The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #4)(90)

The goblin chewed for a few more moments then swallowed heavily and moved toward Shade once more. Its shining black eyes settled on his backpack then rose to look at his face. Settling back on its haunches it made a trilling sound that reminded him of a bird and held its small hand toward his bag.

Shade nodded in understanding and produced another piece of jerky from his bag. “See, we can communicate,” he said softly as he knelt down in front of the creature and offered it the jerky.

The goblin watched him for a long moment, eyeing his posture, and then cautiously leaned forward to take the offering. Unlike the first time, it didn’t snatch the food, and it didn’t scamper off to eat it. The creature eyed him as it devoured the meat with an expression of curiosity on its face.

“I get you, and I feel the same way right now,” Shade agreed with a nod and slowly stood once more. “But as interesting as you are, little guy, I have a job to do. So you have two options. You can follow me and keep me company or you can scamper off into the wilds . Your choice entirely, but if you do scamper off, please scamper a long way. I’d hate the Blights to get hold of you.” He smiled once more at the creature who seemed to be listening intently to him and then began walking north again. He wouldn’t reach the lakes tonight, but he could at least get a mile or so closer.

A frantic trilling rose behind him and Shade paused to look back as the goblin scrambled to its feet and stumbled after him quickly. Smiling he watched it approach and offered it another piece of jerky. “I was hoping you would decide to follow,” he admitted with a nod to the goblin as he began walking once more. It fell into step behind him. “Now we have to think up a name for you, because Neph Junior is just way too mean. You have already shown that you have a better personality than Neph does.”





*





“It’s not done yet,” Shade chuckled as he pushed the goblin back from the campfire once more. Shaking his head with a smile he stirred the stew and tested the vegetables. “The potatoes are still too crunchy,” he informed the creature and leaned back from the fire.

For the first few days he had shunned campfires and had rested in the treetops in animal forms. Now, however, Shade was making his presence as blatant as he possibly could. He had been in Glis for six days now, and still there was no sign of the Blights. He was beginning to wonder if they had already moved on to Arovan. If they had, there was no hope at all of saving them, or Arovan for that matter.

The goblin trilled and gibbered at him as it tried to worm its way past him to reach the food. Snorting back laughter, Shade planted a hand calmly on its chest and pushed it back once more. With an expression that reminded him of a pouting child the goblin sulked off to the fringes of the camp and watched him with a mournful face.

“I think you will survive for another twenty minutes,” Shade chuckled.

“I don’t,” a woman’s voice whispered and Shade launched to his feet at the sound. The brush behind the goblin exploded with movement as several of the misshapen Blights rushed the creature.

“No!” Shade bellowed as he drew his daggers and sprinted for the goblin. One of the Blights whirled to face him as he approached and he slammed the dagger into its head hilt first to knock it out. He didn’t want to kill them, but he wasn’t about to let them kill his goblin either. “Call them off, please. We don’t want to fight. We are here to talk,” Shade yelled as he kicked another of the Blights back from the goblin.

The small creature trilled with alarm and scampered toward him. Its huge black eyes were wide with terror, and it obviously had no desire to fight.

“I hate it when dinner tries to chat,” the woman sighed with an amused tone in her voice.

“I was sent to negotiate peace with your people. Please! I don’t want to fight you,” Shade pleaded as he pulled the goblin toward him and kicked back another Blight. Claws tore through the leather of his boot, shredding the flesh beneath, but he didn’t spare time to even glance at the wound. Three more of the creatures were already closing on him and the goblin was attempting to scramble up his back to escape them. “Really, I know you are scared, but this is just not helping,” Shade snarled as he pulled the goblin from his hip and tossed it upward toward a tree limb. “Stay up there,” he commanded as he dropped to a crouch to face the closest Blight.

“I’ve never seen anything protect a goblin. You are a strange one, Dinner,” the woman observed from the shadows behind him.

“I greatly prefer to be called Shade. Dinner just doesn’t suit me,” Shade said. The Blight in front of him lunged as he spoke and he sidestepped gracefully then kicked it in the butt as it passed to ensure it wouldn’t be back to attack him for at least a few breaths. The remaining two Blights attacked together coming at him from both sides and Shade dodged one and grabbed the other by its spindly arm. Twisting he used the creatures momentum to hurl it into its comrade and danced back as they fell in a tangled heap. The one he had kicked in the butt was closing on him again and he shook his head with frustration. “Look, I don’t want to fight, and I am trying not to hurt these guys, but I am running out of options quickly,” he called toward the Shadows where the woman’s voice had originated.

“Then die and solve both of our problems. They are hungry and you are food. It’s nothing personal, it’s simply the food chain,” the woman replied calmly from the other side of the clearing.