The goblins marched around the market, occasionally sniffing the air around them as they searched out the person their master wanted. The market had grown in the past two stops and it was getting harder and harder to spot and find and take the things that their master constantly wanted. He was always on the look out for the rare, strange, unusual and one of a kind items that no one else seemed to have. He used a lot of his magical talents to hone in on the things that came through the market passage ways. Once he knew what items were available he would spent the rest of his days at the market locating the owners and then bartering with them to try and get them to trade away the unique toy with promises tainted with magic.
They sniffed the air again and allowed their noses to guide them through the people and the tables filled with items. One of the small smelly creatures scratched his head in confusion. He could tell that the item was moving, which made him nervous. He hated it when the items that his master wanted because it meant that they would have to tell the master that another barter or trade would need to be made. He barked a few commands of warning to his companions. They nodded in recognition and scrunched their mouths up into a line.
Finally, after a fifteen minutes of searching, they had picked up the close scent of the item. It was a strange smell, combining the oils from lamp fuel in with something sweeter and muskier. It was a strange combination to their nose, but one that was not too unpleasurable. They pointed in the same direction, as they confirmed with one another as to the direction that they were headed in was the right way.
Ahead they spotted a small, lithe girl with blue hair that shimmered in the light when the sun peeked through the clouds. She was about a foot shorter than they were, and she wore a black leather jacket to protect herself against the elements. They noticed that she had a pair of wings that seemed to be hooked to her back with cogs. They twittered in the light breeze. The girl paused at a table and turned towards them slightly, to the point that they could see her eyes. They were not normal. They seemed to be silver and more mechanical looking than a normal iris. They also spotted a few shiny leather pouches connected to a belt at her waist, which they thought might come in handy given the chance.
The small horde of goblins barked at one another. They confirmed that this girl was the item emitting the strange scent of oil and musk and therefore must be the item that their master wanted them to capture for their collection. They figured that the scent was the ichor that ran through the body of the girl that allowed her to stay alive. It grew stronger and harder the closer they got. They stood a few booths from her and it was so strong that it was almost all they could smell at this point.
One of the goblins sneezed, shooting a strange and disgusting green snot onto the black cotton hoodie that another was wearing. That goblin frowned and slapped the back of the head of the companion who then rubbed his head and angrily barked back something in disgust. Their leader turned around and swiped at both of them with his hands. The girl, put something down on the table, and moved onto the next booth. Thankfully, their antics left them being unspotted.
The horde slowly moved at the same rate as the girl with the silver hair. When she moved down the line of merchants, they moved up a few feet and continued to peer out and observe the girl and her strange habits. They also noticed a second person who trailed her, a male who seemed to walk on the opposite side of the market but slowing matching her pace as well.
The leader barked, “A problem he will be. We must do something to take care of him first.” The others nodded and soon two of the hooded figures crept off to deal with the tall, long blonde haired interloper. Soon after they left, the blonde one was no longer to be seen. The remaining goblins continued to trail their quarry. When she paused for quite a long time, they paused as well and took the opportunity to formulate their plan to trap and corner the creature.
Two broke apart from the pack and slipped past the girl. They were to give chase only after the third goblin stole a pouch off from the girl’s waist. The third hunched critter slowly sauntered over to the girl and acted like it was only interested in what the vendor had laid out on the table. Immediately the goblin could see that it was nothing but junk and was thankful that there nothing shiny had been set upon the table to disturb him so.
Deftly, he sided up to Xep and looked down at her waist. She had two small pouches that seemed loosely fashioned to the belt. He smiled at how easy this was going to be. In one swift movement, he swiped one of the pouches off of the girl and grunted as he turned to run off and join his companions.
“Hey wait a second,” the girl said loudly as she spun around to confront the thief. But no one was there. She scanned the audience around the table and spied movement off to her left. A small group of hooded figures ran off towards the center of the market. They were jumping up and down and one held the pouch high over his head.
Xep sighed and took off after them. The pouch contained a few containers of her elixirs, which she knew she needed. She gave the hooded figures a good chase through the make shift streets. Suddenly, from her right, she spotted two more coming in towards her. Somehow, it all made more sense. They were not after her pouch, they were after her herself. Her eyes darted around, looking for Tristian. He was no where to be found.
The goblins ran in a zig zag pattern. The one who held her pouch seemed to be in the lead. He attempted to keep just a few paces ahead of the girl but just far enough out of reach to lead her on to where his brothers were waiting to intercept. He smiled as he saw how intently she acted on catching him. He knew that their plan had worked and that there would be no rescue for her anytime soon. They were well trained in the arts of subterfuge and collection and the tall one would not find them until it was too late. The goblin giggled gleefully at his own plans.
She darted down another alley way and suddenly found herself blocked in with no where to go. “Crap, this is not good,” she said to herself as she tried to corner herself into a position where she was not going to be taken.
“Tristian, help me. Paige, Sardonios. Anyone hear me? Help? Do not come near me you foul things,” Xep cried out as the small gang of hooded creatures swarmed and surrounded her. Now that they faced her, Xep saw that they were not even human at all. They looked like goblins. Which meant that they were working for someone; and they had her cornered. She felt helpless. Xep spun her head to the left and right hoping to catch a glimpse of her friends. But she saw no one familiar. “So much for his protection,” she thought. “I should have never agreed to this crazy plan of splitting up.”
She continued to cry out for help but no one heard her. Over a tall wall there was a stage, and a group of musicians had just started playing a loud and rowdy set of music. The quick pace of drums, along with a trumpet was all that could be heard. As she tried to call out once more a voice sounded over the loud speakers, drowning her small voice out completely. A round of cheers cascaded as Xep backed herself up against the stage wall and wished that she had some weapon on her person.
The creatures continued to grow closer to her. She had no idea what they wanted or why they wanted her, but she knew that they overpowered her and outsized her by a good two feet. They towered over Xep and she stood by herself and tried to look as menacing as she could, which was hard considering she was tiny and did not have any weapons or the ability to tap into the magical energies that were present.
She looked around and could not spot anything that could be used as a make shift weapon. Instead she just covered her arms over her head and uttered a pathetic meep sound as they creatures came closer to her and withdrew a long, rough brown colored sack. They growled menacing at her as they flung the sack over her head.
The voice inside her head uttered a warning again, “Power reserves almost depleted. Please seek recharge destination. Connection failure. No power can be accepted at this time. Return to the depot for re-infusion.”
“Crap, not this again,” Xep muttered to herself. “I do not have time for this.” She bent down to grab one of the vials from her pocket but one of the goblins had crept up behind her and grabbed her arm.
“You no reach for weapon. We have you now. Master will be very pleased. We go back to him with you nao.” It said in a strange broken language that seemed almost guttural to the mechanical ears she had. Xep briefly struggled to get out of the iron clad grip that the beast had on her.
The world suddenly went dark as her body went limp and the world seemed to drop out beneath her feet.
