The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Seventy: Father

  When the beings of light and shadow met, the force of their collision rendered me deaf and blind for a moment. The faeries called upon their powers of sunlight and turbulent oceans to burn the shadows away and rip them beneath the tide of their might. The beasts of the void snapped back with wicked fangs and raked their claws against the faeries' supple flesh as their rotting bodies sought them out to pull them in and corrupt them beyond repair.

I sent out a call to the goblin hoard, urging all who could to come to my aid, to help us clear a path to the tear in the side of the world. My voice traveled through the branches of The Hollow, echoing, growing louder as it traveled.Moments passed. The creatures pressed in, more of them coming than the faeries' power could destroy. A faceless beast with many, many arms reached for me. It tried to wrench me out of Demetrius' arms. Tendrils of black wrapped around my throat, tightening their grip until I saw stars. I plunged my knife into what I thought was its chest. It shrieked, reeling away from my strike.

Then, suddenly emerging from the shadowy branches of The Hollow, goblins, thousands of them, emerged. They swarmed the tear. The smaller ones tore at the creatures with claws and teeth just as vicious as their own, while the large ones hacked at them with both weapons and magic, filling the air with goblin song. Gleeful laughter and the gnashing of teeth.I felt like I was about to explode with joy at the sight of them all, my subjects, my army come to my beckoning call. I could practically hear Knut laughing all the way from the Summer Branches.

A familiar shape rushed below me, his wings spread out to their full width, their sinews mended and whole. With a grin tugging my mouth wide from ear to ear, I watched as Snorri collided with one of the creatures. With his claws, he held the thing's snarling lion's maw open wide, keeping it from snapping shut around his head. With a roar, he wrenched it open, twisting the head at an unnatural angle and tossed it to the throng of goblins crawling below for its flesh to be devoured. Even if the thing could still reform itself, the goblins would make sure that it had a difficult time of it.

"Your loyal steed's alive." Lysander said as he hovered ahead of Demetrius and I. "That's surprising. I saw him fall. Saw the creatures devour what was left of him." He held out his hand towards the attacking beasts spilling from the tear, his powers reaching into the body of a dog-headed creature. It twisted and jerked as he toyed with something inside of it. His hand curled into a fist and the creature shuddered into a silent stillness, a long cry fading into a shallow final breath before its body deteriorated into black slime. Even while he killed it, his sea-colored eyes watched Snorri as he traveled across the sky with a suspicious curiosity. "There are others here too. Other goblins I know I saw get eaten. Your numbers are greater than what you started with." He smirked back at me over his shoulder. "You wouldn't happen to know why that is, would you, Goblin Queen?"

"He is marvelous, isn't he?" I smiled wolfishly back. "It seems that Knut is not as weak as he is allowing Mab to believe." I could honestly say that I was just as surprised as he was. "A better actor does not exist. The sly devil.""Has it all been an act then? Need we save him at all?" Asked Demetrius."Make no mistake, he is still weak. Still in danger." I replied. The feeling of dread hollowing my guts was still there, twisting like a blade. "He might be near death, but he won't stop fighting. He'll do what he can until there's no breath left in him. That's just the kind of man he is. " I swallowed a large lump in my throat. "He needs me."

As if in answer, more of the creatures spewed forth. They crashed over us like a wave, wrenching me from Demetrius' grip.Black fingers were wrapped around my middle, squeezing so hard I could not take a full breath. A creature with the elongated, thin form of a lizard and the horned head of a goat held me with its claws. It pulled me into itself, letting the darkness of its being cling to my skin, threatening to swallow me up in its blissful despair. I stabbed at it weakly with my knife. It screamed but kept moving, kept swallowing me, intent on being the one that would succeed in fulfilling its unholy task. Each blow came slower with less force behind it.The darkness of its form wrapped around my arm and I could no longer move it.