Chapter 19: Grinthal, King of the Goblins
Bound tightly in rough hemp ropes, they were dragged unceremoniously down the damp, echoing tunnels and shoved into the torch-lit throne room of King Grinthal.
Alfred was sitting at a low table, midway through chewing a mouthful of gruel, when the guards hauled them in. He bolted upright, nearly knocking his plate over. “Oh no!” he choked out. “Did they catch you guys too?”
“Ah, Alfred,” Shawn said wryly. He twisted against his bonds, managing to wiggle around enough to catch the boy's eye. “Don’t worry. We’re here to rescue you.”
“Are you okay, Alfred?” Catherine called out.
“I’m fine, just—”
“Silence!” King Grinthal bellowed from his dais. “You will not speak unless spoken to!”
Grinthal then turned to his goblin soldiers. “Who are they?” he asked.
“Intruders, Your Majesty,” the lead guard squeaked. “We caught them lurking in the eastern tunnels.”
“What?” Grinthal squeaked. “Intruders? So they are not escaped slaves? But they’re humans. How did humans manage to get into our tunnels?”
“We found the entrance to your tunnels,” said Carlyle. “We’ve come to get our friend.”
“I’ve already told you,” Grinthal exclaimed. “You are to keep silent.”
Grinthal turned to the goblin soldiers. “Well?” he demanded. “How did they get in?”
The goblin soldiers squeaked excitedly, and all began talking at once. “Quiet! Quiet, you fools! One at a time!” Grinthal demanded. A silence fell over the goblin soldiers, and in the silence, Grinthal thought he could hear something. “What is that sound?” he demanded. “Who is singing? Is anyone humming?”
Carlyle spoke up quickly. “I can tell you how we got here, your majesty, if you allow me to speak.”
Grinthal hopped up and down in fury. “I’ve already told you not to speak,” he said.
“But do you give me permission to speak now?” Carlyle asked.
“You are not to speak unless I speak to you?” Grinthal demanded.
“But then, how would I ask permission to speak?” Carlyle asked again.
Grinthal’s face turned red with fury. It actually turned red. It was a brighter shade of red than Carlyle had ever seen on any human face, but goblin faces can sometimes be more expressive than humans. “Bring me my whip!” Grinthal yelled. “We shall teach these human children some manners.”
Several goblins scattered to find Grinthal’s whip.
“Now,” said Grinthal. “Who is humming? That sound shall cease as well!”
While Carlyle had been distracting Grinthal, Catherine had been summoning the energy by softly humming. Her hands were tied up behind her back, but she was slowly burning through the rope that held her hands together. Once she had burned through the rope, she was able to free her hands. Moving slowly to attract as little attention as possible, Catherine moved her hands out from behind her back, and then reached to her legs to burn through the ropes that held her legs.
The goblins didn’t notice. They were too busy squawking about, and fetching whips for King Grinthal.
Finally a suitable whip was found for King Grinthal, and presented to him. “Now,” Grinthal said menacingly, snapping the leather against the stone floor as he stepped toward Carlyle. “I will teach you the virtue of silence.”
But just at that moment, Catherine was standing up. . The severed ropes pooled at her feet. She didn't hesitate—she strode straight toward the dais.
King Grinthal was so surprised to see Catherine out of her ropes that for a couple of seconds he froze up and didn’t know what to do. But then he lashed out with the only thing he had in hand--his whip. Grinthal cracked the whip, and the lash shot out towards Catherine.
Catherine was still humming, and her hands were glowing. She reached out and caught the flying leather lash in her bare palm. The raw magic shielded her flesh from the sting; instead, a massive jolt of arc-lightning traveled backward up the whip, arcing straight into Grinthal’s arm. The king yelped, convulsing as the shock hit him, and dropped the handle as if it were a hot coal.
Catherine still kept walking towards Grinthal. Grinthal, now thoroughly terrified, scrambled backward, trying to use his high-backed throne as a shield. “Don’t come near me!” he squealed.
At this point some of the other goblins ran forward to attack Catherine, but before they could get to her, she darted behind the throne and grabbed Grinthal by the back of the neck. Lifting Grinthal into the air, Catherine said to him, “Tell the other goblins to stand back.”
The other goblins hesitated slightly, but then Grinthal yelled out, “What are you waiting for? Get her!”
As the goblins rushed forward towards Catherine, she felt herself in danger, and energy flowed through her freely. Now she didn’t even have to hum to try to summon it. It just flowed out. And poor Grinthal, who she was holding, got badly burned.
“Yeow!” he screamed out in pain. “Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” He then stopped forming recognizable words, and just squealed in pain.
“Tell the other goblins not to attack me,” Catherine demanded.
“Yes, yes!” Grinthal agreed.
“Tell them to untie my friends,” Catherine said.
“Yes, yes, anything,” Grinthal said. “Anything, just please, stop it. The pain!”
Because Catherine’s adrenaline was racing, she actually wasn’t able to stop the flow of energy. The only way she could stop burning Grinthal was to remove him from her touch. Which she did by simply dropping him.
The other goblins stood momentarily stunned, not daring to move. “You heard your king,” Carlyle shouted. “Untie us!”
The goblins looked from Carlyle to Grinthal, who was currently groaning and pushing himself up from the stone tiles. Seeing Catherine standing there, momentarily breathing heavily, the king’s fear turned to pure malice. “Don’t just stand there!” he croaked, pointing a trembling finger. “Kill her!”
Catherine lunged to grab him again, but Grinthal scrambled backward like a crab, evading her hand, and bolted across the room. He was so busy looking over his shoulder at Catherine that he failed to notice Alfred.
Alfred, who had been left unguarded by his breakfast table, grabbed a heavy wooden chair by the legs. As the king came sprinting past, Alfred swung it with all his might, catching Grinthal squarely in the face.
CRACK.
The king flipped backward and hit the floor flat on his back, his eyes rolling up into his head.
“Nice swing!” Shawn yelled, but the praise was cut short as the rest of the goblin guard swarmed Catherine, thrusting at her with short swords and jagged daggers.
Catherine was discovering that when the power was flowing through her body, the inside of her hands where the energy manifested itself seemed to be invulnerable. If she could catch the point of their small swords on her palms, it did her no harm. But when the swords cut anywhere else on her body, she was vulnerable. And as the goblins continued to thrust, Catherine couldn’t block them all. A blade nicked her thigh; another grazed her arm, drawing bright red blood. She parried desperately, but there were simply too many of them. Catherine was forced to slowly retreat, until she felt her back hit the golden throne.
Upon realizing what her back was against, Catherine scrambled around the throne, so that the heavy golden object was between her and the attacking . At first, Catherine’s only idea was to use the throne as a temporary shelter to hide behind. But then, in her desperation, she felt the energy surge again. She felt its power, and she suddenly knew she had the strength to take action. Bracing her feet against the cave floor, Catherine pushed at the throne with all her might. With a deafening groan of scraping metal, the massive throne toppled forward. It crashed onto the front ranks of the attackers, crushing several beneath its immense weight and sending the rest scattering in terror.
In their terror, the goblins fled to the edges of the room. But the shock was temporary. The throne was now laying harmlessly on its side, and could not be toppled over a second time. Once they realized that Catherine was again vulnerable, they started to regroup.
Before they could strike, Alfred rushed to Catherine's side, dragging the dazed, half-conscious body of King Grinthal by his ankles.
But as this was going on, Alfred rushed over to where Catherine was standing, carrying Grinthal’s body with him.
“Here,” Alfred panted, shoving the king toward her. “Take him.”
Grinthal was still stunned from the blow that Alfred had given him with the chair, and was only now slowly moving his head and refocusing his eyes. Catherine realized that if she grabbed Grinthal now, she would just send electricity shooting through his body, and she didn’t want to do that. “I don’t want to touch him now,” said Catherine. “I would just shock him. When I’m scared, I can’t turn off the energy.”
“Could you calm yourself down then?” Alfred asked.
Catherine looked at him with disgust.
“Sorry,” Alfred said. “Um… what about just touching his feet a little then?”
Alfred held Grinthal, and Catherine reached out her hand and gingerly poked his bare foot with the tip of her index finger. Grinthal’s eyes immediately opened, and he squealed with pain. “What’s happening?” he said. Then his eyes focused, and he saw Catherine standing before him. “No! No! Nooo!” he yelled out.
“Untie my friends,” Catherine said.
“Untie them!” Grinthal shrieked the order to his goblin soldiers. And then he started sobbing.
The goblins dropped their weapons and rushed to cut the ropes binding Carlyle, Shawn, Lucinda, Molly, and Kevin.
Carlyle stood up, rubbing his wrists where the rope had rubbed against his skin. “And give me back my father’s sword,” Carlyle demanded.
Catherine opened her mouth to repeat Carlyle’s demand, but before she could even say anything, Grinthal burst out, “Give them back their weapons. Give them back all of their weapons.”
“Thank you,” said Catherine.
“What do you want?” Grinthal wailed.
“We want you to release our friend,” Catherine said, pointing to Alfred.
Grinthal twisted around to look at the boy who was holding him up. “He’s free! He’s yours!”
“Not just me,” said Alfred. “Release all the children that you are holding prisoner in these tunnels.”
Grinthal blinked through his tears. “All of them? Why do you want them all released? You don’t know who they are.”
“Every single one,” said Catherine.
“You ask too much,” Grinthal said, a note of defiance creeping back into his voice. “Without slaves, the tunnels will—”
Catherine grabbed Grinthal’s leg, and the electricity flowed out through her again. Grinthal shrieked and shrieked. Catherine released his leg. “We want them all released,” Catherine said.
“Fine,” sobbed Grinthal. “I order them all released.”
“And one final thing,” said Catherine. “You goblins are to leave these mountains.”
“What?” Grinthal was now more surprised than scared. “But where will we go?”
“Anywhere you like. You can go down to the forest. But you must not stay in the mountains anymore.”
“But what kind of talk is this?” Grinthal was genuinely confused. “The mountains have no laws. That is why all the evil creatures make it their homes. The ogres, the witches, the vampires, the goblins, we all live on the mountains. Why would you tell us to leave the mountains, and go down to the forest?”
Carlyle stepped up beside Catherine, his hand resting firmly on the hilt of his recovered sword. “Because the mountains are no longer a lawless place. The mountains are now a safe place for the mountain folk to live in peace.”
“And we are banishing all the evil creatures from the mountains,” said Catherine.
“But where will we go?” wailed Grinthal.
“Jack told us your tunnels run deep,” Alfred said. “They go all the way down the mountains and even under the forest lands. You can go down to your tunnels under the forest, but you must never return to the mountains.”
“I have many friends among the mountain animals,” Catherine said to Grinthal. “My ravens see everything. My wolves hear everything. If a single goblin is spotted on these ridges again, they will tell me. And then, we will come back into these tunnels and find you.”
Grinthal looked back and forth from Carlyle to Catherine. “Who are you?” he asked. “The mountain folk have no kings or queens. They have no rulers.”
“They do now,” Carlyle answered.
