Goblin Bound: The First of Many

Chapter 14: Hex

“So you can’t escape or fight back?” Kenny furrowed his brows, feeling lost. Just what kind of magic existed in this place to restrict such a strong woman like her. “Why haven’t they done this to me?”

“I have no idea, they probably thought you dead when they dragged you in here.” Rya said, shaking her head in exasperation. She gazed deeply at the sword in her hand before tossing it back into the weapon pile with a sigh.

“Have you tried fighting it?” Kenny asked, a spark of hope blossoming in his heart.

Rya shot him a look and he could only curse himself internally. Of course they must have tried fighting it, humans instinctively fought against oppression. The better question was if there was a way to break it.

“Then is there some way to break it? People have tried escaping before.” Kenny said, casting a glance at the mound of bones.

Rya crouched and huddled closer to the girls. “There is a way to break the hex.”

“Really?” Kenny’s eyes widened. “What is it?”

“Kill the goblin archmage.” Rya said, a detached look in her eyes.

“Just one goblin?” Kenny raised a questioning eyebrow. The term mage wasn’t unfamiliar to him being an avid gamer and mages were known to do poorly in close combat nor did they have high physical stats.

Rya scoffed. “Obviously you have no idea what an archmage is.”

“Is it that tough?” Kenny asked. He couldn’t help sitting on the floor, his body beginning to ache from pain and his mind unable to further remain impassive to the several wounds.

Rya laughed, a long pitiful laugh.

“Your ignorance is refreshing to be honest.” She said, wiping tears from her eye.

“So very strong then.” Kenny huffed in regret.

“That is an understatement.” Rya said, hugging her knees.

“But what about them?” Kenny said, gesturing at the rotting pile of bones.

Rya cast a small glance at the mound of bones as if reminded of something…or maybe someone.

“They were just like you, yet touched by the hex.”

“Oh…I see.” Kenny sighed. He was truly their only hope left, if he offered any hope at all. So far he’d been terribly overwhelmed and even now he still felt chills just thinking of that terrifying goblin.

“Have you seen…this goblin archmage before?” Kenny asked but he was terribly surprised by not only Rya’s reaction but the other’s as well.

They froze, a horribly frightened expression on their faces. Rya grit her teeth, beads of sweat glistening on her forehead and he couldn’t help but be horrified. If a mere memory was able to instill this much fear then just how terrifying would it be in person. It probably made the goblin he encountered look like nothing.

Kenny turned silent, unwilling to speak further fearing he might stir some other terrifying memory. There was truly little he could think of and even less he could actually do.

He sighed and forced himself up, tightly clutching his sword. In all the novels he’d read, mastering the sword always began with a hundred to a thousand swings of the sword daily and it was about time he tried using brains.

Inhaling a lung-full of air, he tensed his body and held the sword in a stance he felt was appropriate - knees slightly apart, back slightly bend and both hands gripping the sword. And like that he began swinging the sword back and forth, slowly, trying to get used to the feel of steel slicing air.

“What are you doing?” Rya said from behind him.

“Practicing.” He replied, not halting his movement.

“But that’s a one-handed sword.” She said again.

“Eh?” Kenny blinked in confusion.

“That’s a one-handed sword, one-handed.”

“Maybe I just feel it better to start with two hands.” Kenny said, trying and failing to cover up his folly.

“Also your stance is terrible.” She continued.

“Not to mention his swings are sloppy.” Another girl said.

“And he’s terribly stiff.” Another commented.

Kenny felt his lips twitch hearing the several negative comments and his face burned from shame.

“Well I’m new to using a sword.” He coughed.

Rya sighed and made her way toward him, accompanied by a number of the girls. They surrounded him, judging his grip, stance and posture with careful scrutiny.

“Here, your shoulders are too stiff.” Rya said, adjusting his shoulders.

“And your stance is too rigid, it needs to be flexible.” Another said, imitating a stance.

“Maximize your force with each swing.”

Kenny found several comments flying into his ears, the sheer confidence in their tone causing him to instinctively follow. He adjusted his stance and the grip on his sword, leveled his shoulder and kept the balls of his feet nimble.

He didn’t know how long they were at it, definitely a long time but he didn’t feel tired. If anything he felt excited and full of energy - his ailing body seemingly a distant memory. His mind and body converged and focused to immerse in his practice of the sword as if familiar yet distant with the essence.

He practiced till they judged his stance good enough to let him practice his swings but it became evident to them something was off. Try as they could they couldn’t pinpoint it. and so they left him to feel his way around using the sword.

From absolute novice that merely swung the sword like a stick with no ounce of skill to a more controlled and deliberate feel to his swings. Of course he was by no means becoming a master but rather beginning to treat the sword more as a weapon than a club.

Time passed in this manner, him learning the sword till his body ached and begged for rest. Goblins occasionally came to scream and rage outside the cell but were seemingly afraid to do much else. Others came around to dump a lump of meat into the cell and all had gotten used to tearing into the flesh with their teeth.

Kenny had discovered at that time he had more of fangs than canines, having a far easier time tearing into the raw meat than the rest so much so he became the designated meat shredder. In those small moments he became more familiar with the girls, engraving their names to heart and strengthening his resolve to one day free them.

He spent the days polishing his grasp of the sword, thinking up ways to escape and getting closer to the girls. They saw him less as a aberration in their dark reality and more like kin despite how destructive that would turn out. One thing was certain, they would get picked off one after the other till they were none left and then the goblins replenished their stock and the cycle continued.

But before then, they would live till they could live no more. The fate beyond the cell was something they knew and have heard stories about, but the sheer morbidity of it still eluded them all.

Today Kenny stood opposite one of the girls, Amane, with his sword in one hand and a small buckler he found on his left arm. The both stood ready to attack, waiting simply for the cue from Rya.

The girls had formed a small hierarchy, arranging themselves based on their combat ability. Kenny had to climb this hierarchy to be able to spar with Rya who far outclassed the others in combat and stood at the top of the chain.

Amane was at the bottom of the hierarchy but she had continually given him a tough time. Fast and dexterous with the sword, she attacked from angles he didn’t expect and was fond of exploiting his blind spots and lesser experience.

But he hadn’t despaired, one thing that had come to light was his talent for combat. His body seemed to possess its own consciousness sometimes, moving faster than he could control to shore up his weaknesses and other times he just instinctively felt what attack would be coming next. The phenomenon baffled even the veteran girls and they could only judge it as some form of combat talent though they could hardly fathom how a newbie with a sword could have a clearly battle-honed talent.

His form, speed, and combat prowess were lacking but his incredible instinct during combat somehow managed to cover up the gap enough for him to battle Amane…somewhat.

Rya watched them with a keen eye, stretching out the time, and said abruptly.

“Fight!”