by Idella Breen
He nodded his head again. “I believe the Captain can as well.”
Snow frowned but didn’t say anything. They walked in silence for a while following Cait around corners and down different tunnels. Her wife would stop every few minutes to glance back at the stone and would adjust their direction accordingly. It wasn’t until Cait stopped suddenly and let her fire dissipate that Snow realized something was wrong. She grabbed Snow’s arm and pulled her around a corner.
“What—”
Cait’s hand came up to cover her mouth in the darkness and she heard her wife whisper in her ear, “Shh, someone's coming.”
They waited in darkness and silence until Snow was able to make out the flicking of light coming down the tunnel that they had been walking down. She gasped quietly when she heard the sound of voices.
“I’m telling you, I saw it. The shadow is what I saw. It was as dark as night and as ominous as an ill omen,” a man's gruff voice called out.
A deep chuckle was his answer. “I’m sure you did Tid, I’m sure you saw something alright.”
“Yeah, you’re seeing stuff all the time, Tid.”
Two sets of laughter mocked the third goblin in their group.
“Fine, don’t believe me you bratty bunch. But, I’m telling the truth, I am. I know that I make mistakes a lot—”
“You tell blatant lies all the time.”
“Nah, Hidan, he just stretches the truth beyond belief, is all.”
The two goblins burst into laughter again. Snow held back a gasp as the three of them walked passed the tunnel she, Cait and Beck were hiding in. They were all short, as goblins are, but each had a unique haircut as well as painted markings on their faces that seemed to distinguish them in some way.
“Fine, alright, like I said, I make mistakes.”
“Mistakes my arse.” Hidan laughed.
“But, I’m telling the truth this time, I am.”
“You expect us to believe your shadow was chasing you?”
“Not my shadow, a shadow as black as night.”
“Sure enough, night is indeed black as a shadow.”
“Ah, whatever! I won’t waste my time with you two.”
Hidan laughed louder. “I think it should be us saying that we won’t waste our time with you!”
“That’s right, Hidan!”
“You’re a bunch of hairy chins, you both are!”
The laughing disappeared down a joining tunnel and Snow released a breath. They waited a few minutes before Cait whispered, “They’re gone.”
“Yes, Captain.” Beck agreed.
The werewolf pulled her back out onto the main path and lit her flame. The three of them continued on in silence keeping their brisk pace. Beck was the first to break it.
“Captain, I suspect that group was from a nearby town. Did you see their markings?”
Cait nodded. “They were probably guards of some sort. We must be close to where they live. The smell of goblin is also stronger down this tunnel.” She pointed to her left but shook her head. “But, the stone isn’t lighting up.”
“Should we continue onwards then?” Beck asked.
Cait turned back to her wife who was studying the white stone in her hand. “Snow.”
The brunette looked up into electric blue eyes. “Yes?”
“You’re the boss. What do you want to do? Should we continue on or stop at this town and search it?”
Snow looked down the tunnel then back to the stone. She hated it when she had to make difficult decisions.
* * *
“I don’t know.”
Cait frowned. “The decision is your’s to make.”
Snow looked down at the stone in her hand before looking back up. “I can’t tell. Has it changed color at all?”
The werewolf glanced down at the stone and after a moment nodded. “It has a greenish color to it.”
“Do you know how close we have to be before it really lights up?”
Cait shook her head. “Maz wasn’t specific. He just said that when we were close to him we would know.”
Frowning, Snow looked to the left, and down the dark tunnel that would lead to a goblin town. She took a step forward and gave a small gasp. The stone had suddenly lit up enough for even her poor eyesight to notice.
“Snow?”
“We will go this way. I want to go this way.”
Cait nodded and moved in front of her wife. “Stay close then. I’m sure we will run into more guards. Keep quiet and only speak when necessary. I don’t want to alert them to our presence until we reach the town.”
Snow nodded and kept pace with her wife as she led them down the tunnel.
* * *
“Halt. What do you think you’re doing here?” a goblin said.
Snow frowned at the rudeness of the small imp. He barely came up to her waist but his attitude made him seem taller. The goblin had markings on his face that Snow now knew decorated him as a guard to the town. Now that she was closer, she was able to get a better look at the markings. They were red and seemed to be made from some type of paint. This goblin had a red star on his left cheek and two lines going down the right side of his face. She was pulled from her inspection when the goblin shoved her. Snow stumbled backward slightly.
“Hey!” she yelled as Cait caught her and helped her regain her balance. A deep threatening growl echoed off the walls but all the goblin did was smirk.
“What’s wrong half-blood? Got something to say? I’m all ears.” He pulled at his two long ears that pointed out the sides of his head a good three to four inches. In one of his ears was a gold earring but the other one seemed to be missing the other earring from the pair.
Snow frowned and folded her arms across her chest, squaring her shoulders. She wasn’t going to be pushed around by someone only half her size. “You got a problem with me, goblin?”
He snorted. “You could say that half-blood. We don’t like your kind here. You’re not worth the trouble.”
Cait moved forward but Snow held her back. “Not worth the trouble?”
He sneered. “That’s right. You’ll stink up our humble town. We don’t have room for the likes of you.”
Snow stepped forward and the tunnel dropped a few degrees in temperature. She jabbed a finger into the goblin’s shoulder making him stumble back. “You’re kind of cute, little guy, in that annoying little brother kind of way, so I’ll give you two options. Option one, you can take what I have to offer and let us enter the town.”
He frowned but she continued. “Or, option two, your home will have its first winter and I guarantee that it’s not prepared to deal with the kind of snowstorms that I can conjure up.”
“What are you talking about?”
Snow placed her hand on his shoulder and he gasped when it was suddenly covered in ice. He jerked back, shaken at the display of her power.
“What do you have to offer?” the goblin asked after a moment's hesitation.
She grinned. “I always knew you were a smart guy.”
Snow reached into her satchel and pulled out a pair of golden earrings. The goblin's eyes lit up. “Are those—”
“Why yes, they are.” She held them out for him to take, but just as he reached out to claim them, she held them out of reach.”
“Please open the gate first.”
Grumbling the goblin turned around and pulled the level. The gate swung open and Snow smirked as she placed the two earrings into his waiting hands. “Thank you, sir. You’re too kind.”
He gave a half-smile half-sneer as she, Cait and Beck walked passed him and further into the tunnel beyond the gate. “No problem.”
Snow giggled, as the gate clanged shut behind them, and followed Cait. Her wife smirked as she held her flame out to illuminate the way. “Sometimes, you amaze me with your ingenuity.”
“Indeed, Snow. That was a very diplomatic suggestion.” Beck added after a moment.
“I just figured that if we started fighting then it migh
t draw some unwanted attention. The best fights are the one’s that didn’t happen. If I can use words to deal with it then I rather do that.”
“Well said, babe. But, I don’t think all of our problems can be dealt with so tidily. Goblins are instigators. They like conflict. So, be ready to deal with big egos and irritating voices.”
Snow giggled and followed her wife. She as curious as to what the town looked like and couldn’t help the skip in her step as they moved forward. After a few moments of walking in silence, she was surprised to see a light at the end of the tunnel. “There’s light ahead.”
Cait nodded and extinguished her flame making the orange light ahead even brighter. They finally reached the end of the tunnel and Snow gasped at the sight that greeted them. Orange light from the surrounding light bulbs that lined the walls of the cave every few feet, filled the cave with enough dim light that the town seemed to have its own artificial sun underground. The tunnel had opened up into a gigantic cave. They were currently on a platform and looking to her left, there were stairs leading down into the town. The town reminded Snow of the Mardin Stone City located in Turkey. She had seen pictures once in a book that her mother owned when she was a child. The homes were all made of stone that combined one house with another and so on until it was a city of interconnected stone buildings. One difference of this stone city below her was that each of the buildings seemed to be covered in some type of moss most likely due to the damp and wet feeling of the cave it was housed within.
“Come on Snow,” Cait said softly and nudged her wife forward towards the steps. “We should get down from here before someone else decides to give us trouble.”
It was at that moment that Snow noticed the few scattered hawk nests were a few goblins were standings with arrows aimed towards the entrance where they stood. She gulped but followed her wife.
Chapter 11
As they reached the streets Snow was surprised by the commotion around them. “A marketplace?” she asked and her wife nodded.
“Looks like it. Stay close, we don’t want to get split up.” Cait reached out and grasped her hand to keep them from being separated. Snow gripped the white stone in her other hand and would glance at it from time to time as she was dragged through the busy crowd. When she heard town she had suspected a couple of houses but what she was in was more like a small city.
She let her eyes peruse the marketplace as she was dragged through the crowd. There were all kinds of vendors. The most common seemed to be food vendors and a variety of smells permeated in the air around them from smokey to fried creating a melody of tantalizing smells. Snow’s stomach grumbled and she realized that she hadn’t eaten in several hours.
“Cait.”
Her wife nodded and changed direction, pulling her towards a bread vendor. He had just handed a bag of something to a customer when he noticed her and Cait. He frowned. “What do you want?”
Cait growled. “Just give me a croquet and don’t give me trouble.”
He studied the werewolf for a moment before nodding and frying up the potato croquet he was selling alongside his bread. After a few minutes, he wrapped it and held it out while saying a number. Snow was confused until she noticed her wife pull out a gold coin from her pocket and hand it to the goblin. He nodded and Cait pulled her away and back into the crowd after handing her the snack.
“Cait?”
Her wife glanced back to her but shook her head and continued to pull her forward. Snow took a bite of the snack and couldn’t hold back the moan as the tangy fried flavor burst on her starved taste buds. She made quick work of the snack as she took in the sights. Most of the goblins only came up to her waist and she was able to see over them but there were also taller goblins that came up to her shoulder. This confused her a little and Snow wondered if there were different types of goblins or if they were a different species of monster that was loosely related to the goblin kind.
A flash of light caught her eye and she glanced to her right to see a jar of blue light. It seemed that Cait had pulled her down an alleyway within the stone city. The vendors lining the streets were filled with strange items. One vendor had all kinds of caged animals within in. A snake hissed at her as she was pulled past it. Another stall was filled with jars of different colored glowing lights. As she was pulled along she felt a pull on her powers when she got too close to a jar. Frowning, she hurried on by and was shocked when she nearly ran into a monkey. Jumping back, her heart leapt into her throat and she jerked free of Cait’s hand.
A cackling laugh made her glance to her left to see and old toothless female goblin. “Like my mask?” she asked before breaking out into laughter.
Snow looked forward again and realized that the monkey was actually a mask that had dropped down in front of her. She frowned at the goblin. “Very funny.”
“You should have seen your face!”
Suddenly, a short goblin bumped into Snow nearly knocking her off her feet. “Hey!”
He glanced back at her a moment but it was long enough for her to see him tuck her glowing green rock into his pocket and sneer at her before running off into the crowd. Snow was shocked. She didn’t move at first until Cait grabbed her hand again and Beck came around the corner.
“Sorry, I lost you guys,” he said as he reached them.
“Snow?”
“He took it.”
“Took what?” Cait asked.
Snow whirled around. “He took my rock!”
Cait looked past her into the crowd before leaning down and sniffing her. “What are you—”
The werewolf snapped up and jerked her in the direction that the goblin ran off. “Come on.”
“Cait?”
“We can still catch him. Just don’t let go of my hand. And Beck, keep up this time.”
“Yes, Captain!”
* * *
Cait dragged her, turning down seemingly random paths at an increasing speed. Snow was about to ask her to slow down when she caught a glimpse of the goblin, they were chasing, disappear around a corner. Cait pulled her around only to immediately stop. They were in front of a building. Snow looked up at the sign overhead.
“The Hairy Chin,” she read aloud.
“A bar?” Beck asked as he came up behind them.
Cait nodded before looking back. “Follow my lead.”
She pushed back the curtain and the haze of cigarette smoke flooded Snow’s senses making her cough violently. The werewolf pulled her further into the bar and they came to a stop in front of a table. Through watery eyes, Snow saw a rather plump female goblin sitting at the table. Her large ears were pierced extensively with gold and silver as well as rings with different kinds of priceless stones adorned her fingers. When she smiled, her mouth was filled with yellowing teeth. She put a cigarette to her lips and drawled from it releasing a floral scent into the air. It made Snow’s nose itch.
The goblin's voice was husky when she spoke, “I hear you’re looking for the King.”
She held out her hand and the goblin they had been chasing, Snow had just realized he was standing behind the woman, dropped the stone into her hand. It was a bright neon green as it rested in her palm making Snow frown and look around.
“You look confused little one.”
Snow turned back and blushed, a little embarrassed at being caught. “Is the King close by?”
The woman grinned. “Isn’t she cute.”
“Grangor, it’s good to meet you. My name is Cait, this is my wife, Snow Bennett and her guard, Beck.”
Grangor took another draw from her cigarette. Snow gasped. “You’re Grangor?”
“Not the brightest but good enough, I suppose. You will do Snow Bennett. I will use you and your people.”
Snow frowned. “Use us?”
“You’re mother sent you at my request, did she not?”
“Well, yes—”
“Then I have a task you will complete for me.”
“How do I even know you are who you say you
are?” Snow asked as her irritation built at the woman’s blatant disrespect towards her.
The goblin smirked and pulled her blonde hair out of her face. “Do you know the story of Greenland and Iceland?”
Frowning, Snow shook her head at the sudden change in the conversation.
“Greenland is a very cold place whereas Iceland is fairly warm yet their names state the opposite. Do you know why that is?”
“No,” Snow replied quietly.
“It was done to repel conquers from coming to their land and taking it. Their names are misleading to distract and divert potential danger.”
“What is your point?”
“I am the King, yet I am not a man. Would you have ever found me if not for this stone?” She held up the neon green rock before tossing it back to the goblin behind her.
Cait rested her hand on her wife’s shoulder before she could retort. “Grangor, would you please explain the task we were sent here to complete.”
Grangor smirked. “Good dog. Keep you master on her leash.”
“Why you—”
“Snow.” Cait interrupted her making her meet her gaze. “It’s fine.”
Snow frowned but nodded her head and turned back to Grangor. “What is the task?”
The goblin chuckled and tapped her cigarette on a little glass dish on the table. “There is something I want retrieved. A golden tooth.”
“Why?” Cait asked.
Grangor sighed. “It’s troublesome really. A real thorn in my side. You see, I have many suitors and therefore many enemies. One of my old acquaintances wishes to sabotage me. His name is Taz. The tooth actually belongs to one of my men, well, it used to before he was slaughtered and had it stolen from his mouth. Anyway, the tooth contains plans for a project I’ve been working on to expand the water supply here and Taz wishes to be that thorn in my side simply because I turned him down for marriage. A woman has to have her priorities and he wasn’t very high on my list.”
“How can we find him?” Snow asked.
Grangor met her gaze. “You won’t.”
“We won’t?”
The goblin smirked. “He’ll find you, I’m sure. But, you could start looking at some of the bars and clubs on the east side of the town. His men frequent them often and one might know where he’s been hiding.”