“I missed you,” she finally admitted. “I missed your brainless remarks and your fool’s wit. I missed your laughter. I feared they had killed you.”
“I am a hard man to kill. You know that.”
Rippling water broke the silence. When Heidel spoke, her voice sounded distant. “Goblins are dark creatures. They do not understand morality as we do. They kill and rape as though it is natural. They wish only to destroy. It is a wonder their species has survived for so long.”
“Where did they take you?” Kull asked quietly.
“They kept me blindfolded whenever we traveled. I know they took me underground. We must have been in some sort of catacombs. The goblins were everywhere. I can still smell their stench.” She wiped a muddied hand across her nose.
“They fought often and left the carcasses out for me to see. Whether they did this on purpose, I do not know, though it felt as though they did. They did not feed me. They knew what I would have to do—what they forced me to do.”
“I am sorry,” Kull said.
Heidel hugged her knees to her chest. “Escape was my only thought. Even when I slept, I dreamed of escape. Goblins are ruthless, but they have little contact with outsiders, which makes them lousy captors. I found my knife on one of the corpses and made quick work of cutting through my bindings.” She rubbed her wrists. “I made sure they suffered before they died.”
“And how did you find us?” I asked as I sat next to Kull.
“It wasn’t hard. They knew where you were, though it took some prodding on my part to learn the truth.” She found her knife and stroked it over the grass. Blood stained the green shoots.
“Most of the goblins I saw were little more than animals,” Heidel continued. “They are depraved, brainless, mutilating one another without a conscience. But others…” she paused, seeming lost in thought. “It seems some goblins have developed a sense of awareness.”
“What do you mean?” Kull asked.
“Some were magic practitioners, skilled in transformation.”
“And these other goblins acted differently than the rest?”
“Yes. I hardly recognized them as goblins. They were more cunning, more organized, less… bloodthirsty.”
“Goblins are goblins,” Kull said. “No matter what they look like. They’re all the same underneath.”
“True,” I answered. “But if they’re organizing, that can’t be good. They’re most likely preparing to summon Theht.”
“You don’t know for sure,” Kull replied.
“No, but I’d bet your dinosaur’s head on it.”
Kull crossed his arms. “Ah yes, I’m glad you reminded me. When will we be retrieving it?”
“Soon enough.” Between finding Mr. Green, interrogating Sissy, poring through Peerling’s book, and trying to find out where Mog’s Keep was located, I knew I’d never have time to help him steal a dinosaur’s remains. I wished I’d never made that bet.
“You travel to Earth Kingdom?” Heidel asked her brother.
“Yes.”
“You should fear doing such a thing. Your memories—”
“I’ll lose them, I know. But if I come back with that beast’s skeleton, it will be worth it.”
“Some of the goblins I met in the catacombs had more sense than you.”
Kull laughed. “I see they’ve brainwashed you. Even more reason you should come with us.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You’ll miss a great opportunity.”
She turned to me. “You are brave to take him with you. Don’t let him talk you into anything you’d regret.”
I cleared my throat. “I’m sure I won’t.”
Kull wrapped an arm around me, squeezing my shoulders tighter than I felt comfortable with. “Olive knows how to take care of herself.”
“It’s not her I’m worried about.”
I decided to change the subject. “Eugrid said you have my dream catcher?”
“The cursed loom—yes.” She pulled a package wrapped in sheepskin from her pocket.
I wasn’t sure if she was aware or not, but the skins of certain animals negated magical properties. Lambskins were used for this. When she handed it over, I wondered if she knew more about magic than I’d thought. Either that, or she had a natural inclination toward magical powers.
With careful hands, I opened the package. Although I knew how dark the magic was, I wasn’t prepared for its taint when I peeled back the wrapping. It hit me like a tsunami.
I flinched and replaced the covering.
“Something wrong?” Heidel asked.
“No, this is it.”
“What will you do with it?”
“Once I get back to my apartment, I’ll spellcast it and try to figure out who created the spell.”
“Is that a wise idea?”
“Probably not. But I don’t have much of a choice. This is dark magic like I’ve never seen. Not even goblin magic compares with this. If I find out where this magic comes from, I may be able to find where Mog’s Keep is located and hopefully find my godson.”
“And find my dinosaur’s skeleton.”
“Yes, and that.”
Would he shut up about that?
Kull turned to Heidel. “I cannot convince you to come with us?”
She shook her head. “My place is here. Be certain not to get captured. I will not rescue you again.”
“You have my word.”
She eyed him, blood drying on her face and matting her hair. “I will miss you,” she said quietly.
“And I you.”
She gave him a brief hug before grabbing her knife and walking into the castle. Kull and I stayed by the stream. The snake’s carcass bobbed slowly as it got tangled in the weeds along the shore.
Kull sat without speaking, his jaw clenched. I knew whenever Kull wasn’t speaking, he was brooding. “What’s on your mind?” I asked.
“Hmm?” He turned to me a second later. “Just brooding, I suppose.”
Hey, didn’t I call it?
“Brooding over what?”
“Nothing important.”
“It must be important, or you wouldn’t be worrying about it. You can tell me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “In your world, you help people with troubled minds, is this true?”
“Yes.”
“You are a therapist?” He said the unfamiliar word slowly.
“Yes. What are you getting at?”
“You questioned why I am worried. Is this Olive the therapist speaking?”
“It’s Olive the friend speaking.”
He tightened the muscles in his jaw. “Friend?”
Maybe I’d gone too far. Maybe the greatest Wult warrior in history only chose friends he deemed worthy.
“Very well,
