Chapter 10 Ashes

The sun hadn't yet risen but the mayor, the old smith, and about a dozen miners were already on the road. They had to be at the slave pens before sunrise or the goblins may have already left. The old man and mayor chat cheerfully as they walk, the townsfolk under fear of starvation nearly unanimously agreed to get the goblins help. Today was the day the old man could officially declare Tect to be his apprentice and Arnold couldn't wait to see Tect's face when he made the announcement.

As they walked they could see some smoke and smell something burning but it was winter and every house in the area had a fire going so they thought nothing of it. It wasn't until they reached the slave pens that they saw what had happened. The old smith paled, "Tect….TECT!!!!!!!!" The old man ran forward, "Tect, where are ya boy?" he threw away pieces of tents uncovering bodies still laying in charred blankets. Tears fall from his eyes as he searches for the body of Tect, finally he sees the body of a human barely moving as they take in ragged breaths two crossbow bolts stick out from his back. The old man rushes over, all the men see where he is headed and quickly rush over as well. The old man gently lifts the young man and notice he is cradling a small female goblin. The young man is David, though nearly 18 malnutrition makes him look two to three years younger. Blood is running from the corners of his mouth and he glares at the old man as he is brought upright. "Don't touch me." David's voice is barely a whisper and yet it is filled with malice. " What happened here, where is Tect?" David coughs up blood, it is bright and full of bubbles, David clearly doesn't have long left. "He escaped. After you bastards attacked us he broke down the gate and ran off with everyone who was left." more coughing, more blood. David looks down at the female goblin and begins to cry. "We were supposed to be free, why did you people kill all of them?" The old smith hugs the boy and begins to cry. "We didn't do this lad, we were coming today to invite you all into town. We never wanted something like this." David spit some blood on to the ground, "This is what all humans want from them. To humans the only good goblin is a dead one, If any of you really cared you'd have freed them all years ago. Instead you only free them when you have no choice and it doesn't cost you anything." The strain of talking is too much, David begins coughing uncontrollably. "Hold on son, we'll get you to a doctor." "No, leave me alone. Im dead anyway, let me die here with my family." The mayor steps forward, "Ok we will. What's your name child, what should we put on your stone?" David's eyes are glossing over as death takes him but he begins laughing. "Keep your stone. Throw me in the same pit you'll throw them, I am a member of the Darh goblin clan, not your human town." The final light fades from David's eyes but he never lets go of the female goblin.

Meanwhile deep in the foothills Tect is struggling to move forward, he has been following many signs left by the other goblins, but weariness is overtaking him. As he enters a clearing at the foot of the mountains 25 scared and hurt goblins rush forward to greet him. Tect collapses towards them, he is nearly unrecognizable and crossbow bolts stick out from his back like porcupine quills. "I'm so sorry everyone, I couldn't save anyone else." The world fades away for Tect.

The goblins seeing Tect lose consciousness rush forward to help him. One of the goblins managed to bring a pack with a few cloth strips, they gently remove the crossbow bolts and bandage the wounds. One of the female goblins who used to work in a medicinal herb garden searches the nearby woods but only finds basic herbs for pain relief and some honey. When she returns to the clearing she uses two stones to grind the herbs and mixes in the honey, which is then applied to Tect's wounds. The goblins are confused, they can't remember anything after charging the gate with Tect… Normal Tect, not the muscle bound giant laying on a flat rock in front of them. Luckily as they entered the clearing they all regained their faculties and were able to set up a small camp, otherwise they would not have been able to treat Tect or keep him warm when he arrived. Now they were stuck waiting for Tect to wake up. Thankfully they didn't have to wait too long, just before noon Tect regained consciousness. The female goblin who had been watching over him ran over immediately, "Tect be careful, you'll start bleeding again if your not." Tect's vision was slightly blurry and it took him a moment to focus. "Moidra, what happened why did I pass out?" "It was loss of blood sir, you had half a dozen crossbow bolts in your back. You're very lucky they barely penetrated your flesh, if your skin and muscle weren't so damn thick any one of them would have killed you." Tect is confused, how was it possible to survive six crossbow bolts when a normal shot could sometimes pass clean through a goblin and kill a second? Then Tect reached back to feel his back and as he did he saw his arm, only it wasn't his arm. Startled he stood, and rose far too high, he got very dizzy, and nearly fell. "What was happening why was did everything feel so weird." Tect thought. "Moidra, what's going on? Why does my body feel so weird?" "I don't know sir, we can't remember anything between charging the gate last night and waking up here this morning, we were all hoping you had answers." This is Tect's first time noticing the look on the other goblins faces. They are scared, some are crying, some are frozen and staring into space. None of them remember the fight, some are covered in blood and don't know why, and it haunts them. Tect begins to explain what happened at the gate but doesn't know how he changed or why the others don't remember anything, to him it seems like the trauma must be causing amnesia. "Sir, What are we supposed to do now? We have almost no supplies, between the 25 of us we only have enough food for two days, and thats after gathering things from the forest around us." Tect was lost in thought for a moment, then he remembered he had a bag too. "Where is my bag? I had two in my tent and one was full of food, but I don't know which one I grabbed last night." Moidra walks forward holding a bag full of holes, "Here is your bag, unfortunately it didn't escape unscathed either." Tect takes the bag and frowns, as he opens it the smell of blood is strong, most of the items are covered in his blood, and unfortunately he grabbed the bag of tools he had prepared. A few hammers and chisels, a few medical supplies, and a few momentos from his life. As he pulled out tools to clean he noticed a glow from an old rolled up piece of hide. As he removed it from the bag two things caught his attention. First, the hide had no blood on it. Second the glow was coming from new writing on the backside of the hide. Tect unrolled it to read, the other goblins were very confused, they couldn't see a glow or any writing and it looked like Tect was staring at an empty page. Tect stared at the page for nearly ten minutes, he read it a few times but still he found it hard to believe what the glowing silver words were saying. "Hello friend, If you can read these words you have Awakened. As an Awakened Goblin you are hereby invited to join the King Candidate Training held in Mountain Heart. The scroll you hold has a magic compass, simply follow it to arrive at the nearest City portal or if you are near the Darh Mountain Range you may come directly. We await your arrival and wish you the best of luck in your training. Signed The Goblin Council of Elders in the year 125 Post-Transmigration."