Rise of the Runelords: Burnt Offerings

by redtau

Chapter Four: Of Blood and Heroes

Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned around at the first scream, looking around the crowd for signs of trouble. Somthing small, no taller than their waist, seemed to dart throught the panicking people. Under a table nearby a dog was barking.

"What is it?!" Twilight asked, scanning the area to find what was causing such panic. There was a startled yipe, and Twilight spun to find the dog lying in a spreading pool of blood from its slit throat. Next to it was a short horrid green creature with a crude knife and far too many teeth for Twilight's liking.

"GOBLINS!" Someone in the crowd screamed, and the mass exodus from the courtyard began in earnest. Two other of the small monsters joined their murderous comrade, chittering excitedly at the dead dog. One took a swipe with a crude blade at a fleeing town member. The man fell with a cry, a terrible gash in his leg soaking part of his pants in blood. There was a wet thunk and the goblin flew backwards, an arrow sticking out of it's left eye.

Twilight turned to look in awe and horror as Applejack drew back the crossbow string and reached for another bolt. Applejack cought the look and frowned. "Ya can barate me fer it later, but if we don't stop these varmits they are gonna kill someone!"

The other two goblins drew their blades and ran towards them, one only making it half way before a dagger to the chest felled it.

"Take that you vile thing!" Rarity said. "Oh, when we are done here I am going to buy a lot more daggers." She drew her rapier and reddied for an attack.

Rainbow Dash, moving at speeds that would make her pony form jealous, shot forward until she was right on top of the beast. Her foot lashed out into the goblin's chest with a satisfying crunch and the thing went down. Twilight looked around, stunned to see people still running. On the far side of the square four more goblins were gathered around a large stack of wood, fuel for the bonfire later. Three had blazing torches, and the last had a long whip and was singing.

The song was horrible. It floated to Twilight on the wind, verses thankfully lost to the sounds of panic from the rest of the town. The few snippets that made it to her had too much violence, burning, and death for her to easily stand. As Twilight's confidence started to wain a familiar tune came from behind her on a guitar.

"Giggle at the ghostly/ Chortle at the creepy-" Pinkie Pie was strumming her guitar and singing her heart out, actually managing to push back not just the vile song but the terrible feelings it had inspired in Twilight. Most of her friends gathered near her, advancing on the goblins who had spotted them and were shouting insults. Twilight looked around and saw Fluttershy crouched next to the dead dog.

"Fluttershy come on." Twilight called. "We need you." Fluttershy didn't seem to hear, only laying her hands on the dead dog and seeming to shake with sorrow.

Rainbow Dash, faster than anyone else even without her wings, reached the torch bearing goblins first. She slammed into the closest with a punch that sent the thing sprawling. The next two were on her before she could react, and though she dodged one of their blades, the other's torch left a nasty burn on her left arm.

Applejack came to a stop still a half dozen yards from Rainbow Dash, her armor keeping her from closing the distance any faster. Instead she swung up her reloaded crossbow and sent a bolt flying. She missed the goblin next to Rainbow, managing only to clip the table and loose the bolt somewhere on the street.

Pinkie Pie quit strumming her guitar and yelled at the singing goblin. "I don't know what would break more mirrors, your face or your voice!" The singing goblin chuckled at that, and then the chuckle became a full on laugh and before it could help itself the thing was rolling on the ground in tears with laughter.

Rarity came to a stop just behind Rainbow Dash, breathing hard but ready to fight. The last goblin, now finding itself sorely outnumbered and outmatched, threw the torch at Rainbow and turned to run. Rainbow caught the torch and stepped forward to deliver a crushing punch to the back of the goblin's neck. There was a crack, and the little thing fell to the ground and did not rise.

The laughing goblin dragged itself back up off the ground and snapped its whip at Rainbow, seeing the fighter that had downed so many as the largest threat. The whip left a scratch on Rainbow's arm, causing her to cry out and fall back a step.

A flash of motion, and suddenly Pinkie Pie was right next to the goblin. "Meanie! You just earned yourself a morningstar make-over!" The heavy spiked ball smashed into the goblins face, crushing the already squashed nose into mush and killing the little monster.

Twilight fought to catch her mind up to the battle that had just occurred. Seven goblins were down, dead or dying in the town square. Rainbow Dash was hurt, the torch and whip inflicting enough pain to make her woozy. Her friends had always been quick to defend others but the speed at which they had slain the goblins was unsettling to her.

"HELP!"

Twilight's head spun round, searching the near empty square for the cry for help. Just down a nearby street across the square was a well dressed man was cowering behind an overturned table. Next to him a small stocky dog was growling and barking at the goblins assembled against them. Four more of the wretched grey-green things were equilly cowering from the dog, obviously afraid of moving into biting range. A fifth, the obvious leader, was mounted on something that looked like a cross between a greyhound and a sewer rat.

The goblin commander kept the dog at bay with a crude spear made of a kitchen knife tied to a broom handle. Twilight and her friends were moving towards the monsters when a sudden lunge from the goblin brought the dog down with a pittiful yelp.

Something moved forward at tremendous speed, and for once it wasn't Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy closed the entire distance between her and the goblins in a dead run, coming panting to a halt between the dying dog and the monsters. She held her staff defensively, guarding the dog and its master.

"Fluttershy!" Twlight called out, rushing forwards. "Get out of there!" Even with her friend in danger Twilight couldn't manage to close the gap at quite the same speed Fluttershy had. Rainbow dash managed to make it almost all the way, clearing nearly the entire distance of the town square in a mad dash. Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack lagged behind, their armor weighing them down.

The goblins chittered with glee but still stayed behind their mounted leader, eyeing the wounded dog. "Out of the way longshanks!" The goblin comander shouted at Fluttershy. "We'll put you down after we finish with this mutt!" His rough spear lashed out, cutting a deep groove in Fluttershy's armor.

"No."

The goblin commander flinched at the word, seeing the frail woman before him as suddenly something dangerous. Fluttershy raised her quarterstaff in both hands, the weapon seeming to glow in the darkness.

"You aren't going to harm any doggies Ever AGAIN!"

Fluttershy brought the staff down, the magical aura flaring as the hit colapsed one side of the goblin's head and tossed him from his mount. The strange rat thing fell over from the force of it's ridder being thrown, and the other goblins fell back from this monster now before them.

The one furthest back bumped into Rainbow Dash. It and one other fell to her fists, the third dropping from an expertly placed crossbow bolt. The last goblin turned to run only to have Rarity cut it down before it's seventh step.

"These nasty little things have killed and wounded more than a couple tonight." Rarity said, standing over the dying monster.

"Do ya still think that guy nailing all them ears to the stables was so terrible if these things just hurt people and animals?" Applejack asked.

"Oh yes." Fluttershy said, walking over to the dying goblin and pulling out her dagger. "I don't think I'd cut the ears off before nailing them up."

"FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight called out in shock. The pony turned druid seemed to start, then looked at the dagger in her hands and the gore stained quarterstaff before dropping them both.

"Wha- what happened?" she asked.

"I think you might have gotten a little ticked off at those goblins for killing that dog."

"THE DOG!" Fluttershy cried, turning around to find the noble she'd saved craddling his companions. She bent down and laid a hand on the wounded dog before pulling back. "no," she said, tears in her eyes. "no, please. Please-" she begged. The noble shook his head sadly.

"The cut was too deep." He said. "I'm surprised he stood as long as he did. If you haddn't come to my rescue," He trailed off. "Thank you."

Fluttershy nodded, but it was clear she wasn't listening. She'd been too late.

---

It took just over an hour for the town to calm down. The small fires the goblins had started were put out and the priests and clerics tended to the wounded. In addition to the dogs two villagers and a horse had been killed and over a dozen people injured. Thirty goblin bodies were stacked in town square, the local guard bringing them in as they swept the town for stragglers. Some of the goblins had gotten desperate as the battle turned against them. One had been found in a rain barrel, having jumped in to hide from a guard and not realizing that it couldn't swim.

Fluttershy sat on a bench looking at the pile and nursing some hot spiced drink in her hands. It was clear that she was struggling to reconcile her kind nature with the violence she had been a part of. Rarity was doing her best to comfort her. A town guard came over to Applejack, nodding solemly.

"I want to thank you for your help." He said. "You and your friends seemed to have found the largest group of the nasty buggers. Have you been seen by a healer?"

"Yeah, Father Zantulus came round and fixed us up right not too long ago." Applejack said.

The guard nodded. "We've finished our sweep of the main streets and most of the alleys. It's safe to go back to your inn now. If you'd like an escort-"

"Thank you," Twilight cut in, "But I think we'll be fine." She looked over at the distrubing pile. "Does this happen offten?"

"This is the first raid of this size I can remember in my lifetime!" The guard said. The torchlight made it hard for Twilight to guess if that lifetime was more than a decade or two. "They usually don't get past the walls or the guards. Don't know how so many snuck into town with so many people around and not get spotted."

"Yeah yeah," Rainbow Dash stood up and yawned, stretching out her arms. "That's a problem for tomorrow. For now, let's get over to the White Deer and get some rest."

---

Rainbow Dash sipped at a mug of water and stared bleary eyed at her breakfast special. How Rarity had managed to get a good nights sleep and be at breakfast looking so clean and polished disturbed her. At least Twilight and Applejack had the decency to look disheveled in the early morning, though Rainbow didn't know how they could stand coffee that bitter. Fluttershy was eating in a trance, it didn't look like she had slept a wink.

PInkie Pie bounced excitedly over to the table. "TwilightTwilightTwilight!" She called. "I have a really important question! Were we supposed to keep a low profile?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

The tavern door flew open and a dozen people stepped inside. One pointed at their table and exclaimed. "There they are! Their the ones who saved me from the goblins!" The others in the new group began to cry out in turn. "It is them!" "They avenged my dog!" "Stopped those monsters from burning down the bonfire wood!" A wave of murmering voices and turning heads swept through the inn.

"That's why." Pinkie Pie said helpfully.

Twilight just put her head down on the table and groaned.

Author's Note:

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Comments

[Ariel Schnee]

Hope to see more chapters sometime soon.^_^

[redtau]

7141848 Right now I'm working on a different story, but I promise to put another chapter out soon (I mean within a month, not my normal soon which may mean anywhere from a week to six months)