Hunter and Prey

Voidmaw's eye turned and turned, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. Even he could tell from his memories that it was something he had never heard before in the mountains.

Then, pebbles and mid-sized rocks began to slide down the slopes as the growls moved above them. The mutated rodents twitched their heads in confusion, and Voidmaw, taken aback, turned his glowing eye towards the top of the slope, bracing for whatever might come next.

The goblins grew restless as well, looking at all sides and each other. Chief Tulag moved away as a current of water suddenly burst from his side alongside some rocks. The riders began to mumble and react to each of the strange growls, and some screamed at the sudden sound of thunder in the distance.

"Quiet!" Voidmaw growled.

The rodents whipped and ranted at their prisoners, shutting them up. Chief Tulag looked at his warriors to ease them, asking with his eyes to remain calm. However, his glance turned to a deep stare when he noticed three goblins that were not among his Keshig—the first a bulky strong one, the second a heavy clumsy one, and the third a tiny but sharp one. He rolled his eyes and looked at the front.

"Yo Bongo... "

"Quiet, dammit!" Bongo said, hitting his bigger friend on the side.

A rodentman passed and gritted his sharp fangs at them. The two goblins smiled and their ears bowed. Pleased with such stupid faces, it went away, and the two both let out a huge sigh.

Boss simply sighed for another reason, as he dared not turn to his two friends out of embarrassment.

Another huge roar emerged from the rear and broke everyone's concentration and Voidmaw turned, noticing a dark figure that matched his size forming behind the mist created by the rain. At first, Voidmaw hesitated as the figure stood on two legs and revealed a slender and long figure, its pose indicating it was also looking at them in the distance. However, he collected himself and decided to challenge it. His teeth gritted and a deep growl.

"You," he said to half of his forces, "Go."

The rodentment stepped back, their ears retracted in fear and their furr tensed up, as if that shadow brought up something instinctively terrible in their memory. Voidmaw would not have this.

"I said go!" he roared louder, "My wrath should be fearful enough, you vermin!"

About twenty rodents charged at the shadow, seeking to overwhelm the beast and tear it to shreds. They thundered in myriad voices, like cornered beasts at a bigger predator. Tulag and the others turned to see the scene unfold, as the rodents' savage charge turned into twenty smaller shadows jumping on the large one, and forming a bulbous mass in the mist, convulsing and changing as the mysterious shade threw the others around and defended itself.

"Hmpf Hmpf!" he chuckled, pleased. 

Voidmaw resumed his stride, followed by the rest of his troop. The goblins did their best to keep watching, as the sounds in that fight, at first growls and battle roars, now turned into wailings. Tulag glimpsed that the large shadow grabbed a rodent with its claw and immediately bit its head off, proceeding to throw its attackers against the rocks and crush them beneath its feet with brutal ferocity.

A rodent hit him in the head and growled, and while Tulag complied, he felt the beast's uneasiness, as the moans and painful cries intensified. 

Now extremely wary, Voidmaw moved its hulking body to the rear by climbing on the side of the corridor. He analyzed his surroundings and then gathered all of his strength to hit the rocks as the shadowy figure finished off the last rodents. The dark monster kept hitting the rocks until an avalanche of them came crashing down towards the shadow, just as it looked at them and seemed to come at him. The rocks blocked the path and destroyed any chance of rebuilding it, as the dust settled and the rain kept falling.

"That should do it..." Voidmaw said.

He turned to his troop, and his eye made a quick count of his remaining followers. He grunted as he moved back to the front.

"Move out! There is a camp not far from here, I sense they would love to bear witness and experience firsthand what my power can do!"

They slowly moved away from the rubble and its new streams of never-ending water as the sky remained overcast, and a light drizzle fell steadily, coating everything in a fine mist.

*******

By the time the rain dropped, Arsec and Mesui had jumped out of the boar and fashioned a cover for the rain using their coats, tied up at the sides of the walking beast as support. They had been quiet and alert as soon as they had entered rodentmen territory.

"I never realized," Arsec said, finally breaking the silence, "it is so... lifeless here. There are barely any plants and this rain is really quick to make waterfalls and unstoppable torrents... how do the rodents survive here?"

"Father says that they grow mushrooms in their burrows," Mesui said, eyeing some eerie holes above them, "but I've always thought they were meat eaters, given how the soothsayer always depicted them as night monsters."

"Very clever."

"Don't forget that this is their territory, in here, they are the top predators, nothing crosses them here."

A sudden rumble shook them to the point they instinctively ducked and tried to hold still. Mesui immediately stood up and took the reins to appease her mount. They heard rocks fall and crash against one another far in the distance. The mist clouded everything, and they looked at each other puzzled.

"I-I don't know what to make of this," Arsec said, "I'm new to these things, you know traveling and stuff."

"You think I'm an expert?" Mesui said, surprised, "I'm just following my hunter trainer a-and  all I did was follow some suspicious tracks!"

Arsec considered her for a moment, "But I already knew that."

"You already knew that!"

They quietly agreed to keep walking and they continued to look around for a while as they progressed.

"You stare at this mist like you're expecting something to happen," Mesui said, glimpsing at Arsec clearing some water nervously.

"I'm just thinking... what are the odds of something happening to me again? I am in rodentmen territory with the same goblin princess... just like last time, and last time there was also mist."

"You say that like it was a bad thing... look at you, suddenly enjoying a boost in strength... and that spear... don't tell me that is not thrilling..." Mesui suddenly found herself staring too much and turned back to her surroundings.

"Well yeah... it turned out well, I meant the road to all of this, I didn't do it because I was expecting to meet..." Arsec's voice cut off.

"You never told me what happened in the crater," Mesui commented.

"Nuh, I never did, when would've been a nice time, exactly?"

"I know, but... things seem calm for now, do you want to talk?"

"First, tell me one thing."

"What?"

"Why did you never come for me?"

"Ah, well, that would be my father's fault."

"He followed you all the way here?"

"Yeah... him and his pesky squire."

"He must love you, for real."

"Well, that wouldn't be surprising, he's my father after all," Mesui said, smiling.

"I meant the pesky squire," Arsec remarked.

"Oh no no," she answered, "he hates me all right. If it were up to him, I would've been banished from the village after what happened last night."

"I never saw him, like, hating you or something at gatherings at Chief Tulag's tent, or at any time for that matter, in any case, he was sometimes angry that you spent time with me rather than with the other goblins."

"You're too observant. Indeed, he hates my guts not because it's not a matter of me not being a good princess... It's more because... well let's say that I had to escape the camp and he wasn't letting me."

Arsec opened his eyes, "No you didn't..."

"Well, yeah... but I mean he was rude you know? He had it coming."

"He had it com...?" Arsec took his palm to the face, "Okay, I'm not going to dig too much on this one. I will assume he's angry because of what you did?"

 "Very... but you're right, this isn't about me, I was asking how you turned up so strong all of a sudden."

Arsec was about to tell his story when the sudden noise of rumbling emerged from behind, this time it wasn't like an avalanche, but more like a steady myriad of steps that were too heavy to be of any rodent or goblin nature...

That last one lit a light in his head, Goblins? Could it be?

His enhanced hearing could sense it once again, those hooves splashing puddles and hitting the solid rock of the pass. He heard the bellows and heavy breathing of giant boars. 

"Mesui!"

"They're here, I know," Mesui said, walking backward for a moment, then looking ahead, "I underestimated the trackers! Winds blast them! We need to go faster!"

They climbed on the boar and began to move faster but carefully as they went through a passage with steep walls. However, it looked like its original structure was disturbed, as rubble too recent to be natural appeared more and more as they advanced, maybe because of the sudden earthquake they felt. It did not take them long to find themselves at a dead end, as the path forward was blocked by a mountain of rubble.

"No no!" Mesui said, panicked as she inspected the new wall, "We're trapped."

"I feel like we can't go back, princess, they seem to be too close, this mist is only keeping us hidden from their rangers, but I feel like they know we're here."

"This can't end like this! I don't want some inconvenient rubble to stop us... No!" Mesui said, desperate, hitting the rocks, kneeling as she began to sob, "Father... no..."

Arsec looked at her, then at the sound of the encroaching goblin hunters hidden in the fog, then at the rubble. He gripped his hand, thinking about what he could do. An idea brightened his eyes, but then that same thing scared him—he reminisced of how he had fallen from a considerable height, right before meeting with that dying rodent. As he pondered on what to do... he looked at the defeated goblin princess incessantly calling to Chief Tulag in her whispers. Arsec finally sighed and grumbled as he closed in on the boar.

"Princess, grab your things," he said, going towards his water bag, spear, and pack.

"What?" Mesui turned to him, confused.

"I said grab your stuff, anything that would help us camp through the night."

The goblin girl looked around, trying to understand, "What did you see anything?" She asked, "Did I miss anything?"

"You could say that."

"What? Where?"

"No time to explain, please grab your stuff."

"But I don't get it, what do you hope to..."

"Princess, didn't you say hours ago that you needed me?"

"But..."

"Trust me now."

Mesui blinked, but then she decided to follow through. She grabbed her things and tied them up to her back. Arsec handed his stuff except for the spear.

"Please, just for a moment."

"Right..." she said, "What about my boy?"

"Uh," Arsec thought, spotting some plants nearby, "tie him near that bush, let him eat while he waits for the rest of the goblins, he'll be okay."

Mesui complied, caressing her loyal companion, "It's gonna be all right, my boy, some friends will pick you up and treat you well, you won't have to wait long."

She returned to Arsec, who was looking at the unseen end of the rubble, biting his lips and clearing the raindrops in his eyes.

"You expect us to climb?" Mesui said, "I don't see many edges to push ourselves up... and I have to admit I'm not the best climber..."

"It's all right..." Arsec said, "You just need to climb on my back."

"Again, say what?" Mesui asked, shocked.

"Come on, hop hop!"

"But... what the... O Twin sisters, what the hell is going on?"

The sound of whistling, yelling, bellowing, and more splashing puddles were now in full earshot. Mesui rolled her eyes and reluctantly jumped on his back with all their stuff hanging on the back.

"Are you okay?" She asked, worried that they would ridiculously fall.

"You're good, light as a feather, I don't feel you at all."

"What a surprise, I guess that when you say you're strong, you can..."

Arsec suddenly crouched.

"Whoa!" Mesui exclaimed, "You okay?"

The young man gathered all his strength, his eyes set on the mist above, beyond the drops that touched his face. As he tensed, the ground beneath him cracked a bit,  and then... he jumped.

The two were suddenly breaching the air skyward, the rain piercing their heads and skin as Arsec's jump raised them many meters above the ground at the speed of an arrow.

Mesui squealed as gravity took hold and stopped them in midair. She held tight on Arsec's neck. Arsec tensed as his feet desperately sought a new place to support themselves. Their bodies began to slowly fall when he felt a protruding rock under him. Not wasting any time, he jumped again using this newfound platform. This time he spotted that the top of the rubble was within reach, and he thrust his spear into the rocks to hold on to that point. By now, the mist was beneath them, and the boar was nowhere to be seen. 

Mesui kept screaming as she held tightly, eyes closed.

Then, Arsec pulled himself and Mesui upwards, seeking to gain enough height to clear the rubble, and both of them landed on top safely, rubbing their faces on the rocks. 

They both panted, as Arsec grabbed his spear again from the edge.

"What was that?!" Mesui said, alarmed, "Did you know you could do that?"

"Uh, yeah sure..." Arsec said as he lay down again.

"Y-you jumped! You jumped winds know how much to beat the rubble! I-I'm speechless!"

"You don't... seem... speechless..."

"R-right, well... good job!" Mesui said, as she stood up and inspected all their things.

Arsec just gave her a thumbs-up and kept panting until he calmed down.

"We seem to be good, all of our stuff is here," she said, suddenly worrying about him "Are you okay? Are you tired?"

"No, just... scared, you know?" he said with a stoic face yet with frightened eyes. Mesui exhaled and helped him get up.

"Winds! Just... blasted winds! You got us this far, Arsec, you gave me another chance... thank you," she said, hugging him.

"Thank me until we rescue Chief Tulag, we still have to find him."

"Yeah, but... but... okay..."

They nodded at each other and picked their items before walking to the other side of the rubble, which seemed to have gentler slopes. 

*******

Back with the black boar, the goblins tended him and took him to the rear as Tulag's squire inspected the rubble.

One of the hunters came to him, distressed, "Do you think Princess Mesui climbed that?"

The squire sighed.

"You can't see any favorable edges to step on," the squire said, eyes always on the fog above and the wall, "it would've taken the princess too long and we would've caught her on the spot. You can't see the top thanks to this blasted mist so I don't think she shot a rope to help herself."

"Then..."

"She somehow managed to climb that, that's for sure." he said as he turned, "We need to find another way. Spread the word, we're retracing our steps and see if we can go around this rubble."

They both mounted their boars and steered the reins to send them back. Mesui's boar followed suit, tied up to one of the larger boars.

"Eyes always up, stay alert, "the squire ordered, "we're going deeper into rodent territory, keep your swords and shields close, bows within hand's reach."

The dead-end was slowly abandoned, as the squire took a quick glimpse at the wall of rubble, the ubiquitous fog, and the intensifying rain.

"Just a matter of time, princess..."