Chapter 8
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What happened next went by so quickly Jack barely had a chance to mentally register it before it was over.
He heard several of the goblins yell, heard the clank of armor as they charged away from the group and towards what Jack guessed was the direction of the new voices. Then, immediately afterwards, he heard several faint swooshing sounds, each followed by the sound of metal grinding against metal, the wet splat of something hard colliding with something much less hard, and the loud gurgling shrieks of goblin voices that told Jack what the something soft probably was.
The remaining goblins, including the one holding the net that held him trapped, rushed towards the direction of the rest of their brethren, dropping Jack and the net in the process. He immediately set about trying to struggle out of the net when he heard the softer voice say something in a sharp, jagged sounding guttural language he didn't understand, and sent the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Then, without warning, a large explosion of blue fire erupted a short distance from him, blowing him and the large wad of netting he was wrapped in a dozen or so feet away to the sound of roaring flames and goblin screams. Even at a decent distance away, the heat from the fire was so intense Jack was sure it'd singed his eyebrows and neckbeard clean off, and he had to cover his eyes against the intense brightness.
After several seconds, he was finally able to free himself from the large netting wad, climbing up on top of it and looking in the direct of the now dwindling flames.
The ground surrounding them probably twenty feet in every direction was charred black and smoking, and he could see, and unfortunately, smell, the numerous charred twisted shapes that he deduced were probably his previous captors of the last several minutes. Then, after another moment passed, the blue flames finally dwindled out, and through the smoking haze, he could finally see the bearers of the female voices he'd heard earlier.
There were three of them, not two. One, standing closest, was decidedly the tallest and largest of the three, dressed in a kind of lightweight looking armor and standing to the ready in some sort of combat stance with what looked like a sword in her left hand. By some strange trick of the light, the skin of the largest one looked as red as a ripe strawberry, with a wild shock of orange-golden hair that stood out from her head and appeared to have several things weaving through it. To her left stood the second figure, dressed in loose-fitting grey and white robes tied around the middle with a blue sash embroidered with gold thread, and holding a long staff or rod in her right hand, her left hand held closed close to her chest. Her skin looked denim blue, with dark blue hair the color of a blueberry pulled loosely to one side, where it hung down past her shoulder. He blinked several more times, looking back and forth between the two of them as the haze continued to clear. No, he wasn't going crazy. Their skin was really those colors. The third was by far the smallest of the three, and hidden mostly behind the second one's robes, which she appeares to be clinging on to. While it was difficult to see much of her at this distance, she appeared to be a child of seven or eight years of age, with reddish brown skin and messy looking orange and gold hair that partly obscured her face.
While he wasn't sure of the brightness of the idea of getting their attention, Jack figured anything had to be better than being a captive plaything for a bunch of goblins, and anyone who didn't like goblins, based on all of his years of playing games and reading fantasy novels, were probably good. Or, at least, not completely bad.
He threw up his hands, waving them frantically around.
"Hey! Over here! Heeeey!"
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What happened next went by so quickly Jack barely had a chance to mentally register it before it was over.
He heard several of the goblins yell, heard the clank of armor as they charged away from the group and towards what Jack guessed was the direction of the new voices. Then, immediately afterwards, he heard several faint swooshing sounds, each followed by the sound of metal grinding against metal, the wet splat of something hard colliding with something much less hard, and the loud gurgling shrieks of goblin voices that told Jack what the something soft probably was.
The remaining goblins, including the one holding the net that held him trapped, rushed towards the direction of the rest of their brethren, dropping Jack and the net in the process. He immediately set about trying to struggle out of the net when he heard the softer voice say something in a sharp, jagged sounding guttural language he didn't understand, and sent the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Then, without warning, a large explosion of blue fire erupted a short distance from him, blowing him and the large wad of netting he was wrapped in a dozen or so feet away to the sound of roaring flames and goblin screams. Even at a decent distance away, the heat from the fire was so intense Jack was sure it'd singed his eyebrows and neckbeard clean off, and he had to cover his eyes against the intense brightness.
After several seconds, he was finally able to free himself from the large netting wad, climbing up on top of it and looking in the direct of the now dwindling flames.
The ground surrounding them probably twenty feet in every direction was charred black and smoking, and he could see, and unfortunately, smell, the numerous charred twisted shapes that he deduced were probably his previous captors of the last several minutes. Then, after another moment passed, the blue flames finally dwindled out, and through the smoking haze, he could finally see the bearers of the female voices he'd heard earlier.
There were three of them, not two. One, standing closest, was decidedly the tallest and largest of the three, dressed in a kind of lightweight looking armor and standing to the ready in some sort of combat stance with what looked like a sword in her left hand. By some strange trick of the light, the skin of the largest one looked as red as a ripe strawberry, with a wild shock of orange-golden hair that stood out from her head and appeared to have several things weaving through it. To her left stood the second figure, dressed in loose-fitting grey and white robes tied around the middle with a blue sash embroidered with gold thread, and holding a long staff or rod in her right hand, her left hand held closed close to her chest. Her skin looked denim blue, with dark blue hair the color of a blueberry pulled loosely to one side, where it hung down past her shoulder. He blinked several more times, looking back and forth between the two of them as the haze continued to clear. No, he wasn't going crazy. Their skin was really those colors. The third was by far the smallest of the three, and hidden mostly behind the second one's robes, which she appeares to be clinging on to. While it was difficult to see much of her at this distance, she appeared to be a child of seven or eight years of age, with reddish brown skin and messy looking orange and gold hair that partly obscured her face.
While he wasn't sure of the brightness of the idea of getting their attention, Jack figured anything had to be better than being a captive plaything for a bunch of goblins, and anyone who didn't like goblins, based on all of his years of playing games and reading fantasy novels, were probably good. Or, at least, not completely bad.
He threw up his hands, waving them frantically around.
"Hey! Over here! Heeeey!"
What happened next went by so quickly Jack barely had a chance to mentally register it before it was over.He heard several of the goblins yell, heard the clank of armor as they charged away from the group and towards what Jack guessed was the direction of the new voices. Then, immediately afterwards, he heard several faint swooshing sounds, each followed by the sound of metal grinding against metal, the wet splat of something hard colliding with something much less hard, and the loud gurgling shrieks of goblin voices that told Jack what the something soft probably was.The remaining goblins, including the one holding the net that held him trapped, rushed towards the direction of the rest of their brethren, dropping Jack and the net in the process. He immediately set about trying to struggle out of the net when he heard the softer voice say something in a sharp, jagged sounding guttural language he didn't understand, and sent the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Then, without warning, a large explosion of blue fire erupted a short distance from him, blowing him and the large wad of netting he was wrapped in a dozen or so feet away to the sound of roaring flames and goblin screams. Even at a decent distance away, the heat from the fire was so intense Jack was sure it'd singed his eyebrows and neckbeard clean off, and he had to cover his eyes against the intense brightness.After several seconds, he was finally able to free himself from the large netting wad, climbing up on top of it and looking in the direct of the now dwindling flames.The ground surrounding them probably twenty feet in every direction was charred black and smoking, and he could see, and unfortunately, smell, the numerous charred twisted shapes that he deduced were probably his previous captors of the last several minutes. Then, after another moment passed, the blue flames finally dwindled out, and through the smoking haze, he could finally see the bearers of the female voices he'd heard earlier.There were three of them, not two. One, standing closest, was decidedly the tallest and largest of the three, dressed in a kind of lightweight looking armor and standing to the ready in some sort of combat stance with what looked like a sword in her left hand. By some strange trick of the light, the skin of the largest one looked as red as a ripe strawberry, with a wild shock of orange-golden hair that stood out from her head and appeared to have several things weaving through it. To her left stood the second figure, dressed in loose-fitting grey and white robes tied around the middle with a blue sash embroidered with gold thread, and holding a long staff or rod in her right hand, her left hand held closed close to her chest. Her skin looked denim blue, with dark blue hair the color of a blueberry pulled loosely to one side, where it hung down past her shoulder. He blinked several more times, looking back and forth between the two of them as the haze continued to clear. No, he wasn't going crazy. Their skin was really those colors. The third was by far the smallest of the three, and hidden mostly behind the second one's robes, which she appeares to be clinging on to. While it was difficult to see much of her at this distance, she appeared to be a child of seven or eight years of age, with reddish brown skin and messy looking orange and gold hair that partly obscured her face.While he wasn't sure of the brightness of the idea of getting their attention, Jack figured anything had to be better than being a captive plaything for a bunch of goblins, and anyone who didn't like goblins, based on all of his years of playing games and reading fantasy novels, were probably good. Or, at least, not completely bad.He threw up his hands, waving them frantically around."Hey! Over here! Heeeey!"
