The Iron Teeth: A Goblin's Tale - From RoyalRoadl.com by ClearMadness

Into the Green 9

Blacknail ignored Khita and everyone else as he went to work on things that were actually important. The early morning sunshine shone down on him as he got breakfast going. Sleeping, like everything else, made him hungry.

More meat was brought over by goblins and roasted over the fire. There was enough that all the humans got to eat their fill, and there were still lots for the goblins. During Blacknail's absence, the goblins had gotten skilled at hunting small game. Blacknail had shown them how to make slings and snares before he had left. The tribe had certainly grown larger, and none of them looked hungry.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to eat a squirrel, or that they'd taste so good," Geralhd said after chewing and swallowing a bit of meat.

"They're pretty nice eating, really. Much better than rats," Khita replied from where she was sitting on the ground by the fire.

Geralhd blinked in surprise and he gave her a disbelieving frown. Khita noticed his reaction and shrugged indifferently. "It's not like I've eaten a lot rats, but when you're living on the streets and you're hungry you eat whatever you can get."

Her explanation just made Geralhd look more uncomfortable. He fidgeted and looked away.

"I used to live off rats and bugs, but now I prefer human food. It tastes less like dirt and it doesn't fight back," Blacknail added cheerfully.

Khita threw Blacknail a friendly grin, which Blacknail returned, but there was silence as Geralhd and the other nearby humans considered this piece of hobgoblin wisdom.

"Er, that stew from yesterday... What was in it?" Elyias asked as put down the rabbit on stick he had been eating. A few of the others grimaced and looked queasy as well.

"Lots of stuff. Saeter taught me how to cook it," Blacknail replied. The last part of his explanation seemed to reassure the humans a little. Most of them resumed eating.

"This foray into goblin culinary habits has been fascinating, but we have some more important matters to discuss, like our next move," Geralhd said after he had finished eating.

There was agreement from the other bandits and they began talking about their plans. A few humans had grown tired of hiking through the forest, but it was quickly decided that nothing had really changed. They still had no option but to try and find a trail that led North. After the confrontation with Werrick's men, there was no way there weren't enemies watching the main road.

"So we still have to walk through those gods deserted woods for what will probably be weeks," one of the women said. "We're lucky we made it this far without being eaten by something. Getting to Daggerpoint is going to be like trying to trek through one of the hells."

"At least we got to rest under a roof last night and eat our fill for once," said the bearded bandit who Blacknail kept forgetting the name of. Maybe he should just call the man Beardy. As the leader, he was allowed to change his minions' names, right?

It was still early in the morning when Blacknail led his troupe of humans, and two goblins, off into the woods. Several of the bandits visibly relaxed when the goblin camp was out of sight, which was stupid. Things were at their most dangerous when you couldn't see them.

The going was tough for the first few hours. The ground was uneven and there were plenty of obstacles, such a rock and trees, which had to be avoided. Most of the trees themselves were tall with long slender needles instead of leaves, and sap oozed from breaks in their scaly bark.

After a while though, the ground evened out, and smaller leafier trees began to appear. That was when Blacknail noticed something strange; their group had somehow picked up an extra human.