Hello, Everyone!
How are you? How have you been? I’m great! Writing keeps me sane, it’s a wonderful adventure all on its own!
Last time, my dear Mary and the rest of the party went into the tunnels under Belfast. They got followed by Bruno’s sister Paulina who turned out to be able to turn herself into different animals. She joined them and then helped pulverize a couple of nasty goblins. Mary and Aurum were almost useless in that battle because they couldn’t see a thing in the darkness of the underground.
Oh, well. Bruno and Paulina did pretty well on their own. And now, the adventure continues!
Mary's attention turned to the last living goblin. It was small, almost the size of a human child, and its ears (longer, more delicate) told her that it was a female.
The creature was trembling and clutching a small crooked dagger. Mary crouched in front of it and outstretched her arms.
“Don't be afraid,” she said, making sure she sounded calm and reassuring. “We are not going to harm you.”
The goblin blinked and started talking in a language Mary and her companions did not understand.
“We don't know what you're saying,” Mary said. “Do you speak Common?”
The goblin looked at the ceiling as if to remember something and then tried to talk. At first she was mixing up words and expressions but the more she spoke, the clearer her words became.
“What's your name?” Mary asked.
“Kiyra,” she answered, still quite tentatively. "Are you going to eat me?"
"No!" Mary exclaimed. "Why would you think that?!"
Kiyra's ears flattened.
"My grandma says humans eat goblins," she said.
Mary looked at Aurum, who shrugged.
"We don’t eat goblins.” he said. “Do you eat humans?"
"No!" the little goblin shook her head furiously. "Our tribe eats only mushrooms and fish!"
"So, if none of us is going to eat the other," Mary said. "Can you give me the dagger?"
Kiyra readily handed it over. She seemed to have calmed down after learning that she wasn't going to be anybody's dinner.
"Are you hurt?" Mary asked. “Are you hungry?”
She took out a small bag of dried mushrooms she’d taken from the Airhammer’s kitchen (a ‘Ferenc Special’, as it was obviously called). Kiyra looked her in confusion.
“That’s tea, not food,” she said.
“See? I told you so!” Paulina triumphed.
Mary frowned.
By that point Kiyra seemed completely comfortable with her saviours and turned out to be quite the talker. She told them all about the goblin tribes in the place she came from. There were two, one called the Ravens and the other--her tribe--the River-folk. The Ravens were bigger and scarier and they hunted the River-folks when there wasn't anything else to eat. Kiyra said that she went out to pick mushrooms but got too far from home and was attacked. Several times, she thanked them for saving her.
Mary noticed her eyes darting to the tunnel she’d come from with some worry.
"Are you scared to go back by yourself?" she asked.
“Yes,” Kiyra said. “The Ravens are scary.”
“Do you, um…” Mary looked at her companions for support, “want us to come with you?”
The little goblin nodded enthusiastically. And, with Bruno and Aurum shrugging, they prepared to go to the little goblin’s home.
Before they set off, Paulina pulled Mary aside.
“I sniffed around while I was a bear,” she said. “Did you know that your stuff smells of a human?”
“Um…” Mary raised her eyebrows. “I’m human.”
“A human man, Mary. And not him,” the dwarf girl pointed at Aurum. “А stranger. Very recent smell, too.”
“But, um… I haven’t met any human men recently,” Mary frowned, utterly confused.
“Well, that’s what I smelled,” Paulina shrugged. “My nose doesn’t lie.”
Mary couldn’t explain that. She made a mental note to check with the dwarf girl later and see if she had a way to understand this little mystery.
That’s our chapter today, folks! What’s going on? Whose smell did Paulina catch? We don’t know. But we will, just be patient :)
Next time on Mary’s adventures: we’re going to Kiyra’s home but there’s a small complication. All right, all right. A big complication. Who’d known that not having darkvision could be such a problem?
Anyway :)
I hope you like the story!
Take care and be well!