Grubnix was a goblin. A goblin like any other. Short,greasy and sickly green. Grubnix was wearing a loincloth and carrying a club over his shoulder.

  Grubnix was also in deep shit. He knew he was in deep shit. How did he know he was in deep shit.

  The fact there currently were no rats where there should be rats and that he was staring at a blackened scar which once held the rat breeding grounds. Now all that remained was ash and burnt corpses. A desolate wasteland where grass used to be.

  Grubnix was screwed.

  After all he was supposed to guard over the rat breeding grounds and worse of all it had happened on his watch.

  Who would of thought something like this could happen when he took his evening nap of all things.

  I mean strictly speaking he wasn't supposed to take naps while on guard duty but nothing like this had ever happened before.

  Sure there had been those times he had lost a few rats to fairy lures here and there. He had been beaten for that with a club each time it happened. But he had never lost the entire pack before.

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  What would Big Chief Omba do to him if he found out?

  Grubnix broke out into a cold sweat just thinking about it.

  Would he cut off his toes and fry them and eat them like candy?

  Would his arms be ripped off and cooked over an open campfire?

  Would his flesh be melted and his bones left to dry on a rack?

  He heard that Big Chief Omba' second, Slilb wanted more skeletons for his collection.

  Or would he just be feed to Big Chief Omba' pet Direwolf?

  Grubnix knew whatever it was it would not be good.

  Grubnix also knew he had to do something.

  But what could he do? Panic threatened to overwhelm him.

  Could he lie and say they ran off? No, that would just show he was not watching them. Besides there was too much smoke and too many corpses to hide the fact.

  Grubnix rapted his head with his knuckles. This always got the brain juices flowing.

  Grubnix started coming up with a story on the spot.

  "It was a huge, hairy troll and and it breathed fire. I tried to fight it but it set the field on fire and I was forced to run for my life."

  He intoned to himself as if saying it out loud would make it the truth. He even started to believe it himself.

  After he had come up with what he thought was an ok cover story, he covered himself in ash and ran off to report. He hoped that they would believe his story. He didn't want to think about what else would happen if they didn't.

  Grubnix never noticed the two sets of prints left behind in the ash leading off into the distance. On the opposite side of a sea of black a girl and her doll limped away from the scene of destruction.