“Die!” A smooger grunted in goblin. I rolled onto my back. He dove at me. He held a spear with both hands. It was pointed at my face. I caught his wrists as he fell on top of me. My hands shook. The point of his spear pressed slowly toward my right eye. I grunted and pushed back with all my strength.

“You killed Gibble!” He said. His rancid breath washed over my face. Then, a glob of slimy spit slapped against the side of my face. The smooger turned his head in surprise. Sheesha’s mouth closed on his neck. He screamed and fell sideways off me. Sheesha growled and shook her head from side to side. The smooger’s neck snapped. She shook the limp body.

“Good girl!” I said, "Drop it!" She dropped the smooger. I got to my feet. She growled at something behind me.

A smooger walked toward me. He pointed a spear at me. I waved my dagger slowly back and forth. Sheesha’s growls deepened. Another smooger stalked me from my right. I spun around. More smoogers. I was surrounded. Freya flipped past a smooger and landed next to me. Grundy grunted in the grass behind us. The smoogers slowly advanced. They thrust their spears forward as they walked. I looked at Freya. She nodded. I picked the biggest smooger and got ready to take him down. Killing him might be the last thing I ever did. Sheesha barked. Something on the road caught my eyes. I looked over the shoulder of the big smooger. Closing fast, a cloud of dust followed a horse at full gallop. The rider wore a bright orange shirt that flapped in the wind, his legs were splayed awkwardly at the horses sides.

The sound of the hooves stopped the smoogers. Some turned to face the road. The rider raced straight toward us. In each hand was a club attached to a spiked ball on a chain. He swung the balls over his head. The air hummed around him.

"Reese!" I shouted.

“Make way for Satyrio!” Reese’s voice boomed across the field. He guided his horse with a special harness for his goat-legs as he swung the flails. Two smoogers near the road turned and ran toward us. Reese brought a spiked ball down on each smooger in succession. Their heads exploded in a greenish pink mist.

I charged the smooger nearest to me. I reached around his waist. He stopped watching Reese just long enough to see my dagger sink into his belly. He crumpled over my arm. I pulled my knife back with a twist. He struggled weakly in my arms. Reese rode into the circle. He smashed two more smoogers. His horse reared back on its hind legs. I let the limp smooger drop.

“Run!” A smooger cried. They scattered in every direction. Reese chased a few down and killed them while they ran. Sheesha gnawed the mangled corpse of another. Freya moved in a blur from smooger to smooger. The fighting stopped. The moans of a wounded smooger were silenced by Sheesha’s teeth. Then there was quiet. All the smoogers were dead or had escaped, Reese rode back to us and dismounted. His orange shirt was speckled with smooger blood. His flails were covered with bits of hair and skin. A black tooth was stuck to one of the spikes.

“I never thought I’d be this glad to see you,” Freya said.

Reese grinned. He jumped down from his horse.

“That was great!” He said.

“Did you hear the noise these things make? Barry's guys put little whistles just under the spiked balls! They're even in harmony!” He jumped up and down for a while, then wiped his flails on the grass. “We must have killed twenty of them!”

Freya frowned. Drexel appeared behind me.

“Nice job there Reese,” he said. His hair was slightly messed. His cloak had a rip on the right shoulder.

“That was close,” Drexel said.

“Help.” Jenna’s voice came from nearby. Freya ran to the body of a huge smooger. His face was completely burned down to his skull. Freya rolled the smooger over. Jenna was underneath. She was pressed into the grass.

“Just in time,” she said.

Grundy staggered up to Reese. His chain was wrapped around his arm.

“Nice flailing back there,” he said.

“Who are you?” Reese asked.

“Reese, meet Grundy,” Freya said. Reese stuck out his chest and lowered his voice.

“My name is Satyrio,” he said. Wisps of black hair stuck out of his pimpled chin.

“Satyrio?” Freya asked.

Reese's normal voice returned, “Barry’s got new names, clothes, all kinds of stuff for us. You should have stuck around,” he said.

“We can discuss that later. Chastity is missing,” Freya said.

“Missing?” Reese said.

“We think the goblins have her,” Freya said.

“Only Kraken knows what they’ve done with her,” I said.

“Telle, your leg,” Jenna said. She reached out and touched my right leg. My calf was bloody. I gritted my teeth and wiped away the blood. Six red punctures from that smooger dog made a circle in my skin. Each hole was purple around the edges.

“You’re lucky that dog didn’t take out a chunk,” Grundy said.

“Is anyone else hurt?” Jenna asked. She looked us all over. Freya had a cut over her right eye. Grundy didn't seem concerned about his puncture wound. Nobody was badly wounded.

“Sheesha! Find Chastity.” I tried to get Sheesha back on the scent. She barked and ran around. The excitement and smooger smell were too distracting for her to concentrate. She looked at me with her head cocked. A glob of spit oozed from her mouth. She lowered her body in a crouch and growled at a clump brown grass.

“She’s in there!” Reese said.

“Something is in there.” I pulled out my knife and crept toward the clump. My leg stung with each step, but I kept quiet. I cupped my hand against Sheesha’s ear.

“Good girl. Stay.” I crept toward the grass. A few tall blades of grass quivered. I motioned the others to the other side of the clump. I clutched my dagger and leapt into the clump.

“Don’t kill me!” A squeaky voice shrieked in goblin. I pushed the little smooger to onto his back and pointed my blade at his throat.

“Look what I found!” I pushed the point of my knife against his windpipe.

“Please. Don’t kill me.” The yellow eyes rolled in terror. I turned my knife and punched the smooger in the face with the handle. I got up and dragged the smooger by his ankles out of the clump of grass.

"More of that gibberish" Grundy said.

Sheesha growled and barked at the smooger.

“Where’s our friend?” Freya asked. She stood over the little beast. He looked up at her in terror. He sputtered and whined in his language.

“Do you know what he’s saying?” Freya asked. I laughed.

“He’s begging for his life,” I said. I put the toe of my boot on his neck.

“Where’s our friend?” I asked in goblin. He grimaced as my toe pushed into his throat.

“I can show you. Please. It wasn’t my idea,” he said.

“What wasn’t?” I asked.

“It wasn’t my idea to kidnap her,” he said.

“What is he saying?” Freya asked. She put her hand on her forehead.

“He’s making excuses,” I said. “Get up!” I moved my foot. The goblin scrambled to his feet.

“If you try to run, she eats you.” I pointed to Sheesha. She barked.

The smooger nodded and walked into the grass. We followed close behind. He wasn’t more than ten years old. His yellow feet still had the greenish hue of youth, his teeth were still yellow, just on their way to turning black.

“You’re just a kid,” I said.

“This was my first raid,” he said. He stared at his feet as he walked.

“Some raid,” I said. I laughed and shoved him. “You smoogers think you can just take what you want?” I tapped the back of his head with the flat side of my knife.

“You messed with the wrong group this time,” I said. I gave his skull a little whack.

The smooger mumbled something under his breath.

“What did you say?” I slapped the back of his head harder. The grass swished against his legs. He plodded ahead.

“Answer me!” I poked the tip of my knife into his back as we walked.

“They’ll come for me. Then you’ll be sorry,” he said.

“Who will come? ” I asked. We marched a few more steps and then Sheesha suddenly sprinted ahead. He stopped after a few yards and barked. Freya ran in a blur to Sheesha.

“It’s Chastity!” She said. We all ran ahead. When we got there Freya was already untying Chastity. Her dress was torn. She rubbed the red welts on her wrists. Tears ran quietly down her face. Her snarled hair hung limply. Jenna examined her.

“What did they do to you?” Jenna asked.

“You don't want to know,” Chastity said. She held her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook with sobs.

“I wanted to see the springs. I was walking down the road. There were noises in the grass. Then they poked and prodded me. They tied me up. I remember this horrible smooger face. He barked at me in that awful language and then I fainted,” she said. She cried so hard she hiccupped.

I turned to the little smooger next to us. He didn’t have any idea what Chastity said, but he knew it wasn’t good. His greenish yellow skin paled with fear.

“You little worm,” I said. I stuck my dagger into his chest. His eyes opened wide in surprise. He looked down at the blade in his chest and then back up at me. I twisted the blade slowly. He opened his mouth. Green smooger blood poured out of the corner.

“Telle!” Freya said from behind me. In an instant I was flat on my back. Sheesha barked at Freya and looked down at me. Freya held the little smooger in her arms. She looked up at Jenna

“Can you do anything?” Freya asked. Jenna frowned and shook her head. The smooger coughed once. He sprayed a green mist across Freya’s face. His head rolled back. He was dead. Freya dropped his body into the grass. She turned to face me.

“We do not slaughter prisoners!” She said.

“You came close to killing me not so long ago,” I said. I propped myself up on my elbows.

“It was because of me that Ragnar didn’t kill you on the spot,” she said. Her brown eyes sparkled.

“He might have been able to tell us where the rest of them live,” Drexel said. He licked his palms and smoothed back his hair with his long thin fingers. I bit my lip.

“Maybe I was a little hasty,” I said. I got up and walked over to the smooger. His flat eyes gazed up at me. I stepped on his face and pulled my knife from his chest. I wiped the blade on the grass before I sheathed it in my belt.

“That was cold, Telle,” Grundy said. “Mighty cold.” He tugged at his neck beard.

“I don’t think you people realize what smoogers really are,” I said.

“How could they, Telle?” Chastity said. “They’ve never been kidnapped by them.” She cried into her hands. Jenna and Freya comforted Chastity. I sat with Reese, Drexel and Grundy nearby.

“Remind me not to cross you people,” Grundy said. Reese laughed.

“Those stupid smoogers thought they were going to rob a bunch of tourists!” Reese yanked up a fistful of grass and used it to wipe more bits of skin and flesh off his flails.

“They almost had us until you showed up,” I said.

“It’s going to take more than some highway smoogers to take down Satyrio and friends!” He said. His goofy grin was so big it forced several pimples to share the small dimples on his cheeks.

“Did that smooger tell you anything before it died?” Jenna asked me.

“He said we’d be sorry when his friends showed up,” I said. “I’m not worried though.”

“You should be,” Freya said.

“There are others?” Chastity said.

“Let’s find them! Let’s track down the rest of the smoogers!” Reese swung his flails over his head. They hummed harmonically in the air.

“I won’t feel safe until they’re all dead,” Chastity said. She wiped her nose on the torn sleeve of her dress.

“Sheesha can track down the survivors,” I said. Sheesha heard her name and ran to me. Her mushy tongue slapped the side of my face like a slab of beef.

“Wait,” Reese said. He walked to his horse and flipped open a saddle bag.

“Before we go, Barry gave me some stuff in case I ran into you guys. 'Take only the essentials, Satyrio'." He handed me a dagger. "For you Mr. Smellme,” he said. It had a silver handle and a curved blade. "Im so glad you ended up hunting the smoogers, after all. I saw the smoke coming from town and got worried."

I turned the blade over in my hand. It was very sharp. “Sharp enough to shave a smooger on its way to cutting his throat,” I said.

Reese handed Freya a black net.

“What’s this?” She asked. She curled up her lip and held the net in her hand.

“It’s your new wardrobe,” he said. “Like this.” He stretched the net across her body. It was even more transparent than Chastity’s dress. A little purple eggplant covered her groin. A tomato covered each breast.

“I am not wearing this!” She said.

“Oh, but it’s beautiful,” Chastity said.

“Good. Then you wear it.” Freya threw it at Chastity.

“You’re no fun Freya,” Reese said. He dug through his bag.

"Its worse than Telle's vest" Drexel said

"I love this vest!" I said.

“Oh, Barry had these for you too.” Reese handed Freya two silver metal forks. Each had three long tines. They looked like small tridents.

“What are these?” Freya asked.

“Throwing forks!” Reese said. “You could throw them into the throats of smoogers.” Freya’s face darkened.

“Now what’s wrong?” He asked.

“An Iron Chef never uses cooking utensils as weapons,” she said. Her voice was loud enough to make Sheesha whine and crawl behind a clump of grass. "They are sacred objects!"

“What’s that?” Chastity asked. Drexel pulled a shiny gold square from the bag.

“It’s a belt buckle,” he said. The buckle was square with an S cut from the middle.

“It’s gorgeous,” Chastity said. She reached for it. Reese pulled it back.

“It’s mine,” he said.

“Oh, put it on,” Chastity said. Reese pulled a leather strip from the bag. He fastened the buckle to the belt and pulled it around his waist. He slipped the buckled over the other end. The shiny gold S gleamed from his waist.

“It is an S for Satyrio,” Reese said. He polished the buckle with his sleeve.

“It’s a bit over the top for my taste,” Drexel said."And I mean the name, not the buckle"

“I think it’s beautiful,” Chastity said. Freya put her forks into a pouch at her waist.

“Let’s find the rest of the goblins and get back to Barry’s,” Drexel said.

We all agreed. We tracked back to where the fight had started. It didn’t take Sheesha long to find the scent. We didn’t need her nose to follow these smoogers. Clumps of green smooger blood stuck to the grass. We had hurt a few of them, and they couldn’t be too far ahead. Sheesha was eager to catch them. I had to hold her back so that Grundy could keep up. We moved quickly through the grass.

"Where are these raiders coming from" Jenna wondered aloud.

"I dunno but they're goin to smooger heaven!" Reese howled. I cheered him.

"Is there a known goblin town nearby, Grundy?" Jenna asked

"No maam, not at all."

"They must have come here from far away and set up camp just to take advantage of the ripe pickings of the springs" Jenna said.

"So there must be a fairly large encampment somewhere. They would need plenty of supplies" Freya said.

We climbed a small hill. The leather lace of my vest cut into my skin. My pants were dark with sweat. Sheesha panted loudly in the heat.

“Sheesha needs a break,” I said.

“At the top of the hill,” Freya said. We climbed the small hill and then we collapsed.

I lay on my back and gasped in the heat. Dust clung to my sweaty skin. Grundy looked old as he wiped his forehead on his sleeve. Reese stood and looked across the plains. He pointed to something in the distance.

“What is that?” Reese asked. From where we were we could just see a giant fortress in the distance.

“Don’t ask me,” Grundy said. “I’ve never been out here.”

Sheesha pulled at her harness.

“The smoogers went this way,” Reese said. He dipped his fingers in a pool of smooger blood.

“They must have rested here too. Their trail goes toward that castle,” he said.

“They went in that direction maybe. Smoogers don’t have houses like that,” I said.

“Maybe the goblins have friends in there,” Grundy said.

"Who would be friends with smooger bandits?" Reese asked.

“What should we do?” Chastity asked. Freya bit her lip. She looked at Drexel.

"Drexel, why don't you sneak up to that castle and see if they're harboring the bandits" She said.

"Well, Freya, because somebody might mistake me for a prowler and shoot me dead" Drexel replied.

Freya sighed and looked at me. “Telle, you and Jenna are small,” she said.

“Thank Kraken,” I said. Jenna smiled.

“Right. You two sneak around the tall grass near that fortress. See what you can find out,” she said.

Jenna rubbed the beads around her neck. Her ears perked up.

“We'll do our best,” she said.

“We’ll make camp on this hill. We should be able to keep an eye on you from here,” Freya said.

"Unless you actually manage to be sneaky" Drexel said.

“You’ll have to hold on to Sheesha,” I said. Freya nodded.

“I'm gonna go too,” Reese said.

“No!” Freya said. “Just wait here with us.”

Reese frowned and fondled one of his flails.

I looked at the fortress. From this distance, I could barely make out a front gate. It looked like a group of stilts on horses entered while another group left. Steel glinted in the sunlight.

“Maybe Reese should come,” I said.

“We will all come to your aid if you get into trouble,” Freya said. “First, I’ll make a cold lunch. A fire would alert whoever is in that Castle to our presence. Then you go,” she said.

I couldn’t argue with lunch. We put the hill between us and the fortress and Freya build a small fire. She pulled some previously cooked fishmice out of a sack. Freya picked up a fishmouse and pinched it quickly between her thumb and forefinger. The mouse popped out of its skin. She fed the hairy skins to Sheesha, then served everyone a crunchy yellow leaf full of skinned fishmice. They were so good I could hardly stand it. Tender and not at all fishy, the moist little fishmice burst in my mouth like grapes. I ate as many as I could. Grundy was as stunned as the first time he ate Freya’s cooking. I ate until I had to let the laces on my vest out by two knots.

“Ready for some scouting, Telle?,” Jenna said.

I petted Sheesha. Her tongue slapped my cheek. A rivulet of drool ran down my neck.

“I’ll be right back girl,” I said.

“Good luck you two,” Freya said.

“Yell if you need me.” Reese waved his flail in the air. He held Sheesha’s harness while Jenna and I made our way down the hill. We followed the trail of smooger blood. For a while the trail led went straight to the fortress. It was hard to know where we were going, since the dry grass was over our heads. We panted and grunted under the hot sun. The trail seemed to wind and turn without reason. We had no way of knowing how close we were to the fortress. The grass made the air even hotter. Then I heard the buzzing of flies. We found another pool of blood. A few flies were trapped in the drying goop.

“The smooger must have stopped here to rest,” I said. There were several more pools, each closer to the last. I could only see a few inches ahead of me in the grass. My foot hit something. I tripped and fell forward. I was eyeball to eyeball with a grinning smooger. I pushed backward and felt a weight against my back. Jenna shouted as she tripped and fell across me.

“Smooger!” I shouted. I pushed away and reached for my knife. Jenna rolled off me and jumped into the grass. I wheeled around with my blade leading the way. At my feet lay the corpse of a smooger. His grin was actually a grimace of pain frozen across his face. A fly crawled out of his right nostril and buzzed away. I staggered backward.

“It’s dead,” I said.

“What killed it?” She asked.

“Grundy, by the looks of it,” I said.

The smooger lay on its back. There was a gash across both legs. Grundy’s chain had done its work.

“It must have really suffered,” Jenna said.

“Yeah,” I said. I smiled. A sour smell rose up from the corpse. The black teeth were cracked. Its dark yellow skin was waxy.

“It doesn’t take long for them to ripen in this sun,” I said.

“We’d better get back,” Jenna said.

“Which way is back?” I asked.

“We could follow the trail backwards,” Jenna said.

“That smooger wandered all over the place,” I said. Sweat ran down the sides of my face. The smell of the smooger turned my stomach.

“Can you find a shorter way to the hill?” Jenna asked.

“Sure!” I said. I guessed where the hill was.

“We came from that way.” I pointed to my left.

Jenna looked down at the smooger’s corpse. Her ears fluttered.

“Let’s try it, this scouting mission is a bust,” she said.

We marched in as straight a line as possible. We plodded in silence. The thin blades of grass reached high over my head. I swiped my dagger back and forth in front of us to cut a path. Each step through the tough weeds made small slices in my skin. The cuts stung from my sweat, and my leg ached where the smooger hound had bit me. After much marching, Jenna’s ears drooped. I didn’t want to tell her that I didn’t know where we were going. After what seemed like an hour or two it became obvious we were lost. We plodded onward.

“Do you think they can see us?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said quickly.

“Why don’t they come and get us?” I asked.

“Why did you tell me you knew where the hill was?” Jenna said. I kept walking.

“We're gonna have to peek our heads above the grassline somehow,” Jenna said. She veered left. I shrugged and followed her. Sweat ran into my eyes.

“Are you sure…” I started to ask.

“Quiet!” She froze. Her ears stuck out from the sides of her head. She slowly crouched. I looked around, but saw only grass on all sides.

“There’s something moving around over here sir!” A voice came from my right.

I ducked. I heard the whinny of a horse.

“You four, over there!” A stilt shouted from behind me. I gripped my dagger. Jenna’s eyes rolled back. She mumbled under her breath. A horse trotted toward us from the left. I looked up. A mounted soldier stepped in front of the sun. I jumped toward him with my dagger. I slashed blindly into the glare of the sun. The horse whinnied.

"Telle stop it!" Jenna cried.

“He’s armed!” The stilt said. There was the sound of steel. My dagger bounced off armor. The flat side of a sword glinted in the sunlight and then swung toward me. I turned to run. The flat of the sword struck me in the back and knocked my onto my face.

I spit out a mouthful of dirt. A black booted foot stepped in front of my face. A sharp kick in my ribs turned me onto my back. A stilt looked down at me. His sword hung over my chest.

“Get up, munchkin!” I almost took another swing, but it was obvious I had no chance. I slowly got up. The stilt yanked the dagger from me. I winced. I noticed that Jenna was unconscious next to me.

“That one was chantin' some mumbo jumbo, who knows what she was trying to do,” the stilt said to the others. Another stilt rode up. He looked like the boss. He had a long red feather in his helmet. I recognized the soldiers now as the Heedon Springs town guard. The leader looked down at us from his horse.

“Gag her,” he said. Then he pointed at me. “Tie that one up. Bring them to the dungeon,” he said. He turned and rode off. Several others rode with him. Two stayed behind.

“Put your hands behind your back,” the guard on the ground said.

“We were just chasing smoogers,” I said. His steel glove smacked against my head. I staggered sideways from the blow. My right ear rang. I shook my head. My other ear went numb from the next punch. Then the steel glove balled into a fist. It shot forward and crushed my nose with a dull crunch.

Blood squirted from my nose and ran down my neck. I covered my face.

“Hands behind your back!” He said.

I did as I was told. The ground zoomed and tilted under my feet. It took all I had to keep from falling. He bound my hands with rope.

“Kneel!” He punched the back of my head before I could respond. I fell to my knees. White spots zoomed in front of my eyes. I looked to see how Jenna was doing. The stilt walked to her and kicked her in the side.

“Eyes front,” he said to me. I moved my head a bit but kept my eyes on Jenna. He flipped her over and tied up her hands. He slipped a gag over her mouth. Then he picked her up and threw her across the back of his horse. She was completely limp.

“Where are the others?” I thought to myself. Then I got my answer. Hooves pounded against the earth. A stilt on horseback burst through the grass. His helmet was missing and a trickle of blood came from the corner of his right eye.

“Something calling itself Satyrio is giving us a tough time,” the stilt said.

“I’m bringing these in. Get Robbard to help you,” the stilt behind me said.

“I don't want to bother him, he's overseeing preparations for the stampede. Falstag's gonna have everybodys ass to the fire if he screws up the preparations.” the bloody stilt said.

“Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Fine.” The stilt spun his horse around and rode off.

“Satyrio.” Our stilt said. “What in Twaddle is that?” He laughed. The world turned black as he put a sack over my head and cinched it around my neck. I was afraid of being strangled, but he didn’t tighten it too much. I felt myself being lifted and then thrown over the back of the horse. The stilt led us away. I guessed we were going to the castle. Of course, I couldn’t be sure. I’d lost all faith in my sense of direction.