SECOND CHANCE.

20

Sparks POV.

Richard was way ahead of me and his shoulders were stiff and rigid. His walk spoke volume of his rage. In front of me, his posture reeked of a looming heaviness of sadness and revenge. His pinky finger would twitch once in a while before his fingers would clench tightly together making his knuckles crack with tension. I was sure he didn't even know where we were going and his head would rise up once in a while, his nose flaring while he tried to sniff his way there not daring to ask the way even though it was my territory. Damn king and his ego. Deciding to tease him a little with the flatest and bluntest tone I could master, I opened my mouth.

"Do you even know where your heading king?"

Goblins had two weaknesses, their sense of smell was shit. They could not smell anything far from under their noses even if their lives depended on it. And their sense of direction was even shitier in a new environment. But they had extraordinary eyesight and incredible hearing. Their memory was amazing since they could remember things with great detail no matter how long ago it was.

"Then take me this instance and stop mocking my abilities, 'he snaps at me and I feel my wolf rising at his tone. I growl a warning deep in my chest only for him to hear.

" Snap at me again in my own territory and your pack won't have a king, "I grit out.
He sighs to cool down his temper before closing his eyes and running his hand down his face.

" My apologies. Am just distraught. Goblins don't take easily to one of their own being killed, "he says. I nod my head and lead him to the girl.

I can feel his heavy steps behind me and in a way I can understand his pain. I would also feel the same were it that I would loose a pack member. We near the area and I can already smell the stench of death and I look behind my shoulder to see Richard's head down,seemingly in deep thought. He doesn't smell it but he will when we are near enough.  I can hear the subtle inhales of breath coming from him, maybe to see if it can give him an inkling of where the body was.See if he can identify it in a different territory. I can practically taste the smell because we are a few feet away from it and I hear  his growl when he finally does smell it.

He strides in front of me and I let him. The warriors guarding the body move away to give him space and he kneels beside the body. I can see his hands shaking and I can feel his sorrow rippling in waves. He pulls away the plastic bag from the body slowly before exposing the whole body.

He let's out a gruesome sad shriek to the sky that has my ears ringing and my heart clenching in sadness. He shrieks for almost five minutes continuously before we pick up more shrieks coming from the southern border. He must have brought some of his people and told them to wait for him there.He stops shrieking and he looks down towards the child before patting down her matted hair in the softest gesture.

"Her name was Skylar Marie. Daughter to our doctor and warrior. She was known to help in the garden because she was good with plants. She disappeared a month ago without a trace and we have been searching endlessly for her with no news. When you called and said there was a body of one of my own, in my heart I knew, " Richard says in a broken tone.

"Do you have of any clue who might want her dead?" I ask carefully.

"No. She was a kind goblin. No one knows who took her and why. I sense no remnants of her soul, " he mutters while he continues to gently pat her blonde hair down.

"But corpses have no souls, " I blurt out without thinking before wincing from my statement. If he was offended he didn't show it.

"Not really. Our kind never really die until they are buried. When a goblin is proclaimed dead, half of their souls remain until the ceremony of sending them off is completed. In this ceremony they get to choose if they want to be reincarnated or want to move on into the next life. That is why the population of goblins never really dwindle because we live on. But with her, I sense no presence of the other half of her soul. I can't even see her memories because its not there. We might never find out who did this to her, " he says.