So much for that. Jig waited for her to cry out. The smartest thing would be for her to use Jig as a distraction to cover her own escape. He sighed. At least someone would make it out of here. She’d probably have a better chance at making it through the forest anyway.

The expected shout never came. Instead she watched the others to make sure they hadn’t noticed, then began to nod at him.

Not at you, dummy, came the weary voice of Tymalous Shadowstar.

Jig looked over his shoulder. Nothing there but shelves bearing Straum’s assorted junk. Some nice belt buckles, folded tabards in various stages of decay . . . oh. Jig stared at her. She couldn’t mean for him to. . . .

But she nodded harder, both at Jig’s comprehension and at the row of javelins lined up behind him.

Was she forgetting that Jig was a goblin? A half-blind one at that. He had never thrown a spear or javelin in his life.

Had he been a true adventurer, things might have been different. He could have leaped up, shouted a defiant battle cry, seized a javelin—probably that silver-tipped one with the finlike flanges—and hurled it at Straum with all his might. A true adventurer might even have wounded the dragon, assuming he managed to pierce those scales.

But Jig was a goblin, and goblins had a different approach to big, dangerous monsters. They ran away. If they were fortunate, someone else would take care of the heroism. That would either finish off the monster, or at least create enough of a commotion for the goblin to escape unscathed.

Wait a minute. Jig gave himself a mental shake. The one thing adventurers and goblins share is their ability to get into deeper trouble. Forget about what goblins would do. Forget about what an adventurer would do. I need to figure out what Jig should do.

Running away still sounded appealing. If he succeeded, that would mean leaving the others behind to die. Jig thought about each one, trying to decide if he could live with that.

Ryslind: Insane. Threatened to kill Jig numerous times. Responsible for Straum snapping Jig’s spine. Okay, he could stay here to die or live as Straum’s puppet. No problems there. Barius: Ultimately responsible for dragging Jig into this whole mess. General twit, to boot. He would probably kill Jig sooner or later on general principles. He was another one the world could do without.