Chapter 6
6
The barrier to the Bogs doesn’t look like anything out of the ordinary. A high arched fence bordered by mossy stone walls seal most of the greenery beyond away from sight. There’s nothing special about the gate itself, only that it lines up with the magical barrier keeping anyone without goblin blood out of the Bogs. Anyone but me, that is. And other night runners with enough power.
I wore brown combat boots laced halfway up the calves of my jeans—perfect for the mud I would surely be encountering. A blue silk button up shirt let in a nice cool breeze beneath my brown leather jacket. I had my messenger bag slung over my shoulder, even though there would be no delivery. There were certain useful things to always bring to the Bogs. Cheap shiny jewelry and candy for bargaining, and something to produce fire to scare away the less intelligent creatures. But it was the high goblins you really had to worry about. They wouldn’t care about cheap baubles and sweets. In fact, they were almost as bad as devils. When they bargained, they played for keeps. Or so I’d been told.
I observed the green flecks of lichen covering the arched iron gates. All I would have to do was push my way through, go inside, and find whoever Sebastian wanted me to find. Hopefully it was someone not far from the barrier. I had never gone deep into goblin lands, and I never wanted to. Many of them were harmless enough, but others would sooner eat you than speak to you. The goblin race had more variations than one hundred litters of kittens.
A flash of black startled me enough to make me jump. Once I caught my breath, I glared at the devil standing beside me.
I clutched the strap of my messenger bag across my chest. “Tell me again why you can’t go in and collect this debt yourself?”
He narrowed his eyes at the goblin gate. “I don’t have any goblin blood, obviously .”
“But can’t you do that little popping up where you’re not welcome thing?” I waved my hand in the air, suggesting that his magic seemed a little greater than the goblin barrier.
“No. Not beyond the boundaries.” His tone was caustic. He didn’t like being kept out.
It almost made me feel smug about being able to go in. Almost , because it wasn’t exactly a privilege to go mucking through the Bogs. “So who am I looking for? ”
He was still studying the closed gates. “A high goblin named Mistral.”
I whipped my gaze in his direction, suddenly breathless. “No one said anything about a high goblin.”
He calmly lifted a brow. “Are you scared?”
“Absolutely. I’m already indebted to a devil. I don’t need to add a high goblin to that list.”
He smiled. “Then you’d better bargain wisely. Ask him about a woman named Celeste. He’ll know what you’re talking about.”
“And this woman is the one who owes you a debt?”
“Something like that.” His gaze was distant. After a moment, it dropped down to my jeans. “Are you wearing those silky panties under all that?”
I opened my mouth to curse him out, but he was already gone, only a hint of his laughter remaining. After a heartbeat, that faded too.
Cursing devils and high goblins alike, I approached the gate. There was just a simple latch holding it closed, never a lock. There was no reason for anything more. The magic would keep out strangers, except for me.
I unlatched one side of the gate and pushed it open, sensing the boundary as I tried to step across it. If I did nothing, it would keep me out, but crossing boundaries was like breathing. I shifted slightly to another realm, stepped across the boundary, then shifted back. I couldn’t go entirely into other realms—I didn’t have enough celestial blood. Ever since the Rift, only full celestials and a few powerful night-runners could jump to the near realms, and no one could go to the far realms, save maybe the most powerful celestials—though none hung around to prove it. The goblins, elves, fae, and plenty of others were entirely cut off from their original homelands. There were many tales of what had actually happened, but most believed that they just stayed on earth too long, and there wasn’t enough magic here for them to get back.
Even if I could reach one of the near realms, I wasn’t sure I’d want to try. The thought of getting stuck somewhere else was terrifying. Many of those who came from their original realms were still alive. They were left to create their own versions of their homelands, along with the boundaries. Some still blamed the celestials for giving them the star maps to travel by in the first place. Others thought the celestials had broken the realms apart intentionally.
Hopefully this Mistral wouldn’t be one of them. Bargaining with a high goblin would be difficult enough without old hatreds getting in the way.
I walked across ruined mossy cobblestones that soon grew further apart and interspersed with muck. The smell near the entrance wasn’t the worst—there was enough grass and the twisted trees added a green scent to the air—but further in the trees grew tall enough to block out the sun, and the scent turned to damp and mildew.
After a while I started passing some tiny ramshackle homes. Their siding was made basically of garbage, found pieces of wood, plastic, glass… anything they could use. Despite the materials, the homes were lovely in their own way, with tiny windows and little peaked roofs. Only little lesser goblins lived in the homes. They weren’t the most intelligent, but they also were never a bother. I noticed a few of them watching out their windows, but none of them made a sound or came outside. They had seen me before, and probably just assumed I was there for a delivery.
Watching the homes too closely, I didn’t react quickly enough as I came upon a puddle of murky water. My boot went down, splashing up enough to wet my jeans. I cursed, whipping my gaze back toward the small homes, but the goblins had all disappeared from their windows.
I shook off my wet boot with a huff, then reached into my messenger bag for three pieces of paper-wrapped taffy. Taking a few steps toward the homes, I placed the taffies on a clean rock. I continued slowly on my way, glancing back occasionally to see the bright pink and blue candy still sitting there. They were almost out of sight when I glanced back again, and they were gone.
Why couldn’t it have been a lesser goblin I was dealing with? They loved candy. They would tell me anything for a few little treats.
High goblins would be further in, at a place called the Citadel. It was a place of tall towers and ruined stone, deep enough in the Bogs that you could barely see it from the gates. I had never actually been there—I wasn’t that stupid. Or maybe I was, since I was going there now. Either way, I had a long walk ahead of me, and then an even more arduous task—bargaining with a high goblin.
I reached a fork in the road with a sign pointing east. The sign didn’t actually have any writing, but I knew it pointed toward a village. I had gone there for a few deliveries, and it’s where I went to buy my coffee beans. Most of the goblins there had human blood. They accepted cash or trade, and didn’t deal in arcane bargains and other tricks.
I would be going well beyond the smaller villages. But at least it gave me time to think about what I could possibly give a high goblin for information. I had never met Mistral, so I didn’t know what sort he was, but I knew I had little I could give him. At least, little I was willing to give.
I kept walking, leaving the relative comfort of a village behind for a long, quiet dirt road. Eventually guttural voices on the path ahead drew my attention. I stopped walking, listening as they neared, until I caught sight of two distant figures.
Cursing again, I hurried off the path, hiding behind a massive damp boulder. I pressed my hands against the cool stone, peeking around it at the two trolls heading in my direction. They were each at least ten feet tall with deeply tanned skin and sparse hair. While the hair was slightly more concentrated on their heads, it trickled down to decorate their bare shoulders and long arms, clad in strips of leather. Their pants were a patchwork of more leather and other fabrics. The fabrics, while stained, weren’t terribly disturbing, but I didn’t want to think about where they’d gotten the leather. It was well known that trolls would gladly eat their own kind, or humans, or basically anything they came across. These two had a tiny blue creature strung up and dangling from a leather cord.
The creature hung limply in defeat, but I could see its large spherical eyes blinking rapidly. It was covered in blue fur, and had long, rodent-like ears with tufts of darker blue fur at their ends.
Guilt swam through me at the thought of what was going to happen to the little blue goblin. Maybe he was as wicked as the trolls, but I doubted it. Something so cute simply couldn’t be that bad.
I listened as the trolls passed, muttering something about their cookpot.
That poor, cute little goblin… skinned and thrown in a cookpot. Maybe not even skinned, maybe just tossed into the cookpot alive.
Dammit. I could at least follow them for a little while. See if there was anything I could do to help.
I waited until they were almost out of sight, then crept back down the path, following them silently. They didn’t stay on the ruined cobblestones for long, soon diverting toward a muddy path through the trees and bushes .
I followed them, once again grateful for my boots. Maybe if I saved the little blue guy he could tell me where to find Mistral. I doubted the trolls would be willing to chat. At least with all the noise they made in their passing, they never even noticed me.
The murky sun was high in the sky by the time we reached their camp. I hid behind a large tree, watching as the trolls greeted another pair. They all looked similar, though I was pretty sure one was female judging by the shape of her body. But really, it was hard to tell.
One of the trolls used a leather strap to string the blue creature from a tree, then all four went into a cave with wooden planks built partially over the opening. The doorway was tall enough that they barely had to bend down, and a dirty sheet acted as a door.
I listened as the trolls inside discussed if they should skin the goblin, or simply pull out most of its hair. The poor little creature dangling from the tree didn’t make so much as a peep, resigned to its fate.
I judged the distance between me and the goblin, and between the goblin and the sheet-covered doorway. Farther between me and the goblin. I didn’t want him to lose his skin, but I also had my own to worry about. If the trolls caught me, I would end up cooked as well. The devil himself had said he couldn’t come past the boundary. Even if he would consider saving me, I was on my own.
Really, the little goblin should have never left the protection of its settlement. But then again neither should I, yet here I was.
The goblin swayed in the breeze. The discussion inside had quieted down. I had to make my choice, now .
Braxton always said I was too softhearted for my own good.
Keeping to the trees, I darted between the massive trunks toward the goblin. As I neared him, his tether twisted in the breeze, spinning him around in my direction. His round eyes flew even wider, and he let out a little squeak.
I lifted a finger to my lips, warning him to be quiet. I took my pocket knife out of my coat and observed the leather strap holding him. It was stiff with age, and thick . I tested my blade against it, and it didn’t even leave a nick. So it was thick, old, and possibly enchanted. I wasn’t going to be able to cut it. At least the knots had been made by much bigger fingers than mine. I started undoing them, pulling the end of the stiff leather cord out through each one.
I was so absorbed in my work that I got startled when a loud thunk sounded nearby. I looked up to see one of the trolls emerging from the doorway. He had slammed his hand back against the wooden siding, his murderous, bloodshot eyes on me.
I pulled the final knot free, and the little goblin fell into my arms.
“Run!” he squeaked.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I darted off in the other direction, followed by the stampede of heavy bare troll feet slapping through the mud.
I clutched the trembling goblin against my chest, lowered my head, and ran as fast as I could, trying to avoid the smaller branches threatening to slice open my cheeks.
“To your left!” the goblin in my arms rasped.
Having no better options, I obeyed.
“Down that narrow path!”
The trolls thundered after us, snapping smaller trees that got in their way as they followed me down the narrow path. I dared a glance back, but the foliage was too thick. I could only see leaves shaking higher up in the trees not far enough back.
We reached a small pond, and I searched for another direction to go.
“Into the water!”
The nearing stampede gave me no choice to argue. I splashed into the water, diving below the surface just as the ground started trembling around us. The little goblin pulled free from my arms and swam away.
I looked up through the shining water above as I sunk deeper. Great, just great. The trolls might not be smart enough to figure out where I went, but I also couldn’t breathe. I was just about to resign myself to my imminent fate in their cookpot when the little blue goblin swam in front of my face. He pointed upward, not toward the surface, but toward a large shadow on the water near the pond’s edge .
Keeping my movements minimal, I swam up toward it, realizing it was a massive lily pad. Following the goblin’s silent instructions, I poked my head up in the middle, just enough to get a little bit of air. The toes of my boots sunk into the mud below me. I was barely tall enough to stand and keep my nose above the water. My breath was ragged as I tried to steady myself and keep my movements from alerting the trolls to my presence.
The little goblin put his paws near my neck, pushing his face up near mine, gasping for breath.
I could feel him trembling again, but he had shown bravery in sticking with me and not just running off. He was certainly faster than I was, something I hadn’t thought of when I went to free him. He could have just taken off and left me to the trolls.
Tense moments passed by. I couldn’t hear anything beyond the lily pad. Either the trolls weren’t moving around, or they had passed us by. Either way, we both stayed quiet and as still as we could, long enough that the chilly water started to make my hands and feet go numb.
Finally, just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, the little goblin met my eyes in our dim cave beneath the lily pad and gave me a nod.
I nodded back, then lifted my hands to start peeling the lily pad off of us. I had just barely pushed on its slick, heavy surface when something wrapped around the collar of my coat. Before I knew it, I was being hauled out of the water, and the little goblin with me .
My mind raced. Trolls weren’t supposed to be this smart! I thrashed my legs, spinning my body enough in the unrelenting grip to see my captor. Not a troll, but a high goblin.
His skin was deep brown, and his hair as black as pitch, falling just to his shoulders. His features were square and strong, with a proud tilt to his nose. And he was huge , almost as large as a troll. He had to be at least 6’6” to easily hold me dangling with my feet just off the ground, my jacket bunching painfully beneath my armpits.
He lowered his dark brown eyes to my messenger bag, then back up to my face streaming with water. “Night runner?“
I nodded as much as I was able with the little goblin clinging around my neck.
His eyes flicked down to my bag again. “I do hope that’s waterproof.” He glanced at the admittedly fetid pond. “And smell proof. Who are you looking for?”
I could sense magic emanating from him. I had no idea who he was, but he was powerful. Definitely a high goblin. “I have a delivery for Mistral. Can you please put me down?”
He lifted a thick brow, making no move to release me. “Mistral? I should throw you in the dungeon.” He started walking us away from the pond.
“I can walk!“
“Considering where I found you, I don’t think you can.” He flung me higher, then caught me effortlessly across his shoulder. The little goblin scurried out of the way just before I would have smacked into him with my face, then he was torn free by the big goblin’s other hand.
“Hey don’t hurt him!”
I received no reply, just a muscular arm clamping across the back of my legs, pinning them against his broad chest. As he carried us back toward the main path, then down it, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had taken the little goblin out of the cookpot, and into the fire.