Hello all, long time no post! Sorry about that, I was working on my Masters, then moving to a different country, starting a new job, and a bunch of other hectic stuff. Anywho's I'm back withe the next bit of the story. It is nearly done :( but if you guys would like to see any more Hollow Kingdom stuff, just let me know! :)

Lena tensed as Usan's dry hacking cough interrupted the orders he was giving to his warriors; inside her, she felt the baby give a timid little kick, as if he too was upset by his father's worsening condition. The goblin cousins were even worse: the goblin king was having to keep two of them alive with magic. They were certain that the spell that weakened Usan had not affected their son. Yet. She shivered at the horrible promise that word brought and into the view of the elf King and his warriors. Despite suffering the effects of this spell, the smile he had whenever he saw her was a joyfully breathtaking as always, making it all the more tragic. Usan opened his arms to her and Lena walked into his embrace, trying to ignore how cold his hands felt even with her dress between his skin and hers.

"How are you?" The words were quiet, but she could hear the pleading in his voice, the begging to have the certainty of something good.

"We are fine." Lena assured him. "Is everyone ready?

Usan nodded. "Yes. Are you sure you feel up to play your part still?"

She nodded, even though she was beginning to hate herself for what she was about to do to her father. Seeing this, the elf King hugged distraught wife tightly, kissing her forehead.

"It is a good plan" he consoled. "And the kindest solution for him and your mother."

The warriors had returned from saying their own farewells to their families. "I know." Lena said quickly. "You'd better go. I'll see you outside the truce circle." Their kiss lasted a little longer than it perhaps needed to, as if both of them wanted to delay what was coming for as long as possible. "Go." She finally whispered. As Lena watched Usan and the elf warriors cross the camp boundary, she thought back to the night of the truce meeting when goblins and elves had agreed upon this plan. Despite the deadly seriousness of their mission, when she had stepped outside of the camp boundary for the first time in two years, Lena had felt what she thought was an inappropriate amount of excitement. When they'd reached the truce circle, it hadn't been hard for Lena to pick out the goblin King: she hadn't realized just how literal the goblin Kings' epithets were. In any other circumstance, the sheer shocked surprise on the faces of Boarstusk and his lieutenants when they saw the elf King's Wife enter the truce circle alongside the elf King would have been amusing.

"You didn't tell him I was coming, did you?" she whispered to Usan, catching the tiniest twitch of the corner of his mouth that both gave her an answer and told her the humor of the situation was not lost.

"Greetings brother." Usan said, forcing the goblin King to shake himself of his surprise. Boarstusk looked Lena up and down.

"What is she doing here?" His bluntness took Lena aback. It really was true what she'd heard about goblins then;

Lena frowned at Boarstusk. "It is my father who is behind this and my fault this has happened in the first place." She snapped, surprising the elves with the ice they had never heard in her voice before. "I was the one who persuaded Usan not to make him think I was dead."

The goblin king blinked and then laughed, holding up his hands in a mock-surrender. "Please do not misunderstand me." He began, his tone much friendlier than it had seemed before. "Had I known that you would be here, I'd have brought Colette along- she'd have loved the chance to actually meet you I'm sure. So," he looked from her to Usan, "I presume you have a plan for how to rid ourselves of this danger?"

The plan was fairly simple. They knew where her father and the sorcerer were. Lena would write a letter that would lure her father back to the Hall where some of the elf and goblin warriors would be waiting for him, while the rest of the warriors and both Kings went and killed the sorcerer. The two groups would meet up and bring Lena's father to the borderlands between the goblin and elf kingdoms, where Lena would be waiting.

"And what makes you so certain that your father will not return?" Boarstusk had asked when she'd finished. "You cannot mean to allow him to keep his knowledge of our existence. Your husband may not mind, but I cannot allow a human that."

"I will enchant him to forget us." Usan said; Lena could tell he was more than a little insulted by the implication that he did not care for the safety of his subjects. "With the letters Lena will write, it will be easy enough to plant the false memory in his mind."

Lena nodded. "He'll have no reason to return. If there's a way for the memory spell to pass to my mother through my letters…" her voice trailed off as she saw Boarstusk's smirk. "Well I don't know what all you can do with magic!" she snapped. "Two and a half years ago, I never could have even dreamed of having this conversation, much less of being in a situation like this."

Boarstusk shrugged. "True. There may be some spell that could do that- I'll ask our Scholars."

The memory faded as Lena stared at the box in the tent that held the enchanted letters. With a start, she realized that someone was calling her name; peeking outside the tent, she saw Min waiting in the enormous cavern that formed their shelter at the winter camp. The youngest warrior had been left behind to escort her to the meeting place when it was time. Lena blinked; how long had she been in the tent? She didn't even remember returning to the winter caves. "Is it time?" she asked, her voice quavering a little. Min nodded. "Right. I'm coming." Her belly was so large now that Min had to help her to her feet. In any other circumstance, her pregnancy clumsiness would have set the unnaturally graceful elves to laughter and teasing. Not now though. The very survival of their race was at stake and it was Lena's fault. Wrapping her cloak tightly around her, she led the way out of the caves, gasping at the cold that greeted her outside. Min had taken off his own cloak and was reading it for the travel spell that would take them both to where both kings and the warriors would be waiting with her father. She took hold of Min's hand and the two of them stepped into the cloak's circle, stepping out with their next breath into the forrest of the borderlands.

"They should be just ahead." Min said.

But they weren't. Lena and Min waited together as the cold winter air made their breath sparkle in the night. Something must have gone wrong, Lena thought to herself as the long minutes made her apprehension grow. Why else would they not be here yet? "Min tensed suddenly. "What is it?" she whispered.

"They are coming." He replied, his relaxation clear. A moment latter, Lena heard the noise of many people making their way towards them, and another moment longer, Usan appeared through the trees.

Lena ran to him, but stopped short when she saw the shallow cut that ran from his left temple down to the corner of his mouth. As he in his arms, she reached out and tenderly brushed it with her fingertips. "What happened?"

Equally gently, but firmly, he pulled her hand away. "The sorcerer put up a hard fight before we killed him. All of our warriors fought well and bravely, but none of us came out of his lair unscathed. Tibir was nearly killed- he'll recover," he quickly assured her. "As will I."

"I think it improves his looks." Boarstusk said lightly as he and the goblin warriors entered the clearing, but Lena noticed that the goblin King seemed exhausted as he clapped Usan's shoulder in a sign of camaraderie. "I will send word as soon as your cousins are well."

"Thank you brother." The elf King said quietly and then turned to his remaining lieutenant. "Take our worst wounded back to came and have the healers began attending them. I will return shortly. The rest of you come with Lena and me."

As his orders were obeyed, Lena asked the question she already knew the answer to. "My father is at the Hall then?"

Usan nodded. "Yes. The rest of the goblin warriors captured him already." He started walking in the direction that the goblin King and his men were, but Lena stopped him. "What is it? There's nothing to be frightened of."

"That's not it." She replied. "I couldn't do this in front of Boarstusk though. He's not looking is he?"

Her husband gave her a confused look. "No. Do wha-" her kissed cut him off. Not for the first time since marrying her was Usan confounded by the unpredictability of humans; her cheeks her wet with tears.

"I love you. I'd never have forgiven myself if something had happened to you." Lena whispered to him, and despite the casualties to his warriors and the marring wound on his face, the elf King was happy.