"By the time we got to the farm, one of the goblins was carrying a blonde elf-girl about my age under his arm. She was struggling and spitting like a cat. Were it not for the seriousness of her predicament, the situation would have almost seemed humorous. They wanted her for a hostage in case they were caught so far from home, and had to bargain for safe passage. They are no fools. But they were so distracted trying to subdue her that they didn't see her brothers return, nor catch
our arrival.
"When we `rescued' her, she had disarmed her captor and slain him along with several of his friends. Brogan was leading us and made the mistake of trying to protect her during the fight. She disarmed him, and before he knew what hit him, he was flat on his back with her captured sword at his throat." He grinned broadly. "Her eldest brother helped Brogan to his feet, handed him back his sword, and said, `I warned you'." Pausing, Anest glanced up at the sun which was thinly concealed behind light cloud. More soberly, he said, "Some years after that he really did have to rescue her, though he didn't know at first it was her he had rescued. She was leading a company just north of the Black Wood that was waylaid by a group of goblins which Brogan and his men were tracking. The elves had been ambushed at the bottom of a rocky ravine. Several of them had been slain by arrows and the rest were fighting for their lives. Though badly outnumbered, they fought long and hard, until simple exhaustion threatened to finish them. Brogan and his men fell upon the goblins when the elves were sure they were doomed and fighting only to make their deaths have meaning."