Karkit was listening to the Big Bosses talk excitedly about the next raid.

Even though they were normally excited about planning and executing the raids, they seemed more so with this one, although with added tension.

Typically, Karkit was not intent on directly eavesdropping on Big Bosses, but when he heard “Emmet” echo past, he got a spike of excited dread that forced him to listen in personally.

“Word is he left two nights back, with his buddy from way back” “What you think, trap or real?”

“Me thinks real, no one seen him for days, he not there”

There was a pause as they were thinking through the consequences of their actions. These two Big Bosses had an uncanny knack for getting things right, but in this case Karkit could feel hesitation.

They knew the consequences for not succeeding would be dire, but the reward for them both would bring on riches few goblins could imagine.

And these two were big imaginers.

“Emmet is cunning, me not sure. It has been long time since he leave for more than two days”

“Shall we wait one more day?”

Karkit could feel the courage sapping from them, and should they stall Karkit would be out of reach to act because he was being moved south for the assault on Gathering.

He had been positioning himself around Emmet’s farm for over a year to be in this type of situation. To be in the right place should the One’s Above decide to attack the farm, and now he was about to be moved out he hears the time is upon him.

He wasn’t about to let it slip because two political Big Bosses were too scared to make their move.

Karkit entered the room saying “Me thinks I can give you an idea” The Big Bosses were a little surprised at the intrusion, but since it was Karkit they didn’t opt for instant punishment.

Karkit was known for his talents for successful raid leadership, so they held back, knowing that success at the top relied on the good workers on the bottom.

Don’t punish the hand with the food.

The first Big Boss, Tragmar, nodded curtly to Karkit to begin. “Me knows Emmet farm, watch it closely, know how it works.”

He was watching them closely for clues to approval.

“Emmet kill my war party years ago, me wants in with killing his babies, me wants this badly”

Tragmar was beginning to look unconvinced. Karkit pushed “Let me do it, make it my thinking if fail, your thinking if works. Me wants only revenge”

This got their attention. A “no loose” situation was the stuff of dreams. And should Karkit renege on the deal, they would just kill him.

Although Karkit was thinking more along the lines of his life expiring either way because knowing things was leverage.

And with this knowledge these two Big Bosses would prefer the end of Karkit to secure the goblin riches from potential blackmail.

So as the sun seeped under the hills a few hours later, he was pleased to have his raid party of eighteen jogging swiftly through the meadows to Emmet’s Farm, fully armed and armoured for what would be a blood bath.

This raid, unlike most others, had nothing to do with stealing cows, mead or anything else worth eating.

It was about putting right the wrongs.

The rain began to fall lightly, which was pleasing for Karkit. The night was dark, the rain hid a lot of the noise, and since they were watching the house itself the chances of random encounters was virtually zero.

The plan was simple, enter the house fast and furious, kill everyone within the walls and burn the house down. The babies were to be left alone for Karkit to deal with personally.

Entering houses was always the hardest part, especially since goblins preferred the direct approach. Mostly due to them not being great thinkers. In this case, it was no different. Smashing the door in took a few bashes too many, but it caved in fast enough for them to enter before the insiders could get any armour on.

This always was the big advantage in assaulting houses while they slept. The goblins split into three groups of four and began the bloody process of murdering everyone in their path as fast as possible. The other six were outside lighting the house on fire and were ready to kill any who tried to escape.

Karkit and company were lucky to find the children’s room first. The older kids were awake and screaming, the baby was stirring. Karkit could hear the swords clashing in the next room, someone was defending themselves and the first goblin death was announced far quicker than Karkit expected.

The defender was trained and good, he needed to act fast with the kids. His college was lifting his sword to swoop the head off the first child, to which Karkit answered with a thrown dagger.

The long blade lodged itself in the arm of the goblin with the sword, and while the goblin was looking at Karkit in surprise he lifted the head off the college.

The second college was more ready and defended rigorously, the young baby was awake now and the third goblin was making haste towards it.

He didn’t seem to care about anything other than killing the baby, as that was what the mission was all about. It was of no consequence if a goblin died by a traitor so long as the babies died.

Karkit was desperate; he was being too slow with dispatching his college. The third goblin had his dagger out and poised above the baby, smiling as his dagger fell into the baby.

Karkit jumped forward, forgetting the attack in favour of stopping the murder. Before the baby killing was complete Karkit slashed at the arm with force, half removing it. Karkit lifted the bleeding and screaming baby into his arms and pushed himself against the wall. His college was attacking him now.

Karkit was holding the baby in one arm while parrying the attacks as best as he could. The injured goblin, even with his arm half removed, had swapped sword arms and was making towards him.

He was going to lose.

He couldn’t fight two goblins, even with one seriously hurt, while holding a dying baby.

They were trying to stab the baby more than attack the holder. So Karkit saw the window of escape and run through it. Just as he was leaping through the window a women, full of furry swept into the room and with acute accuracy killed the injured goblin.

Karkit didn’t see any more in the room. He was outside, cut and bleeding furiously from the smashed window.

But he had the baby and no time to die. Karkit ran for the trees. The house was mostly out of sight in almost no time.

He saw that the others must have succeeded in lighting the fires because the flames could be seen through the windows and along the outside, people were escaping the house and meeting the goblins in waiting.

He noted, in the back of his mind, that the escapees had swords and were more than equalling the goblins in combat.

Emmet was shrewd. He had trained everyone to fight.

He turned his attention to the baby, who was not crying so much now as whimpering. He held the infant in his hands and before he had a chance to even begin dressing the wounds, it died. Karkit lifted the baby to his chest and hugged it tightly.

He had failed this baby, its mother and Emmet.

With his head bowed, tears mingling with the slowly increasing rain, he mourned the failure and the death of the baby.

In the background the battle sounds diminished, and when he finally looked up to see the result, he saw the goblins were either dead or caught. The house was fully ablaze now. It couldn’t be saved even with the rain.

Karkit sat in the bushes watching the scene unfold over the next few hours.

First was the lynching of the goblins. The woman was efficient with the killing, not the prolonged affair that goblins preferred.

No games, taunts or torture.

Then the body count, the mourning of the dead, and the woman who led them screamed the scream of the damned. Karkit knew only too well who the baby belonged too now.

While the events unfolded, he felt a distance build from within himself.

Time became fractured and it seemed like whole stretches of time just flicked by instantly. But when he saw the mother walk towards the bush he was hiding in, every step she took lasted forever.

She stopped just steps away from him, collapsed to the ground and buried herself on the ground.

No one had seen her move away, so for these few moments she was totally alone. Karkit stood, baby in arms, and moved to the woman.

“Me name is Karkit, me so sorry I failed to save your baby”

He held the infant out to her, arms outstretch, his face full of tears and pain. She looked at the goblin, but she also saw the baby and somewhere within her she heard the words he spoke.

She lifted herself up, took the baby into her arms and her grief overtook her again.

She was on her knees with the unimaginable pain of losing a baby; he knelt down beside her and hugged her.

Together, under the rain, he comforted her as best he could.