Saki

  Seconds before he trampled David into the ground for good, the boar suddenly vanished and seconds later was against the wall. "Nya! Bad Jiggle! No killing friends!" I watched as Tama appeared next to David and began to lift him. I sighed and sat back downI hadn't even realized I had been standing up.

  As I did, I looked over to Tera, who was looking in shock at where Tama had been, in her lap, not even a second ago.

  Tera's hand was still mid-pet, further proving the point of just how fast Tama was.

  I watched as Tama proceeded to jump onto Jiggle and giddily run him around the arena like he was her trusty steed.

  The traveler that brought the idea of horses being steeds was actually really funny.

  I missed those days in the great libraries of the kingdom of Rojier. Having a traveler king was kind of amazing from a knowledge perspective.

  From a leadership perspective? Not so much. He had a very gung-ho, as they would call it, attitude about things.

  Honestly, it kind of reminded me of Tama. But Tama was not a traveler. That was obvious.

  She may have appeared seemingly out of nowhere to me, but ancient figures such as Matriarch Talia knew her sensei, and she herself spoke as a native Trissalian.

  I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up to see Tera looking down at me. She looked curious and a little worried.

  "Is something wrong?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I felt my tail curl. It wasn't like Tera to come to me for anything. Even with our truce, which was barely a day old. Rivalries didn't die overnight.

  She looked at me uncomfortably for a moment before turning to look at Tama. She finally said, "Do... Do you think she hates me?" She said quietly, so quietly I could barely hear her.

  I looked over at Tama as she sprayed more water into the massive boar's face, laughing gleefully.

  "I don't think she truly hates anyone, Tera. I think she is running away from her responsibility and you are a reminder of that." My voice was calm, but my mind raced.

  It was true after all. As much as I wanted to protect Tama, she was a natural born leader. She just refused to see it.

  Was I coddling her? Maybe a little. But it was so hard. She is like a child, a very dangerous child.

  Besides, I knew Tama would step up when it mattered most. As for Tera, as much as I hated the woman, I hated myself more.

  She was also important, as I had said. Tama was immature, she was reckless and childish. But she was also a leader and princess.

  Tera forced Tama to accept the truth of her royalty and who she was meant to be, even if she herself refused to accept it.

  "That's not what I asked, Saki. I asked if you think she hates me," Tera said quietly. I looked back at her and looked into her eyes. That's when it hit meI had misunderstood her question.

  I pursed my lips as I considered her words carefully. Finally I answered, "I... I don't know, Tera. I don't even know if she likes me."

  The silence between us grew as Tama's shouts of glee as she picked David up and threw him on the back of the boar and had the damn thing launch itself out of the arena towards one of the medical tents.

  I sighed and smiled sadly at Tera. "But I will say that she cares about us. In her own insane way, she cares."

  Tera nodded after a moment and sat back down, seemingly lost in thought. I could understand that.

  We had both found something in Tama we couldn't explain. It wasn't her royalty, it wasn't her power, it most certainly wasn't her childish behavior. It was Tama. For as she would always tell us, Tama was Tama, and I couldn't agree more.

  Slowly, I stood to my feet and walked past Tera towards Grok's tent. It was almost time.

  Tera joined me at the tent and together we walked in. Grok was standing in front of the table. A female goblin was flirting with him and he was pumping his muscles.

  I had no words. Men. I walked up behind Grok as he said, "These babies can punch straight through a bear!" I rolled my eyes at the obvious lie.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Still, the female goblin was drooling. No, she was literally drooling. Goblins were so gross, but so were humans.

  I'd learned to accept what I didn't understand, after all. The best tool was the one you could use to fix a problem you didn't understand.

  I tapped on Grok's shoulder and he spun to face me, fists up as if ready for a fight. He tensed and for a moment, I almost saw what the female goblins saw in him... almost. The green skin, tiny stature, and long pointed nose ruined it for me.

  "Is time?" he asked after realizing it was just me.

  Definitely the stupidity too, I thought before nodding. He sighed and turned back to the female goblin. "Is time for war! We start going now!" His words were all bravado, and I smirked.

  The female goblin, who was already naked and starting to rub against him, was not happy to learn sexy time was over. But Tera politely escorted her out with her clothes.

  Grok, Tera, and I began mobilizing the army and the other war chiefs. Turns out, Grok was the main leader, but there were over thirty different goblin chiefs.

  All of which bore allegiance to Grok. Despite his lack of intelligence, the goblin was an amazing leader of his people.

  Goblins ran every which way, cleaning up tents and preparing to move all morning.

  Around mid-day we finally broke off and began the march. Thousands of goblins strongapparently they couldn't count very well, not shocking. I was able to devise a rough system that allowed us a decent count of our forces: 138,647 goblins.

  The amount was staggering when I got it back. I had sent them out multiple times to verify. And aside from the number going up or down by a couple hundred each time, the base number remained.

  I still felt like this was a suicide mission, but it was mutual suicide. The Lich's armies would fall and so would the goblins. Two birds, one stone.

  Grok didn't seem fazed by the idea and had even thanked me for helping lead his men to, and I quote, "the most glorious death imaginable."

  Tera, Tama, David, and myself started out ahead of the goblin army. We would be traveling ahead to get a clearer picture of what was happening.

  The last known location of the Lich was a day's travel from Drestor. But that was two days ago.

  Accounting for the scout travel time and the army travel speed, Drestor will have been under siege for just under a week by the time the army arrived.

  Their goal was to get there, sneak past the undead army, and get inside Drestor.

  Help as many people as they could get out if possible. If not, at least get the message an army was coming to help.

  I snorted at the imagined look on Matriarch Talia's face when she heard what happened while we were gone. Oh, BTW, those goblins you sent us to kill? Yeah, turns out there were more than a couple hundred. There were actually over one hundred thousand! Also, Tama is actually BFFs with the freaking leader and they're now on their way to fight the undead Lich currently attacking the town. Oh, did you know Tama is friends with dragons? Yeah, right?

  I shook my head at the pure insanity of the past week. Tama truly was a force of nature incarnate. Despite myself, I smiled at that. Good, we need that.

  There was something that had been on my mind for a long time. I had pushed it away at first, but as we moved ahead to reach Drestor, I felt it was time to bring it up. Tama and I were best friends, at least from my perspective.

  I trusted Tama more than I had ever trusted anyone since my mother. Something I was hesitant about, but Tama had proven herself again and again to have my best interests at heart just like I had hers.

  So I did something I would never normally do. I'd say it's a first for me, but the past month had a lot of firsts for me. "Tama, can we talk for a minute?" My voice was quiet, barely a whisper. I didn't have to be loudI knew she would hear me.

  Sure enough, a few seconds later Tama appeared in front of me in her always carefree way. "Nya, Tama is here!" I nodded at her with an amused smile.

  "Tama, would you mind helping me grow stronger? I am not ninja, I am not even combat focused, but after everything I have been through and seen, I realize that I need to be." My voice was still quiet as I spoke, making sure no one else overheard.

  I glanced over at Tera, who was looking over at us. To be exact, she was looking at Tama. It made senseTama had been in her arms until a moment ago.

  I looked over at David, but he was disinterested in us and kept scanning the large open plains and the forest to the right of us. Trelloark forest truly was massive. One book I read mentioned it spanned hundreds of miles in every direction and was cut down the middle between the kingdoms of Trissaile and Rojier.

  Many of the creatures that lurked in the depths of that forest were monstrous. The fact that Tama had survived there since childhood meant she had to be a monster herself if not something even worse than that immense death trap.

  It was true she lived with the world's greatest swordsman, but from what I could tell from Tama's stories and personality, he was hardly protective.

  Allowing her to be kidnapped by extremely powerful goblin tribes? Facing entire bears and groups of wolves alone? Being taken to a part of the forest and left alone for weeks? His methods were effective, that was for sure. But the process was horrendous.

  "Nya, Saki wants to be stronger? Tama can help!" Tama's voice cut through my thoughts and I smiled at her.

  "Great, when do we get started?" I asked as I tilted my head slightly. I was kind of excitedI wondered what kind of training Tama would have for me.

  She disappeared from in front of me and I blinked. Where did she go? That was rather sudden...

  Suddenly, the scenery around me changed and I was standing in a forest. Most likely Trelloark based on proximity, but knowing Tama, it could've been anywhere! "Um, Tama," I said, but there was no sound.

  Then my ears perked up as I heard wolves growling all around me. I felt a shiver run down my spine as realization hit me. Tama planned on training me the same way she was trained.