Only The Beginning

Fine Line

In the days that followed, Olive had received word from Lodgok, his attempt to regain Ranrok's trust with the helmet had not only failed, but it had made the goblin more suspicious. This then left them with no other choice than to infiltrate a mine just south of Hogwarts to try and uncover Ranrok's plans.

Lodgok had told her of Bragbor and his journals, ones that Ranrok had tasked Lodgok to retrieve. The journals contained information about a series of repositories Bragbor had been commissioned to build by a group of witches and wizards, repositories made of goblin metal, strong enough to hold a peculiar magic. Those loyal to Ranrok had been sent to investigate anything that involved the following names that had been mentioned in Bragbor's journal: Rookwood, Fitzgerald, Bakar, Rackham and Morganach. Names which Olive had become very familiar with at this point.

That's how Olive found herself deep in the goblin mine dodging shadows to avoid being detected, trying to find some semblance of a plan that Ranrok had left behind. She felt sweat drip down her forehead, the anxiety of being caught weighing on her heavily. The thought had crossed her mind to just fight her way through, but she was alone, and while she was strong, she was outnumbered. Luckily for her, the goblins that occupied this mine were some of the worst guards she'd ever encountered, half of them were so drunk they probably would have taken her as one of them.

As she crept deeper into the mine, she found papers with schematics, while the writing was in Gobbledegook, she could piece together what was going on from the pictures. Ranrok was building drills, searching for the repositories no doubt. It would line up with what she had seen at Rookwood castle, the large tracks in the soil, gouges in the stone. She quickly copied the papers and returned to where Lodgok was waiting for her just at the edge of the mountain.

"Little witch, I'm glad to see you return in one piece." Lodgok greeted her warmly "I hope you have found something?"

"Indeed, I did," Olive pulled the copies she'd made and handed them over to the goblin "I can't read it, but from the blueprints, it isn't looking very good."

Lodgok flicked through the pages, his forehead scrunching "Yes, you are right." He nodded solemnly "He's searching for the other repositories, but I'm afraid I don't know where they reside other than Rookwood Castle."

"Lodgok... I have a question if you don't mind my asking."

"Speak freely."

"If you are in support of Ranrok's view's... Why is it you're helping me?"

Lodgok turned away for a moment, his gaze far away. "Originally, I had arrived at Rookwood Castle on Ranrok's orders, I expected it to be empty. To my surprise there was a witch there, she'd set up a makeshift research sight." The memory looked as though it provided him some comfort, "She was so intensely involved in her studies that she almost didn't recognize I was even there... When she finally spotted me, she greeted me as though I was an old friend, asking me to join her. She showed me this peculiar container she had discovered; she was convinced it was made of goblin metal but was unable to open it. She proposed we work together..."

The name slipped out of Olive's mouth in a whisper faster than she expected, "Miriam."

Lodgok's face held surprise, like he'd seen a ghost. "How do you-"

"Miriam was Professor Fig's wife. My mentor. I know the container you speak of; he told me of her work."

"She spoke so kindly to me, talked of how intelligent goblins were, praised their skill. It took me by surprise, in a world where we are hated, she had such love in her heart. I was so caught off guard, I let her continue to study the container if I could search the castle as I wished. When we parted ways, we promised to share our findings. Eventually, Ranrok's men came, we began drilling and found the first repository. Ranrok as thrilled when we found it, but I made the mistake of telling him about Miriam. He vexed me for trusting a witch. Next I knew, she had been killed..."