Goblins on the Prowl (14 page)

She turned toward the rear of the cave, then turned back and said, “Ooopsie! Almost forgot. This is gonna take another secret. And it better be a humdinger.”

Coldness seized my heart.

Flegmire looked straight at me, and her next words moved me to flat-out terror. “I think it's your turn, my little pazoozle. What secret are
you
hiding?”

Secrets are like farts. The longer you hold one in, the more explosive it is when you finally let it go.

—Stanklo the Scribbler

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE PRICE FOR THE POOL

“What makes you think I have a secret?” I asked, trying to mask my fear.

“Oh, everyone has a secret, dearie, even me. Of course, in my case I can't remember it, which sort of puts the frost on my bunkie. But I'm not the one seeking information, am I?”

I swallowed, then put my hand on Solomon's Collar and said, “I'm not supposed to be wearing this.”

I heard a little cry of surprise from William.

Flegmire just snorted. “Not much of a secret. Knew it wasn't meant for you the moment I saw you.”

“How could you know that?”

“Huh. Maybe
that's
my secret! Knew it was something.
Now come on, my little pickle. We both know you're hiding something bigger. Let's have it.”

I was aware of the others looking at me, and I knew they wanted to ask about the collar. I was spared from answering that when Flegmire screamed, “Tick tock, time's up! Now go on, all of you. I have important things to do.” Then she muttered, “Just hope I can remember what they are!”

“Wait! I'll tell you.”

Flegmire smiled and settled back on her haunches. “Well, now we're getting somedingle. Come on, girl. Spill it.”

I closed my eyes and whispered, “I don't know how old I am.”

“Speak up, girl. I think I've got a potato in my ear.”

Angry now, I shouted,
“I don't know how old I am!”

Flegmire nodded but didn't say anything. I could tell she was waiting for more.

I glanced around. The others were looking at me oddly.

“Do you mean you don't know when your birthday is?” Werdolphus asked.

I could tell he was trying to be helpful, and I appreciated it. But I had to shake my head.

Flegmire cackled and rubbed her hands together.
“Now this is getting interesting. If it's not about your birthday, what is it about?”

“I told you—I don't know how old I am.”

“Yeah, yeah, you said that. Still, not hard to guess. Humans age in a pretty standard way. You're about ten or eleven.”

That pushed me over the edge. “Well, I've looked exactly the same way for at least seventy years now! Maybe longer. I have no idea! I told you, I don't know how old I am. I just stay this way, and stay this way, and stay this way. AND I HATE IT!”

I was trying not to cry, but my weird condition had made it impossible to ever get close to people. I had already gotten friendlier with William and everyone else in the castle than I should have. In another year, two at the most, they would start to wonder about me. Another year after that, they would be certain there was something strange.

After the first two times I'd been accused of witchcraft and barely escaped with my life, I understood that I must never stay in one place long enough to let people figure out my secret. And now I had blurted it out to this crazy old goblin—and everyone else in our group—just to figure out how to help William.

Igor stumped over to me. “Igor never know how
old he is either,” he said, putting a thick hand on my shoulder.

I knew he meant it to be kind, but the idea that Igor and I were alike did not do much to make me feel better.

Flegmire bounced to her feet. “Now,
that
was a secret! Come on, you lot. We have to look into the pool before it's too late.”

I was relieved there was no time to talk about what I had just told them. Still, Flegmire's words made me nervous. “Too late for what?”

The old goblin rolled her enormous eyes. “How should I know? Do you think the clocks talk to me? Well, they do, but all they say is ‘Tick tock Bongaroo! Tick tock Bongaroo!' Be enough to drive me crazy if I wasn't already!”

She started for the back of the cave, where two sticks of wood—or mushroom, I suppose—seemed to rise directly out of the floor. As we got closer, I realized they actually came up through a hole. Even closer, and I saw that they were the top of a ladder.

We followed Flegmire down to another cave, much smaller and darker. It was moist and cool, and the air was surprisingly pleasant, filled with the clean smell that comes after a good rain.

What little light shone in this cave came from a glowing pool in its center. The pool was about five feet across, a perfect circle surrounded by a raised wall of stone about three feet high. That would have made it seem more like a well than a pool, if not for the fact that the water came all the way up to the edge of it.

Flegmire thrust her right arm into the water and began to stir. Soon the surface started to bubble.

“Yow!” she cried, yanking out her arm.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“Nothin'. Just gets hot. That's how I know it's ready. Now, what do you want to see?”

“How would a nice librarian do for starters?” called a voice from behind us.

I spun and saw Karl standing on the ladder. He was clutching the book in one hand, and I could see the mirror strapped to his back.

“You came!” I cried.

“You needn't look so surprised.” He sounded a ­little hurt.

“But how did you do it? Werdolphus said you had set out to find us, but I was afraid you would never make it.”

“I might not have, if Werdolphus hadn't told me you were heading for Bonecracker John. I found a map that led me to him.”

“Hah!” Igor bellowed. “Told Karl old Bonecracker was real!”

“Wet the man tawk!” Bwoonhiwda scolded.

“It's all right, Bwoonhiwda,” Karl said. “I had that coming. Anyway, once I reached the giant's cave, he told me where you had gone and how to follow you.”

“But what did you do for light?” I asked. “And how did you get past the lindlings?”

“The light came from the mirror,” Karl replied. “It started to glow as soon as I entered the passage to ­Nilbog. As to lindlings . . . I don't even know what you're talking about!”

As I explained about winged lindlings, Sterngrim leaned close to my ear and said, “If the mirror was glowing too brightly, my fellow lindlings probably hid from the light.”

Karl continued his story. “When I reached ­Wongo's cave, I found two goblins waiting to escort me to ­Nilbog. John had summoned them, via that grapevine thing of his. When we got to Nilbog, I found two more goblins waiting for me. The king had ordered them to bring me straight to you.”

I had wondered how Karl could have caught up with us so quickly, but when I retraced our journey in my mind, I realized we had wasted a huge amount
of time trailing the toad that first night and had gone well out of our way doing so. Coming directly would have been much faster.

“Burble, burble, burble!” shouted Flegmire. “You mizgorps wanna see what's in the pool or not? You gotta ask a question if you do. But better hurry. This won't last much longer.”

“Show us what we need to do,” I said at once.

“Boy, that's a tough order. Why don't you just ask to see the secret of true love?”

I didn't believe in true love, so that was not of interest to me.

“Can we hurry?” William cried. “I'm a little pressed for time. Remember, I can't stay out of my body for more than two hours.”

Flegmire snorted. “Well, that's as fascinating as a clock in the pancake batter. Oooh! I've got something. Better come take a look. “

We hurried to the pool.

The picture in its water was as clear as the paintings in the Baron's castle. In the center was William's body, still and unmoving. It was surrounded by a ­reddish glow.

“What's that?” he asked, pointing to the glow.

“Got no idea,” Flegmire said. “Never saw nothin'
like it, except for that time I made the mushroom wine too strong.”

“I've got to go,” William said urgently. Then he vanished.

There was no way to call him back, nothing to say, so I returned my attention to the image in the pool.

Close to William's body sat the stone toad. On some rocks about fifteen feet above them stood a tall, handsome man dressed in wizard's robes. I figured this must be Helagon.

“Where is the stone?” he demanded.

The voice startled me. I hadn't expected to be able to
hear
this. Flegmire's spell was even stronger than the one Sophronia had used back in Castle Nilbog.

I tried to figure out where the light came from, then realized the scene was at the edge of the mushroom forest. Was it possible they were not far away?

Helagon's demand for a reply went unanswered. The toad simply stared at him, blinking its big golden eyes. Scowling, the wizard raised his hands, moved them in a series of complicated gestures, then muttered a few words. Even though I couldn't make them out, they made me shiver. Then he shouted three words I did understand: “Speech be thine!”

Blue light flew from his hands. It struck the toad
on the nose, crackled around its body, then faded, as if sinking right into the toad.

The thing blinked its enormous eyes twice, then said in a deep, pleasant voice, “I do not have the stone.”

“Nonsense! You've been shielding it ever since you and that dratted giant tricked me all those years ago.”

“True. However, I did not bring it with me when I fled the castle.”

“Why in the world not?” asked Helagon. He was calmer now, which made him seem even more dangerous.

“Because the spell was not completed, I did not know where I was, or even
what
I was. Memory has been returning, but slowly.”

“If you were so confused, why bring the boy?”

“Something in me recognized him as key to my return to human form,” the toad replied calmly.

At that moment two things happened. The image in the pool faded, and William returned.

From the look on his face I knew something ter­rible had happened.

“What is it?” I cried.

“I can't get back in!”

“What do you mean?”

“I can't get into my body! That wizard has blocked
it somehow. But if I don't get back in before the two hours are up, I'll be out of my body forever!”

“Oooh, that's bad,” said Flegmire. “You'll end up like ghostie boy over there, except he has a chance of moving on if he ever learns to let go of the world. In your case, you'll have to stay a wandering spirit forever. Poor little guy. Just thinking of it makes me want to eat my toes in horror.”

“Do you know anything that can help?” I cried.

“Mebbe.”

“Well, what?”

Tugging her chin, Flegmire said, “Not sure I can remember. That kind of stuff used to be at the top of my bean, dearie. Sadly, when you're as old as I am, sometimes you have to glinkle the frizzit to bring back a thought. And that only works about half the time. Oh, I've got an idea! Throw a bucket of water on him—the actual body, I mean, not the see-through, floaty part.”

“Water?”

Flegmire's eyes lit up, and she rubbed her bony hands together. “It'll crackle and fizzle and raise all sorts of jubapalooza. But it might to do the trick.”

“But that's so simple.”

“Lots of the complicated parts of magic are just for
show. There's a bucket in the upper cave you can borrow. But bring it back, or I'll set a gretchwangle on your trail.”

“What's a gretchwangle?” Karl asked.

“Haven't figured that out yet, but when I do it will be plenty nasty. Be easier on both of us if you just bring back the bucket!”

“Thank you, O Wisest of the Wise,” I said. “Ummm . . . could you tell from the image in the pool where Helagon and the toad are?”

Flegmire had started playing with her fingers and seemed to be ignoring the question.

“Flegmire!”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you. I was trying to remember where it is. Finger games help me think.” She looked up. Scratching an armpit, she said, “Ah, got it! Go out of my cave and turn right. Then walk on, sticking close to the cliffs until you get to the Big Face—”

“What's the Big Face?”

“Don't interrupt! You think it's easy for me to tell you this with gloops dancing in my beezlim? Now, where was I?” She stared into space for a minute, her eyes rolling around, then said, “Right . . . the Big Face. You'll know it when you see it. Stream flows out of its mouth. Lot of green moss in its nose, sort of like giant
boogers. Cute, in a disgusting way. That's where you'll find them. About a thirty-minute walk from here.”

William looked at his watch. “I only have forty-five minutes left!”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Flegmire shouted. “Get moving!”

Sterngrim fluttering ahead of us, we scurried up the ladder and out of Flegmire's cave, making sure to grab the bucket as we went.

We were off to rescue William.

At least, that was what I thought.

I had no idea what was really in store for me.

When going to attack a wizard, it is vital to have a plan. It is also vital to remember that plans often go awry when magic enters the picture!

—Stanklo the Scribbler

CHAPTER NINETEEN

FACE-OFF AT THE BIG FACE

When we left the cave, we found Captain Grickle waiting for us.

“What do you want?” I said. I sounded rude, but I was feeling wildly impatient.

“Just to know where you are going. We will stay behind you, as ordered. But we must not lose you.”

“We'll be following the line of the cliff,” I said quickly. “You should be able to see us from the edge of the mushroom forest. You can track us that way.”

Grickle stuck his finger into his nose and nodded, then bounded back to the Seventh Mischief.

“We have to get moving,” William said urgently.

“We need to do some planning,” Karl replied.

“Plan while we walk!” I said, and started out.

Karl hurried to stay up with me. “Fauna, we can't just march up to William's body with Helagon there. The wizard is extremely dangerous.”

I knew Karl was right about doing some planning before we faced Helagon, but I couldn't stand any more delays. All I could think about was William, and whether he would be locked out of his body. Turning to Karl, I said, “You haven't explained what we have to do to return Edrick to human form. You did figure it out, right?”

“Yes. It takes the mirror, the book, the toad, and William.” Looking toward where he had last heard William's voice, he said, “You'll be pleased to know that we have to get you back into your body before we do anything else. The spell requires you and the toad to look into the mirror in such a way that you see each other's eyes.”

“Do you think we'll be able to get the toad to do that?” I asked.

Karl said, “From the way Edrick spoke to Helagon, I'm guessing he'll understand what we're trying to do. So we don't need to worry about that. The real problem is going to be disrupting the magic Helagon used to lock William out of his body. We'll need to distract
him to do that. It really is a good thing he doesn't have the Black Stone.”

“I wonder what happened to it,” Werdolphus said. “After a hundred years it's amazing it's been lost again.”

“Won't stay wost wong,” boomed Bwoonhiwda. “Powah wike that attwacts wizahds wike cheese ­attwacts wats.”

I shuddered at the thought of what might happen if some other magician found the Black Stone. Of course, a magic-user who didn't know how to handle the stone would just have the magic sucked right out of him, leaving nothing but an empty husk.

The thought made me glad I was not a magician.

“So we have to figure out how to distract Helagon,” William said.

“Igor bop him!” cried Igor.

I shook my head. “Helagon would blast you with magic before you got within twenty feet of him.”

Igor stamped around in a circle, shaking his bear.

I took this to mean he agreed with me and it made him mad.

Sterngrim nipped my ear. “What are they talking about?”

When I explained, she said, “What if I fly up from
behind, land on the back of his head, then have some fun with my claws and fangs? That ought to distract him!”

I translated this for the others. They agreed it was a good idea.

“Maybe you should ask that critter of yours to fly ahead right now and scout things out,” William suggested. “I'd go myself, but last time I got a creepy feeling that Helagon could sense me. I'm afraid if I go back, it might put him on the alert.”

I explained to Sterngrim what William had suggested.

“Good idea!” she said. She leaped from my shoulder and shot ahead. Soon she was out of sight.

The rest of us continued on foot. Well, except for William and Werdolphus, who floated. Drifting close to me, William said, “I'm so frightened, Fauna. If I was in my skin right now, I think I'd be throwing up.”

A few minutes later Sterngrim landed on my shoulder and said, “Things haven't changed much from what we saw in Flegmire's pool.”

“But how close are we?”

“Not far. Soon you'll find an inward curve in the cliff. It will be a good place to hide until I land on Helagon's head.”

I explained to the others what Sterngrim had said. We decided that as soon as she attacked Helagon, Igor and Bwoonhiwda would charge in and scramble up the rocks to try to subdue him.

“Herky go too!” cried Herky eagerly. “Not big but can bite and bother! Herky good little fighty bad ­goblin!”

While Igor, Bwoonhiwda, and Herky attacked Helagon, I would fill the bucket with water to fling over William's body. William himself would hover close by so he could instantly plunge back into his skin if our plan worked.

Karl's job was to stay nearby with the book and the mirror so if we got William back into his body, we could return Edrick to his human form as quickly as possible. We would definitely need his help to deal with Helagon!

“What about me?” Werdolphus asked. “I'd like to help!”

“If you can think of anything you can do, feel free,” I said.

The ghost sighed unhappily but obviously didn't have any ideas.

As we picked our way along by the eerie light of the mushroom forest, my fear grew. We had no idea how
powerful Helagon truly was. For all I knew, ten minutes from now he would blast us to cinders. I wondered if he was so powerful he could even destroy a ghost, like Werdolphus, or a disembodied human, like William.

“Stop!” said Sterngrim suddenly. “Almost to the hiding place. You must move carefully to enter it without being seen.”

Pressing tight to the cliffside, we proceeded as silently as possible.

When we reached the spot Sterngrim had in mind, I signaled the others to halt. Then I dropped to my belly and crawled forward to peer around the base of the cliff.

It was easy to see why the place was called the Big Face. The cliff jutted out in a way that looked like a man's profile. The face's enormous “nose” had a flat top about fifteen feet above the ground. On this spot, which was almost the size of a table, stood Helagon.

As Flegmire had described, a stream flowed from the base of the cliff, out of the place that would have been the mouth. William's body, still surrounded by that red glow, lay about fifteen feet downstream. Edrick-the-Toad crouched protectively beside it.

A moan from overhead made me look up. Spirit-­William floated a few inches above me, also peeking around the outcropping.

I slid back to tell the others what we had seen.

“No point in waiting,” Karl said.

I agreed. “Sterngrim, fly around so you can land on Helagon's head. Werdolphus, maybe you
can
help. Not counting when you are heading back to the castle, how far can you get from the cannonball?”

He thought for a moment, then said, “I could go anywhere in the castle.”

Given the size of the castle, that gave him a fair range. “Good. Circle behind Helagon with Sterngrim. As soon as she's in place, get back here and let us know. That way Bwoonhiwda, Igor, and Herky can start out the instant Sterngrim attacks and we won't lose a second.”

“We should get in fwont of you,” Bwoonhiwda said.

I stepped back so the three could move into place.

Sterngrim flapped into the air, Werdolphus floating behind her.

“Seven minutes left,” said William, staring at his watch.

I wanted to tell him not to worry, to reassure him that everything would turn out fine. But if I said that, the collar would start to choke me.

Two minutes later—William was timing it—­Werdolphus returned and said, “Go!”

Igor, Bwoonhiwda, and Herky shot around the
cliff. The rest of us followed close behind. We made almost no sound, and Helagon didn't notice us until we were within a few feet of the stream. He raised his hands to shoot a blast of magic at us, then bellowed in pain as Sterngrim landed on his head and sank her claws into his flesh. When she wrapped her snaky body around his face and flapped her wings against his eyes, he screamed in rage.

I raced for the stream. It was too shallow at the edge to fill the bucket, so I waded into the center. As I dipped the bucket into the water, Helagon cried, “Scamps, attack!”

As the words left his lips, a group of goblins with red headbands came screaming around the other side of the Big Face.

I thought it was over for us then. But just as the first of the headband goblins leaped up to grab Igor by the heels, Captain Grickle and the Seventh ­Mischief and Marching Society came racing out of the mushroom forest.

With cries of “For king and Nilbog!” they hurtled toward the red headbands. Soon pairs of goblins were grappling and wrestling all over the area around the Big Face.

Igor, Bwoonhiwda, and Herky continued their
climb toward Helagon. I lifted the bucket and started toward William's body. As I did, I heard another cry from Helagon.

His voice held no rage now. This time it was a cry of pure triumph. The sound chilled my blood.

I looked up. Sterngrim was nowhere in sight. What had he done to her?

“You see what a waste this was, Edrick?” Helagon said. “Your friends have actually brought the Black Stone straight to me!”

Brought him the stone? What was he talking about?

Helagon made a gesture. The cannonball bound into the end of Bwoonhiwda's left braid floated into the air, lifting the braid with it. Bwoonhiwda cried out in rage. She grabbed the braid and pulled on it.

Her efforts had no effect. The braid continued to rise.

Edrick moaned in despair.

The end of the braid floated slowly toward ­Helagon's hand. When the braid was stretched to its full length, it pulled Bwoonhiwda off the rocks and into the air.

“Wet me down!” she bellowed.
“Wet me down!”

At the same time, Igor leaped from the rocks. He had his bear in one hand, of course. But as he fell, he used his free hand to grab the other braid, the one
not
rising toward Helagon. He landed in a crouch about five feet from the base of the cliff, dropped his bear, and with both hands took a firm grip on Bwoon­hiwda's right braid.

The left braid, the one being summoned by Helagon, continued its slow rise. Clearly what we had once believed to be a simple cannonball was actually the Black Stone of Borea. How had it ended up in Bwoonhiwda's braid? There was no time to think about that now. Soon the two braids formed a straight line that stretched from where Igor clutched the bottom of the right braid almost all the way to where Helagon stood.
Almost
all the way, but not quite. The Black Stone quivered about three feet below his grasp, and he couldn't reach down for it without toppling off the rocks.

In the middle of that straight line, nearly ten feet above the ground, was Bwoonhiwda.

“Hewagon, wet me woose, or I am going to thwash you and thwottle you!”

In response the wizard twisted the hand summoning the Black Stone. The stone began to turn, causing Bwoonhiwda to rotate in midair.

All around us goblin fought goblin. Their shrieks, shouts, and moans filled the air.

“Fauna!” cried William. “I'm down to my last minute!”

I started forward again, then stumbled over a rock.

William screamed in frustration.

Struggling to keep the bucket from tipping, I hit the water face-first, my hands extended in front of me. I felt the bucket being pulled from my grip. Lifting my head, I saw that Karl had it.

Spirit-William hovered close by, his face a mask of hope and terror.

Karl raced between two pairs of wrestling goblins and poured the water over William's body. A blaze of multicolored sparks, jewel-bright, erupted around his chest. With them came a hissing-crackling sound that was almost deafening.

Crying out in joy, Spirit-William plunged toward Flesh-William.

He bounced right off his own body.

“It didn't work!” he wailed. “We did it in time, but Flegmire was wrong! Now the time is up and I'm locked out forever.”