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"The Lundari Witch: Diamageen's Shadows ch. 10" by Lundarigirl

This is the tenth chapter of a book that I've finished. It recounts the tale of four heroes--a bounty hunter, an untested warrior, a wandering adventurer, and a slave boy--each on their personal quests. Their paths intersect in the goblin-filled Diamageen Forest where they learn of a threat to their world, and that they might be the only ones to stop it.

Category: Book: 1st Chapter

Tags: fantasy, action, young adult, swords, castles, goblins

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Chapter Ten: The Castle Ruins

            Bree was still fearful for Adrian’s safety, but Ankinon was right: it was his choice to help them and face the consequences. There wasn’t anything she could do about it. Nothing except pray that the boy wouldn’t be harmed or killed because of his choice.

            Bree helped Ankinon and Adrian secure Tobias’s litter to the mare. Their recovering friend had regained a little of his color by this time and his skin felt a little cooler to the touch. Bree was relieved when Adrian told her that he knew of a safe place nearby where they could camp and Tobias could rest comfortably. She didn’t think being jostled around all day in the hot sun on a thin blanket that was tied behind a horse would be good for his condition.

            “What exactly is this place?” she asked.

            “It’s the ruins of an old castle,” Adrian replied. “My father said it must have been built in the days before the Dread Warlock. There’s not much left of it, but there is one room that stays cool no matter how hot it gets outside.”

            Bree noticed Ankinon’s eyes widen at the mention of the castle ruins, but he said nothing.

            After the litter was secured, Adrian took Tempest’s reins and led her eastward. His nervousness towards her had faded after Bree had him feed the mare an apple, and he saw the animal was friendly. Adrian had giggled as the horse’s soft lips brushed over his palm.

            While Adrian led, Bree and Ankinon walked on either side of the litter to make sure that nothing happened to it or its passenger.

            “You seemed surprised when Adrian mentioned the ruins,” Bree said to Ankinon.

            “I never expected there to be a castle here,” Ankinon said. “Or any people besides the goblins.”

            “You didn’t know about Adrian’s village? But I thought you said you explored every inch of this forest the last time you were here.”

            “I never said that. All I said is that I had been here a year ago. I never claimed to have seen all of it; just most of it. I never went any farther north of here than that clearing we were in, so I never saw any village or castle.”

            “It’s a good thing you didn’t,” Adrian said. “You wouldn’t have been welcome in the village.”

            “They don’t like strangers,” Bree explained.

            “It’s rare that we get any. You are the first I’ve seen here in a long time. I didn’t see those men you were looking for. I only heard what happened to them from the goblins. Why did they come to Diamageen, anyway?”

            Bree and Ankinon told him about Ambassador Heach’s mission and what they knew about why he and his escorts had chosen to come through Diamageen. Then they talked about how they had met Tobias and how the three of them had been recruited to track down the missing ambassador and take him to Hearock. Adrian’s knowledge of the world outside Diamageen turned out to be very limited. He knew of the existence of dwarves, but didn’t know that the relationship between them and the other races was so estranged. Nor did he know about the attacks on the elves.

            “How much further is it to this castle of yours?” Ankinon asked after he and Bree finished telling their story.

             “Not far,” Adrian said. “You can see it from here if you look hard enough.”

            The forest around her was so dense that Bree couldn’t see the sky much less a castle. But after a few feet, the forest came to an abrupt end and she found herself in the long shadow of a huge, almost mountain-like hill. At the top was a massive structure of rough, weathered tan stone that stretched out over the flat top of the hill. Bree could see crumbling towers of various sizes shooting up from behind a high wall that was shaped like a star. Wide, round towers stood where the points of the star should have been. They were like silent sentinels standing guard over their keep.

            The castle looked as though it had once been through a massive battle. Some sections of the wall were blackened from fire while others looked as if they had been smashed by massive boulders. One of the towers looked like a giant had ripped it in half length-wise. The whole structure was in a state of neglect and decay. Tall weeds climbed nearly the full height of the walls, while curtains of ivy spilled over some of the sections that were still intact.

            Bree had a million questions about the castle, such as who had lived in it and what battle was fought there. She asked Adrian a few of these questions, but he didn’t have an answer for any of them. He didn’t know anything about the castle, he said. His father and mother just happened to stumble across it while they were lost in a storm. And not a moment too soon, as it turned out. Adrian’s mother, Kendrix, had gone into labor hours earlier, and not long after she and her husband, Cedric, had found a dry place in the castle, she had given birth to her son.

            “Interesting,” Ankinon said. “And how many years ago was that? Ten? Eleven?”

            “Fourteen,” Adrian replied. “I’m fourteen.”

            “Seriously? You look a little short to be fourteen.”

            Bree glared at Ankinon. She didn’t think he would say anything cruel to Adrian regarding his height—he was usually good about keeping his teasing in good-natured territory—but if he did, she’d smack him. She couldn’t stand seeing people picked on maliciously, even if one of her own friends was doing the teasing.

            Adrian didn’t appear to be bothered by Ankinon’s comments. “My shortness is my greatest weapon. It makes me invisible to the goblins.” He smiled.

            “Oh, really?” Ankinon asked. “What does the blue hair do?”

            Adrian shrugged. “It grows out of my head.”

            Bree decided to speak up. “If you don’t mind my asking, why is it blue?”

            “Umm …. Well ….” Adrian stumbled a bit on a loose stone, but quickly recovered. “Honestly, I can’t tell you. It’s just something that’s been in my mother’s side of the family ever since anyone can remember.”

            Bree racked her memory, trying to recall anything from all the stories she’d read on heroic quests of humans with blue hair. There had to be more to Adrian’s unusual hair than that he had been born with it. Blue hair was just too unnatural.

            Ankinon and Adrian shifted the conversation to Adrian’s village. Most of the grown men and women were survivors of Koraira. They swore that they and their descendants would serve the goblins forever in exchange for not being tortured to death. The goblins burned magic marks into the captives’ skin that prevented them from leaving Diamageen. Every able-bodied man was required to dig up gold, jewels and iron under the hills near the Spire. They could return to their homes and families in New Koraira for only one week every month if the goblins were pleased with their work. Adrian’s grandmother was New Koraira’s Elder. It was her job to make sure the goblins’ tributes were ready on time and that all of their laws and the village laws were obeyed by the slaves. If any of those laws were broken, it was her duty to banish the offending villagers into the forest for the goblins to track down and kill with the rest of the unlucky ones chosen for the hunts. From the way Adrian trembled at the mention of the hunts, Bree surmised that being forced to participate in them was the slaves’ worst nightmare.

            “How could they do that?” she asked. “How could the goblins hunt down people like they were wild boars?”

            “Entertainment,” Adrian answered bitterly. “The different clans compete to see who can bring down the most prey.  After each hunt, after all the meat has been stripped away, each clan requires slaves hang the bones of their kills in a tree and carve its symbol on the trunk.” The level of hostility and anger in his voice gradually rose the longer he spoke. “That’s how they keep track of how many humans each clan has killed. The chieftain of the clan with the most kills for the year is crowned king of the goblins.”

            “What happens to those who survive the hunts?”

            “The goblins have said that any human who escapes their grasp during the hunt will be freed. They made that deal with us so that we’ll try our best to get away and provide more challenge and entertainment to them. But no one’s ever escaped; the goblins are very thorough in their hunts and brutal. You ask why they treat us like animals, it’s because that’s what we are to them. They rob us of our hope and dignity, but they don’t care. When we’re forced to hang the bones of our loved ones in those stupid poses, they laugh at our pain. Our screams and groans are music to their ears.” His voice softened. “Do you see now why I want to know how to kill them? If my people can become a threat to them, we can force them to free us. You worry about what the goblins will do to me? I’m afraid of what they might do, yes. But I gladly risk their punishment to find out how to free my people just like you’re risking your lives to save your ambassador so you can save your people.”

            By this time, Adrian had led Bree, Ankinon and their horse to the top of the hill and through a huge archway to which the splintery remains of a pair of doors clung to the hinges like a ruined spider web to a windowsill.

            The inside of the castle looked more of a wreck than the outside did. Ivy, roots, and the long branches of thorn bushes blanketed the stone pathways and twisted possessively around half-demolished walls, archways, and a large cracked fountain that looked like it had gone dry ages ago. The branches of small trees and shrubs poked through the arched windows of walls that supported half-collapsed roofs.

            Bree and Ankinon unhitched the litter from Tempest’s back and let her graze on a large patch of wild grass near some dead rose trees. They carried Tobias as they continued to follow Adrian through the ruins. They picked their way around rubble and past half demolished towers and buildings. The going was difficult and slow. Bree wondered how Adrian’s mother ever managed to get through this maze while in labor. Her husband must have carried her, but she couldn’t imagine how he had managed to pick his way through and over all the stone obstacles—some as tall as she was and as wide as a small house—while carrying a pregnant woman and running from a storm.

            Adrian continued the conversation he and his friends had begun outside of the castle. He told them that the Death Clan, the goblins’ ruling clan, had been the ones who had hunted down Ambassador Heach and his party, killed nine of the soldiers and took the survivors to the Spire to work in the mines. Rescuing them was not going to be easy.

            “I’ve told you all you’ve asked me to tell you,” he said. “Will you now tell me how you hurt the goblins?”

            Bree’s heart felt as heavy as rough stone that made up the castle walls. She dreaded when she had to answer the boy’s questions about wounding and killing goblins. His voice and eyes had been so full of determination to free his people, and he had hope that at last the time had come when it could be done. It couldn’t be done, however, and Bree didn’t want to be the one to tell him that. She didn’t want to see that hope crushed. Yet what else could she do? She and Ankinon had an agreement with Adrian, and he had fulfilled his part of it.

            Bree hung her head so she wouldn’t have to look at Adrian. Sadly and regretfully, she explained it was because her blade was made of a special metal that she was able to wound goblins. She didn’t know how or why caltic steel was able to do it. When Adrian eagerly asked how his people could get their hands on their own caltic steel, Bree could barely hold back her tears as she told him that they wouldn’t be able to. Caltic steel could only be made if the dwarves and elves renewed their friendship, and there wasn’t enough left in existence now to outfit a small troop of warriors with swords, much less an army. Only a little of it had been made before hatred and distrust tore their peoples apart.

            Ankinon spoke up. “A bunch of swords, even caltic ones aren’t going to do your people any good if they don’t have the courage to use them. And I’m guessing they lack that. If they did have it, they’d capture the green-skins and hang them out for the sun to finish them off. Am I right?”

            Adrian hung his head shamefully. “Yes. They fear the goblins’ strength and their magic. But if they had magic weapons of their own, maybe that would give them courage.” He crossed under an arched doorway into a tall round building, the only one that appeared to be undamaged.

            Bree followed, pulling Tobias’s litter with her. “Courage comes from the heart not from weapons. That’s something my teacher once told me.”

            Adrian began leading his companions up a small, cracked staircase. “Everyone with courage in their hearts to fight was killed by the goblins a long time ago.”

            “Not you,” Bree observed. “You’re brave.”

            “I’m not a fighter. I’m just a slave, born and bred, good for nothing else. Not on my own.” Adrian climbed the final steps of the staircase and disappeared from Bree’s sight.

            Bree couldn’t believe her ears. “That’s not true. You could fight. You just need to know how. I could teach you. And anyway, where did you get the idea that you have to have a magic blade to be worth anything?”

            “Bree shut it,” Ankinon ordered.

            Bree looked over her shoulder at him. “You think I’m wrong?”

            “No, I think you should keep you nose out of this before you get yourself in too deep.”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “I don’t blame you for wanting to help Adrian and his comrades-in-bondage. But before you commit yourself to ridding them of their goblin problem, let’s take a moment to examine the situation and the obstacles it presents: one, you already made a commitment to rescue the ambassador and deliver him safely to Hearock, and that’s something that needs to be done before the green-skins use his skeleton as their next work of art; two, you’re gonna need a lot of man-power and woman-power to take on the goblins in an open assault. Based on what you and Adrian told me, you’re not very likely to get that from the stranger-phobic denizens of New Koraira who cower at the very word ‘goblin.’ And don’t try to tell me you can take on all of the green-skins by yourself. You’re not that good of a fighter. Heck, I’m not even that good a fighter.”  

            Bree was surprised. “I’d never thought I’d hear any words of caution coming out of your mouth. What you just said sounded like something Tobias would say. Not you.”

            “Hey, even I have to be a little cautious sometimes,” Ankinon admitted, “especially, when my only interesting co-worker wants to fly blind in the vulture-and-lightning-infested skies of sure suicide. When you’re sailing through the skies of insanity, then you can throw caution to the wind.” His face suddenly grew serious, something very out of character for him.  “Seriously though, Bree, you gotta learn that no matter how much you want to, you can’t save everybody. No warrior can. Even if you had someone as powerful as the dragons protecting the whole world, people would still suffer. It happens. Nothing you can do about it. So why worry and get all worked up about the people you can’t help? If Tobey wasn’t busy being Sleeping Beauty, he’d tell you the same thing.”

            Bree was forced to admit that Ankinon had a good point.—more than one actually—and she couldn’t argue with any of them. But that did not weaken her desire to help the people of New Koraira, especially Adrian, escape slavery. But she put the idea out of her head for the moment, though it pained her to do so. Perhaps once she had returned from Hearock and became a knight, she could lead a dozen battalions of soldiers into Diamageen and free the slaves. Perhaps she could convince Ankinon and Tobias to ride with her, too. She’d need them both to help plan the attack, and their fighting skills would be more than welcome. The more she pictured the battle and its outcome in her mind, the more comforted she became. She smiled, and then realized that her victory over the goblins would bring her more love and respect as a hero. She would be known as Lady Bree Arengaren, slayer of goblins and deliverer of the oppressed. Her smile widened.

***

            Bree and Ankinon met up with Adrian in a large room at the top of the stairs. There were no signs of neglect or decay here. Even the antique furniture looked in relatively good shape. The wood was faded, but it was still strong enough to support the weight of whoever tried to use it.

            “It still has some comfort to it, too,” Ankinon said as he reclined in a padded chair.

            Bree and Adrian laid Tobias on one of the room’s two slender beds. A set of wooden wind chimes hung in the arched window nearby and clinked musically in the slight breeze.

            Bree began examining the stone shelves that jutted out from the wall. Each one held a number of various knickknacks.  There were little tin and wooden horses, all so life-like they looked as if they could gallop off at any second. Glass figurines of clowns with goofy faces smiled down at her. Tin soldiers stood frozen and fierce in their various battle poses. Porcelain dolls sat proud as peacocks in their lovely but faded dresses and perfect faces. Among these items were simple clay pots decorated with simple, blob-like characters that looked as though they were painted by a small child just learning to draw.

            “Are these your toys, Adrian?” she asked.

            Adrian absent-mindedly pushed an old rocking horse back and forth. “Sort of, I guess. They’ve been here as long as anybody can remember. I suppose they belonged to whoever lived here before this place became a ruin.”

            Bree looked around at the toys again, trying to imagine what the children who once owned them were like. Maybe they were the princes and princesses of the castle who enjoyed many make-believe adventures with their inanimate friends after their boring royal lessons were finally over. The toys certainly looked like they would belong to someone in the wealthy higher classes.

            Adrian stopped playing with the horse and started moving towards the door. “This place is my sanctuary. I come here when I want some time to myself.”

            Bree’s respect for Adrian and the ruins grew. It meant a lot to her that the boy would take her and her friends, three complete strangers, to his special place when they needed somewhere to stay. She didn’t know of many people who would do that.

            “Like I said before, I doubt the goblins know about this place. No one in the village knows about it but my grandmother and me. You should be safe here. How long do you think you’ll need to stay?”

            “At least until Tobias is well,” Bree replied. “If Ankinon’s right, that should be sometime tomorrow morning. After that, I guess we head to the Spire, and try and figure out how we get the ambassador and his soldiers out. Do you think the goblins would have marked them by now?”

            “It’s possible. But it’s also possible that they didn’t. I’ve heard the spell takes a long time to prepare. There’s a chance that the new slaves haven’t been marked yet and you can take them out of the forest. But if they have been marked, well ….”

            “Then we’ll have some green-skin brain-picking to do,” Ankinon said. “And if we find out how to break that slave spell, we’ll come back and tell you. Call it a bonus for all your help. Does that sound fair to you, kid?”

            Adrian’s face brightened. “Aye. Thank you. But don’t jeopardize your mission to keep that promise. If my people are forced to leave here, we’ll need a safe place to escape to—one free of whatever is threatening the elves.”

            Ankinon nodded. “Gotcha.”

            Bree nodded, too. The plan sounded good to her. If it worked, the slaves could leave Diamageen around the same time she and her friends did. Their suffering would be over much quicker than if they had to wait for her to come back with her battalion. Besides, it would make her more legendary if she were able to free a village full of slaves with just two fighters to help her instead of several.

            Adrian gazed at the door and then back at his new friends. The look on his face was one of reluctance. “It was nice meeting both of you. I wish I could stay and introduce myself to Tobias. He sounds like a good man.”

            “You’re leaving?” Bree asked. She had hoped her new friend could stick around a little longer before he had to go back to slaving away for the goblins.

            Adrian nodded. “I’ve been gone too long already. I’m needed back home.”

***

            After Adrian had gone, Ankinon decided to explore the ruins. Bree wanted to go with him, but she also didn’t want Tobias to be alone when he woke up. She didn’t think his awaking alone in a foreign place in the middle of goblin country was a good idea. She knew if she were in that situation, she might freak out a little. Ankinon promised her he would come back after a couple of hours so they could switch and she would have her turn to explore. Bree also made him promise to tell her if he found something good.

            Bree passed the hours sitting in front of the arched window. Her ears were filled with the sounds of the clinking wind chimes and Tobias’s rhythmic breathing. Her eyes were filled with the sight of the ruins and the forest beyond them. Her mind was filled with thoughts about her family and what they were doing at the moment. She also thought of Adrian and his people, her traveling companions, and their adventures so far. What would Tobias say about this whole situation with the slaves? There were two sides to Tobias that Bree had seen: a caring side and a cold, unfeeling side. Which side would show its face when he heard about the slaves? She guessed she would find out when she told him.

            It was funny. Before meeting Tobias, Bree had thought herself the most unfortunate person in the world because she was unmercifully teased by her whole town.  But after meeting him and seeing the effect losing his whole family had had on him, she didn’t consider herself so unfortunate. At least her family was alive and well. True, she had lost her biological father, but she was so young at the time that he died that she didn’t get to know him very well. His loss didn’t haunt her like the deaths of Tobias’s parents and sister haunted him. Sir Hayden had told her that Tobias was shy as a little kid, but friendly and kind, too. A lot like Adrian. Such a boy didn’t deserve to lose his family as he had. Nor did Adrian deserve to be a slave to those heartless goblins. The weight of the unjust burdens they bore left Tobias a lonely and emotionless husk and Adrian with no sense of self-esteem or self-worth. Even Ankinon had, and still did to a certain extent, suffered because of the murder of his three friends. He didn’t deserve to have that happen to him either. Compared to their pain, the pain of her past life was still bad, but not as bad as she originally thought it was. She didn’t think it was right that her friends had been dealt the fate that they had. They were good young men, each compassionate in his own way. How could fiends like the goblins and the dragons bear to hurt them?

            Tobias suddenly cried out and Bree jumped. She whirled around and saw her friend tossing and turning uneasily. His breath had become short and rapid.

            “Tobias, what’s wrong?” she asked, concerned. Had something gone wrong with the paecob feather?

            She ran over to the bed and felt his forehead. It felt cool. There was no sign of fever or any other symptom of the bioc poison. In fact, it looked a lot like Tobias was just having a nightmare.

            “Tobias, wake up,” Bree commanded. She grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him gently. “Tobias?”

            “Hadassah,” Tobias whispered hoarsely. “Hadassah.”



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1. Chapter Ten: The Castle Ruins

2.             Bree was still fearful for Adrian’s safety, but Ankinon was right: it was his choice to help them and face the consequences. There wasn’t anything she could do about it. Nothing except pray that the boy wouldn’t be harmed or killed because of his choice.

3.             Bree helped Ankinon and Adrian secure Tobias’s litter to the mare. Their recovering friend had regained a little of his color by this time and his skin felt a little cooler to the touch. Bree was relieved when Adrian told her that he knew of a safe place nearby where they could camp and Tobias could rest comfortably. She didn’t think being jostled around all day in the hot sun on a thin blanket that was tied behind a horse would be good for his condition.

4.             “What exactly is this place?” she asked.

5.             “It’s the ruins of an old castle,” Adrian replied. “My father said it must have been built in the days before the Dread Warlock. There’s not much left of it, but there is one room that stays cool no matter how hot it gets outside.”

6.             Bree noticed Ankinon’s eyes widen at the mention of the castle ruins, but he said nothing.

7.             After the litter was secured, Adrian took Tempest’s reins and led her eastward. His nervousness towards her had faded after Bree had him feed the mare an apple, and he saw the animal was friendly. Adrian had giggled as the horse’s soft lips brushed over his palm.

8.             While Adrian led, Bree and Ankinon walked on either side of the litter to make sure that nothing happened to it or its passenger.

9.             “You seemed surprised when Adrian mentioned the ruins,” Bree said to Ankinon.

10.             “I never expected there to be a castle here,” Ankinon said. “Or any people besides the goblins.”

11.             “You didn’t know about Adrian’s village? But I thought you said you explored every inch of this forest the last time you were here.”

12.             “I never said that. All I said is that I had been here a year ago. I never claimed to have seen all of it; just most of it. I never went any farther north of here than that clearing we were in, so I never saw any village or castle.”

13.             “It’s a good thing you didn’t,” Adrian said. “You wouldn’t have been welcome in the village.”

14.             “They don’t like strangers,” Bree explained.

15.             “It’s rare that we get any. You are the first I’ve seen here in a long time. I didn’t see those men you were looking for. I only heard what happened to them from the goblins. Why did they come to Diamageen, anyway?”

16.             Bree and Ankinon told him about Ambassador Heach’s mission and what they knew about why he and his escorts had chosen to come through Diamageen. Then they talked about how they had met Tobias and how the three of them had been recruited to track down the missing ambassador and take him to Hearock. Adrian’s knowledge of the world outside Diamageen turned out to be very limited. He knew of the existence of dwarves, but didn’t know that the relationship between them and the other races was so estranged. Nor did he know about the attacks on the elves.

17.             “How much further is it to this castle of yours?” Ankinon asked after he and Bree finished telling their story.

18.              “Not far,” Adrian said. “You can see it from here if you look hard enough.”

19.             The forest around her was so dense that Bree couldn’t see the sky much less a castle. But after a few feet, the forest came to an abrupt end and she found herself in the long shadow of a huge, almost mountain-like hill. At the top was a massive structure of rough, weathered tan stone that stretched out over the flat top of the hill. Bree could see crumbling towers of various sizes shooting up from behind a high wall that was shaped like a star. Wide, round towers stood where the points of the star should have been. They were like silent sentinels standing guard over their keep.

20.             The castle looked as though it had once been through a massive battle. Some sections of the wall were blackened from fire while others looked as if they had been smashed by massive boulders. One of the towers looked like a giant had ripped it in half length-wise. The whole structure was in a state of neglect and decay. Tall weeds climbed nearly the full height of the walls, while curtains of ivy spilled over some of the sections that were still intact.

21.             Bree had a million questions about the castle, such as who had lived in it and what battle was fought there. She asked Adrian a few of these questions, but he didn’t have an answer for any of them. He didn’t know anything about the castle, he said. His father and mother just happened to stumble across it while they were lost in a storm. And not a moment too soon, as it turned out. Adrian’s mother, Kendrix, had gone into labor hours earlier, and not long after she and her husband, Cedric, had found a dry place in the castle, she had given birth to her son.

22.             “Interesting,” Ankinon said. “And how many years ago was that? Ten? Eleven?”

23.             “Fourteen,” Adrian replied. “I’m fourteen.”

24.             “Seriously? You look a little short to be fourteen.”

25.             Bree glared at Ankinon. She didn’t think he would say anything cruel to Adrian regarding his height—he was usually good about keeping his teasing in good-natured territory—but if he did, she’d smack him. She couldn’t stand seeing people picked on maliciously, even if one of her own friends was doing the teasing.

26.             Adrian didn’t appear to be bothered by Ankinon’s comments. “My shortness is my greatest weapon. It makes me invisible to the goblins.” He smiled.

27.             “Oh, really?” Ankinon asked. “What does the blue hair do?”

28.             Adrian shrugged. “It grows out of my head.”

29.             Bree decided to speak up. “If you don’t mind my asking, why is it blue?”

30.             “Umm …. Well ….” Adrian stumbled a bit on a loose stone, but quickly recovered. “Honestly, I can’t tell you. It’s just something that’s been in my mother’s side of the family ever since anyone can remember.”

31.             Bree racked her memory, trying to recall anything from all the stories she’d read on heroic quests of humans with blue hair. There had to be more to Adrian’s unusual hair than that he had been born with it. Blue hair was just too unnatural.

32.             Ankinon and Adrian shifted the conversation to Adrian’s village. Most of the grown men and women were survivors of Koraira. They swore that they and their descendants would serve the goblins forever in exchange for not being tortured to death. The goblins burned magic marks into the captives’ skin that prevented them from leaving Diamageen. Every able-bodied man was required to dig up gold, jewels and iron under the hills near the Spire. They could return to their homes and families in New Koraira for only one week every month if the goblins were pleased with their work. Adrian’s grandmother was New Koraira’s Elder. It was her job to make sure the goblins’ tributes were ready on time and that all of their laws and the village laws were obeyed by the slaves. If any of those laws were broken, it was her duty to banish the offending villagers into the forest for the goblins to track down and kill with the rest of the unlucky ones chosen for the hunts. From the way Adrian trembled at the mention of the hunts, Bree surmised that being forced to participate in them was the slaves’ worst nightmare.

33.             “How could they do that?” she asked. “How could the goblins hunt down people like they were wild boars?”

34.             “Entertainment,” Adrian answered bitterly. “The different clans compete to see who can bring down the most prey.  After each hunt, after all the meat has been stripped away, each clan requires slaves hang the bones of their kills in a tree and carve its symbol on the trunk.” The level of hostility and anger in his voice gradually rose the longer he spoke. “That’s how they keep track of how many humans each clan has killed. The chieftain of the clan with the most kills for the year is crowned king of the goblins.”

35.             “What happens to those who survive the hunts?”

36.             “The goblins have said that any human who escapes their grasp during the hunt will be freed. They made that deal with us so that we’ll try our best to get away and provide more challenge and entertainment to them. But no one’s ever escaped; the goblins are very thorough in their hunts and brutal. You ask why they treat us like animals, it’s because that’s what we are to them. They rob us of our hope and dignity, but they don’t care. When we’re forced to hang the bones of our loved ones in those stupid poses, they laugh at our pain. Our screams and groans are music to their ears.” His voice softened. “Do you see now why I want to know how to kill them? If my people can become a threat to them, we can force them to free us. You worry about what the goblins will do to me? I’m afraid of what they might do, yes. But I gladly risk their punishment to find out how to free my people just like you’re risking your lives to save your ambassador so you can save your people.”

37.             By this time, Adrian had led Bree, Ankinon and their horse to the top of the hill and through a huge archway to which the splintery remains of a pair of doors clung to the hinges like a ruined spider web to a windowsill.

38.             The inside of the castle looked more of a wreck than the outside did. Ivy, roots, and the long branches of thorn bushes blanketed the stone pathways and twisted possessively around half-demolished walls, archways, and a large cracked fountain that looked like it had gone dry ages ago. The branches of small trees and shrubs poked through the arched windows of walls that supported half-collapsed roofs.

39.             Bree and Ankinon unhitched the litter from Tempest’s back and let her graze on a large patch of wild grass near some dead rose trees. They carried Tobias as they continued to follow Adrian through the ruins. They picked their way around rubble and past half demolished towers and buildings. The going was difficult and slow. Bree wondered how Adrian’s mother ever managed to get through this maze while in labor. Her husband must have carried her, but she couldn’t imagine how he had managed to pick his way through and over all the stone obstacles—some as tall as she was and as wide as a small house—while carrying a pregnant woman and running from a storm.

40.             Adrian continued the conversation he and his friends had begun outside of the castle. He told them that the Death Clan, the goblins’ ruling clan, had been the ones who had hunted down Ambassador Heach and his party, killed nine of the soldiers and took the survivors to the Spire to work in the mines. Rescuing them was not going to be easy.

41.             “I’ve told you all you’ve asked me to tell you,” he said. “Will you now tell me how you hurt the goblins?”

42.             Bree’s heart felt as heavy as rough stone that made up the castle walls. She dreaded when she had to answer the boy’s questions about wounding and killing goblins. His voice and eyes had been so full of determination to free his people, and he had hope that at last the time had come when it could be done. It couldn’t be done, however, and Bree didn’t want to be the one to tell him that. She didn’t want to see that hope crushed. Yet what else could she do? She and Ankinon had an agreement with Adrian, and he had fulfilled his part of it.

43.             Bree hung her head so she wouldn’t have to look at Adrian. Sadly and regretfully, she explained it was because her blade was made of a special metal that she was able to wound goblins. She didn’t know how or why caltic steel was able to do it. When Adrian eagerly asked how his people could get their hands on their own caltic steel, Bree could barely hold back her tears as she told him that they wouldn’t be able to. Caltic steel could only be made if the dwarves and elves renewed their friendship, and there wasn’t enough left in existence now to outfit a small troop of warriors with swords, much less an army. Only a little of it had been made before hatred and distrust tore their peoples apart.

44.             Ankinon spoke up. “A bunch of swords, even caltic ones aren’t going to do your people any good if they don’t have the courage to use them. And I’m guessing they lack that. If they did have it, they’d capture the green-skins and hang them out for the sun to finish them off. Am I right?”

45.             Adrian hung his head shamefully. “Yes. They fear the goblins’ strength and their magic. But if they had magic weapons of their own, maybe that would give them courage.” He crossed under an arched doorway into a tall round building, the only one that appeared to be undamaged.

46.             Bree followed, pulling Tobias’s litter with her. “Courage comes from the heart not from weapons. That’s something my teacher once told me.”

47.             Adrian began leading his companions up a small, cracked staircase. “Everyone with courage in their hearts to fight was killed by the goblins a long time ago.”

48.             “Not you,” Bree observed. “You’re brave.”

49.             “I’m not a fighter. I’m just a slave, born and bred, good for nothing else. Not on my own.” Adrian climbed the final steps of the staircase and disappeared from Bree’s sight.

50.             Bree couldn’t believe her ears. “That’s not true. You could fight. You just need to know how. I could teach you. And anyway, where did you get the idea that you have to have a magic blade to be worth anything?”

51.             “Bree shut it,” Ankinon ordered.

52.             Bree looked over her shoulder at him. “You think I’m wrong?”

53.             “No, I think you should keep you nose out of this before you get yourself in too deep.”

54.             “What are you talking about?”

55.             “I don’t blame you for wanting to help Adrian and his comrades-in-bondage. But before you commit yourself to ridding them of their goblin problem, let’s take a moment to examine the situation and the obstacles it presents: one, you already made a commitment to rescue the ambassador and deliver him safely to Hearock, and that’s something that needs to be done before the green-skins use his skeleton as their next work of art; two, you’re gonna need a lot of man-power and woman-power to take on the goblins in an open assault. Based on what you and Adrian told me, you’re not very likely to get that from the stranger-phobic denizens of New Koraira who cower at the very word ‘goblin.’ And don’t try to tell me you can take on all of the green-skins by yourself. You’re not that good of a fighter. Heck, I’m not even that good a fighter.”  

56.             Bree was surprised. “I’d never thought I’d hear any words of caution coming out of your mouth. What you just said sounded like something Tobias would say. Not you.”

57.             “Hey, even I have to be a little cautious sometimes,” Ankinon admitted, “especially, when my only interesting co-worker wants to fly blind in the vulture-and-lightning-infested skies of sure suicide. When you’re sailing through the skies of insanity, then you can throw caution to the wind.” His face suddenly grew serious, something very out of character for him.  “Seriously though, Bree, you gotta learn that no matter how much you want to, you can’t save everybody. No warrior can. Even if you had someone as powerful as the dragons protecting the whole world, people would still suffer. It happens. Nothing you can do about it. So why worry and get all worked up about the people you can’t help? If Tobey wasn’t busy being Sleeping Beauty, he’d tell you the same thing.”

58.             Bree was forced to admit that Ankinon had a good point.—more than one actually—and she couldn’t argue with any of them. But that did not weaken her desire to help the people of New Koraira, especially Adrian, escape slavery. But she put the idea out of her head for the moment, though it pained her to do so. Perhaps once she had returned from Hearock and became a knight, she could lead a dozen battalions of soldiers into Diamageen and free the slaves. Perhaps she could convince Ankinon and Tobias to ride with her, too. She’d need them both to help plan the attack, and their fighting skills would be more than welcome. The more she pictured the battle and its outcome in her mind, the more comforted she became. She smiled, and then realized that her victory over the goblins would bring her more love and respect as a hero. She would be known as Lady Bree Arengaren, slayer of goblins and deliverer of the oppressed. Her smile widened.

59. ***

60.             Bree and Ankinon met up with Adrian in a large room at the top of the stairs. There were no signs of neglect or decay here. Even the antique furniture looked in relatively good shape. The wood was faded, but it was still strong enough to support the weight of whoever tried to use it.

61.             “It still has some comfort to it, too,” Ankinon said as he reclined in a padded chair.

62.             Bree and Adrian laid Tobias on one of the room’s two slender beds. A set of wooden wind chimes hung in the arched window nearby and clinked musically in the slight breeze.

63.             Bree began examining the stone shelves that jutted out from the wall. Each one held a number of various knickknacks.  There were little tin and wooden horses, all so life-like they looked as if they could gallop off at any second. Glass figurines of clowns with goofy faces smiled down at her. Tin soldiers stood frozen and fierce in their various battle poses. Porcelain dolls sat proud as peacocks in their lovely but faded dresses and perfect faces. Among these items were simple clay pots decorated with simple, blob-like characters that looked as though they were painted by a small child just learning to draw.

64.             “Are these your toys, Adrian?” she asked.

65.             Adrian absent-mindedly pushed an old rocking horse back and forth. “Sort of, I guess. They’ve been here as long as anybody can remember. I suppose they belonged to whoever lived here before this place became a ruin.”

66.             Bree looked around at the toys again, trying to imagine what the children who once owned them were like. Maybe they were the princes and princesses of the castle who enjoyed many make-believe adventures with their inanimate friends after their boring royal lessons were finally over. The toys certainly looked like they would belong to someone in the wealthy higher classes.

67.             Adrian stopped playing with the horse and started moving towards the door. “This place is my sanctuary. I come here when I want some time to myself.”

68.             Bree’s respect for Adrian and the ruins grew. It meant a lot to her that the boy would take her and her friends, three complete strangers, to his special place when they needed somewhere to stay. She didn’t know of many people who would do that.

69.             “Like I said before, I doubt the goblins know about this place. No one in the village knows about it but my grandmother and me. You should be safe here. How long do you think you’ll need to stay?”

70.             “At least until Tobias is well,” Bree replied. “If Ankinon’s right, that should be sometime tomorrow morning. After that, I guess we head to the Spire, and try and figure out how we get the ambassador and his soldiers out. Do you think the goblins would have marked them by now?”

71.             “It’s possible. But it’s also possible that they didn’t. I’ve heard the spell takes a long time to prepare. There’s a chance that the new slaves haven’t been marked yet and you can take them out of the forest. But if they have been marked, well ….”

72.             “Then we’ll have some green-skin brain-picking to do,” Ankinon said. “And if we find out how to break that slave spell, we’ll come back and tell you. Call it a bonus for all your help. Does that sound fair to you, kid?”

73.             Adrian’s face brightened. “Aye. Thank you. But don’t jeopardize your mission to keep that promise. If my people are forced to leave here, we’ll need a safe place to escape to—one free of whatever is threatening the elves.”

74.             Ankinon nodded. “Gotcha.”

75.             Bree nodded, too. The plan sounded good to her. If it worked, the slaves could leave Diamageen around the same time she and her friends did. Their suffering would be over much quicker than if they had to wait for her to come back with her battalion. Besides, it would make her more legendary if she were able to free a village full of slaves with just two fighters to help her instead of several.

76.             Adrian gazed at the door and then back at his new friends. The look on his face was one of reluctance. “It was nice meeting both of you. I wish I could stay and introduce myself to Tobias. He sounds like a good man.”

77.             “You’re leaving?” Bree asked. She had hoped her new friend could stick around a little longer before he had to go back to slaving away for the goblins.

78.             Adrian nodded. “I’ve been gone too long already. I’m needed back home.”

79. ***

80.             After Adrian had gone, Ankinon decided to explore the ruins. Bree wanted to go with him, but she also didn’t want Tobias to be alone when he woke up. She didn’t think his awaking alone in a foreign place in the middle of goblin country was a good idea. She knew if she were in that situation, she might freak out a little. Ankinon promised her he would come back after a couple of hours so they could switch and she would have her turn to explore. Bree also made him promise to tell her if he found something good.

81.             Bree passed the hours sitting in front of the arched window. Her ears were filled with the sounds of the clinking wind chimes and Tobias’s rhythmic breathing. Her eyes were filled with the sight of the ruins and the forest beyond them. Her mind was filled with thoughts about her family and what they were doing at the moment. She also thought of Adrian and his people, her traveling companions, and their adventures so far. What would Tobias say about this whole situation with the slaves? There were two sides to Tobias that Bree had seen: a caring side and a cold, unfeeling side. Which side would show its face when he heard about the slaves? She guessed she would find out when she told him.

82.             It was funny. Before meeting Tobias, Bree had thought herself the most unfortunate person in the world because she was unmercifully teased by her whole town.  But after meeting him and seeing the effect losing his whole family had had on him, she didn’t consider herself so unfortunate. At least her family was alive and well. True, she had lost her biological father, but she was so young at the time that he died that she didn’t get to know him very well. His loss didn’t haunt her like the deaths of Tobias’s parents and sister haunted him. Sir Hayden had told her that Tobias was shy as a little kid, but friendly and kind, too. A lot like Adrian. Such a boy didn’t deserve to lose his family as he had. Nor did Adrian deserve to be a slave to those heartless goblins. The weight of the unjust burdens they bore left Tobias a lonely and emotionless husk and Adrian with no sense of self-esteem or self-worth. Even Ankinon had, and still did to a certain extent, suffered because of the murder of his three friends. He didn’t deserve to have that happen to him either. Compared to their pain, the pain of her past life was still bad, but not as bad as she originally thought it was. She didn’t think it was right that her friends had been dealt the fate that they had. They were good young men, each compassionate in his own way. How could fiends like the goblins and the dragons bear to hurt them?

83.             Tobias suddenly cried out and Bree jumped. She whirled around and saw her friend tossing and turning uneasily. His breath had become short and rapid.

84.             “Tobias, what’s wrong?” she asked, concerned. Had something gone wrong with the paecob feather?

85.             She ran over to the bed and felt his forehead. It felt cool. There was no sign of fever or any other symptom of the bioc poison. In fact, it looked a lot like Tobias was just having a nightmare.

86.             “Tobias, wake up,” Bree commanded. She grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him gently. “Tobias?”

87.             “Hadassah,” Tobias whispered hoarsely. “Hadassah.”

88.

89.

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