Gillian Summers - The goblin's curse

“I have to go find Finch. You need to stay inside the faire. These visions you’ve been having are real. Those monsters are goblins, and they’re on their way right now.”

Mara’s face grew chalky white as she clasped her daughter closer to her.

“I don’t blame you for wanting to leave, but it would help if you stayed. We’re going to need all the help we can get in the battle,” Keelie said.

“What do you mean, goblins?” Mara backed away from Keelie. The expression on the young mother’s face said you’ve lost your mind.

Keelie hadn’t considered the possibility that people wouldn’t believe her. Without visible proof, most humans wouldn’t believe the truth. Not until it was too late.

Keelie took off before Mara could say anything else. If the goblins were coming in from the west, then it would be better to face them head on. Keelie turned the corner on the West Road and jumped back as a motorcycle came tearing down the lane.

Riding like a bat out of hell on his chrome beast was none other than Vangar, Finch clinging to him as if she were his biker babe. Talk about major attitude turnaround. Love can make you do crazy things. The bike slowed, then turned around and came back to where Keelie stood.

Finch dismounted. “Why didn’t you contact me over the radio?”

Vangar wiped his forehead with his sleeve. His face was red and his dreadlocks were tangled and wild.

“The trees say the goblins are marching in from Equus Island. The elves have left, and the goblin wizard is in fact Tavyn, and I have to get the Compendium from Peascod if we want to have any hope of defeating the goblins.” Keelie rushed the words out, so she could say everything she needed to before Finch could bellow at her.

The shop owners and performers had gathered in a big crowd, watching and listening to Finch and Keelie.

Thomas pushed his way through. “This girl says we’re being attacked by goblins.”

Mara stepped forward with her daughter in her arms. “Is it true?” Her voice on the brink of hysteria.

Finch’s gaze held Keelie’s. “You told.”

“Tavyn’s attacking. He wants the Compendium. I didn’t know what else to do.” Keelie looked at little Ava. She didn’t want this little girl to die at the hands of goblins.

Finch grinned wickedly. “Time to make a battle plan.”

“What?” Thomas asked loudly.

Blakely the reporter stood in the background writing furiously on her pad. Her photographer now had a camcorder and was filming the action. Finch was too busy to notice.

“Everyone, I want you to go back to your businesses. We’re under attack, and you’ll be safe as long as you stay inside the faire.”

Thomas confronted Finch. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m saying it’s too dangerous for you to be out in the open unless you can wield a sword or some other weapon against an ugly beast that looks like an orc,” Finch snarled back at him.

“That’s why we’re getting out of here. You have no business telling us what to do,” Thomas yelled. “And if we’re going to be afraid of someone, how about that firebug?” He pointed at Vangar.

“Vangar is innocent. It was Hob who set the fires,” Keelie said. “Hob was just a disguise for a dangerous creature who wants to destroy us.”

Marcia, Tracy, and Lily arrived, dressed in jeans and T-shirts. They looked like ordinary girls except for the swords they wielded. They stood in front of Finch like a human shield.

“You heard Finch, Thomas,” Marcia shouted. “Get back in your shop, or get out here and fight and help defend our faire.”

Keelie’s opinion of these three fairy-wing wearers went up several notches.

“You’re wrong, Marcia. Hob tried to help us all. He warned us about Finch and Vangar,” Sam the Potter said.

Lily snorted. “He lied and cheated. He’s nothing but a fraud.”

Tracy scowled. “He was nuts, too. He started going around talking to his puppet, which was weird.” She carried her broad sword with an air of expertise.

Finch smiled and cut her eyes over to Keelie.

“You fools need to listen to Finch and Keelie.” Sir Davey’s eyes flashed. He shouldered his axe. In full dwarven armor, he was a formidable sight.

Then a loud roar split through the air. Spinning around, Keelie couldn’t see if something or someone had transformed, or appeared out of thin air.

“It’s too late to run. Now is the time to fight,” Finch said as her eyes narrowed to slits and flame blazed within the irises. “They’re on Equus Island, but the shield holds for now.”

In the distance, Keelie heard a loud booming of a drum and the familiar blare of battle horns.

Marcia, Tracy, and Lily joined up, shoulders together, ready to take on whatever came their way.

Dad! Keelie heart’s thumped hard against her chest as everyone looked toward the sound of the horns. She made her way to Sir Davey. “Where is Dad?”

“Once he had the dwarfstone, he said he needed to speak to a friend named Bruce.” Sir Davey scowled. “He said if he was late, not to worry-he will be here with reinforcements.”

Not to worry. Keelie planned to give Dad a good talking to when he arrived. Until then, she would help Finch and Vangar. Wait… the only Bruce she knew was a tree. She shrugged; she didn’t know everybody.

With a cry of horror, Thomas pointed at a charging throng of armored goblins wielding swords and battle axes. “Keelie was right,” he squealed. “The goblins are real.”

“It isn’t real. They’re probably making a movie,” the turkey-leg vendor said, but her eyes were wide.

“You fool, those goblins are the first wave of an attack, and if you had any sense about you, you’d get inside and protect your family. All of you,” Sir Davey bellowed to the assembled shopkeepers and performers. “Stay within the faire. You’re protected by a magical force field.”

Keelie turned to Finch. Sometimes people needed a demonstration to change their minds and convince them that something was real.

“Finch, show them what you are.”

The dragon smiled her wicked grin as smoke drifted from her nose and ears. “Yes, I think it’s time.”

A tornado of fire swirled around Finch, and Keelie shielded her face with her hands as the intense heat blasted toward her. Small beads of light twirled, then sucked inwards as if Finch were magnetic. Bright light exploded, then collapsed, too bright to endure. Keelie closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, Finch was gone. In her place, a red dragon with glistening scales reared up on powerful back legs, her wing tips soaring in an arc over their heads.

“Wicked cool,” Marcia said.

“Can you teach me how to do that?” Lily’s eyes blinked several times, as if she couldn’t believe what was before her.

Tracy just stared, jaw dropped open.

“Consider me impressed,” Keelie said to Sir Davey, who was dusting dirt off of his hat. “The woman has a flare for theatrics, just like her mother.”

“I agree.” A bronze dragon lowered his head in between Keelie and Sir Davey. Keelie saw her reflection in a yellow-gold eye with an iris slit like a goat’s.

“Vangar?”

“Yes,” he answered, his voice a deep, rich bass that conjured up warm evenings by a fire as soft music played in the background. If Vangar ever became a lounge singer, he’d have women throwing their underwear at him. The dragon body might be a PR problem, but his voice was like smoky velvet.

“I knew all along we had dragons amongst us,” Thomas declared, oblivious to the skeptical looks that others threw his way. He pointed at Vangar. “I said there was a firebug, and there he is.”

Vangar turned his massive bronze head toward Thomas, then lowered it until he could look the glassblower in the eye. “I thought we had established the fact that Hob was the firebug, not me.”