“You know, I almost expected to end up with them coming with us,” my Cassia said as the cart rumbled down the road. She was taking a turn at the reins.

  “Maybe in a perfect world, we’d go around collecting folk,” Edith replied. “But life involves a lot of greetings and farewells, lass. We will see them again. Perhaps once we’ve gotten settled. Setting up a homestead is a great deal of work. The months will fly by before you know it.”

  “Do you know how to make a house, Edith?” Cassia asked. “I did my best to take care of my cabin in the Forest, but making one from scratch is a bit beyond me.”

  “That’s why I traded those old book shelves away for tools, Cassia,” Edith said as she stroked my head. My Edith seemed to be going through her own phase of affection towards me. Whatever talk she and Cassia had privately seemed to have settled things somewhat between them.

  The back of the cart was a little lonely without Magnus there. He’d been a silent companion, but that also meant his company didn’t come with the same complexities as Edith or Cassia.

  “Aside from that, I think our beasty has some plans for us,” Edith continued as she turned to look at me more fully. Cassia glanced at me as well.

  “Cave, big cave,” I said firmly. I would need a large space to stay in. Perhaps we could build a home for my companions outside of it.

  “A cave sounds a little…,” Cassia started to say before trailing off. “Dingy? I never thought I’d be living in a castle or such, but I’d hoped we’d do a little better than a hole in the ground.”

  “It might not be so bad,” Edith advocated. “Caves remain cool year round. The Redstone Hills can be sweltering in the summer.”

  “I’ll take the heat after this winter,” Cassia grumbled. “This winter was the worst I can remember. Five moons from the first snowfall to the Thaw. It’s a miracle we didn’t starve.”

  “We’ll definitely need to prepare for next Winter,” Edith agreed. “The first year is going to be the worst. Starting over is always hard.”

  “Already planning for the future, Edith?” Cassia said in a teasing tone. “Think you’ll put down some proper roots?”

  Edith fussed with her hair, tracing her fingers over my brooch that hung there. She chewed on the inside of her cheek a bit before responding.

  “I’ve travelled a lot in my life,” she said softly. “Moved from place to place. Never really felt at home in any of those places. It’s not foolish to want to make this one last, aye?”

  Cassia flushed a bit and cleared her throat.

  “Oh! N-no, no it’s not,” she replied. “I suppose for me this is… all a rather grand adventure. I don’t think I ever stepped beyond the Forest before I met you.” She turned her eyes to gaze out across the rolling landscape.

  We were crossing out of rolling fields and into the Redstone Hills proper. T’laanga’s hut lay three days behind us. Greenreimse was another six days beyond that. Edith had predicted that the road would run out a couple of days ahead of us.

  The Cloudshear mountains further towards Summershore were considered ‘virtually impassable’. Only the Coil River that snaked through the mountains made this region remotely accessible from that way. The only folk who went up into the Redstone Hills were hunters and the occasional logger. We should be relatively undisturbed.

  We had likely timed things well. With the Thaw in full swing, more people would be on the roads. During our entire journey we had seen only two other people on the road. Both times I had needed to duck down beneath a tarp and hide. Hiding had grown increasingly difficult as my size increased. Bronston was beginning to show signs of strain when he pulled the cart.

  If not for the difficulty in keeping track of my companions and my unfamiliarity with the terrain, it might have been better to go separately. Both were problems that could be rectified if we ever needed to make another journey.

  “Does… ah… does it ever scare you, thinking about the future?” my Cassia asked. “When it was just me by myself, I rarely spent time thinking further than the next day or two. The next meal, sometimes. With so much time ahead of us… it’s a little intimidating.”

  “I’ve been there lass,” Edith said as she threaded her fingers together in her lap. “Back when I was moving around so much, I rarely had the time to stop and think. Then one day, I left some of what had been bothering me behind. Finally outran it, I suppose.”

  Edith leaned back on the cart seat and stared up at the clear spring sky overhead.

  “Took me a while to settle down after that. I kept thinking something was chasing me. It was only when I crossed the mountains and came to this land, that I finally felt safe enough to stay anywhere long term.”

  “Do you think that’ll happen for us?” Cassia prodded. “I somehow… struggle to think that things will stay peaceful for long in present company.” I could feel her looking at me and gave a low rumble. Edith snorted softly.

  “I think… life will probably be like riding this cart,” Edith mused. “Lots of stops and starts, bumps in the road, and sometimes a bit of excitement. Only thing ye can do is keep moving towards yer destination.”

  “Excitement, huh?” Cassia repeated. “... There might be a bit more excitement than you’re expecting.”

  “What makes ye say that lass?” Edith queried.

  “Because there’s a log across the road, Edith. That looks like a trap.”

  There was indeed a sizable tree trunk laid across the road in front of us. The road rounded an outcrop in the hill, blocking the log from sight until you were right on top of it. The branches along the trunk showed clear signs of being hewn with axes into sharpened stakes. The stakes on the bottom of the tree had been driven into the ground so that it could not be easily moved.

  As our cart came to a sudden halt, Bronston gave a nicker. He’d nearly run into the spikes before he came to a halt. Behind us, there was a creaking sound. A moment later, another tree toppled from where it had stood next to the road, crashing down to block off our escape.

  A sound like an angry wasp hissed through the air before something embedded itself in the wood of the cart. It was right by my snout where my head stuck out from beneath the tarp. As my eyes focused on it, I blinked. It was an arrow, like the ones my Cassia made for hunting. Unlike her elegant hunting points, this one had a crude but wicked looking shard of stone for an arrowhead.

  My Cassia seemed just as shocked as another arrow whizzed by. My Edith was a bit more savvy and grabbed onto Cassia. With a surprising amount of strength she shoved Cassia from the driver’s seat and hauled herself over the side of the cart in that same direction.

  The cart was positioned so that its right side was facing towards the rising side of the hill. Edith and Cassia would be more sheltered from the arrows plunging down from above on the left next to the driver’s seat. I heard a curse from Edith and caught the sharp tang of blood from her scent.

  They had hurt my Edith. Whoever this was, they were going to die.

  I exploded out of the back of the cart. The tarp covering my body shredded as my scales ripped through it. A single leap had my body sailing through the air up the hillside. From ahead of me I could detect unfamiliar scents. They were not like any beast or human I had met.

  Human or not, it didn’t matter to me at that moment. I could feel the magic flaring inside of my veins. My rage boiled up inside of me like seldom before. The last time I had felt this level of primal fury was when I had faced down the Rotting Bear in the Cursed Forest.

  Screeches in a language I did not recognize sounded out as my body landed on a ridge of rock. My legs bunched underneath me like steel springs and fired me back into the air. Arrows sailed out from the hillside brush in front of me. Most bounced off of my scales. One sailed through the membrane of my left wing close to my shoulder.

  These creatures were hiding amongst the rocks and thick thorns to try and hide. I could make out their forms, vaguely humanoid but disguised by bundles of sticks and mud lashed to their bodies. Their scent had been hidden by that same mud, but now that I was close it stood out prominently.

  They stank of adrenaline and fear, like a mix of piss and sour milk.

  ‘Good. They should be afraid.’

  I didn’t need my claws and teeth to get at them through the rocks. My maw opened up as I flapped my wings once, drawing myself up short in front of their hidey-holes. They continued to screech and fire arrows at me, but it was too late.

  Fire bloomed in my throat and erupted outwards. A jet of white hot liquid flame shot from between my teeth and blanketed the hillside. Wherever it touched, burned. It did not matter if it was rock, bush, or flesh. The screeching became cries of horror and pain.

  Black smoke boiled up from the hillside. I saw the figures breaking their cover and attempting to flee. With a flap of my wings I dove downwards into the fire. The pain from a few holes in my wing membranes did not matter.

  I remembered the first time I had hunted for myself. This was no different. As I shot through the smoke, I landed on top of a small figure. There was a wet pop and crunch as my foot smashed it into the ground, accompanied by a cut off cry.

  My tail whipped around as another one darted behind me, away from my claws and teeth. The heavy trunk of my scaled flesh caught it in its torso, sending it sailing down the hillside with a wail of terror. There was a spike of pain from my head as a crude spear sailed out of the smoke and struck me over my eye.

  I shot another burning jet from my maw in the direction it had come from. The creature which had thrown it did not live long enough to celebrate its minor victory. It turned from a person into a screeching pile of roasted flesh in mere moments.

  Another bound forward took me out of the smoke. I could see a couple of retreating figures further up the hill from me, scrambling across the rocks. They would not be fast enough to escape me. Each step from my legs sent me hurtling up the hillside after them.

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  The one closest to me looked back as I came close. It gave a panicked yell and tried to speed up. The one further away started dropping anything still on its person, perhaps hoping to escape more quickly. As I caught up with the slower one, it turned and tried to swing a roughly hewn stone knife at me.

  The blade, along with the hand and lower arm holding it, were snapped between my teeth. Blood and vitality erupted across my tongue. One of my forelimbs caught the creature between my claws, each razor sharp talon piercing into its flesh. It gave a single cry of horror before my head struck downwards. Its head and part of its upper torso vanished between my jaws. My head shook back and forth, savagely tearing it asunder.

  It was a rush like nothing I’d ever experienced.

  Looking up from my kill, I caught sight of the last creature scrambling between a pair of boulders. I was quick to follow. With each step I could feel the vitality surging into me. It did not require that I bite into a creature to gain vitality, but my every instinct cried out that it was the most enjoyable way.

  Cries of fear echoed from between the boulders. They were heavy, almost larger than I was. A narrow gap, just large enough for the creature to escape through, went between them. Through the gap I could see the creature scrambling backwards into a hole in the earth. It was not very deep.

  I could have simply breathed more fire into the confined space, but the fury still burned through me. I wanted these creatures to suffer for daring to attack what was Mine. Consuming their vitality between my teeth was a small price for them to pay in comparison.

  My eyes tracked over the boulders. They were a truly immense weight. Even I would struggle to make them budge. But we were on a hillside. I didn’t need to make them move. In the right conditions, they would move themselves.

  Claws sharp enough to go right through flesh and bone scratched at the earth. Soil and small stones sailed from underneath one of the boulders. Slowly but surely, I revealed its underside. Even sturdier stones eventually cracked and crumbled beneath my onslaught. In the hole, I could hear the creature make small whimpers of despair.

  A subtle shift in the boulder’s position alerted me that I had dug enough. I pulled back from the pit I had been digging underneath. With slow and careful steps, I circled around to the other side of it. I kept a careful watch on the hole’s entrance, just in case my prey tried to escape.

  Both of my front feet pressed into the side of the boulder from above. I applied pressure, then more. The boulder started to shift. From within the hole came a cry of fear, perhaps thinking the entire hillside was collapsing. I shoved harder. There was a crack of stone splitting. All at once the boulder gave way.

  With a loud ‘thump’, it dropped into the shallow pit I’d dug. It kept moving. That was… not good. Even through my fury, I knew the dangers of objects rolling down slopes. I lurched forward and grabbed onto the stone with both feet.

  The boulder fought against me with its immense weight and inertia. For a moment it felt like my shoulders were going to be pulled out of their sockets. I strained against the stone with everything I had, magic burning in my veins.

  Finally, it stopped. The effort had bled some of the energy out of me. I was still focused on my goal. Letting go of the boulder, I turned my body and stuck my head into the now open hole. Inside of it was the last of my foes.

  It had crammed itself up against the rear end of the hole, hands pressed against the stone as it fought to keep itself as far as possible from the entrance. Unfortunately for the creature, it was within reach of my teeth. I shoved my head into the hole.

  The creature had already screeched itself hoarse, but it found new fervor in its cries as my maw latched around the garments on its torso. Like a fisherman hauling rod against a hooked fish, I yanked the screaming creature out of the hole. It did not have anything to strike me with, due to dropping its belongings earlier.

  That didn’t keep it from trying to batter my snout with its small hands. It had little effect, but was mildly annoying. I whipped my head around and slammed it down into the side of the hill. A gasp of pain erupted from its mouth. My foot pressed down into its torso, pinning it as I pulled my head back.

  Now that I had a chance to look at this creature, it was a little surprising. It was humanoid. Two arms, two legs, and a head. My initial impression was of a feral human child. As I looked at it more closely, I realized that was incorrect.

  Though it was still covered in muck, I could see patches of its skin. There was a distinct greenish-grey tone to its flesh. Its bodily proportions were off as well, with slightly longer arms and more slender fingers. The ends of its ears came to a downward drooping point.

  Its face was a bit more difficult to make out, but that was because the creature was actively thrashing back and forth against my claws. Spittle tinged with blood leaked from its lips, which I could see contained teeth that ended in sharp points. Likewise, tears and snot flowed freely from its eyes and nose. A distinct scent of ammonia wafted upwards across my snout.

  All in all, it was a thoroughly disgusting creature.

  From down the hill, I could hear someone calling my name. The rage still simmered faintly inside of me, but the pause had allowed some reason to return to me. I had left my companions for too long. I had no idea what this creature was, but Edith might know more from her travels.

  Since these creatures had attacked once, it was possible that others might attack us again later. I needed to know more to accurately judge what threat they posed. In spite of the few holes in my wings, I’d been in no real danger. My companions were a different story.

  Coming to a decision, I flapped my wings and pulled myself up into the air. I brought my prey with me, not caring for the pitiful wail it gave as the ground fell away beneath us.

  When I landed next to the cart, I could see that more arrows had peppered it since I had left. My Cassia and Edith were crouched behind the cart on the downhill side still. A pair of corpses lying across the fallen log behind the cart had arrows sticking out of them. Another was draped across the back of the cart in a puddle of blood.

  Edith looked over at me and gasped.

  “SANGUINE! What the hells happened?!” she cried. “Are ye alright?” I could see that one of the creatures’ wicked arrows had caught her in the shoulder, but it seemed to have only grazed her. She had been in the middle of bandaging it when I’d returned.

  Rather than answer, I stomped forward with three feet. The fourth still held my captive. I shoved the creature back to the ground in front of my companions, pinning it back to the earth. A low growl rolled out of my throat.

  “S-Sanguine?” my Cassia said weakly. She sounded afraid. This time, I knew that she was afraid of me. I glanced up the hill, which still had a pall of black smoke rising from it. When I looked back to my companions, I restrained my voice to a quieter rumble.

  Edith stood up from behind the cart and walked closer to me. She looked searchingly into my eyes before she glanced down at the struggling creature.

  “This is the last one?” she asked solemnly. I nodded my head at her. Behind Edith, Cassia slowly stood to her feet. She looked at the bow in her hands and then at the corpses riddled with arrows. A heave surged up out of her gut and she turned away to vomit down the side of the hill.

  “What are they?” I growled.

  My tone was far harsher than I’d expected. The rage simmering just under my scales made it hard to choke the words out. Planting my free feet, I braced myself and shook my body to try and disperse some of the pent up energy. The motion pushed my maw into a reflexively yawn, which put my blood soaked teeth on display.

  Edith flinched, holding her hands together at her chest. She closed her eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath and edging closer to me. One of her hands tentatively reached up and pressed against my lower jaw. The red fluid dripping down my mandible coated her fingers. That made her grimace, but she didn’t pull her hand away.

  “There ye go beasty,” she whispered to me. “I know ye are furious. But I’m okay. Weren’t nothing but a flesh wound. Now please… relax just a bit, before ye crush the wee hussy underfoot… Please?” I glanced down. Apparently the creature was a female. It was looking rather pale at the moment as my foot applied considerable pressure.

  I sat down on my haunches slowly, keeping the creature pinned. Edith crouched next to it.

  “This here’s a goblin, Sanguine,” she explained.”Ye never really see ‘em these days. Tales say there was once a whole bushel of ‘em holed up in every nook and cranny. Only time I’ve ever seen one was at a circus when I was a wee lass. It was in a cage.” Edith prodded the ‘goblin’s’ head with her finger. It promptly tried to bite her finger off.

  “Goblins?” Cassia asked as she shuffled over. She was still looking decidedly pale and a bit green around the gills. “If I’d not ridden a dragon and seen a sorcerer’s duel, I’d call that a fairytale story.” The goblin hissed and spat at the two women. “Although I don’t think any of my books mentioned them being this filthy.”

  “They get called fae often enough, or ‘demi-human’ if ye ask a scholar,” Edith answered. “Really though, they’re just folk. Ye didn’t look all that much different the first time I met ye lass.” Cassia grumbled and crossed her arms.

  “I didn’t try and turn you into a pincushion, first time we met,” Cassia said snarkily. “Fae or not, these ones aren’t any different than common bandits.” She glanced up at the black smoke on the hill. “Though… the response was… a little much, wasn’t it? Why were they even attacking us?”

  I ran my tongue across my snout and jawline several times to clean some of the blood off of myself. The way my companions kept glancing at me suggested I was a terrifying sight to behold. This was the first time I’d really cut loose to fight other thinking creatures. It was something we’d have to discuss later.

  “Well wee goblin?” Edith asked the creature struggling under my talons. “Why did ye attack innocent travelers on the road? If ye weren’t the unluckiest group of cads this side of the Cloudshear, we’d be dead.”

  The goblin spat at Edith again. I thought it might be saying something, but it wasn’t anything like the human language I was familiar with. My head turned towards Edith, who pursed her lips and tried again. The next set of words she said were entirely unfamiliar to me, full of harsh consonants and large swooping vowels.

  This did not seem to impress the goblin any more than her last attempt. It tried to bite at my ankle, but only succeeded in chipping a tooth. Edith rubbed at her temples with the tips of her fingers.

  “Alright,” she muttered to herself. “Let me try this… Agh, I bloody hate how it makes my teeth tingle though.”

  Edith’s third attempt was markedly different from the prior two. I noticed that she kept her lips closely tucked against her teeth and had her tongue pressed flat to the floor of her mouth. The sounds she made were unsettling. Rather than human words, it sounded like she was humming out the words.

  I could feel a buzzing behind my eyes as she spoke. Her eyebrows were screwed up tightly in concentration. True to her words, something in the way she spoke was making my teeth tingle. I couldn’t help but shake my head and run my tongue across my jaws.

  The goblin stopped struggling on the ground and focused on Edith. A befuddled expression crept onto its face. Rather unexpectedly, it pressed its lips together and responded with what sounded like a whistling bird call. Edith tilted her head in a manner that suggested she understood.

  Cassia glanced at me questioningly. I could only shrug. Edith had many hidden depths that we had yet to fully explore. Speaking to a goblin without words and understanding the meaning of birdsong was probably not the strangest thing about her.

  It took a little while, but Edith and the goblin seemed to have a proper conversation. Unfortunately for me and Cassia, she didn’t break the flow to translate for us. By the time she stopped talking a sheen of sweat had appeared on Edith’s brow.

  Coughing dryly, Edith grabbed a waterskin that hung at her hip. She drank deeply from it before rolling the last mouthful around the inside of her cheeks. At last, she spat the fluid off the side of the road. I could see that it was faintly discolored red, along with her teeth.

  “Sorry,” she muttered. “That was very unladylike of me. Now then, Sanguine, I need ye to do as I ask and let the little miss go.” I rumbled unhappily. These creatures were responsible for hurting her! “Yes yes I know my lovely beasty. Ye ain’t goin to like it, but please do it. A witch’s honor has to mean somethin’.”

  With great reluctance I did as she asked. The goblin looked up at me as if she expected me to change my mind and bite her in half. It was tempting, admittedly. Slowly she rose to her feet. At full height, she might have been just shy of twelve hands high.

  Edith took the waterskin off her hip and offered it to the goblin. The small green hands took it hesitantly, constantly glancing back up at me. When no one moved to stop her, she pulled the waterskin tight to her thin torso. Even beyond her short stature, compared to Edith and Cassia she looked malnourished. With shuffling footsteps, she began backing up away from us.

  A small yelp escaped the goblin’s lips when she bumped into the cart behind her. Without saying another word, she worked her way around it. Only when she was a few meters away did she dare to turn and flee. Once she got going she was a quick little creature. She’d outrun her fellows earlier and she showed the same speed now.

  She didn’t stop as she clambered over the log blocking the way back down the road. Nor did she look back at the corpses of her comrades. We watched her run until she vanished out of sight down the road.

  “Edith,” Cassia said carefully. “Can ye… explain what the hells that was?”