“Hey Lilian,” I said, and the girl looked up at me seeming surprised, the cheering and eager questioning from my Naga sisters around me died down as they turned to look at Lilian. They couldn’t understand what I was saying, of course, as I had switched to the mainlanders tongue. “Thanks, you did well,” Lilian blushed at that and grinned at my praise, her shyness forgotten. “Without you… well, thanks,” I said with sincerity, Lilian’s eyes wandered from my face to my lower body. She suddenly remembered I was covered in blood and her blush turned pale as her eyes made a hasty retreat back to the ground. These mainlanders were strange I repeated to myself for the hundredth time, you could argue that they were weak, their parents sheltering them from the world until they grew old enough and the world snuck up on them with its harsh truths. But they were so strong in others, my people might have been at the top of the food chain on this island for a long time but what had we done with that? As far as I knew we had stayed the same ever since the home cave first spawned our kind, living in mud huts and using frankly pathetic excuses for weapons, the new bows Rulan had come up with were a good start but still.

The humans changed regularly, and their cities dotted their land for miles around, compared to that the efforts of a few hundred Naga on some island seemed like nothing. I didn’t use to think like this, but seeing how the mainlanders lived had astounded me. They had no natural armor or weapons as we did so they had to make their own to be able to face the challenges that the land threw at them, to survive. Well, we could do that too, I would not let my people die and fade away, we would face this challenge just like any other, and we would come out of it better than we were before. My thoughts were interrupted by Shisha, she had slithered up to Lubus and Lilian and was making an effort to thank them for saving her from the crab monster that had grabbed her. I made my way over, figuring I could help them understand each other.

Shisha’s wounds had already been bandaged, they were not severe by the look of her energetic hand movements. She must have gotten her tail in between the claws before it could squeeze her too hard. She had a bandage around her waist but sported no other injuries from what I could tell. “They can’t understand you,” I said in the Naga tongue, “they speak a whole other language,” Shisha stopped her wild gesturing as I approached and looked at me.

“Oh, hello first hunter, yes I gathered as much. I only wanted to thank them for saving me, you and Rulan too for coming to our aid.” I nodded at her words, I was also grateful that we had come in time to help.

“Of course sister, I would do much more to help my tribe,” I said, and I would too if I could get Red to cooperate again. I glanced at the crab and had a thought, but before I could act on it, Shisha spoke again.

“So they are from the mainland then, your mission was successful? Can we finally fight back against these goblins and save our captured sisters?”

“Yes Shisha,” I answered, “and much, much more than that. First, we need to see if we can get Vista back, do you know why she decided to march out here with some of our best warriors?” Shisha looked chagrinned at my question but answered none the less.

“Many of us grew tired of waiting for the goblins next attack, many grew restless just hoping you would return soon. Nala was adamant we go to the goblin’s cave and wipe them all out, many of us agreed with her, but Vista argued against it,” Shisha took a deep breath before continuing. “She said that it would be suicide or we would only be throwing ourselves at the enemy for them to enslave and throw back at us, this cooled a lot of heads, but Nala wouldn’t listen. She would have brought whatever hangers-on she could convince to follow her no matter what the elder said, I think that was the final straw for Vista, she has always argued for caution, but she didn’t want to see Nala throw her life away. They came up with a compromise, Vista would allow Nala to assemble a sizable war party if only she would be allowed to come.” That sounded strange to me, the elders did not often expose themselves to danger, being too valuable for their knowledge and experience.

“Why would she volunteer herself like that? She needs to guide her people,” I said in puzzlement.

“She said she had a way of resisting the goblins enslavement, but she refused to share any details with us. A few days later she convinced the other elders to let us go, and we were off when we reached the cave we met that crab thing. It chased us back here, but Vista managed to slip away into the goblin’s cave,” this got me thinking, whatever secret the elder had must be the reason she wanted to come along.

“So no one knows how she planned on resisting becoming a slave?” I asked.

“No one,” came a voice from behind me and I turned to see Nala standing there, Rulan coming up not far behind her. “It was not for lack of trying on my part, I pestered her constantly, but she was stubborn as the mountain, refusing to say what she had planned,” Nala explained. Suddenly a hot flash of anger swept over me, it was her fault Vista was missing. Couldn’t she have waited a little while longer for me to return, been a little patient, this was a disaster. If we hadn’t arrived when we did they would all be dead by now, I was just about to scold the warrior when she spoke. “Oh don’t give me that look, you don’t know how hard it was for me to watch our sisters slowly die around me. I didn’t know you would be returning so soon and I had to do something, with these new bows Rulan came up with I thought we had a decent chance. I didn’t know the goblins had tamed monsters with armor instead of skin,” Nala said in her defense, and the fight went out of me in a long breath. It did no good to be angry at them, I hadn’t been here, after all, I was off strolling through the mainland.

“Fine, I get it, the important thing is that you learn from this experience,” I gave her a piercing look, and she nodded her head up and down solemnly. “Now,” I continued, “What do we do about the crab thing,” everyone looked at me, not understanding.

“What do you mean?” Rulan asked, just as puzzled as the others.

“How do we kill it?”

“It’s not dead?” The question came from Shisha this time, she looked uncertain, her tail moving restlessly under her.

“No, Lilian only put it to sleep,” I explained, everyone jumped slightly in shock at that, and at a gesture from Rulan the roots still wrapped around the monster tightened visibly, and more of them shot out of the ground to add more strength holding the huge creature. When everyone had calmed down Nala said in a thoughtful voice.

“I don’t know if we can, none of our weapons have managed to do much damage to it. They would only serve to wake it up,” that would not be such a big issue now that the goblin wasn’t here to free it.

“It seemed to me that the Goblin was controlling it,” Shisha said, and I nodded for her to continue. “Couldn’t we just leave it here? It should return to the forest now that it’s free, right? Anything we do to it now will only serve to anger it,” she argued, Nala looked like she was about to argue, but I spoke first.

“While that may be true I’m afraid I can’t leave it here, I have plans for it that will help us in the coming days,” Nala turned her attention to me, looking intrigued.

I can probably kill it, Lubus thought at me, but I need everyone to back up a bit, this could get… messy. I nodded in Lubus direction before speaking to Nala.

“Could you get everyone to back away from the monster? My friend here wants to try something,” Nala nodded at me and told everyone to move away. I could have given the order myself, but these were Nala’s warriors, and I didn’t want to challenge her and gain her responsibilities, she was good at what she did if a little impatient. When everyone had gained some distance, Lubus stepped out of the crowd, raised his hands towards the crab and concentrated. At first, nothing happened, but soon everyone noticed the smell of burned meat and steam rose from the still sleeping monster.

It wasn’t asleep for long, as it woke up the thing squirmed around in its bindings, it let out a horrible high pitched screech of pain. Everyone had to hunker down and cover their ears, all except Lubus. The look of concentration never left his face, even as sweat began to bead his skin, and run down in rivulets over his face. Lubus was cooking it from the inside, the beast lay still, and we all assumed it had died when multiple long spindly legs broke through the vines to lift the crab from the ground. They were all covered in the same carapace, and the crab began to scuttle away like a centipede.

“Rulan,” I said but she was already waving her hands through the air as more roots rose up to trip the monster and bind its new legs, she winked at me but covered her ears again as the creature gave one final screech as it finally lay still on the ground.

“Is it dead?” someone asked.

“Yes,” Lubus answered, sounding exhausted, as he stood bent over, trying to catch his breath. I sent him feelings of gratitude as I approached the now dead monster. This must be enough I thought as I lay my hands on the monsters shell, it was still hot to the touch, but I managed it. If this worked, Lubus could help my hands heal the burns. I felt Red’s mana flow up my arms and enter the corps, it took some time but eventually, with a rush of air the crab centipede thing turned into a myriad motes of familiar red light which flowed in a stream towards my belly, leaving the roots and vines to fall limply to the ground. When it was all done the strange text of Red’s communication hovered in my vision.

Sufficient compensation received

Reestablishing obligation to uphold agreement with vessel

I let out a sigh of relief as I read the words, even if Red had gone back to being more formal I was now more confident that we could deal with the goblins and get our people back. Lubus would be free to use his magic, and I could use my armor again, and maybe make more for my sisters.