Chapter 223: The Goblin Lair
We heard the goblin lair well before we saw it. Loud, harsh clangs and shouts rang through the air, filling the air with the sound of battle. I jumped as a deafening scream cut off in a wet gurgle, sending chills down my spine.
"What’s happening?" Sorrin asked softly, glancing at Rasce.
The ranger shook his head and frowned. "Not sure, but it sounds like fighting."
Dyson fingered the hilts of his twin short swords. "No other adventuring team’s been dispatched to the area, so a raid’s unlikely. Perhaps it’s infighting."
Following Rasce’s lead, we crept closer. The ground sloped upward at a gentle angle, and the trees parted to reveal a low mountain. A jagged chasm split the cliffs nearly a hundred feet above us, snaking down and widening just enough to reveal the entrance to the cavernous lair—a gaping maw set within the heart of the mountain. Its jagged edges seemed to devour the surrounding landscape, casting a sinister shadow across the area.
Goblins crawled over the mountainside, fighting each other tooth and nail, brawling until blood flowed. The fight escalated closer to the cave, where the monsters fought with bare blades. Several of them lay slumped across the chasm walls, painting the ground with their blood.
Behind the ragged line of defenders, and in the gloom of the darkness, I could just make out the forms of several figures. They lay on the ground, squirming, their limbs tied together. Sorrin’s knuckles whitened on the hilt of his sword.
"Slavers," he spat.
Dyson nodded grimly. "At least we know they’re alive. I was worried we’d find them in a cooking pot."
A particular large goblin, standing nearly five feet tall and rippling with muscle, led the defenders. He swung his heavy mace with such ease the only indication of its immense weight was the screams of his victims as they flew across the cavern. He was shouting something, but even if Fable was near, I wouldn’t be able to understand it. The blessing of Tongues only applied to intelligent, humanoid races, and goblins were classified as monsters.
"Let’s go," said Sorrin abruptly. "We won’t get a better opportunity than this. Stay close and we’ll punch right through to the prisoners. Anyone got a reading on their leader’s power level?"