Chapter 10 Our Plan was Foiled, it was Mocked, Dismantled, and Beaten into the Dirt

With a final, grating shove, the great stone was hauled aside.

A blinding daylight exploded into our burrow, searing our dark-adapted eyes. For a split second, we were all just stunned, squinting.

Grub didn't hesitate, he launched himself at the bright opening, scrambling to crawl out, to begin the desperate, clinging distraction.

The moment his head and shoulders cleared the hole, a shadow fell across him.

THWUCK.

 A spear butt, swung with the full, eager strength of a human youth, smashed directly into the top of Grub’s skull.

"Wreee!"

His grunt was cut off into a wet gurgle. His body went limp, blocking the hole. He would have slumped back in, but two sets of hands shot down from above. They grabbed onto his large, meaty ears.

And yanked.

There was a brutal, tearing sound, a mix of ripping skin and grinding cartilage. Grub’s limp body was hauled upwards, his head and shoulders scraping and catching on the sharp edges of the stone hole, leaving smears of dark green on the rock. He vanished into the daylight with a sound like a sack of wet roots being dragged over gravel.

Inside, we convulsed. We leaped back from the hole as if it had breathed fire, scrambling, falling over each other, pressing into the farthest wall. Our plan wasn't just foiled. It was mocked, dismantled, and beaten into the dirt in the span of a single breath. The image of Grub’s body being broken and hauled away like garbage, froze the blood in our veins.

The voices from outside were no longer debating. 

"Ha! Told you we trapped a stinking goblin! That's one for starters! There should be more inside!" 

"I can't believe it. A real goblin! I'm glad I agreed to come! Now these freaks will get a taste of justice! For everything they've done!"

Another voice, "Beat him! Beat this freak! They deserve every hit! For everyone they hurt and killed!"

Then David’s voice, colder, "Filthy goblin! We will make sure you feel the pain for what you did to our families! For everyone you killed! Our revenge will be long and painful! Don't think it will end quick. We will punish you just like you tortured our loved ones!"

The sounds that followed made us flinch with each smack.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

It was the sound of spear butts, the heavy wooden ends, being brought down on a body that could no longer even cry out. It was a wet, meaty pounding, accompanied with an occasional weak cry, "wreee... wree..." There were no words from Grub. Just the impacts, and the eager, panting breaths of the children delivering them.

We huddled against the back wall, a tangled heap of trembling terror. We could only listen. Each thud was a nail in the coffin of our hope, a hammer blow to our own spirits. 

The rhythmic, wet thudding stopped, leaving a ringing silence in our ears that was somehow worse.

The voices came again, now excited.

"Okay, this freak's had enough for now. Let's drag the rest out."

"How will we do that? It's too small for us to go in, and they might be waiting inside. What if they have weapons? Like bone knives or something?"

"Yeah, how will we get them out? Our spears can't reach them in there."

A pause. Then David's voice, "Don't worry, guys. I got this. We'll smoke them out."

Our eyes, already wide with terror, bulged. A moment later, a small, tightly wrapped ball of dry leaves, glowing orange at its center, dropped through the entrance hole.

It landed in the mud with a soft hiss. It was smothering.

For a second, nothing. Then, with a gentle puff, it burst into a thick, rolling, milk-white cloud. The smoke exploded outward, filling the low space of our burrow in a heartbeat.

The smell hit us first. Acrid, chemical, a sting that felt like needles in our nostrils. Then the burn. It wasn't the heat of fire; it was the chemical fire of the smoke itself. It seared our eyes, forcing hot, blinding tears. We gasped instinctively, and the smoke rushed into our lungs.

It was like breathing ground glass and pepper. A violent, hacking cough wracked every one of us. We couldn't draw a clean breath. We could only choke, our chests heaving, our lungs screaming for air that wasn't there. We tasted bitter ash and a horrible, fire on our tongues. The world became a white, burning haze. The hatchlings in my arms erupted in fits of tiny, desperate sneezes and wet, choking hiccups, their frail bodies convulsing.

The plan, the fear, the sorrow. It was all burned away by the pure, animal need for oxygen.

I screamed through my own hacking, "Gobby friends! Out! We need OUT! We die here! The big smoke… it blinds humans too! OUT! NOW!"

It was the only logic left. The white cloud was so thick it was a wall. It would hide us for a second, maybe.

We didn't need more encouragement. We were drowning on dry land. A blind, scrabbling panic took over.

Snag went first, a coughing, retching shadow lunging for the blinding rectangle of light above. He scrambled up, vanishing into the smoke and daylight. Grill followed, then Fort, stumbling and choking. Trog and Muddy went together in a tangle of limbs.

I was last, clutching the six trembling, choking hatchlings to my chest. I took one last, searing half-breath that was more fire than air, lowered my head, and lunged for the hole. I scraped my back raw on the stone, my arms a tight, protective cage around the hatchlings as I pushed upwards, blind, coughing, tears and snot streaming down my face.

I burst out of the hole, not into clear air, but into the same choking, blinding cloud that had spilled out with us. I tumbled onto the grass, all of us a gasping, weeping, retching heap on the ground.

My eyes, streaming and burning, blinked against the fresh air that still stank of smoke. The white cloud was thinning, shredded by the breeze, revealing a scene of horror.

My friends. Snag, Grill, Fort, Trog, Muddy. They were on the ground. They hadn't even had a chance to scatter, to cling, to distract. The smoke had disoriented them, and the human kids, waiting with spears raised, had simply knocked them down as they emerged. Now, they were being beaten.

Four kids brought their spear butts down with no mercy.

  Thwack. Thwack. Thwump. Thwack. Thwack. Thwump. Thwack. Thwack. Thwump. Thwack. Thwack. Thwump.

They weren't strong enough to shatter bone with one blow, but they were relentless. Each impact landed with a sickening, wet smack. I saw a spear butt sink into Grill’s side, and when it lifted, a fist-sized, black-purple bruise was already rising beneath his green skin like a terrible, blooming flower. Another hit Snag across the back, and his body arched with a squealing, agonized spasm.

My gaze found Grub.

He was a mound. A swollen, beaten-to-a-pulp pile of goblin meat. He was barely recognizable. His body was a canvas of lumps and grotesque, blackened bruises, some so big they looked like potato's. He wasn't moving. He wasn't even twitching. He was just… beaten meat. 

A silent scream tore through my mind. 

"The plan. The swamp. The faith."

The hatchlings in my arms coughed weakly, their tiny bodies shuddering against mine. The sight of Grub, the sounds of the beating, it all crystallized into one searing, terrible command. Run.

I had to. Grub’s last words.

 "Run and do not look back. No matter what you hear."

I pushed up from the ground, my legs wobbling, my arms tightening around the six precious, skeletal hatchlings. I turned and took my first stumbling step.

I didn't make a second. A shadow crossed the sun. A whoosh of air.

SMACK!

The world exploded into white stars and ringing silence. The blow caught me across the back of the head and shoulder, a sweeping, brutal impact from the side. It didn't come from a spear butt—it was the shaft itself, swung like a club.

The ground rushed up to meet me. I hit the mud hard, my body curling instinctively around the hatchlings as I fell, taking the impact on my side. 

"Ha! This freak was about to book it! Not on my watch, you bastard! None of you freaks will escape! It's justice time!"

Grub’s plan was ash. Running was impossible. There was only one weapon left I hadn't tried. A secret I’d learned in the worst of places. A tongue not meant for a goblin’s mouth.

I knelt down, twisted my head, spitting out mud, and forced the strange, hard syllables past my lips. My voice was a ragged, broken thing, twisted by my goblin throat, but the words were clear.

“Please… no! Not them! Look… see? Just… babies! Like your pups! Like your kittens! Not evil! No hurt them! Please! They… no hurt! Just babies!”

I saw their faces change. Not to pity, but to a kind of revolted shock. The beating had stopped. All four of them were staring at me now, their spears lowering slightly.

"Oi! What the hell! T-the freak… t-talks?" one of the new kids whispered, his nose wrinkling as if smelling something worse than goblin stink.

I saw my chance. I crawled on my knees, ignoring the screaming pain in my head and side. I held our precious hatchlings out toward the human children, my arms trembling, presenting them like the most precious offering in the world.

"I beg mercy master! Please, look. See? Small. No hurt. Hungry. Just… want live. Like your… you. Yes? Show mercy. Be… kind. Please. We beg! We do!"

Erwin’s face, first shocked, contorted into pure disgust.

 "It's… it's trying to act human! Talking! Showing us his… his disgusting spawn! These freaks multiplying!"

David took a step back, his spear coming up again.

 "That's not right. Goblins don't talk. They screech. They steal. They kill!"

The boy who had knocked me down regained his fury. 

"It's trying to make us feel sorry for it! For these… these things! They're just goblin freaks! They're monsters! They'll grow up and kill someone's brother just like they did to mine!"

 I had made myself and the hatchlings more monstrous in their eyes.

"Please. I beg. Mercy." I whispered one last time.

"Shut up!" Erwin screamed, "Don't you use our words! Don't you pretend! You're just a stupid, ugly goblin! And those are just more stupid, ugly goblins! You filthy spawns of evil! You do not deserve mercy! Or pity! or forgiveness! Or anything at all! You will get only pain and suffering!"