Part II
The Game

Cara couldn't remember what she had been doing or where she was. She had to be dreaming. Her body tickled with a strange sensation; it felt almost as thought she was floating in nothingness. The girl couldn't tell which direction she was moving in, only that she was moving steadily along and surrounded by an inky black abyss. What had she been doing? Images of the forest appeared all around her and she watched silently as two figures stepped from the menacing shadows of the trees. There was a sudden black out and Cara was again surrounded by a void. She was dreaming.

"I'm Marak." A voice whispered.

Something was obviously not right.

Cara was actually moving. Slowly her consciousness fought for control and her eye lids fluttered open. She was still surrounded by a black nothing, but she could feel a rough fabric against her cheek and she drowsily assessed the situation. Someone was carrying her over their shoulder. The fabric must be part of that Mark's, or Marak, or whatever his name was, cloak. She was being kidnapped! With all she strength, Cara pulled her leg back and kicked the man in his chest only to fall with a crunch to the ground. Without a second to lose she scrambled to her feet and took off in a random direction. It was pitch black and the only shapes she could make out in the dim moonlight were the looming trees and the two men behind her.

A moment passed before she was tackled to the ground. She kicked and struggled with all her might but the man was much stronger than she was and held her stomach-down with ease. Cara opened her mouth to scream for help to have it shoved into the dirt and leaves on the ground, she muffled threats as she continued her thrashing in vain. She was caught. A million thoughts raced through her head at once but the one with the most weight was a curse: this is my father's fault. Cara silently cursed being sent to the European manor instead of on vacation with the rest of her family. It was her dear father's fault she was about to be kidnapped and was never to be seen again. His fault.

"Dosel!" The voice was young but commanding, and slightly out of breath. "That's enough. Please don't suffocate my wife." The body on top of Cara eased it's hold and released the back of her head. Cautiously, she lifted her face from the ground to see the outline of Marak standing in front of her as she spit earth and twigs from her mouth.

"What do you think you're doing?" the girl hissed at the man as she stopped her pointless struggling. With a nod from Marak, Dosel stood to his feet and pulled the fuming Cara with him, he still held tightly to her forearm with one strong, gloved hand.

"My, my, Cara," Marak said with a hint of sympathy in his voice. "Look at all this dirt down your front!" Cara was surprised he could see her in the faint light as he groped her shoulder with an uncharacteristically small hand and used his other, much larger hand, to wipe some dirt from her shirt. She stared at him and noticed how perfect the black fabric they were cloaked in was for camouflage because she couldn't see anything up his dark outline.

"Don't touch me," the girl said as she ripped her shoulder from his grasp. "Tell me what you want with me! Do you want money? If you're looking to get a ransom out of kidnapping me then you've got the wrong girl. My dad wouldn't pay a cent for me." She added the last statement out of spite towards her father. He would come to her rescue if she asked, but she didn't think she would even get the chance to call for him.

Marak let out a loud laugh as he replied: "You silly girl! Goblins have no need for your human money. Calm down and maybe I'll explain myself." Cara almost couldn't register what he had just said. Goblins? Like the little creatures who went around stealing babies and wearing skin-tight pants? She looked to his outline again. He certainly didn't look like David Bowie from what she could see.

"I am calm. Start explaining."

"You see, my sweet Cara, Dosel and I are goblins come to steal you away to be my bride. I am the king, you see, and I must have a bride from outside our race and I have chosen you!" He paused as though to wait for Cara to thank him for choosing her, but she didn't.

"Pull down your hood." She commanded.

"What?" The King was taken aback by the request. He had been expecting her to scream, or fight again, or at least have some questions for him.

"Pull down your hood, both of you. I want to see your faces."

The two goblins looked to each other before obeying Cara's request. Dosel removed his hood with his free hand first. His skin, no, it was more like scales, glimmered softly in the dim light while his reptilian-like eyes stared at her without a trace of emotion. Cara held her breath as his long, thin tongue hissed at her. He was certainly a goblin! Slowly, she turned to see Marak's face. The moon's light reflected off of his pallid skin (was it blue?) and his large, round eyes stared back with an unnatural yellow tint. His lips were a dark red color and his hair was raven and very long, being tied at his shoulder and cascading down to his chest. "It must be so dark for you, sweet Cara. Allow me to help you get a better look," with that Marak snapped his fingers and a silvery half circle hovered by his face. "I am very handsome for a goblin, don't you think?" The glowing orb cast light against his odd features, and as he moved it closer to his face, Cara could see that one of his hands was small and stout, almost like a paw. A shiver went down her spine as her muscles tightened in the other goblin's grip. Marak's skin was in fact blue and something was off about his eyes; the irises were larger than normal. His lips were a bright ruby red and when he smiled he revealed large canine teeth of a silvery color.

"You're-you're both monsters! Freaks!" Cara quickly twisted her forearm and ripped it from Dosel's grip before starting to run again. This time Marak was the one to catch her. He had been expecting her to pull some stunt after seeing his face and he couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction.

"It was a game well played, sweet Cara, but you cannot escape this monster's grasp so easily. I told you, you are going to be my wife, whether or not I have your consent." Marak held her close to her chest as she twisted and turned in attempt to get away from him, but he was too strong. It was then that the glowing orb disappeared and Cara was in darkness yet again.

"Game well played?" She repeated quietly. "What if we played a game?" she spoke a little louder, looking up at his goblin face. "If I win, you find someone else to be your bride."

"And if I win?" He asked. Cara had peaked his interest.

"I'll go with you to your goblin lair or whatever it is and marry you without a fight." She searched her brain for some sort of game she could beat the goblin King at.

"Hm, it must be a game I know of. None of this 'soccer' business and what not." Cara bit her lip as the King loosened his grip on her, there went the obvious choice.

"Hide 'n' seek then!" She finally concluded. "If I can successful avoid you for two days then you have to go find a wife somewhere else, but if I lose then you can drag me back to your goblin world and I'll be your loving and faithful wife." Cara regretted making the challenge as soon as the words left her mouth but she had to do something to save herself. "Deal?" She could feel her bravery leave her as her knees started to shake and her heart started racing.

"Deal, my sweet Cara." Marak took hold of her hand with his deformed paw-hand and shook it enthusiastically.

"You can't use any magic or whatever you goblins have!" The girl added in quickly as she pulled her hand away. "It has to be you and only you!" A tear escaped from her eyes, she hadn't even been aware that she was tearing up.

Marak looked at her thoughtfully before agreeing to the condition. "And you cannot leave Hallow Lake. No jumping in your mechanical contraptions and disappearing off my land, you need to hide on goblin territory." Cara didn't want to ask how far his kingdom stretched. She didn't want to say anything else to the goblin King. She wanted to go home. "Dosel, help me take sweet Cara back to the Lodge. She will need sleep if she wants to have a chance." The King gave a wicked smile as he took Cara by one arm and Dosel grabbed her by the other arm. She stumbled between the two goblins as they lead her back to the guest house for the night. The trio walked for several minutes until the Lodge was in plain sight and that was when Marak and Dosel bid her goodbye.

"I will see you tomorrow night for our game to begin, Cara." Marak said with a toothy grin as he played with the end of his long ponytail. "Get some rest." With that, Marak kissed her forehead before disappearing into the forest with his silent companion. Cara touched her forehead where he had kissed her and shivered. She was going to beat him if it killed her.

Cara opened the door to the Lodge and stumbled in, fully ready to face the goblins coming back to drag her away, but instead she found Ms. Locke. It had to be early in the morning though the little woman was busy sewing on the couch, in the dark. "Ms. Locke! I-uh-I got lost in the forest, sorry. It won't happen agai-"

"You can save your breath; I know you've met the Goblin King. Did he choose you? He must have for you to be gone so late. How did you convince him to let you go? You're not an elf, are you?" Ms. Locke stared at the girl with large eyes. She looked so much younger than when Cara had first met her, but more importantly how did she know about the Goblin King?

"How did yo-"

"I'm a dwarf." She said plainly as she waited for her answers. "My people work under the Goblin King and I was sent to work here in case a worthy human girl arrived again." Cara stared at the woman dumbfounded. It seemed that everyone was for her marrying Marak.

"I challenged him to a game of hide 'n' seek. Now if you excuse me, I need my rest if I'm going to win." Cara raised her head proudly before walking up the stairs and into her room that faced the front of the house. She was going to win. She had to. The girl walked over to her curtains and looked out into the dark forest only to see a strange looking snake slithering in the front yard. She bit her lip before closing the thick curtain and rummaging in her suitcase for her pajamas. That night of sleep would probably be the most important of her life as she quickly changed into bright blue pajamas and crawled under the covers. The challenge was issued, and she was not losing.