The Daughters Daring (The Daughters Daring & The Enchanted Forest Book 1)

by Steven J. Thompson

  “Who then?” Elizabeth asked.

  “The ogre king,” Randolph said.

  Several gnomes gasped at the name. Emily and Elizabeth had heard of him, as well, through their father’s stories. The fiercest and meanest of all the ogres, he was said to be as tall as two men, and ate horses for snacks. He had been banished to the Craggy Mountains, almost a decade before, by Duke Daring and a band of adventurous knights.

  “Why would the ogre king take our sweetberries?” Emily asked. “He must know we will find him out and our king will send more knights to defeat him.”

  “This time, he is aided by a witch,” Randolph said. “Our scouts have not seen her, but we have recognized her dark presence. Sweetberries add a certain potency to any magical concoction they are mixed with, especially sleeping potions. That would make them valuable to her.”

  “How would sweetberries play any part in a sleeping potion?” Elizabeth asked.

  Emily stood quietly thinking it over. She had set her backpack down to relax her shoulders. “Well, Liz, are you sure it’s impossible? It does seem like every time I eat sweetberry pie I am sleepy afterward. Maybe the witch is magnifying their ability to make you relaxed and sleepy.”

  Elizabeth looked surprised, as if this was the last thing she expected Emily to say.

  “Don't look at me that way, Elizabeth! I can be just as smart as you are.”

  “I didn't say anything!” Elizabeth said defensively. “Any way, of course you know everything that has to do with food.” She snickered at her own retort, while Emily stuck out her tongue in response.

  Meanwhile, Randolph was standing with crossed arms and was impatiently tapping his foot. Several other gnomes had started exploring their surroundings, picking up rocks and examining flowers. Two of them were in an argument about how many goblins it would take to light a candle. This joke seemed very strange to Elizabeth, as she had not heard it before. It was apparent to her that gnomes were very easily distracted.

  “This is wasting time!” Randolph growled.

  “All right," Emily responded, "if the ogre king has the sweetberries, where do we find him so we can get them back?"

  “It won't be so easy,” Randolph said. “You may have your father's courage, but the ogre king is a fierce creature! Knights have fallen before him."

  “Hmmm,” Emily considered. “Perhaps we should go to Father and—."

  “Fierce creature my boot!” Elizabeth interrupted boldly. “He has yet to cross paths with the Daughters Daring! Besides, we're not going to confront him openly, anyway.”

  “We're not?” Emily asked, not quite getting the whole idea, but she could tell her sister was up to something.

  “Of course not,” answered Elizabeth, glad to have everyone’s attention. “Ogres may be fierce, but they're not the sharpest swords in the scabbard, as Father would say. They're actually not very bright at all. We are going to sneak in and take the sweetberries right out from under his ugly old nose!"

  “Sneak in?” Emily was beginning to think her sister might have fallen on her head, back in the cave. “We'll more likely be captured and eaten with that plan! That is the stupidest idea I have ever heard of!!"

  Emily's words stung Elizabeth. Sometimes sisters could be your best friend, and other times say some of the meanest things. Elizabeth prided herself on her wits and felt her anger growing. She was especially hurt that her sister would say such a thing in front of the gnomes.

  “Is not!” Elizabeth shot back. “You’re just jealous that you didn't think of it first! You're jealous that I am smarter than you!"

  “I am not jealous!” Emily yelled. “You are jealous that I am older and have more privileges. And I’m better at sports!”

  “You're better at sports because you act like a boy. It's no wonder Father calls me his little princess! You have the poise of a farm boy!”

  “Take that back!” Emily cried. Her sister's words had found their mark. Her eyes were starting to sting with tears.

  “I will not!” Elizabeth answered, defiantly. “Why don't you just go back home; I can clearly do this without you getting in the way!”

  “Fine!” Emily screamed. “I hope the goblins get you and take you away! My life was much better before you showed up!”

  Both sisters now felt the sting of harsh words. Elizabeth threw up her shoulders with a “hmmph,” and turned down the trail past the goblin cave. Emily turned the other way, practically knocking over several gnomes as she picked up her pack and stormed off into the forest.

  “This is not good,” Randolph fretted. “Not good at all.”

  Chapter 5

  Emily was walking farther into the forest, down another path she had found, angrily kicking stones and not paying much attention to where she was going. She was thinking of the mean things Elizabeth had said to her. Little sisters could be so disagreeable! Emily was just as capable and smart as she needed to be, and smart enough to know when one of Elizabeth's schemes was too dangerous for them.

  The thought of danger had just started her thinking about the forest, again, when she heard a soft crunching sound behind her. She turned around but saw nothing, and the noise stopped.

  She had only taken a few steps when the noise returned. “Who's there?” She demanded, whirling around but still finding no one there. She gripped her staff more tightly.

  “Hullo,” said a small voice. Again, it sounded like it came from behind her. Emily spun around, determined to confront whoever was following her. The path was bare.

  “Where are you?” Emily asked, still annoyed with her sister and growing impatient with this voice.

  “In here,” the voice said. Now it sounded somewhat muffled, but very close to her ear.

  Realizing where it came from, Emily removed her backpack and opened it. Inside she found a tiny gnome helping himself to some of her snacks. This gnome had red shoes and a noticeable pot belly, probably from eating other people’s snacks.

  “Hey! How'd you get in there?” Emily demanded.

  “Oh, terribly sorry,” the gnome answered, "but after the ruckus with the goblins, I was fatigued and hungry. This looked like a comfortable place to enjoy a quick nap, and I was so delighted to find that you had food in here, as well!”

  “And I see you helped yourself to it,” Emily said, a little perturbed. “Who are you, anyway? And, if I may ask, why are you so much smaller than the other gnomes?”

  “Apologies again, Miss Daring. My name is Periwinkle!” he said, bowing as well as he could from his cozy spot among her snacks. “And I am a garden gnome! We’re not as big as our forest gnome cousins, but we are quite resourceful.”

  “I see. Well, hello, Periwinkle. Would you mind getting out of my backpack?” Emily was trying her best to be cordial.

  "Hmm?” Periwinkle responded, while absently munching on a biscuit. “Oh, actually, I'm quite comfortable in here, and was hoping I could stay a while.”

  Emily frowned and was ready to dump him out, when she heard a scream in the distance.

  “My sister’s in trouble!” Emily took off running toward the scream, tossing her backpack, and the small gnome in it, onto her back in one quick motion. “Hang on Liz,” she called out as she ran, “I'm coming!”

  Emily cut through the forest now, leaving the path and her earlier annoyance behind. She did not know that leaving a path in the Enchanted Forest was never a wise choice. Though plenty of paths lead safely, this way and that, once off the paths, it was easy to become lost, or worse.

  She had run in the direction of her sister's screams, but it seemed the sound was moving farther away. She stopped and turned around, but nothing in the forest seemed familiar. Something was not right, she thought. Even the trees seemed to move whenever she looked away.

  Emily heard the scream again, and was sure of the direction, this time. A wall of vines hung between her and her sister. She plunged straight in, hoping to push her way through to the other side, but the vines would not budge. Even worse, they s
tarted wrapping around her, ensnaring her arms and legs and actually lifting her off the ground until she was bundled like a package and hanging in mid-air.

  And then came the goblins.

  “Here's another fine mess Elizabeth has gotten me into,” she muttered to herself, as they carried her away.

  

  Elizabeth had been dealing with her own problems since leaving her sister and the bothersome gnomes. First, she had wasted her time on a trail that seemed to lead in endless circles. She had also failed to find any more clues, not even a single dropped sweetberry! Worst of all, she could hear her sister yelling in the distance, calling her name at the top of her lungs. What was wrong with her? Did she want to alert the entire goblin army of their location?

  Elizabeth’s boldness increased as she walked. She didn't really need her sister along to solve the sweetberry mystery, but her mother would be very cross if she came home alone, even if she single-handedly saved the kingdom, which she was sure would be the outcome. For now, she would just have to rescue her bumbling sister and hope that she did not get in the way.

  Elizabeth headed in the direction of her sister's loud yelling, but much as Emily had experienced, she found the voice hard to pinpoint. She wandered this way and that, sure she was getting closer, until the direction of the voice changed again.

  She stopped and tried to remember the tales about the Enchanted Forest, which was known for magical mischief on unsuspecting wanderers. She closed her eyes, let out a deep sigh, and tried to use all of her senses. She felt a light breeze on her skin, could hear a bird chirping in the distance, and she smelled—something putrid.

  It was the smell of goblins.

  Elizabeth had no sooner readied her bow with an arrow than several goblins popped out of the forest, surrounding her. As they threw a small hunting net over her, she screamed for her sister, but it was too late. They bundled her up, and two of them carried her away over their shoulders.

  “This is all Emily's fault,” she complained to herself, as they carried her down into another entrance to the cave.

  Chapter 6

  Being smaller creatures, standing no taller than Elizabeth, it took three goblins to carry Emily into the lower reaches of the cave before dropping her, rather abruptly, onto the floor of a large wooden cage. One of them muttered something about how heavy she was and kicked her leg. Emily had discovered that her legs were unbound and returned the favor. She kicked him in the backside, sending him crashing into his cohorts.

  The three goblins stumbled, and fell outside of the cave. Two of them started yelling at the one Emily had kicked, but this one was busy shaking a fist at her. She hoped that perhaps, in the confusion, they would forget to lock the door of her cage, but she had no such luck. They quickly locked her in and went about their business. Two more goblins guarded the entrance to this section of the cave, which was a small, oval-shaped room.

  Emily assessed her surroundings. There was a torch on the cave wall but it wasn't providing much light. She would need time for her eyes to adjust. She could also just make out a strange figure that was laying down inside the cage. The figure exhaled.

  “Who's there?” Emily demanded.

  “Em?” a small, familiar voice answered, “It’s me!”

  “Liz! It is you!” Emily rushed to grab her sister up in a tight hug.

  “Ugh,” Elizabeth groaned, “you're squishing me!”

  Emily stepped back, looked her sister over, and grinned. “Are you ok? Before I was captured I heard you scream.”

  Elizabeth shrugged off Emily's concern. “I'm fine. I thought I heard you scream, too, but I realized too late it was those nasty goblins.”

  “They got me, too,” said Emily. “I was really worried about you.”

  Not one to be sentimental, Elizabeth insisted, “I told you I'm fine. We shouldn't be fussing over that anyway. We need to find a way out of here.”

  Emily agreed but decided that she would check on her sister later, after they were free of their cage. “So, have you already searched for any weak spots—any place that we could escape through?”

  Elizabeth shook her head, “No, I've searched top to bottom and I can't find anything.”

  Emily peered at their enclosure. “Search again. There has to be a weak point. Goblins aren't exactly known for their craftsmanship.”

  “What you say there?” One of the goblins approached the cage with his hands on his hips. “What you know about goblin cage? Goblins make best cage. No escapes!”

  “Eww! What's your name, Stink Eye?” Elizabeth said and Emily began laughing. The goblin Elizabeth had called Stink Eye had one bulging eye, drooping and gooey. While Emily was bent over laughing, she noticed that the other goblin had an unattractive trait of his own.

  “Hairy Foot!” she gasped before laughing even harder.

  The two goblins stared wide-eyed at the girls. Then they turned to look at each other with suspicion.

  “How the human know your name Hairy Foot?” Stink Eye asked in a demanding whisper.

  Hairy Foot's eyes grew wide. “How they know your name Stink Eye?” He looked even closer at his companion. “You traitor! I knew it! I knew it! You traitor!” Hairy Foot was bouncing up and down shouting his accusations.

  “Me traitor? You traitor!” Stink Eye yelled, lunging to pounce on Hairy Foot. The two goblins went rolling on the cave floor, tossing this way and that.

  Emily finally stopped laughing and looked over at her sister, who was watching the fight, cheering on Stink Eye. The sight of the goblins rolling around, hitting and gouging each other, was both funny and frightening. For the moment, the goblins were preoccupied and ignoring the girls in the cell.

  “Elizabeth, this is our chance to find a way out,” Emily said, pulling Elizabeth away from the cage bars. Both girls went back to scouring their prison cell for a way out. They were busy pulling on the cage bars when they heard the klink of metal on stone.

  One of the goblins had dropped a ring of keys as the two of them scuffled around the room. Emily and Elizabeth carefully moved to the bars nearest to the keys. Each tried reaching them, but even Emily’s longer arms were not long enough to touch the keys. Their efforts went unnoticed. Stink Eye was chasing Hairy Foot into the darkness of the passageway. Their goblin grunts and yowls grew fainter by the moment.

  “They’re gone now,” Elizabeth said.

  “Yeah, but we can't reach the keys! What are we going to do?”

  The girls were stumped. The keys were out of reach and so was their gear. Emily's staff was sitting along the wall next to Elizabeth's bow and both of their backpacks.

  Emily looked again at her backpack. Even in the dim light, she could see it moving.

  “Liz, look at my pack!”

  “Eeeew, there's a rat in your backpack!” Elizabeth shivered at the thought.

  “It's not a rat, silly!” Emily said.

  “What is it, then?”

  “You’ll see.” Emily fished in her pocket and pulled out a round stone. “This is my last one,” she said, holding it in her palm for Elizabeth to see.”

  Elizabeth was amazed at her sister. “How did you get that in here?”

  “Let's hope I can hit my pack!"

  “I'm sure you can," Elizabeth said, “but what’s in the pack that can help us?"

  “Be quiet while I aim!"

  Emily cocked her arm back and hurled the stone straight at the pack, hitting it with a dull thud.

  “Ow!” A little voice cried out from inside the pack. As the girls watched, tiny hands, then a head, popped out of the backpack.

  “Not very nice to be throwing things at me,” the gnome said.

  “Periwinkle!” Emily said, trying to whisper. “Get the keys and help us get out of here!”

  “Oh, very well," Periwinkle said. “But if you’re not nice to me, I’ll crawl back into my new home and take a long nap!"

  “Your home?” Emily said, somewhat annoyed. Elizabeth had to restrain her sister fro
m saying anything more, lest the gnome change his mind. He scuffled over to the keys and handed them to Elizabeth.

  “Why are you so small?” Elizabeth asked him.

  “I am a garden gnome, cousin to the forest gnomes.” Periwinkle answered.

  “And they’re very resourceful.” Emily chimed in.

  “I see.” Elizabeth responded.

  Within moments, the girls were out of the cage, their gear back in hand. Periwinkle had decided to ride in Emily's backpack again, and in no time, they could hear him snoring.

  “Seriously, Em,” said Elizabeth, “you keep gnomes in your backpack, now?”

  “Oh stop,” Emily answered, but before she could continue her defense, she noticed a heap of cloth on the floor. “Look here! Those goblins left their cloaks. We can use them as a disguise!”

  “You're too tall to be a goblin, Em,” Elizabeth said. “And these things smell terrible!"

  “Just put one on.”

  Soon they were both dressed as goblins, and had rubbed some dirt on their faces to be more convincing. With weapons in hand, they headed back into the main corridor of the cave. No sooner had they left the cage room, than they passed two different goblins headed the other way. They passed by without a second glance!

  “See?” Emily whispered.

  “Oh all right, your plan worked,” said Elizabeth, softly. “But you still don’t look like a goblin.”

  Emily swept her sister up in another hug.

  “Eeew,” said Elizabeth, louder than she’d intended to be, “you smell like one, though!”

  The girls cupped their hands over their mouths to quiet a fit of giggles. Now it was time to get serious. They had to find the sweetberries.

  Chapter 7

  As the girls made their way deeper into the earth, the passage widened into an enormous cavern. It was huge, at least twice as large as the king's horse arena, and the ceiling must have been at least fifty feet high. Elizabeth saw bats nestled there in the hanging rock formations, and shuddered. Below the bats were scores of goblins (Emily guessed one hundred), many of them humming strange tunes as they worked.