bookpub Chapter 495 The Expedition - Part 2
Chapter 495 The Expedition - Part 2
"Would you like the cloak, my Lady?" Amelia asked.
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Blackthorn nodded mutely, and allowed the leather cloak to be fastened around her neck. Oliver assumed it was meant to stop the blood from getting onto the sleeves of her tight navy combat jacket, but he still reckoned that to be a pointless endeavour.
"Oh, I just realized – we've finally got someone to watch out for you two, don't we? That's a relief," Oliver said. The two girls had been quite a liability the week before with no one to defend them.
Amelia blanched at the prospect, twisting her face. "No thank you," she said curtly, ignoring the way Kaya's face fell.
"That would be a relief," Pauline said honestly. Her eyes were still nervously flitting through the trees. They could hear the sounds of screeching goblins a distance away. Unsettling noises, especially for the uninitiated. He could see his three new retainers twitching as well.
"Off we go then, I suppose," Oliver said, stepping out into the clearing first. The goblins were already there, waiting, viciously tearing apart the corpse of a boar. There must have been ten of them there, at least.
He saw the three boys stiffen. Karesh was in their centre. He was the biggest of them. It made sense to put him there. But where they hesitated, Blackthorn did not. She'd already grown accustomed to them the previous week.
She charged – somewhat recklessly – towards the group, obviously intending to take them off guard, before they could form up and begin surrounding her.
It proved effective. With the goblins' attention on Blackthorn, the three of them were able to punch through the goblins without resistance. They seemed surprised to stick the point of their spear in, and have it find flesh. That sensation made them hesitate, just as it had with Blackthorn the previous week.
"Don't freeze up!" Oliver shouted. "Get your spears out and finish the job!"
They straightened immediately at his command. Jorah booted the final goblin down, just as he had seen Blackthorn do, and then he finished it with his short spear. Only then did he seem to notice the problem to their left. The last three goblins were descending down upon Blackthorn.
"Shit!" He cursed. "Kaya! Karesh! Let's move!"
All his own movements came with respect to them. It was that group fighting mentality that they'd been instilled with. It was interesting for Oliver to watch. It brought back glimpses of the soldiers that fought under Lombard, just stiffer, more rigid.
Blackthorn stepped back, as the first of the goblins in the arrowhead jumped her. That same motion that he'd seen from her the previous week. She let her weight rest on her back foot, her muscles coiled like a spring, turning a backwards step into an opportunity to load up. Then, she sprang forward with impossible speed, faster even than the speedy goblins. She punched it straight through the eye.
Oliver heard Jorah and the boys gasp in admiration. He smiled. She was good. She was worthy of that kind of respect. Her counterattacking strike was even more crisp than he'd from her the week before.
"You training her?" The Minister of Blades asked from Oliver's right. He twitched slightly in surprise, unsure of when the man had managed to get so close to him. He sighed, cursing his poor perception for what must have been the hundredth time.
"A bit," Oliver said.
"That's not the Blackthorn swordstyle," he noted. He glanced at Oliver, but didn't say anything further. He seemed content to stroll off to the side, and merely watch, and Jorah arrived with backup, and the three boys put an end to the last of the goblins.