The Kingdom - Clare B Dunkle - Hollow Kingdom 01 - The Hollow Kingdom

“You’re right,” he said calmly, just as if she had spoken out loud. “They led you straight to where we were waiting.” And then, with a sharp-toothed grin, “You only thought you were lost.”

The hairy black monster reached up its ridiculously long arms and laid Marak’s riding cloak around his twisted shoulders. As the King pulled it about him, the furry black fingers worked carefully, freeing his pale, coarse hair from the cloak’s confining weight. Kate watched, still shuddering. Marak studied her thoughtfully as he fastened the catch.

“Come with me, Kate,” he said. “I’m going to check on a few things I might need.”

A few minutes later, she was sitting on a tall stool, feeling a little better. She looked around her at the stone room they were in, a cross between a library and a laboratory. Books and manuscripts filled an entire wall of bookshelves, another wall was covered with cabinets full of shelves and drawers, a writing desk occupied a space by the door, and she sat beside a high, broad worktable with star charts and diagrams fastened to the wall above it. Glass bottles, pottery jars, and metal boxes ranged across the cabinet shelves, and bunches of herbs hung from a rack. Utensils and bowls of various sizes were stacked neatly at the back of the worktable, and a mortar and pestle stood by her hand. She watched the pallid goblin as he prowled the room, lost in thought. He pulled out a deep drawer and rummaged through it, one finger holding a place in a small leather-bound book that he had plucked from the shelves.

“This is where your magic comes from,” Kate observed, looking about with interest.

Marak was amused. “My magic comes from me,” he corrected. “This is where I keep my tools.” He found the object he had been after, checked the book again, and dropped the object into a pocket of his cloak.

As the goblin King browsed his magical tools, Kate mulled over the events of the day. She was in the last place she had wanted to be, and she had promised to marry a monster. Now she knew that Emily had been in the basement all the time. She thought about her guardian’s accusation that she was insane and needed to be locked away. She remembered him trying to persuade her to talk, to tell them all about the creatures who had stolen her sister.

“He lied to me,” she said, feeling completely discouraged.

“He’s a human,” the goblin agreed. “Of course, you lied to him, too, but I don’t see that he left you much choice about it.”

“Or maybe you did it,” she accused him. “You could have put Em down there to make me think it’s Mr. Roberts’s fault, to make yourself look better.”

Marak peered at her through his rough hair. “To make myself look better?” He laughed. “No, Kate, I know how I look. I’ve scared, upset, and offended you, but I haven’t lied to you.”

Kate subsided, miserable. She had made her promise, and it was too late. He would never let her escape now. She pictured her guardian as he’d been last night, yelling at her in front of Dr. Thatcher. She’d had no idea he was capable of such a thing. She looked at the black-cloaked goblin as he stood, deep in thought, drumming his six fingers on the cabinet in front of him.

“I thought I only had to worry about you,” she said bitterly.

For once, Marak didn’t laugh. “You don’t have to worry about me,” he said. “I do wish you’d stop. It would make both of our lives much easier.” She shrugged and looked away. Marak studied her with a frown.

“Don’t you think it’s funny that he calls himself your guardian?” he asked. “Your guardian, your protector.” He paused for a second, eyes narrowed. “I think it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

As he pulled down another book and gathered more things from drawers and cupboards, Kate began to grow very sleepy. She fell into a doze. Then she shook herself and jumped down from the stool.

“You’re enchanting me, aren’t you!” she exclaimed. Marak was studying the book again. He didn’t look up.

“But I want to come, too,” Kate said stubbornly. The goblin poured the contents of his pocket out onto the worktable nearby and checked through them as if he hadn’t heard. “After all, I came here by myself,” she pointed out. He swept the assembled items back into his pocket, satisfied. “I promise to come back,” she added hesitantly. It wasn’t an easy promise to make.

Marak glanced up then, a shrewd look in his eyes. “My pretty bride,” he said with a wry smile. “I finally have you underground where you belong—after quite a battle, too. And you want me to let you out again?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Oh, you bravely hurled yourself to the monsters when you thought it was the only way to save your sister. But”—he walked over and bent down to look into her eyes—“I think that if you knew she was safe, and you realized that I wasn’t going to hurt her, you’d forget all about your promise to your poor goblin husband. And you’d bolt if you had even half a chance.”

Kate tried to meet his steady gaze but failed. He was absolutely right. Marak stood in thought for a moment, watching her miserable face.

“You don’t mind if I reinforce your pledge with a little magic,” he suggested. She looked up, hopeful again, and shook her head.

“But if I take you with me,” he warned, “I want you to promise only to watch. I don’t want you to talk to Roberts.”

“Why not?” asked Kate.

“Because I haven’t formed a very favorable impression of my cousin. If you and he argue, I’m liable to do something I’ll regret.”

“All right,” she promised.

He laid her right hand palm up on the worktable and covered it with his left hand. As he murmured quietly, she had the frightening impression that the two hands had grown together into one. When he lifted his hand and turned away, she snatched hers up quickly and probed at the palm. It felt completely normal. Marak watched her, grinning.

“Walk to the door,” he told her, and she complied. Then he stepped away slowly, holding up his hand. Kate’s hand jerked toward him. She tried to restrain it, but as he backed up, she was pulled forward. It felt as if a rope stretched from his hand through her palm into her arm. Marak threw back his head and laughed at her startled expression.

“The Leashing Spell gives you about ten feet,” he said. “And I’m bigger than you are, so don’t try dragging me around. Time to go.” He grew serious. “They’ll be waiting by now.”

The band of goblins by the water wall had been joined by two grooms holding five horses. The horses were saddled and bridled, but no one made any move to mount. Marak walked to the mirror and called up an image of the Hall through the trees. The huge feathered apes promptly swung into the water. Kate felt an almost physical shock at the sight of them moving down the forest path a second later.

“They’re Hulk and Bulk,” Marak told her, nodding after them. “Hulk’s the dark one. My mother named them.”

Seylin jumped through the water barrier. Marak’s fanged lieutenant took a pair of horses from the groom and stepped through next. Kate realized, seeing him in his black cloak, that this was Thaydar, the burly man from the bonfire. The other groom led his three charges snorting into the water. Marak gave a few orders to the bystanders in the cave, then pulled a rather dubious Kate into the picture with him.

She felt as if a large, cool bubble popped against her face. The next second she stumbled on the uneven rocks of the same path she and Seylin had taken from her bedroom that evening. The full moon shone through the branches, and Kate felt her heart lift at the sight of the stars through a break in the trees. She dragged her feet, looking up at them longingly.