Goblin Hero by Jim C. Hines

Author:Jim C. Hines
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-05-16T19:52:17+00:00

Braf, Grell, and Slash were still waiting where Jig had left them. Jig heard their voices long before he got close enough to see the light of their small fire. They were arguing loudly enough Jig was surprised a tunnel cat hadn’t eaten them all.

“I say we go after the ogres,” Slash was shouting. “They’re so busy running away with their tails between their legs they won’t notice us tagging along.”

“Ogres don’t have tails,” countered Braf. A moment later he grunted sharply, as if he had been struck with a cane.

“All it takes is for one of them to glance back, and they’ll squash us like bugs,” said Grell. “The way you smell, I’d notice you at a hundred paces.”

“What choice do we have?” asked Slash. “Head back and ask the pixies to let us through? Beg them not to hurt us, the way you goblins do when you want to pass through hobgoblin territory?”

“Jig should have let you stay dead,” Braf said. “When he gets back—”

“You think Jig’s coming back?” Slash asked, laughing. “If he’s smart, he ran like a frightened ogre. If he really tried to fight those pixies, he’s probably—”

Jig’s sword banged against the ground. He had been trying to hold it out in front of him, but the blade seemed to grow heavier with every step. “It’s me,” he called out. He could hear them shifting positions.

“What are you doing still alive?” Slash asked.

Jig could see them now, standing behind a small, foul-smelling fire. Braf had his hook-tooth out. Grell held one of her canes like a club. Slash had a rock. Jig couldn’t tell whether they had been preparing for a pixie attack, or if he had arrived just in time for them to start killing one another.

“The pixies are dead,” Jig said.

“All of them?” Braf asked.

With his sword pretty much permanently attached to his arm, it would have been so easy to run Braf through. “No,” Jig snapped. “The two who were following us.”

“Looks like you had a little trouble with your sword,” Slash said. “Lost a bit of hair, too.”

Jig reached up to touch the short, singed patch of hair. Hair wasn’t supposed to feel so crunchy.

“How do we know they’re really dead?” asked Grell. “You told us the pixies were controlling Veka and the scarred simpleton here. They—”

“Hey,” said Slash. He stepped toward Grell, only to catch the butt of her cane in his throat. He turned away, gagging.

Jig pulled a bundle from inside his shirt and tossed it onto the ground between them. “Here’s your proof.”

“What’s that?” Braf asked, poking it with his hook-tooth.

“Leftovers.” Jig’s sword dragged against the ground as he walked toward Grell. His whole arm tingled with every movement, and his fingers were swollen and cold.

Consider yourself lucky. If I hadn’t strengthened the vessels and forced your blood to keep flowing through your arm, your fingers would have fallen off by now.

Jig grimaced. Given that the pixies were going to wipe them all out anyway, and the only

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