An elf-girl woke up…

  Katya rubbed her buzzing head, feeling a throbbing bump. She did not know how long she was out but judging by the overwhelming hunger and thirst she felt it must have been at least a day.

  She stood up dusting her tattered linen dress, it was full of holes and stained with dirt but the only possession she was allowed to keep.

  Katya strained her eyes to see in the darkness. The room was dim but not completely devoid of light, some torchlight coming from the outside the room found its way in.

  She was alone.

  Katya did not know if she should be glad or scared about that. Various questions spun inside her head.

  ‘Where are her family and other villagers?’ Well, clearly they aren’t in this room.

  ‘Then, where are her captors? … Most importantly, why is she not bound or restrained?’ after all, she might try to escape.

  Katya tough about trying to run… but where would she run? She barely knew where she was. She looked at a narrow doorway leading out of the room she was in.

  “Should I run?” she contemplated out load hesitantly.

  She was afraid of leaving this room fearing of what waited outside, of the creatures which razed her entire village and took her here; she feared the unknown.

  But there was nothing else to do. Katya was alone and she was hungry, she couldn’t stay in this room indefinitely so she took a few steps towards the doorway. Her legs were trembling, a sign that she was still hesitant.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  She took couple more steps, each braver than the last. Katya was almost out of the room so she put her head out meekly and peeked to her right, there was a broad corridor illuminated by dim torchlight. The corridor was clear. She wondered if she should just run through it hoping to find the exit.

  Before she could make her mind up she felt someone pulling on her dress. Whatever it was it almost startled her to death. She closed her eyes out of fear and swung her hands to her left trying to pummel whatever it might have been. Her fists flew through air unopposed, there was no one there, yet she still felt someone pulling on her garb.

  Katya opened her eyes, indeed there was no one in front of her. Well, not exactly. She looked down and saw a tiny green creature grasping the hem of her dress.

  She knew what it was. Green and disgusting, a goblin of sorts. A foul creature which enjoyed stealing from the villagers, killing their cattle and wrecking the fields.

  Katya was surprised to find goblin here, goblins were not the ones who raided her village and captured her. No, the culprit was way more dangerous and terrifying monster.

  “You, come quickly!” A goblin child urged her with another tug.

  “No, let me go!” Katya protested.

  “You come or you die.” A goblin tried to reason with the girl.

  “It is only you here and it will take more than one of you to do that. Just let go of my dress before I have to kick you away.” Katya surprised herself with her words. She never was the one to stand up for herself.

  “Not me - It.” The green creature pointed at the end of the long corridor.

  As soon as the goblin stopped talking she could hear the sound of heavy steps reverberating. She turned her head to her right to look at the source of the noise. The corridor had a sharp turn; she could not see who it was. However, she could see the creature’s elongated shadow.

  With each heavy step the creature took, the shadow got bigger and bigger, the grotesque form of insect-like monster more pronounced and sharp.

  The memory flashed across Katya’s mind, the horrifying events of the attack. She knew what this monster was capable off, she remembered it now. Katya found herself drenched in cold sweat, her entire body was shaking.

  “Come, come.” Little goblin urged her again.

  What choice did she have? She followed the goblin to the opposite direction and then right into a small hole. She had to crawl to squeeze through it but she somehow managed.

  She listened intently, heavy steps passed them. Katya sighted in a relief.

  But all too soon, the monster turned around. Katya could hear it approaching the hole once again, then it stopped right in front of it…