Rick and his small cohort of Goblins were being led by Ra as they carefully and efficiently continued to travel north.

  Of course while they were aware of the fact they killed an entire camp of Humans some time ago, they didn’t know the full implications of what that entailed.

  And obviously they had no idea that other Goblins were sent to reinforce Rick, and that those very Goblins were currently in this same forest running for their lives, all three of them heading in their general direction.

  Of course, the sounds of those attacks reached Rick long before the sights of them did.

  POV Rick

  “Everyone stop. Can anyone hear that?”

  A series of no’s was the reply Rick received.

  “…So it’s still pretty far. Anyway I can hear what seems to be fighting of some sort, maybe a few small explosions sounding out.”

  “Then we should avoid it My Lord. It can be animals fighting, or maybe it’s the Demi-Humans themselves. I believe we should avoid being spotted as much as possible My Lord.”

  “Your not wrong…but something is bothering me Loruk. Give me a moment…”

  ‘Velora…this is giving me a bad feeling.’

  [What do you mean?]

  ‘I can’t explain it. Something about it is bothering me. The logical thing to do is avoid the noises I’m hearing and move around it as much as possible. We cannot afford to be spotted right now.

  ‘Yet, I can’t knock the nagging feeling in my chest every time I think about ignoring it all and leaving.’

  [Hm. That does seem odd, and with no prior knowledge or experience of this happening, it is both hard to brush it off as a random occurrence and also treat as something more serious than a fleeting thought that has no effect on anything.

  [Though I will warn you. Investigating these noises can lead to unnecessary trouble. And seeing as how we are currently in potentially hostile territory, I would remind you that it is trouble that we are likely unequipped to deal with.]

  ‘Yeah I know, but this really has never happened to me before so it’s kind of hard for me to just ignore it like that you know. It just feels…wrong. Almost like I’d regret it greatly if I ignored it altogether.’

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  [Then what do you plan on doing? Ignoring it and continuing to head towards what might be a higher chance of safety and reaching the Clans faster or heading towards the sounds of battle that could be something of grave importance you or also be nothing and you’ve just exposed yourself for no reason.]

  ‘Well when you put it like that…then instead of going off to investigate it, how about I send Loruk or Ra to do so? They want me to be more selfish and I know they wouldn’t be happy with me running off to go look into something dangerous on my own, so I’ll play it like this.’

  [Still his has risks, but considering your importance to your race, then this is likely the closest idea that will work for you.]

  ‘Yeah…my importance.’

  “Ra, head in that direction, that’s where I’m hearing the noise. Maintain stealth as much as possible and investigate what’s happening. Come back the second you find anything of even meager importance. No need to put your life at risk trying to get more information than we need. We’ll be waiting for you right here.”

  “Understood My Lord.”

  “Ra..”

  “Yes, My Lord?”

  “Your safety is more important. I don’t care what it is you find, just make sure you come back.”

  “Yes My Lord!”

  ‘You know Velora I really think this is the right decision. What if whatever is going on over there affects us as we try to leave the forest? Of course it could be something little and my feeling is just heart burn or something, but it could also be big and I think its worth it to investigate that chance.’

  [Well your reasoning is sound at least. Then we wait, hopefully Ra comes back safely.]

  ‘Yes…hopefully.’

  ???

  And so they waited while Ra rushed off to the direction that Rick sent him in. While practically all of his attention was intently focused on the task given to him, part of him couldn’t help but think back on the fact he was given a task at all.

  This is how its supposed to be.

  The King of Goblins shouldn’t have to do everything himself, nor should he be constantly putting his life at risk when they were people beneath him to handle some of the load.

  Of course there would come a time when he would have to truly be a king and actively lead or fight for his people, but until those times Ra wanted to be of use.

  And so he ran, not at his fastest speed of course because he still needed to watch out for enemies and come back safely as he was ordered to do.

  It only took about 40 minutes for Ra to finally hear what Rick had been hearing, and as the he got closer the sound got louder.

  Loud enough to where he now knew for certain that some kind of battle or fight had broken out.

  He slowed down a bit at this point and continued his approach cautiously until he saw something that shocked him to his core.

  ‘That’s General Lago! He…he’s being chased! I need to help him…wait no…The Future King needs to know, plus he’s heading in this direction, I need to get back now.’

  Those were the last thoughts of Ra before he immediately turned and bolted as fast as he could. General Lago and his pursuers were still a ways off so they did not manage to see him running through the forest as if his life depended on it.

  Gone was the caution of not being found and instead it was replaced with the sense of urgency to deliver a message that quite literally had lives depending on it.

  A message that would truly give Rick something to decide on. Would he move to provide assistance to the Goblin knowing engaging in conflict with pursuers that could even cost him his life.

  Or would he abandon him…to protect his life considering the importance to the Goblin race that it held.

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