The Elves of Trelis

At the Gate

There are exactly eight goblin tunnels that I know of in Trelis strategically placed in the form of an octagon. None of the half elves knew this – they couldn't see the holes from up high like I did – but they still ended up finding one of them not too far from Yasmin's tree. The pit was clumsily concealed by mud, sticks and leaves. There was no use for better camouflage since there was no reason that elves would ever come near the tunnels. If they should ever come down, they would bump into a large iron hate that they could never touch. All the other creatures had no reason to go down the tunnels either, unless they fancy getting eaten by goblins.

Phadia, Joshua, Carlo and Tarli – all of them together, stood above that deep hole and discussed their plan.

"I'll stay here at the top while you boys make the bargain," Phadia said. "If something bad happens, if a goblin chases you out, I'll be here at the entrance to deal with it."

Joshua cleared the mud and leaves from the opening and stepped back for Tarli, who went down first since they needed his fireflies to guide them. Carlo followed his brother downwards and Joshua came last.

The tunnel walls were mostly clean and smooth, except for a few shriveled roots on the ceiling. They walked faster the deeper they went; gravity was pushing them along which it made it much easier to get through. They could hear voices down below them getting louder. Tarli bristled, since he knew he was the closest person to the goblins and the iron. And then it happened so quickly it scared him. Tarli took one more step forward, closed his eyes and took a deep breath and when he opened them, he was standing before the gate.

Once he realized where they were, Carlo puffed out his chest and started shouting, "Where are you little monsters? We need you. Come out!"

For a moment there was nothing. Then the elves heard shuffling and grunting from the other side.

A voice that sounded like crackling fire answered Carlo's call. "You have some nerve, little elf."

"I also have powers," Carlo snapped back.

It is said that goblins used to wield some kind of magic but that was before they started living underground. After making the transition, they slowly stopped using their powers indefinitely until they forgot how.

The goblin's voice came back louder. "I wouldn't make threats if I were you; not when you can't even pass an iron gate. What do you want? Did you say you needed us?"

"We need sapphires," Joshua said.

The goblin started sniffing the air. "Oh, another one huh?"

"There's three of us," Tarli mumbled.

"Not brave enough to go alone, eh?

"Not stupid enough," Carlo said.

The goblin chuckled. "So... you say you want sapphires. What makes you think we'd just hand them over. It takes a lot of sapphires to make a difference, unless they're under the full moon."

"We thought you might accept a trade," Joshua explained. "I swear we'll find you something valuable in exchange for sapphires."

There was silence for some time. The goblin scratched the dirt in thought. "There's been talk underground of a she-beast. Some call her Kaya, some call her Delphi and some call her Cynthia. I don't even know what she is really, but a few of us have seen her roaming underground and she's devoured dozens of goblins and other beasts. If you could find a way to get rid of her, you may have our sapphires."

Cynthia, Cynthia... Joshua had heard that name before. He looked at his cousin, Carlo, who was smiling slightly while he was silently panicking. "Cynthia is real?" He exclaimed.

"Yes, of course she's real. You mean you didn't believe me?"

"No, no, not at all."no

"Gee, I feel so loved..." Carlo rolled his eyes then turned to the gate once more. "We want those sapphires badly to fix a problem we have, but is there anything you could tell us that would help us fight Cynthia? Some weakness she might have? I'm afraid I don't know enough."

"The only thing that I know is that she's a giant that lives underground and comes to the surface when it rains." The goblin responded quicker this time. "I think you'll have a better chance of defeating her up there than down here in the tunnels that you aren't familiar with. So wait for it to rain. And when you kill her bring me one of her claws so that I know you've really won."

The boys all looked at eachother and nodded slowly. "We agree to this bargain," Tarli said. At first, he'd been very scared to come close to goblins but after hearing just how honest and reasonable this one sounded, he raised his voice with confidence.

"I'll be sure to tell your story to the rest when you've succeeded. This world beneath Trelis will be so grateful to you."

Tarli directed his fireflies away from the gate as he and Joshua both cried goodbye and the elves turned and left.

Getting out of the tunnel was tough. And they reached a steep climbing point at the end that forced them to get on their hands and knees and hoist themselves to the exit. Phadia's smiling face welcomed them to the sunlight.

As she extended a hand to Tarli she said, "so, did you make the deal?"

*** ***

Phadia was delighted that the goblins had agreed to a trade but she was unhappy with the type of trade it was. As the trio lay in a field not too far from the goblin tunnel, she unraveled her thoughts. "So you're saying in order for us to help The Brothers peacefully we have to kill another beast called Cynthia. That is not the kind of deal I wanted at all."

"It doesn't matter though," Carlo said. "It's the only deal we're going to get. Plus, the goblin said he wanted us to give him one of her claws so that he'd know we'd done the job."

"I don't want to have to kill another creature in Trelis..." Phadia said quietly ruminating over the idea.

"Maybe we don't have to," Tarli came in.

Phadia blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean all we need is some help from the harpies."