Death and Daggers

Chaos.

An explosion destroyed the relative quiet of the village. It was followed by a thunderous cracking sound. Ealga watched as whatever crashed into view sent the whole goblin village into a frenzy. Her gaze moved down the street where she'd entered. Next to the forest edge, the common room of a goblin home was now exposed to open air through an enormous jagged rupture in the side of the building. The wolf monster must have crashed through the corner of it before it slid onto the road in a harsh tumble. It rose on its four limbs uttering a menacing growl. The nearby torchlight only enhanced the madness of the creature's monstrous appearance. White teeth bared below the red eyes that burned with intense hunger. Tiny trails of smoke seeped from their corners barely visible against the shadow of this thing's hulking form.

Goblins surged in a flood against the intruder without hesitation. There was no indication of where the weaponry was hidden, but many of them suddenly brandished weapons. Ealga saw the beast had fixed its attention on her. It wasn't just that she observed the unspoken threat it conveyed. In those eyes there was a terrifying intelligence. One of time, predatory wisdom, and ageless patience.

Breaking her gaze from her pursuer took a force of sheer will that nearly wasn't enough.

Ealga found her feet and ran. Her grip on the dagger was so tight now that her knuckles turned white. The flow of enraged goblins blurred past her in the other direction looking to combat the trespasser. All the while, something was pulling on her ear from inside her hood.

Nimby must have been screaming at her to keep moving, but all sound had dulled to almost mute in a rush of panic. Nimby took flight from Ealga's hood then hurtled ahead leaving a trail of golden glittery motes that floated in the air. It was clear this meant to guide Ealga's escape through the churning turmoil. Her instincts demanded she follow and ignore everything else.

Several heartbeats later the noise of her surroundings became clear. Ealga wished it hadn't. Screams pierced into her awareness. Agonized screams. Then snapping sounds followed by something like a muddled slap of a sack of wet vegetables hitting stone. Among these audible horrors there were roars that filled the air. Triumphant bellows of a wolf monster killing prey and enjoying it.

They were dying. They were defending their homes. And they were dying. The grisly sound of it twisted her stomach. Had she not been in a complete sprint she'd have retched what little was in her stomach onto the ground.

Nimby's trail took a sharp right onto a narrow trail that cut between two of the goblin homes. No torches lined the way so her lantern flared up with light to allow her to see more clearly. A tingling buzz continued to reverberate in her chest and arms. Her magic had become erratic. The dagger blade fluttered and shuddered like it was moving yet not. The edge of the blade glowed as mystic energy gave it life.

Ealga came to an abrupt stop. Her arm had been accosted by something that stopped her from going further. Her feet slid with her forward momentum which made her stumble and her grip on the lantern slipped. It clattered onto the ground but didn't break. Its light shined pale white revealing a goblin holding her wrist with both hands. Golden eyes furious and desperate looked into hers then to the dagger that shimmered in surreal flutters. Ealga couldn't break free from the goblins grip and now stood facing the way she came.

"Give me dagger!" The goblin woman snarled. Its command of Ealga's language was basic and steeped in an accent that was deeply foreign to her ears.

"Let go!" Ealga shrieked in reply as fear pushed against her thoughts. All she wanted was to flee.

"Give!" The goblin demanded and pulled harder on Ealga's arm.

It was no use. Somehow the faery creature was much stronger than her and despite her struggles, Ealga couldn't resist. Then without thinking Ealga surrendered to the force that dragged her forward. Magic flooded from her in an powerful burst and into the weapon she still gripped with all her strength.

Radiance from the dagger was all she saw for a split second. Raw energy pushed through the metal of the handle to the dagger's tip and then to the edges. The goblin had not anticipated that its opponent would simply acquiesce to being attacked.

The dagger slipped through the cloth, flesh, and bone without so much as a whisper. Then there was a thud as the cross guard met solidity.

Ealga watched her hand as it happened then she looked up and into the eyes of her assailant. They were wide with shock. Disbelief was there as well. The goblin's pupils dilated followed by a slow exhalation. A disconcerting warmth flowed across Ealga's hand. The gnarled-looking creature just stared onward until there was nothing resembling life in its expression and the weight of the corpse slumped into a heap shortly thereafter. The blade cleft free of the wound opening it further as easily as if it were thin wet paper.

"Hat Seeker!" Nimby stunned Ealga from herself but she didn't move. She saw it there on the ground. A corpse. The corpse she made. Her hand was dark now with dark sticky blood and the blade vibrated steadily with mystical energy still in it. The gore soaking any of the metal simply vaporized before her eyes. It was so strange.

"Hat Seeker!" Nimby came into view pinching Ealga's cheeks in a attempt to rouse her senses. "Run now! RUN!"

Run? Ealga thought

What was happening right now? Was that goblin just lying in wait to ambush someone? Her mind wandered listlessly now contemplating mundane questions. What lay before her was more that she could bear.

She killed it. No. She killed her. It was a goblin woman. Her facial features were wide with dead shock carved into her features forever more. The exaggerated structure of her mouth, teeth, and elongated nose made her appear like some deformed terrified child on the ground. A dark puddle of blood was growing underneath her creeping towards Ealga's feet..

What had she done?

"Run now!" The sensation of summer warmth accompanied with sounds and smells of children shrieking with laughter and gaiety cracked the shock ever so slightly. Maybe some kind of faery spell.

"Nimby?" Tears blurred Ealga's vision.

"Please don't stop, we must run. Come on!"

Ealga found herself moving again but this time it wasn't panicked like before. Instead, she was in a nightmare stupor trying to fathom how things had gone so wrong. She took up the lantern again following Nimby out and away from the village and back into the forest.