Chapter - 39

I breathed out a sigh of relief as I looked at the house that Lilly had led me towards. She had stated that I would need to be able to enter a person's home without their noticing but instead she had brought me to a dilapidated, run-down house on the outskirts of town that looked as if it had been abandoned for months if not years.

"While I would like to simply throw you in headfirst, that would likely get you killed and then all my fun would be over so I set up this training house for you to practice on before the real deal. It may look abandoned but I changed out the locks and fixed the doors and windows beforehand so it should be a realistic challenge. Also, since it's a bit broken down, you can practice your silent movement in a difficult setting to help you get good."

She was standing there looking proud of herself as if she had done something that was worthy of praise. I thought I was the one that was supposed to be receiving praise and scolding for doing well or badly with my lessons not the other way around. Thinking this I pointed out something to her that she seemed to have forgotten. "You never did teach me how to pick a lock, how am I supposed to get in without knowing how to do that?"

Lilly took on a pouty look as if I had derailed her plans. "Oh, that's right, I guess I put the cart in front of the horses here. Follow me, we are going to practice your sneaking a bit more and then head back to the arena." With that Lilly led me back into the middle of town and proceeded to show me how to navigate the small city without being noticed by its inhabitants. It was kind of eerie seeing how seldom most people paid attention to their surroundings.

After a couple of hours Lilly started to yawn and told me that it was time for her to go home and that I would have to find my way back to the arena on my own. After that she gave me a wink and disappeared altogether, seeming to simply vanish as if I had blinked and she had ceased to be. Shaking my head, I carefully made my way back to the arena, Thankfully I had been in this part of the city before on my travels with Beetle and so did not become lost.

When I got back to the arena the orc guard was still making his rounds. My eyes having accustomed to the darkness spotted him quite easily with his torch making him an easy target. I was able to slip past him and through the door which was still unlocked from when Lilly had left earlier. I found myself fortunate because the goblin was also still snoring away at his post.

I managed to get all the way back to the resting room before I encountered any problems. There, standing at the entryway to the resting room was the first goblin I had snuck past, but he was unusually alert, pacing back and forth while his head whipped around. No doubt he had noticed that I was no longer in the room hours ago and was starting to worry that morning would come, and he would get in trouble for failing at his task of guarding the one slave in the resting room.

Not seeing any other options, I retreated back the way I came. When I got back to where the goblin guard was snoozing away, I carefully looked over his attire. He was wearing brown cloth pants and a thin leather tunic with a club hanging from his belt. In addition, there was a set of keys hanging opposite of the club. Not much to work with for causing a distraction. Walking back to where the frantic goblin was pacing back and forth, I saw that while the door was open it was only halfway ajar as if the goblin had left it that way when he first noticed me missing. He had probably opened it to see where I had gone and then upon reaching the light of the next goblin's lamp had turned back, not bothering to close the door.

I went back to the sleeping goblin once again; a plan having formed in my mind. I blew out his lamp and then carefully picked it up as it was still quite hot after having been lit for many hours. Carrying it I crept back towards the resting room and placed my body behind the door so that only my eyes were exposed and waited for the goblin to turn his back for a moment.

*CLANG* "Aieeee!" the goblin's scream was loud, and would no doubt awaken the other guard who would come to see what was going on. I quickly pulled myself fully behind the door and gripped the handle so as to angle the door to hide me more fully. Like this I was in a prime position to hear what happened next.

"What's going on in here? Prisoners is supposed to be sleepings and here yous is making noise!" the previously sleeping guard walked into the resting room and began berating the goblin who I had thrown the lamp at. Upon seeing the other guard, the one who had been struck by a flying oil lamp had come to his own conclusions about what was going on. "Why you throw lamp at my head dummy? You wanna fight?! Think you some big shot cus you wear the keys and can just throw things at me!"

The goblin who had been asleep before hearing the noise was confused as to what the other goblin was talking about but upon hearing the word 'lamp' and spotting it lying on the floor past the other goblin he grew angry, now realizing why it had been so dark when he woke up. "You stole my lamp!" without another word the angry goblins launched at one another, tumbling over each other as they punched, kicked and bit the other.

At first, I was worried that they would remain in the doorway and ruin my plan but after a few tense moments of waiting I heard the sounds of the fight move down the corridor towards the lazy goblin's post. Peeking out my head to make sure the coast was clear I dashed back into the resting room and closed the door behind me. I then quickly climbed into a cot in the darkest corner of the room and lay down to sleep. If I was actually asleep when someone came to check then so much the better.