Olimpia

Leeroy's attention was only locked onto the army for a moment before his head snapped to the side, digging his chin into his shoulder. He wasn't looking at the bank of the river but at a patch of rocks off to his side.

The stones looked like they were randomly stacked upon each other, like any other pile of rocks Leeroy had ever seen, but something about it felt off. He squinted his eyes as if he could pierce the darkness between the stones with his force of will alone, but no matter how much Leeroy searched, he saw nothing.

It should have been a relief, but he grew more uncomfortable with every frantic beat of his heart. Like his life was hanging by a thread, and he was watching a knife flashing in the light next to it.

His feelings of danger grew until Leeroy had to act.

Throwing his body off the ground with a grunt and mighty thrust of his arms, Leeroy scrambled to get his feet under him. The feeling of danger was so great that he even used some psy to propel himself into nearly a sprint over the uneven ground.

As he approached the piled-together rocks, he thought he saw a frantic shifting within the shadows, as if a creature was moving around within them. It was all the confirmation Leeroy needed, but his gut feeling was confirmed when he heard the clattering of wood on the stone echo from the hidden chamber.

Ten feet from the outpost, because what else could it be, Leeroy pulled out his belt knife mid-stride and threw it underhand into the shadows with a snap of his wrist.

As he took his next step, he watched his knife vanish into the gap of darkness. A twang of a taught string snapping sounded within the stone chamber, and he heard a high-pitched "Ahh!" of pain echo from the cave a moment after.

Scrambling to keep his footing as he tried to come to a survivable stop, Leeroy dropped to his knees and slid the last two feet over the loose gravel of the hillside, using the stone outpost as his backstop. Even as he was coming to a stop, his left arm reached into the eight-inch wide gap, grasping around blindly.

Leeroy's hand connected with something warm almost instantly, and he tried to grab onto it. Digging his fingernails into the creature's flesh, he pulled himself back with his right arm and knees, trying to yank the creature out of its burrow.

It was barely half a second before the creature's flailing tore its body part from his grasp, causing Leeroy to roll into his backside, landing on uncomfortably pointed stones. As he fell back, he felt a tugging on his hand as his fingernails scraped over the creature's skin, gouging off a layer of flesh that collected under his nails.

At the same time, Leeroy felt a moment of thankfulness that he had lost his grip on the creature. As he felt a hot, humid gust on his arm and could have sworn he heard the sharp rap of fanged teeth snapping shut on air. That was a moment before he felt something dig into his arm in an attempt to stop it from leaving.

Ignoring the injury, Leeroy rolled out of the way of the opening once he hit the ground. He kept rolling around the outcropping, not even noticing what he was rolling over, only stopping once he was behind one of the rocks that acted as its walls.

Hopping to his feet, he rushed towards the rocks again. This time, he bounded up the four-foot-tall stacked stones, pausing for a moment as he balanced on their peak, looking down.

Flicking out his hand, Leeroy shot a tendril out of it to wrap around the outermost layered stone and threw it to the side.

Even as the stone was tumbling a short distance away, Leeroy was falling and turning to face the hole.

The sun shone over his shoulder, filling the small chamber with light, and Leeroy paused.

As soon as light filled the chamber, the creature — and creature was the right word because it was not human, elf, or beastkin — pulled back into the farthest corner of the hide from the new entrance. The creature's skin was a dull black, and as it pulled itself into the corner where shadows still remained, it was like its skin sucked up the light.

Its eyes were large black orbs, slightly larger than a peach pit. On the creature's hands were claws at least an inch long. The creature's chest was covered in a simple hardened leather chest piece, with its waist and upper legs covered in layered leather strips.

Moving his gaze to the chamber, he saw it was at most four feet high and three wide. Putting the creature well within a lunge for Leeroy, but it was already too late.

The pause he took while taking in the lookout destroyed any momentum Leeroy had created.

As Leeroy restarted his halting lunge to dive into the small chamber, the creature's arms covering his face had lowered, giving him a clear view of the bloody laceration stretching from its oily hairline to mid-cheek. Its right eye might be a bloody mess, but the sight only added to its snarling visage as it bared its needle-sharp teeth at Leeroy.

Tumbling backward, Leeroy scrambled to get some distance between himself and his enemy. Not because of the teeth or the claws but because of the long knife the creature was driving towards his chest.

As the creature's head popped out of its hole, its good eye squinted, and it flinched, making its downward slash pull back slightly.

The stutter made the slash that might have opened Leeroy up from chest to hip — which was not a certainty thanks to Leeroy's leather chest piece — fall short. With another snarl of frustration, the creature stepped forward again. This time to drive his knife into Leeroy's gut as he tried to scurry back and regain his footing.

Seeing he wasn't getting away, Leeroy swept up his leg in a desperate attempt to knock the knife out of the creature's hands, but he missed.

Because Lun had charged up while neither of the two was paying attention and smashed a rock into the side of the creature's head. Even once the small creature had collapsed, Lun gave it another couple of whacks until the deformation was obvious enough to make it clear it was dead.

Leeroy calmed his racing heart as he sat back on his elbows, taking in Lun as he stood tall, blood-stained rock clutched in his white-knuckled hand.

His Optio took a few heaving breaths, looking down at the creature with a caved-in head, then dropped the stone with a clatter and turned to Leeroy. "You okay?" He asked.

Leeroy's throat was tight from the suddenness and intensity of the fight, so he could only nod his head in answer. Lun's eyes raked over him once, then he nodded before kneeling down and starting to pat down the creature before sticking his head into the little hideout.

As this was far from his first fight, Leeroy only took a few more moments to calm down before moving to pick up the long knife before standing. As Optio Lun searched the chamber, Leeroy crouched by the entrance keeping a wary eye on his surroundings.

The barren rock of the hillside was no longer looking so empty. Leeroy was searching every clump of rocks, trying to spot where the other watchers were hiding.

No one ever sent just one person to be on watch.

As he searched, his eyes kept flicking down to the creature. The longer he looked at the creature, the more old tails from prospectors ran through his mind.

If you lived around Basetown, you knew a prospector or two. If you ever went to an inn for a drink, you heard a few of their tails. The oldest ones, those who go deep into the Weeping Mountains and into its caverns, they told different stories than the rest.

Most of those stories revolved around creatures living in the bones of the world, whose skin and eyes were like night. They flooded whole tunnels with their numbers, and the only escape from their hooting calls was to flee into the light.

They called them goblins.

Leeroy had never put much stock in their tails… It's an appropriate name for them.

"Let's move, Leeroy," Lun said in a hush, pulling Leeroy from his thoughts.

Glancing over his shoulder, Leeroy saw Lun's eyes were also searching the rocks and scrubs dotting the Nose. Over his shoulder was a strap of a bulging pack hanging at his waist he definitely didn't have before.

Ignoring the pack, Leeroy took a moment to remove the sheath on the creature's waist before rising and signaling to Lun he was ready. As he stood, Lun tossed Leeroy his belt knife before turning away.

Together, as silently as they could manage without affecting their speed, the duo moved down the bridge of the Nose.

Minutes passed as they traveled, and it wasn't until Leeroy missed his step and had his foot slide out from under him, almost sending him tumbling down the mountain, that the two were forced to stop and look at each other.

"Whoa there." Optio Lun said, finally breaking their silence, reaching out for Leeroy, "We can't afford anyone to get injured now. Let's slow down a bit. We made it up there on this path without being spotted. We should be able to make it down."

“…Did we?" Leeroy asked.

He saw Lun open his mouth to answer, but he closed it without saying a word as his eyes flicked around warily. Finally, he turned to Leeroy fully and said, his voice filled with resolve, "Maybe we weren't, but they seem content to let us be for now. We have no reason to squander that advantage."

"Yes, Optio," Leeroy said, slamming his fist to his chest.

As they reached the others, who had cleared the ground enough that they had areas to comfortably lounge, Optio Lun snapped, "Get up. We're moving into the Cradle." while marching past them.

The other five had little more than the clothes on their back, so all it took for them to be ready to move was a few quick motions to close any pouches and get to their feet.

Telling a group of legionaries who were settling down and relaxing to get up should create a few groans of disapproval, at the least. Usually, there were a few shouts and muttered comments about being worked like dogs.

No one said a word this time, and their faces set into grim masks, their eyes searching for danger. They knew what the tone and set of Optio Lun's face meant.

"What happened?" Asked Jankens as he stepped next to Leeroy. From how everyone's head turned or tilted slightly toward him, he could tell everyone was paying attention to his answer.

It wasn't the time to get into a complex question-and-answer session, so Leeroy decided to answer simply, "We found a scout but aren't sure if he got a warning out or not."

No one needed anything else to be said.

Those clumped to the side picked up the pace to catch up to Lun, falling into line behind him.

Hours passed as they marched, and soon day was turning into night, with no sign of any pursuit.

They had made their way down the mostly barren Nose and into the grasslands which lay at its base.

It really was quite the contrast. All you had to do was walk a few miles from the rock canyon that made up the banks of the Twins, and you were in grasslands. Make it into the rolling foothills that spread all the way up to the base of the Broken Peaks, and you would find land that any farmer would be proud to own. So long as you ignored the constant minor threat from beastkin.

Night was barely a couple hours away when they crested the first foothill. Leeroy looked back at the Nose and felt a shiver run down his spine.

On the eastern side of the Nose, where the darkness of night had already fallen, he would have sworn he saw forms crawling through the shadows.

Tuning away, Leeroy picked up the pace slightly. They needed to move faster.

Leeroy's sudden urgency didn't go unnoticed by the others, and without anyone saying a word, they all picked up the pace. Heavy breaths were all that could be heard as sweat beaded and ran down their brows, but no one complained as they started across the slightly wooded valley.

Night had fallen across the world by the time they were making their way up the next hill, and Leeroy stopped cold mid-step, causing half of the squad to halt as well as he turned to look at the hill behind them.

The half-moon was lighting up the landscape with spots of darkness as clouds drifted through the sky.

One such spot of darkness covered the top of the hill behind them. As Leeroy turned to look at it, the clouds overhead parted, revealing the summit.

Dozens of hunched figures stood upon it, and as they were revealed by the moon, they charged forward into the valley. Every leading figure was followed by what seemed like an endless number of their kind.

"Move your asses!" Shouted Leeroy as he turned and shot up their line. Jankens was right behind him, the first to react to his call, though the others were quick to follow.

Even Optio Lun, who was turning to shout at them for breaking the night's silence, had his face go white as a sheet when he saw what was now behind them.

There were no orders to give, as the hope of going unnoticed had been stamped into non-existence, and fighting was death. All they could do was blindly charge forward, and there was no one better at that than Leeroy.

Ten feet from the top of the hill, Leeroy suddenly turned to start running east along its length.

Leeroy didn't know why he changed directions, but no one could convince him that it was the wrong thing to do.

Hoots filled the valley, like every tree now held an owl within its branches, and they all decided to kick up a racket at once.

Leeroy ignored the noise as his eyes were locked on a single tree ahead. Along the whole length of the hilltop, it was one of the few trees trying to eke out its existence this high up.

As they approached the tree, their footsteps were hidden by the racket of their pursuers. Peeling itself from the tree like a layer of bark, a figure stepped from the side of the tree, its head slowly turning. Without hesitation, Leeroy pulled out his long knife and rushed forward as the figure was distracted, jamming the blade into the figure's gut.

There was a grunt of surprise, then a pained howl ripped through the night. Pulling out his weapon with a twist, Leeroy slashed across the beastkins throat as it bent down in pain, cutting the howl short.

Stumbling up to the summit of the hill, Leeroy looked over its edge seeing glowing yellow eyes charging up the hill from a forest. On the other, figures that had more in common with shadows than substance were flickering through the moonlight.

"What do we do now," Asked Jankens, his head turning left then right. Before Leeroy could answer, the howls of hundreds of wolves thundered across the night.