The Goblin's Heir

Chapter Seventy One: Spiral

The winged goblins beneath us flapped their wings furiously, the powerful muscle and sinews of their bodies struggling in the fierce wind. We circled round and long talons grabbed hold of thorny vines as we perched atop the moving city. Even The City of Thorns had slowed its movements fighting against the gale winds pushing against it. A wall of mist rose up before us around the larger more populated islands, leaving the other, smaller ones to be ravaged and taken over by goblins. They crawled over every piece of land and the wall itself, everything bathed in the dull colors of their bodies and clothing. Their voices joined with that of the sea, angry snarls and hungry clashing of teeth. 

"This is going to be a problem." Bran said, struggling to get his wings to even close properly against his back. His feathers bristled and fluttered, some coming free of his skin and blowing away.

"I don't know if we'll be able to fly in this for long." Snorri added, giving me an apologetic look over his shoulder. 

"We just need to get to where we can toss the seed in." I said, eyeing the path ahead of us. From what I remembered from the Summer Solstice, the sea was at its highest around Oberon's palace. We either needed to try and drop it from the air, which would be risky given that it could be snapped up by a goblin, or we needed to get to the palace and throw it in ourselves.

An ear-piercing shriek made us all shutter in our skins and duck down low against the vines. Overhead two great phoenixes tumbled, spinning around each other, their talons clasped together. From one, flames of vibrant reds and golds streamed behind it, while the other simmered in cool blues and shades of white a mist trailing from its wings. They spiraled past us, narrowly missing us before moving on. They smashed against a small garden island, first encasing everything in ice before burning it to ashes and crumbling the whole thing to sand. 

"I take it negotiations didn't go through?" Odd said, rising up  from his prone position against his goblin's back once they'd gone. 

Swirling winds kicked up in the phoenix's wakes, causing spiraling vortexes to dance around the islands. My midnight cloak thrashed around me as I made myself turn away from the warring mother and daughter to the task at hand. Getting through that barrier. 

I turned my head toward Frit laying almost prone against Snorri's back to keep from being blown off of him by the wind. "Plan B?"

I could see Frit's dark eyes twitch in thought through his helm. Crouched over his winged goblin, clad in the armor his twin had forged for him, he looked the very picture of a goblin prince in his prime, strong and fearsome. The child that could never stop fidgeting, now was eerily still. "It was a long shot. Time we ram our way through." With a shout, he called to Bran,  "Full power. Straight ahead." There wasn't even a slight hint of hesitation in his voice. He was sure of his plan, confident in his own ability. It was hard to believe he'd ever been that little boy that had struggled so much in his sparring lessons. 

Bran headed that command as a soldier might a general. Quickly and without question. By a spell or perhaps its master's simple thought, the city propelled itself forward, shrieking like an angry beast woken from a long slumber. Hungry and eager for a feast. Our flyers grasped at the vines beneath us and we did the same, flattening ourselves against their bodies as vines whipped out ahead of us in a fevered rush. A cracking sound accompanied each snap of a tendril.

A heaviness settled over me and I looked up to see Floki's helmed face, his long braid escaping from it  to thrash about in the wind. He shielded me with his bulk, softening the blow for me as we slammed against Aurora's shield. It had the same solid feeling as a wall of pure stone. It rattled through my body, shook my bones and made me feel ill to my stomach. Still the wall remained unhindered. Goblins, attracted to the moving city began to climb the thorn vines to get at us.