The Case of the Tentacle Terror

by Liam O'Donnell

  Black smoke silently poured from the statue’s tentacles. The smoke rolled along the ground and began to wrap around my legs. My head started to swim.

  “It’s like the smoke from when the Wave Dancer was taken!”

  My words were thick on my tongue. My head felt as heavy as a boulder. Black smoke filled my vision. Through the billowing clouds I saw Tank stumble and drop her multisocket whatever-it-was. I also saw something coming toward us.

  I woke to the smell of cooking.

  My stomach growled. I hadn’t eaten since before the stakeout at Fang Harbor. I slowly sat up. Everything was a blur of dim yellow lights. I blinked and rubbed my eyes.

  “It will take a minute for your mind to clear.” The voice came from somewhere above me. It was steady and calm.

  A mug of steaming liquid appeared under my snout.

  “Take a sip,” the voice said. “Slowly.”

  My stomach rumbled again. I took the cup and sipped. Hot green liquid soothed my sore throat. I found my voice.

  “Where—?” It was all I could manage.

  “You’re safe.” The blur in front of me took shape. A green face with a stubby snout and wide eyes.

  “Y-you’re a goblin?” I croaked.

  “And so are you.” The stranger smiled. “I’m Gwena. The smoke’s grip is slipping from you. Drink more tea. It will help.”

  The tea sent warmth through my body and cleared my head. I was in a dimly lit cave. In front of me, gentle waves of water splashed onto a rocky beach. A sturdy-looking pier ran out from the beach to half a dozen small fishing boats anchored nearby. Beyond the boats, sunlight spilled in from a cave mouth that reminded me of Fang Cove. A row of low wooden huts ran along the length of the beach. Fishing nets were hung to dry on racks next to the huts. Tank and Aleetha lay on either side of me, eyes closed.

  Gwena saw me looking at my friends. “They’ll be all right,” she said. “Your goblin blood must make you more resistant to the effects of the smoke.”

  “I didn’t know there were goblins outside Rockfall Mountain.” I held the mug of tea under my snout and enjoyed its warmth. “That’s where we’re from. And where we’d like to get back to.”

  “I know Rockfall Mountain, but I’ve never a met a goblin from there.” Gwena stirred something steaming in a pot that rested over the flames of small stove. “What are you doing so far from home?”

  Between sips of tea I explained our whole mess to Gwena. She listened and laid out four bowls as I spoke. Tank and Aleetha began to stir. By the time I had finished explaining, both of my friends were awake and had been introduced to my new goblin friend.

  Gwena used a long spoon to scoop something hot and steaming from the pot. She poured a portion into each of the four bowls and handed them to us. It was some sort of stew with vegetables I didn’t recognize, but it tasted better than anything I’d eaten before.

  Tank breathed in deeply over her bowl. “Smells delicious!”

  “You can’t beat dulce and yarrot stew,” Gwena said.

  We ate in silence for a minute. Gwena chewed slowly before speaking again. “It seems our problems have the same root cause.”

  Aleetha’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean our problems?”

  “We share a dilemma,” she said. “Your hometown is losing ships. My hometown lost its population and more. And they were all taken by the same monsters—Captain Stitch and his band of pirates.”

  “Captain Stitch?” I said. “The ugly kobold with one eye?”

  “That’s him.” Gwena nodded. “Stitch controls Howler’s Bay, on the other side of the island. His band of pirates has been there since before I was born. He usually leaves us alone here.”

  “Where exactly is here?” I asked. “What is this place?”

  “Fishers Hollow is my home,” Gwena said. “We’re simple fisher-goblins, catching fish from the coastal waters.” She gestured with her spoon to a point farther down the beach. “We live all through the caves that run under the island. We sell our fish to vendors who come to us in their ships. There are no other settlements on the island except for Stitch and his pirates.”

  “And they don’t bother you?” Aleetha asked.

  “They leave us alone. For a price.” Gwena pushed her spoon around her bowl. “Stitch and his pirates don’t bother us if we give them a portion of the fish we catch. Last year Stitch demanded that one goblin from our village live with his pirates.” Gwena wiped something from her eye. “The goblin he chose was my father. They took him away, and I haven’t seen him since.”

  “That’s awful,” I said. “Why did they choose him?”

  Gwena set down her bowl. “I don’t know. But just last week the smoke came, and Stitch returned. The clouds appeared around the outskirts of town. It swept through the streets and put to sleep anyone caught in its path. When it had cleared, everyone was gone. I think Stitch and his gang took them to Howler’s Bay.”

  I scratched my scales. “Why would a pirate take your dad and then come back a year later and take the rest of your village?”

  “That’s what I’ve been asking myself all week.” Gwena sighed. “I’ve been hiding here, hoping some of the goblins would find a way back. So far, no one has returned.”

  Aleetha cocked her head to one side. “Why weren’t you taken by the smoke?”

  The goblin’s gaze dropped. “I ran away. I should have been there to help my family, but I was too scared.”

  Gwena grew quiet. No one else spoke. The sounds of eating were the only noises in our little hideout. Eventually Tank broke the silence.

  “That smoke sounds like the mist that covered the cargo ships in Fang Harbor.”

  “That smoke shimmered with magic.” Aleetha swallowed the last bite of her stew and put her bowl onto the sand. “The smoke from the statue must also have been magical.”

  “That is the work of Hilsa, the wave mage,” Gwena said.

  “The stream elf who dumped us in the water!” My words echoed across the water.

  “He only appeared about a year ago,” Gwena said. “We kept a close eye on Stitch and his crew when we gave them their monthly portion of fish. Last year we noticed someone new at Howler’s Bay. A stream elf with a wagonload of magical equipment. We learned his name was Hilsa, but we don’t know where he comes from. We do know he likes to do experiments. Shortly after he arrived, strange creatures appeared on the island. Part monster, part machine.”

  I nearly dropped my spoon. “Like the creatures that chased us! They had metal caps on their heads.”

  “Those are hookbeaks,” Gwena said. “They used to bother us, but they aren’t very smart. We were able to scare them away.”

  “That’s why they fled when we got to the cave leading to your village,” I said.

  Tank looked at Aleetha. “How can a wizard like Hilsa use technology? First it was the the density-inverters on the shipping containers and now the caps on the hookbeaks. I thought technology messed with their spells.”

  “I’ve been wondering about that too.” The lava elf tugged at the hem of her cloak. “Hilsa must have discovered a way to combine magic and technology so they work together. I have no idea how. Mixing magic and technology can mess with ionic field stability or even rip the temporal fabric that surrounds everything.”

  “I have no idea what that means,” I said. “But it doesn’t sound good.”

  “It’s not,” Aleetha said. “Combining magic and tech is also banned because it can be used to control other living creatures. There are magic spells that can make a monster obey you, although only for a short time. But with the right mix of magic and technology, a mage can create devices that dominate the creature’s mind for life. Unfortunately, the process makes the creature so ill that its life isn’t long.”

  My tail curled at the thought of being controlled like that.

  “It’s never really been a problem,” Aleetha continued, “because it’s very rare to find a mage who is able to control both magic and technolog
y. Most, like me, simply don’t have the ability to do it.”

  “But Hilsa can,” I said.

  “So it would seem.” Aleetha’s gaze fell on the water lapping against the pier. “The mages at the Shadow Tower would be very interested in talking to him about his abilities.”

  Gwena stood suddenly. “Ready to find out how I knew you were in the town square?” She collected our bowls and piled them near her cooking stove. “You’re going to love the view!”

  Our new friend was definitely a good cook and no friend of Captain Stitch and Hilsa. But as I watched her wipe the bowls clean, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we hadn’t heard the full story.

  Gwena led us to the top of the world.

  We followed her to the end of the beach. A tunnel ran into the darkness and led back to the heart of Fishers Hollow and the town square. Next to the tunnel, a spiral staircase rose from the sand and into an opening in the cavern’s ceiling. We climbed the spiral staircase all the way through the opening and emerged in the center of a round building on the surface of the island. A door in the curved wall led outside. Sunlight streamed through a few small windows. The staircase continued to spiral upward, ending at another floor at the very top.

  “Welcome to our lighthouse!” Gwena climbed the remaining steps and walked onto the top floor. “You’re going to love the view from up here.”

  I scrambled up the steps after her.

  The lighthouse stood on the edge of a high cliff overlooking the open water. It was nearly as tall as the Shadow Tower back home but had a much better view. On one side, blue water stretched as far as I could see. On the other, green hills rolled into the distance. Forests of trees stood alongside open spaces of green, covered with something Gwena called grass. High above, the sun hung in the sky, sending down its light and warmth. Aleetha stared out at the scene below.

  “I never realized there was this much space outside the mountain.”

  “And this is only a tiny part of it all. We’re on Hook Island, far from the mainland and Rockfall Mountain.” Gwena pointed to a line of low hills on the far side of the island. “Howler’s Bay is on the other side of the island, beyond the forest.”

  The view was pretty spectacular, but I was more captivated by a simple framed drawing sitting on top of one of the many machines in the lighthouse. A creature with familiar eyes and many tentacles stared out from the frame.

  “That’s the drawing from the cliff!” I said.

  Gwena picked up the drawing and smiled. “That’s Pequod! Without her help, we couldn’t catch the aloo fish.”

  “How does an octopus help a bunch of goblins fish?” I asked.

  “Pequod is not an octopus. She’s a meglohydra, and a very old one at that,” Gwena said. “Meglohydras are intelligent creatures who come from deep in the ocean. Pequod likes to swim along the coast. She uses her massive tentacles to herd the aloo fish into large groups that are easy for us to scoop up with our nets. Pequod and the aloo both eat the same types of smaller fish.”

  “So when you catch the aloo, that means more smaller fish for Pequod to eat,” Aleetha said. “Sounds like a good arrangement.”

  “It was Pequod’s idea.” Gwena looked sadly at the drawing in her hands. “Like all meglohydras, Pequod can put words into your mind as if she is talking to you.”

  “Can she put pictures into your mind too?” Aleetha asked.

  Gwena nodded. “That’s how she tells the fishing goblins where to find the groups of fish.”

  “That explains the images we saw when we were in the water,” I said. “Pequod put them into our minds so we would find you.”

  “Some of the fisher folk say my family has a special bond with Pequod,” Gwena said. “She always placed visions of the fish in my father’s head, before he was taken by Stitch. Then she sent images to my brother, Attan, but that stopped shortly before Stitch took him and the rest of the village away. From what you’ve told me, it’s clear that Pequod has been captured by Captain Stitch and Hilsa.”

  “And now she’s helping them steal cargo ships.” My scales went cold at the memory of seeing Pequod’s massive tentacles wrap around the Wave Dancer.

  “I can’t understand why she is doing that.” Gwena put the picture back on top of the computer. “Pequod is a gentle giant. She has never attacked ships before.”

  A row of monitors whirred to life on the other side of the lighthouse. Tank looked up, her ears wiggling.

  “I found the On switch!” She grinned. “I hope that’s okay.”

  Gwena laughed. “It’s more than okay.”

  Clearly, my friend had been more interested in the lighthouse’s technology than the view. While we’d been talking about Pequod and the island, Tank had been poking around at the screens, dials and computers that lined the walls of the lighthouse.

  “What’s it all for?” I asked. “Seems like a lot of tech just to warn ships to stay clear of the island.”

  “It does a lot more than that.” Gwena sat in a chair in front of a set of important-looking buttons. She pressed the controls with expertise. “This tower is also a communication and surveillance center. From here we can monitor what’s happening along the coast and in our village. Watch this.”

  Gwena pressed some buttons on her control panel. The screens in front of her flashed. Suddenly images of the goblin village appeared on them. One screen showed the long staircase leading down from the cave entrance. Another showed the town square. The smoke had cleared from the plaza, and the empty shops could be seen clearly.

  “Why do you have cameras all over your town?” I asked. “I’d be freaked out knowing I was being watched all the time.”

  “I agree.” Gwena sighed. “But we goblins love technology, and once someone suggested the cameras, everyone thought it was a great idea.”

  Aleetha narrowed her eyes at Tank. “I thought nobody loved technology more than trolls?”

  “So did I.” Tank shrugged. “I guess things are different outside Rockfall Mountain.”

  “Speaking of your home, the antennas on top of the lighthouse can receive signals from Rockfall Mountain.” Gwena bounced the same way Tank did when she got a new gadget.

  “Can you send a message to Slick City?” I said.

  Tank’s eyes lit up. “We can let our parents know we’re all right and tell Officer Hordish who is stealing the cargo ships.”

  “I wish we could,” Gwena said. “But there is something in the stone of the mountain that blocks our outgoing signals, so there is no way to send a message.”

  “I’ve heard that before.” Tank nodded. “The veins of ballardium crystal that run through the rock can play havoc with communication devices.”

  “It doesn’t affect signals coming out from the mountain,” Gwena said. “We’re able to get most of your TV channels, which is nice. We can even keep up on the latest news.”

  Gwena typed some commands into the computer. Tank looked on with appreciation. I was more interested in the view outside the lighthouse window. Then an image appeared on screen that grabbed me by the scales, and I couldn’t look away.

  “That’s my mom!” Tank gasped.

  Mrs. Wrenchlin’s face stared out at us from the top right of the screen. Her picture floated over the shoulder of the host of the Slick City News. Gwena turned up the volume, and the voice of the news anchor, Trina Trallastar, filled the lighthouse.

  “Our top story today: Mayor Grimlock has removed Janaka Wrenchlin from her position as harbor master at Fang Harbor. The decision comes only a day after the mysterious disappearance of the Wave Dancer, the third SlurpCo cargo ship to vanish from the harbor.”

  Tank stared at the screen and sniffed. “My mom lost her job?”

  “Don’t worry, Tank,” I said. “We’ll get back home and prove she isn’t involved. Then, we’ll make Grimlock give back her job.”

  Tank spun to face me. Her lips quivered and her ears sagged. “How are we going to do that? We’re more lost than we’ve ever been be
fore and have no idea how to get back home.”

  “I agree it doesn’t look good,” I said.

  A light on the control panel flashed red. An alarm buzzed from the panel’s speakers.

  Gwena pushed her chair along beside the control panel and pressed buttons frantically. “I’m afraid it’s looking even worse now.”

  Gwena watched the screen with wide eyes. “Searching for me.”

  “Stitch has everyone from your whole village,” I said. “Why does he want you too?”

  “I don’t know.” Gwena pressed the controls on the computer. “I think Hilsa cast a spell on the statue so it spews his knockout smoke when someone enters the town square. I triggered it once before but got away before falling asleep. Once the smoke had cleared, a group of kobolds came searching. They searched the whole town before giving up and going away.”

  We watched on the control panel’s screens as the kobold pirates moved through Fishers Hollow. They searched through the town square, moving in and out of shops. They sniffed their way along alleyways and down side streets, barking to each other as they went.

  “How far will they search this time?” I asked. “Will they find us here?”

  Below us, the door on the ground floor creaked open. Furry bodies moved past the camera at the base of the tower’s stairs.

  “That’d be a yes,” Aleetha said.

  The walls of the tower closed in around me. Outside, a whole world stretched as far as I could see, but in a few seconds my world was going to be nothing but kobold claws and fur.

  Footsteps sounded on the steps below.

  Gwena rushed to the top of the spiral stairs.

  “This is the only way down. If we get to my dad’s fishing boat, we might be able to hide out until Stitch’s kobolds are gone. But that means getting past those furballs on the stairs.”

  “And how are we going to do that?” I said.

  “We’re not. You are.” Tank rummaged through her tool belt. Her hands stopped on something in her pocket, and she smiled. “Hopefully, this has dried out. Fizz, stand at the top of the stairs.”