“What makes a Dancer so important to you?”
“The balance! I want my descendants to carry on living in Siala for thousands of thousands of years, and a fellow like you can send the balance way off kilter with a snap of your fingers.”
“And the Horn?”
“Forget about that silly tin whistle! The Horn is just the Horn. You and the Horn are like a candle flame and a moth. That’s enough, no more questions!”
“You said that others would do what you weren’t able to do. Who did you mean by that?”
I asked the question and immediately found the answer, standing quite nearby and gazing at us apprehensively from under his hood with his bright blue eyes.
“If you understand everything, why do you ask?” the shaman laughed. “I couldn’t go myself, I had to send … my apprentice. Kli-Kli, come here!”
The royal jester approached us warily.
“Apprentice?” I echoed stupidly.
“What’s so surprising about that?” Glo-Glo chuckled. “There wasn’t anybody else I could send. The
“Kli-Kli?” I said, turning to the sullen, silent goblin for an explanation.
“Yes?” he squeaked from under his hood. “It’s all true, Harold. I’m terribly sorry if I caused you any inconvenience, but it had to be done.”
“Why don’t you tell him where I told you to stay all the time?” Glo-Glo suggested, knitting his brows menacingly.
“With Harold,” the jester muttered.
“Louder! I can’t hear you!”
“With Harold!”
“Then why did he go into the Palaces of Bone alone, and why did I have to abandon all the affairs of the tribe and come dashing to his rescue, while you were busy—”
“But grandfather!” Kli-Kli interrupted.
“Grandfather?” I said, gaping at him wide-eyed.
“Why are you so surprised, Harold? It’s only natural for me to take my own flesh and blood as an apprentice.”
“Granddad!” Kli-Kli squeaked, and gave me a frightened look.
“It’s just that Kli-Kli mentioned several times that his grandfather used to be a shaman, and I thought that meant you were dead.”
“So you buried me as well?” said Glo-Glo, rolling his eyes furiously. “Well, thank you!”
“But I—”
“Who on earth do you take after? You’ve shamed your ancestors again!”
Kli-Kli tried to make excuses, and Glo-Glo gave him the tongue-lashing of all time, saying a granddaughter like that must have been a gift from the forest spirits. I listened, and I was puzzled. The intensity of the shaman’s feelings seemed to be confusing his tongue.
“Kli-Kli!” I put in, when Glo-Glo decided to take a break to catch his breath. “Why is he talking to you as if you were a girl?”
The goblin looked as if he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him. At least, that was my impression.
“The man’s a fool!” said Glo-Glo, throwing his hands up in the air. “I told you in plain human language that I’m the last in the male line of the great shaman Tre-Tre! Kli-Kli is my granddaughter.”
“Kli-Kli! You’re … you’re a SHE? You’re a girl?”
The goblin (gobliness?) had the good grace not to look me in the eye, and she muttered something under her breath. All I made out was “yes.”
I stood there open-mouthed, and then sat down. I must say, this was quite a blow! Life had never treated me to such an unexpected surprise before! It was inconceivable. Kli-Kli was
I must have been a fine sight. Glo-Glo chuckled sympathetically, while Kli-Kli didn’t know where to put herself. When I more or less recovered, I thought the best thing to do was laugh.
“You’re … you’re not angry?” she asked me fearfully.
“No, Kli-Kli!” I exclaimed, shaking my head. “If I’m angry, it’s only with myself, for not realizing straightaway.”
“You couldn’t have,” she told me with a superior note in her voice. “All goblins look the same to men.”
“But why, in the name of a h’san’kor, why?”
“It was simpler that way, Harold,” she said with a faint shrug. “It opened lots of doors to me, including the door of the royal palace. And things were much simpler with all of you, too. If Milord Alistan had known who I really was, he probably wouldn’t have let me go on the journey. And if that had happened, I couldn’t have taken care of you.”
“I don’t think he would have done anything. After all, you brought a letter from the king, giving you permission to take part in the expedition.”
“The letter was a forgery,” Kli-Kli chuckled. “Do you really think the king would have sent his jester on business like this?”
“Was it hard playing a male part, apprentice?” Glo-Glo put in.
“I got used to it, Granddad. It was harder being a jester and a fool. Although … when you’re a jester and you’re out in open view, nobody notices you, nobody takes you seriously or thinks of you as a threat, and you can do things that others aren’t allowed to do.”
“Did nobody guess who you really were, Kli-Kli?”
“I told you, Harold, we all look the same to people.”
Ah, darkness! I just couldn’t get used to it! She was right! How often did we see goblins in Valiostr? Not very. How often did we see female goblins? Even less often than male ones. Or, rather, we’d never seen any. It was rumored that the goblin women never left Zagraba. I’d never trust rumors again.
“Aaaaah…,” I said, shaking my head, still unable to believe what had happened.
“Well, it is true…”—she wrinkled up her forehead—“it is true that Miralissa knew. I had to tell her. She helped me guide you and save you.”
“Guide? Save?”
“How many times did I save your life? And there were so many times you’ll never even know about!”
I didn’t say anything.
“That’s gratitude for you! Do you think it was easy to squeeze you through into the Primordial World the first time? Miralissa and I almost made ourselves sick doing it. And as for guiding you … Hah! There were so many times I can’t remember them all,” she said, gesturing with her hand.
There was nothing I could do but listen to her revelations and feel amazed. Good going, Kli-Kli!
“So, apart from Miralissa—may she dwell in the light—and you, no one knows. Oh, and I told Honeycomb before we left.”
The goblin girl chuckled. So that was why Honeycomb had laughed so loud and long when Kli-Kli whispered in his ear!
“So what now?” I asked.
“What now, my boy?” Glo-Glo replied. “If we’re talking about long-term plans, then you need to get to Avendoom as quickly as possible and hand the Horn over to that Order of yours. You turned out to be a lot stronger than I expected.… In a good sense, of course. So there’s no need to be too worried about the balance just yet. No, don’t tell me about the Horn, the Fallen Ones, and the Great Game of the Masters. I know all about that. Compared with what you could have got up to, what might be coming—and that, please note, is a possible shift in the balance—is no more than a minor inconvenience.”
“And what could I have got up to?”
“There’s no point in talking about that now,” said Glo-Glo. “You’ve been through the Mirror of Choice and chosen your path. My mind is easy, so there’s no need for you to worry. You don’t have to know the entire
