“What are you doing out there?” the one with the spear asked. Getting a better look, he said, “Jig? Is that you?”

“You’re in trouble,” said the other. “We hear you killed Porak.”

Jig didn’t break stride. They thought he had killed Porak? How marvelous! He wondered how much the story had grown in the past few days. Never mind . . . so long as they thought he was dangerous, maybe he had a chance.

The guards pointed their weapons at him. “Who’s the elf?” one asked. “Did you bring her back as a gift for Porak’s friends?”

“Wait,” Jig said, more for Riana than the guards. Another comment like that, and the guard would find himself eating Riana’s knife for a snack. “She was with the surface-dwellers. We’re going to see the chief.”

“Uh . . .” The guards looked at each other uncertainly. “You can’t.”

Jig walked right past them, motioning for Riana to follow. He had counted on this. Goblins didn’t go in for sneakiness. If Jig was the enemy, he should have attacked immediately. Instead Jig acted like nothing was wrong. Like he belonged here. He could imagine their confusion.

“Wait,” one said. Jig glanced back to see the guard’s spear leveled at his back. “I don’t know if we should let her in there with you. She’s got a knife, you know.”

Jig spoke quickly. “She’s with me. The other adventurers will be here soon. You should worry about them instead.”

The one with the club looked nervous, but the other shook his head. “Porak’s friends are mean, and they’ll have my head if they find out I let you live. Besides we haven’t had elf meat in months.” He jabbed his spear in Riana’s direction, forcing her to hop back.

Jig nodded. He should have known it wouldn’t work. Maybe heroes and adventurers could get away with this sort of trick, but Jig obviously wasn’t good enough to make it work. So he would have to do this the hard way.

He stepped closer to the guard, who frowned. Jig had again done something unexpected. He’s wondering why I don’t run away, Jig guessed. If goblins were better trained with their weapons, would this one have realized that the last thing he should do was allow Jig to get inside his guard? If Jig hadn’t watched the way the others used their different weapons, would it even have occurred to him to try?

Probably not, he decided. He drew his sword and attacked. The guard snarled and tried to swing his spear, but Jig was too close. The shaft bounced off his shoulder, hard enough to hurt, but nothing more.