Paz chortled upon my return at dawn the next morning.

  “What is this?” he said. “We sent you on a scouting mission, and you return with a wife?”

  I rolled my eyes and ushered the goblin, whom I’d bound with combat chains toward the group. She stumbled into the gathering, staring between me and others with a bewildered expression. She had since learned that I didn’t look exactly as I appeared, but it was still weird for her to see a goblin interact casually with humans.

  “Kreeta here’s my captive,” I said, yanking the chain. “She will lead us to the goblin camp.”

  Kajal studied Kreeta whose stringy hair fell over her wounded face and sharp, yellow eyes. “She is a goblin, Damien. That makes her a monster with values that are incompatible with ours. Can she be trusted?”

  I glanced at Kreeta and flashed her a toothy grin. “What do you think, ugly? Can I trust you?”

  A hint of malice flashed within her features before she remembered the beatdown that she had suffered at my hands. She lowered her head, shelving her defiance. “You’re the ugly one.” Well, some of her defiance at least.

  “What was that?” I said, cupping my ear. “Care to repeat?”

  Kreeta gritted her teeth.

  “That’s what I thought.” I turned my attention to Medekeine who watched the scene with a curled upper lip. “Can you please summon the div to heal her face?”

  “I’d sooner gut her and roast her on a spit.” He eyed the goblin, sheer hatred written on his features. “These animals don’t deserve our kindness. Use her for what you must. After that, she must be disposed of.”

  “You can try, mountain fucker,” Kreeta hissed.

  I slapped her over the head.

  She howled and lunged at me, only to stiffen as I narrowed my gaze.

  “Don’t make this difficult for me, idiot,” I said. “I’ve already promised to give you your freedom if you do as I say.”

  Medekeine laughed. “It doesn’t need its hands to lead the way, does it? You should cut them.”

  “Enough with your cruelty,” Logain said. He approached us in full plate armor and laid his hands over the goblin’s face.

  She tried to bite him at first, but he calmed her with a whisper: “Every living thing is deserving of heaven’s Mercy.”

  “Even goblins?” Paz asked.

  “None of us chose the circumstances of our birth.”

  “No, seriously. Even goblins?”

  Logain ignored him. Bright light poured from his hands and into Kreeta as he called on the holy power of Compassion. A short moment later, he released her to reveal a fixed nose and recovered teeth.

  Kreeta pawed her face, openly displaying relief and gratitude before she shook her head as though ashamed to receive favors from an enemy.

  Logain for his part rubbed his hands, which still glowed with the light of the heavens. It was good to know that he could serve as a healer in a pinch. However, I’d wanted an excuse to get Div out in the open again to stretch her feet.

  Now that I thought of it . . . wasn’t it impossible to store living beings in the inventory? It probably had something to do with Div’s cage. Maybe in the way that Western genies were tied to their lamps. Ugh, I had so many questions about her that remained unanswered. But, this wasn’t the time.

  Kajal wrinkled her nose. “Gosh, Damien. How long are you going to stay in that form? You’re depressing to look at.”

  Right. I still hadn’t let go of Grishnak’s skin. I shed the false persona and returned to my usual self, much to Kreeta’s astonishment.

  “D-dragon L-lord?” she said and made the sign.

  Paz erupted in laughter. “Dragon Lord? Who? Him? Surely, you jest.”

  “But, his affinity . . .” Kreeta said, unsure of his meaning. “Isn’t he the one?”

  “His affinity, huh?” Paz took a moment to consider and arrived at the proper conclusion. “You’re saying that the Lord of Terror is here in Dreadwood?”

  “Do not call him by that name!”

  The rest of the party looked on in disbelief.

  I wasn’t certain that I believed her claim, but there was no denying that another Fear user fought on the goblins’ side. It was just mind-boggling to imagine him as the Dragon Lord of lore. “He’s somewhere within the tunnels,” I told Paz. “Apparently.”

  “That can’t be right,” Logain said. “A Dragon Lord is equivalent to a Herald in power. If there was one in Dreadwood, neither side would be alive right now to continue this war.”

  “But, he exists,” Kreeta said. “He gave us the [Nightfall]!”

  “Someone certainly did,” Logain agreed. “But, a Dragon Lord?” He shook his head. “Those monsters haven’t been seen in Vizhima in ages. And, if by some stroke of luck, you are actually correct . . .” He glanced at me.

  “Then, the Dragon Lord is after my head,” I finished with a sigh. “There’s a reason everyone steers clear of my affinity.”

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

  “Well, it was nice knowing you,” Paz said, maintaining his levity.

  Kajal pursed her lips. “There’s a lot about this conflict that we do not know or aren’t sure about. The wild god has proven that a Herald can coexist with lesser creatures without interfering in their affairs. Can the same be said about the Dragon Lords?”

  No one answered. It seemed that the apex dragons were even more mysterious than the Heralds.

  “What does it matter?” Medekeine said. “Whatever it is that we are up against, I refuse to abandon the assignment. And, if we encounter the dragon bastard, the elf can serve as a peace offering.”

  Gee, thanks.

  “I’ll kill you before that happens,” Paz said matter-of-factly. “But, I agree with the first part of your statement. An encounter with a Dragon Lord should not be counted as an obstacle. It is an opportunity.”

  Logain furrowed his brows. “Do you consider it a good thing to go up against Dragon Lords?”

  “Yes.”

  Of course, Paz would say that. His suicidal drive for power was unnatural even among powerful rankers. But, there was something else he hid that I didn’t want to bring up among strangers. It was his trait, [Dragon Touched], the source of his [Draconic Aura] skill.

  Kajal eyed him in a way that suggested that she had also put two and two together, but she mercifully abandoned that line of thought to focus instead on the rescue. “Let’s discuss the plan, alright?”

  We set out soon after.

  The gentle prodding of Kreeta revealed that goblins were at their weakest in the morning hours when entire groups rested from the activities of the night. A few sentries watched the tunnels to warn of intruders, but they posed easier challenges than entire squads of goblins.

  I had recovered my VP since the fight with the goblins, just in time to spend another 30 points reactivating [Impostor]. That left me with 45 points to use in battle, minus vital potions, which wasn’t too bad for the rescue mission as long as I rationed its use. This time, I selected the appearance of the slain Goblin Captain, the one attuned to Contrition. He seemed to be a person of good standing within the horde, enough to make our mission easier.

  The real conundrum lay in the method of infiltration.

  “What about we mimic a goblin slave train?” I suggested. “With a captain at the lead, we shouldn’t rouse too much suspicion.”

  “That’s the obvious plan,” Kajal said. “But, goblins are an unpredictable sort. We have no idea how they bind their prisoners—”

  “Rune cuffs,” Logain said. “I can imitate them if I put my mind to it. But, without enchanting skills, they can’t be activated.”

  “That solves one problem, then,” Kajal said. “We have three goblins leading three prisoners. You’ll need to discard your armor, Logain, to sell the part.”

  “Who’s the third goblin?” I asked.

  Medekeine smirked and activated a skill.

  Shifters possessed three transformation techniques in their arsenal, the most common of which was [Bestial Shape] which allowed them to morph into one enhanced animal, predetermined at specialization. [Shapeshift] was the scariest of the bunch—and I shuddered as I recalled Beelith’s werewolf form. A Shifter attained a cross between monster and man with [Shapeshift], granting them the benefits of both.

  Unlike [Bestial Shape] which offered temporary health as its main advantage at the expense of locking most techniques, [Shapeshift] kept the Shifter’s entire moveset available to them while boosting their attributes.

  The third and weakest of the three skills was [Alter Self], known to grant minor augmentations to the user like the formation of claws and teeth. Those changes sufficed to help Medekeine lengthen his nose and change the color of his skin. He now resembled a rotund goblin if one looked at him in poor lighting. Thankfully, he didn’t have a beard.

  Paz wasn’t the type to let an opportunity for jokes to pass. “You should stick with this appearance,” he said. “Fits you much better.”

  Kajal smiled at the barb. “All that is left for us to do now is to determine the fate of the goblin.”

  “True,” Logain said. “It is our guide, but nothing stops it from exposing us while undercover.”

  “So, we cut out her tongue,” Medekeine said lazily.

  I glared at him. “That’s too cruel.”

  “We should consider it,” Kajal said and met my horrified gaze with equally unflinching eyes. “Anything less will put our mission in jeopardy. It’s either her life or those of the elves.”

  Kreeta squirmed behind us, unable to mount a defense.

  “No,” I said. “That’s a bit too much for me.”

  “Logain can heal after we are done,” Kajal said.

  “No.” I had no problem killing an enemy in the heat of battle, but I didn’t enjoy cruelty against one I had captured. It sounded hypocritical, yes, but I still had human values that Vizhima’s world of continuous violence hadn’t suppressed.

  Shouldn’t the same hold for Kajal? How could she suggest such barbaric deeds with uncaring ease?

  “I see no problems with it,” Paz said.

  Of course, he didn‘t.

  “Neither do I,” Logain said. “Heaven charges us to be kind to all things that breathe, but leaving the goblin with the ability to speak poses too much risk. As the lady said, I can heal it once we are done.”

  I gritted my teeth. “We are not removing her tongue! That would raise too much suspicion if anyone addressed her directly.”

  “Then, what do you suggest?”

  I mulled over the matter. “Let’s keep her gagged instead.”

  “Do you think that is safer?”

  I ignored him and glared instead at Kajal. She met my gaze with those warm, brown eyes of hers. Come on, fam. We are Earthlings. We should act better than Vizhimans on this issue.

  Kajal nodded slowly. “We’ll go with Damien’s suggestion. But, whatever comes out of it is your responsibility, okay?”

  “Lily-livered elf,” Medekeine said with a scoff.

  Kreeta breathed a sigh of relief.

  About two hours after dawn, we arrived at the entrance of the tunnel.

  The earth around the unremarkable tree had solidified, looking no different than the forest around it. Medekeine, Kreeta, and I posed as goblins, leading the others behind us, chained and blindfolded. Kreeta cut her palm to produce the blood key, but I was the one who uttered the password due to the gag and face mask that hung over her mouth.

  “Don’t let me down,” I told her as the ground collapsed in front of us. “Perform admirably, and I promise to let you off in one piece. I’ll also relinquish the ears of your friends.”

  Kreeta’s yellow eyes held mine for a long moment, and then she jumped into the tunnel. The rest of us followed cautiously.

  Logain sighed. “I take it that the lady and I are the only ones unable to see in the dark?”

  “Stay in character,” I hissed and tightened the blindfold on his head.

  The chains and iron cuffs that I had bound them with jangled, inscribed with the fake rune marks that Logain had observed during his clash with the slave train. Kajal didn’t seem comfortable being blindfolded either, but she trusted in my ability to lead her to safety. Paz acted like . . . well, Paz, more interested in the promise of battle than in the route it took us to get there.

  I handed the chains off to Medekeine and assumed control of the group. We followed Kreeta’s directions, the actual prisoner in the convoy, keeping her between Medekeine and me. She knew the tunnels by heart but demonstrated the proper way to activate the directions inscribed on the walls.

  We managed to walk a short distance when two sentries stepped out of alcoves in the tunnel and pointed crossbows at us.

  “Squad name and captain!” they hissed.

  I started to reply when Kreeta reached for her mask.