Page 1 of Bloody Business

Ever do a good deed that was as hard as possible?

Julep should have left the goblin beside the road.She saves him instead, and finds herself changing bloody bedpans until they’re rescued by his goblin henchmen.

Meanwhile, Artur’s found gold, and not the stuff hidden in the bottom of Julep’s cart.When her greedy family kidnaps her, he steals her back and brings her home to stash with his treasures.But will she thrive in the Goblin City?Or will she be a casualty of brutal goblin rivals?

Good Deeds Suck

There was a dead goblinbeside the road.

Julep halted her sheep cart and stared.The body was goblin green, mostly naked, and male.It didn't move.Maybe he was dead?

Her sheep took the opportunity to nibble on the roadside weeds.With short curving horns and a hairy white pelt, it stood as tall as Julep.The ewe turned her black face to the goblin and snorted, unimpressed.

Julep gripped the reins, her gloves damp from the heavy mist.It was going to rain, she already had a cold, and the early spring breeze slapped her face.The goblin was nothing to her.

The goblins lived in a moving mountain, and they conquered everything in range.They'd been a plague on these parts for years.Humans hated them, for they had already conquered many of the surrounding towns.

Anybody else would drive on.

She sighed and set the brake.

Her boots squelched in the mud as she moved cautiously closer.Big brute, wasn't he?His eyes were swollen and bloody and his nose was clearly broken.Bloody cuts and bruises covered his green skin, and he didn't seem to be breathing.

Three sneezes caught her one after the other.She wiped her nose on her glove and froze as the goblin groaned.

Oh, crap!He was breathing.Decision time.

She thought fast.She couldn't stay out there because there were bandits, and they’d probably attacked him.If she built a fire it would attract them, and he needed to get off the cold mud.Goblins were tough, but he wouldn't survive the night out here.

The inn was a mile ahead.If she could get him there she could drop him off.But she couldn't lift him and he was too huge to fit in the cart unless she folded him up, none of which she could do by herself.Would she be able to get anyone to come back for a wounded goblin in the coming storm?

No, she thought grimly.They would think she was crazy.

They weren't wrong.

A red fly landed on his cheek and she grimaced, automatically swatting at it.It should have been too cold for flies, but they were opportunistic little horrors.

---