"Everyone, listen carefully," he said, projecting calm authority despite the anxiety churning in his gut. "This changes our situation, but it doesn't change our plan. We stay alert, we stay ready, and we trust in each other. Double the sentries—I want eyes watching every approach to this cave. No one goes out alone, for any reason. And everyone should sleep with weapons in reach tonight."
"Are we going to fight the orcs?" one of the younger goblins asked, his voice trembling.
"Only if they give us no choice," Satou replied honestly. "We're still too weak for an open conflict with an established orc tribe. But we're not helpless anymore, either. If they come looking for trouble, they'll find we're not the easy prey they might expect."
The goblins nodded, drawing some courage from his words even if the fear didn't entirely leave their eyes.
As the group dispersed to follow his orders, Jessica and Kelvin approached. Both looked worried.
"Big brother," Jessica said quietly. "Are we going to have to leave again? Find somewhere else to hide?"
It was a fair question. They'd only just started to establish themselves here, only just begun to feel safe. The idea of abandoning all that progress and fleeing into the unknown forest was demoralizing.
But Satou wasn't about to let fear dictate their actions anymore.
"Not if I can help it," he said firmly. "We've shed blood for this place. We've built something here. I'm not giving it up without a fight."
Kelvin's expression shifted from worry to determination. "Then we'll fight with you."
"You're Hobgoblins now," Satou said, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "That means you're strong enough to stand and face threats instead of just running. But it also means you need to be smart about picking your battles. Promise me you won't do anything reckless."
"We promise," they said together, though Satou suspected that promise would only hold as long as the situation didn't get too desperate.
Grimnir and his team moved through the dark forest with practiced silence, their Hobgoblin forms allowing them to navigate obstacles that would have tripped regular goblins. Finn led the way, retracing the path he'd taken during his scouting mission.
The night was alive with sounds—insects chirping, small creatures scurrying through undergrowth, the distant hoot of an owl. But beneath those normal forest noises, Grimnir's enhanced hearing picked up something else. Something that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
Voices. Deep, guttural voices speaking in a language he didn't understand but recognized instinctively that it was coming from the orcs,
Grimnir raised his fist, signaling the others to stop and stay low. They crouched in the shadows, barely breathing, as the voices grew closer.
Through the trees ahead, torchlight flickered. Three figures emerged—massive silhouettes that dwarfed even Grimnir's impressive Hobgoblin frame. Orcs, each easily seven feet tall, with green-gray skin, prominent tusks, and muscles that looked carved from stone. They wore crude armor made from leather and bone, and each carried weapons that could split a goblin in half with a single blow.
But it was what they were dragging that made Grimnir's blood run cold.
A small figure, bound with rough rope, being pulled along like a sack of grain. Even from this distance, Grimnir could see the green skin and slender build.
Kira.
The female Hobgoblin was alive but barely conscious, her head lolling as the orcs dragged her through the forest. Blood matted her hair where she'd apparently been struck, and her clothes were torn.
Finn started to move forward, rage overtaking caution, but Grimnir's hand shot out and grabbed his shoulder in an iron grip.
"Don't," Grimnir whispered, his voice barely audible. "We're outnumbered and outmatched. If we attack now, we all die and Kira dies with us."
"So we just leave her?" Finn hissed back, his eyes blazing with fury.
"No. We follow them. Learn where they're taking her. Then we report back and plan a proper rescue." Grimnir's jaw clenched. "I don't like it either, but charging in without thinking gets everyone killed. That's not how we survive."
Finn looked like he wanted to argue, but Ragar placed a hand on his arm and shook his head. The message was clear: Trust the leader.
Reluctantly, Finn nodded.
The four Hobgoblins shadowed the orcs through the forest, staying downwind and using every available cover. The orcs seemed confident they weren't being followed, their attention focused on conversation rather than their surroundings.
After about fifteen minutes, they reached the orc settlement Finn had described. And it was indeed larger than he'd initially reported.
A wooden palisade surrounded a cleared area about the size of two football fields. Inside, Grimnir could see multiple structures—longhouses, storage sheds, what looked like a communal fire pit surrounded by crude benches. Orcs moved throughout the settlement, at least thirty that he could count, maybe more inside the buildings.
This wasn't just a camp. This was a village.
And these goblins had unknowingly set up their cave just three miles from its border.
The three orcs dragging Kira approached the palisade's entrance, where two guards stood with massive clubs. They exchanged words in their guttural language, and one guard laughed—a harsh, cruel sound. Then the gates opened, and the orcs disappeared inside with their prisoner.
Grimnir watched until the gates closed again, memorizing every detail of the settlement's layout and defenses. Then he gestured for his team to retreat.
They moved back through the forest in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. When they were far enough away that conversation was safe, Ragar finally spoke.
"There's no way we can fight that many orcs," he said bluntly. "Even with all our Hobgoblins, we'd be slaughtered."
"I know," Grimnir replied. "But we can't just abandon Kira. She's one of us."
"So what do we do?" Torn asked.
Grimnir's expression was grim. "We tell Satou everything we saw, and we let him decide. He's been right about everything so far. Maybe he'll have an idea we're not seeing."
Satou was pacing near the cave entrance when Grimnir's team finally returned. One look at their faces told him everything he needed to know before they said a word.
"Kira?" he asked quietly.
"Captured," Grimnir confirmed. "The orcs have her. They took her back to their settlement."
Satou closed his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing down the surge of anger and frustration. Getting emotional wouldn't help Kira. He needed to think clearly.
"Tell me everything," he said.
Grimnir provided a detailed report—the settlement's size, the number of orcs they'd observed, the defenses, Kira's condition when they'd seen her. With each detail, Satou's hope for a simple rescue dwindled.