“Herky, where have you been?”
“Herky bad!” he said fiercely. “Herky been bad to William. Now Herky been bad to goblins. Herky feel funny. Herky feel sad. Herky brought key.”
“You brought the key?” I hissed.
“Herky brought three things. Hold out hands.”
When I did as he said he placed something cold and metallic in my cupped hands. After a minute it began to glow.
“The amulet!” I whispered. “How did you get it?”
“Went back for it. Long way. Got lost once . . . twice . . . three times. But got it, got it for friend William, because Herky was such a bad little goblin.”
I had been in the dark so long that the amulet’s glow hurt my eyes. I cupped my hands around it to contain the light. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“Herky good?” he asked desperately.
I could see his funny little face in the light that leaked from between my fingers. He looked troubled.
“Herky very good,” I said sincerely.
He smiled. Then he pulled my hair. “Herky bad!” he whispered fiercely. “Come on, butterhead William—let’s go.”
“You said you brought three things.”
“Don’t be bad. Let’s go.”
With that he squeezed through the little door.
For a moment I panicked, until I heard him inserting the key in the lock.
Raising the amulet, I took a look around my cell; four stone walls, a stone bed, and a hole in the corner for relieving myself. I would be glad to be out of here.
“William!” hissed Herky. “Open door!”
I pulled open the door. Herky jumped from the handle to my leg.
In the corridor, directly opposite the door, sat the third thing he had brought.
“Igor’s bear!” I whispered in delight.
“Herky good bad good bad,” he replied, sounding miserable and happy at the same time.
“Herky good!” I said fiercely, lifting him up and giving him a hug.
“Yuck! Bad William.”
But when I put him down he was smiling.
I tucked the amulet inside my shirt, where it continued to glow, but was muted enough that it didn’t announce our presence so brightly. It hung above the cloak of invisibility and the golden collar. I picked up the bear.
“Do you know where Fauna is?” I asked Herky.
Herky made a face. “Girl mean!”
“She got your tail out of that rock.”
He sighed. “Come on, William. We get Fauna. Then we get out of here.”
I stopped. Normally I would have waited to explain what else I wanted to do. But my days in the dark had given me time to think. One thing I had thought about was how much sorrow it would have saved Igor if I had told him right at the beginning that I was the one who had let the goblins loose. I had decided life would be easier if I could start getting things out in the open.
“Herky, we have to talk.”
He sighed again. “Talk, talk, talk.”
“We have to get someone else.”
His eyes went wide as he guessed who I meant. “Oh, no. Herky not that bad!”
“Herky, Igor is my friend. I know the goblins are mad at him, but what happened is not his fault. He was being used. That old Baron and his wizard—they’re the ones to blame.”
Herky folded his arms. “No Igor!” he said firmly.
After fifteen minutes I couldn’t tell if Herky even knew where Igor was. I suspected he did; it was easy for a little goblin to go almost anywhere in the castle without being noticed, and who knew what those big ears had heard? But he wouldn’t say anything but “No Igor!”
Finally I changed my plan. I decided we would get Fauna and then collar the King. If that worked, maybe everything else would calm down enough so that we could get Igor loose, too. If not, I didn’t know what I would do. I just knew I wasn’t leaving Nilbog without my friend.
• • •
Fauna’s cell was a long way from mine. To my relief, the key that opened my cell worked on hers as well. I decided that, as with the guard situation, the goblins had probably never had enough enemies to worry about escape-proof dungeons.
She was pale and thin-looking but seemed to be all right otherwise. “Thank you,” she said when we opened the door. “I thought I might not ever get out of here.”
For her, it was a real emotional outburst.
It was time to go collar the King. But I realized I had never had a chance to tell Fauna the things Granny Pinchbottom had told me—partly because I had not wanted to say them in front of Herky.
“We have to talk,” I said.
Her cell seemed as safe a place as any, so we stayed there while I repeated everything Granny Pinchbottom had told me.
“Huh!” said Fauna. “I don’t like that much. But if Granny Pinchbottom says it’s so, I’ll believe her.”
Herky looked nervous. “Hurt King?” he asked.
“Actually, I think he’ll feel much better if we do this. Will you help us?”
He put both his hands in his mouth and nodded.
• • •
Even though I warned them what was about to happen, Herky and Fauna made very satisfactory gasps when I slipped into the cloak and disappeared. To my surprise, one thing did not disappear: the glow of the amulet. Fearing it would attract attention, even tucked under my shirt, I handed it to Fauna. The moment it left my hand it faded.
We were at the base of a little-used stair that led to the main floor of the castle. I was to go ahead and signal the others when it was safe to follow. By moving from spot to spot this way we hoped the three of us could stay together.
As I climbed the stair it occurred to me that it might have been smarter to try to collar the King first and then get Fauna. But something about that idea felt wrong.
I paused at the top of the stairs. No one in sight. Though I had totally lost track of time while I was in my cell, Herky had said that it was the castle’s quiet time.
I turned and gestured to the others. They ignored me. I couldn’t figure out why until I remembered I was invisible. Throwing back the hood, I gestured again.
Herky and Fauna joined me at the top of the steps.
The brass sconces in the hallway had been pulled nearly shut, dimming the fungal glow so that the hall was like a night with no moon, only stars. Raising my hood again, I put a finger to my lips—an unseen gesture, I immediately realized—and started down the hall. Soon I found an alcove with a statue of a former Goblin King—a good place for Herky and Fauna to take shelter if necessary. I looked around. The hall was empty. Throwing back the hood, I gestured for them to join me.
Traveling in this manner, we made it most of the way to the Throne Room. The trip was complicated by the fact that goblin corridors don’t run straight but curve and twist in odd ways that make it hard to see very far ahead.
It was the singing that let me know we had a problem. Fauna and Herky were walking toward me when I heard it. Three goblins, from the sound of it, and not far off. I looked back. Herky and Fauna were about twenty feet away.
The goblins were getting closer fast. If they came around the corner before my friends made it to the next safe spot, we were in big trouble.
I had an idea. Without any real sense of whether or not it would work, I ran toward Fauna.
The goblins rounded the corner just as I reached her.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
TRYING TO GET A HEAD
Since I was invisible, Fauna didn’t realize I was coming back until I was next to her, whispering, “Don’t say a word!” Flinging out the edge of my cloak, I drew her in with me.
To my relief, she disappeared instantly.
“This way,” I whispered, pulling her toward the wall.
“William, what—”
She broke off when she heard the singing. Though it was hard to move with both of us wrapped in the cape, we managed it. With the two of us invisible, Herky scrambled several feet away, flopped
onto his back, and pretended to be asleep.
The three goblins came down the corridor arm in arm in arm, singing about what they were going to do when the war started. “Wait!” cried one of them. Then he pulled his nose and farted, which made the other two laugh so hard that one of them fell onto the floor.
I held my breath, trying to remain totally silent—though the way they were laughing, I don’t think they would have heard me if I had sneezed, which I was trying desperately not to do.
Then they spotted Herky. “Let’s play catch!” said one of them, stooping down to pick him up. But the other two had already started on down the hall, so he left Herky and hurried to catch up with them.
• • •
When we reached the Throne Room Herky stayed outside to keep watch. Fauna came in with me, because it would be easier to hide inside the room.
Inside I handed Igor’s bear to Fauna. Alone, wrapped in the cloak of invisibility, I began the long walk to the throne. A pair of goblins sat on either side of the throne. I wondered if they always guarded the King, even when they thought there were no enemies around, or if they were nervous now that there really were enemies in the castle. It didn’t make that much difference; both guards were snoring soundly.
The sounds coming from the wooden box indicated that the King was snoring, too. Hardly daring to breathe, I climbed the four steps to the throne, reached forward, and grasped the handle on top of the King’s box. I lifted it as gently as I could, expecting him to scream for help at any moment.
He continued to snore as I headed for the door.
I made it most of the way before I sneezed.
“Gesundheit!” said the box. Then, after a moment of silence, it shouted, “Who sneezed that sneeze? What’s going on out there?”
“Shhhh!” I whispered. “It’s nothing. Go back to sleep.”
“I don’t want to go to sleep! I want to know what’s going on. Guards! Guards! ”
With a snort the guards lurched to their feet. They were the biggest goblins I had seen yet, both at least two feet taller than me.
They looked around, uncertain of what was going on.
“Here!” screeched the King. “I’m here!”
I slipped the box inside my cloak. It vanished at once.
Unfortunately, unseen is not the same as unheard.
“Over here, you morons!” screamed the King.
The guards looked more puzzled than before.
“Where are you?” cried one of them.
“Over here!” I shouted, running to the left. Then I turned and ran to the right. “No, I’m over here!”
“Get him!” cried the guards. They ran in circles, bumped into each other, and fell down.
I raced for the door. “Let’s get out of here,” I hissed to Fauna.
Just when I thought we might make it out without her being seen, the King gave another shout. The guards glanced in our direction, spotted Fauna, and the chase was on.
“Herky!” I shouted as we raced out the door. “This way!” Then, realizing that neither he nor Fauna would be able to follow me if I was invisible, I slipped back the hood.
We had to run down two long, twisting corridors to get to the tower that held the King’s body. We had a good start on the guards because of their initial confusion, but they were bigger than we were and gaining fast.
“Help!” cried the King. “Thieves! And washerwomen!”
“Stop!” cried the guards, their voices uncomfortably close. “Stop, you king stealers!”
“This way,” I gasped, turning a sharp right. The guards were close behind when we reached the arch that led to the tower stair.
“Ouch!” cried the King as I started up it. “That hurts!”
I realized his head was bouncing with every step I took. “Sorry,” I kept saying. “Sorry, sorry.”
We had climbed about twenty steps when the guards arrived. I began to move even faster. Around and around the spiral stair we raced. The King continued to complain. Fauna was silent except for an occasional shout of “Faster!”
Panting, gasping, feeling like I was about to die, I burst into the King’s bedchamber. Fauna was inches behind me. I didn’t have to say a word to her. Together we grabbed the great wooden door and slammed it shut. As we were lowering the thick bar that would hold it closed the guards arrived. They threw themselves against the door, but it was too late. The bar was in place.
“Where’s Herky?” I cried to Fauna. “What happened to him?”
“I don’t know. He was with us until we reached the stair. That was the last I saw of him.”
“Open up!” cried the guards, pounding on the door.
No time now to try to figure out what had happened to Herky. I opened the box. The King’s head rolled out and bit me on the foot.
“What have you done who are you why are you doing this you stupid boy?” he screamed.
“I’m trying to help!”
“You can’t help! You are the goblins’ enemy!”
“Sometimes it’s hard to tell your friends from your enemies,” I said as I opened my shirt. I had to shout to be heard above the banging at the door.
“We have no friends!” screamed the King, foam flying from his mouth. “Apples are eating my feet and everyone has betrayed us. Everyone will pay!”
I reached for his head. “I’m going to try to put you back together.”
The head rolled from side to side, trying to bite me.
“Fauna, help me!” I cried.
She had tossed the bear onto the bed and begun pushing things in front of the door, which was already bulging under the repeated blows of the enormous guards. “What do you want?” she asked, crossing to join me.
“I’ve got to get his head onto the bed. Either that or get his body down here.”
She glanced at the King’s body, which lay in perfect repose on the golden cover. It was very big. “Head to bed,” she said, and the two of us tried to grab it.
But the King was in a frenzy, bouncing, rolling, grabbing whatever he could with his teeth. Finally I tore off my shirt and threw it on top of him. Fauna grabbed the sleeves and hauled him onto the bed.
“Try to get him in place,” I said as I began to unbuckle the collar. To my astonishment, I realized I didn’t want to take it off. Something about wearing it felt very good.
“William, what are you waiting for?” cried Fauna.
I heard the door begin to crack.
My fumbling fingers seemed awkward as sausages. The King was no longer shouting words, just sounds that had no meaning. Suddenly he sank his teeth into Fauna’s hand.
“Ouch!” she cried, yanking her hand away. The King’s teeth were still embedded in her flesh, so his head went with her hand. Suddenly it came loose, flying across the room and crashing into a wall. It fell to the floor and bounced twice. When it stopped the King was silent.
“Is he dead?” I whispered in horror.
“I hope not,” said Fauna, scrambling off the bed.
She grabbed the head and climbed back onto the bed. With no resistance from the King she easily put it in place on his neck.
A board in the door splintered. A green fist reached through the opening.
Seeing the King’s head and body together, I knew he needed the collar far more than I did. Finally I managed to unbuckle it. Holding it before me, I started toward the bed.
I was stopped by a blinding flash of light.
CHAPTER TWENTY
HEAD TO HEART
“Take one more step and I’ll turn you into a toad,” said a familiar voice.
“Ishmael! What are you doing here?”
“Don’t call me that!” cried the old magician, shaking his long white beard in distress. “Now put down that collar.”
I looked at him in surprise. “Why?”
“Because what you are about to do is both dangerous and stupid. Put it down.”
Another board in the door splintered. The babble outside indicated that more
goblins had arrived.
I glanced at the collar. “Granny Pinchbottom said this was the only way to heal the King.”
Ishmael’s bushy eyebrows formed a pair of arches. “You believed that wretched old woman?” he asked in astonishment.
As a matter of fact, I had. Though when I thought about it, what she had told me—that the goblins were basically good and helpful—was pretty strange, given everything I had seen.
“William, listen. I made a huge mistake when I met you in Igor’s cell a few days ago; I didn’t realize who you were. That happens to me a lot these days—my memory is fading. The message I brought for Igor should really have gone to you. ‘The most dangerous night’ was the night the goblins were likely to break free—the night the spell would be weakest and you would be most vulnerable. I tried to warn the Baron, but he’s a fool. Not like his grandfather, may he rest in peace.”
The shouting at the door grew louder. Ishmael turned and waved his hands. “Stop that pounding!” he screamed.
To my astonishment, it stopped.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
“Do what?”
I didn’t want to start one of his circular conversations. “Never mind. Tell me about the most dangerous night.”
“William,” said Fauna, “I don’t think I like this man.”
I didn’t want to get involved in that conversation, either. I needed information. Should I put the collar on the King or not? Where was the truth in all this? Who was lying to me?
At that moment the King woke up. “You!” he screamed when he saw Ishmael. “What are you doing here? Help, murder, fire, destruction! Guards, guards, guards!”
“Quiet!” said Ishmael, waving his hand at the King.
The King’s eyes went wide. His lips closed and stayed closed, though his cheeks bellowed and expanded as if he was trying to scream something out.
“Tell me!” I said urgently.
I heard a murmur in the hall, as if the spell holding the guards was beginning to weaken.
“Long ago the goblins were running rampant over the countryside, causing chaos everywhere,” said Ishmael. “Nothing could be settled, nothing could be calm, nothing could be quiet while they were around. It was like having too many children.”
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