In a Weary World

Chapter IX: The Cursed Princess

A lot of people don't believe in curses.
A lot of people don't believe in yellow-spotted lizards either, but if one bites you, it doesn't make a difference whether you believe in it or not.
-- Louis Sachar, Holes

No one ever knows, when they wake up in the morning, where they will be that night. A scarce few hours can make someone rich or poor; bring a life into the world or take one out of it; bring untold joy or unbearable sorrow. As Rigmor got up the next morning, she certainly had no idea of what the day had in store for her.

Over the past months she had been forced by necessity to don her own clothes and brush her own hair without the help of her maids. She still struggled with both, however, and that particular morning she was too busy trying to disentangle her hairbrush from her hair to worry about what would happen during the day.

Her hair brushed to a semblance of neatness, and her dress and shoes put on, Rigmor left her lodgings and headed towards the bookshop. At the same moment, Slaugh the goblin was rummaging through a box of last year's half-rotted apples. The two would seem to have no connection, but for two facts. One, the box lay on the pavement Rigmor was walking along. Two, Rigmor wasn't looking where she was going.

Her foot collided with the box. Two simultaneous yelps sounded; one from Rigmor, whose toes ached, and one from Slaugh, who had been sent flying.

Princess and goblin stared at each other. Rigmor's mouth dropped open. Slaugh's eyes widened until they were the size of dinner plates.

The goblin let out a high-pitched, pig-like squeal and tried to flee. Rigmor, acting more on instinct than conscious thought, lunging forward and grabbed him by his long, tattered ears. He struggled and lashed out with his spindly arms as she picked him up and held him at arm's length.

"Let me go let me go I'll do anything!" he squeaked without stopping for breath.

Rigmor shook him violently to make him shut up.

"How did you find me?" she hissed. "Are there any more of you about?"

"No no just me didn't know you were here let me go!"

Apparently goblins had mastered the ability to talk without punctuation or pauses to breathe. Rigmor would have been impressed, if its voice wasn't so irritating.

"Shut up," Rigmor growled in the most threatening tone she could manage.

Slaugh fell silent, his head turned to the side so he could look at her. (Goblins, like crows, have their eyes set in the sides of their heads. This makes it difficult for them to see someone in front of them without turning their head.)

"Do you mean to tell me that your being here, near where I'm staying, is a coincidence?"

The goblin nodded his head. He didn't seem to realise that, since his head was much too large for his narrow neck and bony body, he looked like a poorly-made specimen of a bobblehead doll.

"That seems a bit unlikely," Rigmor pointed out suspiciously.

"It's true! I didn't know you were here! I just wanted a holiday!"

The princess's eyebrows shot up. "A goblin wanted a holiday?"

"Goblins can have holidays too," Slaugh protested, looking offended. "Now put me down."

"So you can go and tell your master where I am? You must be joking."

"I won't tell! I promise!"

"Are you incapable of speaking without exclamation marks?" Rigmor asked curiously. Then she realised how stupid that question was under the circumstances. "Never mind. Forgive me if I find it hard to believe a goblin's word."