Big Bitch Baby

Waking up, I glanced over at Zara, who was curled up on the ground sleeping peacefully. She had an odd sort of cuteness, if you could look past the mouth full of pointed teeth, green skin, and pointed ears of course. Her large, bright yellow eyes suddenly fluttered open, and they fixed directly on me. "Why you stare? Something wrong?" she asked, clearly confused.

Without flinching, I responded, "I was just thinking that you are pretty cute, that's all." Zara clearly taken aback by my response. She scrambled up and turned away, muttering under her breath, "Stupid human, saying goblin is cute."

After we finished waking up, we moved silently through the forest, using the secret paths that Zara had shown me. The goblins had no sentries posted, their numbers growing too sparse for that under the bugbear's rule. It seemed that their once proud tribe had been reduced to only a handful of frightened individuals.

As we reached the goblin camp, I could see the females huddled together away from the cave, their faces etched with fear and grief. They were the bugbear's prisoners, forced into a life of servitude and suffering.

Zara approached first while I continued to watch from a distance. They all turned to look towards Zara, their eyes looking sunken, devoid of life. One of the Goblins stepped forward, speaking back and forth with Zara in the same guttural language she used before, Zara suddenly motioned for me to come out.

I quickly crossed the clearing making sure that there wouldn't be a line of sight to me if the bugbear decided to leave the cave. Walking up, I noticed the female goblins exchanged wary glances, unsure whether to trust me or not. It was clear that they had endured immense suffering, and were naturally mistrustful of humans. But after a tense moment, an older looking goblin named Nissa, apparently the other girls defacto representative stepped forward.

"Zara says that you will help us. But why?" the older goblin asked, staring at me intently. Taken off guard by her speaking fluently, my only other reference being Zara, it took me a moment to formulate a response, "Me and a friend of mine found ourselves stranded in the forest nearby, so the Bugbear is a threat to us as well."Pausing before I continued," not to mention it is hard for only two people to survive on their own. So beyond getting help to take care of a threat that would probably be beyond me alone, I want to try and build a good relationship with you, if not going as far as being allowed to integrate into the group," I replied.

Nissa's expression kept shifting from confusion to mistrust before settling on tired. Although there was a hint of hope mixed in, "But humans hate monsters, why would you even consider working with us?"

"I believe in repaying kindness with kindness, malice with malice, and since I haven't been personally wronged by anyone here. I don't see why I should hate you?" I replied, kinda surprised by adamantly they thought that I should despise them.

Sill staring at me like I had grown a second head, Nissa said, "well how do you plan on dealing with the bugbear?"

Thinking for a moment, "Well all the girls still able to move properly will hide a short distance away in the woods, then I will go piss off the big guy, drawing him to where you guys are hiding. Then I start fighting him, keeping his attention focused on me while the rest of you sneak attack him, then disengaged to hide again. Doing this you can get in clean hits while I cover, and if he gets distracted by one of you then it will create opening for me to attack."

Both Nissa, and Zara were nodding along, Nissa said, "Lets go with that, we will get ready immediately," before turning to the other goblins and telling them the plan, in what I am assuming is goblin.

---

Seeing Zara poking out from behind some bushes, nodding her head, I started running towards the mouth of the cave. Picking up a rock from the hard pack dirt, taking a pitchers stance, I chucked it strait at the snoozing bugbear's face.

Jolted awake, the bugbear roared in frustration, "What hit me?" Its voice was a primal growl, rough and untamed. Its words coming out with unintentional slowness, as if the very act of forming sentences was a struggle.

As I showed myself, I yelled, "Hey there, stupid! I heard there was a big, scary monster here, but all I see is a dumb, bitch baby!" while slapping my own ass, before sprinting off toward the tree line.

Running with all my might, I could hear the heavy footfalls closing in behind me, followed by a slow, "Stop running puny human. Let me hit you."

After running through the forest awhile, I leapt over a tripwire the goblins had set up beforehand. Continuing past until a yelp, accompanied by a loud thud, rang out behind me. Turning around, I saw the goblins execute a series of coordinated attacks. They struck the Bugbear from all sides, using their numbers and surprise to their advantage. They wounded him, but he managed to stand back up. The bugbear roared in pain and anger, the goblins falling back before the bugbear could manage a counterattack.

Launching myself at him, serrated club in hand, I swung it at him, but before it could connect, I heard a whistling sound as a large club came rushing toward my head. Narrowly avoiding the attack by rolling to the side, when the Bugbear turned to continue his attack, one of the goblins darted forward and broke off the tip of a makeshift spear in his thigh.

This repeated for a while, me rushing in to attack then dodging when the bugbear would lash out at me, the goblins slowly carving him up piece by piece. However, as the battle dragged on not only the goblins, but I also began to run out of steam.

The Bugbear was still standing, with an assortment of wounds covering him, fur matted with blood, various broken arrows and spears jutting out from between his armor at odd angles. Catching my breath, the Bugbear's club swung toward me again. Desperately, I tried to dodge, but staggered. With the club bearing down on me, I swung my weapon in a last-ditch attempt to block the blow.

When our weapons collided, it was like I was swinging at a brick wall, a jarring shockwave traveled up my arms, reverberating through my bones. The harsh impact sent a shiver down my spine, the force had momentarily jolting my entire body. The deafening bang that followed resonated in my ears, drowning out all the sounds around me, as I was sent flying backwards into a tree.

Dazed and struggling to breathe, curled on the ground from the pain, the Bugbear raised his club and approached. Suddenly, I saw all the goblins rush him, but despite their courage, they were no match for the Bugbear's brute strength. He swatted them away like flies, and it became clear that they wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

Zara appeared next to me, her hands radiating a green glow. She placed her hands on me, and a warm sensation rushed across my body, easing the pain.

After a few moments of Zara's treatment, I managed to stand, my weapon nowhere to be found. The goblins' desperate struggle was quickly coming to an end, with many of them injured on the ground. While the Bugbear was distracted fighting the remaining goblins, I stayed low and pulled out my knife as I crept closer.

When he turned away from where I was crouching, distracted by slamming away the last goblin still standing, I ran, stepping on his leg, which was outstretched after swinging his club. Using it as leverage, I jumped up and clung to his back, savagely drawing my knife across the Bugbear's bulging neck.

Flailing its arms around in surprise, he grabbed me and threw me away from him. Tucking, I managed to flip and land on my feet before collapsing to my knees, spent. The Bugbear, trying to roar, walked toward me, blood sputtering from the gaping wound on his neck. His movements became slow and jerky before he eventually fell forward, his body spasming occasionally.

Watching the goblins regroup and start cheering, a wave of exhaustion suddenly washed over me, robbing me of consciousness.