ALL NOVEL Ch. 39 The Second Nest
“Are you sure there’s hostages?” Justin’s deep voice cut across the sudden hubbub as Santi finished giving his report. They had left right as the sun began to rise, avoiding the clumsy goblin patrols to arrive back at the building the rest of the raid team had taken refuge in. Hana and Daniel had split off right as he got to the building, heading toward where a series of small apartment complexes were. Santi had been left alone to give his report on what they had found.
“Almost certainly. There’s no bodies. And while there is plenty of blood and violence, I don’t think there’s enough for there to have been a full on massacre. I think they have the rest of the survivors in the hospital.”
“What do they need for prisoners?” A voice asked from the crowd.
“Food.” Another voice answered fairly quickly. After that, the room got quiet.
“We can’t let this stand. We will have to free them as our new priority. How strong were they?” Tank took command of the meeting easily.
“Level sixteen. I only scanned the one.”
“Shit, that makes them a higher level than almost everyone here,” Justin complained.
“Our strongest fighters can take them. We just need to keep the goblins off our backs while we do it,” Santi began to lay out the bones of his plans.
“I doubt we have enough people to fight both nests. Which you know, so what is it that you are thinking?” Tank was quick to talk.
“Hana and Daniel are searching for other survivors. There should be plenty of small pockets scattered around here. We find them and integrate them. Use them as a buffer against the horde of the goblins. Our people will deal with the hobgoblins and any stray hags that come at us. I’ll lead the strongest fighters against the nest while everyone else gives us a buffer.”
“And the goblin nest? They won’t come running when their allies are attacked?” Justin remained skeptical.
“I want to send a feint at them. Ten or so people. We make molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices. That should scare them long enough for us to finish off the hags. We do the hags, rescue the hostages, then move and deal with goblins.”
“All in one day?” Even Tank sounded apprehensive.
“If possible. The faster the better. We don’t want to give them time to recall all of their raiding parties to reinforce themselves.”
“I don’t like the plan, I think it’s really risky. But…I don’t see any other way to do this. Justin, would you be willing to lead the feint on the goblin nest?” Tank asked the large man.
“Sure, but do we know where it is?”
“I have a pretty good idea. We can go scout it now while we wait for Hana and Daniel. There’s a farm for sick and retired animals right on the outskirts of town. It’s only a mile or two from the hospital and fits the general area where all the raid parties have been coming from,” Santi informed everyone.
“Santi, you and two others go and scout it and see if the goblins are there. Justin, pick nine others to go with you aside from Chloe and Rayleigh. Start your preparations. Everyone else, rest, hydrate, and stay out of the sun. We have a long day ahead of us.” Tank gave his orders while Santi pulled two random scouts out of the lineup and started to lead them away and toward the animal farm.
The two, Beverly and Greg, were fairly quiet and decent enough. Hana was better than both of them, but they were competent. It was hard to see them as true scouts while they darted around from hiding spot to hiding spot. Before going back, the scouts he had worked with could turn invisible, leave no footprints, and mute their smell. Invisible ghosts who were seen only when they wanted to be seen.
It didn’t take them long as Santi was impatient. It wasn’t even eight in the morning when they left the last of the housing and found themselves on a narrow country road. The change happened so fast that if you blinked you would have missed it. Green fields lay in early bloom with just the hints of weeds beginning to appear. A few hundred yards away a series of large wooden barns were arrayed in a line with wide paddocks and a lush meadow thick with grass.
There were no animals to be seen. None of the aged cows or horses or goats that had once walked about were there. Even the birds had fled, the trees lining the edge of the property swaying lifelessly in the spring breeze.
“This is a bit creepy,” Greg muttered as they crossed the road and started to cut across the field. They stayed low to the ground and moved quickly, opting for speed over stealth.
“If this was a horror movie, we definitely shouldn’t be going to the creepy barns,” Beverly agreed with Greg. Santi rolled his eyes. This was a horror movie. But confronting evil was the only way to win in this movie. Hiding or fleeing was just met with stagnation and death.
“Quiet,” Santi hissed at them as they got within twenty yards of the closest barn. It was close enough that the stench of goblins wafted on the air in a miasma of death.
The once rust red barns were stained with black webbing that pulsed every seven seconds. With every pulse the webbing grew, inching its way over more and more of the building. Crimson vines snaked along the crushed gravel of the yard, slowly strangling all of the native life. Each of the trees along the edge of the property was wreathed in the crimson vines while the black webbing was rising from their roots to crawl up their trunks.
“Safe to say that this is where the nest is. Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Santi ordered the two scouts. Neither of them objected to the order, both eager to leave as fast as possible. The nest was disturbing. Alien. It didn’t belong.
“We’re burning this bitch down, right?” Greg asked as they made it back to the road. The goblin patrols were growing thicker as they got closer and closer to where they had left Tank and the rest of the raid party.
“Every nest we find is burned out.” Santi frowned as he heard sounds of fighting coming from ahead. The three of them were jogging now, not caring if the goblins saw them at all. There were few in the area and the harsh sounds of combat were a beacon for them regardless.
As they ran out from between two houses over the destroyed fence, Santi got a look at what the raid party had faced. They were finishing off the last of a large pack of goblins. Most of the weak monsters were dead but a knot of the hobgoblins remained. For the first time Santi got to watch as Justin worked them over.
He was a bulldozer, swinging his wide sledgehammer as if it weighed nothing, to swat away the probing tips of the hobgoblin spears. He shoulder checked one, knocking it off its feet. He ducked as he spun, the hammer swinging wide for the broad head to crumple a bronze breastplate. Santi had to admire him for a moment as Justin killed the squad of hobs.
He was fast and strong with the endurance to match. Built up along a physical build that built upon what was already a very strong man. The hobs didn’t last more than a few moments as Justin tore them apart. Each blow of the hammer shattering bone and crushing the hobs to paste.
“All over already. That guy’s a beast. I saw you fight the troll thing and it was impressive, but that guy does work too,” Greg offered. Beverly just hummed her approval.
“Different builds. I’m a mage who’s stuck fighting with a sword. He’s a physical classer. This is literally what he’s supposed to be doing,” Santi muttered, trying to defend himself without sounding petulant.
“Haven’t seen too much magic from you, yet. Aside from that breeze thing you did.”
“I’ll get better skills and spells in time. Just need to earn them. More levels, more spells, yeah.” Santi ended the conversation, tired of it already. He missed Daniel and Hana’s brevity.
“Have Hana and Daniel made it back yet?” Santi asked Tank as they walked across the street. Members of the raid party were already looting the goblins, stealing from them everything of value. Even the busted bronze armor on the hobs was taken. Santi heartily approved and even nodded to one of the looters.
“They’ve found a half dozen groups, but only a couple are willing to fight. Found some firefighters in a local restauraunt, some track and field kids who were at a hotel with all their gear, and some others. About sixty or so people.”
“That was fast, didn’t expect them to find so many, honestly.”
“Most of them were all a couple blocks from each other. Once they found the first group and started to lead them out, more and more started to come out of hiding. Those who don’t want to fight will be staying here with the injured while we deal with the nests. If shit goes bad, this will be the fallback point before we head home.”
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road.”