After over a month at the mine, we were eager to get back to the Miner’s Folly for some rest and good ale. The provisions were starting to get stale, although a new shipment was to head out after we’d left. The miners had stopped trembling each time they were lowered down in the mine and only Pency was still hearing voices by the end of the month. It felt like our job was completed.

  We accompanied an empty provisions cart and most of the mercenaries back to Holdstone. We got in late in the afternoon, dusty and sweaty from the road and all we wanted was a bath, some clean clothes and a savory, hot meal. Even our horses seemed eager to get back into the familiar, comfortable stables of the inn.

  Lidly knackered at a stable hand and I felt overly jealous. Sure, I hadn’t had much time to spend giving her special treats, but a small part of my heart hurt to hear her react to someone else. I shook myself. I must be tired to worry about such things.

  As soon as we stepped in, the proprietor called out loudly.

  “Oi! The heroes have returned! Back from another success? Which of you is Aebbe Wymer? I have some post that’s been awaiting your return! Sal, get our dusty travelers some ale while I send up for baths to be drawn!” he barked, his face rosy red as usual, and his bushy beard a day’s growth from taking over his face.

  “I'm Aebbe,” I said, going up to him, wondering what he might want with me.

  He reached under the bar and pulled out a small packet of correspondence and handed it to me. I had seen Boyln and Meig get the occasional correspondence, but I had never received anything.

  “The messenger wanted an immediate response. It took some convincing that you wouldn’t be able to send a response right away - seeing as you weren’t here - so I just said I’d give it to the moment you arrived back, which I have done,” he noted.

  “Yes, thank you,” I tried to smile at him in reassurance. My breath caught in my throat when I recognized the Issakainen family crest pressed in wax on one of the letters.

  “What's wrong?” asked Meig looking over my shoulder. She never missed a thing.

  “I'm not sure. I’ll see you in a bit,” I said, scooting up the stairs with Aelfie at my heels. I usually take more care that she’s cleaned up before going into my chamber, but I had to see what the letters were about. For some reason, I my chest felt tight with worry.

  I started with the smallest one first which turned out to be the first one sent. I skimmed the first letter. It seemed to have been sent not long after he’d arrived back in Wellswood. It was an invitation to his wedding which had happened already over a month ago. The next was a bit more concerning. After the general greeting and well wishes for my health, he said goblin attacks becoming more frequent in the area. Gavendor was worried there was something more to these attacks and he asked me if I’d heard about anything in Holdstone. The final missive was larger than the others and I could feel it was written on very fine, thick parchment.

  The first page asked me to come to Wellswood immediately to assist in the defense of the village. The other pages authorized some payment to hire a carriage, buy supplies, and some men to get to Wellswood as soon as possible promising more payment for continued help as the village would require. I reckoned it must be serious if he would authorize such monies to me.

  The last part of the letter firmed my resolve. It said, “Please know I would not call on you to return if I didn’t feel it urgent I get your help in this matter. The safety of my family and my manor are my primary concern and Gavendor and I feel your help would be invaluable. Yours, signed, Kaarlo.”

  I smiled to myself. I’d make the journey on my own money and time just to see Gavendor again. Kaarlo must have known that. The offer was very generous and the documents I held were very valuable and could not be allowed to get into the wrong hands. It would be relatively easy for a con man to get a hold of them and make the withdrawals for themselves from what I’d heard around the town. I sighed, sensing the papers were going to be more trouble than they’d be worth.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Of course, Kaarlo had no way of knowing I’d just come into some money enough for what was needed. Still, to hire people, generally you had to show you were good for it and I certainly didn’t look like someone who could afford to do that.

  I was going to dash back down to the others, but no doubt everyone is in a hot bath as I wanted to be, so I made sure a bath was being prepared and started setting aside all that needed to be laundered and mended from my travel pack. I was glad I had spent the time to get to know those mercenaries. I would go ask for their help as they were all bemoaning the end of their paid gig.

  After I’d finished my bath and was getting ready to go down for some food, Meig knocked on the door and I told her the situation. She was willing to come along with me and I assured her she would be well paid. I suggested that in the morning we should get her a horse for the voyage and she seemed eager enough to come along.

  The others were not eager to set out on a long journey again after just getting back to Holdstone and having some coin in their pockets. I couldn’t really blame them. It would be a long voyage and news was spreading of a wider goblin threat, particularly along stretches of road without towns nearby to protect them which was precisely where we would be heading.

  Since I had some time before everything would be ready, I gathered as much information about the goblin activities as I could. I also found a scholar that claimed, very controversially, that goblins had a complex and extensive culture. His work was not well received in academic or public circles, but he was eager to speak to me about his work and gave me a couple books on the subject which he had written himself.

  “We need to stop treating them as mindless monsters and start some real rapport with them,” he insisted. His hair looked a little wild like he maybe didn’t own a comb, although he smelled and looked clean enough.

  “How?” I’d asked him. On that point, he had no ideas. He did have some information on their language which he’d put into the books. He had interesting ideas and maybe some of his information would be useful. I was glad I’d found him and taken the time to chat with him.

  I guess he’d never seen the results of a goblin attack as I had. If he had, he may not have harbored such ideas about them. Still, I didn’t think there would be any harm in taking the information he offered. He’d gone into the far east, farther than anyone else I’d ever heard of and gotten close to where their hives were thought to be and survived it. Information on one’s enemy is always valuable as long as it is accurate. I knew it was old, but if it were true, that could be helpful.

  He had noticed some of their specific traits which I had as well since I had seen them up close after that attack. I had noticed they seemed to make sounds to each other, but even animals communicate with each other when they are in groups. He made a lot of their communication among themselves, but I pointed out how meadow dogs will have one keep a look out while others forage and when the lookout spots danger, they signal a sort of bark for the whole group to get back under cover.

  It seemed he didn’t know a whole lot about animals, so he accepted my information and allowed that the language goblins use may not be as advanced as he suspected, but he seemed sure they had actual, multiple words in their language. I couldn’t argue the point because I had never listened to them for very long like he apparently had. I can’t say he convinced me of his argument, but speaking to him gave me something new to think on and I reckoned I’d have plenty of time to read on the voyage out to Wellswood.

  When I got back to the Folly, I chatted with Meig about what he’d said. Even she was skeptical about his information. She had seen their attacks as well. It’s hard to consider they may be more than mindless when you see they’ve killed children and babies.

  “But, I suppose we do the same to them,” Meig had said after we’d grown quiet with our own thoughts a while.

  “What do you mean? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a goblin baby,” I told her frowning.

  “Well, maybe they are more mature when they are born. Not every species has a terribly vulnerable starting stage. Maybe they don’t understand us like we don’t understand them,” she concluded.

  “So, they see us kill their young, so it’s nothing to them to do the same. And the cycle never ends,” I muttered.

  “Exactly. But how does one break the cycle?” she asked into her goblet of ale.

  I had no answers for her. The problem seemed to big for just a couple of people to fix. Especially when it seemed like the cycle of war had already begun.