Wings (11 page)

The corridor wasn’t completely dark. Splotches of a sickly greenish white glowed on the walls, giving his half-goblin eyes more than enough light with which to see. As he walked, the floor began to slope downward, taking him deeper underground than he’d ever been before. The air was colder now and the little boy began to shiver. He was tired, too; it was past the time he normally would have gone to bed. Then suddenly he felt the faintest hint of a warm breeze coming from somewhere up ahead. It smelled musky, a not-unpleasant odor that reminded him of his travels with his mother before she’d left him at his uncle’s home.

Enticed by the promise of warmth, Jak hurried down the corridor until it opened out into a large chamber. With the greenish glow banished to the widely set walls, the light in the chamber was dimmer than the corridor had been. A low wall divided the chamber in two; a pool of water lapped at Jak’s side of the wall. Stumbling from fatigue, he followed a path to the wall and crawled over the top. The floor on the other side was warmer as if heated from beneath. The little boy was yawning when he lay down, and soon he was sound asleep.

Jak woke to something soft and moist snuffling his cheek. Before he could open his eyes, his face was wet from chin to ear. Startled, he sat up, lurching away from whatever was touching him, and bumped into something
hard. When it nudged him, Jak scrambled to his feet. He was surrounded by animals taller than he was, with hindquarters that came up to his shoulder. The light was so dim that Jak could barely see them, but as they jostled each other trying to sniff him, one of them growled at another and Jak decided that they must be very big dogs.

He was frightened, but not terribly so, and when one of the animals nipped him, he reacted without thinking and swatted it across the nose. The big animal squealed and jumped back. Pleased by his success, Jak turned to the dogs pushing him from behind and pushed them in turn. They backed away and he was able to climb over the low wall, away from the milling animals.

He was thirsty now, so he cupped his hands and drank from the pool at the base of the wall. The water was cool and fresh; after he drank he washed his face just as Gammi always made him do when he got out of bed. He soon realized that the light wasn’t as dim inside the chamber, and when he looked up, he saw that a hole in the ceiling directly above the pool let in a shaft of light. Although he leaned out over the water, he couldn’t see up the shaft, but a leaf drifting down through the light told him that it was open high above. There was bird-song, too, faint and far away.

He could see the animals better now, and suddenly he wasn’t quite so sure that they were dogs. Although they had sharp, pointy teeth and blunt faces, they had long necks and longer legs and almost looked like young horses.

When Jak stood, he noticed that the animals were
watching him and decided that they were thirsty, too. At first he tried to carry water to them in his cupped hands, but he needed his hands to climb the wall. Some of the animals were panting, so he climbed back down to the pool and used his shoe to carry water to them, pouring it into a depression that ran, trough-like, in front of the wall. Back and forth he climbed, over and over again, until the animals were no longer thirsty.

Then he walked among them, scratching their necks under their manes and giving them names. A black one was Night, a spotted one was Spot, a more delicate-looking one was Primrose, named after Gammi’s favorite flower. One of the horse creatures, stocky and bigger than the rest, liked to have his rump scratched. Jak named him Putterby for the sound he made when he was happy.

The animals crowded close to Jak, liking the attention. They were rough at first, but after he’d swatted the more aggressive ones, they quickly learned that they had to be gentle around him if they wanted to be scratched. Jak was using one hand to scratch Spot’s neck and the other Putterby’s rump when he heard voices coming from the corridor that led into the chamber. The animals heard them as well, and became agitated. With their ears laid flat and ridges of fur rising along their backs, Jak thought that they looked quite ferocious. They were pawing the ground and growling when the little boy slipped away to hide in the deepest shadow of the uneven wall.

Jak watched as his uncle, Targin, and two of his assistant goblins came into the chamber. The horse creatures
rushed at the other side of the wall, snarling and snapping.

“Look at how stupid they are—running into each other like that,” said a goblin. “No wonder the fairy queen outlawed breeding them.”

“These are weanlings,” Targin said. “You’ll see why Titania’s so afraid of them when they grow up. Hipporines are as fierce as the wolverines and as fast as the horses that spawned them. Nothing can best them in battle, including fairy warriors.”

The goblins began to toss hunks of meat to the hipporines. While they were occupied tearing the meat apart, Targin and his goblins hopped over the wall and bent down beside the trench Jak had filled with water. There was a grating sound as they moved a large stone, and water rushed from the pool into the trough.

While the goblins were moving the stone back into place, Jak crawled over the wall and ran up the corridor as quietly as he could. It wouldn’t do to have his uncle find him there, but Jak was glad to have found this place. For the first time since he’d moved in with his relatives, the little boy felt as if he had made some friends.

Asearch party found Jak the day after he escaped from the Pit. He was sent home that very morning, accompanied by a silent mole goblin, disgraced for not serving out his confinement.

It took most of the day to reach his uncle’s den. The entire way Jak wondered how he would break the news. When he arrived, his aunt Karest announced that his uncle had important guests and was too busy to see him. Gammi wasn’t there so Karest was shorthanded and had too much to do seeing to the needs of the guests to worry about him.

Relieved that his announcement had been delayed, Jak ate some leftovers in the kitchen, then went to bed with a book Gammi had given him. He could hear muffled voices talking in the room down the corridor from his, although he couldn’t make out who was talking or what they were saying.

Jak had fallen asleep with his book still in his hand when Karest opened his door. “Your uncle wants to see
you now. Get up and get dressed. You can’t go in like that.”

Bleary-eyed, Jak stumbled out of bed and pulled on his pants and shirt. He was still putting on his shoes when Karest came back to get him. “Be polite,” she said. “Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to and then tell them only what they want to know. Answer their questions, but don’t volunteer anything else. You don’t want to bore them with your chatter.”

“Who’s in there?” he asked as they approached the door.

“The head of the wolf clan,” she whispered, “and your great-aunt, Lurinda. She was with the fairy queen’s court for many years. Behave yourself. It’s an honor to be called before them!”

Jak didn’t feel honored when his uncle, Targin, introduced him to his guests. Wulfrin, the leader of the wolf clan, was lean and grizzled, but he looked like an intelligent goblin and seemed very interested in Jak. The lady goblin seated beside him looked older than Gammi, with long white hair and pale, nearly translucent skin. Her eyes were the youngest thing about her; their emerald green color was as vivid as if she were Jak’s age. Jak stood silently watching her stroke her neck with the retractable claws of her long, thin fingers, the single ring she wore glinting in the candlelight. He decided that she was the most beautiful goblin he had ever seen.

“Now, Jak, tell me and my guests why you’re home from school in the middle of the week,” his uncle said.

“It isn’t a special holiday that I’ve forgotten, is it?” asked his great-aunt, Lurinda.

“No ma’am,” said Jak. “I was sent home because I got in a fight with Nihlo. I’m sorry, Uncle. He has a broken leg.”

Targin frowned and grunted, but all he said was, “Go on.”

Jak nodded. “They gave me detention, but I got out of the Pit before my time was up and—”

“You got out of the Pit!” said Wulfrin. “How the blazes did you manage that?”

“I found some loose stones and dug my way into a neighboring cave,” said Jak, remembering his aunt’s admonishment to answer their questions and nothing more.

Wulfrin smiled. “Most resourceful.”

“Indeed,” said Lurinda in a voice that was almost a purr. “Thank you for coming to meet us, Jak. I think you’ll do very well.”

Jak returned to his room, but it was a long time before he fell asleep again.

Early the next morning he was in bed when his uncle came to see him.

“Are your guests still here?” Jak asked.

“Lurinda is. She’s gone to bed. Wulfrin left a short time ago. We’ve made a decision about you, but I wanted to talk to you about it before discussing it with anyone else. You won’t be going back to the island, Jak.”

Jak sat bolt upright. “Why?” he asked. “The elders never said anything about—”

“It has nothing to do with them. Lurinda brought me some news yesterday. I need someone who looks more human than most to carry out a task. I’ve talked to Lurinda and Wulfrin about giving you the responsibility, and they both agree that you are the best candidate. You’re smart, resourceful, brave …”

“And I look like a human,” said Jak.

“Precisely,” said Targin. “Do you think you could stand being in the human world for an extended period of time?”

“What would I have to do?” Jak asked.

“There’s a girl we want you to get to know. She came to our attention recently. Unlike most humans, she can see us.”

“I think I heard about her,” said Jak. “Is she the one who can throw lightning bolts?”

“We’re not sure what she can do, but yes, there is a rumor going around that she can. You’re to meet the girl, get to know her, then bring her back with you once you’ve earned her trust. Do you think you can handle that?”

“It sounds simple enough,” said Jak.

“You’ll have a private tutor who can teach you everything you need to know before you go. I want you to study humans and learn how to act like one.”

“If it would help you,” Jak said.

“Remember, it’s important that she feel safe with you. We don’t know what she’s capable of doing, but on the chance that she can control lightning, you won’t want to upset her.”

“Why do you want her here, Uncle, if she’s so dangerous?”

“It’s been nearly four years in the human world since the Halloween when the girl saw our goblins. Everything indicates that all the Gates will open during the next Halloween and the human world will be flooded with the fey. We can’t have that girl seeing them, Jak. Who knows what kind of trouble she could stir up if she were to tell someone?”

“Wouldn’t they think she was crazy?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Believe me when I say that we can’t take the chance.”

It occurred to Jak that his uncle wasn’t telling him everything. Instead of looking worried, he looked eager, as if he’d gotten the scent of a particularly tempting prey. Even so, Targin was right when he said that the girl would have to be handled with care if she actually could call up lightning. As far as Jak knew, the only person who could control the weather was Titania, the queen of the fairies, and no one wanted to cross
her
. If his uncle wanted the girl, perhaps it was
because
she could control the weather. Befriending someone like that would only help Targin in his position as a leader of the goblins.

Whatever the reason might be, Jak would do his best to get the girl. Since the day Jak’s mother had abandoned him at his uncle’s cave, the halfling boy had been in awe of the goblin who had taken him in. His uncle had given him everything and asked for nothing in return. Now Jak felt honored to be given such an important assignment.
At last he might be able to do something to make his uncle proud of him.

Even as a small child Jak had known that his uncle was an important goblin in the land of the fey, not only as head of the Cattywampus clan, but also as a leader among all the goblins. He was often called away on goblin matters, but when he was home a steady flow of visitors came to see him. Sometimes they came on clan business, wanting to discuss land rights or trading agreements or to have Targin settle a dispute. There were times, however, when goblins arrived claiming to want to play dice and drink a few ales, only Jak knew better. He would get very little sleep on those nights, because his room was only a few doors down from the one where they met, and he often heard them talking in louder and louder voices as the night wore on and they drank more and more ale. The pattern became predictable. What started out in friendly tones became tirades against the fairies’ repressive laws and how good life was before the fairies conquered all of goblin-kind.

“Remember how the trolls put up signs for a hotel one day, then served dinner the next? Everyone knew they were serving roast travelers for dinner; you couldn’t get a table at all, the place was that popular!”

“Why, I remember when a goblin could terrorize an entire human village for a month, then go on to the next town and no one was around to stop him!”

“If it wasn’t for the blasted fairies we’d still be at it! The stories my grandfather told could make your skin crawl and your heart proud.”

“Ah, the old bedtime stories! Those were the days.”

“It’s all Titania’s fault. If she and Oberon hadn’t made their peace, none of this would have happened. They never would have gotten such a strong army, nor so many magic users on their side.”

“We were a proud, free folk until Titania and Oberon led their armies to defeat us in battle,” Targin would say. “It’s been many years now, but there isn’t a goblin alive who wouldn’t like to see us free again. The day is coming when that chance will present itself, and there are those of us who will be ready to take it. And that, my goblin friends, is why I invited you here.” It was what Jak was waiting for, because after that their voices would get quiet and he could finally go to sleep.