text: “That goblin was mine.” Tara stared down at the creature lying motionless on the ground in front of her. “Well, you should have been faster. That’s twenty-one gobs for me. How many did you get? Sixteen? Seventeen?” Jace smirked as he wiped the green goo from his blade. “Nineteen,” she mumbled under her breath. “Let’s go before more show up.” She walked through the bodies of dead goblins, pulling out arrows as she went. No sense wasting them when she could reuse them. Jace trailed along behind her, his ever-watchful eyes scanning the trees to the left, and the mountains to the right. He got all the cool powers. He had the eyesight of a hawk, the ability to blink in and out of sight, and he could hear things up to a mile away. All she got was the ability to control the wind. She huffed out a breath as she stomped down the dirt road looking for more goblins. It would be a shame if he actually beat her in the gob count. “Hey, wait up.” His long legs easily caught up to her shorter ones. “So what are we going to do after we kill the goblin king?” She rolled her eyes without answering and continued to march towards the castle. It was really more of an oversized hut with rubies stuck on the walls and roof. A few gold coins hung in the windows, the light of the sun reflecting off them. If the place were made of brick, it wouldn’t be too bad. Although many people have seen the hut from a distance, to her knowledge, no one has ever been inside. No one even knew what the goblin king looked like, but Tara could use her imagination and come up with a hideous creature. Jace nudged her shoulder, bringing her focus back to him. “I can’t wait to see what the scary goblin king looks like.” He flashed her a smile. “I get first swing at him because I’m older.” She glanced sideways at her fighting partner. They had been training together since they could walk, and she never missed an opportunity to remind him she was the older. “By three days.” His smile turned into a frown when he looked at her. “I’ll give you fist swing at him anyway.” They crested the top of the hill and gazed down at the jeweled dwelling below them. It didn’t look like much from the outside. The only thing that made it different from other hut’s she’d seen was the rubies, gold, and jewels. A small paddock to the left held to happy horses munching on grass. A barn sat beside the fence, its doors open, allowing the mooing of the cows to be heard from a distance. She crept down the hill with Jace by her side. When they reached the bottom, she ducked behind a large boulder and dragged Jace down with her. He stumbled forward, grunting, and cursing under his breath. Goblins of all sizes exited a large building down the road. They chatted and laughed as a human would. Tara furrowed her brows. Where were the bloodthirsty monsters she had always been told about? When the crowd of goblins dispersed, she crept forwards once again towards the door to the king’s castle. The wooden door was the only thing standing between her and the monstrous king of the goblins. She took a deep breath, counted to three, and burst through the door with an arrow nooked in her bow. Her breath caught in her throat as she got her first glimpse of the king. Jace stopped right beside her, mouth hanging open. This was not what they expected. The goblin king was nothing more than a child. He wasn’t a goblin at all. Tara lowered her bow and put the arrow back in her quiver. She would not kill a child. Turning on her heels, she strode out of the goblin king's hut, never to hunt or kill a goblin ever again.