Bear and the Goblin of Castle Hartland

Chapter Six: The Darkwood

The stablemaster saddled the greatest of the war-horses which King Pike kept, attached the bridle, then led it by the reins to the castle gate, its massive hooves striking the cobblestones. Bear mounted the horse—she was called Windrunner—and spent a short half-hour with her, running through the heather and over the hillocks around Castle Hartland.

Meanwhile, the stablemaster prepared six more horses: three for the surviving warriors of Wintervale; three for the Shielding Knights who wished to join the company. When all were saddled, reined, and mounted, Bear, now well-acquainted with the mighty Windrunner, led the company along the trail through the heath, and down into the Darkwood.

Along the way they found an uprooted bush, where Ash, struggling out of her concussion, had reached out and clutched the stem to save herself from the goblin mother's cold grip. But the roots had been too shallow, and the bush tore free in her hand. The goblin's mother had pounced on her, and thrashed her with flying arms until Ash was again disabled.

The disturbed soul and the trace of blood on the grass told some of this episode to Bear.

They came through the Darkwood. The twisting branches scattered the light, and sometimes stole it altogether.

Presently, they found themselves at the pool into which the goblin with his severed arms had plunged; where he had thrashed for want of buoyancy, and drowned. His body was gone, yet the water was still black with his blood.

They followed tracks in the sediment downstream, and through the neck of a gorge where the path narrowed to a slither of earth. They left the horses with one of the warriors of Wintervale and one of the Shielding Knights, then went single-file, Bear leading the way with his sword drawn, the gem in its handle gleaming.

On the rocks they passed, Bear saw deep scratches, blood, and two fingernails. He said nothing of this. He knew Ash was dead.

They moved through a sort of grotto made by the branches of overhanging trees that clung to the rocks over-head. Dead leaves crunched beneath their heavy boots. They came to a rotten log. Bear hoisted himself over it, and found what was left of Ash on the other side: dried blood on the dirt; torn morsels of flesh; and, lying in the mud beside the marsh, her severed head. A beetle crawled out of her nostril.

Bear turned away and said to the others that they need not look. Yet they did look, and the two Shielding Knights were haunted by grief. They would have shouted in lament had Bear not hushed them with a tender plea.

"I am sorry for her death, my friends. But we are here in the home of our adversary; and although I doubt not that she now sleeps, for our own sake, we best keep her in ignorance."

One of the Shielding Knights was Quarrel, who scowled at Bear, for it was his conviction that Ash deserved their grief in spite of the danger. But his fellow Shielding Knight calmed his anger: he said that Bear's words were wise, for the danger was great.

They wrapped her head in a blanket and left it by the mouth of the cliff, for they desired to bring at least that part of her home so that her grave should not be empty. Bear smiled at this. He thought their actions noble.

In the water, one of the warriors of Wintervale spied serpents, dozens of them. They were streaming in the murk, in the same way that snakes slither over the earth. They were as long as crocodiles, and as thick as the mast of a large boat. Occasionally, the back of one breached the water, and the company saw black scales.

"Leviathan!" cried Quarrel.

"Not by half," said Bear.

Bear drew his bow, cocked an arrow besides his ear, and the next time a serpent breached the water, he let the arrow fly. It struck the serpent, piercing its scales, burying deep into its flesh. It thrashed, throwing water over the reeds, then dove deep, and died. Its body floated to the surface, and with ropes and hooks, the company dragged it through the reeds and onto the bank. There they gazed on its long and huge corpse. It had sharp teeth in a long snout, and green eyes, the colours of a cloudy emerald.