Peregrin Old-Fur: Captured

A few days later, I was interrupted by a Halfling while I was sharpening knives. He tentatively walked out of a room and came over to our table. His face was not familiar to me.
“Excuse me, I was told I’m supposed to be here. What’s going on here and why am I here?” He asked. He had muddy hair that was curly, but was also flattened down at some parts. His face was quite dirty and he had a few scratches on his forehead. The Halfling had dark oak eyes and stood quite a few inches shorter than my brother and I. He appeared to be the same age as me. I decided to introduce myself.
“Hi, I’m Peregrin Old-“
“You’re Peregrin Old-Fur?!” The Halfling quickly responded back.
“Yes I am, this is-“
“Wow, the great Peregrin right before my eyes!” He arched his back in front of me. “I thought you’d be a little older, but it’s so good to see you alive!” At this point, I was quite confused.
“I’m sorry, how do you know my name?” I asked.
“Oh right, I’m Wilscar the Goblin Hunter.” It sounded awkward hearing my title being used by another, like a man seeing his wife with another man. “A man by the name of Ericepaius formed a clan together to become the Goblin Hunters.”
“How’d he do it?” My brother asked.
Although he was befuddled speaking to my brother, his eyes were still bursting with excitement.
“At first he preached it out in the centre of Kemadri, but no one ever listened to him. I didn’t give up on you Pippin. Wait, is it okay for me to call you Pippin?” I laughed. I nodded at him and he continued. “He eventually got a group of six to listen and they became the first six Goblin Hunters; well I guess they weren’t actually the first ones. Anyway, the group was practicing in the forest, but I was late getting there. When I reached the great tree, no one was there. I believe they must have run off. Next thing I knew, I’m in a cave talking to Pippin. “
“Where did you get the resources to practice? Jam asked.
“A nearby human city was aware of what was happening, so he supplied us with weapons and armor. Say, where’s Berhin?” I sighed and looked down. Oh Berhin, I do miss you. He must have sensed my grief over my brother.
“Oh…” He replied with discomfort. “I’m sorry.”
“We must get you to work.” I ordered. “If you are seen slacking off, you won’t like the result.” His eyes widened with terror. Quickly, he nodded his head without saying a word. “Do you know how to sharpen a knife?” I asked.
“Who doesn’t?” He replied. I said nothing while Jam coughed. I handed him the brick and knife and showed him where to place them once they were sharpened. Wilscar was a lightning bolt when it came to sharpening knives. “I’m never missing another meal again.” I thought, letting out a quiet chortle.
We sharpened knives for another hour until the bells rung and Tylovine stepped out with a proud smile painted on his face. Wilscar looked curious.
“Is that-“
“Yes.” I interrupted him. The Goblin King examined the work of his scared-to-death prisoners. When he stood by our table, his eyes widened a little.
“This table has definitely improved.” Tylovine stated as he locked eyes with the new Halfling.
“Short stop,state your name.”
“Wilscar.” He replied with a slight grin.
“Well Wilscar, it seems like you know what you’re doing. Keep it up, and maybe we won’t run into any problems with each other.”
Wilscar nodded his head and Tylovine allowed us to have our meal.
“He doesn’t seem that bad.”
“He doesn’t seem that bad?” Jam asked. “He’s a psychopath! He likes the thought of seeing your blood!” A few eyes here and there carefully studied us.
“Not to worry, Peregrin has a plan to get us out, right Pippin?”
“Still working on it.” I replied. Escaping wasn’t a concern of mine at the time. Once I learned how to be a cleric, then I and the other prisoners could escape. I looked over at the elf with the cloak. He was listening to the conversation, but then turned his head quickly away.
We went back to our work. Two hours later, Tylovine walked out from the dark hallway and watched us.
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on here?” A voice cried out from behind me. I turned around to see a man beside a portal. He had long black hair that stretched to his eyes. His clothes were torn and dirty. Tylovine smiled.
“Why of course, come right this way and I’ll tell you all about it.” The human shook his head and crossed his arms, but two stalwarts stomped towards him and dragged him by his hands.
“This can’t be good.” I thought. A woman was crying uncontrollably, her tears flowing down her face.
“No!” She cried helplessly. There was nothing she could do. For once, it wasn’t me who was being dragged in the dark hallway, but I was not relieved. Instead, I felt a sense of agony and pain. That human was being dragged away to quite possibly his death. If he was about to experience anything close to what I experienced, I was not going to let that wretched Goblin King touch him. I looked at the knife bag on my table. I had an idea. I grabbed the closest knife to me.
“What are you doing?” Wilscar asked.
“I will be back.” I answered. “There’s something I need to do.” I swiftly walked over to the elf. I nudged his shoulder.
“I need to borrow your cloak.” I whispered.
“Why should I be so stupid as to let you do that?” He replied back.
“I’m tired of people being treated like this. I’m going to go in there, and get that man out as quickly as I can. Tylovine needs to know that we won’t be treated like slaves.” He looked at me, not with anger, but in agreement.
“Make it quick.” I nodded and he handed over the cloak.
“If I walk into the dark hallway and then put the cloak on, he will surely see me.” I thought. “If I put it on right now, people will get suspicious. I need to get to my room.” I walked to my room with the cloak. Its burgundy material felt soft to my touch. The stalwart that blocked the door cautiously watched my every move. There was no time to lose. I ran between its legs. It furiously turned around and thumped towards me. I lifted the cloak high, and lowered it to cover my body. When I did so, my body vanished from sight, as if my presence was instantly erased. The stalwart stopped and stood. The goblin’s confused face shifted from anger to being dumbfounded. Like I had previously noticed, the stalwart was definitely strong, but stupid at the same time. Again, I crawled through its bulky legs, though crawling wasn’t necessary. I walked into the centre where many people were completely oblivious to the fact that I was staring right at them. As quietly as possible, I dashed towards the darkened hallway, trying not to hit anything on my way there. I remembered the whips and the lashes eating my back away as I crept towards the hallway of nothingness.
“Well, I’m here.” I heard a voice demand. “Now tell me what’s going on!”
“Oh, I’ll tell you what’s going on here.” Tylovine coughed in the darkness, signaling two stalwarts to come forward. The human gulped.
“You see, long ago I was raised by Goblins and though it was dirty and mucky, it wasn’t all that bad. When my Goblin guardians were killed, I sought hospitality and generosity from Kemadri, the Halfling city. How did they reply? They mocked me. They humiliated me so much that I couldn’t stand it anymore. So I went to war-“
“I know this part. You went to war, but you were defeated by Reen.” The human said this in a self-confident tone. “He stood his ground against you.” Tylovine smirked. It was dark, but I could sense his evil grin.
“Ah yes. Reen, the great warrior, whom I believe is dead now correct? Yes that’s correct, I killed him!” Tylovine let out a loud and terrifying laugh.
“What does that have to do with why my wife and I are being held hostage by you?” The human leaned down and chucked a spit ball in his direction.
“Someone should teach you manners, old man. I was going to tell you, but now I don’t feel like it anymore.” Tylovine snapped his fingers. That was the signal for the stalwarts to grab him. If I let them grab him, I knew they weren’t going to let go. I ran towards a small goblin in the corner and stabbed it in the back. It let out a dying shriek, as if somehow that would save it. All eyes were now locked on the dying monster. The two stalwarts walked over in my direction. “Perfect”, I thought. I walked over to the human and yanked on his ear. He instantly lost balance and fell. I swiftly cloaked his body and invisibly pulled him away. Tylovine was just beginning to notice what had happened. Carrying an unconscious body, especially a human’s body, was hard on my back. I dragged him all the way through the centre to a room that was closest to me. Gently, I laid the body on the sheet that was below me. With two slaps on the cheek, he awoke. The man moaned and groaned.
“Get up.” I ordered. The man’s eyes darted around the room.
“Who’s there?” He asked. “What happened?”
“I brought you here, unharmed. You are okay.”
“Are you a ghost?”
“In a way, yes.” I replied. After all, I did have a wavy blanket covering my body.
“Do you know why I am here?”
“War.” And with that I vanished from his sight and hearing. I walked over to my room, took the cloak off, and walked to the elf.
“Well?” The elf replied to me.
“He’s alive, and is in that room over there.” With my finger, I guided the elf’s vision to the room where the human wandered.
“I get the feeling this isn’t the last time you will be wanting to use my invisibility cloak.”
“I might have an idea.”
“Regarding-“
“Our escape.”

That night, Hortamus taught me a little more of the draconic language and read stories from the implement.
“I know what you did in there.” Hortamus stated.
“How? There’s something you’re not telling me. What is it?”
“I didn’t want to tell you this. I can read minds. I learned it from my cleric teacher. Halflings’ brains aren’t strong enough to even attempt it. I didn’t want you to be hooked on the idea. You will hurt yourself.” There was a part of me that had always thought he was able to read my mind. The idea of it was fascinating to me, but I knew then that I would not be able to do it. The silence was short, but powerful.
“I had to kill the goblin to get their attention. If there was another way, I would have taken it.”
“Why did you do it? Why did you save him?” He asked the rhetorical question not so that he could understand, but so that I, myself, could understand.
“I saved him because he did not deserve to die. He was innocent, and he will be crucial when we break out of here.”
“Yes, your plans on escaping … your thoughts?”
“I’m still wrapping my head around it, but the portal and the cloak are two key factors. Not to worry, I’m more focused on becoming a cleric.”
“That’s good to hear.” Hortamus smiled. ”Now, where were we?”