The Chief's hut creaked as its door was pushed open. Syl entered, knife in hand, the blade catching a glint of torchlight.
The fox girl sat huddled within the cage, her fur matted, her ears twitching at the faintest sound.
'What is she doing?' Amon asked himself, focused on both the sounds coming from inside the chief's hut and those coming from the forest surrounding the village.
Syl crouched before the cage. The girl tensed, her back pressing against the bars on the other side.
"No one is going to come in here. No one goes before the chief, if you get what I mean." Syl explained coldly, holding up the knife between two fingers. "If anyone tries, the rest of the tribe will tear them apart. Literally."
The fox girl immediately gulped.
"That should make you feel a bit safer, no?"
They stared at one another silently for a bit. The fox girl thought she perceived some malice in the Hobgoblin's eyes, but she wasn't sure.
"Why…" The fox girl started. "Why are you helping them?"
"Hm?" The female Hobgoblin raised an eyebrow.
"You're… Not like them." The fox girl whispered, her gaze slowly descending to the ground.
"Hmph." Syl chuckled, her gaze moving in the same way. "I suppose that's true." She muttered, staring at the ground. "Unlike the others, I do feel pity for you. We're both women, after all."
"Then-"
"But in any case," Syl interrupted. "I'm a Hobgoblin, just like them. Just like them, I have a job to do."
"And you're willing to… To let them-"
"We joke about Goblins, you know? About the way that they are and the way that they behave… But in truth, Goblins and Hobgoblins aren't that different."
"They aren't…?"
Syl stared at the Fox girl for a moment before scratching the back of her head.
"Hobgoblins prove their worth with their strength and smarts. The ability to hunt and fulfill missions given to us by the Chief is what determines our rank in the tribe." The female Hobgoblin stared at the knife in her hand for a couple of silent seconds. "Those who are worthy live as warriors. Those who are not, live as servants, slaves, and livestock." She said coldly. "Get it?"
The Fox girl immediately felt a chill run down her spine.
"What the Goblins are preparing to do to you is what happens to all unworthy Hobgoblins. Hobgoblins who are either too weak or too dumb to be useful to the tribe and chief… Are used that way by the chief and the warriors. As fate would have it, most of the Hobgoblins that are judged -too weak- are females." The female Hobgoblin suddenly got closer to the cage. Her hand gripped the bars tightly as her eyes grew icy. "I escaped that fate. Do you get it? I escaped that fate, and I'm not about to risk falling back into the -unworthy- category for someone else."
The Fox girl felt she could no longer ask the female Hobgoblin for help.
"I feel sorry for you." Syl said as she stood up. "But seeing you like this proves all the more why it needs to be done, why I need to let it happen."
"..." The Fox girl opened her mouth but uttered no words. It was as if her own throat was against the idea of protesting.
"Still," The female Hobgoblin stopped right after turning around. "We came to obtain something. Something that our Chief and Tribe need. Ron is with the Goblin Chief right now, procuring that very thing." She stared at the knife in her hand. "By now, it should already be in Ron's hands. The exchange is done."
"...!" The Fox girl pulled back, startled by the sudden toss.
Inches away, just beyond the cage's iron bars, lay Syl's knife, glistening under the torchlight.
"You can use that to fight and defend yourself after they open the cage." She started walking away. "Or to slit your throat if you feel your odds aren't that good. Save yourself the pain and torture."
It was only once the female Hobgoblin was about to step out of the hut that the dumbstruck Fox girl managed to get the words out.
"Why… Why are you doing this?" She asked, knowing too well what the female Hobgoblin was risking by -helping- her.
"Because it doesn't matter. As long as the exchange has taken place, that's all that matters. Even if the Chief comes back to find you dead, what can the Goblins do? Fight us and our Wolves? They'll probably rally and tear apart the Chief in frustration instead." Syl explained.
Still, there was something weird about this.
"In that… Why not free me? Why not open this cage?" The confused Fox girl asked in a low voice.
After all, was a dead Fox girl better than an empty cage?
To the Goblins, yes. A dead Fox girl is much better.
But that wasn't why Syl wasn't opening the cage.
"I can't." The female Hobgoblin answered as she clicked her tongue. "The cage cannot be broken down, not without waking up every one in this damned village. I don't… I don't have the key."
"You don't… Have the key?" The Fox girl whispered with her gaze to the ground.
For such a simple reason, she was to suffer and endure this fate?
"It'll be given to the Chief once we have what we want." The female Hobgoblin added as she walked out of the hut. "Ron has the key. So..."
Moments later, Syl was inside her hut, while the Fox girl was all alone.
'Huh...' Amon scratched his chin. 'Wait, he does? Ron has the key?'
His hands immediately shot up to his coat's pockets.
In his right pocket lay the Black Stone. In his left pocket lay,
'The key.' Amon nodded. 'I have the key.'
His gaze slowly moved towards the Chief's hut.
'Should I open the cage now, or…?'