“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” was all Owen would say after they’d returned. Faye was pretty sure he had blown through all five stages of anger in that one sentence. It was dripping with malevolence and contempt.

But it was all he said after they’d explained what had happened. What they had done. The risk they had taken. Faye felt bad about keeping it from him, but she couldn’t help the belief that it needed to be done, especially considering the boy.

Instead of speaking, Owen worked with Yoda to get the boy a blanket and checked him out. They’d put him onto a cot in Owen’s lean-to while he made sure nothing was broken. He then checked his eyes, then his throat.

Faye stood outside of the lean-to, watching while biting her thumb. Owen would have a lot to say, but at least he was acting, not reacting. The boy hadn’t made a peep in the three hours it took to get back to camp with all their supplies, and his breathing was slow. Too slow.

He might have been one of the people who killed Dillon and Dane, but he was a kid. And no child deserves what happened to him.

The dried blood that ran down his legs suggested he’d been through an experience none should ever experience. He’d been raped. Violently, judging by the bruises all over the boy’s body.

She was concerned. She wanted to make sure he would be okay. She wanted to ask, but she knew Owen needed to do his thing.

Instead, she forced herself to walk over to Emma, who was tending to the horse on the outskirts of their tiny settlement. She was feeding it some melon while stroking its mane. She looked back to Faye.

“Is he okay?”

“Who, Owen or the boy?”

“Both. Either. I don’t know.”

“Owen and Yoda are working on him,” she explained. “He’ll talk to us when he’s ready.”

“Oh,” Emma said. She sighed. “I keep thinking about those men,” she said. “Maybe we should have killed them.”

Faye’s first reaction was to tell her normal human beings didn’t think that way. Faye was no killer.

Except she was. She killed that Hob. It was a monster, a vicious tyrant to the goblins. It would have killed her if she hadn’t killed it first. But that didn’t change the fact that she killed it, and was thus a killer.

But Emma hadn’t killed anyone yet– at least nothing sapient. She wasn’t a killer.

She put the thought out of her head when she remembered they weren’t normal humans in a normal situation. They were among barbaric people, and they needed to be prepared to do barbaric things.

“Maybe we should have,” Faye agreed.

“They hurt that boy,” Emma said. “They’re capable of doing that to a kid.” She turned away from Faye. “People like that don’t deserve life.”

Faye nodded. But by the time they’d found the boy, the two men may have woken up and freed themselves, maybe even have been long-gone by then. She suspected they’d find help. Whether it be a passerby or a soldier, they’d no doubt find the wreckage of the wagon eventually and attempt to track their path through the woods. Several goblins, two humans and a horse tended to make quite a trail to follow.

Thankfully, Emma’s experience in tracking informed her ability to hide their tracks, obscure their movement and lead anyone who thought to pursue them way off-course. They would be fine there– for now. After all, the soldiers hadn’t found them– if they even looked, and New Bablyon was hidden well enough away they’d have to send a thousand people looking through the woods to find them.

They’d realized that was a risk before– but still felt they shouldn’t kill unless necessary.

But if there’s anything the day had taught her, it was that the line between necessary and not was moving more rapidly than she expected.

“How’s the horse?”

“Bad teeth,” Emma explained. “Poorly groomed. Lice. Overworked. But she’ll be okay with a bit of care, won’t you girl?” She looked back to Faye. “I was thinking about calling her Pepper.”

“Pepper?” Faye repeated.

“It’s this thing my mom and I do. Ever since I was a kid, every horse we’ve ever had has been named after a soft drink,” she explained with a wistful look on her face. “My horse back home is named Pepsi. Hers is Mountain Dew. We’ve got a stallion named Sarsaparilla. So… Pepper. Short for Doctor Pepper.”

“Makes sense,” Faye said, reaching out to pat the horse on its side. “Pepper.”

Emma motioned to the saddle nearby. It was the one they’d found in the wagon. “That’s definitely her saddle, but I’m making some alterations before I saddle her up. The bit is made out of some weird metal. It’s really coarse. I need to find something that won’t hurt her.”

“And what are we going to do with her?”

Emma shrugged. “She’s a hauler. A workhorse. She was probably bred for endurance. She might be able to pull a plow, but workhorses don’t often have saddles. Which means she’s multi-purpose. But whoever’s been taking care of her doesn’t know a thing about caring for horses.” She shot Faye a look. “Or simply doesn’t care.”

“Probably the latter,” Faye said.

“Or both,” Emma countered.

“He was drugged,” came Owen’s voice from behind them. Both Emma and Faye turned around to face him as he approached.

“How can you tell?” Faye asked.

“Dilated pupils.” he explained. “If I had to guess, it’s some kind of opiate, but there’s no way to tell for sure.”

“Wait,” Faye said. She looked over to where the goblins had stashed their loot and spotted a burlap sack. She walked over and picked it up, then reached in and pulled out a bulb. The scent of ammonia washed over her. “I think these are poppy bulbs,” she explained.

Owen walked over and took the bulb from her. He crushed it in his fingers. “That’s exactly what they are.” He dropped it to the ground and wiped his fingers on his pants. “You say he’s been out for what… three hours?”

“About that,” Emma said.

Owen thought about it for a moment. “A kid his size, a heavy dose would probably put him out for four or five hours at a time. Those bruises aren’t new. Some are healing, I’d say they were three or four days old. Then the blood…”

“So he was…” Faye trailed off.

Owen gave her a rigid nod. “Probably this morning. Might not have been the first time, but it was particularly rough.” He looked to the ground.

“Then we should have killed them,” Emma commented.

Owen snapped his head toward Emma. “Seriously? That’s your takeaway from this?” he yelled, glowering. He threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”

“Probably saved a kid’s life,” Faye countered.

“How do you know he wasn’t already rescued? What if those men–”

“He was locked in a trunk, Owen. Hidden. We didn’t even know he was there– we couldn’t possibly have known. I had to break a padlock.”

Owen growled. “The point is you two are playing like you’re the goblin bandit-queens of Middle Earth and–”

“Those people killed Dillon. Killed Emma’s dad. Killed Grendel, and they might have killed that boy if–”

“That boy is one of the people you’re talking about Faye!” Owen yelled, jabbing his finger in the direction of his lean-to. The goblins were starting to pay attention to their exchange, watching quietly.

“He’s just a kid,” Faye yelled.

“You committed armed robbery against a human trafficking drug dealer, Faye,” Owen retorted. “You don’t get to claim the high ground here.” He stamped his foot. “You know what? Fuck this. I’m done with this.” He walked over toward his lean-to.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve got a better chance surviving on my own,” Owen yelled. “You’re going to get us all killed.”

“We covered our tracks!”

“They killed Grendel on sight,” Owen said. “What do you think they’re going to do when they find out a bunch of goblins led by an Asian woman are robbing travelers on the road? They’re going to scour these woods until they find us.” He grabbed a sack and started filling it with various supplies.

“Where the hell are you going to go then, Owen? We still don’t know where we are.”

“That’s the point,” he replied. “I’m starting to feel I’ll be safer lost in the woods. I–”

“O-Wen!” Yoda’s voice yelled. “Stay!” The old goblin slammed his walking stick into the ground as if to punctuate it. He wore a look of anger. “Stay!”

Owen looked to Yoda in shock.

A moment later, Leonardo walked up and folded his arms. “O-Wen stay!” he said.

Even Faye was surprised. Then, more goblins started to repeat the words. 

“Noobab-elon!” Yoda exclaimed. “Noobab-elon! O-Wen! Emma! Faye! Goblin!” He pointed to the unconscious boy laying near by. “Stay! Noobab-elon!”

The other goblins chattered amongst themselves, but expressed agreement with whatever it was Yoda was trying to say.

Owen deflated and dropped his bag. He looked to Faye. “He’s right,” he announced.

Faye, too, let her defenses fall. Yoda knew all of three words in English besides their names, but he had made his point clear. They couldn’t be fighting amongst themselves. Not in front of the kids, anyway. They needed to have each other’s backs. And the safest place for that, at least for now, was New Babylon.

In the midst of a pregnant silence, Faye noticed the boy on the cot stir, and let out a groan.

Owen, too, took notice. He walked over to the boy. Faye followed after him, while Yoda took a seat on the floor nearby.

The boys eyes fluttered open and looked up at the two of them weakly. His face was one of bewilderment, and Faye watched as it contorted from there to a look of utter terror.

The boy let out a yell and started to stammer while pulling away from Owen. Owen tried his best to calm the boy, to reassure him, but he scrambled away, eventually falling off of the cot and hitting the floor.

Weakly, he tried to stand and run as Owen approached. He started to crawl away, then froze in fear upon seeing Yoda flashing him a toothless smile.

He jerked back just as Owen got a hold of him.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. He’s not going to hurt you,” Owen said.

Yoda seemed to find the whole ordeal hilarious and slapped his knee while barking out prolonged laughter.

The boy looked up at Owen and met his gaze, then looked over to Faye.

“Na eweh!” the boy pleaded. “Hanna, na eweh!”

“Nobody’s going to hurt you, kid,” Faye said. “I’m Faye.” She gestured to herself, then put a hand on Owen’s arm. “This is Owen. See? Faye and Owen.”

The boy looked between them, then back down to Yoda, and seemed to take note of the other goblins surrounding them. He pointed at them with a shaky finger.

“Krankun,” he said. He looked to Faye. “Che?”

“They’re not going to hurt you,” she said. “Friends. We’re friends. Okay?” She reached down and patted Yoda on the head. “Friends.”

“Giturn ess che?” he asked, looking to her.

She’d heard that question before. She gestured to herself. “Faye,” she repeated. “It’s my name.”

The boy looked to her again. “Faye che?” he asked.

“That’s right, Faye,” she said. “And Owen. And that’s Yoda.” She pointed to Emma. “That’s Emma over there. We’re friends.”

The boy looked around, but seemed to be calming once he realized nobody was trying to hurt him. He folded his arms, taking note of his lack of clothes.

“I’ll go get him something to wear,” Emma said, then ran off toward where they’d stored the loot.

“What’s your name?” Faye asked.

“Che?”

“Name. You,” she said, pointing.

The boy relaxed a bit further and pulled a blanket over himself. “Keyne,” he replied.

“Keyne,” Faye said. “Nice to meet you, Keyne. Let’s be friends, okay? Friends?” She put an arm around Owen to show what she meant, then pointed again to the boy.

“Frenz,” Keyne repeated. “Ah.”

As Faye felt her heart rate returning to normal levels, she looked to Owen. “I’m sorry,” she admitted. “You’re right, we took a big risk.”

“Just promise me,” Owen said. “No more armed robbery, okay?”

She nodded. “I promise.”

“Good. Because now I think the important thing is to figure out how to communicate with this kid. Let’s get him some food and make sure he’s comfortable before it gets to be too late.”