A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 47: Battle With The Goblins - Part 13

The Goblins froze their movements together, as their heads rotated all at once, locking their dangerous yellow eyes onto him. It was a horrific sight. The killing intent of all four Goblins together almost froze Beam to the spot. If he hadn't killed that Goblin earlier, and thus assured some level of confidence against him, then he was quite sure he wouldn't have been able to move at all.

The Goblins shrieked suddenly, a mad, horrifying anger. They all leapt in different directions as they bounced off the trees and scampered towards him, so overcome with their hatred of humanity that they neglected their own safety. One scampered in such a hurry that his foot slipped on the dried pine needles of the forest floor and he went skidding face-first for a distance, before scrambling to his feet again, full of animal fury.

Beam didn't feel any need to wait any longer. He turned on his heel and sprinted through the forest, jumping up onto rocky ledges as he climbed higher through the mountains, zigzagging through the trees.

He didn't need to look behind him to check whether they were still following. They made such a noise of fury as they ran that it was near incomparable to their battle with the bear. It wouldn't have been surprising to Beam if every creature in the massive forested mountain range of the Black mountains heard their cry.

Beam made decision after decision instantly as he navigated land that he'd never set foot on before, having to balance calmly looking ahead, with frantically keeping his speed to his absolute highest output. But that too was dangerous. If he didn't get it right, then he'd run out of energy too soon and they'd soon catch up on him.

He sprinted at the start, then slowed himself slightly to a fast jog, daring to look over his shoulder to see just how much distance was between himself and the nightmarish Goblins.

They were not far behind. The whole fleet of them launched themselves through the trees like rabid monkeys, only staying between 5 and 10 paces behind at most. It was certainly far from enough to make Beam relax, but so far it seemed that his gamble on his speed was paying off.

The route grew rockier the higher he ran. He started to worry that he'd climb too high and that the mountain river would be too far below him once he reached its edge.

He attempted to make allowances for that, putting his newly found and trained pathfinding skill to the test. He veered off left, choosing a northwest diagonal rather than just the straight north route that he'd been following. He reasoned that to the west, the river was likely to be more similar to what he was used to.

It did not take long before sensation in his legs dulled and was replaced by an overwhelming ache that demanded he stop at the earliest possible opportunity. But with true hell screaming along behind him, he didn't have much chance of that.

He felt a sharp pain on the top of his ear as he saw a Goblin's spear stream past him and embed itself into the earth in front of him.

"Shit!" Beam cursed, beginning to zigzag some more, making sure that he wouldn't be an easy target. Wherever he could, he stepped in front of a tree, so that he had a shield should any more projectiles come streaming his way. But that was just a temporary solution.

Another Goblin spear came at him, apparently inspired by the attempts of the first, and it nicked his forearm as it skidded past, just as he was dodging to the left. Blood welled up through the sleeve in his shirt, accompanied by biting pain.

He fought to remain calm as he continued to look at the lay of the land around him, guessing the best routes. If his intuition was correct, then he guessed that the river was not too far away now. From the way the rocks increased and the trees grew more sparse, he assumed there had to be a ravine not far off.

He prepared himself for its arrival, skidding past a large boulder that stood in his way, sending mud flying as he went. A spear bounced off the rock where he had stood just a few moments before.

He didn't have time to look to see if the menacing green creatures were collecting their weapons after they'd thrown them, or whether throwing them as they were had even slowed them down at all.

The ravine soon came into sight and he could see the gurgling waters of the mountain river rushing below.

It looked far more menacing than it did further downstream. The water boiled with a white spray as it rushed over several short waterfalls, spilling into the slash in the rocky earth of the ravine.

It was a harsher descent as well, as Beam had feared it might be. Whereas he was used to steep but still somewhat muddy slopes, this was nearly all rock. There was only the barest incline and the barest amount of trees.

Beam ran alongside it for a moment, taking it all in, trying to solve the first step of the puzzle. And then, he leapt.

He skidded down the slope, sending lots of small stones as he went, reaching out with his arm and digging in his feet to try and slow his descent. He managed to grasp onto the thin branch of a slope-growing tree in order to bring his momentum to a halt.

He'd fallen a great distance, ten strides at least, which should have put him ahead of the Goblins with his quick decision-making. But this kind of terrain was their territory. As they'd demonstrated in the battle with the bear, rather than just straight speed, it was their agility and strange nimbleness that they excelled in.