Tek-Tek was running through the snow, trying to move both quickly and stealthily and not quite succeeding at either.

  Behind him, the night was illuminated by countless explosions where the kobold army was fighting the bugs, but for the moment the kobold explorer wasn't paying attention to the battle, as he focused on the dim lights of the town in front of him instead.

  The presence of that settlement was something he couldn't wrap his head around. How could anyone live so close to the bugs? It just didn't make sense. There was some unknown factor at play here, and as a scout it was his duty to find out what it was —though to be honest, he would gladly leave this duty to someone else if he could.

  Unfortunately, asking for backup wasn’t an option, since now that the battle had begun he had no way to contact the rest of the army. All he had were the flares in his backpack, but those could be used to warn the army of a possible threat, something Tek-Tek had yet to find out. Besides, he wasn’t too keen on using them because he would also give away his position to anyone watching, including the bugs and any other creature nearby.

  He kept advancing for a few minutes, during which nothing out of the ordinary happened. The city lights remained far away, and nothing moved on the snow covered fields except for the lone kobold. Still, Tek-Tek didn't relax a bit, and kept his ears sharp and eyes opened for any potential danger.

  Despite his caution, however, he didn't see the dark figure approaching from the sky until the very last moment.

  Tek-Tek only caught a glimpse of a pair of huge, bat-like wings before jumping away to the right, dodging the creature that had dropped on him. The kobold rolled in the snow, trying to put some distance between himself and his assailant before jumping back up. His instincts were screaming at him to just run away, but he forced himself to ignore them and stood his ground, ready to defend himself. He quickly grabbed a flintlock gun he had hidden in his backpack and aimed it at the creature, ready to shoot. However, before he could pull the trigger, a clawed hand closed around the barrel of the gun, yanking it away from his grip. Once again he dodged backwards, barely avoiding the blow aimed at his neck.

  The only weapon the kobold had left now was a long dagger, which he immediately unsheathed and desperately pointed at his enemy, assuming a defensive position while waiting for the next assault. However, this time the unknown assailant didn't move immediately, and instead studied him, allowing the kobold to do the same.

  The creature was a tall humanoid with huge bat-like wings growing from its back and red scales covering its skin. A wisp of smoke was also rising from its beaked mouth.

  Tek-Tek's eyes widened when he recognized the species of the creature in front of him. It was a Gargoyle, albeit the biggest one he had ever seen.

  The goblinoid stared at the kobold with open hostility, flexing its clawed fingers, and it was clear that he was ready to attack at any moment.

  “Wait! Wait!” The kobold cried, trying to de-escalate the situation. “We don't have to fight! I'm not an enemy!”

  The Gargoyle's eyes narrowed, full of unconcealed wariness, but despite this he paused his attack for the moment.

  “Then what are you?” He asked. “And why are you trespassing in our territory?”

  “I didn't know it was your territory!” Tek-Tek answered. “I was just scouting the area and I was trying to check what that settlement was!”

  He pointed at the lights of the city, but the Gargoyle's eyes didn't follow the movement, remaining focused on the kobold.

  “That's our city, Goblinia.” He said. “Why do you want to know? Are you plotting to invade us?”

  “No! No!” Tek-Tek cried. “We are not invading anyone! We are only seeking refuge! We don't mean any harm!”

  “Then why are you attacking the Vex?” The Gargoyle asked, nodding towards the battlegrounds behind the kobold.

  “The Vex?” Tek-Tek frowned. “Do you mean the bugs?”

  “Yeah, the bugs. Is it you kobolds attacking them, right?”

  “Yes.” The scout confirmed. “But... Why should that be a problem? The bugs are dangerous! They're the ones who pushed us out of the forest!”

  “The Vex pushed you out of the forest?” The gargoyle frowned. “And when exactly did this happen?”

  “A few months ago.” Tek-Tek said. “We were chased out of our homes and are now seeking refuge in the Empire!”

  The goblinoid frowned even harder, looking extremely confused. However, after only a few moments, he shrugged.

  “Alright, this is too complicated for me.” He announced. “I was only sent out to investigate anyway.” He stared at the kobold and ordered, in a tone that didn’t leave room for arguing: “Drop all your weapons. I'm going to take you to our leader. He'll listen to your story and decide what to do. And don’t bother resisting. I can knock you out easily if I have to, but you can make it easier for both of us if you collaborate.”

  Tek-Tek froze after hearing this ultimatum, weighing his options as he clutched even harder to his dagger. However, a quick glance at the huge Gargoyle quickly convinced him that resistance was futile. The goblinoid was bigger, stronger and had natural weapons and armor thanks to his claws and scales, not to mention his ability to breath fire, while he had nothing but his dagger to defend himself with. Besides, one of the original objectives of his mission had been to try to peacefully make contact with either humans or goblins if he had met them, so by surrendering he was technically still following orders.

  With a hint of reluctance, he dropped his dagger to the ground, and raised his hands to the air.

  “Fine.” He said. “Take me to your leader.”

  Grel stared with growing apprehension at the explosions on the horizon. The hobgoblin was familiar with firearms but he had never seen anything like the display in front of him. The unknown attackers definitely had a lot of firepower from the look of it, which made it all the more important to find out who exactly they were before they had a chance to turn their attention to the Goblins.

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  He silently cursed Trakk for leaving him to deal with this mess. He had just expected to spend two or three weeks just solving the everyday problems of the city, a boring and stressful but overall peaceful job. He had not signed up to face a potential invasion!

  Still, as the General was fond of saying, life cares little about one's plans, and they had to learn to improvise if they wanted to survive. So, that was just what he was going to do.

  First off, he needed to gather intelligence and find out who exactly was attacking the Vex, which was why he had sent several Gargoyles, including their leader Shak, to scout out the battlefield. Meanwhile, as he waited for their return, he had also raised a general alarm to the city, gathering all the forces he could muster with such a short notice. Right now, on the outskirts of the city, there were already a few thousand goblins, armed and ready to fight, and hundreds more were coming with each passing minute. And finally, he had dragged the human telemancer liaison in Goblinia out of his bed to send a warning to Brettholz, and had brought him along with him in case he needed to send more messages. The young human was currently shivering because of the cold —and because he was only wearing a cloak over his nightgown— and was clearly very unhappy with his current situation, but he knew better than to complain. Grel could tell easily, because he was pretty much feeling the same way.

  Then, as he was musing over the unfairness of the situation, something huge suddenly dropped from the sky a few meters away from him. The hobgoblin immediately turned towards the newcomer, grabbing his weapon, but then realized that it was Shak, who was carrying something covered in orange fur in his arms.

  “Hi Grel. I'm back.” Shak greeted him. “Found this kobold out there while I was scouting around. He's got stuff to say that you probably want to hear, so I took him here with me.”

  He then dropped his passenger to the ground, and as the creature stood up, cleaning its fur from the snow, Grel realized that it was indeed a kobold.

  “Well... thank you, Shak.” The hobgoblin said, before turning his attention to the newcomer. “Who are you, kobold? Why are you here? And do you know what's happening on the Vexlands?”

  “My name's Tek-Tek.” The kobold replied without hesitation, as if he had rehearsed his speech before. “I'm a scout for my people... or what's left of it, anyway. We have been chased away from our homes by those bug creatures you call Vex, and we were seeking shelter in the Empire when we found their nest on our way here. Since our supplies were running short, we decided to attack the nest rather than move around it. I was sent to scout out to the north east and saw the lights of your city in the distance and I decided to investigate it. That's when your gargoyle found me and took me to you.”

  The explanation was done swiftly, but it might have been a bit too fast as Grel was left with a completely dumbfounded expression on his face as he struggled to process what he had just heard.

  “That... doesn't make sense.” The hobgoblin finally said after a few moments. “You said that you're seeking shelter in the Empire, right? If that's so, why would you attack the Vex? They are allies of the kingdom of Medelan.”

  “Allies?” The kobold's eyes widened in disbelief. “The bugs are allied to the humans?”

  Grel paused for a moment.

  “Yes.” He replied, and then turned to Shak. “Didn't you speak with him?”

  “Seemed like a waste of time.” The gargoyle shrugged. “It's your job to interrogate the prisoner. I just had to bring him to you.”

  Grel sighed, once again desiring with all of his being that Trakk was back to take care of the city already. However there was no time to waste on wishful thinking, so he focused on the interrogation.

  “Alright. Anyway, as I was saying, yes, the Vex are allies of the humans, and currently of us goblins as well. So if your people are attacking them, that'd make us enemies.”

  “How's that possible?” The kobold cried. “The bugs... you can’t talk with them! They just kill and consume everything on their path! How could you possibly manage to ally with them?”

  “Well, it's a long story.” Grel replied. “We actually fought against them first, but then their Queen allied with the humans against us, and then we all allied together against the orcs.”

  The kobold blinked, his expression one of absolute confusion.

  “You... managed to talk with one of their Queens? And it actually listened to you?” He asked in an incredulous tone.

  “Well, as I said it was the humans who did that first. We talked with her afterwards...” The hobgoblin paused as he suddenly noticed something. “Wait, you said Queens, plural?”

  “Yes.” The kobold replied. “We met several of them in the forest. And not even one of them spoke with us. They just tried to kill us whenever we got too close to them.”

  “Well, maybe the Queen we have met is different from the others.” Grel said, trying to make some sense of this situation. “If I remember correctly, she used to be a human in the past, so maybe that’s why she can be talked with.”

  “What do you mean she used to be a human…?” Tek-Tek started to say, but then stopped as the night suddenly turned bright, as an intense light flashed from south west.

  Grel shielded his eyes, trying to discern what was happening. It was as if the sun had risen prematurely and from the wrong direction.

  “What's going on?” He immediately asked Tek-Tek. “What is that light?”

  “I don't know. I've never seen anything like that before.” The kobold replied. “But...”

  “But what?”

  “I've heard of something that should look like that.” Tek-Tek explained. “The Pyronator, a Device built by Mek-Mek the Great Tinkerer. I've heard that it can summon a gigantic ball of fire, just like that one, that can be controlled remotely to incinerate anything in its path.”

  “Your people have weapons like that?” Grel asked, feeling both incredulous and worried. He didn't know that the kobolds possessed such destructive devices.

  “Just that one.” The kobold reassured him. “It's the last remaining Mek-Mek's Device we had in our possession, and it's one-use only.” He paused, and suddenly his expression became much more worried. “If they have used it, things must be really bad.”

  “All the more reason to stop this madness as soon as possible.” The hobgoblin said. “From what you told me, this fight is pointless. If we tell your people that these specific Vex are not hostile and that they are allied with the humans, do you think they'd stop the attack?”

  “Yes. I think so.” Tek-Tek nodded.

  “Very good. Then, how can we contact them?”

  The kobold grimaced at this question.

  “I have no idea.” He replied, his expression sour.

  “But you were scouting ahead for them, are you not?” Grel insisted. “How were you supposed to inform them if you found anything?”

  “I've got a couple of flares to warn them of danger, but nothing else.” Tek-Tek replied, pointing at his backpack. “They couldn’t spare a communication Device for a scout that might have not come back.”

  Grel frowned. That was quite a problem. Now that the kobolds were fighting deep into Vex territory, trying to reach them was very difficult. A single runner would probably be killed in the crossfire, while marching an entire army out there could be mistaken as an attack by the kobolds or the Vex, and the hobgoblin wasn’t really willing to sacrifice his own people to save either of them.

  Once again, he wished for Trakk to be there. The General was smarter than he was, and he'd surely be able to come up with a solution. For a moment he thought about contacting him using the human telemancer, but that would take too much time. By the time he managed to get a hold of the General and explain the situation to him, the battle was probably going to be over one way or another.

  Unfortunately, he saw no other option that didn't involve an unacceptable amount of risk. So he turned to the telemancer to tell him to try and establish a contact with the General, but then he noticed a wizened, all goblins covered in rags and amulets standing next to the human. It was Klatch, the leader of the goblin shamans, who had come out of his lair to help with the current crisis.

  A sudden, unexpected idea suddenly flashed in Grel's mind.

  “Say, do you kobolds know how to read?” He asked Tek-Tek.

  “Uh... yeah, some of us do.” The scout confirmed. “Why do you ask?”

  “Because maybe I found a way to send them a message.” Grel replied with a faint smile on his face.