5 Following The Trail

„Couldn't we have brought horses with us? No wonder the cold-blood is ahead of us by quite a lot, he has that reptilian beast with him," Seth spoke up as he followed Gerhart.

„Horses will only give ourselves away for other monsters to attack us, and I don't want to waste energy on fighting them," Gerhart said as he crouched down to get a better look at the dirt, seeing faint footprints of the cold-blood.

Since the last time Seth fought the cold-blood, he went back to the elven city to personally give his friends' adventurers tags to their family members, instead of going to a guildhall. His party members' family teared up as he told them what happened, and also said sorry for his ignorance that led to their death.

Yes, it was Seth's fault that they died, he knew from the beginning that the robed figure was the cold-blood. He thought that if he tried to tell his friends about him, at least one would have shivered as we walked with it, and the cold-blood would have for sure notice. So he took the risk, only for his entire party members to die, and also he lost the person he loved, he never actually told Ayla that he loved her, they only met a few months ago.

After he gave back his friends' tags, he followed Gerhart to a person that could heal his broken arm quickly. Once that was healed, Gerhart kitted him up with better gear from his own personal storage that has been untouched for many years.

Seth now bore a master-crafted dwarven shield and sword. The shield was circular and could protect his entire torso, a dragon was carved in the shield, it was made with the scales of a dragon along with the sword. Dragon heads were on the sides of the hilt of the sword, while the blade was made with platinum and tungsten deep in the mountain of dwarves, but not only materials from the mountain, dragon's teeth were also in the blade.

Even his armor was made from a dragon's scale, the dragon had dark scales, so his scales that showed were dark as the night, with smaller features of platinum and tungsten, same as the shield. He carried a small backpack to store his supplies and smaller pouches along his torso.

„Why can't we just have someone use magic to track him, you know maybe magic that can see his shadows or something? It would be much faster than you always going down to take a look at its shit."

„Don't even bother asking someone to use magic against it, it won't work on them. Their scales can deflect any type of magic."

Seth sighed and he continued following. Then he noticed up ahead was a mountain that stood vertically, with wooden walls beneath it.

„Over there! There seems to be a settlement nearby."

„Let's get going then."

They moved towards the walls, unknowing of the threat that was near them.

„Wait," Gerhart said and halted.

„What is it, Sir?"

He listened in his surrounding, hearing nothing.

„I hear nothing, not a sound in the settlement while the sun is out."

„And? Maybe they are just not talking at the same time."

Then the trees rustled, a dozen goblins jumped down from their hidden spots, surrounding the humans.

„Humans! He was right!"

„Take their heads!"

Seth and Gerhart drew out their weapons, their back against each other.

„Oh great, goblins."

„The trail leads into the mountain, we must go inside."

Seth was bewildered by his words.

„Wait what? The cold-blood wouldn't just stay here with goblins. I say we get the hell out of here."

„Listen here, there is a reason that he went inside, and I must find out why."

Seth gripped his sword tighter.

„Fine, I'll do as you say."

The goblins charged, their spears and short-swords in hand.

Gerhart fired his arrows from his crossbow, killing already a few. Seth blocked attacks and swung his sword at them, cutting down goblin after goblin.

Then more goblins started arriving from the gates.

„Do you think they will listen to what we have to say so we don't have to kill them?"

„Likely not, the cold-blood probably said something to them."

A goblin jumped on the back of Seth, and as he was about to be pierced by a small blade, Gerhart drew out his own sword and slashed at it.

„Thanks for that!"

„Don't say your thanks until we finish this mess. Let's charge towards the mountain."

„What!?" Seth stared at Gerhart. „We don't know how many there are!"

„They are rather weak, as you may have noticed, let's just finish this quickly before we lose the cold-blood's track."

Seth nodded with hesitation, then they ran towards the gate. Goblin poured down upon them, but they only fell by the humans' swords. Seth pushed a few away with his shield. Blood coated his blade and armor, limbs were torn apart and scattered across the grass.

And as they entered the settlement, they continued running, not daring to look around which would make them slow down. Their only objective to go into the mountain.

„I really hope he knows what he is doing," Seth thought. „He is the grandson of a legendary hero after all."

They ran up the stairs, a broken statue made them run side to side so they wouldn't stumble. Goblins ran after them from behind. A few goblins came from the mountain door but were quickly slashed by their swords.

And finally, when they went inside, they closed the door shut.

„Hold that door while I take a look around!"

He quickly started following the cold-blood's trail by seeing its footprints across the dusty floor.

„You want me to hold it on my own? Why didn't we take time to find others to help us?"

„Like what you just said, it takes time. And if we take a long time then the trail fades away. Making my job a lot harder."

Goblins started bashing their bodies against the door, Seth is managing to keep them closed.

„Quickly, I don't want to become their food source!"

Sir Gerhart followed the trail in a corridor that then leads to a room. He picked up a torch from the wall and went inside the dark place. Cages hung from the ceiling and laid across the floor. Bones and rags littered everywhere.

The trail went towards an open cage. Bones were forced out of it, leaving nothing inside. Gerhart could feel the presence of once item that was here.

He called upon his magic, seeking the lost item. He saw the shadow of a collar being taken by air. But that air he knew, was the cold-blood. Due to the cold-blood's resistance to magic, he couldn't see him.

„He has taken something once again," he muttered. „This time one of those slave collars."

Gerhart took the shadow by his hand, clearing his mind and thinking only of the item. Then he saw it, the new trail that he can follow more quickly. A shadow cloak trail that he only could see, went towards the outside, then continued on inside the forest.

He stood up and tossed the torch to the side. Seth was still holding the doors shut, but goblins were starting to reach with their arms inside.

„I've found what I needed. Let's run through the goblins back into the woods."

Seth looked at him, struggling to hold the door.

„What did you find?"

„The cold-blood's trail, of course."

Seth started swinging with his sword at the arms that emerged from a sliver of the door. Gerhart shot an arrow up at the ceiling that went deep, a rope was attached.

„So um. . . how exactly are we going to flee from here?" Seth asked as he looked up and down at the rope, confused.

„Open the doors when I tell you, I'll deal with the goblins."

Seth nodded, he could feel one of the bodies of the goblins crashing at the door.

Gerhart held the rope tight around his arm, then he ran in the opposite direction of the door and jumped. Only a few seconds in the air he called to Seth.

„Now!"

Seth opened the doors, and goblins started pouring in. Gerhart swung above them throwing bombs that looked like small pouches.

Explosions rocked the corridor, leading to the outside. Goblins died by the shrapnel, leaving only a few alive, writhing in agony. Some with lost limbs, and others with deep wounds.

Seth jumped over the bodies and down the stairs, Gerhart waited with a grin.

„Even though I am old I am still athletic."

„That was a great stunt you pulled off and all, and I applaud you, but we really need to get out of here."

More goblins started emerging from the ruins, still wanting a fight. Seth and Gerhart turned to run.

The wooden gate was wide open, the goblins didn't close it as they pursued the humans up the stairs.

Gerhart could see the trail of the collar, he followed it into the trees, leaving the goblin settlement behind with Seth by his side.

They finally slowed down when they knew they escaped the goblins. They breathed heavily and took a drink from their canteen.

„Damn, old man, you sure can run. You almost outran me!"

Gerhart laughed.

„It sure is better having someone around with me than hunting the beast myself. A youngling at that."

„I'm over twenty, I'm not exactly a youngling."

Gerhart glanced around the trees. No monsters seemed to be around. He could still see the trail, but it will dissipate over time.

„The hunt continues! I can see where he is headed but only for a short while, let's move quickly!"

Gerhart started to walk with great speed.

„Old man, we should at least rest after. . . And he's gone, great," Seth said, following the man that he admired.