Where the Wind Blows

Chief Tulag's last glance at Mesui flashed back and forth in her dreams, forcing her to wake up.

"Father!" she yelled reflexively, tears dried up in her cheeks.

Mesui checked her bruises, all tended and patched up, she recognized the bed she was in and the curtains that divided her room from the rest of her home, the Tulag royal tent. Unlike other goblin nomadic tents that only held a single collective area, the Tulag house was bigger, having one communal area where her father would meet with his closest warriors, and with the personal rooms on the back of the throne. Mesui's was one such place, opposite her father and mother.

She stood up and did a bit of stretching, checked her ponytail and overall looks, and left her room, passing by the carpet wall that divided the family area from the communal area. Mesui passed by the throne and into the fireplace, where a goblin with his head bandaged dismissed some guards. Mesui immediately recognized him and bowed her head, pretending not to notice him.

"Ah, Princess Mesui is awake," he said, with a sarcastic grin. Mesui could feel his boiling anger.

"If it isn't my father's squire!" she said, keeping an innocent facade, "How do you feel in this lovely morning?"

"I feel like a boar kicked my consciousness all the way into my ancestors' memories," he said, tapping his head until he whined about it.

"It looks like you are fine, though."

"You know, princess, out of respect to your missing father, I'll refrain from even saying what I was about to say."

 "So he's still..." Mesui whispered, shuddering.

The squire sighed, "It was a long night... if Lady Tulag had been here, right now, she would unequivocally marry you to the lowest of goblin thieves in Makeb, political alliances be damned."

Mesui was about to reprimand the goblin warrior, but as her mind recalled the previous day, the hunt, the ambush at night, and the battle against that... horror, she felt her authority as royalty waning.

"So... where's mother?" she asked.

"After finding us unconscious outside the chief's tent and learning from me what had happened, she took off with an escort to the Koltan territory up North, to ask them to fulfill their end of the bargain."

"They found us by the tent?" Mesui asked, shocked, "Where is Arsec?"

The squire frowned, "Even with everything that has passed, the more pressed matters at hand, and everything that will boil down in the coming weeks, you still care more about that idiot slave of yours."

"No, it's  just that... that..."

"That boy's poor soul is now riding the winds of the Twin Sisters, remember?" He said, angrily, "I would appreciate it if you kept your mourning to yourself—we all would."

The vision of Arsec going toe to toe with a monster five times his size was still something she did not understand. The princess was still unsure if what she lived was real or if Arsec's ghost had appeared to save her. Either way, she did keep it to herself.

"Why did Mother travel to the Koltans?" she asked, ignoring the squire's rants.

"Chief Tulag is missing, princess, he IS missing... Chief Koltan cannot fulfill the marriage arrangement unless the final ceremony is carried out, which requires your father's presence, and he's—" 

"Missing, squire, I get it..." Mesui said, annoyed.

The squire shook his head.

"If the Koltans truly care about this alliance and ancient traditions... and hate the rodentmen as much as we do right now, they will rise with the rest of our clan and ride East," the squire said.

Mesui's eyes widened, "Don't tell me..."

"That we're at war? Sorry princess, It's war. For every goblin soul they take, if they refuse to return the prisoners, we shall smoke them out of their lairs in the Mountains and drive them away, maybe for good this time."

Mesui felt chilling sweat running down her back but kept herself from showing it to the Squire.

"But the rodentmen were not themselves... those things looked like something changed them... as if someone had altered them." She said, shrugging.

"I guess you would know since you knocked me out to go back there," the squire scratched his head, "but since you were unconscious by my side a few hours ago, I take it you too fell off your boar and hit your head so hard your ancestors got nauseated."

"Look, squire, I'm sorry I did that to you, okay?" She was done, "I get it, but right now we do not need to dabble in those things when my father is missing."

The squire grinned in a way that took Mesui aback, and for the first time that morning, she wondered how a goblin warrior could speak in that tone to her without being jumped by the guards outside.

"Don't worry princess," he said, "dabbling is the most you can do in this situation, but I will help Lady Tulag in what she asked of me. Mind you, I was intent on joining her on her diplomatic quest, but she tasked me with something so interesting that... well, let's just say the Winds surely reward the just."

Mesui gulped, "I think I need to go, I need some fresh air..."

She walked past the squire and into the tent's exit, when the guards' spears crossed, blocking her path.

"Let me guess," she said, closing her eyes, and turning to the goblin warrior.

"Yes indeed, isn't it poetic?" he answered with a sinister, yet retribution-filled grin, "Now if you're so kind, princess, you are to wait in your quarters until you are fully healed from your... bruises and scratches. I'm as certain as the Twin Sisters' gales will blow tomorrow, that you will feel better once Lady Tulag comes back."

Mesui glanced at the guards, who shared the same disdain as her father's squire. She did not blame them for such animosity but still cursed her situation. Arsec's face popped time and time again in her head, as well as her battle against the monster. That and the pressures of her recent follies were too much to handle. Perhaps resting was all she needed after all.

The goblin girl stomped towards her side of the tent once more, sharing one last look at the squire's triumphant—

The winds blasted through the main entrance as if commanded to, blowing everybody's faces and forcing them to cover their eyes. Mesui felt the wind in her body and at first, reacted like the rest of the goblins in the communal area, but then... she realized... it circled back towards the exit, like a perfectly curved path—a path made just for her.

"Blasted winds!" the squire cursed, "what the hell is happening? Where did this wind come from?"

Mesui noticed the squire was turning his back on her as he coped with the situation, and Mesui felt certain of what she needed to do.

The squire soon realized, to his horror, that this presented an opportunity too good to be true, too good not to be taken by a certain maverick princess.

"Guards! Check the entrance! Do not let anyone leav—"

A sudden hit on his bandaged head whitened his eyes as he slammed face-first against the floor. As he lost consciousness, the feminine and agile shape of a certain goblin girl hit the guards with a club before exiting the chieftain's tent.

"C-cursed... winds..." the squire uttered before losing his grasp on reality... again.

******

"BAH!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Just stop pushing me!"

Malimali pushed him Arsec incessantly as he tried to keep his water bag steady and fill it up. The creek made it so that filling anything would be tedious, but Arsec had no choice as following the water's trail up to a more robust water body could be hours away according to what the shepherds used to say, and the more Arsec thought about leaving, the more he realized one thing.

Where was he supposed to go?

"BAH" Malimali hit him again.

Wherever he looked, he saw a sea of grass, with the Rodent mountains set in the east, and the Oncan Mountains, even larger and darker, set beyond the rodent territory. He knew well in his heart that was not the way. 

He kept looking at all points in the distance.

Arsec grasped the notion that Makeb, the closest city of the more sedentary Kenet goblins, lay somewhere West... North, Koltan goblins and their strange magics rode the coldest and almost polar steppes, and further north... lived...  

"Gah!" Arsec complained as his head suddenly hurt and he started to feel nauseated.

"BAH!" Malimali echoed, pushing its friends' legs hard enough to bend them as it begged for attention.

Arsec fell on his knees as he indulged the lamb by caressing its head, "What should I do Malimali, all this fuss, all this... power I got, and I have no clue as to where to go... the Red Flame said to find the temple of... Au-terali, but all I've known are these... grasslands, the goblins never took me beyond them, not even to Makeb. Hell, I should thank Mesui for taking me to the rodent territory at least... pfft, yeah as if!"

"BAH!"

"It's pointless to go back, I lost the rhino's wool, so I don't think there is anything else for me there, and that was a long shot."

He closed his eyes, and sighed profoundly.  

"Winds..." His mouth shut as he glanced at his pitch-black spear. He grabbed it and reminisced of the powerful moment he had at the crater.

"BAH!" 

"I don't know, Malimali, somehow, praying to the goddesses feels wrong, even as an afterthought or as a byproduct of being raised by goblins. I don't know... I mean, why be chosen by a god and... blergh I don't know... It just feels like... I'm not making any sense, am I?"

Malimali distracted itself with the creek and took a sip. Arsec inhaled and shook his head, laughing at his frustration.

However, at that moment His mind recalled something, something that was also given to him at the crater. He slowly closed his eyes and he concentrated. Suddenly the creek's sound and the Giant Sheep's moans, steps and grazing quieted down. Then he tried his best to silence any distracting thoughts, focusing only on the image of the endless red blaze, reminiscing of its heat and voice...

"Blessed fire," he uttered, Malimali's ears turned at him expectantly, "who burns for the souls as the sun burns for the skin... 

The lamb got closer, intrigued at this strange behavior coming from its friend, but then Arsec's lips struggled and he frowned as if losing grasp of his collection of thoughts.

"...show me the way?"

"Bah!" Malimali uttered as if disappointed by such a simple sentence.

"Oi, leave me alone," he grunted, "I've never prayed so devotedly before, and not to a god I barely know."

He sat by the creek, his hand remaining always by the lamb's wool. 

The wind suddenly blew against him, so poignantly, so insistent, that Arsec felt forced to look at the direction it came from. His eyes followed the slope upward, the wind crashing against him, and followed the grass up until the hill's peak. At the top was a goblin girl riding a black boar looking straight at him.

The wind kept its push, as the girl's fiery hair flew as if sailing with the air in Arsec's direction.

The young man blinked, confused as to why he was seeing this, as it almost reflected what had happened the day before. Was it all a dream? He blinked again, the spear was there...

Mesui and Arsec looked and considered each other briefly. Arsec could feel his friend's eyes were wide and alert, expectantly waiting for Arsec to do something...

...But in reality, Mesui was flooded with images of what had happened the night before, for the hundredth time. She saw this average-built human boy and she could not truly believe how such a frail-looking guy could go toe to toe with the horrible monster from last night. Yet for every moment of disbelief, the wind blew harder, and she would not ignore it ever again.

She reached out and kept her hand open, inviting her friend. This time, there would be no "Yoink".

Arsec remained stoic, looking at the hand. He reminded himself how she got him stuck in all this ordeal and he felt compelled to be offended. He had never, ever, asked for something like this, and yet there they were, again, and Arsec knew that if Mesui was there, asking for company, it was not good.

"At least now she's asking," he mumbled, and he reflexively opened his mouth for another sarcastic bout with the goblin princess.

However, he felt a growing heat inside him, like a flame that had ignited and begun to burn in his chest, not enough to make him cry out in pain, but scorching enough to make Arsec move his hand to his heart, trying to figure out what it was. This fire somehow brought his own words—guide me—to his mind, and a new resolution manifested out of nothing as thoughts and feelings came together.

A faraway noise distracted him and Mesui. Arsec felt it in his eardrums, like when he heard Malimali from afar. It was the tremor of several hoves galloping in their direction. Mesui did not need to listen, as dust lifted from the Tulag camp and distant figures initiated their hunt atop their war boars. She panicked, her head moving towards Arsec once more and urging him with a desperate look to take the hand.

Now sure of what needed to be done, Arsec took Malimali's head with both his hands and looked at it straight in one of its eyes. 

"Thank you, for so much and so many moments my friend. You gave me peace in the middle of very dark moments. You now you focus on growing, ok?"

"Bah?" Malimali asked.

His heart still burned and his hands felt hot, and he interpreted it as deep feelings for this little beast.

"Might as well see you off properly... I'm afraid this is all I can do."

He put his hand on its head and closed his eyes again.

"Blessed Fire...let this little lamb grow strong and mighty, so that she may protect her beloved ones one day..."

Mesui glanced at the coming riders again. Although the distance was considerable, it would take them a short time to catch up. She began to pant, if they caught up, it was over...

"Well," she said, dismayed, "he's not coming, let's..."

As she was about to take back her hand, it was suddenly snatched by a gentle but powerful grab. She turned to it and saw Arsec using her as a counterweight to mount the boar.

"Yoink!" Arsec exclaimed, giving out a grin, but keeping his eyes gentle, "that makes two to one, right?"

Mesui smiled, incredibly relieved, "Who's counting dammit, hya!!"

The boar charged away, going down the slope. They went for a straight line before starting to change course. 

A few minutes passed and all they cared about was losing the riders coming their way. However, as the black boar gained a steady and fast pace, Arsec relaxed and turned to his friend. As if mandated by the heavens, Mesui did the same thing and both of them turned away, blushing.

Then Mesui started laughing, "You thought you looked so cool 'yoinking' me and all, you don't know how to talk to me anymore..."

"Shut up," Arsec said, shrugging, "at least I wasn't stretching my hand like some epic hero from a goblin tale... being all like Come with me, and together, we shall have glorious adventures!"

"Bleurgh," Mesui said, "At least I asked!"

"That's exactly what I said, thank you by the way," Arsec said.

"Well, you're welcome, you" she said, smiling.

They quieted down for a bit, with just the wind and the boar's galloping filling in.

"Where are we going?" Arsec asked, both bored and intrigued.

"You'll see soon enough!" Mesui answered.

"I never asked you how are we going to lose the other riders if their boars are adults, while yours is... ah I see," he said with a dismayed tone as he noticed mountains in the distance, particularly the ones he was beginning to be quite acquainted with... the Rodent territory.

"This time is different!" Mesui said, trying to calm his friend's nerves.

"Well, you bet! I hope it's not to hunt some rhino again."

"Shut up, this time is different!" she reiterated.

"Don't tell me," Arsec said, "you followed the wind and it led you to me."

For once, Mesui stammered.

"Y-yeah! I don't need you to understand,"

"Boy, the Twin Sisters must want you to marry me," Arsec said, stretching his arms boastfully.

"Sorry, pale skin and round ears are not my type."

"Well, this is a first for me, not that I was looking forward to being rejected by a goblin princess."

"Will you shut up for a second? This is serious Arsec,"

"Right, right, I'm sorry."

"Look, we need to find Father, the other warriors too. I saw that those rodentmen were taking them away tied up and bruised. If I were that... thing, I would go to where my friends are to regroup."

"By that thing... you mean Voidmaw?"

"Yeah, that thing, I'm not sure why would you remember its name."

"Well, he was adamant to shout it to the four winds."

"You saw how those accursed rodents attacked us by his order. If he gets more minions in the mountains, it will be impossible to rescue our people, and who knows why did he spare them."

"That's why we go to the eastern mountains," Arsec concluded. 

"Exactly... I wouldn't ask you to go, seeing that you have been a slave your entire life and you can barely grasp the basics of hunting... but I saw you last night, you were, incredibly strong, and... quite capable of facing that thing."

"Voidmaw."

"Y-yes, him."

Arsec skipped a beat, flattered, albeit his face remained as stoic as ever.

"You were there, right? You fought him and matched his strength... It wasn't my lucid dreams toying with me, right? Right?"

Arsec nodded, again, as stoic as ever.

"Then I need you, I need that, whatever is what happened with you down that crater... With the winds by our side, and with your new... you, we can certainly face Noydmaw"

"Voidmaw."

"I don't care, okay? Dammit! We face that idiot and we bring the Tulag warriors back." Mesui said, resolute.

"Very well, to be fair, all I know is punching and throwing... and thrusting!" he replied, humbly, "But I'll help in what I can, we all want Chief Tulag to be pleased, at least once in his life."

"Thank you, Arsec," she said.

"But hey, I took that Rhino down, remember? I know some things about hunting."

"We'll see... we'll see..."