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

The band of goblins gathered under the trees behind the Hall, and the groom led the horses away through the woods. The rest walked, padded, or swung onto the quiet terrace. Kate could just imagine what Mrs. Bigelow would say if she saw them.

Marak stepped up to the study window and stared into the lighted room without moving a muscle. Through it, Kate could see her guardian and Dr. Thatcher deep in intense discussion. The next second both men were asleep. Dr. Thatcher’s head rolled against the back of his chair, and her guardian flopped forward, chin on chest. Marak turned away and took her hand, a pleased smile on his pallid face.

“You see, Kate,” he remarked quietly, “how easy it is with everyone but you. You’ve been such trouble, you make me doubt my own abilities. Half the time, I suspect you of enchanting me.” The absurdity of this statement almost made Kate smile, and she remembered her delight in besting him. Marak beckoned to Seylin, and the three of them moved toward the kitchen. As they passed a patch of moonlight, she looked up. It would be so hard underground, she thought wistfully, but maybe it wouldn’t be unbearable.

They approached the kitchen window, and Marak gestured. “Seylin,” he said in a low voice, “you handle this one.” The big cat bounded to the window and froze, looking in. Marak and Kate walked up just in time to see Mrs. Bigelow slump forward, twitching slightly, her cheek on the kitchen table. “That’s very good,” said Marak appreciatively as the cat looked up. “You won’t get that twitching, though, if you stay with them just another couple of seconds.”

The group filed into the entrance hall, the two large feathered apes turning sideways and hunching to fit through the doorway. The sight of such bizarre creatures in such ordinary surroundings almost took Kate’s breath away. They entered the study to find the men snoring gently as they dreamed in their chairs. Bulk, the light-colored ape, took his station right by her guardian. Thaydar stood on the other side of the chair, blocking access to the window.

The King reminded everyone of their duties in the goblin language. Seylin and Hulk went off down the hall. “—And I want you to stand here, Kate,” added Marak, pointing. “Don’t move too far from the hearth. That way, no matter where I step, I won’t pull you down or drag you over a table.” Kate rubbed her palm unhappily as he spoke, remembering that her freedom was only an illusion.

Marak went over to Hugh Roberts and gave him a stinging slap across the face with his six-fingered hand. “Wake up, cousin,” he said.

Kate remembered her own nightmare as Hugh Roberts slowly awoke. Perhaps he, too, had been ordered to have bad dreams. He blinked about groggily, putting a hand up to adjust his wig. As he focused on Marak, the color drained from his round face and left it an ugly gray.

“It’s always nice to meet close relatives,” observed Marak pleasantly. His odd eyes glinted, and the candlelight in the room emphasized the muddy color of his lips and fingernails. Hugh Roberts gasped for breath and began to look as if he had been ill for several days. Turning his head slowly, he located the large feathered ape right beside his chair. Bulk gazed dolefully at him with his patient yellow eyes. Hugh gave a muffled groan. His dull gaze wandered around the room to Thaydar, and he let out a shriek. Kate glanced at the burly goblin in surprise. Except for those cat eyes and fangs, Thaydar didn’t look so bad for a goblin. She turned back to find her guardian staring at her. He began to move his lips, but no words came out.

“Don’t you dare speak to her,” Marak warned. “She’s not even related to you.” The goblin King crossed his arms, smiling down at Hugh and showing his pointed teeth a little. “No, you want to talk to me, your own flesh and blood,” he said encouragingly. “You want to tell me where little M is tonight. Kate came and told us that you thought we had her. But we don’t.” In spite of his shock, Hugh Roberts was listening closely, his lips working and his eyes fixed on Marak’s face. Kate decided that he had gotten over his disbelief in goblins very quickly.

“Do you know where M is?” Marak asked. Hugh Roberts shook his head. The goblin’s expression didn’t change, but an angry gleam lit his eyes. “Then it’s a good thing I do.”

Hulk came sidling through the doorway, Emily in his arms. He laid the girl carefully down on the couch across from her guardian as Kate hurried over, exclaiming in dismay. Seylin padded in and sat down on the floor by the couch, round golden eyes fixed curiously on the quivering, gray-faced man.

“How’s the letter?” asked Marak, kneeling next to Kate. Emily grinned at him drowsily. “M, someone’s been using human magic on you—by which I mean a sleeping potion.” He ran his fingertips over her temples and down her neck, then checked her wrists and ankles.

“Are you going to put any salve on me?” asked Emily in groggy anticipation. Marak smiled at her.

“No, someone’s been very considerate,” he replied. “No one would ever know you’d been tied up.” He reached down a hand and helped Kate to her feet. “I hope you don’t mind, M, but your sister can’t stay here. She’s”—he paused, then chuckled—“guarding the fireplace.” Kate shot him a venomous look.

“Now,” he said meditatively, drawing Kate back to the hearth and walking past her to the gray-faced Hugh, “this does raise a question. You’re M’s guardian, not I, but I’m the one who’s having to guard her tonight. Do you have any idea what M was doing tied up in your basement?” Hugh Roberts stared at the carpet and shook his head.

The goblin King let out an exasperated sigh and reached into his pocket. Thaydar stepped to his side, grinning broadly. Marak handed him a small set of tongs, which he clicked a couple of times in anticipation. The King produced a rod of red sealing wax and a small bronze seal. Bulk shuffled a few feet sideways and clamped his gigantic hands over Hugh’s arms. When the big man opened his mouth to yell, Thaydar bent down and seized his tongue with the tongs. He grinned in delight at the indistinct yells and cries coming from the frantic man, but Marak, on the other side of Hugh’s chair, frowned in concentration. His lips moved silently as he held the rod of sealing wax above Hugh’s open mouth. It softened and dripped without the aid of a flame, and a large red blob landed on the extended tongue. Marak quickly stamped the seal into the blob of melted wax and studied the impression with satisfaction. He turned away, putting the wax and seal back into his pocket, as Thaydar reluctantly released his grip on the tongue. At a nod, Bulk shuffled back a step. Hugh Roberts bent forward in his chair, choking and spluttering.

“Now,” Marak said, “I’ll ask you again. Do you have any idea what M was doing tied up in your basement?”

“Of course I do!” snarled Kate’s guardian. “I tied the little witch up myself.” Then he let out a terrified squeak and clapped his hands over his mouth. The goblins howled in amusement at his dismay, and Marak grinned at Kate’s dumbfounded expression.

“It’s the Stamp of Truth,” he explained. “It makes the receiver answer the complete truth to every question.” He turned back to Hugh Roberts. “And why did you tie M up in the basement, cousin?”

The man struggled for a second, his hands over his mouth. Then he dropped them, breathing heavily. “Miss Winslow had lied so well that the doctor wouldn’t take her away. I was determined to make her tell the truth about her goblin obsession. If Miss Winslow thought her precious Em was stolen, I knew she’d admit everything, and her sister, doped and tied up, wouldn’t be able to find her and tell her otherwise.”