by Hilari Bell
Standing there, with her people flooding past and the light shimmering around her, she looked every inch a sorceress, and also a stranger, and the thought of her as a stranger left something cut and bleeding inside him.
I can’t go with you.
Then she opened her eyes, and the mockery in them made her familiar again. “Coming, are they?”
“Uh, yes, but they won’t be here for a few minutes. You did it. And in time, too.”
“Didn’t think I could, did you?”
“You were the one who thought that.” The stream of bodies was lessening, and she reached down and began to gather up the books, stuffing them back into the scrip bag.
“What are you going to do with those books?”
“Take ’em with me, of course.”
“Of course.”
The mockery in her eyes deepened, but there was a gentleness in them, which was new to her. “He’s taken enough from me. I don’t mind robbing him. Are you coming, lordling?”
“My duty is here. My family. My people. Though I’m an outlaw now.”
She snorted. “Don’t let that worry you. Just tell them some tale about how you slew the fearsome sorceress and all her goblins. Say you made me fumble a spell or some such thing, and we all disappeared in a blast of light.”
“They’d never believe that.”
“Why not? We’ll all be gone. They’ll have to accept it, sooner or later. Master Lazur’s a practical sort, he’ll forgive you once he’s sure we’re really gone. You’ll be a hero again. If you were a priest, they’d likely make you a saint!”
I can’t go with you. My parents. Jeriah.
The last small bodies darted past her. He could see them in the meadow, laughing, cheering. The sun was rising there, too. He heard hoofbeats pounding nearer.
Makenna heard them, too; she looked at him and smiled. “Lordling…Tobin, thank you.”
In her smile he saw the loneliness of all her life to come—a life where, for all the friendship around her, she would hear no human voices, and her own humanity would slip away and be lost.
She turned and walked into the Otherworld, and the shimmering portal began to fade.
I am supposed to be the good son….
“Ah, dung,” said Tobin. He followed her.
The Goblin
Cogswhallop crouched beneath the wall, watching the stamping hooves outside his hideout. The hole was too small for humans to enter, so the foolish great ones ignored it.
Natter crouched at the back of the cave, weeping silently, Nuffet asleep in her arms. Daroo knelt beside him, staring out and listening to the sweet steel jingle of the bits.
He’d had a ghastly time getting everyone to the wall. Even though he knew he was best fitted to organize the journey, it had galled him to leave that fool Miggy in charge of rescuing the gen’ral. At least she’d arrived unhurt and in time. He had thankfully handed over command and dashed off to where he’d left his own small family, but Daroo had gone hunting for his friend Regg, and Natter had taken the little one and gone in search of him, and by the time he’d finally gotten them together again the shimmering gate had disappeared and the humans were almost upon them.
So she was gone, his gen’ral, leaving him with a debt of impossible proportion—how do you repay someone for the saving of all your kind? At least he’d been able to send her off heart-healed, and in good company. But that didn’t begin to repay the burden she’d stuck him with this time! Tears stung his eyes, and he blinked them back. It was good she’d gone. If she’d stayed much longer, he’d never have been able to clear what he owed her. Now, in her absence, maybe he had a chance.
That thought pleased him. He knew she’d hated to abandon the war, though she was a good enough commander to know when retreat was forced on her. There were enough of them left to continue the fight. Subtly, of course. It wouldn’t do to let the humans realize they were still here.
Perhaps if they waited a generation or two. He smiled down at his son. If his gift with iron and steel continued to breed true…no one would ever suspect goblins of sabotaging metal-work. Yes. An eternity of metal foxers, sworn to continue the war, would be a fitting payment for the saving of his kindred. The humans were doing more with steel all the time.
She might even come back someday, to check on his progress. Just because no one else had returned, that didn’t mean his gen’ral wouldn’t.
Humans and goblins had shared the world since the beginning. It seemed a shame to let things change too much.
About the Author
HILARI BELL is a librarian in Denver, Colorado, where she lives with her family. Her favorite books are fantasy, science fiction, and mystery—all the ingredients for a great novel! She is also the author of SONGS OF POWER and A MATTER OF PROFIT, which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and one of the New York Public Library’s “Books for the Teen Age.”
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Also by
HILARI BELL
A Matter of Profit
Credits
Cover art © 2004 by Debra Lill
Cover design by Andrea Vandergrift
Cover © 2004 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Copyright
THE GOBLIN WOOD. Copyright © 2003 by Hilari Bell. Map copyright © 2003 by Gary Tong. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition February 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-189100-7
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900
Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com