Ratface knew the moment they entered Halvin’s rest.

  The land didn’t change right away, and the smell wasn’t what tipped her off. No. These things would come later.

  What tipped her off was the silence. She’d been in quiet forests before, where the creatures stalked one another. The bogs had sometimes been so noisy she’d wished they’d shut up. Yet she’d never been in a place where nothing made a noise. It wasn’t like the forest was holding its breath. It was more like it didn’t have any breath to make. They tried to walk quietly but even that sounded far too loud here.

  She could understand why goblins would choose a place like this. They’d hear anyone approaching long before they got to them. She doubted even a rogue could sneak through here.

  The trees started to die off as they got further into the Halvin’s rest. Just enough remained to still hide them from the sun but even these were pale and dead. They didn’t rot, for even that was a source of life, they were just… there.

  They walked a little further and came to a pathway. It was stone paved, and a puff of dust came from it when Ratface stood on the pathway. She drew her sword and knife. It wasn’t like she knew what was coming from here, she just knew it wasn’t good.

  Krysa seemed to be actively struggling in the place. She seemed weak, her usual grace lost as she tread forward with a grim persistence. Ratface moved closer to her and helped her which the glamour seemed to appreciate. Ratface looked around and noticed everyone seemed to be struggling a little bit. Albert walked with tight eyes, Tiffany clutched at her robes, and she could feel Halmir drooping on her shoulder. Abigail walked straight but even she seemed stiffer. Strange. Ratface couldn’t feel a difference.

  They made it to the true start of Halvin’s rest. Ratface had been expecting a cemetery and she was half right. A ruined wall surrounded the area. A monument that looked nothing so much like a tombstone rose above all the houses for her to see. In the town itself, tools still lay on the ground. Whatever had happened here had happened so fast that people didn’t have time to grab their things. That was if the people here had even had the opportunity to leave. It was like a town centred around one grave. A grave shaped like a town.

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  “Stay quiet and stay alert,” whispered Abigail. Ratface winced as the noise carried through the place.

  There was a faint noise as Abigail’s whisper reached further. Someone had shifted when she’d talked.

  Abigail stalked forward with her sword out and the others followed behind. Ratface was holding Krysa up so couldn’t run ahead. Instead, she saw Abigail pull up short as she turned a corner.

  “Get up here,” she whispered to Ratface. Ratface hurried forward to join her around the corner.

  Goblins, at least a small village’s worth stood before her. They had their weapons out pointed at Abigail. The wildly varying quality of weapon told Ratface exactly what sort of group of goblins they were.

  The raiders relaxed when they saw Ratface but tensed right back up when they saw who was hanging from her shoulder.

  Ratface grimaced as she looked at Krysa. She hadn’t thought ahead. What would another goblin think on seeing her with an elf.

  “Not an elf,” she said quickly in goblin. Their leader gave her an insulted look as he turned to look at Krysa, who, for all her lack of grace right now, still looked like a young elf woman. He was an older goblin which made Ratface worried for her friends. An old goblin raider was something to fear.

  “A human with pointy ears then?” he said. His voice was so soft that it barely rustled the world around them, and yet Ratface could hear it perfectly.

  “Complicated,” said Ratface. She didn’t tell them about Krysa’s strange existence. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them, it was more that the thought of talking too much in this place filled her with danger. At the edge of her hearing, she could hear something moving. It made a faint clink every few seconds as it got closer. The goblin leader looked like he had more to but stopped. An arm had reached for his to touch him for a moment, then retreated into the crowd of goblins. It had been fast, but not so fast that Ratface didn’t notice the skin on it lacked the tell-tale green of another goblin.

  The old goblin looked frustrated. He flicked his head at Ratface and turned away, deeper into the town. Ratface wanted to follow them, but the clinking was getting closer. It was in a street between the two groups and if she chased after them it’d see them.

  She looked over at Abigail pleadingly, but the knight shook her head and gestured in a direction away from the noise. It’d take them away from the goblins, but not out of the town. She was stuck with indecision as the others started to move away. It was only when the sound got too close that she hurried after the others.