It was a cold night. The streets of Ost Forod were empty. Everyone was hiding from the snow that was coming from the north. They could see the clouds from miles away from their perch atop the hill, and it looked like a blizzard.
Everyone was hiding, that is, except for Barry Idden. He decided to risk getting a little cold out there if it meant that he could freely peruse whatever goods the people of Ost Forod might have left out in the streets. It would only be petty theft, and Barry had been accused of far more in his life.
There he was, right in the middle of the city, looking through some bad vegetables left under a blanket when he heard it.
CLANG!
An axe hit the stone floor behind him. Barry turned in surprise to find a man with the head of a goblin. The head was obviously a mask, but that didn't make Barry any less frightened. The man held a huge, two-handed axe, similar in style to what the town executioner uses.
Barry tried to stutter out a few words as the man approached, picking up his axe from the ground and pointing it at the criminal. "Silence!" he said in a deep voice muffled by the mask. "I know you, Barry Idden. Tonight you pay for your crimes."
By now Barry was forced to lean backwards over the vegetable cart, the point of the axe pressing on his chest. He closed his eyes for fear of what might happen.
"Who are you?" Barry managed to ask. "I swear I don't know you."
"I am the Hobgoblin."
The axe fell off Barry's chest, but it wasn't much comfort. In that same moment Barry opened his eyes and saw what he dreaded: the Hobgoblin picked up the axe with both hands and swung it at his head. Barry was a nimble man, though, and was just able to duck before the axe decapitated him.
Barry lunged forward and tackled the Hobgoblin to the ground. In a panic, he forgot he had a dagger on him and decided to run to his brother Andy's house instead of staying to fight. But, as he was standing, he gave the Hobgoblin enough time to grab his axe and swing at his legs, tripping him and nearly cutting his feet off.
But the Hobgoblin wasn't going for the feet. Barry was in a fetal position as the masked terror stood over him and raised his axe.
CLANG!
The sound rang again, but Barry could not hear it this time.
