The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Twenty Eight: Test

"Matilda!" Knut yelled after me as I staggered up the hill. He grabbed my arm when I stopped to hike up my dress. "Where are you going?"

"That was Jasper's voice," I said through ragged breaths. "He's here. Right here. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let him slip away again." Yanking my arm away, I trudged the rest of the way up the hill. Knut followed me with his lips pressed tightly closed. A little way into the tree line, sat a small cottage surrounded, half hidden, by ash trees. Light from a fire illuminated the windows with a soft, warm glow. I arrived just in time to see the little girl slip through its red door. "This is it." I panted, glaring at that humble little house. So small, yet so well built and homey, nothing like the hovel I'd been raised in. Each stone represented a coin he'd earned from selling us. Each one a betrayal all its own. Blood seeped from between the stones that built its sturdy walls and men hung from the limbs of the trees that surrounded it. So beautiful it was, this house built on a mountain of corpses and lies.

"What?" Knut asked. He stood beside me, his head turning in every direction in search of the house.

"There." I huffed, annoyed. I thought it was one of his games. I pointed directly at the house, but his eyes still twitched, in search of it. "Can you really not see it? It's sitting right in front of you, not but a few yards away."

Knut shook his head slowly. "All I see is an empty grove of ash trees."

He couldn't see it, I realized with a shutter. Something was blinding him to it, shielding it from sight. No wonder it was taking so long for our scouts to find him. I swallowed hard. "Can you make me invisible?" I asked. He nodded and with a few mumbled words, I felt myself melt into the shadows cast by the fading light beneath the trees' canopies. "Just follow me," I said. We crept towards the house, keeping low and quiet.

"It's here. Feel it?" As we came to the door, I grabbed his hand and held it against the weathered wood.

His eyes widened in recognition then narrowed, swiftly filling with rage. "Matilda, how much does your brother know of Fae?"

"Nothing. He doesn't even believe in God."

"Someone's been hiding this place." He knelt and laid a hand against the ground. "Magic. Strong magic saturates the earth here. Someone's placed wards against Fae all around the house. Even if I could see the house, I could not enter it, and neither could any of my goblins. Look around carefully. Do you see any strange objects or symbols?"

"What do you mean by strange?"

"Anything that looks...magicky. The creepier the better." His nostrils flared as he sniffed at the salty sea air. "What's that smell?" His nose wrinkled, not entirely in disgust.

I sniffed around and followed a metallic stench to the door. I reeled away from it, hurriedly wiping my hand on my skirt. What I'd first thought was red paint was actually blood. "He's painted his door with blood?" I almost gagged.

"Lamb's blood, probably. Supposedly it keeps away evil spirits. Some old Christian practice from back when they still sacrificed their best livestock and children. Seems it really works." He smirked. "Are you sure Jasper's not superstitious?"

"I don't know what to think anymore." I wiped my hands furiously on my skirt. The blood had been painted on ages ago and had long since dried, yet I still felt it on my skin just as surely as if it were new. "It wouldn't be the first time he's surprised me. What do we do?"

"I doubt the blood alone is what's hiding the house. See anything else? Any weirdly placed iron objects? Or bundles of herbs? Any strange symbols?"