Ratface took comfort in the thought that even if the guild did take her in today, it couldn’t be anything worse than what Abigail was putting her through.

  In the knight’s defence, her plan was working. The receptionist had looked at them with suspicion when they’d early to use the guild’s training grounds. That suspicion had turned to surprise when they’d watched Abigail bark at Ratface to start running.

  It had turned to pity at about the tenth lap. Then concern when Abigail had her doing sword drills. At one-point Ratface had watched the guild leader come down and watch her train before having a quick word with Abigail. A while later the raid had left.

  It was surprising to Ratface. In hindsight, she was the only person in the guild with a reason to sneak in and find the information. Yet, she remained free, in the guilds very own building no less.

  Ratface’s arms were wobbling when Abigail finally got her to stop. She gestured for her to follow and Ratface wobbled after her. She expected them to stop back at the inn, but Abigail walked right passed it. They kept walking until they made it to one of the two ways out of the village. It was the same guards from the other day and Ratface tensed as they got close. Her leg muscles took that opportunity to twitch and send her stumbling forward.

  “Training,” Abigail explained to thee guards confused looks. They grinned in sympathy and let her through. The two of them kept walking on the path for a while longer before Abigail turned off it and into the forest.

  “What?” said Ratface. She knew what they were doing. They were going to where the raid was headed to. The question was, why was no one stopping them.

  “Do you know why you can’t work this out? Because you are thinking like a goblin,” said Abigail.

  Ratface frowned. Abigail wouldn’t just insult her for nothing, so what was she missing? The clue was in them training together in the guild. The people who had seen her exhausted had looked at her with sympathy, not suspicion. Why was that? The guild had just been broken into for information that was uniquely useful to her. If you assumed the thief knew what information they were there to take, then Ratface was the best choice.

  Ah. That was it. They couldn’t know that the thief knew the information. That was the rub. That uncertainty and then Ratface turns up to the guild in the morning? It only would make things murkier.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Still, she was a goblin, usually suspicion was more than enough to deal with her. So, what was different?

  Her eyes lingered on the knight in front of her. The well regarded, honourable knight.

  “They can’t take me because of you. You’re using your name to protect me.”

  “Clever,” said Abigail. She turned back to smile at Ratface. Ratface frowned. She didn’t like the idea of that.

  “That’s your reputation. Throwing that away on something small is-”

  “The consequences for your rash decision,” said Abigail.

  The two of them walked in silence after that. Abigail letting Ratface stew in the feeling. It was hard. Even with the consequences Ratface wasn’t convinced it was the wrong decision. How much was a reputation worth in the face of her own people’s lives? Yet a small voice in her whispered that if she’d just thought a little further, she could have saved that card for a better time.

  What would her mother say? To know her daughter was so short sighted. Would Bearclaw have made the same mistake? She doubted it.

  Ratface didn’t realise she’d stopped walking until Abigail touched her shoulder. Ratface looked at the old woman. Her smile was gentle.

  “You are young, mistakes are expected. I’m telling you this not to berate you, but to teach you. Besides, my reputation is not sunk yet.” She pushed away the last of the bush to bring them to a clearing. The rest of their party sat there. A city gators corpse by them.

  “Did you know the area has also been having an infestation of gators? We just left to complete the quest,” said Abigail.

  Ratface sat her exhausted body down next to Krysa who was carrying Halmir in her stead. She tried not to grin when the rat jumped to her shoulder when she got close enough.

  Abigail stood in front of them all and addressed them.

  “Today we will be going against the guild. To help the goblins in Halvin’s Rest. It will be dangerous. If everything goes well, the guild will never know we were there, but should we fail, your names will have at best a black mark against them. With that in mind, will you still help?”

  There was a chorus of agreement, except for one voice. Albert stared at Ratface, his face unreadable.

  “I’ll help,” he said eventually. Ratface tried to meet his eyes, but he looked away.

  “Excellent, well let’s get up and moving. Oh, and someone feed poor Ratface here before she collapses.”

  Tiffany came over and handed her a sandwich which she started to munch down on. The rest of her friends got ready without complaint, and she felt a surge of affection for them. She was glad to have found this little group.

  Albert was the first up and he turned away from her. Ratface’s eyes lingered on him. That pause had been important, but he’d still chosen to help. In some ways, she trusted him more to do the right thing than the others. He’d stood up to his friends and her parents for her. Her own hero in a way.

  Yet he’d hesitated, and she didn’t know why. She would have to find out where that hesitation came from. She owed him her attention, given what he’d done for her. It'd have to wait for a bit though. She had some goblins to save.

  She stood up as heroically as she could. Her legs only buckled a little bit.