Wormrose, A Goblin's Tale.

Wormrose, A Goblin's tale: Chapter 3: The Discovery

The girls both fell silent as they reached the surface. One had to be careful out on the surface world, as there lurked many dangers to small Goblins. There were huge, wild animals such as foxes that ate goblins, as well as birds that were known to carry off an unwary goblin from time to time, to feed to their babies. Worm shuddered at the thought of being eaten alive by ravenous birds.

They made their way carefully through the tall bushes, towards the marshy area of the huge lake. They kept a watchful eye out for any sign of Pixies and Wood Elfs. Dinka’s father was a Forest Ranger, who worked on the surface, patrolling against horrible Forrest Pixies and Woodelfs .He had always warned Dinka ( and even her older brothers Trog and Ulge ,who were engineers working at the Water dam) to be wary of them. If any sign of Pixie or Wood Elf activity was spotted, it was to be reported to him or a member of the Forest Rangers as it was a matter of national security for the all the goblins. It was every goblin’s sworn duty to be vigilant and to protect the clans against their enemies.

The Pixies and Goblins were always at war with each other. They constantly feuded over mining rights, as Pixies loved gold as much as goblins did, and occasionally they would try to raid the mines and the gold silos. Dinka had once told Worm, that her father said that Uncle Red- Bottom was illegally selling gold to the Pixies.-That was why he was so rich.

The Wood Elfs were also a nuisance. They were always arguing and lobbying to get the Mines closed down as they said it was “ruining the trees” and the forest, as the miners destroyed the trees roots. Worm always thought they were silly. How else are you supposed to Mine gold? So what if a few roots got damaged? The trees still grew! Mining was the goblin way of life, but she cared not to think of it, as it was all Fae politics.

“So what should we get first?” Dinka asked.

“Well, how about you go and collect the morning dews for me, seeing that you holding the jug, and I can go looking for your mushrooms. After that I’ll fill our buckets.” Worm replied.

“Okay” said Dinka and headed towards the tall blades of grass to collect the morning dew.

Worms lifted up her apron and dress to above her knees and used the string of her apron to knot it around her waist, so as to hold her skirt above the waterline. She then gingerly stepped into the marshy water. She was looking for driftwood; for it was on these that the leathery mushrooms grew. She scanned the area and spotted what looked like a large fallen tree in the water, and waded towards it. The water was deeper on this part of the marsh, so she hiked her skirt up higher.

“Next time I’m going to let Dinka-Dink get the mushrooms” she muttered to herself as her skirt got wet. She could see the brown-black leathery mushrooms growing on the damp side of the log and waded towards it.

When she reached the log, she could see it was covered with clusters of them. It would be a good harvest.  Perhaps she would bring some home for Go ’ma . She started picking the mushrooms and filling them in her apron pocket. Just then she saw something  strange and  shimmering  in the water. It looked like it was coming from the far side of the marsh.

Worm, like all goblins, loved shiny things. There is a goblin saying goes “if it glitters, it could be gold” and the thought of it enticed her. She looked around to see if anyone else was around. She could not see Dinka nearby. She then squelched her way through the muddy water to the shining source. As she drew nearer, she realised that the shining object was attached to what look like a muddy branch- NO not a branch, it was a body!

She approached cautiously and grabbed a floating reed to use as a weapon, should the hand be attached to something dangerous- like a pixie! As she drew nearer, she could see a figure as tall as herself, lying half-faced down in the water.  Her natural instincts as a healer over-rode her fear of the stranger and she rushed towards the body, splashing water around her as she did so.