Chapter 13: Initiate Retreat? Launch Attack?
She eventually stopped checking, deciding it was nothing, and turned around, heading back into the cave to seek shelter from the freezing blizzard.
Thwack.
Mid walk, A small stone, thrown by a trembling hand from a long distance, cleanly struck the back of her head.
Unlike what the aggressor expected, the female goblin didn't flinch or cry out. Instead, she froze completely.
She reached a clawed hand up, touching the spot on the back of her head where the stone had hit. Her body trembled, not with pain, but with a pure, predatory rage as she retracted her hand and saw her fingers were now stained with her own dark blood on her fingertip.
Adrian found it hard to make out her figure from so far away but, he felt an instinctive chill all of a sudden.
The female goblins head had twisted a full one hundred and eighty degrees, her neck cracking loudly, until she was staring directly into the forest where the stone had come from. A frightening, wide grin split her face, showing off every one of her needle-like fangs.
Adrian, who had been hiding behind a thick tree in the distance, flinched when he saw that impossible head-turn and the terrifying smile aimed right at him.
" The heck is she made of?!"
" Why on earth did it have to be the most freaky one." His curses his luck, and spun around, scrambling to run deeper into the forest.
The female goblin simply licked her lips, her tongue running over her sharp fangs, before she pushed off with her powerful legs, speeding into the blizzard after him.
Adrian's lungs burned like they were full of fire as he crashed through the forest, his boots plunging deep into the thick snow with every frantic step.
The heavy blanket of white around the cave had slowed the goblin down just enough to give him a head start, but he could still hear her creepy laugh behind him.
Fortunately for him, he hadn't decided to do this due to the spur of the moment without proper planning.
Adrian had already planned his route while hiding, he knew himself better than anyone, someone like him, who's heart was softer than his own flesh, would never abandon anyone, so long as he knew there was a good chance of helping them.
Before begining this chase, he had already made a desperate point in his plan to avoid areas where the trees grew close together, knowing that was her advantage.
Thanks to that, weaving through the more open groves where she couldn't swing so easily, he was able to keep a shaky distance between them.
The chilling wind tore at his throat and hurt his chest with every gasping breath, but he persisted, pushing his body until the sounds of her pursuit faded and then vanished altogether, leaving him alone in the silent, snow-muffled woods.
****
The female goblin landed heavily in a snowmound, the cold powder swallowing her leg up to the knee.
The intense chill against her green skin irritated her, and she let out a frustrated hiss before leaping back up into the branches.
She moved swiftly from tree to tree, turning into a green blur that relentlessly continued to look for Adrian, but each time she dropped down to check the ground, she found only unbroken snow.
Finally, she landed at the base of a large pine, her chest heaving, and she let out a shrill, piercing cry of pure anger into the forest, realizing she had lost her prey.
Suddenly, a thick, heavy branch swung out from behind the very tree she was leaning against and struck her squarely across the face mid-scream.
The force of the blow sent her tumbling backward into the snow. Adrian emerged from his hiding place, his hands gripping the makeshift club tightly, his face was tensed, his eyes filled with an agitated glare.
The goblin scrambled up, her face now a truly unsightly mask of rage, with a trickle of dark blood running from her nose and an ugly, purplish bruise already blooming on her cheek.
Seeing her stunned, Adrian didn't hesitate, he raised the stick high to slam it down on her head, but she rolled to the side with a snarl, the wood thudding harmlessly into the snow where her face had been.
Adrian cursed himself for missing, he panicked at the blunder and tried to swing again, but the motion was clumsy, and she used the opportunity to rebound onto her feet and leap backward, putting some well deserved space between them.
He swung the stick but missed again, the stick swinging through the empty air.
She glared at him from a few feet away, her eyes narrowed, and then she began to leap up into the branches of a nearby tree. Her gaze was cold and frustrated as she perched on a high branch, watching him in silence as if thinking of what to do next but, her expression shifted to one of confusion. Her eyes squinted, taking a closer look at the human she had been trying to kill, only for her to become even more confused.
Adrian realized that she might've finally realized that something was amiss, after all, they had already killed him, so how come he was still up and about.
Adrian bent down and picked up the rusty dagger she had dropped during the branch attack. He held the familiar weapon in his hand, and she stared hard at him, her head tilting, a look of pure bewilderment crossing her features as if she were trying to solve a puzzle, like he thought, she was now wondering why this human looked exactly like the one they had just killed and eaten.
"Come on down and fight, you coward!" Adrian taunted, his voice shaking slightly due to the freezing air within his lungs, despite his efforts to sound brave.
" Aren't you upset about that stone from earlier. Why don't you come down here and get back at me then." Adrian sneered at her but his face fell because she didn't take the bait, instead her cold confusion seemed to deepen, she shifted her weight, looking away into the forest as if she had decided he wasn't worth the trouble and was about to leave.