Upon closer examination, the tracks clearly showed that the band of goblins who had recently passed this way had been walking 'backwards' along the trail, to fool anyone who might come along and see the footprints. That meant the goblins were now actually behind their group, instead of being some distance ahead of them, as the tracks would have indicated. It was a clever ploy and Gondar-Nor realized the creatures were no doubt waiting somewhere close behind them, ready to ambush their group as soon as they started off down the trail again.

"R'ets-it?" the Dragon Lord asked as he came up next to the others, wanting to know if Gebo had a plan.

The dwarf reached down and took a handful of Penrod's cloak and pulled him, none too gently, to his feet. "Eh?" the scribe squeaked in surprise.

"Put away yer toys and get ready to move out quickly, boy," Gebo hissed to the scribe. He then turned to Gondar-Nor. "Oh, aye, the plan be this," he said, softly, with a grim smile. "We duck into the bushes and run like the devil was at our heels."

Gondar-Nor gave Gebo a quizzical look, never having known the dwarf to run from a fight before, but the compact warrior jerked his head toward the ladies and the scribe and added, "We need to turn the tables on the wee varmints, don't ye think?"

The Dragon Lord nodded his understanding, seeing the wisdom of fighting the goblins from ambush--just as the creatures had planned to do to them--rather than out in the open, a situation that might leave the women and scribe vulnerable. "On yer signal, then, good sir," he told the dwarf and took a firm grip on Magway's arm.

"Right," Gebo said, and without warning rammed a shoulder into Penrod, knocking him into the bushes. "Go, boy!" he yelled, then grabbed hold of Gilder's wrist and plunged into the brush himself, with Gondar-Nor and Magway right behind him.

Taken by surprise at this unexpected action, Penrod ran along with his companions for a moment, but then stopped to rub his arm where Gebo had struck him. "Here, now," he called after his friends. "What's all this, then?"

Behind him and a bit farther down the trail, the waiting goblins realized that they had been tricked and letting out a mutual howl of anger, they poured from their hiding places and charged after their quarry. Penrodwhirled around to see the reddish-gray creatures running and leaping up the trail, waving both short swords and javelins, their bloodlust plainly stamped on those grotesque, twisted faces.