The Savage Caves - Chapter 13
The Savage Caves: Original Story by T.H. Lain
A Fan-Fiction Reimagining: Walthus Proudstump
Chapter 13
Tazerg followed Thrunk, trying to keep his distance from the bugbear and his stinking shield. The hu-man hands that he’d nailed to the wood were rotting; chunks of flesh had begun to blacken and fall off, which put off a terrible smell. That coupled with Dulf’s paste painted on the chests of the goblins in Tazerg’s hunting party made his stomach churn. The goblin bit his lower lip and snarled.
He still carried Sard’s dagger and turned it over in his hands several times as the group moved towards the surface. The tunnels were winding and confusing for anyone who didn’t know them. Tazerg knew that even if hu-mans had killed the bugbears, which meant they must be stronger than the bugbears, they wouldn't know where to go in the caves. Rezrek and the other bugbears had stumbled into his father's chamber by chance. They’d been tired and hungry. The little goblin grit his teeth and wondered if the hu-mans would kill the bugbears and hurt the goblins.
Thrunk shoved his way through some thick webbing, cursing in the bugbear tongue as it clung to his armor and shield. Tazerg had suggested they take another way, climbing up from the chamber Rezrek had claimed as his war room and making a faster trip to the surface. Thrunk ignored this, taking the longer way.
He’d grumbled at the goblin’s suggestion. “Goblin like climb. Thrunk not like climb.”
As they rounded a corner, the hallway they walked lit by the lichen, Tazerg thought he heard the sound of goblins yelling. He looked back at the others in his group and a goblin named Ont nodded.
“Ont hear goblins. Yelling.” His ears seemed to prick up, the pointed tips twitching slightly in the blue light. He carried a small club with a stone head. He held it awkwardly and Tazerg knew he wasn’t a good warrior.
“Thrunk.” Tazerg said, drawing the attention of the brutish leader. Tazerg locked eyes with him. “Hear goblins yelling.”
He scoffed. “Goblins always yelling. Always crying.” He sneered down at Tazerg and gave him a shove with his shield. He fell backwards into the others, toppling them over. Tazerg growled at Thrunk.
The bugbear loomed over him, brandishing a large stone-headed club he’d made from smaller ones taken from the Cavedeep goblins. The smell of the hands almost made Tazerg gag and one of the goblins behind him, Ummnin, threw up. Thrunk laughed and turned away.
“Keep movin’!” Thrunk yelled. He pushed forward, the sound of his heavy boots covering up the sounds of goblins yelling. Tazerg got up, trying to match the big monster’s stride with his own and shadow the bugbear as he moved. A minute later, Tazerg heard Thrunk curse. He had been looking at his shield. He whipped around, his eyes full of rage and his one good ear twitching. He surged forward, accidentally grabbing another goblin instead of Tazerg and pulled him up to his foul smelling mouth.
“Who took?” He screamed. The goblin in his grasp just shook with fear.
He shook him hard, the goblin’s head thrashing back and forth so badly Tazerg was sure he would break his neck.
“Ring! SHINY RING!” Thrunk yelled again. He dropped the goblin and pushed the shield forward, pointing to a thin hand that was moldy with rot. Tazerg could see a band of flesh that looked indented somehow even with the rot. Like the hand had something wrapped on its finger. The goblins collectively shook their heads.
Thunk huffed loudly, snarling and grunting.
“Goblins find ring or Thrunk eat goblin’s ears off.” He smiled, drool spilling down his rotting fangs and he leered. A noise distracted the giant and he whipped his head around in response.
Tazerg was very certain - it was the sound of goblins yelling, screaming. And spiders hissing.
“Goblins, go!” Thrunk yelled, bringing his shield around and trying to corral the little beings forward. They stumbled but moved on command, following Tazerg who led with his dagger held out in front of him. Tazerg saw the light blue illumination at the entrance to a spider webbed cave - close to where the goblins left their filth. Close to where Arzerg, his father, had been dropped. The image of his father being thrown down where the other goblins made their mess had Tazerg’s blood boiling. He clenched the dagger tighter, his grey skin whitening at the knuckles. He didn’t know if this was the hu-mans. But he was going to kill them and then he’d kill Thrunk.
He’d kill everyone.
The goblins moved into the room and saw the chaos unfolding before them. Tazerg gasped.
Lidda may not have any complaints, thought Regdar. But I do.
He cursed aloud as he threw himself to the side, rolling away from two goblin spears that narrowly avoided striking his unprotected face. His helm was open-faced, to keep his field of vision wider but that left it vulnerable. He shifted to his feet, bringing his bastard sword up with two hands. He caught the glimpse of his shield to his right; Jozan held it against a spider he had pinned to the floor and was bashing its chitinous body with his mace, blue gore splattering his screaming face. Regdar raised an eyebrow but shifted his focus back to the fight.
A goblin jabbed at him and he brought the blade down, severing the strange spear haft cleanly. The little creature looked at his broken weapon in confusion and Regdar punched out. His gauntlet caught the thing in the nose and he felt it break, sending the little beast falling backwards as its friend stabbed at Regdar’s stomach. The stone tip glanced off of the chain beneath his plate. He threw his elbow out, catching the goblin in the chin and the warrior swung his weapon in an upward slice that cut the little humanoid in half. The two sections split, collapsing to the stone floor in a flood of gore and screams from the other goblins.
Regdar saw another set of goblins enter the room and he yelled.
“Naull, there’s more!”
He saw her shift her hand, fingers moving rapidly and watched as she threw a pinch of sand towards the entrance into the room. Purple, red, green and blue settled over the area like the twinkling of starlight and Regdar saw several goblins collapse to the ground. Spiders swarmed over Naull and she screamed, swinging her staff wildly to get them away. The warrior rolled over his shoulder, breaking into a run to get to the flailing wizard. His sword cleaved a spider in half, passing into the back of another one and Naull was able to scramble away. The spiders, some Lidda’s size and some smaller, crawled all over the man and he yelled in rage. He threw himself back against the wall, smashing a spider beneath his weight. A spider sank its fangs into his boot, piercing the thinner armor atop it. The fang bit deep.
A swift pummel strike cracked the thing’s back, sending Regdar’s hand into its goopy body. He hissed, kicking the dead thing away and watching as Jozan turned to another spider. He couldn’t see Lidda but he knew that was a good thing.
From the entrance, a little goblin with a stone dagger and the same strange clay markings emerged. Regdar narrowed his eyes, then widened them when he saw what followed. A bugbear carrying a massive tower shield, its slobbering face drooling over the rotting hands that had been crudely nailed to the wood of the shield. The smell that wafted in with it was nauseating and Regdar felt bile rise up in his throat at the smell and sight. The creature looked horrifying; backlit by the soft blue light, its mangy brown and grey fur covered in filth. It carried a large club, like a giant version of the ones some of the goblins had and it looked angry. As it stepped into the room, its eyes immediately locked onto Jozan; orange-yellow orbs staring rage at the priest as he crushed another spider.
The thing’s roar filled the cavern. It bared yellowed fangs and barked an order at the goblins that the warrior couldn’t understand. Regdar saw a glint of metal and Lidda rolled into his vision, hurling the knife at the bugbear. It bounced harmlessly off of the shield and only managed to sever one of the dead fingers from a hand. She sighed loudly.
“Damn you, Olidammara!” She held her shortsword down at her side and ducked under the swipe of a goblin that had spotted her. She managed a glancing blow to the goblin and it yelped, drawing its bleeding arm back away from Lidda’s strike.
The bugbear stepped forward towards Jozan, ignoring Lidda’s knife throw. As it pushed towards the priest, it kicked goblins and spiders away from its heavy booted feet. Regdar watched Jozan’s eyes widen as the beast reared back and lashed out with its mace. Regdar’s shield caught the weapon but the force behind the strike was so powerful that it practically tore it from Jozan’s hand. He cried out, the force from the blow driving him back. A dog-sized spider scrambled away from the stumbling priest and Regdar hobbled forward, blood gushing from his wounded foot.
He winced, batting aside a low swing from a goblin and shoving his way to Jozan. The goblins and spiders had pulled away from the priest as the bugbear leered down at him. Seeing Regdar’s approach, the bugbear growled lashed out with its great shield. The warrior shifted back, yelling in pain as his weight settled on his foot, but was too slow to avoid the shield bash completely. It clipped his right shoulder and sent him spinning around, falling to the cold floor beneath him. The massive beast laughed and caught a blow from Jozan’s mace to the chest. It roared, more angered than wounded, and sent a boot out that hit Jozan in the chest. The priest fell backwards.
Regdar turned, shifting back up to his feet and saw Lidda approaching the bugbear from behind. She had her blade low and was preparing to strike at its legs when the goblin with the stone dagger jumped on her back from behind. He screamed, she screamed and the bugbear was momentarily distracted. Regdar rushed forward, sword lunging out and the blade tip pierced its poorly made armor. Its furious eyes turned back to Regdar and the creature dropped the club, reaching out with a great paw to take hold of the warrior’s face. With immense strength, it shoved back and Regdar fell once more. The creature roared, shifting forward so fast that Jozan had barely gotten back to his feet when it seized him by the tabard and hoisted him several feet above the floor.
Jozan looked horrified.
Regdar cursed again, getting to his feet and nearly losing his balance. The floor beneath him was now slick with blood, his and the goblins’. They scrambled around, trying to attack Naull as she battered them back with clumsy staff strikes. He had to help Jozan. Two goblins collided with Regdar, turning him around as they began climbing onto his armor. He slapped one with his gauntlet but they were too close for him to get his blade in. He struggled, shifting around the battlefield and desperately trying to keep his balance. He jammed his finger into the eye of one of the goblins.
The little bastard loosened its grip just long enough for him to lift it off and hurl it against the wall. It crumpled.
The other goblin reached up to Regdar’s face, trying to do the same - its little bony finger stabbed into the warrior's nose and he immediately sneezed, lurching forward and sending the goblin to the ground. He stomped, still sneezing as the little thing tried vainly to escape but was kicked in the back of the head. It fell unconscious.
He kicked down and crushed a small spider in his path. Another scuttled over to him, trying to climb on his chest and Regdar grabbed it with one arm, flinging the creature away with as much force as he could muster. It landed on the wall, perfectly flipping to land on its legs. But it scrambled away. He brought his weapon to bear, striking another that came from behind him. He sliced off a front leg, screamed at the spider as it hissed in response and swung low. The blade passed easily through the massive spider and dropped it.
Regdar turned. The older warrior saw the bugbear lift Jozan’s wriggling body high above its own head and threw the priest directly at Regdar. The younger man pinwheeled in the air.
“Oh, are you serious?” Regdar managed before Jozan slammed into him.
Lidda screamed, thrashing about and trying to get the goblin off of her. It howled into her ears and she couldn’t understand what it was saying. She felt the blade of its dagger dig against her shoulder and she hissed. Lidda tried to shake him off but he was holding too tightly. The halfling woman threw her head back as hard as she could, feeling pain blossom on her skull as she connected with the goblin’s nose. It screamed, loosening its grip on her shoulders and she jumped forward. As she fell, she rolled and brandished her shortsword. The creature growled, snarling and revealing sharp yellow teeth as it waved a dagger back and forth. It seemed more than skilled enough with the blade from how it held it.
From behind her Lidda heard Jozan and Regdar collide, as well as Naull’s shouting. She needed to help.
She took a step towards the goblin and kicked some loose rubble out, hoping to distract the little monster so she could deal a decisive strike. It stepped back, seeing the feint. She raised an eyebrow.
The huge bugbear walked past, ignoring her and moving towards the two crumpled men trying to get up.
She couldn’t turn her back on the goblin though. She locked eyes with it.
The goblin lowered his dagger, its eyes flitting from her to the bugbear.
It mouthed the word “go” at her in the goblin tongue and she almost dropped her shortsword in surprise. What?
Lidda didn’t have time to worry. She turned, quietly sneaking behind the bugbear as it brought the shield up and prepared to smash the two men with it. She lashed out, bringing the blade in a sweep that struck the unprotected calf muscle of the bugbear. Bright blood spurted from the open wound and the thing screamed aloud, instinctively dropping to a knee as she dove backwards. She turned to look at the goblin but it hadn’t moved. It just stood there watching.
“Little…bitch!” The bugbear screamed, whirling around even as it couldn’t stand. Its arm was so long that even though she’d put distance between her and it, the long furry limb reached out and snatched her up in a powerful grasp. She let out a yelp and the bugbear squeezed her left arm, sending jolts of searing pain lancing through her body. She sobbed at the pain, trying to wriggle free from its grasp. It was too strong and it felt like the bones in her arm were being ground down. She managed to bring her blade up and slice into the forearm but this only seemed to anger the bugbear more, who wrenched her to the side and the movement caused her to lose the blade. It clattered to the ground.
She felt like a ragdoll.
The bugbear brought her up to his face and sneered, its hot breath a wash of putrid old meat over her grimacing face. She whimpered and the thing smiled wide.
“Thrunk gonna eat both arms, little girly.” It laughed.
She reared back and spit into the thing’s eyes.
“Eat that, shit breath!” She twisted her body, agony coursing through her and managed to kick at the thing’s jaw. Her strike wasn’t powerful - she was a fifth the creature’s size - but the rotten fangs of the bugbear snapped easily enough. It screamed, loosening its hold on her arm and she dropped to the floor. She tumbled to the side, snatching her weapon up as she did. The goblin she’d wrestled with still hadn’t moved. He was just watching everything. Lidda heard Naull smash another spider into paste with her staff.
Regdar had gotten to his feet, still holding his bastard sword. The man made a wild swing at the bugbear but it blocked it, turning aside the strike and unbalancing itself. Lidda lunged, driving her own sword into its back and let go of the handle. It screamed again, shoving out and slamming Regdar in the face with its shield; one of the rotting hands dislodged from the nail and went with the stumbling warrior. He retched, throwing the thing away. It struck a goblin in the head and the creature yelled, throwing down its weapon and running past the goblin with the dagger.
Thrunk stood on shaking legs and delivered a kick to Jozan, who raised his mace too late to swing. The priest toppled again, this time striking his head against the stone floor and going limp. Naull screamed and Lidda saw a strange energy coalesce in her hand; blue and black swirling smoke that looked almost like letters the halfling couldn’t read. The woman dashed forward, throwing her staff in front of her. Thrunk knocked it aside with his free hand and as Naull moved forward, he punched out with the shield. The mage caught the edge of the large wooden shield right in her chest.
The spell fizzled and she doubled over, gasping and coughing as she tried to breath. Blood bubbled at the corners of Naull’s mouth.
“Naull!” Regdar yelled.
Lidda turned, looking for a weapon. She locked eyes with the goblin and growled in his tongue.
“Do something!” She ran to pick up a discarded spear. The goblins had fled and it looked like the presence of the bugbear made all of the spiders withdraw. Only her companions, the one goblin and the bugbear remained.
The little creature seemed to consider, looking at the hulking bugbear.
Lidda hurled the spear. It awkwardly sailed through the air and stuck into the bugbear’s fur. The thing didn’t turn though. It blocked another strike from Regdar, grabbing hold of the sword and twisting the warrior’s arm. He gasped in pain and the bugbear laughed, roaring into his face. Lidda heard a noise, turned, and saw the little goblin rushing forward with its weapon held out. It took a great leap, further than Lidda would’ve guessed it could jump, and landed on the bugbear’s back. The massive beast tried to pull the goblin off but it was too nimble; it used the fur as handholds and avoided his grasping claws.
Thrunk cried out. “Tazerg!”
The goblin stabbed its stone knife into the thing’s throat. Thrunk cried out, finally taking hold of Tazerg and throwing the goblin across the room. His body slammed into the wall, striking a jutting stone and tearing a long gash on his side. Blood spattered the white webbing Tazerg landed in and the goblin was still.
Thrunk tore the knife from his throat, still fuming and refusing to slow. “Thrunk…kill…ALL!”
Regdar drove his blade into Thrunk's side, the massive weapon piercing all the way through; leather, fur and flesh yielded to the weapon as the warrior gave an exhausted battle cry. He let go of the hilt, backing away as Thrunk flailed with his shield. Back and forth, slowly the bugbear’s movements became more sluggish and more labored. Blood pumped from his neck wound, the bastard sword and Lidda’s blade still sticking out of him.
He turned rage-filled eyes to Lidda, managed a burbling croak and toppled over to the side. His bulk shook the floor as he landed.
Lidda stared in amazement at the bugbear; his eyes still moved about and he still held tight to the shield. It wasn’t dead!
She gave a great sigh, walking over to where the creature had thrown the stone dagger from its throat. She picked it up, walked over to the thing and raised the knife high for the killing blow.
Regdar stopped her. His hand was warm and strong as it grabbed her wrist.
“What are you doing? We have to kill it.” She said.
“It might know something.” Regdar offered but the halfling woman shook her head.
“Trust me, it doesn’t. But that goblin over there,” she gestured to the little creature she guessed was named ‘Tazerg’. “He probably does know something.”
Regdar looked like he wanted to argue but she could tell he was exhausted. So was she.
“Fine.” He let go of her hand.
Lidda finished the job.
Regdar checked on Jozan and Naull. Both were hurt but alive. Naull was struggling to breathe still, holding her hand to her chest and coughing intermittently. She seemed alright but Regdar was giving the girl most of his attention. Lidda shook her head at that thought - leave it to humans to fawn over each other in a life-or-death situation. Jozan was in a more serious situation. The bugbear had nearly broken his arm and dented Regdar’s shield. It was still usable, the shield and the arm, but Jozan explained it would take considerable healing to get back to his normal.
Healing the priest of Pelor admitted that he did not have at the moment.
Lidda sighed. Again.
I’m sighing so much, I sound like Naull. She shook her head and gently squeezed her arm. It was very tender to the touch and she was surprised Thrunk hadn’t broken it. His grip was impossibly powerful. She was lucky.
I’m always lucky, she thought as she moved over to the unconscious goblin.
“So are you, little guy.” She bent down and looked at his wound; it was a long gash running on his left side but he would live. If he’d flown a few feet higher, he’d have been skewered on a large stone. The injury was surprisingly shallow and she was about to reach out to check it but thought better. She didn’t know this goblin. It had just stood there watching the bugbear, who it came in with, attack them. She considered plunging the stone knife into its throat. But she hesitated.
“Is it alive?”, asked Jozan. He stood on steady feet but held his arm close to his chest. It clearly pained the priest but he had a good, hard face on. He hid his pain well, Lidda thought.
“Yeah, it looks like it.” Lidda said.
“He didn’t fight with the others,” Regdar commented as he helped Naull to her feet. She rummaged in her strange pack, pulling out two long bottles - potions, Lidda recognized. The mage handed one to Jozan and Lidda expected the other to go to Regdar but Naull tossed it to her. She caught it easily enough but raised an eyebrow.
“This is a weaker draught. We can spare it - give it to the goblin.” Naull said.
“Excuse me?” Regdar and Lidda spoke at the same time, both shooting the mage a strange look.
“Did the punch to the chest rattle your brain, girl?” Lidda asked. Naull shook her head.
“He tried to kill the bugbear.” She pointed to the dead creature. “I’d say he’s earned a few questions.” She then pointed a finger to Lidda. “Besides,” she smiled, coughing a bit. “You speak goblin.”
Lidda rolled her eyes. She moved over to the goblin and pulled him out of the webbing. Strands of the sticky stuff clung to his body and the little tuft of brown hair atop his squat head. He was thin; light enough that even though he wasn’t an easy thing to drag, Lidda could do so without help. She pulled him into the center of the room and pressed the potion to his lips.
“If he does something stupid,” she began and the goblin bolted straight up. He threw a hand out, catching Lidda in the chin and eliciting several strong curses from the woman as he stumbled away. Regdar’s blade was trained on the thing and Naull held a hand up to steady the warrior. Jozan weakly shifted his mace but Lidda could tell he wasn’t in any shape to fight.
“Hey, stop!” Lidda called out in the lilting Flannish. Lidda cursed, then repeated herself in goblin.
The goblin stopped moving. It raised an eyebrow.
Lidda held her hands up as passively as she could but the goblin looked ready to bolt.
She pointed to her chest. “Lidda,” she said slowly.
It nodded. “Tazerg,” the goblin said as it pointed to itself. It pointed a thin finger to the dead bugbear. It spit.
“Okay, bugbear not friend.” Lidda said to Tazerg.
Tazerg nodded. “Thrunk not friend. Bugbears not friend.”
“Tazerg friend?” Lidda asked, looking over to his handiwork. “Naull, Jozan, Regdar.” She motioned to the others. “Lidda’s friends.”
“Aww, Lidda.” Naull teased.
The halfling woman said nothing but shot her a clear and offensive hand gesture.
“Tazerg hate bugbears. Hu-mans hate bugbears?” Tazerg asked.
The entire group nodded.
“Tazerg friend.” The little goblin smiled but somehow Lidda felt even worse.
Tazerg looked at the strange hu-mans and the shorter hu-man, Lidda, with a mixture of disgust and curiosity at their pinky and fleshy bodies. They didn’t look like goblins at all and they were still smaller than the bugbears. But they’d killed Thrunk. Tazerg had helped, though. He felt good knowing that Thrunk was dead but some of the goblins had gotten away - others were dead because of the hu-mans. Tazerg didn’t like that.
“Lidda friends kill goblins,” he said, looking at the three hu-mans as they sagged with exhaustion. “Kill Tazerg friends. Tazerg’s people.”
They talked back and forth between themselves in a complex, strange language that Tazerg didn’t understand. It made him angry. Like listening to the bugbears speak.
He marveled at the wound in his side - or the lack of one. Whatever the hu-mans and Lidda had done healed him. He felt the skin where he’d hit the rock. It should be bleeding and open, hurting. But there was nothing! The hu-mans were powerful, Tazerg knew. And they might help him kill Rezrek.
He smiled at that thought.
Lidda turned back to him.
“Tazerg want fight Fairbye? Hurt humans there?” Her voice sounded so strange to his ears. He shook his head.
“Tazerg not care about Fairbye. Only care about goblins. About home.”
The younger man stepped forward and said something but all Tazerg caught was his name. He looked at Lidda.
“Tazerg send spiders to kill sheep?” She asked in a direct, strong tone.
Tazerg nodded. The big hu-man stepped forward, holding out a shiny knife twice as Tazerg was tall. It still dripped with blood from Thrunk. The goblin tensed.
Lidda shook her head, saying more strange words.
“Tazerg.” She lowered her voice. “Tazerg send spiders?”
“Rezrek send spiders. Rezrek hungry. Eat sheeps.”
Lidda furrowed her eyebrows. She exchanged a look with the hu-mans.
“Rezrek?” She asked.
“Bugbear. Chieftain.” He gestured over to Thrunk’s dead body. “Stronger than Thrunk.”
The halfling buried her face in her hands and Tazerg felt confused.
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