The Goblin Princess

Chapter 16

Veena knelt down in the garden. They had told her to stay out of the forest. She wasn't happy. Why couldn't she go into the forest?

Pulling a weed, she frowned. It was boring around the cottage. At least, things changed within the forest. It was different each day.

Veena pulled another weed. Was she being punished? Had she done thing she wasn't supposed to? They hasn't told her such.

She glanced at the massive trees lining the clearing. She would much rather be the shade of the forest than in the heat of the sun pulling stupid weeds. It just wasn't fair.

She was beginning to hate gardening. Pulling another weed, she began to become angry.

Suddenly, not too far beyond the edge she heard a voice that sounded familiar.

"Well, we can't stop now. Maybe we can find some berries."

Chapter 16

The limbs of the trees over head were now barely allowing any of the waning light drift down below. Veena didn't need the light to see the path. She knew it backwards and forwards. This was where she had run off to play, when she had to escape the cottage. Now she was leading towards the cottage. Would it still be standing or would they only find rumble?

Veena could only hope it was still standing. They needed somewhere to spend the night, and it was the closest place she knew, and she knew the forest. It was still as silent as ever, but now she knew why. The creatures had been in hiding. They had to have been. Not even the Evergreen Forest on Eternia had been this quiet.

Taking a deep breath, she continued onward. Behind her, she could hear the foot steps of the others. Cringer was still staying close to her side, and every once in while he would but his head against her hand.

The forest soon seemed to become darker, twisted. What had happened yo this place? None the less, Veena continued to lead them on ward. She found it odd that the forest had changed, and yet she didn't feel as if there was anything to fear from the change. It almost felt like this was the reality, and what she remembered was the lie.

"Ve, we need to find somewhere to stay the night."

She turned her head slightly to look back at Adam, "we're almost there. I at least hope it's still there."

Adam frowned, "what's there?"

Veena turned her head back around, "the cottage I used to live in." The group went silent once more as Veena lead the way.

They were close. It was only a bit further till the clearing. They had been walking for what felt like days, but Veena knew it had only been at most a half an hour since Adam had asked her where she was taking them.

As the massive trees that had once marked the border to her freedom came into view she smiled. Only a little further. When she finally took her first step into the clearing, the smile vanished. The cottage looked like no one had lived in it for years. There seemed to be a massive hole in part of the roof, but otherwise it looked sturdy.

Adam walked up beside her in the clearing, "ah, Ve, you sure you lived here?"

She nodded slowly, "up until I showed up on Eternia." Sighing, she began walking towards the cottage, "at least it'll give us a place to stay."

XOXOXOX

Adam frowned as he followed Veena into the old ruined cottage. How could she had lived here? The place looked like no one had been there for decades. Maybe it was a spell or something, but at the moment, it didn't matter.

He stood in the door way as Veena ventured upstairs, and for the first time since entering the Labyrinth, Cringer was staying beside him. The truth was he wouldn't be surprised if Veena fell through the ceiling.

Hoggle remained at the doorway, "she wants us to stay here?"

"Looks like it."

The dwarf frowned as Veena came back down the stairs.

"The roof's mostly intact. The beds still look okay. We should be fine for the night. It looks like the garden's still mostly intact. I'll go see what I can get and make something to eat."

"I'd be surprise if there is anything."

Veena frowned, "it didn't look like this before, Hoggle. Something happened."

"So this is where..."

"What ever happened was centered here."

Hoggle frowned as he took a step into the cottage, "he hid you here? I thought he had you in another kingdom."

"Well, apparently he didn't." Veena took a deep breath, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

After Veena walked out of the cottage, Adam turned to the dwarf, "what was that about?"

"We knew he was hiding her, but hide her here couldn't had been the best idea."

"More than likely he didn't want her too far away. He's still her father, Hoggle."

Hoggle sighed, "I guess that makes sense as she's all he has left."

Adam nodded slightly as Veena walked back in with her arms full of vegetables.

Smiling, she walked over to the still standing table near some cabinetry and dumped the vegetables on the table, "Adam, would you mind pumping some water into the sink so we can clean these?"

Adam walked over to her, "ah, Ve, what's that?"

She looked at him, "seriously, you don't know?"

"Sorry."

Sighing, she turned behind her, "I'll show you. Come over here."

Adam walked over to her side where a basin was fitted into the top of a cabinet. She pointed to a lever with some type of piping beside it.

"You know how a lever works, right?"

He nodded, "yeah."

"Okay, so you're going to have to keep moving it up and down until we fill the sink with water. Got it?"

"Sorry, Ve, this wasn't something I learned."

She smiled at him, "it's okay. I guess you actually never wondered where the water same from in the Palace."

"I actually don't know how we get water, but I might have a look now."

Veena nodded, "well, let's get to work. It's going to take a while to get this ready.". She turned towards the dwarf, "Hoggle, would you please go gather some firewood and start the fire?"

Hoggle gave a slight bow, "of course, your highness.". He turned to leave.

"Cringe, please go with him."

The green tiger seemed to give a slight nod, before turning to follow the dwarf out of the cottage. Leaving, Adam and Veena to prepping their dinner.