Oh no! It's An Attack!

Penny

Arrows thudded against the armored carriage, and Alice immediately went into defense mode. She quickly strapped on a leather tunic and armed herself with a sword, before helping me with mine. I could hear the sounds of combat outside, the screams of what I assumed were goblins mixed with the war cries of my men. I checked the door to make sure it was locked and crouched on the seat, blade facing the door. And then I waited. With bated breath I listened to the battle, each second seeming like an eternity as it raged outside the safety of my carriage. The screams were still going, but slowly, the sound of human voices became quieter and quieter.

"Are we losing, Alice?" I whispered, staring fearfully at the door. I'd never been in an actual battle before, just learned how to use a sword in my teenage years. Alice on the other hand, was born into a family of mercenaries, and fighting was in her blood. She'd carried a sword before she even started to walk.

"I think so my lady-" She started, before suddenly we were both flung back into our seats as the carriage started moving. The horses were running away! I held on for dear life as we hurtled down the worn dirt road, trying desperately to keep my seat as we bounced up and down. The road was bumpy, and travelling at high speed was as tumultuous as being in a ship during a storm. We kept going for maybe ten minutes before another impact sent us flying around the carriage. We slammed into one of the doors as something hit us hard, sending us off the path. The carriage rolled, sending us around it as we bounced on the roof, and then another door, and then the floor, repeating three times, and finally, stopping on the first door. I lay there for a second, entangled with Alice, as I tried to get my body to work. Somehow, it looked like neither of us had been stabbed by the swords flying around. I stood up in a daze, feeling pain everywhere as my limbs screamed from being thrown around like a sack of rice. Alice stood up as well, and we waited, to get our bearings, and to see if anything was happening outside. The silence was deafening, broken only by our breathing as we stood there in our cage.

"We have to go, my lady. It won't be long before the goblins come for us." She climbed up and opened the door, before peeking out and looking for threats. Satisfied with what she saw, she climbed out before reaching down to pull me out. The carriage was wrecked, the side we were on nearly bent inward at a 90 degree angle from what looked like a fireball. We jumped off onto the grass, and looked around the small clearing, seeing nothing but dark trees and foliage. This was very bad. Lost in goblin territory with two swords, and one actually good fighter. And we were both women, so getting captured by the goblins meant a lifetime of breeding, giving birth every month to a litter of the bastards. I started to panic, feeling overwhelmed as the gravity of the situation crashed down upon me like a dragon. Oh gods, I was going to die here. I crouched down and started hyperventilating, dropping my sword as I buried my head between my knees.

"Get up, Penny!" Alice furiously whispered, trying not to make noise. When I didn't respond, she forcefully grabbed my hair and lifted my face. And then she backhanded me hard. I grabbed my cheek and stared at her in shock. "Get the fuck up, and grab your sword. We are not dying here!" I stood up shakily and re-armed myself.

She grabbed both my shoulders and looked me in the eye, "I'm going to climb that tree, and see where we are. You stay here and keep guard. Can you do that?" I nodded, and she pecked me on the cheek, whispered an apology, and started to climb a nearby tree. I watched her ascend, until she was hidden behind the leaves, and then I leaned against the trunk. The goblins couldn't know we were here right? It's not like they can magically find us.

Then I heard rustling in the bushes behind me. I turned and watched four of them walked out. Goblins were even uglier up close, standing at around 5 feet tall, dressed in rags with sickly green skin and grotesque features. The only thing even vaguely attractive about them was their third leg, almost the same size as their actual legs. Three of them had spears, and the other had a bow slung over his shoulder. They chittered amongst themselves before stalking towards me, the spear goblins going for a flank, while the bow goblin nocked an arrow.

"ALICE! THEY FOUND US!" I screamed before crouching into a defensive stance. It released an arrow at me, and my heart leapt into my throat before I realized that this goblin had no aim. The arrow whizzed ten feet to my left and hit another goblin in the back. It fell over dead, and the other two just looked at the archer with disappointment. He yelled at them, and they both shrugged before facing me again. It grunted, and as one, the other two pounced on me. I fell backward, unintentionally dodging their spears as they slammed into each other. They growled at each other angrily and then turned to face me, slowly walking towards me. I backtracked, all thoughts of self-defense gone as fear filled my mind. Oh gods, they were gonna **** me and fill me full of their horrible goblin babies. And then do it again, and again, and again. I crawled all the way back until my back was against the carriage. I whimpered as they approached me, silently begging them to kill me instead. To my surprise, they stopped and split apart, before grunting at the bow goblin. I stared in shock, petrified by fear as he nocked another arrow and took aim. This one glowed purple, probably enchanted to do something terrible to me. I was too scared to look away as he aimed, adjusted his grip, and finally released his arrow. It shot through the air, warping the air around it as it screamed towards me. I closed my eyes tightly, fearing the worst as the arrow got closer and closer.

Then I heard the goblin to my right yelp in pain. My eyes shot open and I looked at him, now with an arrow through his heart. He keeled over, dead and all three of us looked at his corpse in shock. The second spear goblin started screaming at the bow goblin, probably berating him for being blind, and this was my chance! I grabbed the dead goblin's spear and thrust it through the one still alive. He shrieked in agony, and writhed around, causing me to lose my grip on the spear. He retreated backwards, and tried to pull it out, but that's when his friend committed friendly-fire again. Bow goblin panicked when he saw me stab his friend and fired another arrow, missing horrifically again, and shooting his friend through the throat. I stood up and grabbed my sword and started walking towards the last goblin. He nocked another arrow, and I dropped to a crouch, but there was no need. He fired again and sent it whizzing past me into the carriage, and realized he had no arrows left. He desperately searched his quiver before resigning himself to his fate and pulling out a dirk. We faced each other in a standoff, neither of us willing to take the first step. I knew I had to do it, because if I waited too long, more goblins would come, but I was scared. What if he dashed past me and stabbed me? What if I tripped and impaled myself? A million other scenarios raced through my mind as we stared at each other, each one worse than the last. Luckily, I didn't have to make the first move.

Alice dropped from the sky with a roar, startling the goblin who dodged away from her. She rolled and came up to one knee, before jumping, and beheading him in one stroke. She looked around at the carnage in confusion. "What the fuck did you do? I was only gone for two minutes."

"I defended myself, thank you very much. It turns out that I'm an excellent warrior." I smugly replied. She rolled her eyes before walking towards me.

"Alright, it looks like we're most of the way through the forest, we just need to go about twenty kilometers that way."

"Lead the way, Alice." I replied, stretching to prepare myself for the long hike. We started walking in the direction she chose, but before we even left the clearing, I heard more chittering behind us. With growing horror, we turned around and saw a terrible sight. Almost thirty goblins were advancing on us. We couldn't outrun them, not on foot, leaving us with only one option. Stand and fight. But as I looked around the clearing, I saw something that triggered a vague memory. Isn't that bush home to a species of insects very venomous to goblins?