Disclaimer: I do not own The Hollow Kingdom Series or The Lord of the Rings from which the quote comes.
A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry it's been a while. I'm officially out of extra chapters, so I'm just trying to write them as fast as possible. Please be patient with me. Alright, to business; I've gotten a lot of complaints lately about the fluffiness of some of the chapters. Understand that those chapters were the peace before the storm. Basically after the little bits in this chapter, everything will be pretty dark. Trust me. So, I know this may seem like a fluffy chapter, but I swear its not. Alright, other than that I want to let you guys know that I have a poll up on my main page. Please vote on that. Please. I want to know want people want to see next from me and I can't do that unless lots of people vote. One last thing: I must apologize for the page breaks. I was alerted that the page breaks I was using didn't show up. I frankly had no idea. I totally am sorry for that and have changed all the page breaks in this chapter. Again, I'm sorry. Now, enjoy this chapter!
Frodo: I can't do this.
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?
-Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- - -
Imogen cried the whole night through, sleeping on and off. The pressure of ruling her own country, if only for a few days, was immense. To be honest, she couldn't handle it. The prospect of it all was just too much to fathom.
But, thankfully, Marta was there through it all. She fell asleep to Marta's soft singing and gentle petting. When she awoke the next morning, she was vaguely aware of three people in the room. One was Marta, who hadn't moved since the previous night and there was someone else who Imogen couldn't see. She only knew that they were there, because one of them was talking with Marta.
"How long has she been asleep?" She recognized the voice, but couldn't place it.
Marta sounded a bit uneasy. "For a few hours." She muttered.
Someone shifted. "We're sorry if our presence bothers you." This voice was a new, quieter one.
"Not at all." Marta lied.
"Perhaps we should leave for now." The male voice said.
"No. Stay." Marta insisted weakly. "The goblins will not take kindly to having you around."
Imogen opened her eyes and looked around. She finally saw that in the corner were the twins. "Good morning." Imogen yawned. "What are you two doing here?"
Lila smiled. Imogen could tell that she was more relaxed and less formal. "We can't return for a few days. We told the king that we were off visiting relatives."
"Which…" Lith spoke up. He seemed a bit less fierce. "Isn't really a lie. The goblins are practically our relatives." Imogen couldn't tell if he was happy with this fact, or not. "We told them we would be gone for a couple of days, so we won't have to bother you much longer."
Imogen smiled, trying to look at the bright side. "Well, I'm glad you're here anyway. I…I, uh, don't know how I'll be able to handle life without Marak for a few days. It'll be nice to have some company"
Marta huffed. "What about me?"
"You too, Marta." Imogen said quickly, not wanting to offend the person who had been so kind to her only a few moments before.
Marta sighed. "That's almost-better."
"But good enough for now?"
"Yes…Good enough." Marta nodded her head, still looking slightly indignant.
Imogen sighed. "So…what should we do?" She asked, putting on her hostess mask.
"Oh anything." Lila smiled, trying to be open.
"Marta, do they have a library?" Imogen asked, beginning to forget her troubles; Marak would be back soon and she need not rule for a few days. Everything would be fine. The dark, looming clouds of depression seemed to lift to reveal a new day.
"Do they have a library?! Oh for Kate's sake…"
Imogen's heart sunk. "They don't have one?!..."
"Have one?! Of course they have one! It's the finest in centuries. I would know." She winked.
"Oh good." Imogen smiled. "Can you take us to it?"
"I can try."
"Try?"
"Well, I know my way around almost-well. It's just that goblin city is a very large place and one can sometimes get lost."
The new goblin queen nodded. "That's understandable. So will you take us?"
"I will try." Marta sighed.
X.X.X.
After getting lost three times and Marta getting in an argument with two of the guards about her sense of direction they finally reached the grand library. They stood in front of the two massive doors. Marta placed her hands on her hips and smiled triumphantly. "See? I told you I'd find it."
"Almost." Lith chuckled under his breath.
Marta paid no attention to his little comment. "My sense of direction is just fine. Those guards were just either daft in the head or way out of line."
"Oh yes, that's exactly what it was." Lith smirked.
Lila rolled her eyes and whispered. "Be nice, Lith."
Marta turned on them immediately. "You don't like my directions either, do ye?" She actually looked quite frightening. "What you don't know is that I took the scenic route."
"Oh sure." Lith crossed his arms. "Scenic involves basically touring every single nook of the goblin city except the one we're looking for?"
Marta nodded. "Well…yes. In truth, I was just showing Imogen some of the sites." Imogen didn't feel like this was a good time to mention that she'd already seen the sites.
Imogen sighed in preparation. "So…should we go in?"
Marta was a step ahead of her. She threw open the doors loudly and announced. "Here we are!"
Imogen's jaw dropped. It was a reader's heaven. The place was huge; full of books every size, shape, color and then some.
Lith's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Wow."
Lila was barely able to talk. "It's...amazing!" Her smile was a far away one.
Imogen nodded. "Why didn't you tell us it was this wonderful?"
Marta shrugged. "I've been here for long enough that I suppose its magic is lost on me."
Lila laughed. "Well, it's not lost on me." She rushed forward to one of the shelves, grabbing a huge, thick book. "The History of Goblins? That sounds interesting."
"Indeed." Marta clasped her hands together, seemingly pretending to be a tour guide. "That is the king's favorite book. No wait….I think he prefers the one about the history of the goblin kings."
Lila rubbed her hands together. "Even better! Where can I find it?"
"Oh, the king keeps it in his potion room."
Lila's jaw dropped once more. "He has a potion room?"
"Of course. What kind of a king would he be if he didn't do magic?"
"Well, I knew he did magic, just not potions."
Lith picked at one of his fingernails. "Potions are good."
Imogen nodded. "Yes, I think we should go see it."
Marta shook her head. "It would take me ages to find. Besides, he always locks it while he's away."
"Oh, I'm sure he wouldn't mind his own wife using it."
Marta looked nervous. "Well, I'm almost-not sure of that."
"Come on Marta. Since you're a potion lady, he must've given you a key."
"Well…" Marta looked down at her feet.
"Please?" Imogen begged.
"Well…alright." Marta's voice sounded defeated and unsure.
Imogen smiled. "Wow. Marak was right. That stuff really does work."
X.X.X.
Marta jiggled the skeleton key in the lock of a large wooden door. "This is it." Marta said. "Now if only I can get this blasted key to…" She trailed off as the door swung open.
Imogen was the first in. She saw that the room wasn't very big. There were shelves of books and racks of potion ingredients. "This," Marta told them, motioning to the books. "Is Marak's personal library. It has everything from history to potion recipes."
"This place is amazing." Imogen cooed.
"Not as good as the library we were just at." Marta scowled. "But no matter."
The elf twins were quiet, trying to be respectful. They kept their hands at their sides, though Imogen could tell that they were as just as interested as she was. "Don't be bashful, go ahead." She prompted.
Lila emitted a squeal. "You know, I've always been interested in goblin history." She skimmed through the shelves, picking out several of the thicker books. "But since I'm an elf I'm not really permitted to do that."
Lith rolled his eyes. "You're such a dwarf."
"What?" Lila shrugged, still preoccupied. "I can't help that it's fascinating!"
"You're so obsessed." Lith leaned back, crossing his arms.
"It's our heritage! I have a right to be obsessed."
"If you say so."
"What's this?" Imogen pulled out a musty, old book titled "The King's Wife Ceremony through the ages." She began to flip through it. "This looks interesting."
Marta leaned over her shoulder. "Perhaps you shouldn't…"
"Why? It's harmless isn't it?" She flipped through it randomly. She looked at the page and her eyes bulged.
"Because of that…" Marta rubbed her forehead.
"'The Prophecy and How to Decode it.'" She murmured.
Lila and Lith paused, sensing something big. "What's so important about that?" Lith asked.
"Just the simple fact that Marak said he didn't know what the prophecy meant. Either he lied to me, which I doubt, or this can help me understand the problems that can come in our marriage."
"Are you sure this is safe?" Lila asked, rushing over to sit next to the goblin queen.
Imogen paused, feeling the sadness try to sink back in. "Yes… I'm sure it's fine."
Marta clicked her tongue against her teeth. "I wouldn't be almost-sure."
"Why?" Imogen asked, skimming down the page with her finger.
"Curiosity killed the mouse as the humans say."
"That's the cat." Imogen corrected.
"Hm?"
"Nothing." Imogen covered, trying to concentrate. Finally, she found the section she was looking for. She read it aloud. "'To actually decode the prophecy, one must be cautious: one misinterpretation can change the course of one's destiny.'"
"Skip that section, it's irrelevant." Lith suggested.
"I wouldn't…" Marta warned them.
"What could happen?" Lith raised an eyebrow.
"Never drabble in such things." She warned.
Imogen gasped. "According to t-this…something very terrible is going to happen." She stuttered, grasping the arm of her chair.
Lila took her hand. "What? What is going to happen?"
"Marak is going to die!" She sobbed.
- - -
A/N: Woah! Cliffhanger! Is this true? Will Marak really die? Find out next update! In your review, if you have read my author notes, say "peaches." Yum...I love peaches. Well then, see you next update!