Key To A Goblin's Heart

Jake's POV

It's been a few days since Cassie and Victoria went back to their kingdom, prompting me to consider my own future. I know that I couldn't stay here forever. Sooner or later I needed to find out the next chapter of my life as well. The training center for women was one of my plans, but I knew it was too early to start it given my life was still not safe out there. 

With Cassie back in the Kingdom, god knows what kind of war may unleash in their realm. It wouldn't be smart to be all by myself in situations like this. Who knows who might come after me just to get to them? I need to be careful what I choose next. After staying here for months, it was hard not to feel stuck. Everyone seemed to be moving on.

Cassie being a princess went back while Victoria will get to connect with her Goblin roots. With Michael's newfound Goblin abilities, he had many things to explore about himself. Not to mention his feelings for Cassie was another goal for him. But me? What should I do next? 

"Let's go" Maland threw my sword at me to challenge me in combat. This had been basically my daily monotonous routine ever since I got back. I thought with Victoria gone, Maland would focus on Mike more, since he needs more training and he is lagging behind. However, Maland barely bothered with Mike saying that he needed to develop his magical abilities.

"Do we really have to do this?" I groaned. How on earth wasn't he frustrated with this? I am honestly so done with fighting. I was going to focus some of my energy to bring Cassie and Mike together, but with Cassie gone that plan was out of the window. Thanks to no connection I didn't even have my online games that I used to love to play.

"You are quite skilled, I'll give you that." Maland replied, making me smile. "But you can always do better," And my smile was replaced with a scowl. Doesn't he get it? I don't wanna do better. Being a warrior like him is not my purpose. Maybe daily training was his cue, but for me it was not. I needed training to ensure I can keep myself safe, but the way he was grueling me, it seemed as if he was training me to become a soldier or something. I had to remind him that my purpose is not the same as his. "But why?" I asked.

"What do you mean why"? He frowned. "Cause there is so much to learn" He declared.

"For a soldier"! I argued. "I don't wanna be a soldier" I tried to convince him. "I am just trying to learn enough self defense to keep myself safe" I huffed.

"And you think you have mastered enough"?  He raised one of his eyebrows towards me.

"Duh!" I raised my shoulders. "I can easily take on anyone. Trust me" I insisted.

His gaze narrowed at me, "Life and Death" He declared as his gaze intensified. 

"What does that mean"? I narrowed my gaze.

"Let's combat 'life and death'. It's an event where we will fight till one of us dies". He explained.

"What"! I screamed. "I don't wanna die" I huffed while he simply smirked, "Or wanna kill you"

"That's the event. Over the centuries it has been modified to keep it… family friendly." He shrugged. Really? A family friendly battle? Since then a fight for death is family friendly. "We fight until one of us gets close to the other's carotids," He explained. "If you win, you won't have to train with me anymore".

"So… We just have to fight?" I asked.

"Yes, like you would in a life and death situation" he confirmed.

"Alright, let's do it" I cleared my throat and affirmed. Holding my sword I waited for him to make the first move as so did he. After a few seconds, he came right at me and swung his sword in such a way that it almost hit my shoulders.

Almost, cause thanks to my quick flip it was blocked by my sword. He smirked and tried another move, but I dodged it by arching my back. I completed the flip as soon as the sword was out of my way and once more attained my alert stance. Fighting with him for months made him predictable. I recall that back when I used to participate in tournaments there were few tips that I followed to catch my enemy off guard. Like a wave of memories, they flashed right in front of my eyes.

When I noticed a sweat bubble on his forehead, I swung my sword for the offence instead of defence and almost hit his neck, but not only he blocked but he also swung my sword away from him…. As I expected him to.Hiding my smirk, I made a few more futile attempts on purpose which seemed to boost his confidence given the tiny smirk at the end of lips. 'I got ya' I thought.

After a few sword clashes he went directly for my neck, but I simply let my legs slide to do a full split and with the sword made a sharp cut on his pants. Before he could retreat and understand what's happening, I rolled over making him trip and fall on the ground. He was still a bit disoriented when the edge of my sword made contact with the pulsating skin of his neck, "I win" I declared as soon as I noticed that he froze. 

After holding that position for a few seconds he got up from the ground and snarled at me, "You cheated, you did not win"!

"Of course I won, how the hell could I have possibly cheated" I rolled my eyes.

"You used your body to trip. That is against the rules of sword fighting"! He scolded me.

"I am sorry, you said it was life and death. Why the hell would I follow rules when I am trying to survive"! I argued back as I raised my voice as well.

"Because cowards break rules! They play malicious tricks to get their win" He fumed. I could sense a bit of personal grudge in his statement. Was it because of his hand? Did someone play a dirty trick to make his hand like that?

"Why wouldn't they"?  I asked him back in a bit of a calmer voice.

"What do you mean?" He tilted his head.

"Why wouldn't someone break the rules when they are trying to win? Isn't it unreasonable to expect that someone who is trying to kill you will not follow the rules. Cause…" I folded my arms. "I can't imagine attempted murder being one of the rules of any kingdom on any dimension of this universe" I shrugged.

"That's no-" He stopped abruptly as he soaked in my words. It seemed he hadn't actually considered it. Even since I knew Maland, I knew he was the one to play by the book. He would follow every rule, he would make sure his honor remains untainted, in fact, he even sided with the queen without asking any questions. No wonder it was easy to get to him. He expects everyone to fight honorably, but they don't. "Such dishonourable ba****ds!!:! He cursed.

His words definitely made me widen my eyes. He was not the one to curse. He scolded a lot, he said mean stuff a lot too, but he never cursed like that. "You really never thought that someone could go against the rules?" I asked him.

"I did, but I at least, I expected them to fight with honor" Maland sighed.

"Wow, Victoria was right. You are too trusting" I mumbled. 

"She said that"? He frowned. 

"Yeah." I snorted. "I admire that you abide by your morals so strictly, but that's not how the rest of the world works." I shrugged.

"Well it should" He looked away, humiliated. 

"Is that what happened to your hand? Someone wronged you?" I asked.

"The shadow attacked me from the back," He declared. 

I fornwed, "The shadow"?

"That's what we called those masked warriors. The attackers" He explained. "I didn't have enough time to react. I didn't anticipate that they would do such a thing," ``he declared. "If I had known…." He trailed off. He didn't have to continue for me to understand his intentions. Suddenly I felt this urge to hug him. I do that to my friends to comfort them, but Maland didn't seem to be the touchy kind so I refrained myself. 

I wondered if there was a way to reverse what had happened to his hand. I wanted to ask Maland, but I didn't want to rub the sore spot and make him even more miserable. If there was a way he would have found it right? But then again he was an honourable guy who won't go beyond the rules. What if there was a way to cure him? Recently I found out about the presence of Dark magic. He could finally achieve his dream if curing his hand was a possibility. 

And just like that I realised what I wanted to do next. I wanted to find a cure for his disabled hand.