by A. Giannetti
“The noise we will make, thrashing about in the dark with no light, will give us away too,” Tullius objected, but Julian agreed with Balbus and closed the cover of the mage lamp, plunging them into darkness. They continued on at a slower pace, tripping over roots and bumping into trees, as Tullius had feared they would, for the sudden absence of light had left them nearly blind. The walls of the ravine continued to rise, and the trees that grew on its sides completely blocked out the faint light of the stars so that they seemed to be walking through a black tunnel.
Carbo suddenly growled softly. “From the way Carbo is acting, we must be close to the kidnappers,” whispered Balbus.
“We should go for more help,” said Tullius worriedly. “Who knows how many of them are laired up here in this dark place.”
“There is no time,” said Balbus determinedly, for he was afraid the Goblins would not keep the children alive for long. “Let us quietly slip up on them and then rush out all together. With the element of surprise on our side and Carbo to help us, we may succeed in chasing them off.” Balbus did not mention it out loud, but he also hoped that Tullius might aid them with a few potent spells if they were needed.
Julian also wished to attempt a rescue immediately, and outvoted two to one, Tullius followed reluctantly along as they continued to follow the bank of the stream. They went slowly so as to avoid making noise, but still they stubbed their toes on rocks, and Julian almost had a tree branch put out his right eye. To Elerian, following along behind them, they seemed to be making a hideous racket, and he grew increasingly nervous, for he had also seen the booted footprints by the stream bank. Carbo grew increasingly agitated, but Balbus, who was in the lead with his left hand tucked under Carbo’s collar to prevent him running off, still saw no sign of the Goblins or any camp. A sudden, loud crack caused the rescuers to freeze in their tracks. Julian had inadvertently stepped on a dry stick. The men unconsciously held their breaths as they waited in the dark, wondering if the sound had given them away.
Inside the cave, Bruscius froze when he heard the stick break, his knife blade a hair’s breadth from Flavian’s shrinking flesh. Without a word, he and Hagar gagged both of the children and arming themselves with their knives, slipped silently out of the cave.
The three men heard nothing to alarm them and resumed their slow advance. Suddenly, something moved under their feet, and thin, strong cords whipped into the air, writhing around them like snakes and drawing them together and binding them even as they struggled to escape. Pressed tightly together, the three men, with Carbo between them, finally lost their balance and toppled over all together, falling heavily to the ground even as wicked laughter rang out on either side of them.
CAPTURED
Julian was knocked unconscious when he struck a rock with the back of his head, but Balbus, Tullius, and Carbo fared better, for Julian cushioned their fall. They fought wildly to escape the net, but the more they struggled, the more the strands of the net tightened around them. Soon, the cruel cords pressing against their chests scarcely allowed them to breathe.
“Stop moving,” shouted Tullius in a panicked voice to Balbus, “else we shall be strangled by the cords. This is no ordinary net.” The two men immediately froze, and Carbo, who was trapped between them, whined softly.
“Caught them all, like fish in a net,” said Bruscius gleefully from out of the darkness surrounding the men. “I set the net when I returned from checking the mantraps,” he said to Hagar. “I thought a trap set here by the entrance to the cave might prove useful.”
“And so it has,” said Hagar. “You have made a fine catch.”
A moment later, the two Goblins appeared next to the net, and together, they leaned over their captives to gloat. Because of the darkness, Balbus and Tullius saw the Goblins only as shadowy figures, but their eyes shone in the darkness like burning embers, giving them a nightmarish appearance. Frightened, bewildered, and barely able to breath, Balbus and Tullius stared up at the indistinct figures of the Goblins, desperately racking their brains to come up with some way to escape the net. Carbo responded to the presence of the Goblins with a fierce growl and struggled to reach them until Bruscius kicked him heavily in the face, wringing a painful yelp from the brave animal.
“I will teach you to behave properly soon enough, you nasty creature,” said Bruscius angrily, for Goblins despised dogs. At that moment, Hagar, who was still bent over the captives, recognized Balbus.
“We have caught the farmer who lives at the end of the lane, Bruscius. Perhaps we should go back for his brat too,” he said with a laugh that sent a chill through Balbus as he imagined Elerian in the clutches of these awful creatures.
“Perhaps later,” said Bruscius absently, for his attention was focused on Tullius. “The other one has the look of a mage, Hagar,” he said after a moment.
“He cannot harm us as long as his staff is out of his reach,” said Hagar indifferently, for the net, either by chance or by design, had wrenched Tullius’s staff from his hand. No matter how the mage strained, he could not get even a finger on it. Hagar laughed at his struggles. “These human mages are helpless without their wooden props,” he said to Bruscius contemptuously.
Tullius knew that he and his friends were in desperate straits, but his anger got the better of his fear at that point. “If I once get out of this net, I will show you how helpless I am,” he shouted angrily, but the Goblins laughed in his face. They knew his threat was a hollow one unless he could somehow reach his staff. Amused by Tullius’s anger, Hagar reached out and gave Tullius’s beard a sharp tug through the cords of the net, then laughed again at the mage’s roar of anger.
Occupied with tormenting Tullius, neither of the Goblins saw a small, shadowy figure slip by behind their backs. Because Elerian had kept well back from Balbus and the others, he had not fallen victim to the net. From behind a tree, he had watched angrily as Bruscius struck Carbo and Hagar baited Tullius, but young as he was, he knew enough not to rush out at the Goblins empty handed. Instead, Elerian decided to steal past the Goblins. If they had a camp nearby, he could search it for a weapon to help him rescue Balbus and Tullius.
Once he was safely past the Goblins, Elerian quickly discovered the blanket the Urucs had hung over the cave entrance. After a quick glance to make sure the Goblins were not looking his way, he slipped noiselessly past the blanket. Once inside the cave, Elerian’s eyes were immediately drawn to the two children lying against the left hand wall of the cave. They watched him with frightened eyes as he put a finger over his lips to indicate that they should remain quiet. He then turned his attention to the fire burning in the center of the cave. Seizing two burning branches from out of the fire, one in each of his small hands, Elerian pushed boldly past the blanket with a grim look in his bright eyes.
Bruscius was now squatting down in front of Tullius, and Hagar was bent over next to him on his right side with a knife in his hand. Strangled cries were coming from the mage. Bruscius was trying to pry open his mouth through the cords of the net so that Hagar could cut out Tullius’s tongue with his knife. They had tired of Tullius’s threats and meant to silence him permanently.
While the Goblins were occupied with Tullius, Elerian ran toward them on silent feet. Before they became aware of him, he set one torch on the ground and lifting the back of Bruscius’s leather shirt; firmly thrust the smaller brand into the back of his trousers. When the fiery end of the branch scorched his flesh and set his pants to smoldering, Bruscius let go of Tullius’s beard and sprang high into the air with a terrifying screech. With a swift, sure movement, Elerian snatched up the second torch. When Hagar turned toward him, still bent over, Elerian struck the Goblin heavily in the face with the flaming branch.
Stunned by the heavy blow and quite blinded for a moment from the flames which had singed his eyebrows and scorched his face and cheeks, Hagar dropped his knife and staggered back. Before the Goblin could recover, Elerian swung the stout branch a second time with all his strength,
striking Hagar painfully on his left shin. Hagar howled in pain and losing his balance completely, fell heavily onto his back.
Without giving him a chance to recover, Elerian began beating him on the head and chest with the burning branch until Hagar, his shirt and hair both smoldering by now, was overcome with pain and panic. Partially blinded by the flames of the torch, he had no idea who his attacker was, and thinking only of escape, he scrambled to his feet and ran up the side of the ravine, caroming heavily off of trees he could barely see. By this time, Bruscius had succeeded in pulling the still burning brand from his pants, but not before they and the back of his shirt caught fire. He swatted frantically at the flames for a moment with his hands, then ran and sat with a great splash in a pool formed by the small stream which flowed through the ravine. The cold water put out his burning pants and soothed his scorched flesh, but his relief was short lived. As soon as Hagar disappeared, Elerian ran up behind Bruscius and commenced to strike him on the head and shoulders with his flaming branch. His strength far exceeded that of a human child the same age, and the blows that landed on the Goblin’s head stunned Bruscius and addled his wits.
Unaware of the diminutive size of his attacker, Bruscius shot out of the water with a loud yell and fled up the side of the ravine in the same direction taken by Hagar. Elerian followed in hot pursuit, determined not to let a second Goblin escape him. As he ran, he felt something stir inside of him. The power which he had used to heal Carbo came to life once more. When the fleeing Bruscius paused to look back over his shoulder to get a glimpse of his attacker, he did not see a small child who did not even stand as high as his waist. Instead, he saw a great, burly, bearded fellow with flashing eyes and a tremendous burning brand in his right hand right at his heels. With a startled yell, Bruscius turned away, stumbling slightly in his panic. Before the Goblin could regain his footing, Elerian thrust his flaming torch into the hole he had already burned through Bruscius’s trousers. With a howl of pain, the Goblin scrambled over the lip of the ravine. Once he reached level ground, Bruscius made a tremendous leap away from Elerian and increasing his speed so that he fairly flew over the ground, fled into the forest, leaving Elerian far behind.
Disappointed that both Goblins had escaped him, Elerian stopped and had one quick glimpse of the illusion covering him before it vanished. Confused by the brief change wrought by his power but feeling quite proud of himself for chasing off the Goblins, Elerian returned to where the net still held Tullius and Balbus prisoners in its magical cords. A gleam that could have been laughter filled his bright eyes at the sight of Balbus and Tullius trussed closely together in the net with Carbo’s head sticking out from between the two of them. The two men were only able to move their eyes at this point. Both their faces registered surprise as they got their first look at their rescuer.
Forgetting for a moment that Elerian could not understand him, Balbus said sharply, “Elerian, you should not be here!”
Before he could say anymore, he was interrupted by Tullius. “You can reprimand the boy later,” said Tullius hastily. “See if you can free us from this net, my boy,” he said anxiously to Elerian.
Elerian did not understand the words of either man, but it was easy enough for him guess what Tullius wanted. Setting his burning stick on the ground, he picked up the knife Hagar had dropped when he fled and raised his right hand to cut the net. A corded section immediately shot out like a live thing and missed encircling his hand by a whisker as Elerian leaped back just in time. The net tightened even more around its four captives, and they groaned in pain.
Elerian felt his power stir again and suddenly saw each strand of the net suffused with a red glow. Instinctively, he raised his left hand. A small golden orb left his fingertips and shot toward the net, enveloping each strand in a film of golden light that concealed the red glow. None of this was visible to the men trapped in the net, but suddenly, they felt the strands holding them relax a little. Balbus and Tullius both sucked their breath in with fear as Elerian slashed the strands of the net with several quick, sure strokes of his knife that brought the keen blade uncomfortably close to their faces and limbs. As the severed cords fell away from the captives, Carbo sprang away first. A moment later, Balbus and Tullius scrambled free, dragging Julian with them. Elerian quickly set fire to the remnants of the net which twisted and curled like live things as the fire burned them to harmless ash.
“Well done Elerian, you have saved us all,” said Balbus, his earlier anger forgotten. He scooped up Elerian and gave him a fierce hug. Meanwhile, Tullius helped Julian, who had finally revived from the blow he had suffered to his head, back to his feet. Julian was amazed to see Elerian, and Balbus hastily explained that the boy had followed them, keeping just out of their sight.
Before Julian could ask any more questions, Elerian wriggled free of Balbus’s arms and then pulled him insistently toward the cave, which the men still could not see on account of the blanket hung over the entrance. When Elerian pulled aside the concealing blanket, all three men rushed inside and quickly freed the two children. At first they feared the worst, for Fabia and Flavian made no sound or movement when they were freed from their restraints, but it was fear that held them motionless not death. A moment later, they were both swept up into the arms of their delighted father. Once they understood that they were safe once more, they related to the three men how they had come to be captured.
“When we reached the cave,” said Flavian in a frightened voice, “they pulled us from the sacks and took our silver. Luckily, one of them set out to check some traps they had set; otherwise, I think they would have killed us at once. They were going to eat us after they killed us,” he said in a horrified voice.
The men listened in sympathetic silence to the children’s story. “I would not be too hard on them,” said Balbus to Julian when they were done talking. “The Goblins used enchantments on them that might have deceived those far older than themselves.”
While Julian stood watch with his children by his side, Balbus and Tullius burned all of the Goblins’ possessions in the fire, except for two knives which Balbus broke into pieces with a large rock. He then threw the handles and shattered blades into the fire.
“Hopefully we are leaving them unarmed and without any possessions other than the clothes on their backs,” he said to Tullius. “We can return with men and dogs at first light to hunt them down.”
“I will have something to say to those two if we succeed in laying our hands on them,” said Tullius grimly.
While the two men were engaged in throwing the Goblins’ belongings into the fire, Elerian saw something small fall out of one of the Goblins’ packs onto the cave floor, unnoticed by the men or the two children. Curiously, he picked up the object and saw that it was a small black leather purse with an intricate silver clasp. It appeared empty, but he opened the silver clasp and thrust his small hand inside anyway. At the bottom of the purse, Elerian felt his fingers touch something cool and round. His fingers emerged from the purse clutching a bright silver ring. Delighted with the shining thing, he set it on the third finger of his left hand and watched, curiously, as it shrank to fit his finger. He felt an odd, not unpleasant tingle in his hand, but promptly forgot the ring when he reached into the purse again and brought out several gleaming silver coins. When Balbus finally took notice of Elerian, sitting by himself in a corner of the cave, Julian’s mage lamp showed him with a bright pile of silver coins heaped up at his feet. As the three men and Julian’s children watched in amazement, Elerian continued to pull coins from the purse, adding them to the pile.
“This must be the source of the silver that was used to lure the children,” said Balbus. Even after watching Elerian pull out the coins, he found it difficult to accept that the purse could have held such a large pile of silver. Elerian cheerfully surrendered the purse when Balbus asked for it. Balbus looked inside, but it appeared empty. When his fingers probed around the bottom, however, they came up with another silver coin.
“Yes, keep it Balbus,” chimed in Julian. “If I had them, I would give you ten such purses as a reward for saving my children.” Julian, of course, had no idea that it was Elerian who had saved them all, and Tullius and Balbus thought it best not to enlighten him since they did not want to draw attention to the boy and the remarkable way in which he had driven off the Goblins.
Balbus refilled the purse with the coins Elerian had heaped onto the floor, watching the bright silver vanish as if dropped into a deep hole. When he was done, Balbus uneasily put the seemingly empty change purse into a pocket. He had never felt any desire to be wealthy, and the purse had belonged to Goblins, something he was not entirely comfortable with. None of the men noticed the ring Elerian now wore, and Elerian did not mention it for fear of having to give it up along with the purse.
As they prepared to leave, Carbo’s whining led them to the side of the ravine where the dog had made a grim discovery. Heaped carelessly near the base of a large tree was a pile of clean picked bones and ragged clothing.
“These are the remains of the three men who disappeared over the last few days, I will warrant,” said Tullius.
“Should we pursue the Goblins now?” Balbus asked angrily. “There are only two of them, and Carbo can track them even in the dark.”
“No,” said Tullius positively. “They may be unarmed and wounded but remember, Goblins can see in the dark whereas we cannot. If we follow them into the forest, they may still turn the tables on us. We are better off returning in the morning with more men and dogs to track them as you suggested before.”