The Iron Teeth

Queen of Swords 11

"Well, maybe the battle's over but I doubt it," Saeter told Blacknail. "Even if the rest of the mercenaries decide to call it quits we'll still only have taken out Zelena's gold bought thugs and soldiers. We still haven't gone up against Werrick's own men."

The old scout had to speak loudly in order to be heard over all the background noise. Bandits were still stomping around and cheering their victory as the remains of the wooden barricade burned. All in all it put Blacknail in a festive mood. It certainly smelled like a party, the air was thick with smoke and the iron scent of blood.

The cackling flames of the burning wall also prevented the enemy for launching another attack, for now. The fire wouldn't last all that much longer though.

"Zelena's a sly one. She'll have saved her best tricks for last. Werrick's regulars will be harder to deal with than the others," Saeter added.

"If they're so tough, why did she need-ss to hire so many other fighters?" Blacknail scoffed.

"To wear us down so that we're easier to take out," Saeter replied.

"Ha, they didn't-ss do all that much, and they probably-ss cost a ton of coins," the hobgoblin countered.

"She doesn't have to pay them if they all die," his master explained darkly.

"You don't know who Zelena is?" his master asked in surprise.

"The enemy. I have-ss enough trouble keeping track of all you humans' names without worrying-ss about the ones I'm going to kill soon anyway," the hobgoblin replied with an indifferent shrug.

"Do you know who Werrick is?" Saeter asked.

"The enemy," the hobgoblin replied with another indifferent shrug.

Saeter sighed in frustration before replying. The lines on his face under his grey bangs looked deeper than usual.

"Most people consider Werrick to be the most powerful of the northern bandit chieftains because he has the most men, and Zelena is one of his lieutenants. Awhile back people started calling him the Wolf because of the ruthless way he raided caravans," he explained.

"Why are we-ss fighting him?" Blacknail asked curiously. It didn't seem very smart to pick a fight with the strongest enemy possible, but maybe it was just a Herad thing.

"Herad and Werrick hate each other. They've met here in Daggerpoint a few times and Herad ended up killing one of his lieutenants in a duel. The arrogant prick thought Werrick's name would allow him to do anything he wanted, but it didn't," the old scout answered.

"Ah, makes sense," the hobgoblin replied with a knowing nod.

The same type of thing could happen if there were rival gangs of goblins in an area, just with less walking about and more poo throwing. Humans were weirdly indirect some times.

"The battle isn't going too badly, though. Herad thought Werrick would be too busy to come to Daggerpoint for the winter this year, and she was right, but he sent Zelena in his place. Zelena's forces are smaller than Herad's and even without the barricade we still have a strong defensive advantage," Saeter explained.

The hobgoblin rubbed his chin as he thought his master's words over carefully. From what he'd just heard it seemed likely that Zelena would attack soon, so he needed a plan.

"Let's go join the archers on-ss the roofs. Once there we can just shoot all of Zelena's men-ss because they don't have shields," Blacknail suggested. That seemed like the safest plan.

Before Saeter could reply, there was a scream of pain and a hollow thud as something fell from the top of nearby building and hit the ground. Blacknail looked over to see a twisted corpse lying there, and it had a crossbow bolt sticking out from its chest.