The Goblin's Heir

Chapter Sixty Three: Great Mother

That she-goblin appeared every time I attempted sleep that night and would every night that followed. Sometimes she appeared as she had in the first dream, clinging to the world's roots as she sang her rhyme in a goblin dialect that seemed somehow more ancient than the one I spoke. Other times, the way she appeared would be altered. She leaped through a blazing fire and sat in the goblin throne as I coiled around her. She stalked me through the Boughs, moving as quietly as an elf. She walked through the flowering gardens of The Summer Branches. The flowers wilted and died in her wake while she sang to the serpent crushing Oberon's pretty palace in her coils. She stood in the snow of The Winter Branches watching in delight as I swallowed the City of Thorns whole. Lastly, she waded in the serf of Bran and Cat's beach, following me as I slithered into the icy waters. Her clawed fingers, lightly petted my sleek body, her nails causing a chiming sound against my scales of golden coins as she sang.

"Great Mother, Great Mother, in your bright golden scales, curl round the world and bite your own tail."

In all the dreams, no matter what other thing changed, she remained constant. She wore the same goblin armor and beastial helm, her skin dirty and hair knotted with clumps of earth and twigs. She always hid her face, though there was something about her I couldn't quite place that felt familiar, as if she was someone I should know...as if she were someone I had known all of my life. Even her voice sounded like some remnant of a buried memory. 

Her song never changed. Her words never altered, every conversation between us a carbon copy of the first.

By mid-morning I finally gave up. My sleep was restless, but at least it was sleep. I found a change of clothes waiting for me near the front door. A loose shirt more in line with current human fashion and a pair of high-waisted trousers and leather riding boots. I dressed quickly and brushed through my knotted hair, staying iin front of the mirror for longer than I had in a while. My lack of decent sleep had left its mark beneath my eyes, but at least now I had the energy to move. I could feel the end of all of this coming, could feel that we stood at the cusp of that void. As frightening as it was, I was eager to step over the edge and see the fall all the way to its bottom and see this rotten time to its end. As I left my stolen house I tried to put the strange dreams of the she-goblin and golden serpents out of my mind, but she followed my every step, scurrying through shadowy spaces and peeking between buildings. A mouse moving beyond my periphery vision in a blur of grey.

"Matilda, just the woman we've been waiting for." Herod said, hopping up from his perch atop a large statue's outstretched arm. Everyone had already gathered there and I was the last to arrive. Only Cerise and the doctor were missing.

"Did I miss anything?" I asked, unnerved a little by my sons' worried expressions and Neasa's wet cheeks.

"Only that getting back to The Summer Branches will not be as easy as leaving it was." I was getting a headache already. Nothing was ever easy. "After you left, we were besieged by the horde. We managed to drive most of them back and seal ourselves off. So far, Aurora's been able to keep up the spell, but there is a drawback. Nothing can get through it and if she lets it drop for even a moment she may not be able to get it up again. She won't even do it for me. I was warned when I left that it would be a one way trip. She won't risk her children for anyone's sake."

"Are you aware of our plan?" I asked.

"To use Thorns like a battering ram? Ib told me. It would work, I think, but I'm not sure you should. The goblins will pour in. Everyone will be put at risk."

"A necessary evil." Odd said as he whittled a piece of wood with a very sharp knife. "The faerie cowards can fend for themselves while we do our work and hopefully save the whole bloody world from being eaten alive."