The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Forty Two: Warning

An immense wave of magic crashed over me. Tendrils of power sought a way inside of my lungs to drown me in its depths. My pendant reacted, turning red hot against the blade as it shielded me. The knife trembled violently in my grip. Holding it with both hands, I jabbed it forward.

In the same instance, he shoved me from his lap and with sickening disappointment, the blade was skewed off course. The knife missed his black, oily heart and buried itself instead into his shoulder.

With a roar of pain, he reeled. He yanked the blade from his shoulder and threw it across the room in one motion, desperate to get the iron away from his skin. Silver blood poured in a torrent down his chest, bathing him in starlight and washing the red human blood away.
No sooner was I on the floor than the six guards had their swords drawn and pointed directly at my throat. Not that they needed weapons to kill. With my terribly naked throat and hands, without my pendant of iron to protect me, they could make me explode with a single thought. I stared up at them in shock, wondering why on earth I was still breathing. Their helmets were Roman-like. It covered their brows, noses, and cheeks. What I saw of their silvery eyes and thin mouths betrayed nothing.

"Lord Kieran, we should send your guards to hunt the forest for the goblin king." One of the elites said gruffly. "When it comes to goblins, where there's one, there is always hundreds more hiding in the nooks and crannies." So nice of him to consider me a goblin even if it was not meant as a compliment.

"Don't bother. Once he realizes that she's been caught, he'll cut her loose. It's what they've always done before. The Goblin King has no use for pawns that fail him. Not even his own wife." The men parted as Kieran staggered towards me. He held his shoulder with one hand trying to stop the bleeding. "It's a part of their culture I've always admired." His blood flowed between his fingers unhindered. "Put her in a cage," Kieran barked through glistening bared teeth. "Mab will be overjoyed when she sees that I've removed the thorn from her side." His eyes sparked with power. Icy cold seized me, sending stabs of pain into my bones. "Perhaps she'll give me a kingdom of my own once she's finished exterminating the vermin from The Hollow's roots." He sneered. He squatted and slid his cold fingers along my jaw with an all too pleased smile on his grotesquely beautiful face.

"It is the faeries who are the vermin." I heard The Hollow's voice again, its booming baritone echoing through my skull. Those words which were not my own left my lips. The taste of ashes and blood lingered on my tongue in their wake.

An explosion erupted outside the tent. Its force threw the mighty faeries about like toys. Feathers both black and white scattered through the air. Somehow, I didn't even budge. It was like I was rooted into the ground.

"What was that?" Kieran snarled, his feathers all ruffled and long hair wild and knotted. I couldn't help but laugh even as the world shook. They all looked like a bunch of angry chickens. Kieran glared my way, his pupils down to pinpoints. He ground his teeth as realization slowly dawned. "He's come for her." He whispered, his voice so full of shame it was barely audible.

Oh, how I wanted to scream victoriously into his face! "I. Am not. A pawn." Kieran scrambled to get out of the tent. He reached the tent's opening. His bloody fingers gripped the fabric of the tent's side. His eyes widened in what almost seemed like fright and the world erupted into a vortex of chaos.

Another explosion sent the fairies to their knees, fumbling for something to hold onto as they tucked in their wings around them to shield their eyes from the onslaught of wind.

I felt a warmth embrace me, protective arms surround me, and a weight settle against my breastbone. "Did you lose something?" Asked a reedy voice. My fingers wound around the comforting lump of iron, my heart overflowing with gratitude at its return.