I pulled back the arrow and aimed for the man under the tree. As I edged along the branch, a twig snapped.
The man—Rumpel—looked up, his shrewd eyes focused on me.
“Come down, Kardiya,” he said, his deep voice laced with warning.
“Sure. After I shoot you, I’ll be happy to.”
Even from up here, I heard his growl. I’d been nothing but a pain in his side since he’d captured me. I didn’t plan to break the habit.
“I won’t hurt you. I told you that,” he said.
“I don’t believe you. I tend to distrust people who capture me.”
He stood beneath the bramble of branches. If I let the arrow fly now, it would stick in the wood or bounce back and hit me. I had to keep him moving until I got a clean shot.
“I had my reasons for taking you,” he said.
“I don’t care.”
“Even if you’ll be saving my people by helping me?”
“By saving goblins, you mean? So more of your people can trick mine and take us prisoner. No, thank you.”
Keeping the bowstring held taut made my muscles burn. He needed to move an inch to the right, and I’d have a clean shot.
“Come down so we can talk about this like civilized people,” he said.
“Never. First, you tell me where I am and how I get home.”
“I would love to—if you come down out of that tree. Unfortunately, should you shoot me, I may have trouble telling you anything useful, as I’ll be dead.”
He had a point.
I lowered the bow, the arrow’s shaft itching under my fingertips. I’d been so close to putting it through his chest. But what good would killing him have done me? I still had no way of getting home. I needed him alive—at least for now.
After capturing me in my bedroom, he’d used a magical key, put it in my closet door, and opened it to an unfamiliar world. Then he’d dragged me through. When he’d shut the door behind us, it had disappeared. I was trapped in an unknown land—the goblin realm—and I didn’t know how to get out. Aside from stealing the bow and arrow from the passing caravan, I had no advantages.
I slung the bow over my shoulder and clamped the arrow between my teeth, and then I grabbed the branch and climbed down. When my feet touched ground, I pulled the weapon out of my mouth and pointed the tip at Rumpel’s chest.
He was taller than most men. As a goblin, he hardly looked like the gnarled creatures I’d read about in the story books. He looked like a barbarian from the wilds, his hair shaven on the sides, leaving a strip of blond down the middle. A swirling tattoo covered half his cheek and streaked down his neck. His leather tunic moved with suppleness over a well-muscled torso. He looked male in every sense of the word, though why I noticed such a thing was inexplicable.
He took a step toward me when I thrust the arrow’s tip under his chin. His icy blue eyes narrowed.
“Not another step.” I sank as much grit into my voice as I could muster.
A slight smile curved around his mouth as he glanced at my flimsy arrow. Crossing his arms, he stood defiantly, feet planted on the dirt-packed path.
He grasped the golden key hanging around his neck. The metal glinted, tempting me to pull it off and discover how its magic worked.
“Tell me how I get home,” I said.
“Awfully demanding, aren’t you?”
“Tell me,” I repeated.
“Very well. You don’t. Not without my help. This key is fueled by goblin magic, meaning you won’t be able to use it. If you want to go home, you’ll play by my rules. I need your help restoring my kingdom. Once you do, I’ll gladly use the key to escort you back to your world.”
“Why can’t you restore your own world?”
“Because I’ve tried. I can’t. Not without the help of the dark elf child who wears the magical pendant of Malestasia. That pendant.” He pointed to my necklace. I clutched the metal disc, my grandmother’s magic warming my hand. “Do you know what that is?”
I didn’t answer. It was my grandmother’s pendant. It contained her magic, but I suspected that wasn’t the answer he was seeking.
“It’s the pendant spoken of in prophecy. Your grandmother wore it. Now it’s yours. You’ll be the one to save my people.”
“What?”
“It’s true. It wasn’t as if I enjoyed having to bargain with your grandmother.” His voice turned soft. “But my people are desperate to save their home.” His tone, for once not full of venom, gave me pause. He was trying to save his people?
“I’ve waited a very long time to find you.” He took a step toward me. “Help me save my people from the Shadow Lords—the Sai-hadov. They took my world more than a half century ago. Now it’s time I take it back. Help me.”
Half a century ago? He barely looked eighteen. Nineteen at most.
“But you captured me! How can you possibly expect me to help you with anything when I’m your prisoner?”
He clamped my wrist, squeezing painfully tight. I gasped, and the arrow fell to the ground, hitting the dirt with a thud.
Drat. There went my chances of escape. I knew I should’ve shot him.
“Because,” he growled in my ear, his breath warm on my cheek. “I tried before. It didn’t work. This time, I won’t fail.”
“Tried before? I never met you until now.”
“With your grandmother,” he said. “I made a deal to possess her firstborn, but she tricked me, turned me into a shifter dwarf with no name and no memories, and took my leg and eye for good measure. I’ve lived for years as a pathetic creature. I won’t fail again now that I’ve got my identity back.”
His story made me pause. Grandmother’s tale of the wizard came back to me. The way she’d described it, she’d made him sound as if he were a vile goblin bent on thieving her firstborn. She’d never mentioned a bargain.
Even so, I couldn’t allow him to be my captor.
I stomped on his foot. He grunted but didn’t release me. Magical bands encased me, tightening around my wrists and ankles.
“I wanted to avoid this, but you’ve given me no choice.” He picked me up and slung me over his shoulder as if I were a sack of flour. I screamed and hit his back with my entwined fists, but it was like hitting a rock wall.
He would regret this.
I called on my magic, but he’d used an enchantment to steal my powers when we’d entered his land, leaving me empty and cold inside. Panic settled inside me as I stared down the road stretching behind us, the bow and single arrow lying uselessly on the ground. Rows of trees overshadowed us, their branches thick and covered with rough bark that reminded me of dragon hide.
“Let me go, you stupid oaf! Or I’ll stab you through—” The magic bands covered my mouth, muffling my words.
Anger fueled me as I pounded on his back, but he didn’t react. He only continued walking down the forest path with me slung over his shoulder. Blood rushed to my head.
I would kill him. It would be a slow, excruciating death, and I would enjoy every minute of it.
His footsteps echoed as we entered a cavern. A dome of rock shaded us from the sun, the shadows cooling my overheated skin. My fists ached as I punched the man’s back. He didn’t stop.
Deeper into the cavern, torchlights flickered. Eyes reflected the light. Several people wearing rags and dirt-smudged faces emerged. They followed us with guarded faces and quiet footsteps, stalking like wisps of shadows.
Most had leathery skin, wrinkled and shrunken, and their haggard gazes reminded me of starving wolves. The cave widened. Dome-shaped huts made of mud and straw rose from the ground like mushroom tops.
We entered a large area, footsteps echoing up toward the curving rock structure encasing us. Sunlight peeked through holes in the rock above, revealing snaking roots that hung like tentacles from the ceiling.
Rumpel dumped me on the floor. Not gently, I noted.
Curse him.
“I’ve come with the child of the dark elves—the one who wears the pendant of Malestasia.” His booming voice echoed through the domed chamber.
A crowd of people gathered around. Beneath the dirt covering their faces, swirling tattoos appeared. For some, the inked patterns covered their entire face. For others, only cheeks or chins were marked. Their eyes shone yellow in the dim lights, reminding me of the were-jaguars infesting our jungles back home.
I wasn’t sure if these people were any less dangerous.
Whispers filled the air, some I couldn’t discern, and others I could. “He’s returned.” “Is she the one?” “Another failure?”
Chills prickled my skin as the people gathered around. Lean, hungry gazes fixated on me. I swallowed my fear. I wouldn’t let them intimidate me. I sat up straight. The magical bands tightened as I moved.
A few children stood hugging the skirts of their mothers. A girl—perhaps four—took a step toward me. Cornsilk yellow hair crowned her head and fell to her shoulders, a bright spot in the darkness of the cavern. She eyed me shyly, her gaze lingering on my pointed ears, when her mother grabbed her and pulled her back.
Rumpel moved in front of me, blocking my view of the girl. His smug, satisfied smile made anger burn through my blood.
He wouldn’t get away with this.
A commotion came from the far side of the cavern. Raised voices echoed as the crowd parted.
An ancient woman shuffled over the uneven ground, her walking stick clicking with each step. Her face was so wrinkled that it was hard to make out her eyes—twin raisin orbs stuck in sundried leather. Tattered robes in colors of red and blue hung from her stooped shoulders. The tatty ends dragged on the floor, sweeping the dirt behind her.
She stopped walking when she reached us, straightening as best as she could.
“Rumpel.” Her voice cracked as she spoke, like stones grating together. “You’ve returned. We thought you were dead.”
“I’m alive, Mistress Baelem.” He nodded respectfully.
“You’ve brought the child of the dark elves?”
“Yes.” He stepped aside and pointed to me. I must’ve looked a sight, with my fiery red hair disheveled, the tiny braids most likely sticking up in every direction and knotted with briars, dirt smudging my freckled face, and my hunting garb littered with leaves and brambles. What a gift I made.
The woman hobbled forward, her raisin eyes squinted as she examined me. With the magical bands covering my mouth, I couldn’t make a sound.
“She’s too old!” the woman croaked.
Old?
“No, she won’t do,” the woman said. “Not at all. You were supposed to bring us a baby, Rumpel. This is a grown woman. Bah!” She spat at my feet.
Grown? I’m only seventeen, I wanted to argue.
“I’m sorry, but time passes differently in the human realm. The baby of the miller’s daughter grew up and gave birth to her own children. This is her youngest. And she’s wearing the pendant of her grandmother. That means she’s the one we seek.”
The woman—Baelem—stuck a gnarled finger in Rumpel’s face. “We wanted the firstborn, so we could raise her as a goblin, so she’d do what we asked her when the time came. This girl is grown. She’ll never cooperate with us.”
“She will if I tell her. She’s quite docile and obedient.”
“Hmph,” I groaned through the bands covering my mouth, my eyes boring a hole through his. Liar, I wanted to shout. Docile? Obedient? Really?
“She’ll obtain the three objects of Elevatia for us?” the woman asked. “She’ll do it without complaint? She’ll give them to us when the time comes?”
“Yes. I swear it. She won’t fail us.”
“Uh-umm,” I said through the bands.
The woman eyed me. “Is she trying to speak?”
“Umm!” I grunted. Yes!
She stooped nearer to me. “Perhaps we’ll let her tell us if she’ll help us willingly.”
“I’m sure that’s not necessary,” Rumpel said. “I give you my word. She will be the one to restore our kingdom.”
Baelem laughed. The crowd shifted around us, distrustful, whispering voices echoing. “I see you haven’t forgotten the ways of a goblin—deceit and trickery. If she’s so willing to help us, why have you bound her mouth? You took her from her home. She’ll escape when she gets a chance. No. She won’t do. Take her back. Wait for her to have her firstborn, and then steal it from the cradle. We can wait.”
“No, we can’t.” He spoke with passion, his hands fisted, steely determination in his eyes. “The longer we wait, the closer the Sai-hadov come to taking all our lands from us. We’ll not even have the caves to call home.”
“You’re confident you can coerce her?”
“Yes.” He puffed out his chest. “I promise. She will restore our kingdom.”
“Mmm!” I muttered. No, I won’t!
“What’s she saying?” the woman asked.
“She’d be happy to help us,” he answered.
I wish I knew what was going on. Who were the Sai-hadov? Why was I supposed to stop them? Why couldn’t they stop them?
A man walked forward, stopping behind Baelem. Gray streaked his wiry black beard. Dark green tattoos swirled around his forehead and down his cheek. His stocky frame was accentuated by a broad barrel chest. An axe hung from a loop at his waist. Distrust clouded his eyes as he glanced my way.
He spoke quietly to Baelem. I couldn’t hear his words, but with the look he gave me, I could only imagine what he was saying. Was he suggesting they kill me and be done with it?
When the man stepped away, she turned a shrewd gaze on me. She struck the floor with her walking cane, its loud click reverberating.
“We’ve come to a crossroads,” she shouted, her croaking voice louder than I thought possible. “Rumpel, you have not redeemed yourself. You have not brought us a babe, but a grown elf. Your failure continues.”
“It’s no failure. I’ve brought the child spoken of in prophecy. She will save us!”
Shouts and jeers erupted from the crowd. She pounded her stick on the ground until the noise decreased.
“So you say. But what does she say? Remove her bonds. Let her speak.”
Rumpel’s eyes clouded with fear for a half-second. He turned to me, then crossed slowly to my side. As he knelt by me, he hesitated before removing the bands covering my mouth.
He gave me a stern stare, fidgeting with the key around his neck, as if reminding me of my way home. But there was more to his glance than that. Pain. Heartache. We need you, he seemed to say. He reached for my mouth, touched the band, and it disappeared. I breathed deeply, working my jaw back and forth.
“Well?” the old woman called. “What say you, elf? Will you choose to help us?”
I stared from Baelem to Rumpel. He’d captured me. He’d snuck into my room, took me by force, and stranded me in the goblin realm. How could I possibly help him?
But if I refused, what then?
Would they demand my firstborn as payment for Grandmother’s debt?
Good luck with that.
There wasn’t a dark elven man I had the slightest interest in. I would never get married, least of all have children.
Plus, if I said no, I would completely humiliate Rumpel. Seeing the look on his face was worth it for that.
The girl with the yellow hair peeked at me behind her mother’s ragged skirt. A pang of sadness gripped me, tugging on my heartstrings, blast it all.
I didn’t know what I was supposed to do for these people. Save them? How? I’d spent my entire life secluded in Malestasia—the home of the dark elves. I’d only left once to go to the Outerlands. They weren’t much to look at, nothing but sand and ruined buildings, and I’d only been there for a day. A magical realm like this was completely foreign to me.
I’d had wild plans of traveling to the mainland and having adventures—not getting captured by goblins and doing their bidding, with the threat of never returning home looming over my head.
What was I supposed to do?
Accept them and somehow save them? Or deny them and fight my way home—and most likely get killed in the process?
I looked from the girl to Rumpel. The intensity of his eyes caught me off guard, the icy blue brightness drawing me in. He knelt in front of me with his hands clasped, unspeaking, and his lips pursed. He didn’t challenge me. He only sat with a look of desperate pleading.
Something horrible had happened to his people. Somehow, I was the key to saving them.
I had no idea what I was getting into. But I supposed I was about to find out.
“Fine,” I said, sitting straight. “Tell me how I’m supposed to help you.”