not moved in his hand before; that wasn't the. way it worked. Be had to move it-to make some other object respond.
'I'm flying!' Tandy cried.
'He made it work!' the goblin lieutenant exclaimed.
Smash guided Tandy carefully to land and .set her down. Her feet were muddy and she was panting with reaction, but she was otherwise unharmed. He knew a spunky little girl like her would rebound quickly.
The goblin lieutenant rushed up. 'Give me that wand, ogre!'
'Don't do it!' John cried.
But Smash, ever the stupid ogre, blithely handed over the wand. 'It is goblin property,' he murmured, forgetting to rhyme.
The goblin snatched the wand, pointed it at Smash, and lifted it. Smash did not rise into the air. The wand was not attuned to the goblin. It remained useless to anyone else, exactly as it had been when taken from its witch-owner. Smash had suspected this would be the case.
'But you made it work!' the goblin protested angrily.
'And you tried to turn it against him!' Goldy cried. 'Do you call that goblin honor?'
'Well, he's just a stupid ogre,' the goblin muttered. 'What does he know?'
'I'll tell you what he knows!' Goldy flashed. 'He's a lot smarter than-'
'Me smart, at heart,' Smash said, interrupting her.
Goldy paused, then exchanged a glance of understanding with him. 'Smarter than the average ogre,' she concluded.
The goblin lieutenant formed a crafty expression, too subtle for the average ogre to fathom. 'Very well, ogre. Teach her how to work the wand, if it's not a fluke.' He gave the wand to Goldy.
So the goblins figured to get the secret from her. Smash understood perfectly. But he smiled vacuously.
'Happily, me teach she.'
'Me?' Goldy asked, surprised. 'Smash, you don't really want to-'
Smash put his huge mitt on her hand. 'You have a mind of your own, chiefs daughter,' he murmured.
'Use it.' Gently he moved her hand, making the wand ascribe the letters G G, her initials. Then he stepped back.
'I don't understand,' Goldy said, gesturing with the wand.
Three goblins sailed into the air as the moving wand pointed at them.
'She's got it!' the goblin lieutenant exclaimed. 'Good enough! Give it here, girl!' He advanced on her.
Goldy pointed the wand at him and lifted it. He rose up to treetop height. 'Give what where, dolt?' she inquired sweetly.
The lieutenant scrambled with hands and feet, but merely made gestures in the air. 'Get me down, wretch!' he screamed.
She waved the wand carelessly, causing him to careen in a high circle. 'Do what, who?'
'You'll pay for this, you bi-' The goblin broke off as he was pitched, upside down, just clear of the bog.
A blue fin cut across and began circling under his nose.
'Smash,' Goldy said sweetly, 'why don't you and your friends have a good meal while I try to get the hang of this wand? I might need some advice, to prevent me from accidentally hurting someone.' And the goblin lieutenant spun crazily, just missing a tree.
'Feed them! Feed them!' the goblin cried. 'This crazy sl-young lady goblin will be the death of me!'
'I might, at that, if I don't learn to manage this thing better,' Goldy agreed innocently. The wand quivered in her hand, and the goblin did a bone-rattling shake in the air, almost dropping to within reach of the slavering blue fin.
The goblins hastily brought out food. Smash stuffed himself in excellent ogre fashion on strawberry-flavored cavern mushrooms and curdled sea-cow milk while the goblin girl experimented with the wand, lifting first one goblin, then another.
'Let someone else try it!' a goblin suggested craftily. Goldy glanced at Smash, who nodded. Then she handed the wand to the first taker.
The wand went dead again. Several goblins tried it, without result. It occurred to Smash that if one of them should have the initials G G, as was hardly beyond the reach of coincidence, the wand might work-but that never happened. Probably it was not only the key, but the particular person signing it. Another G G goblin would have to make his own G G signature. That was a pretty sophisticated instrument!
'Give me that,' Goldy said, taking it back. It still worked for her. Once the wand was keyed to a particular person, it stayed that way. Since the goblins were illiterate, they never would catch on to the mechanism, most likely.
The meal concluded. Smash rubbed his belly and let out a resounding belch that blew the leaves off the nearest bush.
'Well, I can't say it hasn't been fun,' Goldy said, offering the wand back to Smash.
Smash refused it, wordlessly.
'You mean I can keep it?' she asked, amazed.
'Keep it,' the Siren said. 'I think you will have no trouble getting a suitable husband here now. Probably a chief. Whatever you choose.'
Goldy considered, contemplating the wand. 'There is that. Power is a language we goblins understand somewhat too well.' She faced Smash again. 'Ogre, I don't know what to say. No goblin would have done this for you.'
'He's no ordinary ogre,' Tandy said, giving Smash's arm a squeeze. 'Keep the wand. Use it well.'
'I will,' Goldy agreed, and there seemed to be an ungoblinish tear in her eye. 'If any of you folk ever have need of goblin assistance-'
'Just in getting out of here,' Chem said. 'Any information on the geography to the north would be appreciated.'
Goldy gestured toward the lieutenant with the wand. 'Information?'
Hastily the goblins acquainted Chem with what they knew of the reaches to the north, which wasn't much.
Well fed, the party set out as dusk fell, following the bog to the river, and the river until it petered out.
They camped near the firewall, snacking on some leftover mushroom tidbits Goldy had arranged to have packed. They would have to cross the Region of Fire again to get where they were going, as the goblins had assured them that it went right up to the land of the griffins, which beasts were hostile to travelers.
'That was a generous thing you did, Smash,' the Siren said. 'You could so readily have kept the wand, especially after they tried to trick you out of it and use it against you.'
'Goldy had better use for it,' Smash said. 'Why should an ogre crave more power?'
'One thing I don't understand,' John said. 'You say you were victimized by the Eye Queue vine. That makes you smarter than an ordinary ogre, whose skull is filled with bone.'
'Correct,' Smash agreed uncomfortably.
'But that does not account for your generosity, does it?
You have let the rest of us impose on you, and you did something really nice for Goldy, and I don't think another ogre would, not even a smart one. Goblins are like ogres, only smaller and smarter, and they don't do anything for anybody.'
Smash scratched his head. Still no fleas. 'Maybe I got confused.'
'Maybe so,' the fairy replied thoughtfully. Tandy and Chem and the Siren nodded, smiling with that certain female knowingness that was so annoying.
Chapter 11. Heat Wave
Smash's Eye Queue would not leave well enough alone; that was its most annoying trait. He greeted the next morning with doubts. 'How do we know the griffins are unfriendly?' he asked. 'Can we trust the information of the goblins? We do know the fire is dangerous, on the other hand.'
'We certainly do!' John agreed. 'My wings will never grow back if I keep singeing them! But griffins are pretty violent creatures and they do eat people.'
