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"There's the fleshbag." Korm said with satisfaction.
The wagon creaked and swayed to one side. Goblins squeaked then rained down from the driver's bench.
"No place to hide." came a voice that rumbled like a slide of stone. Venj peered over the driver's bench at Ragnar, a wicked grin showing yellow teeth. The ogre took a swipe at him, but the northman was out of reach. Growling in frustration Venj grabbed a goblin and threw the wriggling creature at the northman's head.
Ragnar batted the goblin aside with the flat of his axe, sending it crashing into a corner with the sharp crack of breaking bones.
"Vatun's chains," swore Ragnar, "to the hells with these ogres." He lunged toward the back of the wagon then spun on his heel. Venj was climbing over the bench and preparing to drop into the wagonbed. The ogre had one leg dangling down, almost touching the boards.
Steel met flesh, passed through, and chopped solidly into bone. Venj howled, fought for balance and lost. The ogre slammed into the wagonbed like a sack of bricks.
"One down." Ragnar said, 'for the moment' he continued silently. He left the ogre, turned his back to it, and rushed toward the wagon's back with his axe raised.
***
"I've talked with the little cousins." Ted said to Emiel, rejoining him at an appointed spot in the wild fields which bordered the road. "They say a pack of two-legs came this way."
"Our little brethren to the south have seen no two-legs at all." Emiel frowned. "They have no mind for what has happened. If they remember the passing of two-legs then they passed them this day."
"Do you think..." Ted began.
"No." Emiel answered. "Not our people, not likely. Goblins, they are likely."
"Oh..." Disappointment was thick in Ted's voice.
"We will not be distracted." said Emiel. "First we find Ragnar, we kill the giant, then we begin our search."
"They may need our help." Ted said quickly.
"They may, but we were too late at the nest." said Emiel firmly. "We finish what we have begun. You are bound to me. Who is the leader here? Do you challenge?"
"No, no..." Ted raised a hand, palm outward, and half-bowed his head.
"Then no more. Put your heart into this and cease your... You are a plague to me, since we've returned." Emiel told him angrily.
"I speak your thoughts as well as mine." Ted replied softly.
"We waste time." Emiel ignored the last remark. "No more." He set off through the field, following a small animal track that paralleled the road and did not look back to see if Ted followed him.
***
The wagon shook, sending Ragnar stumbling to one side and rolling the goblins about like nine-pins. The ogre, Korm, with strength enhanced by anger, had lifted the back of the wagon off the ground. Its claw-like fingernails sank into the boards as it strained to heave the massive weight over its head. But the wagon was too heavy and, with a gasp, the monster let the weight drop, the rear wheels driven into the surface of the road, then bouncing up and driven in again.
A spoke split along its length at the first impact. At the second, a half-dozen broke and a rear wheel splintered and collapsed. The wagon tilted to its right and back, and a clatter of goblins, gear and Ragnar were jumbled together atop a howling ogre.
Venj had one hand clamped over its leg where the northman's axe had bitten and, with the other, no chance to keep from sliding when the wagon tilted. The last of the goblins fell from the driver's bench, rolled head over heels from the corners where they'd pressed themselves in fear, all dropped against the ogre but for a pair crushed beneath its side. Bows and quivers, spades and iron bars, piled on after, till Venj was nearly buried. Last fell Ragnar, he'd kept his balance as the wagon tilted, accustomed to the rocking and swaying of a longships deck on a stormy sea, but the body of a goblin knocked his ankle aside and brought him down.
A goblin bounced from the wagon and landed a Korm's feet. The ogre leapt back as if the thin body could do it harm. Splinters had stung Korm badly when the wheel shattered, a knife-sized sliver had pierced its arm sending a rivulet of blood, so dark red that it was almost black, over its hand and dripping from its fingers.
"Maggot." Korm cursed the goblin and crushed its skull beneath its heel. "Where is the human. Out, out!" It grabbed the tilted wagon and pushed. Though not strong enough to lift the wagon outright, Korm was able to overturn it.
The tail gate slammed down as the wagon was upset, closing off the wagonbed, leaving only a small opening near the front where the driver's bench was shorter than the wagon's sides.
"Maluk!" yelled Korm. "Get over here and keep this shut."
"Can't use my arm." Maluk complained.
"You can use your foot," Korm bellowed, "or your head, or your backside, if you can tell the difference. Just keep that gate shut!" The ogre trundled over to the front of the wagon, waiting for the human to crawl free and wracking its brain for what to do if not.
* * *
(To Be Continued)