He turned to stare at Myr, alarm evident in his eyes. The woman tensed and focused on the direction that the scream had come from. A moment later, she relaxed. 

“Nothin’ to worry about, let’s get goin’.” she said casually, and Ash did a double take. 

“Wait, what? What was that noise then?” 

“Just a bunch of beasties attackin’ some goblin.” 

A goblin? He sighed. It wasn’t a human, at least. Still, he was surprised by how disinterested Myr seemed about the whole thing. 

“Aren’t you going to help?” he asked askance. Didn’t she have a deal to work with the Everwatch? He was sure that saving one of their number wouldn’t go unappreciated by them, and likely would go a long way towards mending any lingering irritation that remained in the wake of the fiasco that he had caused. He said as much to Myr who shot him an annoyed look. 

“She ain’t a part of the Everwatch. Not sure why she’s in these lands alone but she ain’t my problem. Just some brat that I don’t plan on saddlin’ myself with.” 

A brat? It was a child? 

Ash blinked. That seemed so... callous of her. Wasn’t this the woman that had so freely opened her hearth and home to him, even going as far as to teach him magic without asking for a single thing as recompense? 

He scrunched his brow and watched Myr’s back retreat into the shrub before he sucked in a breath and turned towards the direction of the noise and cautiously inched closer towards the source of the commotion. 

He found the edge of the clearing soon enough, and it was about as bad as he’d expected it to be. He saw a small, frail looking goblin child - Or so he assumed. He found it hard to tell age when it came to their kind, but the little one was far smaller than either Maxxine or Soraxx had been - dressed in literal leather rags stained with dirt and balanced precariously upon a large, jagged boulder. All manner of cuts and scratches marred her skin and her face betrayed the sheer exhaustion she was feeling even as she continued to weakly scream and swipe at the monsters beneath her. 

It did little more than annoy them. 

The monsters themselves were three vicious lovecraftian creatures that circled around the boulder. Their vaguely wolf-like figures bristled with obvious malice and their maws laid open like the many-pointed hands of a starfish, revealing rows and rows of shark-like teeth, whilst dozens of fleshy tendrils writhed on their mottled green backs. 

They were monstrous and disgusting and disturbing, and their intentions with the unfortunate goblin were obvious enough. Ash gulped and felt the need to back away ever so slowly take hold of his legs. Fortunately, days of both running from and facing off against rabid monsters had taught him a thing or two at stifling his fear, and so the youth managed to remain where he was, eyes affixed onto the child. 

His first thought was that he wanted to be a hero, as stupid as it sounded, even to him. There was no point to learning magic and aspiring to be a Dumbledore-like figure if he didn’t have the guts to act like it, especially now that he had the power to back himself up, meagre as it still may be. 

Still, having said that, a week ago he likely wouldn’t have found the courage to do as he was about to do, or even the need to do so. She was a goblin after all and his encounter with the murderous savages that had nearly reaped his life still lingered fresh in his memory, but Ash couldn’t find it in himself to hate the entire race for the actions of a few. 

Especially a single, terrified child. He was a true mage and with his magic came opportunity. He had a chance to save the child. He’d just have to be smart about it. 

Of course, his task would have been significantly easier if Myr had chosen to help him but a glance backwards revealed neither hide nor hair of the woman, which was alright. She’d done more than enough for him as it was. It was his turn to do something for his own damn self. 

And to that effect, the young man carefully searched the area around the imperiled goblin in search of anything that he could turn to his advantage in slaying the slobbering beasts. All he saw were boulders, larger boulders and smaller boulders. Nothing more. 

Ash frowned. It wasn’t much but it could be enough. He glanced back to the monsters. The fact that the things weren’t already feasting on the child was proof enough that they didn’t have any ranged abilities, or at least one capable of crossing more than a few feet. Neither were they good climbers. 

Now, wasn’t that something. 

Something that he could use. 

He didn’t have any great plan, but he had an inkling of one, and that would be more than enough against monsters as weak as these things likely were. He couldn’t think of any other reason why Myr could have been so nonchalant about their presence. 

So, tier one or two at the worst. And there were three of them. 

He’d make it work. 

Ash cautiously edged alongside the boundaries of the clearing, taking great care to avoid making any undue noise as he went before he finally found a good position from which he could approach. 

The shadows of the large boulders provided ample cover as he stalked into the clearing at a snail’s pace, his every step carefully considered. He had a Thunderous Wave and Fire-Bolt primed at the edges of both his hands, ready to be cast at a moment’s notice just in case they sensed him, but he really hoped that it wouldn’t come to that just yet. 

Fortunately, fortune seemed to be on his side and Ash stifled the relieved sigh that threatened to erupt from his lips as soon as his back touched the cool surface of the large, jutting stone. A moment later and he was atop it and a good ten feet from the ground. The goblin girl’s gold eyes went wide as she noticed his ascent. Ash shot a wink and a smile her way before he stretched his hands towards the oblivious monstrosities and took careful aim. 

He still had the element of surprise. It’d be a shame to not make full use of it. A Fire Bolt was loosed, and the result of his training made itself known when it perfectly struck the back of one of the monsters with the sound of crackling flame and sizzling flesh. The beast hollered as it was struck and leapt away before it rolled to the earth in a feeble attempt to end the pain searing its back. 

And it wouldn’t be the only one. His second Fire Bolt followed close on the heels of the first and hit the second of the monsters on its thigh. It yelped in pain whilst the third and final of their number turned to face the source of the attack. Its beady, menacing eyes found Ash and roared before it charged his way. 

Ash watched as it stopped a foot away from the base of his boulder and reared up on its front two legs to try and reach for him. Its mouth snapped impotently at air several feet beneath Ash. “Hey, thanks for making my job easier.” he said with a grin as he loosed a Fire Bolt right at the thing’s face. 

The spell struck it dead on in the eyes and burned through its snout like acid on paper, exposing flesh and bone and filling the air with the stench of burning flesh. Ash gagged as the smell filled his nose and immediately turned away, greedily sucking in lungfulls of fresh air until he could bear to inspect the carnage that he’d so easily inflicted. 

The beast laid dead slumped against the base of his boulder, a smoking crater where the front of its skull had been, whilst the other two were nowhere to be seen, likely having fled into the forest. Still, Ash spared a few moments to peer closely through the trees, trying to discern whether they may still be lingering somewhere nearby. He thought it unlikely. They were animals in the end and no animal wanted a bite out of more than they could safely handle. 

Eventually, he determined the area to be clear and Ash quickly scampered down from his perch and made his way towards the child. She stared down at him cautiously, her gaze flicking between his hands and his face. 

“Hi.” he greeted, and her eyes bulged as the language of her people fluently left his lips. “Are you okay? I’m here to help.” 

It took her a moment to gather her wits and bare down on him with a look that mixed confusion, terror and fatigue. She wavered in place for a moment before she groggily asked him: “You are human?” 

Her voice was soft and high-pitched and betrayed her young age. 

“Yes, but I won’t hurt you or anything.” 

She hardly looked convinced but whatever her retort might have been was lost on the tip of her tongue. Her eyes rolled up into her head and her body sagged like a limp puppet before she slipped off her perch and to the earth. Ash scrambled and managed to catch her just in the nick of time. A worried frown crossed his lips as he lowered her to the grass and searched her chest for signs of breath. 

It was there, shallow as it was. His frown deepened. The little goblin was in far worse shape than he’d assumed now that he’d gotten a good, close-up look at her. She was heavily malnourished and torn up with all manner of cuts and bruises. Her feet was just one massive sore and the bags under her eyes had bags all their own. 

The girl needed help, quick. 

“You bringin’ her home?” 

Ash flinched before he swore and turned to face Myr. The woman stood imperiously behind him, an annoyed cast to her face. On her shoulders was the corpses of the two monsters he’d sent running. 

So, she had been watching after all. It annoyed him that she’d made him do that all on his own, but he swallowed his reservations and turned back towards the girl. 

“I was planning to, yeah. She needs help, Myr.” 

“An’ I suppose that you plan on usin’ my supplies to heal her? An’ my food to feed her? My hearth to warm her?” 

He grimaced but nodded. “I know that I don’t have any right to dump this on you after everything you’ve already done for me but this kid was gonna die. I mean, you saved my ass from a situation exactly like this, right? I was just doing the same.”  

“That’s different, kid.” 

“How?” 

“’Cuz I say it is!” she glowered; real anger evident in her steely gaze. Ash didn’t like that look, nor the tone the conversation was descending towards. 

“Okay. Let’s do it this way, then.” he said placatingly. “Just let her stay in the burrow for a few days and I’ll find some other shelter for her in the meanwhile. And whatever food she needs, I’ll hunt it myself. If you could tell me where the water the burrow gets come from, I’ll go fetch it for her too. I’ll even learn how to make more medicine to replace whatever she uses! She won’t be a drain on your supplies, I’ll make sure of it.” 

Myr scowled and huffed, her anger only surging at his words. It reached a point where Ash truly felt afraid that she would get violent and wasn’t that a terrifying thought in of itself. He wasn’t sure what he’d do or even be able to do if she did, but he was certain that he wouldn’t let the kid be hurt. 

He didn’t think Myr would be that cruel though, and his thoughts proved right. 

Eventually. 

The woman deflated like a burst balloon and loosed a long, weary sigh. 

“I’m not gonna say that you did a bad thing, Ash. You didn’t. You saved a little girl from monsters an’ ain’t nobody gonna heckle you for that. You did good in that sense, but this girl’ll be more than just a drain on my supplies, an’ you don’t get that. She’s a danger. I have no idea which tribe she’s affiliated with or even why she’s out here in land belongin’ to another tribe, but I can tell you that it’s for no good reason.” 

“Goblins are a communal people. Very communal. Kids are important in their culture, an’ they’re seriously over-protective of ‘em. Heck, Wixxacks only let me see his daughters a year after our first meetin’. That’s how serious they are about protectin’ their youth. They don’t let kids her age take a single step outside their tribe walls for any reason. So, the fact that she’s out here means that either somethin’ disastrous happened to her tribe, an’ I probably would have heard about a local tribe bein’ attacked if that was the case, or the other possibility.” 

“What’s that?” Ash asked, dread mounting in his gut as his own mind found the answer before the words had even left her mouth. “What my gut tells me is that she was purposefully left to die out here. Her tribe wanted her dead.” 

His eyes were wide as he turned from the woman to the girl unconscious on the grass. They’d wanted a child... dead? 

“Why?” 

“I dunno, but no goblin tribe’ll do somethin’ like that unless it's for a really good reason. Somethin’ major enough that it’ll risk the whole tribe as a whole unless they do it. The girl’s a danger, Ash. Leavin’ her be is for the best.” 

Letting a child die was for the best? She was too dangerous to allow to live? He... couldn’t bear with that kind of reasoning. It hit... far too close to home for him to even consider it. 

Logically, he knew that he had no reason to save the girl or stick his neck out for her as much as he was. Neither was he naïve enough to go about trying to save every person he came across from every situation ever, even despite his desire to be a hero. 

But this... 

He shut his eyes and stymied the memories that came flooding back before they unraveled him. He had bigger things to worry about than the ghosts of his past. 

Green eyes rose defiantly to meet twin pools of icy-blue. 

“I’m sorry, Myr, but I can’t do that. She’s just a kid. I... can’t allow myself to leave her be. Sorry. I won’t ask you to trouble yourself with her though, especially if she really is a danger. I’ll... find somewhere else to stay with her.” 

The words felt like molasses as they left his lips. He was giving up safety, warmth and the companionship of a woman he had come to truly like and admire over the past few days, all for a strange child he’d known for less than a few minutes, but his heart felt light as he cemented the decision. 

It was the right thing to do. It was the hero way. He cringed as the thought crossed his mind. That had been corny even for him, but he smiled nonetheless as he carefully lifted the girl up in a princess-carry. 

“Please, could you at least spare her some medicine. I’ll pay you back with whatever you want from me, I swear.” 

Myr stared at him for a long while, her gaze daring him to waver in the face of her stare. He didn’t, and she eventually swore and slapped him upside the head hard enough to make him stumble. His ears rang as he returned his gaze to the irate woman. 

“If you think you’re wormin’ your way out of my grip that easily you’ve got another thing comin’ kid. Get your ass back to the burrow. I’ll keep the kid...” She said some more after that, but it was mumbled under breath and involved more than one colorful word that he chose to ignore. 

“What about the danger?” 

“Bah! I’ll deal with whatever comes my way like I’ve always done. Besides, we don’t know for sure that she’s some big threat.” remarked the woman as she turned from him and started to make her way back towards the burrow. 

Ash watched her leave with a burgeoning grin on his lips and made the mistake of opening his fat mouth. “Didn’t know that you were such a softie, Myr.” 

He supposed that he deserved the small pillar of earth that jammed against his toes.