Sasha frowned as if she did not quite believe him. Karnea said, “It’s true. Sometimes the Old Ones have perfect recollection of events that happened millennia ago but don’t remember what they did this morning. Their minds do not work likes our do. Do not make the mistake of thinking so.”
“That does not seem to be a very useful way of remembering things.”
“They have advantages that we do not,” said Kormak.
“Were any of you hurt, during the attack?” Karnea asked. Kormak shook his head. The others did likewise. “Then I think there are those here I could help.”
She bent down and rummaged around in her pack, producing herbs and bandages for poultices, then she walked over to the nearest wounded man and began to bandage him. Soon his groans eased and he fell into a deep sleep. Others began bringing their wounded companions to her, carrying them when they could, begging her to come take a look when they could not.
The healer worked until dawn, staunching bleeding, cleaning wounds, comforting the dying. Kormak walked the edges of the camp, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of the goblins’ return.
In the grey morning light the camp looked, if anything, bleaker. A number of the tents had been trampled down and flapped around in the morning breeze, like grey ghosts come to haunt the living. Lean-tos had been kicked over and smashed. Bodies, human and goblin, lay everywhere. The mountains, huge and forbidding, loomed over everything.
The inhabitants of the camp had gathered around their tent. The wounded and the dying lay in improvised cover nearby. The rest of the folk stood in a circle, listening intently as Kormak relayed Graghur’s message. After he had spoken, there was silence for a moment and then people all started to speak at once. Kormak raised his hand to still the babble, and quiet returned.
“We’re not leaving just because you say so,” said one of the prospectors. He was tall and broad, with narrow eyes and a mean slit of a mouth. He had the look of one of Otto’s friends.
“I am not telling you to,” said Kormak. “I am just giving you the Goblin King’s message.”
“Why did this Graghur give you the message?”
“Because I speak his language,” said Kormak.
The prospector raised his fist. “This one speaks a language goblins understand. And he wants us to leave.”
“I speak two languages they understand,” Kormak said. He tapped the hilt of his sword meaningfully.
“Aye, we killed more of them, than they did us,” said another man. Some of the prospectors nodded their agreement. Others looked worried.
“That won’t make much difference if there are more of them than there are of you.”
“What gives this Graghur the right to tell us what to do?” asked a thin, pock-faced man. Kormak did not recall seeing him doing any fighting last night.
“The fact that he has an army,” said Sasha. “He has no right except that.”
“We can fortify the camp,” said a tough looking old man. “We’ve talked enough about it. This gives us reason to. If the little bastards are going to be this aggressive we need to.”
“I don’t know,” said Heidi. “It’s near the end of the season anyway. I was going to be heading back down to Varigston for the winter. I know a lot of the rest of you were talking about that. It won’t do any harm to pull out a few days early.”
“You mean run?” Pock-face asked.
“I saw you do enough of that last night, Jonas Tegel,” said Heidi. “There’s no need to come on all brave when the sun’s up and the danger’s passed.”
Jonas looked as if he was considering a smart reply, but Heidi still had her meat cleaver in her hand. He glanced at his feet instead.
“Look,” Heidi said. “We all know the runts have been getting more numerous and more aggressive these past couple years. We all know there’s something going on down there in the Underlands. We’ve all seen the goblins and the ghosts. We all know it’s getting harder and harder to make good finds close to the gates and the goblins are getting more numerous. I’m going to take what I got and be glad of it. I’m going to head back into town and sell my stuff and spend the winter thinking about whether I want to come back next spring. I’m going to head off today and I’d welcome company on the road.”
She fell silent. Kormak saw heads nodding in agreement.
Jonas Tegel suddenly found his tongue. “If half of us are going there won’t be enough left to hold the camp when the goblins come back. They’ll have won.”
“No law says you can’t come back next year,” said one of the merchants. “I am thinking of doing that myself although next spring I’ll come back with a company of mercenaries.”