by Husk, Shona
Her lips moved without sound as if she were thinking of a reply. “You’re the Goblin King?”
“I am.” Usually people dropped to their knees and begged for their life, but then people usually only saw him as a goblin. Very few had seen him as he’d once been before he’d lost his heart to a curse he didn’t deserve and which had destroyed his tribe.
Her gaze flickered over his weapons, but she held her ground. “Where are we?”
“The Summerland. Where dreams begin.” Unless he ended them by dragging the Shadowlands with him. The cold death was creeping closer, strangling the summer beauty.
“Why here?” she said with a frown that didn’t belong on her pretty face.
She hadn’t asked to be taken back. Roan kept the surprise from his features.
“Why not?” The Summerland was as good as it got. Eternal sweet summer days, all denied to him. But that was no reason she had to share his curse and join him. These were a few moments to remind himself he was once a human with a heart that beat. Helping her had reminded him of that even if it hadn’t brought life to the golden muscle. It was more than anyone had done for him in far too long. Serving her had been a reward he’d never expected a summoner to grant.
“I just wanted to leave the party.” She spun around then back to face him. Her long honey-blond hair swirled around her like the finest gold thread.
Roan fisted his hand. She wasn’t an object to possess, that was the goblin in him heeding the empty call of the curse. Take more, always more to feed a hunger that could never be sated. It was a question of when, not if, he faded to gray and became one of the true goblins that roamed the Shadowlands looking for battle and gold. When he succumbed, the men who shared his curse would fall with him. It was for them he fought.
Now he had a new weapon to fight with. This girl, with her simple wish, had given him back what he’d thought lost. The simple ability to be kind, a trait no goblin could lay claim to.“Then be more careful what you wish for.” He worked an amber bead, one of many in his hair, off a dreadlock. Each one was placed after he’d resisted the orders of a summoner. Tonight he’d failed. But he would fail many times to feel this human. To have her gaze at him as if he were once again a man. A savior, not a thief.
The doubt in her eyes lessened, but she still watched him as if unsure what he would do next. “I thought goblins were meant to be ugly and scary.”
Roan blinked, then laughed. She had more courage than many men he’d faced—she just didn’t know how to use it. “Would you prefer I looked like a monster?”
She shook her head and cast her gaze down, her cheeks turning pink. “I like the way you look now.”
Her head turned as she took in the damage he was doing to the dream. The death of the Summerland was spreading. But where she stood the grass remained green as if she were made of the same pure magic of the Summerland. Would she keep him human if he had her or would it last only as long she remained untainted by the Shadowlands?
“What’s happening?”
“Where I go the Shadowlands follows. I bring darkness, death, and despair. I rule land made of dust and famine. My subjects are goblins who’d eat you alive. Do not summon me again for next time I may not return you.” It wasn’t a casual threat. The temptation to see if she’d save him was one he could only ignore for so long. If she were to call him again…
Her eyes widened and she nodded. “I won’t. I didn’t even think you were real.”
“I am real.” He took her hand and placed the amber bead in her palm. Then closed her fingers over it. “A token to remember me by.”
By morning this dream would fragment and it would be all she had left. Maybe he shouldn’t give it to her, but he wanted her to know she hadn’t imagined him. He wanted to exist for someone, if only as a half-forgotten dream. Better a fading dream than a nightmare.
“Thank you.” She smiled, her eyes bright in the sunlight. She didn’t open her hand to study the gem, just him. “I won’t forget you.”
Roan pressed his lips together. He wished that were true.
“It’s time for you to wake up.” He touched her shoulder and she vanished.
His fingers burned from the contact and the cold in his chest ached at the loss…almost as painfully as if he’d been forced to part with gold. In a way he had, but in keeping her, he would’ve lost the very thing he wanted.
Roan watched as the patch of grass she’d been standing on wilted and turned to dust as the Shadowlands caught up with him. The sun went out and the sky became as empty as the land. Nothing glimmered. No stars, no moon, no sun. The trees at the edge of the field shed their leaves, their bark blackened and their limbs twisted, reaching for the heavy gray twilight. The only things that grew in the Shadowlands were the things people feared. The river was black and slick, the dust barren, and the few animals wandering around were little more than hide and bones.
Nothing survived here. Not even hope.
The girl’s smile stayed with him, warming him where everything else had failed. It wouldn’t win back his soul, but it would help him hold on to it for a little longer…Maybe his brother would find a cure to the curse and they would once again be free.
***
Eliza’s head jerked up as she woke, and her stomach rolled at the sudden motion. She closed her eyes again and took a slow, deep breath. Even with her eyes closed the room seemed to tilt and sway. How had she managed to nod off while sitting on the cold bathroom floor? With unsteady legs she eased herself up. Something fell out of her hand and bounced across the floor. Her heart gave a solid thump as if trying to leap out of her rib cage.
Her hand slid over the wall to the light switch, but she already knew what it was. A bead. An amber bead given to her by the Goblin King…who’d looked very human—and incredibly hot. He wasn’t like Matt’s friends…or any of the boys her age. Everything about him was sharp and hard, and yet the tenderness in his eyes spoke of a deep sadness and longing. The weapons he wore left no doubt he was a fearsome warrior. After all, he’d saved her. But who would save him?
The florescent light flickered and came on. She shielded her eyes from the glare as she cast her gaze across the floor looking for the bead. It glinted like a drop of sunshine on the white tiles next to the bath. She picked it up and held it to the light.
One amber bead delicately engraved with a Celtic knot. His hair had been full of them. But even as she tried to remember the details of his face they slid away. Until all she was left with was an impression of blue eyes like the sky above a desert, hungry and deadly, and dark hair full of gold and amber beads.
He wasn’t really a goblin. He was a cursed man with a heart of gold, just like her mother’s stories. She smiled and closed her hand. Her warrior.
“Eliza?” her brother called out. “Eliza, are you okay?” She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, removing the worst of the tearstains. Her hand went to the broken strap, but beneath her fingers it was whole. She turned and glanced in the mirror. Both straps were perfect. She frowned and touched her shoulder. He’d touched her shoulder, his fingers cool and firm. Had he fixed her top at the same time? Or had she imagined it was broken?
“Eliza!” Her brother began opening doors and slamming them closed.
She opened the bathroom door. “I’m here. I’m fine.”
“What the hell happened?”
Eliza shrugged.
“Are you okay?” Amanda, Matt’s girlfriend, leaned into his arm.
“Fine, I, um…didn’t feel very well so I came to the bathroom.”
“You’ll feel worse tomorrow,” Amanda said.
“Did you hear anything strange?” Matt pressed.
“I heard the music stop.” She raised her eyebrows and tried to look innocent.
Her brother and his girlfriend studied her.
“Really, I’m fine. I shouldn’t have had the second beer.” She shouldn’t have any. She wouldn’t get drunk ever again. And she would never let another guy talk
her into anything she didn’t want. One kiss had rapidly become demands for more.
“Where is everyone?” Were they the only people in the house?
“Gone.”
“Oh.” The Goblin King had chased everyone away. Not that she could tell them that, and if she did, they wouldn’t believe her. They’d just think she’d drunk too much—which she had. If it weren’t for the bead fisted in her hand, she’d be tempted to agree he was a dream brought on by beer. But he wasn’t. She’d been saved by the Goblin King. She tried not to smile and lost.
“I’m going to lock up the house.” Matt gave Amanda a kiss on the cheek.
She turned with him. “I’ll take out the garbage so we don’t have to do it all in the morning.”
Eliza sighed. She should help them. Because she was here, she was part of the crime, and if they didn’t get it cleaned up before their Dad returned he’d ground them for life. But there was something she needed to do first.
She put the bead on her bedside table so it wouldn’t get lost, then took off the strappy sandals that were making it hard for her to keep her balance with a belly full of beer and shoved on her sneakers. The Goblin King had saved her and although he hadn’t asked for gold, she knew that would be what he’d want in payment. She knew the stories and had a book full of goblin lore. While she had no real gold to thank him with, there was plenty of liquid gold in the laundry—beer. She hoped that would be enough.
Amanda was picking up empty bottles off the lounge room floor as Eliza went past her, half expecting someone to jump out of the shadows, but the house was empty. In the laundry she pulled the plug on the trough so as the ice melted it could drain away. There were still nearly two cartons of beer and a couple cans of pre-mix spirits on ice. Her stomach somersaulted at the thought of alcohol.
With quick moves she put the beer into an empty box, then scribbled thank you on the flap. It rattled and clanked as she carried it out into the dark yard. She shivered in the cool night air. Maybe she was being silly, and maybe it would be there in the morning. But maybe not. And that was enough of a reason to leave payment for the man who’d saved her…and shown her the Summerland.
He was the first person to listen to something she said. Since her mother’s death three years ago her father had focused on his work. No matter how well she did at school, she could never do enough to shift his focus from the law firm. Her brother was just as bad. All he ever thought about was Amanda and his studies. If her father and brother spoke, it was always with raised voices. They probably wouldn’t have noticed if the Goblin King hadn’t returned her. For half a second she entertained the idea of living in the Summerland with the Goblin King in some kind of fairy-tale existence. Couldn’t all curses be broken? But at the back of her mind his warning remained clear and cold.
Do not summon me again.
Yet for those moments with him she’d felt safe, like he would protect her from anything and everyone. Though she didn’t dare tempt her luck and call him again. He might’ve looked human, but she had to remember he was goblin inside. She’d seen the Summerland wither in his presence.
She swallowed hard. He was dangerous. And she couldn’t afford to forget it. The trees trembled, their limbs creaking in the breeze. Eliza rubbed her hands up her arms to smooth out the sudden goose bumps. She took a step back toward the house, away from the dark shadows in the yard. They crept forward after her.
“Are you there?” Her voice didn’t shake, but it was quieter and higher than it should have been. Another step back.
Sirens cut through the night, slicing the quiet. She startled, the ill feeling in her stomach growing. Whatever magic she had unraveled tonight by calling on the Goblin King, it hadn’t finished unfolding. It reached out through the night as if looking for something. She ran inside and locked the door. Would the beer be enough of a thank you? Or would he demand something more in payment since he hadn’t taken her?
She crawled into bed, listening for the sound of beads chiming that would signal his arrival, half-hoping to see him once more, not sure what she would do if she did. She touched the bead, the only proof she had that she hadn’t dreamed him into existence.
Her eyes closed and she found herself in the impossibly bright field. No natural grass was this green. No sky was this blue. This was the Goblin King’s Summerland. Her stomach twisted in anticipation. She turned around, looking for him, only this time he wasn’t here. She was alone.
Jewel-colored butterflies flitted past in a spiraling dance. As lovely as this place was, it seemed empty. If this was her dream, shouldn’t she be able to control it? Eliza bit her lip.
Do not summon me again.
Was a dream considered a summons? And what would she do if he did show up here? Ask what it was like to be a goblin? Ask whether he thought about her as much as she thought about him? She shook her head. It was better not to risk it. He didn’t look like the forgiving type—not that she could remember exactly what he looked like.
All she had was a vague impression of thinly veiled power. His hand had been rough against hers, as if he were used to working…or swinging the sword that hung casually at his side. She bit her lip. Something about him didn’t fit with her mother’s stories. Why had he been cursed? If it was for a love of gold, shouldn’t he have demanded some from her? He hadn’t acted like the greedy monster she’d read about in the stories.
But if she’d learned anything from her trip to the Summerland, it was that things weren’t always what they seemed.
She lay down in the long grass to watch the butterflies dance. What was the point of all this beauty if no one could see it and she had no one to enjoy it with? This was becoming a boring dream. Her eyes grew heavy as the warmth crept into her and made her sleepy.
Sunlight streamed past her open curtains. Eliza squinted through the pounding tightening her skull. The amber bead on her bedside table shone in the sunlight as if lit from within. She blinked. It had really happened. All of it. She’d gotten drunk and summoned the Goblin King last night.
Eliza flipped back the blanket and ran over to her window. The box of beer was gone. Her breath caught in her throat. He’d been back.
***
Roan surveyed the gold piled from wall to wall in his gold room, the biggest cavern in the rock spire that passed as his castle. It glittered and gleamed with stolen treasure. Statues, crowns, a throne, and more coins than he cared to count were strewn across the floor. Today it was dull.
He flicked the cap off a beer and took a swig. Beer tasted so much better when he didn’t have to steal it. Not that he could drink much of it. Too many bottles and he’d forget to hold onto his soul with both hands.
“Celebrating?” Dai said in Deceangli as he looked up from his book. They used the language out of habit even though they spoke many more.
They’d spent so long together bound by the curse that they could sense when one departed the Shadowlands or arrived back from the Fixed Realm. Dai’s gaze travelled over the gold as if he were looking for a new addition.
“A gift from a summoner.” He gave his brother a bottle of beer so he could share in the celebration even if he didn’t understand the reason behind it.
“What did you do?” Dai’s eyebrows slashed down as if he was expecting Roan to suddenly fade to goblin.
Dai might be younger, but he was always the voice of caution, making sure he didn’t misstep and become goblin by accident.
“Nothing that would cause you concern, brother.” Yet he doubted Dai would approve of him breaking up the party with magic when he could have just scared the youth tormenting the young woman. It had been worth the price. A small piece of his soul to have her see him as man.
“Nothing that made you human.”
He wasn’t human, even though for a few shining moments he’d felt human…or what he thought being human should feel like. It had been so long he wasn’t sure he remembered.
“No.” He couldn’t have used her to save himself—he wasn’
t that goblin. He stared at the gold. Its empty promise of satisfaction that never came. His life’s achievements could be measured by the ton, but it still amounted to nothing.
Roan hadn’t expected anything from her. He’d only gone back to make sure she was truly safe. As much as he’d like to see her again in the Summerland, he knew he couldn’t—no matter what she dreamed. From another realm he could feel her dreams sliding over his skin like silk. Not a summons. But she thought of him. Remembered him. Holding on to his soul didn’t seem so hard when he knew she was dreaming of him. He touched the dreadlock missing the bead and smiled. It was enough. It had to be enough because he was too goblin to resist the lure if it was constantly put in front of him, and she was a prize worth all the gold in his gold room.
“To summoners bearing gifts.” Roan raised a toast to the young woman. The bottles chinked, the hollowness echoing in the gold. There was nothing for him here. Nothing that could fill his heart and nothing that could heal his soul.
The memory of the young woman with the golden eyes stayed with him. The temptation to meet her in the Summerland lingered, but it was a false dream. Maybe it had been a mistake to take her there. But it was a mistake he would gladly make again to be seen as human and not the monster he’d become.
Roan downed the rest of the bottle in a long swallow, then let the glass crumble to dust in his fingers. Perhaps one more glimpse into her golden eyes would ease his pain. Or would it only make it worse—to know she could never be his? The thought caused him an anguish he couldn’t fathom. For her, he wanted a chance to live. She’d looked so alone and frightened, cowering from her stalker. What if she needed him? His chest ached in the hollow where his heart should have been. But he knew if she needed him, she would call for him and would willingly go to her side. Until then, he would bide his time and redouble his efforts to achieve the impossible:
A cure to the curse.
