Izzy Chapter 28: The Enemy Of Your Enemy May Not Be Your Friend, But They Can Be Useful If You Put Your Mind To It (Patreon)

It was a long wait before anything happened. Squirrel and Howl had even had time to forage a bit to get them all a snack, and Caj had been keeping an eye on the humans, who’d made a small camp by the road about halfway between the human village and the gnoll camp. But when things finally did kick off they did so spectacularly.

The first band of gnolls to approach were not led by the Chieftess. At their head was instead another large female, a level 13 Raider whom Stick identified as Hrika, one of the Chieftess’ subordinates and would-be rivals. As soon as the gnolls spotted the vineling they hunkered down, sneaking forward and then stopping to talk softly among themselves.

“Well, crap,” Izzy whispered to the others. “What do we do? Let them fight the vineline and then make another one if they break it?”

“I think Big Wood can take her,” Crack said confidently. “It’s much bigger than she is. And you made it, boss.”

Izzy wished she shared his confidence in herself. “Maybe," she said. "But if the gnolls win they won’t be scared of the vineling giants anymore.”

“Don’t need to be,” Stick said. “If Hrika destroys one, Chieftess Gshagra will have to do the same to show that Hrika isn’t stronger than she is. Well, that or kill Hrika. She might just do that.”

“We’re about to find out,” Mash said from above them. “Here comes the Chieftess.”

If Mash hadn’t said anything, Izzy would never have noticed. The gnoll Chieftess and her two escorts, big females which Mash identified as Level 13 Raiders, moved so silently that the other gnolls didn’t realize what was happening until they were already being beaten into one big howling, whining heap.

“Mangy pup!” Gsahgra growled at Hrika, aiming a kick at something in the ferns. “You would steal my prize? I should crop your tail!”

Hrika didn’t answer. All Izzy could hear from the beaten gnolls were pitiful howls and whines. Taking care of the gnolls’ distraction she told the others, “Let’s go. Follow me!”

Izzy took off for the road. It didn’t take long for the vineling giant to follow, and only moments before Gshagra’s voice rose in a furious, “It’s getting away! Hamstring it!”

“Faster!” Izzy hissed and picked up the pace. Her scrum followed, and so did the vineling, easily keeping pace with long, crashing strides. Behind them came the yipping and whooping of the pursuing gnolls.

While Izzy couldn’t see what was going on, Mash kept up a running commentary from her invisible vantage. “The two Raiders that came with Gshagra keep trying to chop the giant with their axes,” she said, “but anytime they get close it just swats at them. They keep getting knocked down or having to dodge and fall back.”

“What about the Chieftess?”

“She’s hanging back. Looks like she wants her minions to run it down before she fights it. Cowardly. Or smart. One of the two.”

As much as Izzy wanted it to be more of the first and less of the second, she also didn’t think that Gshagra would have become a Level 21 Chieftess on brute strength alone. Sure, she looked like she had plenty of that, but a few goblins could take down almost any gnoll. Three or four of the gnoll Chieftess’ would probably have a good chance.

Of course, some of them would probably die. Goblins accepted that dying for the tribe was part of life. Gnolls, so far as Izzy could tell, didn’t. Fighting, yes. Dying to help your mates bring down a strong enemy, not so much. Otherwise, Gshagra’s two companions would have just thrown themselves around the vineling giant’s legs. Sure, one of them might get stomped or beaten, possibly to death, but the other one could do some real damage before that happened!

After several failed attempts Gshagra pulled her Raiders back. They fell into a stalking pace not far behind the giant, not attacking anymore but showing no sign of giving up. To keep the gnolls interested, Izzy would slow down every so often. That would make the giant slow down as well, letting the gnolls think that it was tiring. She’d found that alternating between a faster and a slower pace kept the pursuers convinced that they were somehow wearing the magical construct down.

“Not too far from the human camp now, boss,” Caj said after a long pursuit. “What’s the plan?”

Izzy almost stumbled. “Did you just call me boss? In Goblin?”

“Yer the boss,” Caj said matter of factly, “at least ‘til I feck off. So?”

“Lead the gnolls to them!” Mash said eagerly.

“Right! We lead the giant and the gnolls right to the humans,” Izzy said. Then she repeated it over her shoulder to the others in Goblin, tacking on, “Any other ideas?”

“Get ‘em pissed at each other was the plan,” Crack said. “This oughta do it!”

It had long since gotten dark, but goblins’ night vision was good enough to keep moving, and the gnolls clearly had no more trouble seeing than they did. Finally they spotted a light in the distance.

“There!” Caj said. “Yon fire is the human camp. Might want to warn them that the gnolls are coming, or they’re like to get hacked to pieces with no one to tell.”

“Good idea! I’ll slow down, you go ahead and warn them!”

“Feck am I supposed to do that?!”

“Make gnoll sounds? I dunno! Go!”

“Fecking goblins!” Caj muttered, but he shot off towards the distant campfire much faster than Izzy could have even sprinted. Soon a voice rose in alarm. It was followed by others, and joined by Caj’s high-pitched tone making growling and yipping sounds interspersed with exclamations of “Fecking gnolls, gobshites!” and “Fine! Get et, feck do I care?”

Then the goblins ran past the camp, the giant crashed through it, and things got wild.

It started with a cry of, “Gods, what is that?!” followed by the snap of a bowstring. An arrow thudded into the vineling giant’s bark face, and it didn’t even react. It just continued onward. The gnolls, either too focused on the vineling to care about the humans, or hoping for easier prey, didn’t even slow down. Thus a second cry soon went up, this time of “Gnolls! Gnolls are attacking!”

The giant continued through the camp, catching a few blows in passing. But the humans didn’t bother pursuing, since they were immediately faced with a new problem in the form of a gnoll Chieftess and her two chosen warriors.

The highest level human that Mash could see, she said, was level 16. The other five were between levels 10 and 15, and one wasn’t even a fighter of any kind, but a Healer.

“I’m not sure,” Mash said, “but I think they’re gnoll chow.”

Izzy scowled. “Well that’s no good! We need some of them to get away, at least. Giant!” she said as the vineline arrived at her side. “Go help the humans!”

The vineling giant did not respond. But it did turn on its heel, loped back into the camp, then kicked one of the gnoll Raiders hard enough to send her flying.

The vineling was not a fighter of any kind. It didn’t have skill, or technique, or tactics, or anything like that. But it was big, strong, seemed to have perfect situational awareness all around itself, and possessed nothing even remotely like a survival instinct. Izzy had told it to help the humans. She’d had a pretty good idea in her mind when she said that, and the vineling acted on those ideas.

It struck, kicked, and tackled. It pushed humans out of the way of blows or threw itself in the way, taking hits meant for more vulnerable flesh. Two of the humans were down, one to a Raider’s axe, the other to a vicious stomping kick from Gshagra. The vineling shielded the Healer as he risked himself to drag them out of the way of further harm.

Three remaining human fighters hesitated for a few breaths, then chose to trust their unlikely ally. Together they faced the gnolls, and the battle turned.

Gshagra raged. “Coward! Leading us to your allies instead of fighting honorably! Mangy weakling!” She hacked and tore at it, and slowly the vineling came apart. But all her rage meant nothing. The humans took cuts and blows, but nothing to put them down. Then a thrown axe made one of the Raiders stumble, opening the gnoll to be finished off by a sword stroke to the neck. The other took a spear to the shoulder and dropped her weapon. Facing three humans fighting for their lives, and one vineling that stood head and shoulders taller than her and which fought on despite having lost both arms, she was forced into a fighting retreat.

Finally, when the humans showed no appetite for pursuing, the two remaining gnolls turned and ran. Then Gshagra turned back, and her fury echoed between the trees. “You will weep for this day, bare ones! My warband shall descend on your towns and villages like an avalanche in the mountains, sweeping all before it! We shall feast on your marrow, and take your young as slaves! Count your remaining days, for you have made an enemy of Gshagra!”

With that she vanished into the darkness.

“What in all the hells did that gnoll say?” the only standing human female asked her companions.

“No clue,” one of her companions answered. “Just a bunch of animal noises to me. Tav, how are Prill and Sima?”

“They’ll live, thank the gods,” the Healer said. “But I couldn’t do more than stabilize them. They need proper rest and care. Forest guardian! Thank you. We—”

The Healer addressed the vineling, and Izzy chose that moment to cancel her Spell. The much abused construct fell apart into a pile of wood, bark, and vines, causing the humans to leap back gasping and cursing.

The female took off her helmet and ran her hand through her short hair. Then she took a deep breath and exclaimed, “What the HELLS just happened here?!” 

  *

[Feat accomplished. Tactical maneuver: Let them fight! Experience awarded.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 11! Visit your Summary to allocate your Level.]

Izzy snickered with satisfaction at the squiggles. Everything had gone as well as she could have hoped! The gnoll Chieftess was furious at the humans. Meanwhile, the humans knew that there were much stronger gnolls in the forest than what they’d seen so far. And there was no way for them to know if the “forest guardian,” as they’d called her giant, was friendly or hostile or what. It had led the gnolls right to them, and then it had helped them. Let them gnaw on that one for a while!

The scrum had waited until the humans started putting together stretchers for their injured companions, then left to find a place to sleep before returning to the Tree. Their mood soared, riding high on success, and they joked and laughed about the idiot gnolls and the hapless humans getting what they deserved. Caj joined them after a good while. The sneaky little bugger had insisted on returning to the humans, counting on their gratitude for the warning, and judging by the hunk of dried meat in his arms, almost as big as himself, he’d been right to.

“This stuff’s fecking great!” he said happily, gnawing on a corner as he flew. “All salty! And they’ve got some herbs or something I never tried before to flavor it!”

“Enjoy!” Izzy said with a happy snort. She knew better than to ask for a taste, and maybe they could find some in the ashes of the human village once the gnolls were done. For now, they needed to wait for the moment that Gshagra took her warriors and raiders and left the camp to salvage her wounded pride. That would be the goblins’ time to strike.