The Light switch

Chapter Five

Lord Tuskmouth had not been happy to discover his captives had escaped, especially as the duvet whales had also flown out of his reach making his plans a lot harder.

"One blanketsnatcher on her first night out alone, and one girl who has never been here before, that's all I asked you to look after." He slobbered, pacing around the three terrified goblins that sat on the ground in front of him.

"And of course we can't blame our little friend here the terror troll, can we? He done his job and made sure they saw their wildest fears, he even controlled himself not to eat them even though the fear filling them up would have made them delicious. So, who do you think I should blame?"

The three goblins shivered and shook beneath the terrifying stare of Lord Tuskmouth.

"My lord, it wasn't our fault, we were just outside with the others. It was a breakout! They had spies' on the inside there was nothing we could have ..." Whimpered one. Lord Tuskmouth raised a finger to silence him.

"Relax, I know you tried your best, I'm not going to hurt you. What sort of a goblin lord would I be if I hurt my own friends? And you are my friends, aren't you?" He said standing behind them now and putting a hand on the shoulder of the two goblins on the sides and squashing the one in the middle. They looked relieved, it seemed Lord Tuskmouth was in a good mood today.

"Of course we are boss, we always have been, we only want to help isn't that right boys?" The other two nodded their heads enthusiastically.

"Oh that's good, I am very glad that's the case. The only problem is, I might be your friend but the poor terror troll over there. Well, he is very hungry and was planning on eating the two captives after I had finished with them. But now they are gone I can't speak to them, and he has missed his dinner. Do you see the problem I am faced with?"

The goblins gulped. Before they had a chance to say or do anything else, Lord Tuskmouth had shoved them forward towards the sleeping terror troll.

"Zip the tent up and don't let them out, I don't want my little pet going hungry after all. And fetch the snore wolves, we need to hunt those two and their friends down." With that Lord Tuskmouth left the tent leaving the three terrified goblins behind, just as a large monster was beginning to appear in the shadows of the tent guiding them towards the waiting and very hungry terror troll.

All the while this had been going on, Jane and Tilly had been making their way through the sewers until they had crept within the town walls and climbed out. The streets were still filled with goblins, but it seemed they had worn themselves out with eating and dancing allowing Tilly and Jane to pass unnoticed.

They needed to reach the centre of the second ring at the very heart of the city, there the switch that would turn all the lights on and drive the goblins out could be found. The first ring was filled with sleeping goblins who seemed to have dropped down to nap wherever they could find space, with the many shops that lined the street having goblin sleeping in doorways, hanging out of windows, and on every counter, table, or chair they could find. Passing a bakery one particularly lovely cake was ruined, as a goblin lay on it squishing the jam out all over the floor.

Their progress was slow as every time a goblin snored, rolled over, or scratched themselves Jane and Tilly froze in terror. They had made their way through the first ring and were nearing the centre of the second when they first heard it.

"What is that?", whispered Jane, "There must be an especially huge goblin nearby to create such a loud snore, I'm surprised the others have not woken up."

Jane was right, the sound of the loudest snoring she had ever heard was coming from the ring below them and getting louder still. Soon they could hear that the thunderous snores were of different notes and must be coming from a group of creatures not just one.

"Jane we must run, that's not the snores of goblins, those are cries of the snore wolves! We need to get into the power station quickly before they find us!" Said Tilly a look of worry filling her face.

Jane was torn, as a scientist the chance to meet a new animal filled her with excitement, at the same time she thought perhaps it would be best to observe these wolves from further away than their hungry mouths.

They were at least twice the size of any wolf Jane had seen in a book, online, or on television. They seemed even bigger than the ancient wolf skeletons she had seen at the museum with her mum. The strangest thing about them however was not their size, but the strange noise they made. They did not howl like normal wolves, or even bark like dogs. They snored.

"Tilly they are getting closer!", screamed Jane, "And I don't know how but I think they are getting bigger!"

Tilly looked back only for a moment as she didn't want to fall, and she was carefully following the map her dad had given her.

"They feed on peoples snores, the more snores or the louder they are the bigger, faster and more dangerous the wolves will become. All the goblin sleeping in the city must be the most they have ever eaten but still they are after us."

Jane could now hear their panting and breathing over the sound of their snores they were so close, and it seemed that at any moment she would feel the bite of teeth on her jumper, and she would be pulled out of the air.

They rounded a corner and saw what they were looking for. The open doors to the power station, but they were too far away for Tilly to reach before the wolves reached them. It was then that Jane saw the switch that could be nothing other than a fire alarm.

Zooming ahead on her butterfly wings Jane reached the switch and pulled it with all her might, there may not have been any fire but being chased by wolves in a city captured by goblins surely was an emergency. The bell rang out across the entire city, waking up every goblin that was asleep no matter how deeply they dreamed. As the bell rang out Tilly reached Jane gasping for breath, however the Snore wolves no longer looked as if they would be any danger at all.

With the goblins waking up all the snores had vanished, and now these once terrifying monsters were instead the cutest puppies Jane had ever seen. The five of them reached the door and slowly and tiredly laid down with a yawn and went to sleep themselves.

"Jane that was brilliant thinking." Whispered Tilly and picking up the puppies put them in the bottom of Janes sown up jumper to sleep, as they could not bring themselves to abandon these cute animals to the goblins. Closing the door behind them, they entered the power station.