Blorys staggered to his feet and fell back into the wall. Eddis wrapped her free arm around his shoulder to draw him away from the fighting, and when he tried to resist, her hand tightened.
“Come with me! You’ll get someone else killed trying to protect you!” He went with her then, back into the passage where Mead, the priest, and Flerys waited. He was still panting for air and not walking very well, but he wouldn’t go any farther than the entrance.
“Gotta… see,” he gasped.
Eddis swore under her breath as she eased him down to the floor and handed him her water bottle. A glance over her shoulder assured her that the goblins were retreating.
“How bad?” she asked quietly.
“Just… knocked the wind… out of me,” he replied.
Eddis tensed and spun around, sword ready to slash, as Jerdren yelled. She couldn’t make out what he said, but the few goblins still standing shrieked in what sounded like pure terror and ran through the open door.
Blorys laughed. “Jers… learned a word or two of Goblin … back in the army. When… we… fought ’em. Forget… what that means. Don’t think they’ll… come back, though.”
A moment later, he let Eddis help him back to his feet as Jerdren came running across the guard alcove to join them.
“Blor! You all right?” Without waiting for answer, he said, “Ogre’s chamber beyond that door. Know what that means, don’t you, Brother? Come on, all of you!”
Eddis kept a steadying hand on Blorys’ arm as they went back into the open. Two of the Keep men were down and still. Another leaned against the wall, lips tightly compressed while one of his fellows wrapped his forearm. The man’s fingers were bloody. Several goblin bodies were scattered around as well. M’Baddah and Willow moved around the room, dispatching the wounded creatures.
Jerdren paused as they started past the dead ogre. “Got an idea,” he said. “Those goblins that ran? I’m pretty sure I could see daylight on the far side of the ogre’s den. So, I’m thinking they just kept going, all the way out of the cave. It looks to me like there could be more chambers on ahead, but if anything’s there, they aren’t coming at us.”
“There are creatures that way, I think,” Mead said, “but not near.”
Jerdren nodded. “So what if we drag this monster back into his lair? Some other goblins come through here later, and they’ll see all this blood, all the dead guards, they’ll figure the ogre went nuts and killed ’em. Won’t go looking for him, then, will they? And they won’t suspect we’re here, and we still have surprise on our side.”
“You’re forgetting the guard who ran back the other way,” Blorys said. “Still… it might work to our advantage, and we’re a couple of men short.”
“What about our men?” Eddis asked.
“Bring them into the ogre’s den as well,” Jerdren said “Best we can do for them, don’t you think?”
Eddis glanced at the remaining Keep men. They looked grim to a man, but no one protested.
M’Baddah shoved a last arrow into his quiver. “My son, two of you others, keep watch up and down the passage. Only fools would let themselves be surprised now.”
It took time. The dead men were brought in first and laid against the wall, behind the door. The ogre was awkward and heavy, and it took four of them dragging at the massive arms to get it moving. They hauled the body just far enough inside the chamber that the door could be pushed shut.
Jerdren strode into the darkened cave, hands on his hips, looking around. Eddis’ nose wrinkled. A faint breeze rustled dry leaves piled here and there on the cave floor, but the air remained utterly foul, like poorly tanned hides and meat gone rotten.
“What’s that?” Flerys demanded sharply and brought up her spear. “Nasty brute keeps a bear?”
At first glance, the thing near the far walled did look like a sleeping bear. Eddis drew her sword and stalked warily toward it, but after a few steps she realized it was a hide. Probably the source of the odor, she thought and backed away from the thing.
“Just a skin,” she said.
Flerys gave her a doubtful look.
Jerdren was rubbing his hands together and grinning cheerfully. “Only other ogre I knew kept his treasure close—and he had plenty of it. Too bad for me and Blor that was when we were infantry, because the officers got most of it. Still… some of you, look under things and in things. Coin, gems, gold, jewelry, any of that should be just what it looks like. Anything you see that doesn’t look like that or like food—”
“Like garbage, you mean,” Blorys said.
“Food or garbage.” Jerdren shrugged. “Ogres collect stuff. Magic devices and amulets among ’em. Anything that looks odd, you let our priest or our mage check it before you touch it, got that? I think I’ll start—there.” He pointed.
There was a large leather sack that smelled nearly as revolting as the bear hide did. Eddis decided to keep an eye on the outer door for the moment, dividing her attention between Jerdren and what she could see outside. The sky was bright as midday, but the twisted forest was gloomy as ever. Nothing moved out there. The ex-soldier cut the ties on the huge bag and pulled several smaller bags from it, examining each in turn.
“Cheese—too old for any but an ogre to appreciate. Whew! Mmm—this is brandy by the smell. Nice little keg but awkward to carry around, and here’s no place for a drink.”
“Save it for a toast, back at the Keep,” Blorys suggested. He sounded normal once again.
“There’s a notion. Ah! Here we are—coins. Clever brute to sort ’em by kind, so far’s I can tell. Gold here, copper here—here’s some silver.” He hefted one. “Eddis, any notion of how late it is?”
“Midday, maybe,” she told him.
“M’Baddah, anything the other way?”
“Not a sound, but they will change guards at some point,” the outlander said quietly.
“I know. If we plan on going back the way we came, we’d better go soon. Eddis, you think you could find this cave from outside?”
She shrugged, eased through the opening, and after a cautious look all around for enemies, she backed away to study the door and the rock face surrounding it. The door was ordinary, the trees and brush and rocks no different from any others she’d seen. She drew her dagger, made a small cut, just above the handle, and eased back into the chamber. After a few breaths of fresh air, the ogre’s den smelled worse than ever.
“I can find it,” she said.
“Good. Remember we came this way to clear the cave of goblins, so they wouldn’t catch us between ’em—the ones here and the ones beyond that door back yonder. Now, we can either quit fighting for the day and carry all this trove back to camp, or we could take it with us and go jump those brutes on the other side of that door. But we’ll be overloaded, and most of us will be thinking more about gold and silver than about fighting.” He grinned. “Me included. It’s natural. I say we leave the stuff here—under that hide, maybe—and come back for it from the outside when we get the chance.”
“I agree,” Eddis said. “You saw how scared those goblins were of their ally. They won’t come in here looking for him after they see the mess out there.”
She looked up as one of the Keep men exclaimed in surprise. One of his fellows had just dragged a clinking, heavy bag from the ogre’s water barrel. Across the room, mage and priest were rummaging through a heap of bones, and as she watched, Panev pocketed several small items, while Mead wrapped a bit of cloth around a handful of arrows and slid the bundle into his quiver.