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

“Why will the sorcerer have to stop calling goblins?” Kate asked.

“Because he’ll run out of blood,” Marak said harshly. “He’s using Hulk’s blood to call our blood and bind these goblins into slavery. And he’s taking my best!” he snarled in a rage. “The highest families, the most magical, the most goblin!” He glared out over the silent crowd in an agony of frustration, his horse tail hair beginning to blow about his face in a wind of its own. Kate put her hand into his, and the wind gradually died down. He stood looking at his enchanted subjects and idly running his thumb up and down the King’s Line scar on her palm. Suddenly he squeezed her hand so tightly that she cried out in pain.

“The skip, Kate!” he shouted. “The skip!”

He whirled on the ministering goblins, barking out orders faster than Kate could decipher them. Goblins began scattering in all directions, running. Agatha showed up in a minute, and Seylin a moment later. Marak beckoned them to his side.

“I expect to be one of the sleepers soon,” he said. “I hope I’m wrong, but if I sleep, you know what will happen. The lights will go out and the weather will change. Our kingdom will be destroyed. Seylin, you’re the most magical one left, and I know he won’t enslave you”—he hesitated—“because you’re not goblin enough.” The boy flinched as if he’d been struck. “Seylin, I need you to work the Kingdom Spells while I’m away. Dayan will bring you the book, and she can help you with the schedule. Don’t keep the lamps lit during the night anymore, and don’t try to light the valley. Don’t try to work the Rain Spell every three days, either. Every six days will be fine. Gauge yourself, Seylin. Don’t wear yourself out. I don’t know how long you’ll have to do this, but I know that I can count on you.” Kate looked at the young elf. Seylin had grown taller this year. His face, pale at first from the insult, went still paler at the commands.

Marak turned to his former nurse. “He won’t call you, either, old dwarf,” he said affectionately. Her black eyes twinkled up at him. “Keep us alive, Agatha. You’re in charge of the doors. Don’t let anyone out till the call stops, and organize the Guard as best you can out of whoever is left.

“Kate, come with me,” he said urgently, taking her hand and pulling her along with him. “I’m going to let you out.” She had to trot to keep up with his rapid strides as he hurried down the hallways.

“Out?” she wondered. “What do you mean, out? Why?”

“Because you’ll be trapped down here when the lamps go out because Seylin can’t keep them lit anymore, and the winds howl through, and the crops all die, and everybody leaves. You’ll be trapped feeding potions to a sleeping husband. A long life!” He gave a bitter laugh. “A long life in the dark.”

Kate felt a stab of fear and an even more painful stab of hope. Out! Was it even possible?

“But how can you?” she whispered.

“There’s a spell for it,” he said grimly. “Only the King can work it. He has to be able to take his wife with him if there’s a disaster.”

Kate felt dizzy. “But the King’s Wife—”

“Is supposed to have a King!” he snarled. “A husband and a son. Not a living corpse, and that’s what I’ll be, and I’ll be one for a long time. Do you think I want you chained down here just to watch at my bedside? Do you think I brought you underground for this?!”

“But I want to stay with you,” she faltered, and when she said it, she knew it was the truth. Marak knew it, too. He stopped walking, stunned.

“It’s all right, Kate,” he said quietly, squeezing her hand. “I won’t even be here.”

Once in the workroom, he went into a frenzy, scrabbling through books and tossing them to the floor. “Here it is!” he cried at last. “Kate, quick, help me. I need some kind of liquid—the red bottle over there will do.” She fetched it. “And my paintbrushes are in the little bottom drawer on the right.” She retrieved a paintbrush. “Now we need the erasing part. Bring me the powdered lead.”

“I can’t reach it,” said Kate, looking up at the shelf. “Can you get it for me?” And then, when there was no step to her side, “Marak, can you get it?”

The goblin King pitched forward on his face over the spell book. Kate caught him as he collapsed onto the floor. His eyes were still open, but they were glassy. She tried to jump up to get help, but his hand gripped hers, and his gaze found her face.

“Don’t go,” he whispered, staring at her. “If you go, I go.” She stared back, stricken. “I have to fight him,” he muttered. “For my wife and son.”

“We don’t have a son,” whispered Kate.

“We would have.” He smirked. “A great one.” He started to relax, and his hand loosened its grip. Then he struggled back. “What a son,” he whispered. She wasn’t sure he could see her anymore.

“Kate!” he hissed. “Kate!”

“What is it?” she asked, bending close. He stared about, looking for her, and slowly focused on her again.

“No King ever had such a wife,” he whispered. He began to go limp. “My wife and son,” he murmured. “My wife and son.” His eyes closed. Kate waited a long moment, then two, then three, but he didn’t move. Marak had joined the sleepers.

Kate laid him down carefully and climbed to her feet, shaking all over. As she turned to get help, she saw the book still open to the spell that would have freed her. Only the King could work it, and the King was gone. She looked down at the scars in her hands.

A long life, they told her. A long life alone in the dark.

Chapter 12

Kate sat by Marak’s pallet in the banquet hall, oblivious to everything around her. She didn’t cry, and she didn’t move. She stared at the inhuman monster who had teased her, worked magic on her, and dragged her down into this place for the sake of an entire race of monsters. Well, she thought grimly, looking at the slight frown on his still face, he wouldn’t ever laugh at her again. And if he didn’t, Kate didn’t think she would be able to bear it.

She saw clearly what he had refused to tell the others, that he didn’t think the goblins could save themselves without him. The sorcerer would come back, and he would enslave the rest. Seylin would be occupied with the Kingdom Spells, and no one else had the magic to stand against the sorcerer. One by one the goblins would fall asleep until there was no one left but her and the dwarves. Marak would eventually die, and the goblins’ magic would be lost forever.

Kate had never really wanted that son he had longed for. She hadn’t wanted to cry over a goblin baby and its awful deformities. But now she would be thrilled to know she was going to have a hideous goblin baby. He would be the hope of his people, and he would be Marak’s son and hers. She smiled in bitter amazement at her own stupidity. How had she ever thought she could cry at the sight of Marak’s son?

Night came, and the lights flickered out. Kate’s dwarf made diamond bracelet flared to brightness. In its magical light, Marak looked as if he were already dead. Kate couldn’t stand it any longer. We don’t have a King or an Heir to save us, she concluded firmly, but I’m not going to spend the rest of my life down here feeding potions to a sleeping husband. If he can fight for his wife and son, then I can fight for my husband. That sorcerer’s outside in the world I know. I’m not afraid of monsters, I’m not afraid of magic, and I’m certainly not afraid of him.

She got up and went to find Agatha.

“Kate,” called a voice behind her, and she turned to see Emily with a lantern in her hand and a goblin baby in each arm.