Serin and Altria had regained themselves enough now to stand. With the dust starting to clear in the corridor it was time to start assessing the situation.

“Can you still continue Serin?” Lillia asked.

“If it’s just a few goblins, yes. My wounds seem pretty healed.” Serin answered whilst getting to her feet.

“Okay… What about you Altria?”

“I’m fine, but I’ll only be able to use my basic skills for the rest of the day.”

“Hmm…” Lillia mumbled to herself.

“You can’t really be considering leaving those girls down there?” I asked, not really taking into consideration our current situation.

“No, of course not, but if we go in there and get ourselves killed, then no one is going to be able to save them… We’ll go and check it out, but if there is anything unexpected, we’re going to have to make a retreat right away. Do you understand?”

“Yes…”

I didn’t like the thought of leaving them there one bit, but Lillia was right. We were nearly spent. I had no idea how much energy Lillia still had, but Altria and Serin didn’t have much fight left. Sure, we could handle a few goblins, but if there was anything down there like that cave ogre, we wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Good, then we’ll head out. Altria, Serin you take up the back. Theo stay behind me.”

“You’re taking the front?” I asked.

“Yes. I’m an elf remember. My eyesight is better than yours and so is my hearing. If we want any chance of missing any traps, I’ll take the lead.”

“Right.”

“Good, follow me.”

Lillia took the lead and we headed back down the passage back up to the fork in the tunnel. It wasn’t long until we reached the split again. As soon as we drew near, I could hear the awful screams again. Whatever was going on down there, it was keeping them distracted enough that they hadn’t even noticed the cave in. As we turned and headed towards the noise, Lillia fastened her staff to her back, then drew one of the large knives from her hip.

 The screams from the women got louder with each step we took. After what seemed like an eternity, we approached the chamber where they were being held. The room was small and dark. The party halted without a word as we reached the threshold, not because there were overwhelming numbers of goblins inside, or because there was another cave ogre. It was the scene unfolding in front of our eyes that stopped us all in our tracks.

There were only three goblins inside the chamber, and they were too consumed with their current activity to even noticed that we were stood at the entrance. At the far end of the dark cavern were seven of the maidens that had been taken from the village. They were all huddled together shaking in the corridor. None of them had noticed our arrival either, they were shielding their eyes from what was happening to their three friends in the middle of the room, hoping they wouldn’t be next.

Several steps in front of where we had come to a halt, the three remaining goblins we mercilessly having their way with the three of the women from the village. They had torn their clothes from their bodies and laid them down on the cold stone floor, their claws tearing their flesh as they clutched their bodies while they had their way.

The four of us stood there watching for a moment as if in shock at the brutality of it all. The trance was only broken, when without warning an arrow shot past from behind. Altria had been the first to return to her senses and act. A direct hit, the arrow entered the skull of the goblin in the middle of the group. It was only when its dead body fell on the poor women below, its dark blood pouring all over her that they finally noticed our arrival.

The two remaining goblins rushed to pull out of their victims and face the enemies that seemed to have just appeared, but it was too little too late. The pair had only made half a turn by the time that Lillia crossed the distance to them. In a single spinning movement, she brought her large dagger across the throat of the first goblin. The strike was so powerful that it took it head clean off, blood spurted from the torso like a fountain. Before the first creatures body hit the ground, she completed her arc and buried the dagger all the way up to the hilt in the temple of the second creature. Lillia pulled out the dagger and the creature fell to the ground twitching.

The rest of the maidens having noticed the carnage in front of them, all screamed in fear. They were so scared they couldn’t recognise that we had come there to save them. Lillia wiped the dark goblin blood from her dagger and returned it to her hip. In the meantime, the women that had been laid on the floor struggled to cover themselves, or crawl back to the other group of women in the corner of the room. I backed off and watched the entrance as the rest of the girls entered the room with Lillia. I decided that after what they had just been through it would be best to leave the others to interact with them.

“You’re safe now, we’re here to rescue you. We were sent here by your village elder, Archibald.” Serin announced in a clear unthreatening voice.

It was only now that the women realised what was happening, that their screams turned into sobs. After that the next half an hour was spent just trying to calm the women down enough for us to be able to cover them with whatever we could find. Lillia did her best to heal the three girls that had been the centre of the attack, but all she could do was heal their physical wounds. There was little that she could do to ease the trauma that they had just endured.

By the time Lillia had finished healing the women had just about calmed down enough that we could make our way out of the cave system. Lillia and I went ahead, checking the route out was clear to leave, before the rest of the group followed. It was a slow process just making our way out, the women were still completely terrified. It took us another thirty minutes just to make it back to the entrance. I took another fifteen to get the group past the pitfall at the entrance. When we had finally made it out into the woods. As things stood it would be a push for us to make it back to the village before night fell.

We were able to move more freely than we had on our approach to the cave, but now we were slowed by the survivors, as we made our way back to the village. By the time we had made it through the wood we were beginning to lose the light. When the village finally came into sight, the houses were already lighting up. At the entrance to the village there were two figures stood with flaming torches. As we drew nearer, I could make out what looked to be an old man and a young lad. The boy must have been twelve at most, but it seemed they were the only men still left in the village and stood as a look out for our return.

“They’re back, it’s them!” The boy called out as they saw us approach.

The boy ran with his torch, I assumed to the village elders house to pass on the news about our successful return with the kidnapped maidens. It wasn’t long before doors around the village started to open and nervous, but hopeful looking residents started to come out into the street. All of them eager to see whether their loved ones were among our number. It was a bitter sweet scene as we returned the women back to their families, some virtually unhurt and others clearly scarred from their experience.