The Goblin's Gift (17 page)

TABITHA RUBBED AT
the tiny tooth marks on her wrist.

Little scumbag.

She couldn't believe how stupid she'd been. Of
course
Slik was going to betray them. But she'd been so busy worrying about the Boy King that she'd forgotten he was there. If she ever saw that fairy again …

Tabitha pulled down her sleeve and looked around, hunting for something to distract her from the pain. They were in a cavern again. But this one was much, much smaller. Big enough for the three of them, a bowl of water and a few rocks, but not much else.
Only a little light filtered through the small barred door. She could see the shadowy shapes of her companions, the glint of their eyes and the long silvery tail of the mermaid. That was about it.

So much for distractions.

‘Right,' she said. ‘How are we going to get out of here? Any ideas?'

Joseph shook his head. He was still wearing his jester's costume, with the hood and coxcomb pushed back. He'd definitely acted like a clown in the Boy King's cavern. What was he thinking, pouring black-wine everywhere without telling her what he was doing? This whole mess was his fault.

‘The door is solid and the lock is new,' said the mermaid. Her accent sounded strange, as though she wasn't used to speaking. ‘And in case you didn't notice, I'm a mermaid. I can't exactly run for my life.'

Sarcasm. That's helpful.
But Joseph's teeth flashed in a smile. Tabitha suppressed a rush of irritation. Why did he always have to be so …
nice
to everyone?

‘Thank you for saving me,' he said.

‘Don't mention it,' said Tabitha and Pallione, at the same time.

Tabitha shot the mermaid a look. It was difficult to tell in the gloom, but she had a feeling that Pallione
was frowning back at her. Thalin knew why. It had been Tabitha who'd attacked the Boy King – probably stopped him from having them executed on the spot.

She was starting to have some serious doubts about this princess.

‘I mean, er, thank you both,' said Joseph. ‘That is … Well, Tabs, remember when I told you about Harry's Shark Pit? It was Pallione who saved me from the shark in there.'

‘Is that so?' said Tabitha, sounding colder than she'd intended. ‘Well, the important thing is, we're all alive.'

‘Why are you here anyway?' said the mermaid. ‘And who are you? I'd like to know who's stupid enough to walk into the court of the Boy King, pour blackwine on him and then try to kill him.'

‘We're here to rescue
you
,' snapped Tabitha. ‘So the least you could do is show a bit of gratitude and help us find a way out of here.'

‘Your father wants you back,' said Joseph.

‘My father?'

‘He sent us to save you. Well, sort of. He captured some of our friends, and if we can get you back to him safely, he'll let them go. And he'll help us Fayters fight our enemies. The League of the Light.'

The mermaid bit her lip.

‘My father sent
you
– a mongrel boy and a blue-headed girl-child. Is that all I'm worth to him?' She sounded like she might be about to cry, and for a moment Tabitha almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

‘Can we just—?' she began, but Joseph was already speaking.

‘How long have they kept you here?' he asked.

Pallione shrugged. ‘A couple of weeks. It was worse at Harry's Shark Pit. They locked us up so tight we could barely turn round in the cages.'

‘And then there were the fight days. When you never knew who would be coming back with you. If you got any extra room, it was only because your comrade had been—' She stopped abruptly.

Tabitha opened her mouth again, then thought better of it. She could hardly suggest ways to escape after the mermaid had just said that.

‘I thought
my
life was hard,' said Joseph.

The mermaid made a sound like a laugh, but without much humour in it.

‘And now this. A pair of children come to rescue me. My father rules the very ocean, and this is all he can muster.'

‘Funny,' said Tabitha. ‘I thought you merfolk didn't
have any magical powers when you're out of the sea. So he wouldn't be able to—'

Pallione waved her hand impatiently. ‘That's not the point. The point is, he's too busy with his precious kingdom to care about his own daughter.'

‘I've heard stories about him,' said Joseph. ‘Is it true he's older than the Ebony Ocean? And that he wrestles sea demons for fun? And—'

‘Of course it's not true,' Tabitha interrupted.

‘Then what
is
he like?'

‘Boring,' said Pallione. ‘And strict. Always saying
don't do this
or
don't touch that
.' She paused for a moment, then spoke in a small voice. ‘Sometimes, when I was little, he took me to race against dolphins and to find pretty shells on the sea bed. And when I was older, he took me to the harbour to look at Port Fayt. We'd swim up above the surface and watch the big wooden ships coming and going, and the people running around on the docks. Always in a hurry.'

Tabitha snorted. That part was true enough. Pallione scowled at her, confused. She was about to explain when the mermaid spoke again.

‘Father used to say that there were good people in Port Fayt, but bad ones too. People who would catch merfolk and be cruel to them. He told me not to swim
too close.' There was a quaver in her voice now. ‘But what did he expect me to do? He doesn't spend time with me any more, and he doesn't want me to make friends either. He expects me to act like a princess. I don't even know what that means, and …'

The mermaid tailed off, glaring at Joseph. He was chuckling.

‘What's so funny?' asked Tabitha.

‘Sorry,' said Joseph. ‘It's just … My father used to take me down to the docks at sunset sometimes, to watch for merfolk tails splashing in the bay.' He smiled at Pallione. ‘So maybe we were watching you, while you were watching us.'

Tabitha rolled her eyes.

The mermaid just frowned. ‘Maybe,' she said. She thought for a few moments. ‘That's funny.' She didn't sound convinced.

‘Right,' said Tabitha briskly. ‘Enough talk. Let's get out of here.'

There was a soft
thunk
as Pallione's tail slapped against the rock she was sitting on.

‘No,' she said. ‘It's not possible. If it was, I would have already done it without your help.'

Tabitha gritted her teeth. She had known the mermaid less than an hour and was already sick of her. If they hadn't needed the King's help, she'd
have been happy to leave Pallione behind.

‘Oh really? You said yourself, you can't even walk.'

The mermaid leaned forward. ‘Why don't you come over here and say that?'

‘Maybe I will.'

There was a scrape of stone as Joseph shifted position.

‘I don't know – maybe Tabs is right. We could at least talk about what to do?'

At last the tavern boy was standing up for her, Tabitha thought. Thalin knew, it was the least she deserved. Especially after the stunt he'd pulled with the blackwine.

Pallione lifted her chin. ‘Talk, if you must.'

‘I say one of us pretends to be sick,' said Tabitha. ‘So we yell and scream for help. If we kick up enough of a fuss, someone's bound to come. Then we can whack them over the head and take their keys.'

Silence from her two companions.

‘I see,' said the mermaid at last. ‘And you don't think they'll guess we're trying to escape?'

Rage boiled up inside Tabitha. She sprang to her feet, her dress swishing as she crossed the cavern in two strides and faced up to the mermaid. Even in the gloom she could make out Pallione's emerald-green eyes and silky white hair. It was true what the merfolk
had said.
She is beautiful.
Stuck-up too.

‘So you want to die then?'

‘Merfolk are not afraid of death.'

‘Neither are—'

‘Hush,' said Joseph. They both turned to look. He had his pointed ears pressed up against the bars, listening. ‘Do you hear something?'

Tabitha and Pallione fell silent.

Footsteps
.

Light spilled in through the bars of the door, throwing thick black lines across the cavern. There was a jangle of keys, a scraping of metal as one went into the lock, and a clunk as it turned. Then a creak as the door swung open, and three silhouetted figures stepped inside.

The first two were bully boys with cutlasses hanging from their belts. They stood guard just inside the doorway. The third was a goblin, with a lantern in one hand and a ring of keys in the other. He was dressed in an outfit even more ludicrous than the ones Joseph and Tabitha had on. Large gold hoops dangled from his ears. His yellow coat had purple trimmings and clashed violently with his silver waistcoat, orange breeches and red tricorne hat.

Joseph gasped. Tabitha groaned.

‘Well, well, well,' said the goblin. His grin revealed
sharp teeth, and his pale eyes darted from one prisoner to another. ‘Long time no see.'

‘You know this scum?' asked Pallione.

‘Unfortunately, yes,' said Tabitha.

‘His name's Jeb,' said Joseph. ‘Jeb the Snitch.'

JEB HADN'T CHANGED
much. Still smug. Still grinning. Still dressed like a pile of dragon's vomit.

And probably still as reliable as a barrel with no bottom.

Tabitha had never trusted the goblin. Not even in the old days, when he used to help the Demon's Watch by ratting out other crooks. She'd been right as well. In the end he'd betrayed the watchmen and tried to get them all killed by a mad pirate. He was trouble through and through.

‘You're Newt's little girl, ain't yer?' said Jeb, stuffing the keys into a pocket. ‘What a lovely dress.' He winked at her and Tabitha had to suppress a shudder.
‘And you …' He turned to Joseph. ‘You're the little bleeder who stole that wooden spoon off me. Might've known you'd end up with the Watch. Slimy do-gooder like you.'

‘What are you doing here?' Joseph asked. ‘Are you working for the Boy King now?'

‘Seems so, don't it? Bit of honest work for once, so to speak.' Jeb's grin grew wider. ‘Course, this here's so much fun it hardly counts as work.'

‘What do you want, greyskin?' spat Pallione. Tabitha had to hand it to her – the mermaid had guts.

Jeb narrowed his pale eyes at her. ‘Straight to business, is it? All right then. We're carting you lot off to the banqueting cavern. His glorious highness has decided what to do with you.'

He clicked his fingers at one of the bully boys and the man stepped outside, returning a moment later trundling a wheelbarrow.

Pallione eyed it with obvious distaste.

‘That's for rotten vegetables. Not a princess.'

‘Is that so?' said Jeb. ‘Maybe yer should've thought of that before crossing his supreme excellency. No fancy carriages for you, my dear.'

‘What … er … What
has
he decided to do with us?' asked Joseph. Tabitha saw that he was wringing his hands.

‘Don't want to spoil the surprise,' said Jeb. ‘But let's just say it involves a big fire, some fiddly harnesses and a rather unusual use of a spit. Lord Wren says it were one of Zargath the Sorcerer's favourite execution methods. So yer won't be disappointed.' He sniggered, and the bully boys joined in. ‘Now, don't want to keep his majestic royalness waiting, do we?'

The bully boys took hold of Pallione, one snatching her tail and the other grabbing her arms from behind. The mermaid struggled and cried out, but she wasn't strong enough, and they dumped her into the wheelbarrow. Tabitha tensed, ready to fight, but Jeb produced a pistol from his coat pocket and levelled it at her. It was a strange-looking thing with four different barrels clustered together, all made of metal.

‘Don't look so surprised, my dear. This little beauty was made by a friend of mine. So's yer can kill four men instead of just one.'

Tabitha shrugged, doing her best to stay calm. ‘I'm surprised, all right. Surprised that you
have
any friends.'

Jeb chuckled and ran his tongue over his sharp teeth. His ears twitched.

‘Well then. This here's going to surprise you even more.'

The goblin spun round in a whirl of yellow coat-tails.

BANG!

The nearest bully boy jerked and slumped against the open cell door, hands clawing at his throat, blood foaming down his blue velvet jacket.

Tabitha's brain was working in slow motion, trying to keep up with what her eyes were seeing. Had Jeb just shot his own man? And now he was turning, aiming the smoking pistol at the other bully boy as it whirred, rotating and locking the second barrel into position …

Quick as lightning, Pallione snatched the cutlass from the dying man's belt and swung it to point at Jeb's throat. The goblin twisted, levelling the pistol at her instead. The last bully boy seized the moment, turned tail and shot out of the cell, his boots pounding and echoing down the corridor.