The next morning the skies were clear. The grass was covered in dew, but it would get warm over the day. The others were still sleeping while I observed the surrounding terrain. It was an open meadow dotted with an occasional tree.

“Morning Lilly!” Milly yawned.

“Morning Milly! Did you sleep well?” I walked up to the tent.

“I sorely miss a bed.” Milly opened the flap and crawled out of the tent.

“Welcome to the wilderness!” I started to massage her shoulders.

“Awwww! Yes! That’s good!” She got to her knees and turned her back in my direction.

“Weather is fine today.” I knelt down behind her and continued kneading her back.

“Is time to get up already?” Tilly groaned from the inside of the tent.

“Nah, but almost.” Milly leaned her back into me.

“The suns are up already.” I gave Milly a close hug.

“Why don’t you get a room?” Tilly’s eyes appeared from under her blanket.

“As soon as you built us a house.” I stuck out my tongue at her.

“Let get up. Everyone is awake already.” Loraline sat up as well.

“I didn’t say anything.” Caroline piped up from under her blanket.

“And why are you giggling quietly?” Loraline started to tickle her through the blanket.

“Iiieh! Stop that!” Caroline rolled away from Loraline and sat up again.

“Let’s get ready for the day.” Milly crawled back in the tent and started to get dressed.

“Still no sign of a goblin?” Caroline asked after a few moments.

“Nope. Maybe we should use that mirror once more. This place is ideal to catch any pursuers with it.” I looked at Milly as she came out of the tent.

“Good Idea!” she started to get into her armor.

“Then put it on the ash tree over there in the direction we came from with the camp itself in view in case they chose to approach from a different direction.” I helped her getting into her gambeson.

“We can’t walk fast because of Caroline’s wound, so you should be able to monitor the mirror while we walk.” Loraline threw a packed bedroll out of the tent.

“I put the marker. Just here!” Milly smiled at me leaning against the ash tree.

We packed the tents and the rest of the bedrolls and after that we had a simple breakfast.

After that we started our march eastward. Milly checked the mirror every few minutes. It was still cool and the ground was a bit slippery, so we started slowly into the day. The terrain ahead was like usual composed of small hillocks. The trees grew sparse since the soil was hard and rocky.

“Stop!” Milly cried and I turned back to her.

“There are goblins approaching our camp!” she focused on the mirror.

“How many?” Tilly looked over her shoulder.

“I’m counting, they’re not properly lining up!” Milly lightly swatted Tilly’s head.

“Ow!” Tilly stepped back.

“They’re eight.” Milly looked at me after a few moments.

“They will be scouts for a greater host or are just there to check on our whereabouts. Keep looking, maybe they’re not alone.” I nodded at Milly and started to walk again.

“What do they plan?” Tilly asked while we continued.

“We’ll see. There may be an ambush ahead as well. We never got a clue where their lair is.” I carefully monitored the hillocks ahead.

The terrain wasn’t really good for looking ahead. Both an advantage and a disadvantage for them and us. They knew the terrain better though. And that included good places for ambushes or choke points. The creek was a probably interesting point as there were usually only few points to cross it comfortably. We would reach the creek in two or three hours, well ahead of lunch.

“There are more goblins passing our campsite.” Milly announced about half an hour later.

“More than hundred?” I slowed my pace considerably to give Milly a chance to monitor her mirror closely.

“Nay. Still counting. Can’t they stand still one moment?” Milly was staring at the mirror.

We reached the next branching between the hillocks. There was the option to head east, but I turned more to the south since we had found the goblins on the north side of the valley. It wont help much, depending where their lair was, but I wanted to get away from the apparently easiest path.

“About fifty.” Milly finally announced.

“I think they’re not the whole bunch. They’re even not that much more than the bunch we defeated. I think there is an ambush ahead.” I started to ramp up my pace again.

“Maybe Caroline should give some of her stuff to others.” Loraline looked at me.

“Let’s distribute the parts of the tent and her bedroll. That’s quick to archive.” I nodded at Loraline.

We stopped a few minutes to relieve Caroline a bit. Then we walked further towards the creek which would cross our way soon.

After maybe one and a half hour we reached the gorge with the creek running at its bottom. The flanks of the gorge were near vertical and the rims were about five meters apart. There was a spot some meters upstream where a running start towards the chasm seemed viable. As downstream would lead us backwards sooner or later we continued upstream.

“We’re trying to cross here. I could make the jump without backpack and weapon. We use a rope for our luggage and three of us can cross using the rope as well. Can you make the jump?” I looked at Caroline.

“You expect an ambush at one of the easier points?” Caroline walked up to the chasm, measuring the distance.

“I don’t like this!” Milly frowned at me.

“We should avoid running into a larger group of goblins, especially with the fifty or so behind us. And we shouldn’t wait much longer. They probably sent messages to the ambush as we left the path towards it.” I sternly looked at Milly.

“I can’t change your mind.” Milly shook her head dejected.

“Nope. I think fighting against a large number of goblins including their leaders isn’t feasible.” I put down the halberd and my backpack.

“We can’t cross the gorge even at a good place while we’re under attack. With the other group closing up from behind we will lose.” Tilly looked down the chasm with unease.

I checked the area for my running start briefly and then started my sprint to the chasm. The few meters vanished in a blink of an eye. As I jumped from the rim, a part of the stone crumbled away and I lost height much faster than I planned.

As I crashed against the far side of the gorge my arm were just above the rim. I managed to grab a dangling root of a tree while pain exploded all over my chest and my wind was knocked out of me. Panicked cries wailed up from behind as I clung myself to the rock face. I managed to find a spot for my left foot after a few moments. After a regaining my winds again after a few moments, I pulled myself over the rim and crawled away from the rim.

With all the ruckus we made we should hurry. I forced myself back on my feet clenching my jaw.

“Throw!” I waved at Caroline.

The rope came flying and I trapped it by stepping on it. Then I picked the rope up and we pulled it straight.

Loraline was looking the way we came from and started to ready her bow.

“Hurry! They have caught up!” she cried.

Caroline had made a loop at the middle of the rope where put in the halberd first. Then I pulled the loop with my weapon over, which I dropped by my feet, well away from the gorge. Then she fastened a backpack to the loop after she pulled it back again. Three backpack came over to my side without a problem.

As the third backpack was over the gorge I heard an arrow whirring and a loud squeak came from behind to my left an from a bit above me.

“Go on! It was only one.” Loraline was observing the hillocks behind me.

I continued to pull over the last backpacks.

The next was Milly who climbed over. It was hard but I could keep the rope straight enough.

“Someday your luck will run out.” she frowned at me propping her hands on her hips.

“It was bad luck in the first place.” I coughed.

Next came Milly’s sword and shield.

“Loraline next!” I cried. I gestured to Milly to help with the rope.

She was a bit heavier and it would be better to have two of us securing the rope. She strapped her bow over her shoulder and came over next. It wasn’t much of a problem. She readied her bow again and started to watch the direction we came from.

Then Tilly came over to the other side. Then goblins started to skirt around the last hillock. A few arrows persuaded them to retreat as two of them fell to the ground with an arrow sticking in the chest.

Then Caroline started to run and came flying over the chasm. Tilly was reining in the rope.

She flew over the chasm with her jaw clenched. She landed easily on the ground at this side, but broke down with a stiffled cry.

“Can you walk?” I looked at Caroline.

She nodded while she clumsily got back to her feet.

“I take your backpack. Let’s leave before they come in numbers.” I put on my backpack and took Caroline’s backpack in my arms. Tilly took my halberd. We managed to get behind the next hillock as the first arrows came flying from behind.

Fortunately the goblins didn’t follow us across the gorge. We headed east, keeping to the south side of the valley. We skipped lunch and after we crossed a more open part of the valley we could see a vast number of goblins pouring out between two hillocks. It was too far away to count them fortunately. We had needed more than an hour to cross the rough rocky meadow.

We entered a dense fir forest a while later. Caroline limping became more pronounced over time. We made a short rest at a point where we had a good view on the terrain behind us.

In the afternoon we found a small cave in a cliff of the southern mountain range. There were boulders we could use for cover and about two hundred meters of scree ramp to traverse to get there.

“Let’s rest early. Caroline needs a break and we can defend the cave easily. Just another ten minutes of climbing.” I looked at the other.

They nodded. We made camp and ate a bit. One of us was on watch all the time.

The cave was not deep and there were no inhabitants. We didn’t put up our tents.

There were no goblins to see in the afternoon.

“Is it a bad thing they stopped pursuing?” Tilly was on watch.

“Yes and maybe not. Perhaps they have a reason to avoid the area.” I knelt down beside her.

There were no goblins to see at the moment.

“We can go with one on the watch as open as the surrounding terrain is.” I grinned at Tilly.

“We should rest until Caroline can walk properly again.” Loraline was sitting next to Caroline checking her legs.

“Let’s do that. We can fend off the goblins quite easily here. Even if they reach the mouth of the cave it will cost them dearly to enter.” Milly was sitting with the back at the cave wall.

“The chance to find a more defendable place soon is neglectable. We rest until Caroline is comfortable walking again.” I got to my feet again.

We set up our camp and one of us, Caroline excluded, monitored the surroundings.

The next two days went by without any goblin showing up. Caroline started to walk again.