The Truth Over The Wall

Chapter 30

The witch had played a cleverer game this time. Rather than have the gremlins carry the children off and attract immediate attention, they had enchanted the children and lured them out.

The forest floor was littered with fallen leaves and they crunched beneath Dominic's feet as he grimaced thinking, they're learning...

So far, the gremlin had collected two children. A brother and sister by the name of Jamie and Becca from a village Dominic's party came across half a day's ride from their camp.

Jamie and Becca's mother tearfully explained that a few days ago, her children had come to her with a story of a pair of children who found mysterious sweets on the forest floor.

Terrified, Nora – the children's mother – had forbidden them from going near the forest again, but this morning she had woken up to find their beds empty, and scattered with strange sugared roots.

Dominic had split up his contingent into two teams: one secured the forest perimeter to catch any escaping gremlin or witch.

The second team followed Dominic as he deciphered imprints of two pairs of small, bare feet marking the earth at intervals.

They'd let the children walk up to them, Dominic thought, and then they'd carried them off...

Suddenly there was a rustling by a bush, as if a pair of eyes had just snatched an unwelcome scene.

Could they still be nearby? Dominic wondered, raising a hand to halt the soldiers behind him. In another gesture he signaled for half of them to circle around, and for the other two to follow him.

Dominic did not look behind him to check if he had been obeyed, instead he loosened the clasp on the dagger he kept fastened against his forearm. In a single move the dagger would be in his hand, and in the next move it would pierce his target.

There was some more rustling and then an explosion of noise. A gremlin jumped out of the trees and nearly barreled into Dominic. She swerved and ran right past him, checking over her shoulder.

Making sure she was followed, Dominic figured. A distraction, he thought with a darkened expression.

"Go after her," Dominic pointed in the gremlin's direction, "Now! And don't let her escape."

Startled, both the soldiers that he had directed his order to, took off after her –it.

 Dominic slid through the trees from which the she-gremlin had come as quietly as he could manage. He needed to know what she was hiding...

Dominic's feet pressed softly over the earth, barely making a sound, and all the while his eyes scanned the trees for signs of movement.

What could she be hiding? was the first thing Dominic had wondered when she had deliberately showed herself to them. The answer seemed so obvious to Dominic that he could not believe how he had missed it. Taking a chance, Dominic called out, "Jamie? Becca?" he cupped his hands over his mouth and called louder, "Jamie, Becca? Can you come out, please? Your mother is really worried..."

There was a small cry to his left and then a shuffling of feet, as though someone had wanted to speak out but was silenced by someone beside them. Turning carefully, Dominic came to a stop right in front of a hedge, where he had heard the muffled cry.

"Jamie?" Dominic said a lot more softly, "You can come out now. I'm here to take you home."

Dominic was almost amused when a small hand appeared through the leaves, and beckoned him with a pudgy finger.