The air was full of bird song and thick with sweet scents. Under different circumstances he would have enjoyed the experience, but instead his heart was in his mouth and he tried to creep through the brush as silently as possible.
The goblins seemed to have no such concerns. Even among the trees, Bobby could hear them from the road shouting at each other as they argued. At least it made it easy to keep track of them as he crept along.
The problem was that the foliage was too thick to see more than a dozen feet in any direction. How was he going to find his friends, even if they were nearby? Listening didn't help. Between the sound of the wind rustling the leaves, the birds singing constantly and the continued distant argument going on between the goblins, he couldn't distinguish one sound from another.
He kept a hand on his sword hilt as he ducked and weaved around the trees and bushes. The sheathe kept getting caught on branches and weeds and he grumbled irritably under his breath as he repeatedly tugged it free.
This thing might be more trouble than its worth, Bobby thought as he wiped off his forehead with the back of his hand. I'm not going to be fighting any goblins in this place, that's for sure.
He stopped suddenly. Somewhere ahead and to his left, deeper into the trees, he heard the snapping of twigs and the crunch of dry leaves. Something was making its way through the forest and it wasn't trying very hard to stay quiet.
Monster?
Bobby gulped nervously. There were a lot of things in the world now that were at least as dangerous as goblins. Was one of them nearby? Or was it a person? As dangerous as it might turn out to be, he had to know for sure.
It was tempting to just call out, but that would be suicidal. The goblins were still arguing off in the distance, but Bobby was well aware of just how keen their hearing was. They would absolutely hear him yell and then they would race straight at him without hesitation. That's just how they were.
No, he would have to move slowly and quietly toward the sounds and hope that, if it was a monster, he would see it before it saw him.
He snuck from tree to tree, sticking closely to the trunks as he followed the sound. As he got closer, the thrashing and sounds of movement suddenly stopped. Bobby froze. He looked around in fright, trying to see through the forest and spot anything unusual.
There was nothing beyond the normal greenery. He crouched down and continued to move forward. Whatever had been making noise may have left the area. Or was it listening as closely for him as he was for it? The bickering goblins sounded even louder and he had an insane urge to scream at them to just shut up.
You're losing it, man, he told himself. Stop stressing yourself out and kept going. Focus, Bobby, focus.
He rounded a massive tree trunk that was covered with thick moss and came face to face with a shadowy figure that appeared out of the shadows of the underbrush.
Bobby gasped and fumbled with his sword, trying clumsily to draw it and failing miserably.
“Bobby? Is that you?”
He stopped still and gaped as he recognized the voice.
“Jeremy?”
The short figure wrapped in layers of gray rags leaped at him and Bobby found himself desperately hugging his friend.
“It's you! It's you!” Jeremy kept mumbling as he embraced the larger man.
Bobby felt tears slip down his cheeks as he tried to accept the fact that one of his oldest friends was still alive. He patted Jeremy's back and tried to calm him down. The younger man was shaking like a leaf and breathing is short, painful gasps.
“Easy, Jer,” he said softy. “Easy. There are goblins not that far away. Try to catch your breath and keep the noise down.”
He felt Jeremy nodding where his head rested on Bobby's chest.
“I know. They've been chasing me all night. I was hoping that they'd give up when the sun came up, but they didn't. They really want me dead, Bobby.”
“Yeah, I know. They want all of us dead.”
He pushed his friend back gently and smiled at him.
“Would you please take those damned rags off of your head? How can you see or breathe inside of them? And why did you start wearing them again anyway?”
Jeremy stood still and Bobby heard him laugh a little.
“Habit. I just felt kind of naked without them. And you wore the same thing almost as long, you know,” he replied a bit defensively.
“Yeah, but I'm not wearing them anymore. They're going to get you killed, Jer. Wear the rest of them if you want to, but at least unwrap your head. Please.”
After a moment's hesitation, Jeremy sighed and nodded beneath his rags.
“Yeah, okay. Sorry. I put them on without really thinking about it and just kind of...forgot they were there.”
He began unwrapping the rags around his head and, when he was done, tossed them away.
His curls were plastered to his skull with sweat and his big brown eyes looked even larger as they were wide with fear.
“Ah, that feels so much better,” he murmured. “And smell that air. Awesome.”
He sucked in a deep breath and Bobby watched him with a delighted smile. For a moment, he almost forgot how much danger they were in, but the distant voices of the goblins rose angrily and he was snapped back to reality.
Jeremy gasped and he spun around to stare in the direction of the highway.
“What are those things doing?” he whispered fearfully.
“Arguing. I saw them a little while ago, while I was waiting for you and the others to show up. They have some kind of device that they are using to track you, but it looks like they're too stupid to use it effectively and they're lost your trail.”
“Thank God for that,” Jeremy said with some relief. “Can we go now please? Do you know where you are in all of this?”
He gestured at the thick forest around them.
“I'm totally lost. I just kept going west to try to get out of the city and reach the Diefenbunker somehow.”
He dug into his wrappings and pulled out a round object. He held it up and Bobby gaped at it. It was one of Sarah's communication stones.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was Miesha's. I...took it off of her body after we were attacked at our camp. I was the only one left alive.”
Jeremy's face twisted with grief.
“The one time that being small was a benefit. When the goblins came bursting into camp, I was in the bathroom. I looked out and saw everyone...”
He hesitated and a horrified expression crossed his face. Bobby gave his arm a gentle squeeze.
“I saw everyone slaughtered, Bobby,” Jeremy said in a ragged whisper. “Everyone. All of my friends. I squeezed into a crack in the wall, just outside of the bathroom, and when the goblins came looking, they passed right by me. I was lucky that I had wrapped up my head again, because in the darkness I blended into the shadows perfectly. After they had looted the place and left, howling and cheering, I crept out and...and took the stone from Miesha's body. I didn't know what else to do! I couldn't bury them. What if the damned goblins came back? I had to go.”
Bobby was frowning at him and Jeremy looked at him in confusion.
“What is it? Don't you believe me?”
Another shout echoed in the distance and both of them quickly crouched down, below the tops of the bushes around them.
“Of course I believe you, Jer, but this isn't making any sense. Sarah spoke with Miesha just last night. I know because I was there. She said that... Well, she said that your camp had been invaded by drakes and that you had been killed. And she told Sarah that everyone else was still alive and on the run.”
Jeremy shook his head as if trying to make sense of what he was hearing.
“What are you talking about? Bobby, Miesha and the others died early yesterday. I've been able to hear Rachel and a few of the other leaders through the magic stone, but I haven't been able to reach them or Sarah. That's how I knew that you two had made it to the bunker and that's why I came this wa
y. I don't know who Sarah was talking to, but it certainly wasn't Miesha. And I haven't seen any drakes. None. I heard the others mention them, but so far the only threat to me has been those goblins.”
Bobby thought hard. Was it possible that someone had impersonated Miesha and spoken to Sarah? That must be it. This was definitely Jeremy. He extended his magical senses toward his friend just to be sure. No, there was no feeling of danger. This wasn't some sort of doppelganger; it really was his old friend.
It had to have been one of the goblin magic-users, he reasoned. Who else? Which meant that they knew that Sarah and he were hiding out in the Diefenbunker. But there was no way that the damned creatures knew where that was. No way. And they couldn't be allowed to know either. If they found out, they would attack in force and no blast door would hold them back for long.
“It had to have been a goblin who spoke with Sarah,” Jeremy said, echoing Bobby's thoughts. “How did they do that?”
“No idea. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to using magic,” he replied. “But if those goblins on the road manage to track us back to the bunker, we are finished.”
Jeremy turned his head in the direction of the raised voices.
“So what should we do? Go deeper into the woods to lose them, maybe? If we head north for a few miles and then turn west, we might be able to reach the bunker undetected.”
Bobby thought about that and then nodded slowly.
“Yeah, I guess that's our only choice. Well, it's either that or kill them and I'm not good enough with this thing,” he tapped the sword hilt, “to fight them. Not yet anyway.”
“I was going to mention that new toy of yours,” Jeremy said with a faint smile. “Where'd you get it?”
“Long story. I'll tell you later. Come on, let's get the hell out of here. Stay low, slow and quiet and we'll try to lose those warriors. Let's hope they keep arguing for a while.”
The forest underbrush was thick, but the ground itself was level and made traveling a lot easier than it might have been. Bobby and Jeremy moved slowly and steadily away from the yelling goblins, staying below the level of the brush until the voices behind them could barely be heard. Then they stood up and broke into a jog, ducking around trees and bushes. Bobby led, keeping the still-rising sun on his right side to be sure that he was heading north.
Jeremy gamely kept up as best as he could, but within ten minutes or so, he called for Bobby to slow down.
“I'm sorry,” he gasped, sweat dripping from his chin. “I've been on the run all night and I just don't have the strength to move very quickly right now.”
“No worries,” Bobby quickly reassured him. “We've already put some space between us and the goblins. We can walk for now.”
“Thanks. Once I catch my breath, we'll run again if you want to.”
Bobby ruffled Jeremy's damp curls affectionately.
“Save your strength for when we really need it. Come on, let's keep moving.”
It was impossible to judge distances in the unending sea of green around them and Bobby had to take an educated guess when it came time to turn to the west.
“I have no idea how far north we've come,” he told Jeremy.
The pair had sat down to rest on the warm earth and the younger man had pulled up his knees and rested his forehead on them.
“But it has to be a few miles. If we go any further, I'm not sure if I'll be able to find the bunker again, at least not easily.”
“I'm just following along,” Jeremy replied, his voice muffled as he kept his head lowered. “Wherever you lead, I'll follow. Honestly, I have absolutely no idea where we are right now. All I know is that I'm safer with you than I am alone, so it's all good.”
Bobby looked at his friend and thought that he looked even smaller and more frail than usual, and he felt hugely protective of him all of a sudden.
God help the goblin who tries to hurt Jeremy, he thought fiercely. It will have to go through me first.
Before they cooled down and became too stiff, Bobby pushed himself to his feet and extended a hand to Jeremy.
“Come on, big guy. Let's get moving. If we stay here, those goblins might be able to track us. I'm thinking that maybe they lost you with whatever device they're using because you kept on the move.”
Jeremy looked up and grinned tiredly.
“First thing I've done right in a long time,” he said disparagingly as he stood up with Bobby's help.
“No, you survived. That was the first thing,” Bobby corrected him. “And I'm sure that it won't be the last. Let's go.”
With the sun at his back, Bobby led the way through the trees. The forest was teeming with bird song and the hum of insects and he found the sights and smells around him incredibly invigorating. He might have been a city boy, but he was learning that he loved nature. It was certainly a lot less scary than the goblins that were hunting them. He just wished that he'd learned more about it from Magnus before they'd had to flee the city. He hoped that one day they would meet again, under better circumstances.
Time passed and the sun rose past noon. Jeremy was visibly wilting in the heat of the day, even under the shelter of the trees, and even Bobby was starting to tire. But he noticed that the forest was beginning to thin out and suddenly the two of them emerged from the woods to find a cracked and broken length of pavement in front of them.
“Hey! Would you look at that!” he exclaimed with a wide grin.
Jeremy stopped and swayed in the bright sunshine, frowning down at the road as if he'd never seen one before.
“Huh. It's a street,” he said numbly. “Any idea where we are?”
Bobby laughed. He felt a little light-headed as a wave of relief washed over him. He turned Jeremy gently to the left and pointed at a distant low building.
“Recognize it?” he asked.
The teen squinted at the structure for a long moment.
“Wait. Is that...the bunker?”
“Absolutely. Finally, we got a little lucky. I must have been angling more to the southwest than I thought, We're practically there!”
Jeremy bent his head down and wiped his chin off on his chest.
“Good, 'cause I'm just about done, Bobby. If we had to walk much further, I might have passed out.”
“Well, don't do that, please. We're close but I'm not sure that I could carry you the rest of the way.”
He adjusted his sunglasses, nodded at Jeremy and led the way across the road.
“So how's Sarah doing, anyway?” Jeremy asked as he followed Bobby. “Sorry, I should have asked sooner.”
“Oh, she's fine. You know how tough she is. But I left her to sleep and came out to find you, or whoever else was approaching the bunker, because she was exhausted and needed her rest.”
“Really? And you think she'll be okay with that?” Jeremy sounded skeptical.
Bobby stopped and looked back at him.
“No, I think that she'll be mad as hell. But since the stones aren't working properly, Sarah's the only one who can reach all of the leaders and I thought it best if she stayed safe and coordinated things between them.”
“Hang on a second.”
Jeremy reached into his rags and pulled out the enchanted stone. He held it out on his palm.
“What do you mean the stones aren't working? I heard some of the others as plain as day with this one. Well, I heard Rachel, Eric and Caroline at least. And Sarah. But I don't know how to talk back to any of them.”
Bobby pointed at a small spiral etched into the stone.
“Sarah said that this symbol was wrong, that she cut it into the stones turning clockwise when it was supposed to be the other way around. Apparently that means that none of the stones can communicate with each other, they can only be used to talk to her.”
“Really? Huh. That's interesting. Too bad I can't even do that. I...”
Jeremy gasped and his hand twitched violently. He almost dropped the stone and then clutched it tightly between his fingers.
>
“What is it?” Bobby asked urgently.
“It's Eric! And Caroline. They're talking to Sarah.” Jeremy winced. “Yelling at her, actually. They're...wait.”
He stared down at the stone and Bobby saw his hand spasming as if the stone was suddenly electrified.
“They're running! Eric and Fani are being chased by a drake and Caroline and some of her friends have a troop of goblins on their tail.”
He looked at Bobby, wide-eyed.
“They say that they're close by, Bobby. Eric's on the highway coming from the city and Caroline is in the woods somewhere. Both of them sound pretty tired. We have to help them!”
They turned as one to stare down the side road toward the south. There was no movement in that direction, at least not yet, but if the Changlings were heading toward the bunker, they would have to cross that section of the road to reach it.
“You can't help them, Jer. Go, get to the building and call Sarah. She'll have to come up and stand by the blast door. Tell her that she'll need to be ready to close it as soon as everyone arrives.”
He gave his friend a little shove toward the building and Jeremy staggered a bit.
“But what are you going to do?” he asked.
Bobby loosened the sword in its sheathe.
“I'm going to find out how useful this blade really is. Now go.”
Jeremy didn't move. He seemed frozen by indecision and Bobby had to actually grab his shoulders and turn him to face the bunker.
“Damn it, Jer. Go! You're too exhausted to help with this. And I don't want to have to worry about you as well as the others.”
“Okay, Bobby. Good luck. And be careful!”
The teenager staggered off toward the distant building and Bobby began to run south along the road. He had no idea where anyone was, but he decided to get closer to the intersection where the highway and the side road met. It seemed the most logical place to go.
I've just traveled in a complete circle, he thought ruefully. It would be funny if the whole situation wasn't so dangerous.
The Changlings (The New Earth Chronicles Book 2) Page 23