What an infuriatingly excellent man Edmund was. One moment he would be maddenly obtuse and the very next he would be bafflingly helpful. 

Where are they?” Asher asked, he was quickly becoming too tired to respond with much more, despite the rush of adrenaline he had just experienced. 

“I only saw a few, probably the stragglers of a warband further on. They were just a few dozen paces or so that way.” He pointed over Asher's shoulder. 

“Let's go then.” Asher said, already beginning to move. 

“One moment.” Edmund said, grabbing Asher by the shoulder. “We need to keep a low profile until we can find the main horde. Apologies for my bluntness here Ash, but we need to get eyes on your brother before we make a move and raise an alarm.” 

An uncomfortable moment passed as Asher repressed the urge to rip Edmund's hand off his shoulder and scream. Impatience nearly pushed him over the edge. A moment and a breath later however, and he was able to cool his fiery emotions. With clearer eyes he saw that Edmund was right, not only was he right but he was prioritising Ben’s safety, which is what Asher should be doing. 

“Right, thank you.” Asher said after the pause. 

***

Following Edmund’s direction, they soon found a small group of rather large goblins. They seemed to be foraging which itself seemed strange to Asher. They were collecting mushrooms and bugs from fallen rotting trees. Asher found the scene jarring, these massive muscle bound beasts crouched and peacefully gathered food, although he supposed no matter how beastly a creature was, they still needed to eat. 

They carried baskets of woven plant materials in which they gently placed their hauls into. The more Asher observed them the more comedic it seemed, he struggled to stifle a giggle, clasping his hand over his mouth. They  were watching the goblins from a few paces away, hidden by brush and gloom, a laugh would easily give them away. 

Meanwhile, Edmund had silently ascended a tree that was mostly blocking them from the goblins' sight. He was climbing to see if he could spot the main camp from a higher vantage. Asher wasn't quite sure how Edmund was finding anything up there, the darkness and the density of the woods alone surely should obscure anything useful from view. 

Edmund dropped to the floor from above, somehow he landed completely silently. “Found them.” He whispered, he was already on the move again. Seemingly confident that the others would naturally follow. 

They did. 

They found the rest of the camp surprisingly close by. Asher was struggling to grasp how they hadn't heard the horde earlier, standing here now, hearing their frequent grunts and shouts, it seemed impossible. How powerful exactly was the energy that infused this forest? It was beginning to unnerve Asher that he continued to be surprised at the strength and abilities of the influence. 

The camp was larger than Asher had been expecting. As they watched crouched behind some low bushes, they saw that there was a large clearing in the trees at the centre of the camp, it seemed the goblins had either cut a clearing or moved into a previously deforested section. The camp itself extended out of the clearing and disappeared beneath the shadow of the trees. Only the centre, assumedly the most important part of the camp, was located in the clearing, with any view of the sky. The goblins looked much as they had when raiding his home, most were clearly bigger than a human, some were ridiculously massive, more than twice the size of a regular person,, and yet others looked like children. 

There were no tents, rather it seemed the goblins would gather and perhaps sleep around wide low burning fire pits, mostly embers and coals to prevent setting fire to the woods. There was a lone wooden structure set in the centre of the clearing section of the camp. 

It appeared as a simple, roughly square structure, it looked to be semi permanent, like it could be dismantled into a few pieces and moved if required. This “building” seemed to be the only spot in the camp that was being actively guarded, two of the massive, maybe ten feet tall goblins, stood watch at the opening. They stood with their hands in front of them, resting on the pommel of their ridiculously huge clubs, which had their heavy ends pointed down into the ground. 

Peering through the opening Asher was able to see that there was some kind of light inside, a small fire or lamp. The flickering light made it difficult for Asher to properly focus his eyes but when he did, his heart began to race, inside the building he saw what they were here for, he saw Ben. 

Overflowing with urgency Asher nudged Edmund and Hazel, pointing to the structure. “He’s in there.” Asher whispered as quietly as he could manage, out of control of his breathing as he was.. 

Asher had caught just a momentary glimpse, but the moment had been more than enough, he had seen his brother. He was on the verge of bursting out of his hiding place and charging directly in when he felt Hazel’s hand land on his, holding him back. The shock of the gentle gesture snapped him out of his blind rage. He looked at her and saw understanding in her eyes. She knew how he was feeling, she understood how agonizing this wait had been, and she was still asking him to be patient. Her understanding broke through his desire to argue. She was right, as usual. Asher nodded slowly, keeping eye contact, to show he understood.

Edmund drew the attention of the other two by sticking his hand between their faces and waving, when he had their attention he gestured behind them and indicated for them to follow.   The three slowly moved further away from the camp to discuss their options. When they were safely out of earshot and eyeline Asher stopped and thanked Hazel for having stopped him. “I’m embarrassed to say but I probably would have just made a massive mistake if it weren't for you.”  

She smiled gently. “You’d have done the same for me. I know how desperate you’re feeling right now.” 

“Yes, yes, very sweet. Now, what's the plan Ash?” Edmund asked, rubbing his hands together as if greedy for the answer.

“Well, I think we should run in, grab Ben and leave.” Asher replied. 

Edmunds smile began to  fade. 

“You came all this way and you didn’t have a plan?” Edmund’s smile had shrunk by half, he looked to Hazel, eyes hopeful that she might correct him. 

“My plan was to rescue my brother, I know nothing about this world so detailed planning wasn't really possible.”  Asher explained defensively. 

For a moment Edmund’s smile fell away entirely as he blankly stared back at Asher. After a beat he must have made some kind of decision because he pasted his smile back on and spoke.

“That's fine! Totally fine.” Edmund said, his voice oddly pitched up. “Well, let's see. Give good ol’ Ed a moment and let's see if we can come up with something.” 

Hazel stifled a laugh and turned away. She was pretending that she was just scanning the woods for threats. 

“Okay! I got it!” Edmund declared. “Here’s the plan, I break away, I round to the far edge of the camp and cause a spectacular distraction. Meanwhile, you two make your heroic dash in and save your brother amid the chaos. Simple, but effective.” 

Asher and Hazel shared a glance. “That’s not really much of a plan.” Asher pointed out. 

Edmund glared at Asher.”Your idea was literally to just run in and get us all killed.” He crossed his arms with a grumpy harumph.

“Okay, okay. I got it.” Asher replied. “Will you be okay on your own though? You’ll likely end up with the whole camp breathing down your neck.” 

“Goblins are quite tough to take down. Particularly when facing a whole horde, that is true. But then again, I don't intend on taking anyone down. I’ll just be causing a big fuss and then vanishing back into the woods.” Edmund exuded confidence as he spoke and he topped it off with a wink.