𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 • 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐢𝐧

Goblins and The Bear

"Destiny arrives at moments we expect them least and without thought. Fate weaves more threads than a spider, but only very few threads connect and that's what makes it destiny."

-Kissed by Moonlight by Jocelyn Grace TBR

The stench was dreadful as we crossed the bridge into the goblin camp where the druid Halsin was held captive. Smell of dead flesh, smoke, rotting food and unwashed goblins made my eyes water and nose burn, but I became grateful I had skipped breakfast so that my stomach wouldn't reject it at the smell.

"Well, look what the rat dragged in," a male goblin sneered. His hair was red while his armor held traces of those he had killed. I noticed an amulet around his neck that didn't look like anything I recognized. The other goblins watched, as if waiting to kill us. The two beasts with them didn't look any friendlier. I notice a faint glimmer under his skin, a marking of sorts.

Shadowheart stepped forward, grasping her head and I knew that her tadpole was reacting to something. She crossed her arms, cruelly glaring at the goblin, "I'm a messenger, here to see Minthara. This is my company to ensure the message is delivered."

The goblin quickly back peddled at her words, "Ah, right! Beg pardon. Gotta give all visitors the ol' squinty eye, y'know," he joked.

"Perhaps we can continue inside then," I said with a matching tone to Shadowheart's, "This message won't deliver itself."

"Go on in and have a drink for me, eh?"

We passed the goblins and their two beasts, one of which bared its teeth in my direction. As we neared another bridge into the main hub of celebration, the others collapsed with painful groans. I tried to approach, but it seemed a wall prevented me from getting any closer than a foot away. The artefact from Shadowheart's possession began to rise in the air, casting a glow onto the party until they were pulled from whatever trance they had been subjected to from the parasites.

"Are you all okay? I couldn't help and then your artefact glowed."

Shadowheart brushed her clothes off before placing it back into her pack, "It seems your vision was right. The artefact is keeping us safe."

"Did you doubt me," I chuckled with a shake of disbelief.

"A bit," she teased back with a laugh, "But it seems you're good at what you do."

"Let's get this over with, shall we? I've already dirtied my clothes so I'd prefer to change as soon as possible," Astarion practically whined. With a collective sigh, we all stepped inside of the celebration to find a man on a makeshift stage telling awful jokes or perhaps a song. Either way, it was atrocious.

"Looks like they captured themselves a bard," Gale commented.

"Wyll would've found this amusing, but he unfortunately chose to stay back with Lae'zel. He hated bards like this," I said softly. Wyll had avoided me for the better half of my morning before eventually stating he would stay behind with Lae'zel. He gave the excuse it was to make sure she stayed in line, but I knew how Wyll was. He felt guilty. 

A part of me believed his guilt was well placed since his father was a duke and he could've spoken up. His dad would have listened to Wyll, but instead Wyll stayed as silent as others. Another part of me didn't want him to feel guilty because it wasn't him who had locked me away in that dungeon. 

We continued further in until we passed a gigantic troll that made my heart sink at the mere height of him. He let out a disgruntled sound as we entered, as if not sure if he should make a meal of us or not. Entering the building, I noticed that the inside appeared a lot like a temple, but it had fallen to heavy ruined from time and the goblins.