Chapter 2

"On this tenth day of June, 1940, the hand that held the dagger has struck it into the back of its neighbor." --Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The two goblins stood in front of the very tall fae lord and his mage.

"Can you get her to Gobston Corner?" The fae asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty. When do you want her?" Dirpeck asked. The fae lord and the mage conversed for several seconds.

"Have her there at noon on Thursday." The mage replied. "The goblins bowed and left to go back to the front of the store.

Shenya stood with Toby, trying to figure out if he really needed the lava lamp for his desk or not. Seeing the goblins, she asked their opinion. As always, the goblins played stupid.

"Whatever. If we put our money together, we can buy one of them. But the question is, who is going to get it?" Toby inquired.

"Maybe we could trade it off. Or get it for Dido's birthday or something," Shenya suggested.

"Well, that would leave us with one less thing to do, but . . . " And it went on and on. Finally they decided to leave it and find something else to buy. Neither knew of the betrayal about to happen.

#$#$#$

"Your Highness, I noticed your shoes are worn out. I know a place on Gobston Corner where you can get brand name shoes for generic prices," Dirpeck said on Wednesday. "We can go tomorrow."

"Oh, what an excellent idea, Traitor! Is there a cafe where we can eat lunch nearby?"

"Yes, yes, Your Highness! It has very good food! Lots of pizza and burgers!" Dirpeck spread his bait further.

"Oh, I can't wait to go! Tomorrow, we shop!" Shenya couldn't wait to go on her shopping spree.

#$#$#$

"And then we can go to Payless, and I was hoping to hit Penny's and-" Dirpeck was very glad that the mage knocked her out just then. He had just been reminded why he hated shopping trips with Shenya.

Soon he would have his revenge, Lord Arkus would see to that. But first, he would get to claim a reward. It wasn't everyday that the goblin got a golden watch. Actually he never got anything gold.

Now he just had to tell Jareth, or Sarah. Or maybe even someone of smaller rank, and hope the message got through. Jareth scared him big time. Always had, which was one of the reasons he had helped torture the Goblin King.

Dirpeck ran into the castle, shouting that Shenya was just taken by a big evil old man. Of course, he was soon in front of Jareth, trying to explain without makig it sound like he was in on it.

"Traitor, do not lie to me. Who took Shenya?" Jareth asked sternly. "Lie to me, and be sure, you will soon think being a slave is a blessing."

Dirpeck stuttered around for a while, but eventually, Jareth gathered that a mage had taken his cousin, and she had sent Dirpeck back to tell him.

"Good. Now go play with your friend, Traitor." Jareth said. Dirpeck hurriedly did as he said, as the traitor did not feel like smelling the Bog of Eternal Stench that day. indeed, he never smelled it again.