White bones stuck up in the air, half embedded into the large corpse they came from. The shape they made up was certainly a massive ogre who had died of unknown causes.
The monster seemed to be on its back as it died. It was impossible to tell if its death was the doing of goblins.
Irene didn’t want to get closer to tell more. In fact, she had an urge to run in the opposite direction and go back down the hill.
Even though they had seen a lot of awful things, that was on the top.
Was it cannibalism for a monster to eat another monster? Were they separate species and merely eating something as if it were a cow or pig?
She had to break her gaze. It felt as if she were in a trance.
Rather than continuing to look, she rested her forehead in her arms until she heard Gunnar speak.
"Never before," Sir Gunnar spoke under his breath. "I’ve never seen anything like that in my life."
Since Irene’s eyes were on him, the knight gestured for her to go back the direction they came from.
Once they both had made it into the tree line, they were able to speak more freely.
"I’m not mistaken," Irene insisted. "The goblins were eating that ogre, weren’t they?"
Gunnar’s jaw was tense, and he seemed deep in contemplation at what he had just witnessed. He wanted to see something beautiful, yet the horrors beyond his imagination kept stacking up.
He hoped that at the end of everything, beauty in the world would return to them.
"That is certainly what it seemed like," he finally responded before he pressed on to where the horses and other knights were.
"You didn’t last for long," Sir Eitan observed.
Gunnar glanced at Irene and nodded at her to go ahead. She felt a bit nervous as more eyes were set on her than just Sir Eitan’s. She cleared her throat.
"Something happened that caused the goblins to run towards one side of the valley," she explained. "On the side now uncovered, there is a half-eaten ogre’s carcass lying in the mud. Go and see for yourselves."
Her expression was twisted into disgust, but she wasn’t surprised when she saw a few decide to go to the cliff’s edge. She had morbid curiosity as well. It was human nature to want to see something they didn’t understand.
But that... ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novel·fıre·net
There was no explanation for that.
The others soon returned with equally disgusted expressions.
"What do you say, Sir Gunnar?" one of the knights from Hydrogia asked. "Shall we press on?"
Gunnar contemplated it for a while. He didn’t want them to rely on him for an answer. He wished Commander Lothian were there to take the burdens, which is why Gunnar never wanted to be a commander in the first place.
"It is too late in the day to turn back," he insisted. "We must find shelter now. I know these hills well enough to remember where a cave is."
One of the Knights of Hydrogia stepped forward.
"Sir Gunnar, a cave?" he asked. "A sure way to get all of us killed. It will undoubtedly be filled to the brim with goblins at this time of year."
Gunnar’s expression was unenthused, he stared as if wondering why he had to explain his suggestion at all.
But he knew he owed it to the others. Everyone was paranoid for a reason.
"Not a cavern," he reasoned. "A shallow cave where you can see the back of it from the opening. Just enough to block the winter wind and hope that our fire keeps us warm."
"Fair enough, sir," the knight immediately relented.
It was good enough for all of them as they got back onto their horses and pressed on.
However, this time they were sure to avoid the crest of the hill and stayed inside the tree line. None of them wanted to be spotted by the numerous goblins they had no hope of facing on their own.
Since it was Gunnar’s idea for them to find a cave, he continued leading until they were in a more familiar area of the foothills—at least to Irene. They were coming upon the lower edges of the rockier places where they would no longer have tree cover.
This also led to more caves and possibilities of goblins hiding, but the circumstances weren’t usual.
The signs of goblins in this area were much less than before. Since the goblins weren’t behaving as they usually did, it seemed they had left the caves behind to stay in the valley below the southwestern foothills.
At least it would benefit the travelers for the time being.
"This is it," Gunnar announced to the group. "I will go in first to ensure that there is nothing hiding, though, as I said before, this cave is quite shallow."
Fearlessly, Gunnar unsheathed his sword and stepped into the darkness since the sun had started to dip down on the western side, so they were dealing with a lot of shadowed areas.
Without a beat missed, Irene dismounted Sorrel and rushed forward to cover her knight’s back.
It was alarming to watch him go into a dark cave without backup.
However, what they quickly found was a cave larger than its opening. It went upward, but it really was shallow once you were inside. The biggest risk they would have was bats, but the ground seemed devoid of droppings, so it was going to be quite a good place to stay.
Once they had all of their things set out and a fire started using the meager piles of firewood they brought with them, Sir Gunnar stood and looked throughout the cave at each of the travelers. The fire he stood beside casted long shadows on his tired face. He looked a bit more stern than normal.
"I will not force anyone to keep watch tonight," he explained. "I will take volunteers."
Irene perked up at that.
"I will, Sir Gunnar. I’m not sure I’ll get much rest as it is."
Even though he threw a concerned glance in her direction, he still nodded.
"I will as well, sir." Leif was soon to speak up.
Irene couldn’t help feeling relieved that her friend would join her.
"I will take the second shift in the middle of the night so that the two of you may rest," Gunnar explained. "We’re at a first-quarter moon, so wake me up when the moon sets. It should be halfway through the night."
"I will take that shift with you, sir," a Hydrogian knight volunteered.
With that, their plans were set for them. It was going to be a long night, but Irene was determined to prove herself.