Goblins on the Prowl

by Bruce Coville

  “Sorry. But that is the silliest story I have ever heard. And you were bad to disturb our lair with all that horrid light! Despite that, we are willing to let you pass.”

  “We didn’t know you were here. Until now I didn’t even know lindlings existed!”

  “We are all that is left of the dragons,” replied the lindling sadly. “Well, a few of the great ones may still be hiding in the mountains. But mostly they are gone.”

  “Gone?”

  “Earth is not as kind to dragons as it used to be. Most have fled to another world, through doors created by the wizard Bellenmore. We lindlings were left behind . . . too small to be noticed, I guess.”

  I wasn’t sure how to react to this. Though it seemed sad, I found it hard to get upset about a lack of giant, fire-breathing, town-destroying monsters. I decided not to say that. Instead I called to the others, “The ­lindlings have agreed to let us pass!”

  “How can we go on without wight?” Bwoonhiwda asked.

  It was a good question. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an answer.

  The lindling on my shoulder nipped my ear. “What did the big woman say?”

  I explained the problem.

  The lindling was silent for a moment, then said softly, “I could guide you.”

  “You wouldn’t mind?”

  “Actually, I would be glad to get away from the ­others for a while.” Dropping its voice, it added, “I do not really fit in here.”

  I wondered what it would take for a lindling not to fit in with its herd, or flock, or whatever a group of them was called. But I certainly understood not fitting in. And I couldn’t think of any better way for us to go forward.

  I explained the creature’s offer to the others. They agreed it was our best chance to get to Nilbog now that our torches were out.

  “What’s your name?” I asked the lindling.

  “Sterngrim the Awesome!”

  I had to resist laughing. “Isn’t that kind of a big name for someone your size?”

  “We are dragons!” Sterngrim replied proudly. “We may be tiny in size, but we are mighty in our hearts!”

  “With a name like that, I take it you’re a male.”

  “I most certainly am not! I am a female, and far more fierce than my brothers. Do not be rude to me unless you wish to lose an ear.”

  I promised to be careful, and Sterngrim positioned herself on my shoulder. Actually, she started out on my head, but her claws were like needles in my scalp, and I asked her to move down. Once we had that arranged, we set out, this time with me in the lead.

  Because of the total darkness, it was safer to stay connected. So Bwoonhiwda kept her left hand on my shoulder. Herky walked beside me, holding my hand. Igor had to be last, of course, because no one was allowed to touch his hump. Bwoonhiwda had him hold on to one of her braids, but warned him not to pull it or she would clonk him.

  We had not gone more than ten steps when Sterngrim said, “Curve coming up!”

  I repeated this for the others.

  “Keep one hand in front of you,” Sterngrim said. I did as she told me. When my hand touched stone, I felt around a bit, then called, “We’re turning to the right.”

  Our progress was slow and frustrating. Twice we had to slide down slick slopes. This was scary because I had no idea how long the slopes were, or what was at the bottom. Also, we had to let go of one another to do it.

  It was the same when we had to climb a crumbly patch, which took two hands. Since we were moving in complete darkness, I didn’t know when I might suddenly put my hand down on nothing. It happened twice. The second time Bwoonhiwda grabbed my foot just before I went over an edge.

  My scream echoed around us for a long time.

  The worst moment came when we reached another of those stone bridges. No way was I going to walk across the thing when I couldn’t even see it! I got on my hands and knees to crawl, sliding each hand forward to make sure there was always solid stone beneath my fingers. I could hear rushing water below but had no idea if it was five feet down or five hundred.

  Finally Sterngrim said, “We have reached the far side.”

  I crawled forward another several feet before I was willing to stand again. Then we re-formed our line and moved on.

  Since I couldn’t consult my watch, I have no idea how long we traveled this way.

  It felt like forever.

  “Narrow ledge!” warned Sterngrim suddenly. “Hug the wall on your left so you don’t fall off.”

  I passed the word to the others, then pressed my back to the wall. I swept my foot sideways before each step to make sure I had a solid place to stand. More than once I could feel where the ledge ended and the drop-off began.

  We had been traveling this way for several minutes when a voice next to my ear said, “Boy, it’s really dark down here!”

  I screamed and jumped, nearly falling off the ledge. My scream startled the others, and I heard them cry out too. Fortunately, I didn’t hear the long, drawn-out wail of someone falling into an abyss.

  “Werdolphus!” I exclaimed. “Next time you’re going to do that, warn me!”

  “How could I warn you? The only way I could let you know I was here was by talking to you. What did you want me to say? ‘Warning, warning, I’m about to say something’? It’s not like I sneaked up on you and shouted ‘BOO!’” He chuckled at the thought. “Good thing I didn’t think of that, or I might have. Would have been pretty funny.”

  “It probably would have killed me!”

  “There are worse things that could happen,” the ghost replied.

  It was one of those times when, if he hadn’t been dead already, I would have been tempted to kill him.

  “Fauna all right?” asked Igor.

  “I will be when my heart stops pounding.”

  “I didn’t have to come back, you know,” Werdolphus said, sounding cranky. “I just wanted to bring you a news report.”

  “Can it wait until after we get off this ledge?”

  “I suppose so.”

  When Sterngrim finally announced that we were on safe ground, I said, “All right. Now you can talk to me.”

  But before he could speak, Bwoonhiwda said, “What took you so wong? I thought you could come and go instantwy.”

  “Getting there quickly didn’t mean finding Karl quickly. In fact, I didn’t find him at all.”

  “Did something happen to him?” I asked.

  “He finally located the information he needed.”

  “If you didn’t talk to him, how do you know that?”

  “He left a letter for me. And Hulda filled in the details.” He sighed. “It’s odd to be dead and watch someone you knew when you were alive get older and older, while you stay the same.”

  “What letter say?” Igor demanded.

  “Turns out you should have brought the book and the mirror with you. According to Hulda, once Karl figured that out, he grabbed his hair and started walking in circles. She said his language was absolutely shocking.”

  “So why wasn’t he there?” I asked.

  “Because he packed up the book, strapped the mirror to his back, and set out to find us.”

  This startled me, and made me wonder if there was more to Karl than I had thought.

  “How is he pwanning to find us?” Bwoonhiwda asked. “He has no idea wheah we ah!”

  “Actually, he does. When I went back the first time, I told him we were heading for the giant’s cave. He acted like that was a crazy idea, of course. But according to Hulda, after I left, he searched the library and found a map showing the way to John’s.”

  “What will he do once he gets there?” I asked.

  “How should I know?”

  “Well, can’t you go back and help him?”

  “Of course not. I can only go two place
s—the ­castle and wherever Bwoonhiwda is with that cannonball. I have to travel in a straight line between them. I can move around a bit only when I am near one or the other.”

  Could Karl carry enough torches? Could he get past the lindlings? Could he find the way without a lindling to guide him? It seemed impossible that he could find us. So if we really needed the mirror and the book, we had lost already.

  Then I realized I wasn’t just worried about the book and the mirror.

  I was worried about Karl.

  I frowned. I was starting to care about too many people.

  Since there was nothing else to do, we started out again. After what felt like a million years, a dim glow appeared ahead of us. At first I wondered if my eyes were so desperate for light that they were imagining it. Then I realized it must be the glowing fungus.

  As we walked on, the yellow-green light grew more distinct.

  “Almost to Nilbog!” Herky whispered excitedly.

  Before long I could see the walls of the tunnel.

  “Wait here,” said Sterngrim. “I want to check on what’s ahead.”

  When she fluttered off my shoulder, I got my first look at a lindling. Her snaky body was as thick as my wrist and almost as long as my arm. She had four short legs, with two bat-like wings sprouting from above the front pair. Her tail switched back and forth as she flew. That was all I could see, though. The light was too dim to make out what color she was, or any small details.

  In a moment she was out of sight. I couldn’t tell if the light was too low or if she had gone around a curve. As I began to wonder if she had simply abandoned us, I heard a shrill cry.

  “Let me go. Let me go!”

  It was Sterngrim, and she sounded terrified.

  I raced forward. I can’t say why I cared so much what happened to her. I hadn’t known her that long. But she had guided us safely through the dark, so I felt that I owed her something.

  There was indeed a curve in the tunnel. Rounding it, I entered a cave lit by large patches of glowing ­fungus.

  On the far side of the cave, about twenty feet away, was the opening to another tunnel. At the mouth of that tunnel I saw two things in the fungal light.

  One was a creature that looked something like a goblin but was much bigger than any goblin should be.

  The other was Sterngrim, writhing desperately in the monster’s fat-fingered hands.

  Never have humans and goblins worked together better and more closely than when we collaborated to seal the Pit of Thogmoth. It was our greatest achievement.

  —Stanklo the Scribbler

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  WONGO

  I pulled out my knife and rushed forward, crying, “Let that lindling go!”

  The creature holding Sterngrim looked at me in surprise. “Why?”

  He sounded as if he had gravel in his throat.

  Without thinking, I replied, “Because she’s my friend!”

  I was right in front of him now. He was more than twice my height, dull gray in color, and hairless as the cannonballs that the Baron collected. Though the creature had pointed ears and a nose like a giant potato, up close he looked less like a goblin and more like what he really was: a troll.

  Gazing down at me, he laughed. “And why, small and incautious human, should I care that this vermin is your friend?”

  “Because she is my knife’s friend too!” I said, holding up my blade. I was acting more bravely than I felt, but I had long ago learned that this can be useful in a bad situation.

  It didn’t impress the troll, though. “Oh,” he said mockingly, “that makes all the difference! I quiver in terror at your awesome blade.”

  I didn’t want to stab him if I could avoid it.

  So I punched him in the knee.

  “OWWWW! That was uncalled-for, you oddly aggressive young female!”

  “It was compwetewy appwopwiate!” bellowed Bwoon­hiwda. I was delighted to see that she and Igor were now beside me. She had one braid in her hand and was twirling it around her head. “Wet that windwing go oh face my wath!”

  “Your what?”

  “My wath! My wath! My mighty wage!”

  “I think she means she’s going to clobber you with that cannonball,” I explained.

  The troll sighed and released his grip on Sterngrim. She fluttered over and landed on my shoulder. I could feel her trembling.

  “You strange assortment of people are remarkably nasty,” said the troll. “I am simply trying to perform my designated task.”

  “What task is that?” I asked.

  The troll straightened his shoulders. “I am Troll Wongo! With stony fortitude I guard this entrance to Nilbog. No one may pass unless he, she, or it has good reason.”

  “We got reason!” Igor roared, shaking his bear at the troll. “We got to get William!”

  Wongo blinked. “Do you mean the William, you odd and hairy personage? The boy hero who released the goblins from their horrid captivity?”

  “Yes, that William!” I shouted. “I’m his friend.”

  “Herky William’s friend too!” cried the little goblin, darting out from behind Igor.

  “Herky and Igor and I were with William when he healed the king,” I told the troll. “We all helped.”

  “That right!” Igor bellowed, waving his bear over his head. “Igor and goblins friends now!”

  The troll bowed. “I blossom with apologies. If I had known you were friends of the William, I would not have obstructed you. Besides, I didn’t realize you had a goblin with you. Anyone with a goblin escort, however small and annoying that goblin may be, is allowed to enter Nilbog. Yet even had I known all this, still would I have apprehended that winged messenger of darkness now perched upon your shoulder. Why in the name of feldspar and granite are you traveling with a pest like that?”

  Sterngrim hissed. I wondered if she had understood his words or was simply still angry.

  “She’s my friend,” I repeated. “She guided us through the darkness.”

  “You cannot be friends with a winged lindling. They are nasty, crawly, mindless vermin spawned in the Pit of Thogmoth.”

  “That sound bad,” said Igor.

  “Sterngrim, would you please prove to this troll that we are friends?” I asked.

  “What would you like me to do?”

  “Why don’t you fly over and poop on his head.”

  “Good idea!”

  With a flap of her wings, Sterngrim lifted away. Though the troll couldn’t understand her replies, he had certainly understood what I was saying. When Sterngrim started in his direction, he wrapped his thick-fingered hands over his bald gray head and shouted, “All right. I believe you! Call the winged menace back!”

  “You sure you don’t want more proof?” I asked, trying not to smile as Sterngrim circled above him. “I can offer it.”

  “No, that was sufficient.”

  Like the troll, Sterngrim could understand only half of what was being said. “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

  I motioned for her to return to my shoulder. Once she was back, she whispered into my ear, “Wish you had not stopped me. He had a good head-poop coming.”

  “I agree. But we still need to get past him.”

  The troll squatted, which put him at about eye level with us, and asked, “What has happened to the William?”

  I was surprised by the concern in his gravelly voice.

  Quickly I explained how the stone toad had come to life and carried William into Nilbog. I left it at that. I didn’t think he needed to know about the Black Stone of Borea. In fact, it seemed better to keep that matter a secret.

  Wongo pulled on his big gray lower lip and ­nodded. “Word of a stone toad of bizarre size entering ­Nilbog did reach me here at my tragically isolated outpost. However, I was not
told that said creature carried the William with it. You may pass, of course. However, I feel I should warn you there is trouble in Nilbog.”

  “What kind of twubble?” Bwoonhiwda asked.

  “As you likely know, you obstreperous, warlike, and probably dangerous female, the spirits of the goblins were long imprisoned in Toad-in-a-Cage Castle. When they were released, they were so joyful that at first they overlooked the problems that had overtaken Nilbog during their time of captivity.”

  “What pwobwems would those be?”

  “If you leave a place for over a hundred years, it will decline and decay. It wasn’t the goblins’ fault they’d been gone, of course, but Nilbog is crumbling. The bridges are weak, and two have fallen. The roads are pitted with holes deep enough to swallow a goblin the size of the one you carry. Even worse, the places where they grow food—the great fungus caverns, the wonderful lizard farms—are in bad shape. The goblins are unhappy. And unhappy goblins are never a good thing. I have heard rumors of young goblins, scamps, prowling the far caverns . . . and more rumors that they have been lured to this by some wicked but compelling person. I will let you pass, but I cannot ­guarantee your safety if you go on.”

  “The city was filled with joy just last year,” I said. “How could things get so bad so fast?”

  Wongo shrugged again. “Anyone who thinks about it would know that these problems grew over a long time, and so will take a long time to undo. But many do not think. Instead, they quiver with impatience and demand that problems be fixed at once, no matter how long they took to develop.” He paused, then said softly, “Also, a few of us suspect that the same dark force that has been luring away the scamps is spreading lies and rumors to make things worse.”

  “That’s horrible,” I said. “Even so, dangerous or not, we still have to find William.”

  The troll nodded solemnly. “I agree. You must get the William. But do you know where he is? Nilbog is a big place.”

  “We do not,” I admitted unhappily.

  Wongo stroked his chin, then said, “Though I hesitate to suggest such a drastic course, perhaps you should pay a visit to Flegmire.”

  With a cry of despair Herky flung himself forward. He wrapped his arms around Wongo’s right leg and burst into tears, wailing, “Noooooo! Don’t make Herky go to Flegmire!”