Alfred looked at Jack. “Why would we go to the goblins? Shouldn’t we try to escape instead?
“Oh there’s no escape,” Jack said. “Believe me, I’ve tried. The goblins keep all the tunnels guarded. We couldn’t get to one of the exits before they all swarmed all over us and dragged us back down to the caves.”
“I see,” said Alfred.
“We should get going now,” said Jack. “We need to hurry back to the others. The goblin king will be angry if we are late.”
“And what happens if he is angry?” asked Alfred.
“Lots of stomping and yelling,” answered Jack. “Sometimes he throws things. And then, they get out the whips.”
Jack brought Alfred down to meet Grinthal, the king of the goblins. When they got to Grinthal’s throne room, Jack actually bowed. Although Alfred stayed standing. “Your majesty,” Jack said. “I have brought my friend to you, as I have been ordered.”
“Excellent,” said King Grinthal. “Now, get down to the mines at once. You’re late.”
“Your majesty, he hasn’t eaten anything yet,” Jack said.
“That is his fault,” Grinthal replied. “The rest of the children have had time to eat.”
“But he was only just now captured by your soldiers,” Alfred said. “He couldn’t possibly have had time to eat anything.”
“Oh, very well,” Grinthal said. “He may stay and eat. You must go and start digging.”
Before he left, Jack grabbed Alfred quickly by the elbow. “King Grinthal has a temper,” Jack said quickly. “You mustn’t say anything that will contradict him. Just eat your gruel as quickly as you can, and then come down and join us.”
King Grinthal indicated a wooden table where Alfred was directed to sit. The table was empty now, but it had not yet been cleared, and there were lots of bowls still on the table. Alfred sat down. A scurrying goblin came and placed a fresh bowl of gruel on his table.
Alfred looked down at the gruel. He didn’t feel particularly hungry at the moment. He was too overwhelmed with trying to figure out what was happening. Alfred looked up at the Grinthal. “So, where am I exactly?” he asked.
Grinthal flew into a rage and started hopping up and down. “Didn’t that boy Jack explain things to you? He was supposed to tell you everything, so that I wouldn’t be bothered with your stupid questions.”
“Well, yes, he did tell me some things,” Alfred began. “But I was wondering--”
Grinthal threw his golden scepter at Alfred’s head before he could finish. Alfred ducked, and the scepter clattered against the wall. “Then be quiet!” Grinthal roared. “Speak only when you are spoken to. Do not disturb the great king.”
Grinthal looked just like any other goblin, which is to say he was short. Goblins are about 3 feet high. They have short legs, and long spindly arms, and their whole bodies are covered with short brown hair. And they have short tempers. It’s very easy to upset them, and to get them hopping up and down in anger, just like Grinthal was doing now.
“Eat your gruel!” Grinthal commanded. “You have a long day of digging in the mines, and you must build up your strength.”
“But why must I dig--” Alfred began, but he was cut off when Grinthal threw the orb at him.
*************************************************************************
Catherine, Carlyle, Shawn, Kevin, Molly and Lucinda stood at the entrance to the goblin tunnels.
“So what do we do now?” asked Molly. “Do we go in?”
“We do,” said Catherine. “We go in and see if we can find Alfred.”
“But there are goblins inside,” said Shawn.
“No one is forced to come inside,” Catherine said. “You may come if you wish. Otherwise, you may stay behind.”
They all looked at each other. “I’ll come,” Shawn said in a decisive tone.
“I’ll come,” Molly said.
“I’ll come,” said Lucinda and Kevin together.
We should probably have someone stay back to communicate with the other members of the group,” Carlyle said. “Just in case anything goes wrong, we want them to know where we are.”
“I can help,” said Bettina the raven. “I’ll fly down and let them know where you are.”
“That would be a great help to us,” said Catherine.
Then, Carlyle, Catherine, Shawn, Lucinda, Molly and Kevin all entered into the cave.
They were all armed. Lately, they had started taking their weapons everywhere. Shawn was carrying his father’s sword, Lucinda had her spear with her, Molly had her giant wooden staff, Kevin had his huge club, and of course, Carlyle carried Finn’s old sword.
It was dark, at first. (The moonstones which Alfred had seen were only located in the parts of the tunnels where the goblins allowed their child slaves to go.) But Catherine produced the light for them by humming. Her hands glowed with the electricity.
As they walked down the tunnel, it wasn’t long before they encountered their first goblin. At first, it was just one lone goblin, and he was very surprised to see them. In fact, when he first saw them, he immediately let out a high pitched little scream, and then ran away.
The goblin was evidently more scared of them than they were of him. But still, there was something about that little scream which shocked and unnerved them. They were all silent for a bit after the goblin had cried out. Shawn let out a nervous little chuckle, and tried to break the tension with a laugh. “I didn’t know that’s what they sounded like,” he said.
“If they all run away like that, then we shouldn’t have much to worry about,” said Molly.
“Unless he’s going to sound the alarm, and come back with his friends,” said Lucinda.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” said Carlyle. “Keep your weapons ready just in case.”
Catherine didn’t say anything. She just kept humming.
They walked through the tunnel a little bit more. The path sloped steadily downward, and they walked with Catherine’s light leading the way.
But then, there was some light in the tunnel up ahead. This was the moonstones that Jack and Alfred had seen earlier. It was the start of a larger open tunnel.
They walked into the larger more open tunnel, and there was a large group of about fifty goblins assembled. They all carried little knives, and some of them had pitchforks. And they looked ready for battle.
They didn’t get much of a chance to say anything to each other before the goblins rushed in and attacked.
Lucinda thrust her spear forward at some of them to try to keep them at bay.
Molly swung her giant wooden staff back and forth, knocking goblins back with each swing.
Kevin opted to swing his club like a hammer. He brought his club up high in the air, and then swung it down to the ground as hard as he could, knocking goblins on the head.
Shawn and Carlyle used their swords as weapons, and battled with the goblins that way.
Catherine never stopped humming. Her hands were always glowing with power, and whenever a goblin tried to touch her, she reached down and grabbed hold of him, and sent a surge of electricity surging through him, sending the goblin yelping away.
In this way, the group was actually able to hold their own against the goblin attack. Jack had said that the goblins typically overwhelm their opponents with their numbers. But whereas fifty goblins might overwhelm one man fairly easily, six can stand a fighting chance against the diminutive warriors.
Slowly, the goblins started to give way. Slowly, the six of them advanced.
Once they realized the goblins were in a slow retreat, they began to press their advantage forward. Catherine couldn’t speak, since she had to keep humming, but Carlyle began yelling, “Where is Alfred? Where is our friend? What have you done with him?”
The goblins only gave excited squeaking sounds, and high pitched chittering in response. They jumped up and down, and generally made a lot of noise, but they made no sense. Clearly they were excited beyond the capability for coherent speech.
“Keep advancing,” Shawn called out. “Keep fighting. We’re beating the back slowly.”
But just as Shawn had said that, there was a commotion behind them. They turned around, and saw a second group of goblins coming from the other direction. Now they were trapped between two groups--fifty goblins in front of them, fifty goblins behind them.
“Don’t panic,” said Carlyle. “We can still beat them. Shawn and I and Molly will fight the goblins behind us. Catherine, Kevin and Lucinda, you fight the goblins ahead of us. If we stay organized, we can still fend them off.”
“For how long?” asked Kevin.
Carlyle didn’t answer.
“This was a mistake,” Kevin said nervously. “We shouldn’t have come into the goblin caves. There’s nothing but goblins down here. Even if we can fight our way out from these groups of goblins, there will be just more and more groups of goblins further down the cave.”
“Shut up, Kevin,” Shawn said angrily. “That kind of talking doesn’t do any of us any good. Just keep hitting them.”
Catherine, who had still not spoken because she was busy humming, started lashing out at the goblins more furiously. Her hands began swiping left and right, touching as many goblins as she could and sending charges of electricity into them.
And then, they saw more goblins rushing down to join the fray. They could see them run down from the far end of the tunnels to help their comrades.
Eventually, they began to get tired. Molly’s arms ached as she swung the huge staff back and forth. Kevin’s shoulder was tired from swinging the club. Lucinda could barely hold on to her spear anymore.
Eventually, some of the goblins were able to grab onto Lucinda’s spear, and pull it away. And several of them clung onto Molly’s staff, until she gave up swinging it. And they also grabbed Kevin’s club.
Carlyle tried very hard to hang onto his father’s sword, but the goblins eventually overwhelmed him, and climbed up all over him, biting his arms and hands with their sharp little teeth. Eventually he dropped the sword.
“Don’t kill them,” came a sharp little voice from the back. “King Grinthal wants them alive.”
“But they banged my head with their clubs,” one of the goblins complained.
“You idiot! They are not yet full grown. We can use them. We need more slaves in our mines. Do not kill them.”
Eventually they all were subdued, and goblins with heavy ropes soon came and climbed over them and tied them up.
Catherine was the last one to be subdued. Although she had electric power surging through her hands, the goblins overwhelmed her with their numbers. Her power surged through her hands, and the goblins attacked her feet. She swiped down at them with her hands, and scattered them, but more came in their place. As quickly as she fought back, they came on. Soon her legs were tied up with rope, and she was knocked over. Then the goblins swarmed over her, and tied up the rest of her.
And then they were , all of them, bound
