The Goblin's Curse (23 page)

“We need to get that talisman,” Keelie said. She helped Dad inside.

It seemed very quiet, considering the goblin tree was there.

“Davey?” Dad called from the doorway.

No answer.

Dad dropped into one of the recliners by the door.

Keelie heard a moan from the bedroom and walked silently toward the back, apprehension slowing her steps.

Sir Davey lay on the floor, unconscious, blood pooling around his head. Was he dead?

Keelie ran to kneel at his side. “Dad, over here! Sir Davey?” She touched his arm.
Please be alive.

Dad staggered in and yanked off one of Sir Davey’s boots. He grabbed the foot, in its sparkly amethyst-colored sock.

Keelie raised her eyebrows.

“I need to check his vitals, and a dwarf’s pulse beats strongest in the soles of his feet.”

Sir Davey moaned and Keelie let out the breath she’d been holding, relieved when Sir Davey moved his hand and tried to sit up.

“What happened to you?” she asked.

Dad propped Sir Davey up against the wall. The dwarf opened his eyes, then moaned and closed them again, pressing a hand against the wound on his forehead. “I didn’t see them—they hit me upside the head with a heavy object and took that tree before I could stop them.”

“The goblin tree has been stolen?” Keelie scanned the interior of the RV, although she didn’t know what she was searching for. A trail of potting soil?

“Who’d want it?” Dad shook his head. “We’ll find it later. We need to treat your wounds.”

Keelie wet a clean washcloth in the bathroom and found bandages and some of Janice’s herbal healing salve in the cabinet.

Once she’d bandaged his head, Dad helping out, Sir Davey sat down in the diner-style booth in the kitchen.

“I’ll make coffee,” Keelie said.

“Please.” Davey shook his head as if to clear it.

“Make me some tea.” Dad lowered himself across from Sir Davey.

As she prepared the coffee, Keelie reached out telepathically to Hrok. He might be able to sense the goblin tree.

Hrok?

Yes, milady.

Someone has injured Sir Davey and stolen the aspen sapling.

Oh dear. Whoever has that tree doesn’t know what they’re in for.
Hrok seemed amused.

We have to find it. Alert the trees.

I will, Daughter of the Forest.

Once the coffee had finished brewing, Keelie poured Sir Davey a cup and brought it to him. “Thanks, lass.”

She placed a cup of chamomile tea in front of Dad, and he nodded his thanks. She poured coffee and sat down with them in the circular booth.

“I alerted Hrok about the missing goblin tree,” Keelie said.

“It will be interesting to discover who has taken it.” Dad grasped the cup in his thin fingers. “Davey, I need some sort of talisman. I’ve been enchanted, and we think it’s Niriel’s doing.”

Davey scowled. “I’ve always known that elf was a bad seed.”

Dad sipped his tea, then lowered the mug. “The first group of elves have already left, and the others are awaiting the return of the helicopters.”

Sir Davey looked up. “So much for waiting several days before making a decision.”

“I cast the deciding vote to leave, under magical influence. It seems my vote carries more sway than those of other Council members,” Dad said.

“Sean hasn’t left yet. The trailers just arrived for the horses.” Keelie chewed on her lip.

A frantic and rapid-fire knock at the door interrupted their conversation. Keelie’s heart thumped against her rib cage.

Sir Davey rose cautiously, his hand pressed against his bandaged head.

“Expecting company?” Keelie asked.

“No.” Sir Davey opened the door, and to Keelie’s surprise, Knot rushed inside the RV followed by Sally the tarot reader. Her face was rosy red, as if she had jogged all the way from Equus Island. She looked like she was already having a bad day.

“I’ve read the cards seven times, and they reveal the same thing each time. It’s scaring me,” she gasped. Her wild eyes flickered over toward Sir Davey, taking in his bandaged head. “The cards have shown me what is coming.”

“We can stop the goblins, but everyone is going to have to work together.” Dad used the same soothing tone of voice he used on the trees.

Sally arched an eyebrow. “You really believe that?”

“We have to. Tell us what the cards have shown.” Dad motioned toward the table.

It was good to have good ol’ Dad back where he belonged. Keelie vowed to make sure he had a protective talisman shielding him at all times.

Knot hopped onto the table and lapped some of Sir Davey’s coffee, as if it would calm him. Sir Davey ignored the cat. Sally sat down in the booth across from Keelie.

Knot walked over to Keelie, leaving paw prints on the table. “Meow tell her what you told me.”

“You’re talking to Sally?” Keelie asked, shocked.

“Meow.” He nodded.

Sally laughed. “I talk to faire cats all the time, though not like with your fairy cat here. It’s the horses you need to worry about. Total airheads.” With a quick movement, she removed a purple bag embroidered with dragons from inside the deep, pocketed vest she wore. She carefully placed the bag on the table, then opened it to reveal her tarot deck from the Quicksilver Faire.

Earlier, there had been dragons on this deck, and some had resembled Finch and Vangar, but now the deck had goblins and wizards. Sally shuffled the cards like a Las Vegas card dealer.

Keelie gazed at the cards curiously as Sally spread them out, face up. “Did you get a new deck?” she asked. The images of goblins on the cards looked like the ones she’d seen Under-the-Hill. Dad’s eyes met hers, reflecting worry. He studied the cards.

“I didn’t.” Sally placed three cards face down. “Turn them over.”

Chills skipped down Keelie’s back as she flipped over the first card.

The first card was the Fool card—it was a jester, but not just any jester. This one was Peascod, with Toshi on his hand.

Sally nodded encouragingly. “The second one.”

It was the nine of swords—a battle scene with goblins attacking a festival that appeared to be the High Mountain Renaissance Faire. People were running for their lives in the background. Keelie felt sick to her stomach. This was what could potentially happen at this faire if the goblins attacked. She’d warned Dad that the humans were in danger, and this card showed that her fear was well-founded.

She didn’t want to turn over the third card. But she did, with trembling fingers. It showed a goblin dressed in armor, magic flowing from his hands toward a cowering, masked jester begging for his life. This was almost encouraging.

The jester was Peascod. But who was the armored goblin?

“What does this mean?” Keelie asked. All of the images scared her.

Sally turned the tarot deck over, and now all of the cards contained the armored goblin, in the same scene, over and over.

“This has never happened before, yet it is something I’ve seen many times this morning.” Sally frowned. “Something so powerful lurks among the goblins that it is transforming the images on my tarot deck.”

“Why? What? Who could do this?” Keelie asked. She tapped the image of the magical goblin.

Knot hissed.

Dad leaned down and picked up one of the cards. “Something about this goblin looks familiar.”

“Is he sending us a message about the faire? Will he attack?” Keelie leaned forward.

“That’s just it. I don’t know if the cards are being manipulated by the goblins, or if they’re reacting to a goblin’s magic.” Sally threw her hands up.

Sir Davey had been silent the entire time, but finally spoke. “This is strange indeed. I’m not one to put much stock in the fate cards, but this frightens me.” He picked up the five of cups and the two of swords, each containing the same image of the powerful goblin wizard and a dying Peascod.

Keelie placed her hands flat on the table. “We need to show this to Finch and Vangar.”

“I think we need to contact the fairy court and Herne as well,” Dad said. “This is bigger than goblins, elves, and dragons. My gut instinct tells me this is a play for power. Leftover business from the Northwoods.”

Sally’s jaw dropped open, and then she quickly closed it as if regaining her senses. “Are we talking about Herne,
the
Nature god?”

Keelie nodded.

“Holy cow!” Sally gulped down Sir Davey’s coffee and Knot meowed in protest. “I need this more than you do,” she muttered to the cat. “Tell me more.”

Keelie quickly told Sally about the events in the Northwoods—the widening rift in the Earth and the crack in Gaia’s dome.

Sally listened, wide-eyed and excited. “I knew it! On the day you sealed the rift, I did a tarot reading, and the cards showed that world changes were on the way. Things would never be the same.”

If there was a goblin wizard leading the wild goblins, then he must be the one in charge. Or was Peascod in charge? Keelie remembered Peascod mentioning that he had a new master after he broke with Herne, but she’d figured he’d meant Avenir, the dragon lord who died in the rift’s fires. But was
this
his new master? She picked a card up and studied it.

“I say we’re going to need all the help we can muster,” Sir Davey said. “If Herne and the High Court will join with us, then I’m all for it. If the cards show truly, we’re going to need their aid.”

Dad nodded.

“Sir Davey, about that talisman for Dad. What do you recommend?” Keelie asked.

“Dwarfstone.” Davey held up a dark stone, then tossed it to Dad, who snatched it out of the air and examined it curiously.

“Of course, I’ll have to show you how to use it.” Sir Davey winked at Keelie. “Not so hard, if your daughter learned how.”

“Hey!” Keelie protested, but she felt better with Dad protected from Niriel’s magic.

Later, Keelie leaned against the wall of Finch’s office as Dad and Sir Davey brought the red-faced faire director up to speed. Keelie waited for the draconic transformation that was sure to come as soon as Finch discovered how dire their situation was.

Sally displayed her cards on Finch’s desk. Once more they showed all the same image—the one of the goblin wizard, his eyes red and rimmed in darkness.

Smoke drifted from Finch’s ears, and an outdoor grill scent filled the room as she perused the entire tarot deck. “And this is the deck from Quicksilver?”

Sally nodded. “They seem to be aligned with some external magic right now.

“Interesting.” Finch lifted one card up and studied it. “Did you notice something different about this goblin?” She turned the card around so everyone could see it.

Keelie leaned closer. “No. He has green skin, like they all do.”

“But he has ears like an elf.” Finch directed everyone’s attention to the goblin’s head.

“What?” The word escaped Keelie’s mouth, and then she snapped her mouth closed as she remembered. “It couldn’t be him.”

“Who?” Finch asked.

“In the Redwoods, there was an elf—or half-elf, since his other half was goblin—who had a lot of magic. His name was Tavyn. He overpowered and possessed Bloodroot, a redwood tree.”

“Half elf, half goblin,” Finch said. “An interesting combination. Almost as unique as yours, Keelie.”

The statement hit Keelie like a lightning bolt. She did not appreciate this comparison to Tavyn. Her cheeks flushed with heat. Dad patted her on the shoulder, as if to reassure her everything would be okay.

But she did have things in common with Tavyn. And if he was the one behind the goblins and Peascod, she might be the only one who could stop him.