Goblin
DAPHNE
“Back at the fountain,” I tell Klyesque, as the pair of us stride down the hall to meet with our escorts to the banquet - the little trio that passed through the gate bearing gifts, “Aquini told me that it wasn’t possible to travel to the Valley of Great Rest. She said the only way for me to get there would be in death. So how is it that a raven - ivory or otherwise - possesses the ability to do what a keeper of the temple says is not possible?”
Klyesques chuckles as we march down the curved stairwell, smiling when she whispers, “Because, Daphne, for the living it is not possible… but… for the dead-”
I screech to a halt, my heart suddenly banging against my chest with the thunder of a thousand drums. She pauses her steps and watches me with interest.
“For the dead… it is. For the dead it is possible! Of course!” I chirp with a grin. “The dead can travel back and forth. My sister-”
“Wait a minute, Daphne,” Klyesque warns, smiling through her teeth as a few pixies flutter toward my rooms, no doubt to clean what is already spotless . “I don’t know what the price of passage may be for those beyond the Waking Rapids, but I can assure you, there is one. And it is likely not cheap. So before you go getting your hopes up, take a breath. And remember as well, not all ears are-”
“I know, I know,” I snap, falling back into step beside her as we continue toward the second floor, where Ash and company await with Starla, the female advisor and Summoner’s counterpart. “Will I ever be able to speak freely in this place?”
Klyesque snorts. “I believe so. When you have a handle on your magic and you are so powerful that it matters not what you say. On that day, yes, I believe you may.”
As we near the rooms assigned to the three fae that rode in on horseback a sense of unease grips me. The only faerie standing at the end of the hall, dressed as neatly as if he were a prince himself, is Laksha, the hobgoblin knight that Ash swears is completely devoted to me. And… he looks terribly guilty.
“What is this?” I ask, coming up on two empty chambers next to Laksha’s. “Where are they?”
“Oh… bish-shet-ni-ay. Morvo-ush-nika,” the little yellow eyes creature says to the ground.
It is then that I receive my first shock of the evening, because despite that what I just heard was not in the common tongue… I completely understood it.
He said, ’They’ve disgraced me. Snuck out without me.’
“They did what?” I snap, and Laksha’s eyes widen as he peers up at me. “They snuck out without you? Why?”
Laksha’s eyes bulge, as do Klyesque’s, but he answers me with a bit of a grin, “Bish-shet-tray-orsay! Bish-tay-biyel-ta.”
They have gone to the gate. They go after the boy, the oracle.
“The blind boy,” I growl, looking toward Klyesque. “The one my sister wrote me about. They’ve gone after them.”
She says simply, face blank, "You understand Goblin."
I shrug, "I suppose I do."
Laksha nods vigorously and I can’t help but lean down and kiss his cheek as a thank you for his help.
Probably not a wise thing to do, because first he smiles, blushing like a ripened tomato, then in the very next breath he stumbles, passing out and toppling over the banister toward the ground.
Klyesque and I scream, both of us reaching for him uselessly, but… he doesn’t fall. We don’t hear him land, anyway.
The pair of us crash into the banister, our mouths open in shock, only to look over and find a very unhappy Andress downstairs glaring up at us with her arms full of a rescued hobgoblin.
“Oh shit,” Klyesque snorts. “And who ever said maids were useless?”
I slap her arm and smile down at Andress. “Bless your heart, Andress! Thank you for catching him.”
Despite the extra weight she bears, she smiles up at me, and then promptly drops him in front of Starla’s tapping slippered feet.
“What on earth?” The old advisor harps and both Klyesque and I clamber backward into one of the assigned chambers before she can see us looking on.
Closing the door to the cozy little charmed space, I begin my pacing again, this time with a few good stomps of my feet.
“He went after my oracle? Why, Klyesque? Why would he do such a thing?” I growl out, ready to tear out my hair and scream toward the heavens. “Does he mean to steal from me? Does he mean to take my throne?”
Klyesque shakes her head. “Careful, Daphne. Do not let the cautioned words of a few magicked servants hinder your common sense. You know Ash loves you. He might be stubborn, bullheaded, an idiot most of the time-”
“Ha!” I laugh. “Don’t forget controlling and manipulative and spoiled and-”
“And!” she interrupts with a smile. “Protective. I’m sure that’s what it is. He only seeks to protect you. He doesn’t want you at risk. Especially so early in the game.”
“But-” I growl out, my hands fisted at my sides “-that is not his decision to make.”
“I understand that, Daphne. But you must try and understand as well. You carry his babe. His child. His heir. You can’t expect a man not to be a man. Besides, there is still time to stop him.”
“What do you mean?!” I screech. “We don’t know how long ago he left! The gate isn’t very far from this palace or haven’t you noticed. He’s probably already halfway to the middle of the Woodland Realm by now.”
Klyesque’s eyes sparkle. “Impossible,” she says. “Unless… you felt his pulse and did not think to mention it.”
“P-pulse?” I stammer. “What?”
She grins, wide and mischievous. “Do you not remember, Daphne? When he entered, your magic pulsed. The same will happen when he leaves. Did you feel it?” Understanding dawns as I shake my head, no. She rips the door wide open. “Then… they’re still here.”