With the plan in place, the rescue was on. The group returned to their original hiding position where Asher had first spied Ben. 

From there Edmund quietly moved off on his mission to encircle the camp. He had said that he was moving east but Asher had no clue if that was just true or just a guess. 

For now, they waited. Asher and Hazel passed the time in silence, keeping an eye on the movements of the goblins.  Asher’s heart seemed to be trying to beat itself clear out of his chest, the pulse thundered in his ears, threatening to deafen him to his surroundings.

Everything Asher had done to get here had been for this exact moment. This was the moment that would test if he was strong enough or not, if he failed here, everything would have been for nothing. 

Suddenly thunder roared and echoed throughout the forest. The intensity of the sound caused Asher to flinch and cover his ears. The thunder had sounded like the world itself had been torn, its echo roamed the depths of the woods and returned, turning the strike into a roll of deep drum beats. If the forest hadn’t remained dark around him Asher would have been convinced that lightning had struck him bodily, so loud was the noise of the rolling thunder. 

Asher peered into the clearing to see that the goblins that had been guarding the building had both dropped their clubs and doubled over, clapping their hands over their ears. He turned to see Hazel at his side, looking just as surprised as he felt. 

Thunder cracked once again. Once again Asher flinched from the sheer force of the sound, a part of his mind panicked and urged him to forget this and just run. This was all too unnatural, he should get away. 

He knew he couldn't do that. Edmund hadn't told them what to expect for the signal, saying only “You’ll know the signal when it happens, trust me.” Asher rolled his eyes thinking back on it.

Annoyingly, he was right. Asher had no idea how he was doing it, but that thunder could only be Edmund, it was the only thing that made sense.

Looking back to the camp Asher saw that their window had just opened, the goblins who had been guarding the entrance to the shack were gone. They had abandoned their posts and were sprinting towards the source of the sound.

“Let’s go.” Hazel whispered. She needn’t have bothered; Asher was already on the move. It actually took her a moment to catch up with him. Together, they kept low while dashing into the camp. Asher felt himself accelerating as they broke out into the clearing, a combination of eagerness to see Ben and a fresh feeling of vulnerability.
           

Asher crossed the open space of the clearing in a few seconds and burst through the open doorway of the structure. In the last few strides he had left behind any semblance of stealth, instead he stretched out to his full stride and stormed straight through the open doorway and into the interior. 

He stood there panting, shoulders rising and falling sharply as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim interior. Luckily, it had been dimming outside, it had mainly been the campfires that had caused his eyes to need to adjust so they adjusted quickly. Perhaps two seconds passed by with him being unable to see the faces of the figures in the room. As they were resolving into detail he scanned the room's occupants. First, he checked that Ben was still where he had seen him, that confirmed he flicked his attention from one figure to the next. 

He saw that standing behind a desk in the middle of the room was one of the medium sized goblins, this one was only just taller than an average man. Next to him stood what looked to be a guard, being one of the larger of their kind he towered over his companion. Both goblins wore similar rough fur clothing belted with old and cracked leather, the main difference was that where the larger held one of the clubs typical for their kind, the smaller one carried a cane, some kind of walking stick. That struck Asher as odd but he didn’t have time to linger, he checked the rest of the room. 

The only other occupant Asher could see was sitting on the same makeshift bench as Ben, but on the opposite end. The room was dim enough and the figure sitting far enough into the corner that Asher struggled to make out details. They looked tall and thin, maybe a human or an elf?

Asher had taken account of the room in seconds, the others in the room seemed to be unconcerned about his arrival, as if they were waiting for him to try his next move. He was just about to run over to Ben when something caught his eye. As he took a step, the light of the lamps in the room flickered and something in the shadowy figures hand glinted. It was the stone, Ben’s stone. But why?

Before Asher had the chance to do anything more Hazel burst in behind him, her shield held high. 

“Ash? Hazel? What are… How…” Ben stumbled over his words as he moved to stand from his seat. 

“Ben! Let’s go! We can hold these guys back for a few seconds” Asher’s voice was strong and firm, breaking the stunned silence of the room.

“I… I can’t.” Ben stammered out in response.

A smile Asher hadn't realised had been there fell away as saw Ben’s hesitation. Momentum had been carrying him this far and Ben’s words had ripped away that support.

A gravelly chuckle rumbled from the smaller of the two goblins. “Came a long, long way for nothing kid.” 

 His voice was deeper and raspier than Asher had expected based on his size. Looking at him now, there was something different about this creature. He seemed more analytical, less impulsive than the others Asher had seen.

“Normally I would deal with this interruption personally, but I don't have time for that today.” The lead goblin looked up to the guard standing next to him. “Remove them from the camp.” A slam of his cane marked the end of his instruction and the larger goblin began to move.  

Asher risked another desperate glance at Ben. He saw resolve in his younger brother's eyes; he would not be leaving this place with them. It tore at Asher’s heart, he couldn't even imagine why Ben would want to stay, but he did. If Asher didn't accept this new reality, he would be dead before he could learn the truth. 

Attention back on the threats, Asher saw that the huge goblin was already almost on top of him, having crossed most of the space in the room in just two steps.  Up close these creatures looked more like demons, his massive frame towered over Asher, his entire ruddy red body was covered in dense sinewy muscle. 

The beast raised its arm, fist clenched. He had left the oversized club behind, choosing to avoid risking harm to the others in the room. 

Asher’s throat seized up. What should he do? What COULD he do? The plan had been to get in and out in the confusion, not to fight. 

Hazel appeared in front of Asher. She raised her shield above her head to account for the height difference, and caught the goblin’s blow square on. The force of the punch launched her back into Asher and they both spilled through the doorway and tumbled to the floor outside. 

Asher rolled Hazel off of him as gently as he could as he pulled himself up. The short flight and hard landing had knocked the wind from his lungs and he was having a tough time getting a new breath in. 

“Are you okay?” He sputtered out when his lungs finally relented and allowed him to.

“I think so…” Hazel’s voice sounded groggy and slow. 

Pulling himself up to stand Asher looked down and glanced at Hazel. She looked like she was still struggling to catch her breath as well. He didn’t see any major injuries. Before he looked back up he noticed her shield, surprisingly it was still intact. An odd too-solid looking light had been coating the face of the shield and was now dissipating, as if it were old pain peeling off and floating away. 

The sound of a heavy footfall stepping out of the building drew Asher’s focus back to the fight. 

Out of options Asher stopped thinking and started acting. He ran as hard as he could, aiming to hit the guard and hopefully at least give Hazel a chance to escape.  He balled his hand into a fist, ready to throw a punch. His strike landed and his wrist shattered. The goblins stomach had been as hard as stone; his inexperienced punch hadn't stood a chance. 

A scream ripped itself from Asher’s throat as he stumbled back once again. He tried to look back but tears blurred his vision. 

Useless. He was useless again. 

Forcing himself to breathe through the pain and push back the scream Asher used the little focus he had left to channel his mana into his mangled hand. The healing began almost instantly; the hand began knitting itself back together with surprising speed. It had been fast but it hadn’t been painless, the out of place bones didn't magically reappear in the right place, they had to physically move and be repositioned, causing intense, searing, mind numbing pain. 

Asher was able to put the pain aside for a moment, helped along by a feeling of encouragement at being able to heal himself so quickly. He prepared another strike, this time, with his mana already flowing through his arms. He could feel the presence of the mana reinforcing his strength. Maybe with this extra strength he could catch the goblin by surprise. 

He collided with the stone wall of the goblin once again, swinging with his full mana supported force. Once again, his fist exploded into pain and aside from an under-the-breath grunt from above nothing else happened. 

A huge fist slammed into Asher’s gut, driving upward. His breath was gone, his whole body convulsed with pain as he silently screamed.  He fell to the floor and clutched at his throat, struggling to breathe. Unable to breath, wracked with pain, drooling, spitting, and sputtering Asher blacked out. Again.