The fear swelled inside her, and she swallowed it down. Like a cat, she tensed up and got ready to pounce. Time seemed to slow. She'd never been in a real fight before, but she had practiced fighting with some of the boys from Gwelden. She wasn't going to go down easily.
"Come on, girlie," the leader repeated, seemingly exasperated.
"Fuck you," Elena said.
In the millisecond where the goblin cocked his head in confusion, she leapt forward and slashed at him; his eyes widened and he just about managed to stumble out of the way. The other goblin released a crossbow bolt, more in surprise than anything else, and it flew past her head and disappeared into the grass behind her.
He yelped and dropped his crossbow, before pulling his dagger from his belt. Meanwhile, Elena pursued the leader as he scrambled out of the way, slashing wildly at him. "Fuckin' hell!" the goblin squeaked.
Tiring, she ceased her attack, sucking air into her lungs. The two goblins backed up and began circling her slowly in opposite directions; seeing the danger, Elena slowly moved backwards to create a triangle between the three of them so she didn't get caught in a pincer maneuver. Suddenly, the leader darted forward, and she rolled to the side, coming up just as the other goblin slashed her across the forearm.
Letting out a gasp of pain, she backed up further, narrowing her eyes. Focus, Elena! she thought to herself. She dodged the next few attacks, before getting in under the leader's guard, deflecting the blow that came at her and driving her dagger into his neck up to the hilt. He coughed up blood, before slumping to the ground, but his weight ripped the dagger from her grasp.
Defenseless, she whirled around to face the other goblin just as he lunged at her; the tip scraped her unprotected midriff, and her face contorted in pain. Out of sheer luck, she instinctively flinched out of the way of his next swipe, but tripped over the leader's dying body.
"Die, you bitch!" the goblin yelled, his face a mask of rage. The dagger came down like a lightning bolt, and she barely rolled out of the way. Springing to her feet, she sidestepped his lunge and snapped her knee into his chin. He dropped the dagger and fell backwards, before trying to scramble to his feet; she swiftly picked up his dagger and plunged it into his back. He went limp instantly, hitting the ground like a felled tree.
Panting, Elena rested her hands on her knees as the adrenaline started to wear off. The horrible, rattling coughs of the leader slowly faded, and he let out one last, long sigh.
Elena pitifully sank to her knees as she put a hand over the wound in her midriff.
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