female wielding the worlds smallest blade to a couple of full grown feral goblins was enough to make him think the worst. In that small instant his heart had stilled, and he wasn't sure if it was for the human or the money he would have to repay.

Luckily he didn't have to mourn either. Neither of the goblins had been on the attack making it easy for him to swoop in and distract them from their target in the nick of time. Normally tearing one of those feral beasts from it's target was an impossible tast, but apparently they weren't too interested in the blonde haired woman.

It was sloppy and unimpressive, especially for one who prided himself in his work like he did. The minute he signed that contract he should have been back here as quick as he could, protecting the mouthy little wench if she wanted it or not.

However he hadn't, and that oversight led him where he was now, following a human on a unicorn through the Dark Woods while the thick sticky blood of goblins stained his new armor. What a shame.

At least he had a nice sight. Elizabeth Faireheart was far too easy on the eyes for her own good. Taller for a human with gold spun hair that hung in long curls around her thick form, she was like every living creatures most pleasurable dream. When he had first spotted her he hadn't questioned why her father wanted her protected, hell he himself had thoughts of snatching her away and keeping her from the world in a cave somewhere.

Something about her just seemed to draw the eye. From the very second he spotted her he could tell she would bring the worst out of him, tantalizing his more barbaric ogre side.

She had been doing just that from the moment he laid eyes on her, and upon their snarky greeting she only seemed to be fanning the flames. If she knew what challenging one such as himself meant for a male of his species she never would have done so.

Still, despite that he found his interest in her odd. Very few females drew his attention these days and even fewer were human. Either too meek or too wild, none seemed to have enough of a balance to interest him as a male, but this one had all the boxes.

Wild, fiery, and an heiress to a fortune, he was everything he dreamed of. She even rode on the back of the walking status symbol that was a unicorn. Granted it was dark haired, which wasn't ideal, but with those eyes and the gold horn he knew it must have cost a pretty penny.

If someone had told Fang two weeks before that he would be escorting a human female on a unicorn across the Dark Wood he might have punched the sense right back into them. It was a good thing his pockets were a lot more full now to make up for the absurdity.

There was nothing better than a pretty woman and plenty of coin. If only the pretty woman wasn't both his charge and the daughter of his contract owner.

Shame.

He had been looking forward to following through with his earlier claims of throwing the female over his lap. Hell, he still might if she kept pushing the way she had been.

Since beginning the trek through the woods the woman had done nothing but get on his nerves. Between not being used to riding long distances and zoning out at the worst times the woman would not be winning any medals in his book.

A couple of times he had to smack the back of the unicorn to startle her back into the present. No doubt she would be in quite a daze over the fight from before, but the raiding party wouldn't hesitate to track them down when they found the corpses of the two they left behind. He wouldn't risk her once again in order to entertain her dazed head.

As it was the trees had already seemed to grow too familiar to him. Every now and then he would spot something that made him believe they had just been circling the same area over and over despite the fact there was no curve in their path.

It was entirely possible the woman had no idea where she was going.

"How far are we from the cove?" he finally asked, his nerves getting the better of him.

Elizabeth jumped, startled back to the present. Her gaze flew to him as if she had forgotten he was there entirely. Part of that got on his nerves.

No human should be able to forget they were traveling with an orc they barely knew, let alone this pretty female with a warrior like him.

"Only a while longer. You can hear the water now," she told him, cupping her ear to take in more sound.