Goblinwraith

by Tamara Grantham

  And yet as I reached for him, I couldn’t seem to stop.

  “You look beautiful,” he said, and then he slowly kissed my knuckles, his lips soft and warm. A shiver ran through my body. What would his lips feel like pressed against mine?

  He spoke with such grace—an old-world charm that was long forgotten. His voice’s seductive edge drew me to him. I couldn’t look away as he straightened and led me inside the softly lit restaurant. The serene ambiance seemed to come from everywhere—from the bouquets of white roses, to the quartet of musicians playing stringed instruments.

  Maveryck led me to a small, cloth-covered table and politely pulled out a chair for me. In Faythander, I would have likely pulled my sword on any man offering me a seat, but since I was in Earth Kingdom, and since none of my kinsfolk was here to see me, I didn’t argue. I hardly felt like myself. In fact, I felt at peace, yet at the same time, vulnerable. Conflicting emotions warred within me, and I wasn’t sure which would win.

  Maveryck took his seat across from me. Everything on the table seemed to gleam, from the porcelain plates, the knives and forks, and the crystal glasses.

  “How do you like it here?” Maveryck asked me.

  I shrugged. “It’s a bit too lavish for my taste.”

  “I see.” He sipped his water.

  “Everything is too fragile. I feel as if I might break something.”

  “It’s not so terrible, is it?”

  “Maybe not for you.” I eyed him. He seemed overly comfortable in this world. It was time he gave me answers. “How do you fit in so easily? For that matter—who are you? You’ve the features and clothing of an elf but the ears of a human. Where do you come from?”

  “I suppose I am somewhat of an enigma, aren’t I?”

  A server arrived with a basket of bread and bottle of wine. He spoke to Maveryck in a strange language, and Maveryck responded. I had no choice but to sit and listen, hoping that whatever Maveryck had chosen for me to eat would be edible. I doubted boarhound was on the menu.

  After the server left, Maveryck turned his attention back to me. “So, you want to know who I am, do you?”

  “Yes. I believe our quest would go more smoothly if I knew who I was working with.”

  “Very well.” He sat back. “I was born to Wult parents, though I had an elven grandmother. My parents were killed, and I was adopted by a noble elven family, but their ways didn’t suit me, so I set off on my own. I’ve been alone since then. Well, except for Grace.”

  “I’m not sure the wolf counts as a companion.”

  “She does to me.”

  “Fair enough.” I ate a small bite of bread. “Why did you leave the elves?”

  He shrugged. “Differences of opinion, mostly.”

  “Have you ever wanted to go back?”

  He gave me a bemused smile, as if he knew something I didn’t. “I suppose I’ve thought of it from time to time, but I’ve always felt more comfortable on my own. Someone with a reputation like mine can’t afford too many attachments.”

  “Because you’re a thief?”

  “Because I’m dangerous.”

  It was my turn to smile. “Hardly.”

  “You don’t believe so?”

  “No. I’ve seen the way you fight.”

  The server came back, this time with two dishes of food. He placed one plate in front of me and the other in front of Maveryck, gave us a polite smile, and then walked away. I stared at my food and then picked up the fork and poked the tentacles doused in white sauce.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “Calmar au citron. Squid with lemon in a white wine sauce. It’s quite good. You should try it.”

  Being trained in survival, I’d learned never to turn down a meal, but this was pushing it. I took a small bite of the rubbery appendage, and though I was prepared to spit it out, it tasted flavorful.

  “It’s not bad. At least it’s better than my sister’s cooking.”

  “I’ll take that to mean you like it.”

  “Don’t push it.” I took a larger bite followed by a sip of water. “Tell me, have you been able to work out a way to retrieve the staff and get us off this planet?”

  “I’m still working on the details, but I think I’ve come up with something.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “This is what I know so far. When we fought the wraith in Faythander, the staff interacted with the reflection in the ice and created a portal. I’m not sure how this happened exactly, as magic does not usually work without a practitioner, but the staff most likely has properties we don’t understand. Whatever the case, we are now in Earth Kingdom with no way back.”

  I sighed. “Then how are we to get home?”

  “I know of only one way. We must find an existing portal here in Earth Kingdom, and the closest portal I know of exists on a small island just south of the coast of Montpellier, France.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I, eh…” He cleared his throat. “I’ve researched the subject of portals a few times—in the past.”

  “Where did you come by this knowledge?”

  “It’s not important.”

  “It is if you want me to follow you.”

  He rubbed his forehead. “Why do you need to know?”

  “Because I need to be able to trust you.”

  “I assure you, I speak the truth when I say there is a portal on the island I speak of. Where I get my information is not important. You can trust me.”

  I avoided meeting his gaze. The truth was I wasn’t sure I could trust anyone ever again. I’d seen too much and heard too many lies. Someone like Maveryck would never understand.

  “I will never trust you,” I told him. “I can’t.”

  “You can’t or you don’t want to?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe both.”

  This was bad on so many levels. I couldn’t trust him, and he refused to tell me the truth. Maybe it didn’t matter if I could trust him or not—what ultimately mattered was finding the staff and escaping this planet. Once I crossed through the portal, all the memories of my time spent on this planet would be erased and I would no longer have to work with him. Perhaps I’d been worrying too much all along.

  I returned my focus to Maveryck. “Tell me again where the portal is?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I thought you couldn’t trust me.”

  “I’ve decided it doesn’t matter. Tell me where the portal is so we can get this over with and go home.”

  He scanned my face, his eyes intense, as if he could see my thoughts. “Very well,” he said finally. “The portal is located on an island near the coast of Montpellier. We entered through a portal in the catacombs, most likely because they are a place connected to Earth magic. However, we need a portal connected with Faythander magic, so returning the way we came isn’t possible. We need to get to Montpellier, and we need to get there soon. I don’t know where the wraith is now, but like us, he will also be looking for a way back.”

  “How far are we from the portal?”

  “About a half day’s journey if we take Earth Kingdom’s Eurail. Once we get to Montpellier, we’ll have to find a boat in order to cross the ocean to the island. It won’t be easy, and we’ll most likely be trailed by the wraith.”

  “That’s something I don’t understand,” I said. “Why is he bothering to trail us at all? Why doesn’t he just create a portal by using the staff and go back to Faythander?”

  “Because he most likely only has enough magic to fuel the staff in this world. He is stuck here as well and must find a portal back to Faythander.” Maveryck leaned forward, locking his eyes with mine. “You need to understand something about this wraith,” his voice grew quiet, yet urgent. “The silverwitch transforms many people who come into contact with her, but because of their reclusive nature, she has only been able to transform a few goblins.

  “Transformed goblins are unlike other wraiths.
They’re smart, stealthy, and they’ll attack when you least expect it. A goblin wraith in Earth Kingdom is even more dangerous.

  “I’ve only encountered a goblin wraith one other time in my life, and he left me with this.” He removed his jacket, unbuttoned his cuff, and pushed up his sleeve to reveal a scar cutting across his forearm. “This is one of many scars he left me with. Honestly, it was a miracle he didn’t kill me.”

  “I agree. I’ve seen the way you fight.”

  He frowned. “Why do you insist on insulting me? I’ll have you know my dueling skills are unequaled.”

  “Dueling—yes, perhaps you are good with a dueling sword, but that is not the same as fighting. And I do not insist on insulting you. I am merely pointing out your weaknesses so you can be prepared for the future and so this,” I said and pointed at his scar, “doesn’t happen again.”

  He narrowed his eyes. I was getting under his skin. “If we’re on the subject of scars, how about you explain yours?” He nodded at my hands. Self-conscious, I crossed my arms.

  “Those are nothing.”

  “They’re nothing?”

  I nodded.

  “Come now, if you’re going to belittle me over my combat skills and then add further insult by pointing out my weaknesses made apparent by my scars, you must at least tell me how you got yours.”

  I gave him a shrewd look. “That is a subject I will not discuss.” I spoke with venom in my voice, hoping he would leave the subject alone.

  “Why not?”

  I stared at him, shocked. Most people would have dropped the topic. Maybe he wasn’t the pushover I’d assumed him to be. I’d never told anyone the truth behind my scars—not even my brother—so what would happen if I told Maveryck? He meant nothing to me, and after this quest, I knew I would never see him again. Maybe telling someone the truth—someone like him—would help me overcome the past.

  “You really want to know?” I asked. “Even if it causes me pain to speak of it?”

  “It causes you pain? I wasn’t aware you felt pain.”

  What? “Of course I feel pain. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “You fight like a demon. You’ve got a godlike reputation in Faythander that’s only rivaled by your brother’s. If I had to guess, there are some who wouldn’t believe you to be mortal. So, do you feel pain? Did you feel pain when you got those scars?”

  I’d been so close to telling him, but now he’d ruined his chance.

  “No one speaks to me that way,” I said, barely keeping an even tone.

  I stood abruptly, and then I turned and marched out of the restaurant, feeling his eyes follow me.

  “No one speaks to me that way,” I repeated to myself.

  I drew a few stares as I stormed through the lobby, past the main desk, and out into the chill nighttime air. A path wound away from the hotel and I took it, breathing deeply and trying to sort out my thoughts.

  Under the yellow streetlamp, I opened my hands and studied the scars crisscrossing my skin. They were ugly reminders of the past I’d tried so hard to leave behind—of the man I’d tried to leave behind. He was dead, so why did I feel as if his ghost still lingered, taunting me, manipulating me?

  But I’d love him once, too, and maybe that was the reason behind my emotions. Staring back at the hotel, I couldn’t deny that Maveryck brought up some of the same feelings I’d felt for another person not so long ago.

  After what that man had put me through, I’d sworn never to fall in love again.

  And I wouldn’t.

  I walked down the alleyway behind the hotel, between the buildings and toward another street but stopped abruptly. A shadow lurked in the alleyway. I couldn’t see much, only the hem of a long coat caught in the breeze that blended with the shadows. Someone was hiding there. I pressed my back against the warm bricks, listening.

  Uneven, rattling breaths echoed faintly, almost drowned out by the roar of motorized engines and drifting laughter. I crept quietly along the wall, my heart racing. When I got to the corner, I peered down the alley, but the shadowy form had disappeared. I waited, watching, thinking perhaps he’d hidden behind a trash bin, but I saw only an empty alley.

  Had I imagined him?

  I exhaled, letting go of my pent-up tension, and walked around the corner. Mist gathered around me as rough arms grabbed me from behind, one around my neck and the other around my waist. Before I could react, the biting, cold sting of a blade stabbed through my abdomen on my right side just below my ribcage.

  The intense pain made me want to scream, but the arm circling my neck clamped so tight I only made a muffled cry. The wraith shoved me to the ground, and I landed hard on my back. Blood seeped from the open wound, sticky and warm, soaking through the ivory dress and pooling beneath me.

  The monster slammed his knee into my stomach as he hunched over me; his icy fingers chilled my skin as he searched my clothing. Bile rose into my throat as I looked up at the creature—he had a bone-white face made skeletal under the moonlight.

  Clamping both my hands over the knife wound, blood seeped between my fingers. The pain was blinding and all consuming. It burned me from the inside out. There had to have been magic in the monster’s blade, and I could only imagine what the enchantment was doing to me. As I writhed beneath the creature, gasping for breath, the beast kept me pinned as it continued to search my clothes.

  “What… are you looking for?” I said, choking.

  “Illumina,” it hissed.

  “What?”

  His icy fingers grazed my skin. Anger stirred inside me as he searched me, treating me like an animal. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to fight. The stupid beast had attacked me from behind. If I’d had the ability to move, I would’ve gutted him.

  The wraith pressed his knife, still slick with my own blood, to my throat. “Where is it?”

  “Where… is what?” My vision blurred. Focusing was becoming difficult.

  “The Illumina crystal—where is it?”

  What was he going on about? A crystal? “I don’t know… ”

  His blade bit deeper into my skin. I was fading fast, which meant he must have hit a vital organ. If I were going to die this way, then I would spend my last breath cursing the beast to the farthest reaches of Naströnd. “I’ll… kill you,” I said. “I’ll make sure you… suffer.”

  Why was everything so blurry?

  Through the haziness, I felt the weight of his body lift off my chest. Finally, I was able to breathe again, yet I still couldn’t make sense of anything. I heard his screams—heard steel ringing against steel and the scuffing of feet. But what was happening?

  With the blood loss came the feeling of numbness in my fingers and toes, and then the cold, the shaking that wouldn’t stop, the chattering teeth. Time must have passed because the pain began to fade.

  Am I dying?

  A bright light pierced my eyes. I woke, gasping for air, and everything came into sharp focus.

  I was back in the hotel room. Maveryck stood over me and held something in his hands—a crystal suspended on a silver chain. It shone bright with a silver-white light, but then it diminished, leaving the room in near darkness.

  “I’m cold,” I whispered.

  “That happens when you’ve lost large amounts of blood,” he answered.

  Maveryck wrapped a soft blanket around me, and though I felt the urge to sleep, I forced my mind to stay active. I couldn’t afford to sleep now—not when he’d saved me. Could anything possibly be worse? Saved by the man with far inferior combat skills—it was too much.

  I preferred death.

  Sitting on the bed beside me, Maveryck’s gaze grew distant as he focused on the buildings outside the window. The red-and-blue lights from the tower drifted through the sheer curtain, illuminating his face. Though his lips were drawn, he was still seductively handsome. The dim lighting accentuated his deep bronze skin, and for some completely unknown reason, I had the urge to reach out a
nd touch his face. It was a compulsion I couldn’t explain, but I needed to know what his skin felt like. Would his lips feel the way I’d imagined?

  Yet there was something odd about him—about the way he sat without blinking, like he wasn’t quite human…

  “Are you still cold?” he asked, though he didn’t turn toward me.

  I snuggled deeper under the blanket. It must have been spun from the wool of a shakespin. Did they have those in Earth Kingdom? It was the warmest blanket I’d ever felt, and I couldn’t help but tuck it around my face and let its heat warm my cheeks.

  “I feel wonderful,” I said.

  He raised an eyebrow, and I focused on the crystal hanging around his neck, catching the light as it glowed against his chest.

  Was that what the creature was searching for? I wanted to ask, but my brain and mouth didn’t want to cooperate with one another. All I could focus on was how wonderful I felt underneath the blanket with Maveryck sitting beside me, so close I could touch him if I wanted.

  “Don’t get too comfortable,” he said. “You’re feeling the effects from the crystal. It won’t last long.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” The sound of his voice was so deep and soothing. Had he always spoken so alluringly? Why did he sit so far away from me?

  “Why does my wound still hurt?” I asked.

  He turned to me. “It hurts?”

  I nodded.

  “That’s very odd. You shouldn’t feel any pain.” He moved the blanket aside, and I realized I only wore my underclothing. At any other time, I knew I would have been enraged over my indecency, but instead I lay still, not speaking, as Maveryck gently touched the skin surrounding the wound.

  When I looked at the wound, I found only a faint white scar where the puncture had been.

  “Magic did this?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he answered. “I used the crystal to heal you, so you shouldn’t be in pain.” He gently touched the scar. “Does this hurt?”

  The feel of his fingers on my skin sent a shiver through my body.