X Marks the Faerie

I had to admit that I was a bit scared. Kysha seemed to be afraid as well, but she was trying to stay strong. Saerien was calm, and Sindri was a bit fretful. I didn’t know if I would be able to defeat these goblins, or prove my love for Kysha to her brother. I could die here, and my mother wouldn’t even notice. No one would notice. I was just a boy with a face easily forgotten. Giral must have sensed that I was feeling a bit down so it came over to me and hopped up on my shoulder.

It began whispering in my ear. “Do not be afraid Gaylen. Goblins can sense that. We’re all in this together, and we’ll all come out alive.” It said to me and I just nodded. Kysha glanced over at me and smiled a small smile.

I smiled back at her and then tried to focus. Sindri taught me a lot by the sword on our journey over here. I shouldn’t doubt my abilities. I took in a deep breath and then looked to Sindri.

“Sindri, the goblin king is your master right?” Sindri only nodded and then I sat down, my back against a tree and tried to come up with a plan. A diversion would be wonderful. I looked over to Kysha as she crept over to me, making no sound.

“Okay. We’re going to use Sindri and Giral as a distraction. Sindri has to report back to his master; he can bring Giral with him so he has something to show him. Maybe Sindri can relate the rumor that there is a troll reaper. They don’t have to know that it’s Saerien but it can be a good way to trick the goblins.” I told them.

Kysha listened to everything I said and nodded. “Okay, but what about you? Can you take out a goblin?” I could tell that she had her doubts that I could, which made me even more determined to show her that I could be a hero, and that I will prove my love to her brother. It’s weird how a few words of encouragement from a Bangdi can build up my confidence.

So, I did what any teenager would do that was on a confidence high, I ran in flailing my sword and screaming out, “Ahhhhhh!” The goblins looked startled, and then gaining their composure, their face changed to fierce. The goblin sitting down hollered out, “Burn him. Skin him alive!”

The goblin standing to the right of me, stretched out the hand that wasn't holding his spear, and fire sprung from it. It engulfed my body and I stopped running, to brace myself for the pain that would ensue. Amazingly, there was none, and my cloak hadn't caught on fire either, it had protected me. The goblins had bewildered looks on their faces, and the one to the right of me swung his spear at me angrily, which I thought was dumb because I had a sword. So I chopped his spear tip off and twirled my sword in the air like I had seen in movies and sliced his throat open.

The other goblin had snuck up behind me, I could feel his breath upon the back of my neck, and I knew my little game of sword fighting was now over. Closing my eyes, I waited for certain death, but instead of that I heard a loud thud of the goblin falling to the ground. I turned around to see Kysha holding the spear tip that I had chopped off. Blood dripped down from the tip of the blade as she smiled at me but then frowned.

“You stupid! You totally wrecked our plan!” Kysha yelled at me.

“I'm sorry... I just wanted to prove to you that I could take them out...” I said realizing my idiocy.

“Watch out!” Saerien screamed to me.

I knew that the other goblin would obviously be right behind me... why else would she scream? So I closed my eyes, turning around and stabbed behind me. My blade stabbed into the underbelly of the goblin, it had almost been blocked by his shield, but luckily, I had stabbed underneath it by an inch. Dropping the sword and shield, he fell to the ground with a snarled look on his face.

“That wasn't exactly the plan I expected but that worked too...I guess into the cave we go!” Sindri exclaimed.