Jason woke up and found himself alone. He lay there thinking what he should do. He recalled Lucas telling him about his forebears, he said they were in the Scottish highlands. He sighed, depressed at the thought of travelling the long distance to the north through the snow. They needed transport, horses and mules for the supplies. He heard a voice, it was Yvette, “Jason, are you awake yet?”
Then he heard Jennifer’s voice. “Sleepy head wake up.”
He slid out of his sleeping bag his boots in his hand, “Yes, come in.”
He pulled his boots on and made room as Yvette entered, he edged farther inside as Jennifer appeared. They greeted one another and sat in silence for a while. As Jason fastened his boots and pulled on his anorak, Yvette said. “I have a plan, let’s find the goblin’s lair and get word to the elves.” She looked at Jennifer, who sighed and remained silent. “I could sneak in and try to steal it back, I’ve got a story all worked out in case they spot me.”
Jennifer said, “If they spot you, they will kill you and keep your head as a trophy,” she looked at Jason.
He shrugged and said to her, “We have to do something, Jennifer, finding out where the goblins are is the least we can do and then you can bring word to your parents. I was thinking of travelling to Scotland, our parents would not refuse to help.”
He looked to Yvette for support and she asked him with furrowed brow, “Our parents are in Scotland? Who told you that?”
“Lucas did, and I don’t see why he would lie to me.”
Her brow lifted as she said, “Maybe they are in Scotland, but really, they should be in the old lands, the places called Norway and Sweden, in a place almost void of humans.”
Jennifer asked, “How come you are here. Did you travel from the old lands?”
“No, I was fostered out to France and came to Cambridge, England to…” she faltered then said, “To learn English and study law. I knew you were in England you see and I decided I would later try to find you, but fate in the form of Lucas took charge. He called me at Claire College, where I was studying, before meeting with you and told me of your fate, of your chance, but fatal meeting with Jennifer. He dispatched me to the college. I was to see that nothing befell you. He told me a goblin was on your trail and he told me of the goblin lair on the other side of a great lake. I didn’t realise it was John until Ingrid went missing.
One day I saw a woman dressed in black lurking in the woods. I saw John by the woods at the same time, but he lied to me when I questioned him.” She smiled warmly. “The past five years were the best of my life, Jason. I longed to tell you I was your sister, but you were happy to have me as a friend, so I left it at that.”
He thought of their time together, the games inside the schools gym, the fun they had together and he said, “I wouldn’t change the past even if I could, those memories will stay with me forever, but you picked a hell of a time to tell me, in the middle of a raging blizzard.”
Her gaze fell as she said, “I have but one regret.”
He knew what it was, but he felt it would be better if she said and got it out of her system. “Tell me.”
“That you were present when I killed John.”
He took a deep breath, he let it out slowly, he thought of the times they had together, him, Yvette, Ingrid and John, the toboggan rides, the snowball fights, teaching John, dear clumsy John, how to ice skate. A single tear rolled down his cheek, he wiped it away with his fingers and said, “What’s done is done.”
Jennifer brought him back from the past as she produced the three sacks. “Let’s eat, then we can be on our way. By my reckoning, the reservoir is behind this mountain and the goblins are situated on the other side of it.”
Chapter thirteen.
Yvette.
They climbed the mountain, which was really a rather high and long, rock face, but it took them the best part of the morning to climb the sheer stone wall, which was preferable to backtracking for a whole day, and then through deep snow. Where they were now, the snow was but a light covering, though the ice-covered rock face was an entirely different matter.
Jennifer found climbing no problem, she led the way, pointing to hand-holds, places where they could place their feet. They had no climbing ropes as they hadn’t expected to encounter anything higher than a snow-covered hill, so their position was precarious. Even though this sprawling pile of rock was not all that high, one slip meant death or severe injuries that would take time to heal, even for an elf or a werewolf, but they made it eventually to the summit.
The descent was much easier, the snow was deeper, but it was frozen solid. It was firm enough to toboggan down on the backpack frames, until they hit softer snow and tumbled head over heels, laughing and spluttering as they regained their footing.
They reached the reservoir near to dusk, and while searching for a way onto it they found the inlets filled with deadly ice shards that pointed upwards. The surrounding shores were one continuous sheer wall of ice, impossible to descend without the proper equipment. To their chagrin they realized they would have to transverse the lake, a journey that would take them more than a day, but luck smiled upon them when Jennifer took leave to relieve herself in the descending darkness and stumbled upon one spot in the middle where they could descend.
The path, a metre deep depression, into which Jennifer had fallen, was a wide expanse of firmly trodden snow, a not too steep gradient leading to the lakes surface. It was almost a hundred metres in width as it arrived there, and it rose up sharply on either side. It had been literally carved out of the side of the lake. Yvette said, “This is a goblin trail, in regular use, it seems we are on the right track.”
They walked and half-slid down onto the scarred ice and continued across it, keeping to the trail. The snow swirled around their ankles, stirred up by the gusting wind, which came at them from all directions. The snow on the lake’s hard glassy surface lay in drifts. Strange shapes dotted the vast icy landscape, some large, some small. These random figures had been formed by the wind, one resembled an animal from a far-off fantasy land and another was a spiral that corkscrewed upwards.
They reached the other shore by following what was a scarred and well-worn path to an inlet void of ice.
Yvette raised her hand. “Goblin tracks, recent ones too.” She pointed up the snow covered inlet. “This seems to be the way.” She regarded the others, “Do we continue?”
Jennifer nodded. “Just to see how far it is, and how many there are of them.”
They carried on warily along the inlet; they followed the frozen stream, stepping over rocks until they reached the top of a rise. They peered over the edge and into the gloom. Jason turned his head away and Jennifer pulled a face. Yvette shook her head, “Phew, what a stink!”
As she reached the top, Jennifer climbed onto a large rock and peered towards the horizon, she spoke as she gazed intently, “I can see movement amongst the hills, campfires. The goblins are many.” She paused and looked down at them, her eyes wide. “They are in their thousands.”
She jumped down and pointed along the goblin trail of hard-packed snow. “Their camp is about two hours march from here if we follow this trail. According to my information they will have built tunnels, a real honeycomb. In this temperature the earth will need practically no shoring.”
Jason said, “I think we have seen enough, let’s camp in an inlet on the other side, out of this wind and away from the trail. We must leave before dawn in case the goblins are on the prowl.”
They made their way back across the ice and found a secluded spot away from the goblin trail. They finished off what food they had left in their backpacks and retired as darkness came.
Deception.
He woke, startled, it was pitch black. He listened intently, nothing. He turned over and drifted back to sleep.
Huge hands gripped him, it was John, he was shaking him, his teeth bared, saliva dripped from his mouth and onto his face. My goodness, Jason Silvermoon Longfellow, you are diff
icult to wake.
He opened his eyes and saw Jennifer staring down at him as she shook him. “She’s gone! Your sister, she‘s gone after the rune stone, the fool. Come on, Jason, get dressed.”
She crawled out of his tent and he pulled on his boots and anorak. He crawled out into the twilight; he walked away and undid his trouser front. He sighed as the pressure on his bladder subsided. He turned and saw Jennifer with her back to him, stringing her bow. She reached inside her back pack and took out several objects. He watched as she fitted the pieces together, then he heard one final ‘click’ and she held up a double-edged sword. She thrust the weapon into his hand. He looked at it, weighing it in his hand, his brow creasing heavily. “It’s a sword, Jason, if we meet any goblins, pretend they are blocks of wood on the chopping block and make firewood of them,” then she added, “Just don’t stand too near me when you do it.”
Ignoring the stench, she walked into the midst of them, minus her backpack. Most of them were half asleep, and she shouted, “Where is he, where is your leader, take me to him or heads will roll,” and approached one ugly female. She looked up at her and said, “I have news of Princess Reega and her brother Jorgul, take me to your king.”
The female belched loudly causing Yvette to step back from her. “Follow me, runt.”
She followed the goblin woman to a shallow opening carved out the side of the hill. A fat goblin sat there eating fish, chewing noisily, he swallowed the contents of his mouth and asked. “What you got there, Bleggar, dessert?”
As the surrounding goblins laughed, more out of politeness, Yvette said aloud without waiting to be announced, “I am mademoiselle Dubois, I have a message from a dear friend of mine, John, he is it at the college not far from here and sends you good wishes, I only do this because he is a very good friend and he wishes to know how his sister, the princess Reega, is faring. I have travelled a long way, alone, across this desolation and I would like answers as soon as possible.”
The goblin took a drink from a water skin hanging from the ceiling. “You are a friend of my Jorgul. How is he now?”
“He is watching the werewolf at this present time, there seems to be some consternation in the elvin camp, they are running around like the headless chickens.”
He chuckled and said, “Come closer my tiny human, are you hungry, do you like grilled salmon, freshly caught this morning.”
She looked at the fish flapping on the grill over a charcoal fire. She turned to a sudden commotion. The whole camp was in a sudden uproar, she heard cries of, “Jorgul! Reega!”
She watched as four armed goblins arrived, carrying the stiffened bodies of Reega and John. The four goblins laid the bodies down and a horde of large and small goblins gathered around the cadavers and started to wail.
The king cried “Seize the human!”
Yvette’s escort reached out to grab her, and gurgled as a razor-sharp blade slashed through her windpipe, spraying blood everywhere. She toppled forward and landed with a loud thud onto her face in front of her executor. Another goblin approached Yvette and stopped, his eyes wide, his mouth agape as Yvette’s body started to swell. “A werewolf,” he cried, and tried to move out of range of Yvette’s long-bladed knife, but he moved too slowly, and she cleaved him open from shoulder to thigh.
She cut down the two of the goblins who had brought Reega and her brother, beheading them with two practiced strokes. Her anorak exploded into shreds along with her breeches and the rest of her apparel. Her naked body sprouted black hair, her chest swelled, her jaw expanded along with her skull and her ears sprouted up. She kicked off her torn boots as her legs stretched her to a height of almost nine feet. She grabbed one goblin and bit his head off with her dagger-like incisors and stabbed another in the throat. The others cowered from her, most of them young females. She turned on the king and spat the head out. “Where is the rune stone, give it to me and I will spare your life.”
The king stared at her defiantly. He pointed to the bodies and said, “My daughter Reega set out with a troll to steal the rune stone, it seems she was successful and if you want the stone you will have to fight for it.”
Yvette growled, “After I killed your Jorgul, we searched Reega’s corpse and found nothing, so, where is the stone?”
His jaw dropped, he stood in shock for a few seconds as his people, weaponless, milled around Yvette wondering what to do, until the king goblin came to and screamed, “To arms, to arms, Jorgul and Reega’s assassin is amongst us.”
Yvette swung around and encountered a horde of Goblins in all shapes and sizes as they surged forward with outstretched hands. She hewed and hacked at the pack, she severed heads and limbs with her long knife, then she heard a movement behind her, there stood the goblin king with a huge axe in his hand raised to strike her down. He stood there frozen then reached up slowly to the arrow embedded deep in the side of his neck. He gurgled loudly, dropped his axe and fell at her feet. Yvette turned to the commotion and saw Jennifer at the camp entrance shooting arrows into the goblin horde as it raced towards her and Jason. He held an elvish sword and wielded it with dexterity, decapitating anyone who managed to come near to him.
A squad of male goblins, now armed, rushed towards her. She dodged a spear thrust and disembowelled her attacker, another stumbled over its body and she stamped down and crushed his skull, she slashed at another, beheading him then she stooped to avoid a javelin jab and grabbed a fallen spear.
She ran back the way she came, slashing with her knife at her pursuers. A double rank of goblins charged her with their long spears levelled. Using her confiscated spear as a vaulting pole she leaped over her attackers. She stabbed downwards, piercing skulls and necks, every blow bringing death. She landed behind her attackers and ran on towards Jennifer as she shot her last arrow, and she handed her the spear.
Jennifer took it, slipped her bow over her shoulder and stabbed a troll in the belly that had joined the fray. Yvette told them as she stabbed it in the throat with her knife, “The rune stone is not here, it is gone. Someone took it from Reega.”
Jason hacked the trolls head off in two savage strokes as it fell to its knees. He shouted above the commotion, “In that case we had better leave.”
They left the camp and sped along the goblin trail, spurred on as half-a-dozen javelins flew past them with inches to spare. Jason gathered them up as he ran along and handed Jennifer her sword. They heard the howling mob behind them, Jennifer risked a quick look, “They are after us, but they aren’t as fast as we are.”
After twenty minutes they reached the lake, they grabbed their equipment and climbed the slippery shore and rested at the top. Jennifer peered into the distance. “They are still after us, but they are hampered by the width of the trail, they can only run three abreast.”
Jason looked up at his sister, his eyes wide and he spoke with a hint of pride in his voice, “So this is what a werewolf looks like. You fought magnificently.”
Yvette bared her fangs in a grin, “What about you, brother?”
He stuck the ends of his javelins in the snow, “I am quite content, anyhow, I don’t know what to do.”
Yvette handed him the spear, a thick roughly hewn shaft with a broad-bladed razor sharp head. Then she held up her bloody knife, “Here, take this too, I have enough with these,” she held up her bloodied hands, long-fingered with retractable talons.
Her scent pervaded his nostrils, mixed with goblin blood. His own blood pounded through his veins and thinking it was from the fight he stuck the knife and spear in the snow and loosened his anorak and pulled it over his head. “I can’t breath, my head-Aaagh!” He cried out as his anorak tore in two in his haste. He flung the pieces to the ground as his chest expanded. His head swelled out, covered in fur and he opened his mouth as fangs appeared in his jaw, which now stretched in the shape of a wolf.
Yvette said, “Don’t be alarmed, you are transforming, it always hurts the first time, but it isn’t the pain of injury, Jason, your bones and si
new are forming, your muscles are stretching and growing.”
He watched as his hands changed shape, he felt his arms and shoulder muscles growing. He towered way above Jennifer as she gazed at him in wonder. His fur was silver, stark in contrast to his sister’s charcoal black form.
Jennifer said wide-eyed, “That is the first transformation I have ever seen, and you are such a handsome beast, Silvermoon,” then she said with a glint in her eyes, “You are both magnificent.”
She came to him and he stretched out his hand and she smoothed it against her cheek. She compared his size to Yvette’s. He stood a good head taller and possessed more muscle. She looked to his sister as she growled, “They are here, Lavendel, not many, but they are coming.”
Jennifer drew her sword and peered across the lake at the inlet, she could make out several goblins as they made their way down. They were heavily armed and armoured, they seemed leaderless as they jostled one another, stumbling and shouldering one another in their attempt to stay in front, typical goblin behaviour, always wanting to be first. “They number over three hundred, but they are not organised, they are in groups of fifty or so, they will charge uncontrolled, it will be easy to kill them, individually.”
Silvermoon. A Tale of a Young Werewolf. A YA Novel. 12-18 Page 11
