The Goblin's Throne

Chapter Fifty: Nightmares

"Good," Agi rasped at my ear. Its tail twitched against my neck, almost as if to caress it. I cut my eye to it, that most eerie of goblins and one of my particular favorites. Its black pupils were pinpoints amid bright red. When it spoke, its mouth opened and closed, showing sharp teeth dripping with saliva and a long red tongue. It hadn't the mouth to make the sounds it did. The voice came up from its throat regardless. The form a goblin took never mattered. It was only a vessel for a reincarnated soul and it was the soul that spoke, the soul that snarled and hungered even if the body had no sense of taste. "Very good, Little Thief," Agi whispered in its devilish voice, its small red eyes flashing to green for just a moment. "One by one, each heretic kingdom will fall, their people and land stolen and eaten up, the righteous turned into what they once believed were foul, evil vermin, not by force but by choice. Made to remember who it was they were made to serve. Such exquisite irony that."

Athane had once told me that The Hollow was not a god, but even if it wasn't, it certainly liked to play one. At that moment, it reminded me of a priest speaking ill of any religion besides his own. It put a bad taste in my mouth, but whatever, so long as it stayed out of my way. I hoped it was happy now.

Agi then leaped away from my shoulder and disappeared into the crowd. When it left, it seemed to take with it all of my strength and I felt all the tiredness in my bones. It crashed into me all at once. I was trembling when I stepped off of the platform of goblin bodies. So much so that I tripped on nothing. The humans caught me and eased me back onto my feet, swatting my back and patting my head all the while talking to me while looking me directly in the eye. Something, only a few had ever done before. They smiled at me with warm eyes that were not full of judgment or disgust. I didn't recognize what I saw. It was too kind a thing.

"We're with you," A group of boys said, looking around at each other. All of them nodded in agreement.

An older woman squeezed my hands tightly. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She repeated again and again.

I didn't know how to respond to them. My mouth opened and closed uselessly.  I wasn't used to people being thankful for anything I'd done and I wasn't sure that I liked it.

"Did talking instead of snapping take that much out of you?" Knut asked with a snicker as the crowd parted and he came towards me. He hugged me and kissed my hair.

"Shut up." I swatted him. "I barely slept last night and I'm suddenly feeling every second of it."

"Well, don't pass out yet. We still have to keep our promise to the boys and buy them enough sweets to rot their teeth out of their heads. You are still up for that aren't you?"

I craned my neck up and placed a small kiss to his lips. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. If my legs are too tired to carry me, I'll ride on your back."

The goblin city streets were lively and just the right level of loud as my family and I walked together through the market. The Unseelie had made it their own, bringing influence from their own culture and blending it with our own. The market had become a little piece of The City of Thorns. Unseelie music played softly in the distance while merchants beckoned shoppers over to see their wares. Most of the goblins in the market were on their way to other corners of the city and ignored the merchants. However, I saw quite a few of the willed ones, the brothers and sisters of Snorri and those that had been made since that initial brood, stop by the food stalls or take a gander at the seamstress' work. They were easy to spot for they were well clothed and they moved differently than the others, their steps less sure and goals more uncertain. Though they, like the others, had no real need for food, they had discovered the pleasures of taste and for some an interest in fashion or art. With will, came personality and desire, Knut and I had learned, and so Knut provided them with an allowance of gold coins to spend on whatever.