10 Minute Tales

May 8 - Monsters Fear, Too

They huddled in their homes, quaking in fear. The demon that had loomed over their village was marching closer. They could already feel the earth's shudders, rhythmic, pounding footsteps.

"What should we do?" the young one asked his elder.

"What more can we do, but hope for a quick end?" she replied, eyes closed in sorrow. "The spirits admit, there is likely no surviving this. We cannot even flee in time."

"We have to at least try!" the young one begged, panic filling his mind, clouding his thoughts. "Surely the mountain to the north...!"

"If we could get there, it would be safe." the elder nodded in agreement. "However, the walk to that range crosses a large, open plain. It is simply too dangerous."

"I'm not gonna just lay down and die, though!" the young one growled, bunching his fist. "If we stay, we all die. What harm is there in at least trying to go?"

"There is none. Just know, your odds are only marginally improved. Should they decide to follow you..."

"I'd rather risk it. If nothing else, my spirit would be at peace. It wouldn't be if I stayed and hid."

"Then go. Tell the others of your escape, too. Those that follow you, guide them. Guard them. I leave it to you, Defender." the way she spoke that last word left it hanging in the air. It was more than a name; it was who he was now. It was his purpose.

"I won't let you down. I won't let any goblin down!"

"Fine words." the elder nodded. "Let us see if fate allows you to maintain this." The youngster turned and ran out of the hut, rushing to his hut. The elder looked out of the window. Already, the plumes of smoke drifted into the air from the more central villages. The adventurers were moving quickly. She sighed, hopelessness washing over again, but she caught herself. If she could not deter them outright, the least she could do was misguide them. She got off of her seat with a groan, hobbling carefully over to a tome in the corner. Few goblins could read - most were simply too dumb to attempt it - but those that could were able to recite the few spells goblins had access to. She pushed the creaking tome open, coughing quietly as she prepared to her cast. "Hear me now, those who came before us." she read aloud. This phrase, muttered by one as venerable as her, was enough to start the spell. She continued undaunted. "I fear you are correct, and that we have little to no hope of escaping the humans that approach us even now. I will not ask you to deter them, knowing that job falls on me. What I do ask of you, however, is to aid me redirect them. If the young one's flight is to be a success, they must not be pursued. Take my life as payment for the Defender's, and all he seeks to protect." She grunted as the blood in her body started to boil, her limbs almost rippling as her body lost cohesion to the physical plane. "Good... this seals it, then... save the Defender...!" and with these words being her last, she collapsed to the floor. She wouldn't see the massacre to follow.