Hello, everyone!

Just a note I should have put in at the beginning: CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IN THE REVIEWS/COMMENTS ONLY, PLEASE. I don't take heed to any flat-out "you suck" notes...and they make me crabby. So, please...if you don't like something, let me down gently. I'd grately appreciate it.

Thanx! )

Chapter Nine

Jared and Alina flew through the woods, following the sounds of Simon's cry for help. They passed a dead tree, crossed a stream, and climbed up a steep hill before they reached Simon.

He was being held hostage in a goblin camp. A fire was going as the goblins danced around it, roasting some kind of animal. Jared and Alina quickly found a tree to hide behind, and safely watched the goblins' strange ritual.

After watching what seemed like the head goblin insult the others for not giving him the leg of the animal, the two finally spotted Simon in a cage hanging from a branch of the tree.

"Oh, my God," Jared said. "Simon."

"This is completely barbaric!" Alina hissed. "What kind of creatures keep innocent faeries--and humans--in cages?"

"Apparently they do," Jared said, hating to be right.

They backed away from the scene, trying to think of a plan. Jared backed into another cage.

"Don't move!" came a voice from the cage.

Jared and Alina both jumped.

"Slowly lift your foot," the voice instructed Jared. Jared did as he was told, noticing a rope on the ground. A bird hopped to the rope and was caught in it as whatever was in the cage reeled the rope in. The creature quickly stuffed the bird in his mouth.

Jared, clearly frightened, was about to run off.

"Wait! Don't go out there!" the creature in the cage begged, holding onto Jared's sleeve. "They'll see you!" The creature considered for a moment. "Wait. Are you with them or with me? Who's side are you on?! State your side!" "Your side," Jared said.

"Then we must shake on our alliances," the creature said, picking his nose and holding the booger-covered hand out to Jared.

Jared cringed.

"What? It's good," the creature insisted, shaking Jared's hand. "Come on! You two, Carrot Top," he said to Alina, who grimaced as she shook the creature's hand.

"Who are you?" Jared asked.

"I am Hogsqueal!" the creature stated proudly. "And I am here on a mission to destroy the ogre, Mulgarath, who killed my family!"

"You're a hobgoblin," Alina said, clearly not impressed.

"Oh, and I should be bowing to you, Miss I'm-The-Great-Field-Faerie?" the hobgoblin shot back.

"Hey!" Alina said defensively, tears starting to well up in her eyes for the second time that day. "No one ever asked me if I wanted to be in this position, did they? Do you think I wanted to be born this way?!"

"Okay, okay!" Hogsqueal said. "No waterworks, please!" He shook his head. "What's with women, anyway? You say one wrong thing, and they go off and cry a river!"

"Alina," Jared said, trying--and succeeding this time--to calm his friend down. "It's okay, it's okay. He didn't mean it." He turned back to Hogsqueal. "Can you help us save my brother?" he asked. "Please?"

"Yeah! Sure!" the hobgoblin agreed. "I was gonna suggest that, right after you let me out of this cage! So come on! Free me!"

"All right!" Jared said, unlocking the cage and freeing Hogsqueal, much to the dismay of Alina.

"Now the two of you get behind me and keep your mouths shut! And, yes, this applies to you, Your Highness," he added, poking fun at Alina.

"Call me that again, and you're stardust," she said.

The three peered from behind the tree.

"Okay, here's our plan," Hogsqueal explained. "I will find a safe position over there and create a distraction with my stick. Then you leap out with your knife and magical skills and finish the beast yourselves! I like that plan! That's a good plan! I'm smart."

They ducked behind the tree again, Alina rolling her eyes at Hogsqueal's arrogance. "What beast?" Jared asked, confused.

"The ogre, Mulgarath, of course!" Hogsqueal exclaimed.

"We just want to rescue his brother," Alina told the hobgoblin.

"Again with the brother?" Hogsqueal asked. "Okay! Fine! If we kill them, saving him will be much easier. Trust me! Now drop that stone! You'll need both hands to choke a goblin."

Jared obeyed. "But how do I see without--"

Before he could finish, Hogsqueal spit in his eyes. Jared jumped back, trying to clear the saliva out of his face.

"I have given you the Sight!" Hogsqueal told him. "A gift only a hobgoblin can bestow!" "Gross," Jared said. But he did have to admit that it worked.

"You're welcome," Hogsqueal said. "Now, let's go!"