It was not today. Rags sat there, in The Wandering Inn, and waited for the call. She knew she should have been at Goblinhome, but she couldn’t. She could neither pace about and alarm her tribe, looking to her for leadership, nor be in the presence of the Dragonlord of Flames.
Nor the Wyvern Lord, either. He had become, rather than a threat…a potential ally. She could not face him; not look into his bright yellow gaze full of wild intelligence and feel the temptation. The twisted desire from the smart, ruthless part of her to ask for his help or even expect it.
Down that road lay an [Innkeeper]’s tears and the garden of statues. It might save her tribe.
She didn’t want to kill him and his.
“I should.”
Rags took another sip from her blue juice drink, the too-sweet, fruity beverage a cross between orange and blueberry for taste. Thick with pulp; nostalgic for a little Goblin who used to have nothing else to eat.
How far she’d come. Rags took a longer drink, then raised a hand.
“Give me another. Two shots of gin.”
“Customer, it is your fifth drink. Do you not believe you have had enough?”
“No.”
Rosencrantz looked at Rags. He shrugged, then provided her with another drink. Rags took it down. She wiped her mouth.
Now would be the time for the enemy to attack. Now…she waited, clawed hand on a ‘Sober Me’ vial. Then she ordered another drink.
Goblinhome would survive with or without her. True, her Skills mattered…but Redscar could take over the defense. Rags had a sixth shot as Peggy came over to ask if something was wrong.
She received a grin full of too much intelligence, even now. Rags slurred in Peggy’s ear.
“If I die here…it was Pallass. Or Xitegen. Tell Redscar that.”
“What if you die of drink-death or swallow-own-puke death, Chieftain?”
Peggy put her hands on her hips, and Rags waggled a finger and reached for her cup.
“If Goblins feared that, we’d never wake up. My head thinks too much. I’m making it shut up.”
She didn’t know if she got to number seven or she just dreamed she did. Rags did know that at some point the world blurred—and the rest became a haze, an experience compressed into a fraction of a moment, half-remembered as she—
——
Woke up. With a killer headache, dry roof of her mouth, pitch-black darkness, and an inferior bed. Someone was banging around, and it was clearly night.
“Attack?”
Rags reached for her speaking stone and barked into it. She heard a startled voice.
“Attack, Chieftain? We’re moving!”
“No. Is it an attack?”
“What? No. Don’t think so. Inn’s quiet. Goblinhome quiet. Fighti three days out and says she’s flying faster.”
“Hrgh.”
“What that, Chieftain? You still drunk?”
“No. Something’s going on with the inn. Standby.”
The banging around was coming from outside her room; Rags was clearly in that, having been put to bed. Someone had even tugged off her boots, though they’d left her in the armor. Rags stumbled out of her sheets and found a pitcher of water on her dressing table.
She gulped from it until it was mostly empty, wiped her mouth, then opened the door.
“What’s going on?”
The inn was normally pretty good about being soundproof—normally. But Ishkr, Ser Dalimont, and two members of staff were turning each room inside out. They turned to her, and Rags’ scowl became an alert expression.
“Is something wrong?”
“Rags. Can we enter your room? Have you seen Mrsha?”
“No. What’s the white rat done now?”
No one laughed at Rags’ joke, and she’d been sleeping on that name for ages. Come to that, she’d barely talked to Mrsha; not that the girl was high on her list.
Rags didn’t mind Mrsha. She was just, as Rags had once said, the ‘replacement Rags’. The more cuddly, innocent, acceptable version of Rags.
Rags had been cute once. Or so she’d thought. She liked to think she’d been precocious. Now she felt like her child years were behind her, despite being younger than Mrsha.
She might have held a bit of animosity towards Mrsha for being the kid Rags couldn’t be, but it wasn’t like she hated her. Just…Rags would have checked on Numbtongue before Mrsha, or maybe Bird. She didn’t ‘get’ Bird, but he had known Erin…wait, she?
Rags never understood these things. In fact, Bird came walking down the stairs, and Rags stared at the female Antinium.
“She is not on the third floor.”
“That leaves Rags’ room. May we?”
Ser Dalimont and Rosencrantz were already in it, checking under the bed. They were…
“What’s wrong?”
Ishkr’s face was calm, but he spoke fast, without his normal, relaxed tone.
“Mrsha’s missing. No one’s seen her since lunch. We’re sweeping the inn, and Lyonette swears she didn’t sense Mrsha leave or anyone hostile come in. We’re checking if someone…”
His eyes flickered, and Rags grunted.
“How bad this time? A Belavierr?”
“His name is Tolveilouka. A half-Elf. Don’t get near him. Or there’s ‘Rhisveri’, a Human man or giant sock-creature. Either one ring a bell?”
Rags barely paused at the descriptions.
“Neither. Chieftain Escort, come in. Have you seen either Mrsha, any suspicious activity, or the following individuals?”
She rattled off the descriptions and got a quick negatory.
“They had a view of the inn. She’s in the [Garden of Sanctuary], I bet.”
Ishkr gave her a significant look.
“I’d believe it too. But I’ve swept all of them. And we have evidence she’s not.”
“What kind?”
——
“She’s not in the [Garden of Sanctuary]. I have a Skill. We are wasting time, Ushar.”
“You didn’t sense her leave, Your Highness.”
“The inn-sense isn’t perfect if I’m busy! But I know she’s not in the garden or inn! If she’s not registering on the [World’s Eye Theatre]—”
Lyonette stood there as Dame Ushar, Nanette, Rose, and two people that Rags didn’t know stood around her. One was a tall woman with pale skin and a lisp. The other was—
Rags jerked back from Elia Arcsinger as Colfa val Lischelle-Drakle spoke.
“Did anyone hear anything from her? She is a naughty child, but not an inconsiderate one.”
“Not lately. She would have told someone; she’s been in trouble so many times she knows better than to just run off. And her trail just vanishes. It’s not stronger; none of the Gnolls smell anything.”
“If it’s the gambling guests, Miss Lyonette…”
Elia Arcsinger stared at Rags, but shifted her attention to the [Princess]. Lyonette hissed.
“I don’t think it is. Ushar, get my mother. Now. She’ll know if her Skill failed. Ielane would have warned us. I am going to rule out the Duke.”
She marched through the inn, and Rags followed. It was a sign of Lyonette’s agitation that she barely took notice of Rags.
Nanette did. Another stranger. She had a hoodie on and pulled it back and nodded to Rags.
“Chieftain Rags? We met.”
“I know. Who’re the two she’s worried about?”
“A…two high-level men who were bested by Miss Lyonette’s gambling night.”
“Hmph. With the garden and the stuff from the box?”
“Exactly.”
Nanette seemed relieved that Rags was up to date on the box. The Goblin’s mind flashed to it. It hadn’t seemed that impressive; she hadn’t seen the piles of gold described to her by Peggy. She got the intellectual value of it, but for an Erin Skill, it was almost…mundane.
Perhaps it had more depths. Either way, Rags leaned against the [World’s Eye Theatre] as the [Knight] muttered into a speaking stone. She was well-trained. Rags heard nothing, nor could she read Ushar’s lips. But Ushar shook her head at Ser Dalimont as Lyonette spoke to someone via the theatre.
“Duke Rhisveri?”
A very alarmed and sleepy voice echoed back; Rags guessed Lyonette was projecting herself, so she only heard this duke, not saw him. Lyonette’s voice was sharp.
“—do not argue with me. My daughter is missing. Swear on—my daughter, yes the Gnoll—be silent! Swear on your debts to me and Ailendamus’ throne that you had nothing to do with her disappearance.”
She listened.
“Very well. I take you at your word.”
She began to storm away, then turned.
“It is not your concern, good day.”
The [Princess] took the steps four at a time. She didn’t even look at Ushar; she just spoke crisply.
“Dalimont? Send Ishkr to Rheirgest. Tell them Elosaith is to meet me, ready for war, in fifteen minutes. Ishkr is joining us too. Ushar, you are to lead search efforts if I don’t come back and while I am gone. Dalimont, with me. Elia Arcsinger, Vaulont, Calescent…Colfa?”
She turned her head, and Rags jumped as a second figure appeared and bowed warily.
“What are we doing?”
“Muster in the inn. Is Archmage Valeterisa still gone?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Vaulont the Ash replied, and Lyonette didn’t slow as she strode into the [Garden of Sanctuary].
“Then we do this without her. There’s only one place she can be.”
“The wand? But they saved us! Maybe they saved Mrsha! Miss Lyonette, don’t do something rash! Don’t—”
Nanette chased after Lyonette, arguing fiercely, and Rags had to ask.
“What’s the ‘wand’?”
Colfa, Vaulont, and Elia Arcsinger all looked at her. Rags had a vivid image of—she passed a clawed hand over her eyes, and the nostalgia vanished. As well as the fear. Elia just blinked at Rags and backed up.
“Er…are you a friend of The Wandering Inn as well? Zat is to say, how friendly? I am Colfa val Lischelle-Drakle, an associate of Miss Lyonette—wait, are you the Goblin from the statue in the common room?”
Colfa’s mouth opened before she covered it with one hand, and Rags blushed. She kept trying to ignore the damn thing! The Goblin turned on her heel and found Calescent.
——
He had six cleavers and was checking his bag of death-spice as he told Rags what he knew about the wand.
Spooky woods people? Rags had to trust Lyonette’s opinion; Nanette didn’t, but Lyonette seemed sure…and she clearly had her own plans.
Rags looked up sharply as Lyonette’s voice filled the inn.
“If I have to, I will burn down the entire Vale Forest! Keep Nanette here—we are going!”
Calescent glanced at Rags, noting her suddenly tense posture.
“What, Chieftain? You know forest people? Chieftain Lyonette doesn’t trust them. If you do know something, now is the only time to talk.”
Rags scratched at her chin, impressed despite herself. She stuck her head out of the kitchen and saw Lyonette was standing with her team of fairly dangerous-looking warriors. She lowered her voice.
“Not that. She’s taken over the inn well in Erin’s absence. Has she been preparing for the next attack?”
“Yah. You should see the plans for the new inn, Chieftain. Good stuff. And she hired Named-ranks and stuff.”
“Hm. More than that.”
Calescent raised a brow, and Rags wished he were still with her. She muttered so softly even a Gnoll couldn’t hear it as she leaned against him.
“My [Dangersense] went off the moment she came back into the inn.”
“Ooh. Good.”
His eyes gleamed, and Rags sighed.
“Go. Tell me if you need backup.”
With Elia and the others, Rags doubted Lyonette needed it. She decided to pursue her own objectives and strode out of the inn as Lyonette and her company made their preparations.
——
While Lyonette prepared for her showdown of some kind, Rags did what she felt was within her capabilities. She ordered her Wyverns to do a pattern sweep of Liscor, with her eyes that could detect heat and their own [Detect Life] spells.
They found no Mrsha.
They did find a sock puppet. It rose out of the grass and spoke as Rags was investigating the old cave Mrsha had been in with the beavers.
“Now it’s Goblins? Hmph. [Mass Paralysis].”
Rags landed on her head—hard—and the Wyvern she was on turned and roared—until a series of vines engulfed its mouth and netted it to the ground. She lay there, helpless, as the figure spoke again.
“[Mass Levitation].”
He couldn’t get the Wyvern into the air and eventually just left it there and floated Rags and eight Goblins to The Wandering Inn. When he landed, he spoke to Nanette and Ishkr, who came rushing out.
“I found these things lurking about the—”
Ishkr threw a mug at him, and the sock puppet staggered and swore.
“What the flower-kissing hell are you doing—”
“Those are our allies!”
“I’ll kill you, you jumped up flunkie. I take time out of my day to come here, and—where is your employer?”
“She’s searching for her daughter. Put them down and read the sign. [Thought-Provoking Statement]!”
The sock-man stopped. Stared at something on the lawn, then dropped Rags. Again on her head. Fortunately, she landed on the grass, and Rhisveri coughed.
“Ah. Well, it was a reasonable—”
“Find Mrsha! Please!”
“I’ll do it! She’s that white rodent, right? Doombearer? Does she have a ring that blocks advanced [Scrying] spells? Bah, nevermind, you amateurs. Lead me to the last location. [Bitorm’s Lantern of Relumination]! Now, I’ll just track where her footfalls last were. And [Nose of the Bloodhound]! Eugh. Outhouses.”
He vanished, and Rags lay on the ground.
Still paralyzed.
——
The sock-puppet, who turned out to be a man in a costume, was highly depressing for her ego, but it made Rags feel better when Demsleth came by and the two had a shouting match about ‘territories’ and ‘meddling’ until Nanette threw a bucket of water on the both of them and ordered them to help or get lost.
However…Rags took one look at the two comparing spells way beyond her grade and decided she was still too drunk and tired to figure it out.
She went to sleep, expecting to wake up to good news, but with that sensation in her heart of hearts that made her toss and turn, even when she cast [Sleep] on herself.
Mrsha was still missing the next day.
And the next.
——
Rags sat there. Thinking.
The third next day, at mid-morning, she was not searching for Mrsha any longer, at least, not physically. There was a limit to how long you could run around or search the same places.
Some people were doing just that; Valeterisa and Relc were combing the area around Liscor, and more thorough hunts had begun in all the places Mrsha could be.
Lyonette—well, Rags left her alone. She was putting a brave face on things.
“I know she’s alright. I know it. Tell me again.”
“[Inspect Ward’s Condition: Mrsha]. She’s healthy, Your Highness. Not even hungry. A bit sleep-deprived. In fine condition.”
“Tell me again. Leave no details out.”
Ushar took a deep breath as Rags sat there, thinking and drinking water.
“She had a bruised shoulder and hurt paw, but it’s mended. She was afraid, lost—it’s a very faint connection, Your Highness.”
“How faint? Say it all again.”
“Fainter than I had with Princess Vernoue before I switched targets.”
“She’s fine. She’ll get in contact with us. I have to…that Ancestors-damned Lism keeps bothering me about his worthless elections and ideas. Send another message to Fetohep. I don’t care how busy he is. Tell him I request an audience again to go over…”
——
Mrsha had to be around here. Rags sat in the [Garden of Sanctuary]. No offense to Lyonette or anyone else, but Rags smelled a Solstice-event. She had been there.
She sat on the hill and went over Mrsha’s day as she had heard it recounted. Mrsha had gone to Liscor. She’d shopped at Krshia’s. She’d not mentioned going anywhere to anyone. Lyonette was convinced Mrsha had been grabbed or teleported out of the inn so fast no one had noticed.
Rags doubted it. She kicked at a pile of upturned dirt and a denuded marigold stalk. Lyonette had ruled out the garden and inn because of her Skill.
Too quickly. This was Erin’s [Garden of Sanctuary]. Rags bent and inspected the flowers. They winked up at her, bright and yellow, covering the hill.
“Dragon magic can’t find her. Saliss can’t. What’s going on?”
She brushed at one stalk of the flowers that Mrsha had clearly dug up; the ground was patted into place, and Valeterisa had recalled casting a spell to allow Mrsha to dig. [Groundswim].
If they wanted to get grim, Rags could imagine what might happen if that spell ran out, but Lyonette had sworn Mrsha wasn’t in the garden. Valeterisa had scanned the ground with spells anyways and found nothing but soil.
And yet…Rags was here. Because this was the last spot Mrsha had been.
“The flowers?”
Why would it matter? It wouldn’t. Saliss had said he’d gotten some flowers from Mrsha, but they weren’t useful in his alchemy. They were just bright, orange marigolds. And yet…they were also worth a lot?
Rags scratched her head. Had Erin once said that? Maybe these particular species were worth something? If so, Erin hadn’t shared them. Well, Rags’ tribe didn’t do much alchemy, but Prixall was now with them, and she was a [Witch].
Maybe this one could be regrown? She bent down and unearthed the stalk of the denuded flower in the ground and saw—
Nothing. Just some dirt; no signs of anything else. Rags tossed the marigold aside and grunted.
“Huh.”
She’d thought it would prove…she dug a bit deeper, but there was no trace of Mrsha going deeper. Then again, her [Groundswim] spell…
For some reason, Rags felt like she was missing something, but the marigolds were just—there. Magicless and beautiful, but that was all.
Embarrassed, the Goblin Chieftain walked away, though not before getting Peggy.
“Hey, can you get a shovel and dig here? Just see if you can find something.”
“How deep, Chieftain?”
“…All the way?”
Rags patted the dismayed Peggy on the shoulder as the Hob rounded up Antinium. Rags went back to the drawing board until someone found her. A frantic Dame Ushar.
Lyonette hadn’t come back.
——
Two people missing now. Now, Rags was searching for where Lyonette had been—but she had apparently walked into an ‘unknown forest’ with her group…and not returned, even hours later.
Rags felt a true fear in her stomach now. She kept alternating between knowing something was coming for Goblinhome, knowing her tribe was in danger—and searching for the two people more beloved to Erin.
Lyonette was missing. Dame Ushar was leading the search, but she kept receiving communications from Calanfer. Something was truly…truly wrong. She refused to say what it was, but there was no Ishkr nor Elia nor Colfa…
Himilt joined the search with Liska, Watch Captain Zevara, and they even summoned Nalthaliarstrelous and Teriarch to confer. When the [Druid] and Dragon were told Lyonette had gone—armed—to a meeting with the people searching for the wand, they had gone dead white.
When Dame Ushar had seen their reactions, she had frozen for a moment, and Rags had looked at her face.
—The Goblin Chieftain was in denial. This could not be happening. She clung to what should be her certainty, the only conclusion her intelligence told her was true:
Mrsha was in the [Garden of Sanctuary].
——
“Dig.”
The Wandering Inn was filled with voices, arguing, filling the [Garden of Sanctuary] with worry. Stress. Yelroan had taken over, and he was trying to find Dame Ushar. She had vanished. Teriarch was casting spells and shouting at the Unicorn, Taletevirion.
Peggy’s face was white. She was twisting her apron so hard it left marks on her claws.
“Chieftain, my Skills…Lyonette’s Skills aren’t working on me.”
“Dig.”
Rags stood as Rosencrantz, Asgra, and every employee and Goblin she could muster that wasn’t at Goblinhome dug in an increasingly wide pit in the [Garden of Sanctuary]. Erin’s beautiful hill was gone; they’d gone below the ground level already, and dirt was everywhere.
Rags didn’t care. She couldn’t—Lyonette was not—
Mrsha. They just had to find Mrsha and this would reverse itself. Rags snapped at Peggy.
“Dig! All the way to the bottom!”
The Hobgoblin looked at her, then left the garden. Rags ignored her. She stood as the teams of diggers rotated out, cursing them, waiting, waiting for them to hit the bottom of the garden. When she heard the first clink of shovels striking something hard, she leapt in, cursing as she slid down the slope.
“There! Move, idiots!”
She pushed Sticks aside; the pit was almost vertical, accounting for the fact they’d had to widen the hole. She was directly below where she’d seen the traces of Mrsha digging up the flowers above. Rags saw shovels scraping the rounded bottom of the [Garden of Sanctuary]. She flung herself down, brushing dirt away, feeling for the trap door, the hole, the…
Nothing. First, Rags felt with her hands. Then she ordered more shovels. Then she had the place washed with water, dredged, and [Light] spells cast. But all she found was a smooth, ancient wood at the bottom of the [Garden of Sanctuary], a rounded pit.
No…hole. No gap. No clue of Mrsha, and no body, either. Rags sat there, head in her hands, until she heard someone calling her name.
“Chieftain? They’re going to confront the forest. Teriarch, Taletevirion—even the [Druid] and Magnolia Reinhart. Everyone is going.”
Rags looked up. Her hair was dirty, her face was disheveled, and the tired Goblins and inn’s staff stared at Rags’ confused, bewildered face.
I was certain…all the clues pointed to this. Rags stared at the bottom of the [Garden of Sanctuary] as Peggy called down to her.
“Chieftain? You coming?”
Rags said nothing. Then she thought she heard something. A sound…so distant it was beyond anything her ears, or even a Gnoll’s ears, could hear. Yet it filled the entire world. It sounded like the world itself moving.
It sounded like:
