My eyes must have been the size of dinner plates, and I only just stopped my jaw from dropping.
“You must be some lover for men to keep following you to their demise,” I teased. Male goblins had lifespans that were only half that of their female counterparts, so older goblin women usually decided to forego male company altogether to avoid the headache. Pukk, however, was never one to pass up a good conversation, so she was always happier with a companion around.
“I guess so,” she smirked. “I’m not too sick of funerals just yet. You haven’t found a wife yet, have you, General?”
“No,” I shook my head. For some reason, an image of Myrcedes popped into my head, contorting my expression to a frown. Why the hell was I thinking of her? I’d been spending too much time at her damn castle.
“All right, no need for nasty faces,” the goblin laughed. “Sorry to ask. So what are you doing nowadays, after the… um, you know?”
Of course, she knew about my trial. It didn’t surprise me. I simply shrugged. “I wish I had an answer for you.”
I supposed she was hoping for a more hopeful answer as if I’d found some peace in exile or a new purpose. I didn’t feel that way. I felt as though I was a stray taken in by creatures that couldn’t wait to kick me out, and I was anxious to be gone from them myself. But where else would I go?
She seemed to sense my somber shift and decided to change the subject. “Well, that doesn’t matter. What in the world are you doing here, though? You came in to nurse one beer for an hour and then leave without saying two words?”
I smiled and shook my head. I could be honest with the barkeep, of that I was sure. “I just wanted to hear about what’s been going on.”
A sullen look appeared on her usually cheerful face, and my heart sank to my stomach. That couldn’t be good.
“Well…” She began to wipe sections of the bar with a rag. It was obvious as she went over the clean wood that she just didn’t want to look me in the eye. “Your friends are in here often, those other army brats. They talk a lot. They tend to rile people up. After your trial, nobody would talk about anything else, and they all seemed to think you’d done the right thing, General. But that Bahz started coming around…”
As soon as she said his name, I felt sick. “What’s he been getting up to?”
“He’s, uh… telling tales. Calls you a traitor… you know how he could always persuade people to see his way, especially when they’ve been drinking. So now a lot of folks see things his way. One night that reaper came in here, the elf, and you know I don’t let anyone bother elves in here as long as they’ve got the money to pay for their drinks. But Bahz followed her in here, and before I could finish pouring the girl a beer, the whole bar had screamed at her to get out.”
I listened intently to all she told me, taking things in. It seemed to me that Bahz was going out of his way to stir things up, but I couldn’t fathom why. It was all over. Minerva was dead, and there was no bringing her back. I knew he wasn’t a fan of elves, but the situation with Serriah was only temporary. Besides, he wasn’t fond of goblins either, but he still came to Pukk’s bar and treated her with respect when he did.
The next day, I was going over these events and all I’d learned in my head as I waited outside of Myrcedes’ apartment on Earth. When Myrcedes finally opened the door, I began cursing in my head as I did most of the time when I saw her. She was wearing that damn leather vest and those stupid black pants. Seeing them always pissed me off. I hated how much effort I had to put in not to stare at her figure like that.
“Kalian,” she smiled sweetly. She was so sweet to me. I’d been nothing but nasty toward her since moving into that castle. It made no sense for her to be so damn sweet. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“What did you need my help with?” I asked coolly. This had been a wonderful experience in learning to suppress emotions. I’d had enough training in that as an army General, but this was different. I’d tried to think about it, but I was unable to pinpoint exactly why being around her was so frustrating.
“I’ve been working out some stuff in Seattle and Portland,” she began. “But there’s something in Portland that I can’t track down. I can tell the magic is there, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from. I was hoping you could help me with that.”
I nodded. “Of course. Anything you need.” I sounded like a General again. Moments like that were easy to fall into, repeating habits and phrases I’d used a lot during my time in the army, but they always hurt. They reminded me that life was over every time I started to miss it.
“Thank you,” she smiled again. She reached into her apartment and grabbed her scythe from the other side of the wall. I took a bit of a step back. I’d never been so close to a reaper’s scythe before.
“What do you need that for?”
She tilted her head. “It’s come in handy quite a few times. Some of the activity is malicious. I don’t use it if I don’t have to but,” she playfully tossed it back and forth between her hands as if it were some kind of toy, all the while smiling like nothing about this was strange, “sometimes it’s necessary.”
I stared at my reflection in the blade. That was as close to a reaper’s scythe as I wanted to get for at
