The Great Crimson Tree: Chapter Three

My favorite part with this entire adventure has been imagining the look on my friend's face when she reads her imagination put into writing. She is truly talented, and I hope everyone enjoys the creativity of the ten-year-old mind. Remember to encourage the young writers in your life!

Being a warrior, wanderer, and general getter-into-troubler, Una possessed a great assortment of gear that helped him get out of scrapes. And sometimes into them. Among the many weapons were a few items that didn’t fit into the usual categories of what you would find in a traveler’s bag, and one of them were his hand spikes. Luhn called them portable spikies.

Whatever they were called, they were among his favorite devices, and were a pair of leather loops that strapped around his hands and were outfitted with sharp, slightly curved spikes. They could cling to almost any rough surface such as stone walls, trees, and in this case the steep and crumbly inside of a giant hole.

Hand under hand Una swung through the shadows, painstakingly moving, stopping, then moving again as he held his breath and prayed he wouldn’t run into a goblin clinging to the wall. Once or twice he had the urge to look up to see Luhn peering down at him, but he hoped she wouldn’t be there. If the plan went accordingly she should already be at the bottom.

The problem is that she’s a girl and so much lighter than me! Of course she’ll have an easier time getting down. Meanwhile I’m over here… His hand slipped and his heart leapt into his throat. Moving on instinct Una was able to get a grip with the spikes again, but his heart continued to beat wildly until his feet were safely on the ground.

He crouched in a thicket of bushes and looked up at the expanse he had just ascended. I hope I don’t have to do that again.

The bitter, acrid stench of the goblins filled his nostrils. Up close he could see even better the damage they had caused. Garbage and mounds of rotting leaves lay in piles; the ground was ripped, torn, and gouged by their cursed machines; hundreds of the creatures clambered across the site toward the tree with hatchets and knives, cackling in their strange tongue. Una bit his lip until it bled, turning his attention to the tents.

The tents were a good distance away. A ten second sprint could get him there though if the way was clear.

Luhn, come on! He suddenly realized he wasn’t sure how she had planned on getting down. Everything had to be done so quickly that he hadn’t had time to work that out. What if she was still up there?

A goblin suddenly shrieked from the far side of the camp: “Fire! Fire! The chopper is on fire, boys!”

Goblins scrambled either as far as possible from the warning or tumbled over themselves in the rush to get there and put it out. Una tensed, bracing himself and steeling his legs to move. There was a gap in the two sets of goblins, none looking over their shoulders. It was now or never. Una jumped up and made a mad dash for the tents.

One, two-

He slid behind a tower of ale barrels and checked to make sure no one was watching. The gap was wider now.

Three, four, five.

He took off again and realized a wide-mouthed, froggish goblin was charging him and screaming that a human was in their midsts. Oh no.. But no one heard in the inferno of voices, which dawned quickly upon the goblin as Una increased his speed to overtake him.

Six, seven.

The goblin screamed and turned to run away as the man swung his sword above his head. “Help! Help!”

Eight! Nine!

Una dove the last few feet and tripped up the goblin with his hands. He pulled the squirming, biting creature beneath him and conked him across the head with his sword hilt. The goblin went limp and Una tossed him into the shadow of one of the tents.

Ten!

He dropped to his knees and rolled under the tent flap. Safe. He let out his breath and hopped up. He was safe, and Luhn had pulled through like a true comrade. He would have to thank her later if he got out of this alive.

Una had to work quickly. He stayed low, gliding among crates and mismatched barrels like a shadowed wraith. Once or twice he caught the wheeze of a drunken goblin, but none with their full faculties were there to stop him. To be on the safe side he knocked unconscious and he found then tossed them out through one of the numerous gaps in the tent. By the time he made it to the largest tent there were no goblins at all he was aware of. But he glanced continually over his shoulder and searched for glowing eyes in the tent’s corners.

Let’s see… He ran his hands across the top of a barrel and they came away coated in slime. Grimacing, he wiped them on his cloak and continued.

Goblins tended to steal crates rather than use energy to build them themselves. Most of the crates were labeled Peaches or Honey or Carving Wood which goblins definitely did not have. Una had to lift the lids one by one (thankfully the goblins were also too low on energy to nail them on) and look for anything useful.

The seconds ticked by and he began to grow irritated. He hoped Luhn had managed to get out safely, for he wasn’t seeing this mission going well at this rate. Sure, there were a few barrels of food he could spoil or burn, but nothing that would stop the goblins for sure. He needed something big, something important, something-

Explosive.

“Well, well,” he whispered under his breath, grinning at the sight of what lay beneath the lid of a crate labeled Baby Bonnets. No, Una was not rapturously overjoyed at the sight of tiny frilled hats for infants, but he was quite pleased at the rows and rows of red sticks equipped with wicks and handling instructions plastered to the underside of the lid. He ignored the instructions and reached in to pull out a handful of dynamite.

Wouldn’t it be a pity if all of this went up in flames? he thought sarcastically, looking around the tent. He pulled out the matches he kept in his satchel and immediately went to work. A cluster of dynamite went in the kitchen, another in the “infirmary” which was devoid of any real medical supplies that didn’t involve ale, and half a dozen others scattered one by one throughout the long line of tents.The last stick Una held onto, along with a match poised to strike. He took one last search around to check for lingering goblins, then headed for the back. He didn’t go without leaving a final farewell behind, however.

Una slipped out through the tent flap and peeked around cautiously. No sign of any goblins except for the fleeing ones. He took a quick step forwards and-

“Una!”

Una jumped, whipping out his sword and almost bringing it down on the startled Luhn. She stood crouched in the shadows with Spoony clenched between her right hand.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed. “You’re supposed to be making it to safety.”

“I thought you might need help! Don’t get so angry, okay? Sheesh, ya’d think a guy would show a little more appreciation-”

“Appreciation for sneakin’ into our quarters, eh?” the nasally voice of a goblin said from behind. Una and Luhn spun at once and realized that not all of the goblins had fallen for the fire trick. In fact, there was nearly a whole squadron of them standing behind the weasley, long-limbed creature that now held a sword inches away from Una’s throat.

The goblin sneered, and it was a dreadful sight to behold. “Now why don’t we show this fine gent and his little lady some goblin appreciation of our own?”