The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Forty Five: Purpose

Snorri soared through the air, keeping as low as he could to avoid detection. His mighty wings rose and fell in a steady flow, unhindered. His large eyes remained focused on the path ahead, while I looked only to what we'd left behind.

"Go back. We have to go back." I pleaded beneath my breath. My fingers dug into the muscles of his shoulders and back. I ground my teeth. All I could think about was the battlefield we'd run from and Knut plunging into the fight without me.

"Stop asking me to do that. You know we can't. King Knut has given us a task to complete." Snorri said softly, banking around a thick branch.

The wind whipped my hair around my head, tangling and obscuring my vision. "I know." I sighed, pressing my brown against his shoulder. "I just...I can't stand leaving him behind." I swallowed a lump in my throat, wincing at the terrible ache it left behind. "What if something happens? What'll the fool do without me?"

"King Knut is capable. He doesn't need you to protect him all the time." Snorri's chuckle was like the crackling of a fire. "Besides, if you are always coming to his rescue, how will he ever prove his worth?" His voice took on a different tone to it. It conjured a feeling in me akin to awe. His gold eyes shifted towards me, glinting briefly with a green light.

I felt the blood drain from my face. "You," I greeted the goblins' god in a quivering voice, stifling the desire to release him. Having my hands on him, while his body acted as a vessel for the thing that had created me, created all living things, made me feel vile. "I see you're capable of possessing other goblins besides my little rattish guard. What are you doing here?"

Stretching Snorri's mouth with a grin, The Hollow forced him into a plunging dive. Out of instinct, I clung to him, a scream erupting from my throat.

The Hollow laughed in my ear. "Such a marvelous meat suit that goblin has created. How Snorri is struggling, trying to push me out." My scream grew louder as The Hollow redirected us, going from a dead plummet to a burst upward straight through the tangle of branches and into the clear sky. "Conniving little weasel, giving his creations will. I wonder if it was a vain attempt to block me." The Hollow said like a proud parent. "It does seem like a very Knut thing to do."

"I assure you, he meant no disrespect." I gasped, squeezing my eyes shut to block out the whirling world around me. It made matters worse.

"Oh, but I approve." The Hollow suddenly brought Snorri to an abrupt stop. We hovered high above the limbs of The Hollow's self in the place where the blue color of the summer sky was just beginning to darken to shades of violet. The blackness of the void lay far beyond my sight. "Conniving is good. I like conniving. These willful goblins will serve you well. At least for now." It said, moving Snorri's wings up and down in a slow, lazy rhythm.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, noting the emphasis it placed on the word, "now."

"I just hope that he does not live to regret their creation. Free will may make them stronger allies, but it also weakens your control. Once they begin to question their place in the universe, they begin coveting your own."

Swooping into the canopy, The Hollow sat me down on a branch. I looped my arms around it and took deep steadying breaths, relief flooding me as the world settled back into place. "Sounds like you're speaking from experience. Do you regret making us?" I dared to ask.

"Regret the creating? No." The Hollow landed Snorri's body beside me, perching at the very edge with his taloned feet. "Creating, forming life where there once was nothing, brings me boundless joy, but each new creation is but an experiment, a sketch. Sometimes, the scribblings become works of art, but more often than not they are discarded."