The orange goblin sneered at Eilonwy. He picked his jagged teeth with a tiny bone.
"Why does it look like he wants to eat us?" Tabitha whispered.
"Maybe because he does." Claire's comment didn't help and Tabitha turned a shade whiter.
Eilonwy, on the other hand, cleared her throat and said hello again to the head goblin. This time the goblin spoke in his native tongue and the three girls held their breaths.
"Do you know what he's saying?" Claire asked, still whispering.
Eilonwy shook her head. "No. And even if I did, he's talking way too fast for me to catch what he's saying."
One of the smaller goblins poked Eilonwy in the leg with a metal rod that was twice his size.
"Hey, stop that!" Eilonwy barked, raising one fist and stomping her foot. The little goblin flinched and hid behind his friends. It would appear he wasn't so tough after all.
"You...thieves...take...treasure." The head goblin croacked.
The trio whipped their heads about and gaped at the leader.
"You speak English?" Eilonwy blurted.
"Treasure ours...no take. THIEVES!" He shrieked.
Eilonwy was quick to hold up her hands and shook them violently in front of her. "No no no! Not thieves!"
"LIES!"
Tabitha squealed again and latched on to Claire's arm.
The leader of the goblins threw his arms into the air and thrashed around. He yelled in his native tongue again, no doubt cursing at the girls.
Suddenly, the silver crown slipped off his head and fell to the stone floor with a loud clank. The blue gem that had been embedded on the front popped off and both the silver circlet and gem rolled over and stopped at Eilonwy's feet. No one said a word, not even the goblins. It was a long minute before anyone did anything.
"I think you dropped this." Eilonwy bent down to pick up the silver circlet and gem, and when she did the goblin gasped. The circlet melted, turning into an ooze-type substance. When it hit the ground a faint sizzle could be heard and a small puff of smoke wafted up into the air. The blue gem, on the other hand, shined in Eilonwy's right hand and morphed into her skin. There in her palm sat the imprint of the gem softly glowing.
Eilonwy shrieked.
Claire and Tabitha shrieked.
Even the goblins let out an ungodly cry that seemed to rattle the walls and ceiling.
Eilonwy wiped her hand on her jeans furiously, trying her damnedest to get the gem off, but alas to no avail. The darn thing was stuck there for good it seemed like. "Get it off! Get it off!" She cried wiggling her arm and jumping up and down.
The head goblin yelled again, this time unsheathing his short sword and pointing it at the girls. "THIEVES!"
The goblins quickly swarmed them, closing in on the girls. They raised their weapons, ready to strike.
As one goblin inched closer, he waved the fire torch out in front of him quickly to scare the girls. They screamed and huddled even more tightly together.
"No!" Eilonwy held out her hand, the blue gem facing out toward the goblin. Fire spat out from her palm and lit the goblin on fire. The goblins roared. "What the...?" Eilonwy closed her hand into a tight fist, confused.
"You just—" Tabitha nearly gagged and she brought a hand to her mouth once again. The smell of the goblin's sizzling body was horrid.
"Do it again!" Claire yelled and forced Eilonwy to hold up her arm. Fire spat out again, scaring the goblins away.
As soon as the goblins backed away, Claire grabbed the torch laying on the stone floor and then took hold of Eilonwy, and then Eilonwy grabbed Tabitha. From there they bolted for the nearest exit. "I don't know how you did that, but I think you just saved our lives!" Said Claire. The goblins could be heard building up their courage to run after them.
"Where are we?" Tabitha cried.
"I don't know." Said Claire as she took a sharp right and never looking back as they continued to run.
"I want to go home!" Whined Tabitha.
Claire glanced over her shoulder at Eilonwy. "Why did you have to read from that book?" Eilonwy didn't say anything. "Elle!"
"I don't feel so good." Eilonwy could barely keep up so Claire pulled on the sleeve of her friend's shirt.
"Oh no, somethings wrong with Elle. Claire! What do we do?" The girls took a sharp left; the goblins could still be heard chasing them.
"Just keep running!" Claire yelled.
Eventually, a light shone at the end of the long hall.
"Oh good, an exit!" Claire breathed breathlessly, but all too soon it seemed like. Claire stopped in the nick of time before falling over the ledge. The light poking out of the dimly lighted hall led to a second-story room that had fallen into ruin and served no more purpose than a risky fall where other bits of ruins lay scattered. Eilonwy stopped right behind Claire, brushing lightly against her. Tabitha, however, she was unable to stop soon enough at the speed she was going and knocked into the girls. They fell off the ledge of the second floor to wherever they were. Luckily they landed on sparse patches of soft grass to cushion their fall.
"Ouch..." Claire brought herself up on her knees and rubbed her head. "Tabby."
"I'm sorry." The poor girl sniffed and blinked back a few tears. She looked around, trying to find Eilonwy. "Oh, thank heavens you're okay." She saw her friend sitting on her bottom, rubbing her wrists. Beads of sweat trickled down her temples; something was wrong. But before Tabitha could comment, the shrieking of the goblins had finally made their way to the girls. They stood on the second floor peering down at them. Spears and arrows ready to fly. And just before they could attack a loud roar erupted from somewhere behind one of the old ruins. The ground shook as a beast made its grand appearance. The goblins scurried back into the darkness and ran away, leaving the girls to deal with whatever it was that had shown up.
"A bear!" Screamed Tabitha.
"An owl!" Screamed Claire.
Eilonwy forced herself to stand and with a shaky arm, she faced her palm out at the beast. "An owlbear..." Her voice could barely be heard over the owlbear's tremendous roar.
The blue gem glowed, fire shooting out like a cannon and hitting the owlbear. The giant beast went up in flames. It flapped its wings which did it more harm than good as all that air and flapping just fed the flames. The owlbear ran off in a blazing fire, literally, and Eilonwy collapsed.
"Elle!" Claire jumped to her feet and ran to her friend's side. She shook her, trying to get her attention, but Eilonwy only continued to lay there, mumbling.
Tabitha suddenly gasped. "Claire! Look at her arm!" Eilonwy's arm was turning purple and spreading from the tips of her fingers and up her arm. Her veins in her arm pulsed a vibrant blue color, the same as the gem. "What do we do? We have to help her!" By now, Tabitha had let her tears go, her rosy cheeks wet.
Claire was near to crying herself but she knew blubbering like a helpless person would get them nowhere. "Take her other arm and help me carry her," Claire said taking Eilonwy's right arm and putting it over her shoulder. Tabitha did the same with the other arm, and together they dragged their friend away from all the rubble and down a hill.
The landscape went from rocky to grassy plains. They followed the one trail they were on, hoping it would lead them somewhere—anywhere—as long as it was safe.
"Look, a post with signs!" Tabitha motioned her head. The wooden post was placed in the middle of the road where there were now multiple paths to choose from.
Claire squinted her eyes to read. "Dungeons of Doom." She read. "That's where we came from."
"What about the others?"
Claire did her best to try and read the other names on the signs but she couldn't pronounce them properly. Finally, there was one name that stood out in big letters: Promise. "There's a place called Promise." Claire chuckled. "Huh, sounds promising." Even in such a time of need, Claire found it easiest to cope with hard times while cracking jokes. It kept her sanity in check.
Tabitha scolded her. "Claire! This is not the time nor the place for jokes! Eilonwy needs help!"
Claire took a deep breath and then said, "To Promise." And the three kept heading straight.
The minutes dragged on and Claire thought that maybe she had read the sign wrong. But she soon pushed all her doubts aside as a high stone wall with a tall and sturdy looking gate came into view. Men were standing at the top of a watchtower on both sides.
"Help!" Claire and Tabitha cried out together. "Help us!"
The men immediately turned their attention to the girls and raised their bows. "Halt!"
The girls stopped dead in their tracks, scared.
"Please," begged Claire. "We need your help—our friend needs your help! I...I think she's dying!"
Tabitha shot Claire a worried look. Dying? Oh, no.
"Don't come any closer, or we'll fire!"
"Please!" Cried Claire one last time. The tears were working their way up and she wasn't sure how much more she could take before completely losing it. But the men would hear none of it and continued to keep their arrows dead-set on the girls, ready to fire if they made the wrong move.
Please leave a review and tell me what you think. The crown Eilonwy picked up is called 'Crown of the faceless Queen'. I've tweaked it a bit to flow with the story better. If you play Dungeons and Dragons maybe you are familiar with the name. It's a cursed item.