The Goblin's Curse (27 page)

She watched as the helicopter lifted and passed low overhead. She waved to Elianard. She felt his gaze on her, and wondered if Niriel was glaring down.

The walk back down Water Sprite Lane was spooky. With no elves, the woods behind her seemed menacing, even though it held the same trees she’d become friendly with last year. Now they thought that goblins were their friends, and she couldn’t help but think that the forest might be spying on her.

Keelie trudged through the meadow. Dad had hammered into her the importance of education, and he’d been right. Although he could never have foreseen this—a situation where the fate of many depended on how well she’d done her homework.

twenty-one

The meadow was quiet. Keelie glanced uneasily toward the place where the goblin tree grew, but it was still just bare earth. She marched up to the aspen tree.

Hrok, I need your help.

Hrok’s face formed in the bark.
Milady, I am surprised to see you. How may I help you?

I need a freely given branch.

Hrok’s eyes widened in surprise.
Of course.
A large branch lowered so that she could reach it.
What is this for, milady?

It will help me find something I have lost. Will it hurt you?

Hrok grimaced.
A little. Do it quickly.

Keelie snapped the branch, twisting to make the thin green bark release, then pulled it free from the big branch.
Sorry.

She ran through the directions of the spell in her mind. One must turn in all cardinal directions, and then visualize the lost item, and the branch would direct her. She hoped it would work.

Hrok’s face vanished into the bark, then quickly returned, eyes darting wildly.
Milady, I sense goblins firing at trees with flaming arrows. They carry weapons. They’re close, milady. They’re coming in from Equus Island.

Flaming arrows? Panic filled Keelie. She sent reassuring waves to Hrok.
I must go into the campground and rally everyone to fight.

You were right, milady, the goblins mean to burn us. What will we do?

Green shrieks pierced Keelie’s mind. Rampant fear spread through the forest as the trees discovered the goblins meant to burn them down. Keelie nearly fell over from her telepathic connection to the traumatized trees.

Knot bounded up to her, his eyes dilated with alarm. He kept looking over his left shoulder. “Meow must go now.”

Keelie hated leaving Hrok and the other trees vulnerable to a goblin attack, but their only hope was for her to get back to the faire, rally everyone, and find the Compendium. She wasn’t about to hand it over to a goblin, though. If it had chosen her, as Elianard said, then she would use it to defend the faire and chase away the goblins.

I will return with help.

Keelie ran. Not far away she could hear the clanking of armor and the goblins horn of battle being blown loud and clearly, its strong deep sounds ringing up against the Rocky Mountains. The sun was almost touching the mountaintops to her left—the four hours had passed. Propelled by the need to warn everyone, Keelie forced herself to keep running. She remembered the image on the tarot card of the goblins attacking the village.

Ahead, she saw the Ren Faire buildings peeking through the tree line. Cars were lined up at the performers’ entrance.

What were the fools doing outside the faire?

“Get inside! We’re being attacked.”

Thomas the Glass Blower gawked at her. “What say you?”

“Goblins! Need to find Finch.”

Thomas guffawed. “You’ve been living too long at the faire—the real and the fantasy are intermingling in your mind, girl.”

“No. Goblins. Get inside the faire,” Keelie shouted.

He wrinkled his forehead. “What games are you playing?”

Keelie didn’t have time to argue with him. “You must get inside. Goblins are on the march.”

Inside the faire, shopkeepers including Sam the Potter had pulled their vehicles up to their shops, and many were loading up their merchandise and other personal belongings. Mrs. Butters was serving cold drinks outside of the tea shop.

“What are you all doing?” Keelie asked Mara.

“We’re getting the hell out of Dodge. It’s been one bad thing after another. This place is cursed.” Mara was holding her two-year old daughter, Ava. “We can’t stay, Keelie. It’s not safe. I’ve been having visions of creatures with swords. They’re here, and I’m afraid.”

Could the Compendium have been reaching out to everyone in the faire to warn them about the goblins, because that is what
she
wanted to do? Keelie wondered. She tightened her grip on the branch.

“My grandmama said I had the sight, that I could see fairies, but these aren’t fairies—these are monsters that are going to attack us.” Mara hugged little Ava.

Keelie didn’t know what to tell her. Some goblins, like Peascod, had the hearts and souls of monsters because they wanted power. They would kill and hurt and destroy whomever and whatever to achieve their goals—but not all goblins were like that. She blinked back tears as the image of Cricket formed in her mind. She was starting to understand how goblins were a lot like people. Some good, some rotten.

Keelie made a decision. She had to tell everyone about the goblins. Their lives could depend on that knowledge.

“I have to go find Finch. You need to stay inside the faire. These visions you’ve been having are real. Those monsters are goblins, and they’re on their way right now.”

Mara’s face grew chalky white as she clasped her daughter closer to her.

“I don’t blame you for wanting to leave, but it would help if you stayed. We’re going to need all the help we can get in the battle,” Keelie said.

“What do you mean, goblins?” Mara backed away from Keelie. The expression on the young mother’s face said
you’ve lost your mind
.

Keelie hadn’t considered the possibility that people wouldn’t believe her. Without visible proof, most humans wouldn’t believe the truth. Not until it was too late.

Keelie took off before Mara could say anything else. If the goblins were coming in from the west, then it would be better to face them head on. Keelie turned the corner on the West Road and jumped back as a motorcycle came tearing down the lane.

Riding like a bat out of hell on his chrome beast was none other than Vangar, Finch clinging to him as if she were his biker babe. Talk about major attitude turnaround. Love can make you do crazy things. The bike slowed, then turned around and came back to where Keelie stood.

Finch dismounted. “Why didn’t you contact me over the radio?”

Vangar wiped his forehead with his sleeve. His face was red and his dreadlocks were tangled and wild.

“The trees say the goblins are marching in from Equus Island. The elves have left, and the goblin wizard is in fact Tavyn, and I have to get the Compendium from Peascod if we want to have any hope of defeating the goblins.” Keelie rushed the words out, so she could say everything she needed to before Finch could bellow at her.

The shop owners and performers had gathered in a big crowd, watching and listening to Finch and Keelie.

Thomas pushed his way through. “This girl says we’re being attacked by goblins.”

Mara stepped forward with her daughter in her arms. “Is it true?” Her voice on the brink of hysteria.

Finch’s gaze held Keelie’s. “You told.”

“Tavyn’s attacking. He wants the Compendium. I didn’t know what else to do.” Keelie looked at little Ava. She didn’t want this little girl to die at the hands of goblins.

Finch grinned wickedly. “Time to make a battle plan.”

“What?” Thomas asked loudly.

Blakely the reporter stood in the background writing furiously on her pad. Her photographer now had a camcorder and was filming the action. Finch was too busy to notice.

“Everyone, I want you to go back to your businesses. We’re under attack, and you’ll be safe as long as you stay inside the faire.”

Thomas confronted Finch. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m saying it’s too dangerous for you to be out in the open unless you can wield a sword or some other weapon against an ugly beast that looks like an orc,” Finch snarled back at him.

“That’s why we’re getting out of here. You have no business telling us what to do,” Thomas yelled. “And if we’re going to be afraid of someone, how about that firebug?” He pointed at Vangar.

“Vangar is innocent. It was Hob who set the fires,” Keelie said. “Hob was just a disguise for a dangerous creature who wants to destroy us.”

Marcia, Tracy, and Lily arrived, dressed in jeans and T-shirts. They looked like ordinary girls except for the swords they wielded. They stood in front of Finch like a human shield.

“You heard Finch, Thomas,” Marcia shouted. “Get back in your shop, or get out here and fight and help defend our faire.”

Keelie’s opinion of these three fairy-wing wearers went up several notches.

“You’re wrong, Marcia. Hob tried to help us all. He warned us about Finch and Vangar,” Sam the Potter said.

Lily snorted. “He lied and cheated. He’s nothing but a fraud.”

Tracy scowled. “He was nuts, too. He started going around talking to his puppet, which was weird.” She carried her broad sword with an air of expertise.

Finch smiled and cut her eyes over to Keelie.

“You fools need to listen to Finch and Keelie.” Sir Davey’s eyes flashed. He shouldered his axe. In full dwarven armor, he was a formidable sight.

Then a loud roar split through the air. Spinning around, Keelie couldn’t see if something or someone had transformed, or appeared out of thin air.

“It’s too late to run. Now is the time to fight,” Finch said as her eyes narrowed to slits and flame blazed within the irises. “They’re on Equus Island, but the shield holds for now.”

In the distance, Keelie heard a loud booming of a drum and the familiar blare of battle horns.

Marcia, Tracy, and Lily joined up, shoulders together, ready to take on whatever came their way.

Dad!
Keelie heart’s thumped hard against her chest as everyone looked toward the sound of the horns. She made her way to Sir Davey. “Where is Dad?”

“Once he had the dwarfstone, he said he needed to speak to a friend named Bruce.” Sir Davey scowled. “He said if he was late, not to worry—he will be here with reinforcements.”

Not to worry.
Keelie planned to give Dad a good talking to when he arrived. Until then, she would help Finch and Vangar. Wait … the only Bruce she knew was a tree. She shrugged; she didn’t know everybody.

With a cry of horror, Thomas pointed at a charging throng of armored goblins wielding swords and battle axes. “Keelie was right,” he squealed. “The goblins are real.”

“It isn’t real. They’re probably making a movie,” the turkey-leg vendor said, but her eyes were wide.

“You fool, those goblins are the first wave of an attack, and if you had any sense about you, you’d get inside and protect your family. All of you,” Sir Davey bellowed to the assembled shopkeepers and performers. “Stay within the faire. You’re protected by a magical force field.”

Keelie turned to Finch. Sometimes people needed a demonstration to change their minds and convince them that something was real.

“Finch, show them what you are.”

The dragon smiled her wicked grin as smoke drifted from her nose and ears. “Yes, I think it’s time.”

A tornado of fire swirled around Finch, and Keelie shielded her face with her hands as the intense heat blasted toward her. Small beads of light twirled, then sucked inwards as if Finch were magnetic. Bright light exploded, then collapsed, too bright to endure. Keelie closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, Finch was gone. In her place, a red dragon with glistening scales reared up on powerful back legs, her wing tips soaring in an arc over their heads.