A Hard Fought Victory

It took three hours before you found a body of water large enough to serve your purposes. A stream that went knee deep curved through the forest, the water clear enough that two of your goblin minions stared at their reflections in awe.

"Okay guys, hand me that bucket." You ordered the little goblin next to you, who growled and tried in vain to hide his bucket behind his back.

"No share buck!" The goblin snarled at you as you put up your hands in surrender.

"Fine, you want to do it, just fill it up, the faster we get this done, the better." You suggested as the little goblin warily creeped past you, dipping the bucket into the water.

It was all going well, until a fish swam by, prompting one of the knife goblins to dive into the water vainly to catch his next meal. This caused a problem as A) knee deep water to you might as well be head height for a goblin as he was fully submerged, and B) goblins as a whole had never learned how to swim as the goblin began flailing wildly, the current of the stream carrying him away.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" You groaned, diving into the stream after him as you tried to save the possibly drowning goblin.

Wading was taking too long, but you were too big to really swim after him, so you climbed out, soaking wet and simply ran downstream to where some stones were sticking out.

Waiting patiently for a few seconds, you spotted the goblin floating along, and as he passed you; you reached out and pulled him up with the ease one would pull up a flower. Well, in this case the flower was a rose, and you got cut pretty badly as the goblin, still panicking, dug into your arms, opening two large slashes along the flesh.

Not satisfied with that, he tried to wriggle free and escape, which only succeeded in knocking off your balance on the slippery rock, causing you to fall into the water. Luckily, you managed to throw the goblin to safety as a few other goblins ran up, surrounding the soaking wet goblin, following a way behind was bucket boy, almost dragging the bucket full of water.

Very irritated, you started to climb out of the cold water when a heavy growl stopped you. Looking over your shoulder, a grey wolf was growling at you, apparently attracted by the commotion.

"Okay, it's just a wolf, we can handle this, we beat a giant spider after all." You mumbled under your breath, ignoring the voice that whispered that you didn't, in fact, beat the spider, it was **** into a retreat by the crowd of ants.

As if to spit in your face, the wolf was joined by two others by its side, followed by a much larger white one, slowly padding out of the shadows. You'd heard about dire wolves, but never seen one.

"Oh shit." Was all you got out before one of the grey wolves pounced, shoving you back into the water, and hitting your head on one of the stones as your vision blurred for a moment.

Thankfully, it wasn't trying to bite you as you pushed off the river bottom, the water tainted red as you broke the surface, noticing why it wasn't biting was because of the arrow protruding from its neck, a gift of one of the two Goblin archers on the opposite shore.

To say they looked scared would be a blatant lie, if anything, they seemed to lose any emotion other than bloodlust, at ease with combat over swimming.

Taking the chance you were given, you pulled your own dagger out, stabbing into the wolf's side, eliciting a loud whine of pain as you pushed with all your might, managing to flip the wolf off of you, bringing it into the water.

Its feet scrabbled for purchase, but you didn't give it a chance, first bringing your dagger down on its neck a second time, only noticing that the arrow was pushed deeper from the fall, and then smashing the head against a rock as you got up, bloody dagger in hand.

But you weren't given a chance to celebrate as the white wolf cleared the stream in a single bound, jaws open in a terrifying visage as it caught one of the goblins in its jaws, ripping the little bugger in half.

Not satisfied with a single kill, it turned on the next one, the goblin one of the dagger varieties, managed to get his blade out in time, but as the wolf bit down, he stabbed furiously, but as far as you could tell, didn't make any meaningful wounds, given the pristine fur.

You had to make a choice as the other two wolves looked ready to join the fray, your team may not could beat the white wolf, but they certainly couldn't if being attacked by two other wolves. With that in mind, you headed for other side of the river, replacing your dagger with your trusty sword.

Right as you reached the edge of the water, they charged, jaws slavering with drool as you grit your teeth in preparation for battle.

Before either one could reach you, an arrow shot across the water, catching one in the side as it yipped in pain.

Turning back, you saw the remaining bow Goblin already nocking a second arrow. "Thanks, but don't worry about me, I can handle these guys, help the others kill that white one!" You shouted, as the Goblin hesitated for a moment, contemplating your orders as it nodded silently, turning and firing into the fur of the white one, some fur falling to the ground, but still no blood.

You paid for your distraction as the uninjured wolf caught you, fangs digging into your leg as you fell sideways, a pissed off grunt of pain on your lips.

"Why is it always the leg?" You growled, swinging out with your sword, as it hit the wolf, being stopped by something hard. Nonetheless, it pulled back.

You continued swinging wildly as you stood once more, the two wounded wolves circling you warily.

You chanced a look at how the other fight was going, spotting the remaining Dagger Goblin leaping onto the Dire wolf's back, clinging desperately to its fur as it tried to buck the tiny Goblin off.

Deciding they seemed to be handling things well enough, you turned back to the wolves you were fighting, just in time as the one you'd wounded personally leapt forwards, jaws wide as it tried to sink its fangs back into your flesh.

You rolled to the side in a dodge, your sword flashing out as the wolf's momentum carried it through your blade, severely wounding it. The maneuver probably looked cool, if it weren't for your racing heart as the other wolf took the chance of having you on the ground to leap from behind.

You felt something sharp cut into your shoulder, whether that was fang or claw you didn't care, you yelped in pain and swung wildly once more.

It seemed to have learned its lesson this time however, as it clamped down on the shoulder, limiting the movement as it started to drag you back towards the woods.

While you were struggling in vain, it gave you a perfect view of the other battle as the tiny Goblin, reached forwards, grasping something in the white fur and puled, swinging with purpose as whatever it had caught came free, the white wolf howling in pain as red blood marred its pristine fur.

The Goblins cheered in victory as the rider held aloft something bloody, on closer inspection it was an ear, sliced from the wolf. A superficial wound at best, but a wound, nonetheless.

Feeling the bloodlust as well, you swung backwards with your offhand, punching the wolf in the snout as its fangs dug in deeper from the impact. A second punch broke its grip as it went reeling, and you scrabbled away in the dirt, racing back towards the river.

The other fight seemed to be going even worse as the white wolf now fought with a fury unseen previously.

It threw itself to the ground, rolling over as the tiny Goblin was crushed beneath it. Not giving it a chance to recover, it grabbed the Goblin in its jaws, shaking it much like a dog with a toy, splattering blood all over the ground before tossing it in the air, and swallowing the Goblin whole.

Looking for more prey, its deranged eyes fell on the Bucket Goblin, who looked caught between fear and anger.

The anger seemed to win out as the wolf pounced, clearing the ten-foot distance easily as the tiny Goblin spun on his heel. At first you thought he was going to run, but he swung with all his might, the bucket mostly full of water as it collided with the side of the wolf's snout, only irritating it, but sending it sprawling as he roared, "NO SHARE BUCK!" in defiance.

The spear Goblin took his chance, charging the wolf as he tried to pierce the belly of the wolf, only succeeding in grazing the animal as it bounded away catching its breath.

As you raced back towards the river, the wolf you managed to cut up twice was still alive, forcing itself to stand and growl at you as you charged it. Not able to appreciate its unwavering spirit, you hauled back and kicked it square in the face, sending it to the ground with a muffled thud as it stopped moving.

Whatever chance you'd had of escape was rapidly escaping itself as the last wolf came barreling out of the woods, only the arrow wound from earlier to show as it gave chase.

You turned to face it, ready to fight to the **** as it pounced, fangs gleaming in the light, claws bloody when help arrived.

You didn't know what to expect, but a towering bear was not on the list, not only catching the wolf in its jaws, but absolutely breaking it in two as it pinned it to the ground with one mighty paw, ripping the wolf open.

You stumbled backwards, tripping over a rock as the bear stood on two legs, towering over you, blood dripping from iis... his mouth as it proudly displayed his manhood. Even that humorous interaction didn't detract from the fear in your heart as it glared at you.

You tried to run, only to be batted aside by the bear paw, ripping into your back as you yelled in pain.

As it lumbered after you, three arrows sunk into its burly body, breaking simply by the bear moving.

Looking back across the river, you spotted the archer Goblin firing one final time as the white wolf descended on it, the Goblin choosing to try and save you one final time as it died, red blood tainting the fur around the mouth.

It wasn't the only one, the spear Goblin leaping across the river on the standing stones, apparently more afraid of the wolf than water as it stood protectively in front of you, holding its spear aloft at the bear, who didn't so much as give it a thought.

Raising up once more, it went to slam down on both you and the Goblin. You rolled out of the way and into the river, hoping it would carry you away to no avail, while the Goblin held his spear in front of him, intending on goring the bear with his own weight.

Maybe that would've happened if the Goblin was stronger, maybe that would've happened if the spear was stronger, maybe that would've happened if a hundred other things were different in this moment, but the bear simply slammed down, splintering the spear like a dry twig, the goblin vanishing into nothingness from the overwhelming attack.

You didn't mourn the Goblin, turning to run as you slipped on the river bottom, only thankful for the water so as to hide the urine you let out in terror as the bear roared loud enough to shake your bones.

You closed your eyes and awaited ****, no hope saving you this time as the bear took two massive steps towards you only for a furious howl to split the air as the Dire wolf leapt across the river, biting into the bear.

You sent a very verbal prayer to any and all Gods, Goddesses, and divine beings for sparing you as you scrambled out of the river, joining a hiding Bucket Goblin, who'd turned over his bucket as was trying to hide inside it.

You watched as two titans of the forest clashed.

The bear slapping the wolf away as it pounced, the wolf grabbing hold of the bear's scruff as it raked its claws down his back. The bear slamming down on the wolf as the wolf, raked claws along the bear's belly.

The bear had size and power on his size, while the wolf used his agile speed to litter the bear with wounds. For every attack the bear made, the Dire wolf left three more on the bear, but each one of the bear's blows were strong enough to break trees.

Finally, the bear got his jaws around the wolf's neck, and you thought this was the end, but the wolf's eyes almost seemed to glow red as it gave a hairsplitting howl as it swiped madly at the bear's face, clawing into the bear's flesh as it let go, groaning in pain as it fell to the side.

The wolf pounced, pinning the bear to ground as it bit into the bear's neck, flesh coming free as blood poured from the wound, the bear groaning in agony as the wolf tore it open.

But the bear wasn't done as it kicked like a human, sending the wolf ass over teakettle across the ground, the massive bear lumbering up as it started a charge, a challenging roar echoing in the forest as the Dire wolf jumped up, blood covering both fighters before...

"Aaaawwwoooooo!" The Dire wolf howled into the sky, and turned tail, sprinting away, whither in fear for its life or beaten, you couldn't tell except to say the bear remained, perhaps bowed, and bloodied, but far from beaten.

"Trinkie, what are you doing?" A woman's voice called out as a woman entered the clearing, two feather stuck into her hair as she cocked her hip to the side.

"Oh, look at you, my sweet boy, go on wash your off or no belly rubs for you tonight!" The woman ordered, and surprisingly the bear obeyed, slowly walking over to the river as he fell over, rolling in the water like a pet, splashing everywhere, even wetting his paws as her wiped himself off.

"No wonder that bear was so strong, he's a Ranger's pet!" You hissed as 'Trinkie' came out of the water, and the woman rubbed his belly, eliciting a low rumble as the bear rolled over, allowing the woman to use both hands to rub his belly.

"Oh dear, you must have had a fight, don't worry buddy, I'll fix you up soon as we get back to town, and find my stupid brother lurking somewhere." The woman said, turning to leave as the bear lumbered after her, allowing you to breathe a sigh of relief as the danger finally passed.

Looking at the sole remaining Goblin, his peeked out of his bucket, "Share Buck?"