Jeff Inlo - Pure Choice

Three goblins ran to the freed gate section and yanked at the handles. They struggled against the weight as the iron hinges seemed to fight against their desires. When Okyiq joined them, they were able to force the gate open enough for the goblins still under the protection of the hills to see a clear passage into town.

Nearly a hundred goblins rushed across the clearing. They moved in one great mass, like a patch of filthy oil rushing forward upon the surface of an otherwise pure river. They did not try to hide their presence from the towers, did not try to mask their numbers. They simply drove toward the opportunity the open gate presented.

The racing pack did not go unnoticed. The tower guards, desperately searching for an answer to the odd assault, spotted the raiding goblins as they broke out from behind the hillside. Signals were sent of the attack, and several of the human soldiers fired their arrows, placing themselves in jeopardy from goblin archers who continued their bombardment.

Several goblins dropped from the counterattack, but the vast majority made it to the wall and threw themselves against the partially opened gate. The force shoved the door open wider and the full raiding force poured through the entrance. They were not surprised to see their commander alive and ready to order them into battle.

"Breakup! Swarm area and find cover! Force humans to come off the wall and then attack! When they are dead, take everything you can!"

As the goblins rushed passed him, Okyiq took the time to raise his pudgy distorted nose to the air. He sniffed several times and then gauged the wind. With a clear direction set in his mind, he took hold of one goblin after another and threw them to the side of the gate. Once he had another dozen goblins, he pointed to a building at a nearby corner. He could not read the sign that held the establishment's name of the Spruce View Tavern, but he knew it was a place that held the food he craved.

"You will come with me!" Okyiq demanded of the goblins he pressed aside.

The dozen creatures agreed without hesitation, their goblin blood flowing briskly from the excitement of the raid and the initial success of their endeavor. They hissed and snorted, chuckled in glee as they bounded after their leader.

In near unison, the small pack sprang across the road and toward a large wooden door at the front of the establishment. An even larger picture window stood to the side of the entrance, but the inside of the building was dark-all lanterns and candles within had been extinguished.

Despite the darkened interior, the goblins noticed movement inside the building. Humans appeared to be clamoring in all directions, but the apparent mayhem did not for one moment melt the goblins' desire to get at the food within.

Okyiq pushed at the entrance, but it held against his weight and his will. He pounded and kicked at the door, but it held firm. He cursed, but wasted no more time or effort on the futile attempt. He knew he was fighting more than a simple lock, and he decided to take a different approach. Grabbing hold of one of the goblins waiting impatiently at his side, he lifted the smaller monster off its feet and flung it violently through the center of the front window.

Suffering several deep cuts from the razor sharp broken glass, the smaller monster looked back in shock after it hit the ground and rolled to a stop. At first, it couldn't understand why its leader had taken such an aggressive action against it, but it would soon comprehend.

"Clear the door!" Okyiq bellowed to the stunned goblin inside the establishment.

Before the goblin could get to its feet, Okyiq threw three more minions through the busted window, but they suffered no cuts as their bodies cleared the broken glass strewn across the tavern floor.

Several people within the Spruce View Tavern screamed and ran to the back exit. They didn't wish to be caught outside in the middle of a goblin raid, but their shelter had been compromised and remaining within the inn seemed an unhealthy alternative.

That consideration came to fruition for two muscular men that pressed their bodies against the locked front door. They had withstood Okyiq's initial assault, but they were unarmed and unprepared to face four snarling goblins with short swords drawn.

Rushing the men like hunting spiders leaping at prey, the four goblins within the tavern dove upon their targets in a tumbled mass of aggression. Their small but razor sharp swords jabbed and sliced with maniacal glee, dropping both men in an instant.

Covered in the blood of their victims, the twisted monsters shoved and pulled the corpses away from the door. The instant they called out to their leader, they were knocked backward by splinters and shards of wood.

Okyiq roared as he kicked at the locked door. Without the men supporting it, the wood burst into pieces as the burly goblin's foot crashed through its center. Okyiq pushed the broken pieces that hung on the hinges aside as he pounced into the Spruce View Tavern.

He saw several people racing out the back, or running up stairs hoping to barricade themselves in the rooms above, but they were not his concern. He looked to the assorted tables spread across the large tavern. He saw several plates of food, but the amount didn't match what he could smell. He knew there was more in the back of the building, and it was there he marched. He demanded all twelve goblins follow him into the kitchen to collect the ultimate source of his desires.

He pressed through two swinging doors and the aim of the raid waited for him like treasure piled before a conquering warrior. For the large goblin, it was like finding a city of gold. Heaps of food seemed to wait on every table and in every corner. Meats, grains, fruits and vegetables appeared in every direction. There were shelves and cabinets filled with delicacies, and he wanted them all.

"Fill your sacks!" Okyiq demanded.

The goblins did so without hesitation, save for one, the one that Okyiq threw through the wide front window. The goblin was leaving a trail of blood wherever it stepped, even sent waves of thick red liquid across the floor as it pulled its large cloth bag from over its shoulder. While it moved through the stash of food with nearly the same vicious glee as its brethren, its vision quickly dimmed and the room began to swirl around it. It fainted with its sack only half full.

Okyiq stepped up to the fallen goblin with fury.

"Get up!"

But the goblin had drifted off into unconsciousness from loss of blood.

Okyiq kicked at the creature. Unfortunately for them both, the fallen monster failed to respond. It died at that very moment. The larger goblin cursed, pulled the half filled sack from the dead goblin's grasp, and threw it to another creature nearby.

"Fill that one as well!" Okyiq demanded. He wanted a dozen sacks filled with food, and he would have it, even if one of his minions had to carry a double load.

With the looting complete, Okyiq led his goblin party back out onto the streets. He surveyed the scene with impatience. The rain continued to fall in great sheets and pound the ground all around them. The conditions were near ideal for his minions to prowl through shadows and create chaos.

The goblins had followed his commands. Many of them were hiding under the cover of porches or in small alleys, not allowing for archers to pick them off. Some were involved in small skirmishes with human guards that had moved in from the north, but the combat was limited, not what Okyiq had expected. He would have thought Burbon's soldiers would have rushed down from their elevated positions to meet the raiders head-on. He would have lost several goblins, but the threat of archers would have been eliminated.

To Okyiq's growing annoyance, the majority of human soldiers were not actively engaging his minions. They showed great patience and resolve, qualities he always believed the humans had in sparse supply. They remained at their posts on the walls and in the towers. Very few guards moved in from street level, and those that did advanced cautiously and avoided full engagement. The small conflicts that erupted were controlled and quickly fell to the guards' advantage. Rather than allow the goblins to goad them into one furious encounter after another, the soldiers were forming lines to cut his minions off from the center of the town.