The Iron Teeth

Honor Among Thieves 8

The woman's eyes widened as they met the small black eyes of the boar. You could practically see anger and hatred rise like steam from off the boar's back. It looked pissed.

With a dreadful squeal that tore through the air, the beast switched targets and made for his assailant.

After a brief second of looking very regretful of her recent life choices, the woman turned and fled. Her sudden departure surprised several bandits who had been standing right next to her.

"Hey, wait!" one of them squeaked.

Then the entire group of bandits turned and dashed away in every direction like a swarm of insects someone had just waved their hand through. None of them tried to stand their ground.

Blacknail slowed to a jog. Whew, he needed catch his breath. The boar was no longer chasing him, thank the spirits. He should be safe for now.

As the boar closed in on her, the woman dove behind a stack of solid wooden crates. This did not stop the boar. It hit the boxes at full speed with a thunderous cracking noise.

The beast's long tusks scooped under the crates, and a jerk of its wide head launched them into the air. Its bulky body smashed right through the remaining boxes and crushed them under its hooves. An explosion of splinters was soon all that was left of them.

The noise was deafening. Even from far away, Blacknail winced in pain as the sound assaulted his ears.

The goblin couldn't see where the woman had ended up among all the debris. He didn't even know if she was still alive or not. If she was dead he would remember her fondly. She had probably saved his life after all.

The boar apparently couldn't find her either. It snorted and stomped around the ruins of the crates for a few seconds before focusing his attention on the nearest visible bandit. A startlingly angry squeal escaped the beast's lips and then it charged after him.

"Oh hells" the man yelled as he desperately looked around for somewhere to hide.

Much to Blacknail's alarm, the man started running in his direction.

"Eek, not again!" the goblin cursed as he picked up speed.

All the nearby bandits were either running away or hiding behind tents and equipment. Several had made for the old farm house and one was climbing a tree. It wasn't even a very large tree.

After seeing the boar go through the pile of crates Blacknail was pretty sure those were all terrible ideas. He just wished he had a better one.

The man and the beast were quickly closing in on the small goblin, so Blacknail took off towards Saeter. Bad things from the forest were kind of his thing.

The heavy beat of hooves closed in on Blacknail from behind. He wasn't going to make it to safety!

"No no, what to do?" the goblin squeaked as he started panicking.

Blacknail then turned and dashed towards a nearby line of wooden lean-tos. They wouldn't stop the charging boar behind him, but maybe he could hide there.

As the goblin dove into the nearest lean-to, the man running behind him leapt to the side. The bandit barely managed to avoid being impaled on the beast's tusks but he landed safely.

The boar didn't try and chase him. Instead, it hit the lean-tos full force. The crude wooden structures exploded as the beast smashed through them.

From inside, Blacknail watched the small building come apart around him. Splinters and broken pieces of wood flew everywhere as the boar narrowly missed the goblin. Blacknail's eyes widened and he turned pale as a descending hoof narrowly missed his head.