Shaygor’s aura came within range of my senses, and I paused by a stout tree. When I’d woken up, Zav had been gone, or at least far enough away that I couldn’t detect him. Dread sank into my gut as I realized Shaygor would be just as able to smell Mom’s blood relation to me as Amber’s. If she was put in danger again by being out here with me…
I drew Chopper and trotted to catch up with her, intending to tell her to find a defensible hiding spot, but as I gripped her shoulder, Zav came within my range. They were both off to the north in roughly the same area. If not for the trees, we might have seen them in the sky.
“Problem?” Mom eyed my drawn sword.
The dragons flew north and out of my range. I sheathed Chopper.
“I thought there might be, but we seem to have a fairy godmother, at least today.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Fairy godmother?”
“Technically, a godfather. Judging by our conversation last night, he’s not as conflicted about his gender as his slippers imply.”
“Were you always this odd?”
“Yes. You just weren’t paying attention.”
“Huh.”
We followed Rocket down a slope. Here and there, between the firs, pines, and spruce, the lake came into view. I glimpsed a couple of bicyclists on the trail and hoped Amber stayed at the house today, even if Zav was keeping Shaygor occupied.
Rocket had been following the trail without trouble, but now he paused at a jumble of boulders. He ran around it, his hackles up and his tail wagging. Was he stumped? I hadn’t seen any of the big plantigrade footprints for a while, but I poked around, looking for tracks, small or large.
“There’s an opening over here.” Mom stood in front of the jumbled boulders with Rocket. “These rocks haven’t been here that long.” She waved at the pile.
It was a good thirty feet wide at the base and rose half that high. The natural boulders appeared native to the area, but there wasn’t any dirt between them or weeds or trees growing up from the gaps, the way one would expect from a land formation that had been there for centuries. It reminded me of a burial cairn, a large one.
“Goblin-sized,” I observed when I joined her and saw the hole she’d found. Neither of us would fit easily through it. “I don’t sense anyone magical in there. And there’s no way a sasquatch would have fit.”
Rocket sniffed at the hole and squeezed partway in, pawing at the dirt.
“He thinks something is in there,” Mom said.
“I see that.” I wrinkled my nose, catching a faint whiff of the odious scent that had been in that house—and all over that patch of fur. It did seem to be coming from the hole. “Either this is a trap, or there’s some way to move the boulders aside to make a larger entrance.”
“Like that illusionary door covering the tunnel back in Oregon?” Mom patted the rocks around the opening.
“I sensed magic there. I don’t this time.”
She kept investigating. I turned a slow circle, looking through the trees in all directions. A hint of movement drew my eye, but when I focused on the spot, all I saw were towering evergreens. Maybe a pine cone had fallen. There wasn’t much of a breeze, but if one of those sasquatch was out there, I had to believe I would smell it. And Rocket would detect it. Though he was preoccupied with the cave.
He succeeded in squeezing through the gap.
“Wait, Rocket.” Mom lunged for his collar, but it was too late.
Loud snuffling noises came from inside but soon faded from hearing. Maybe the passage was wider in there.
“Rocket, come back,” Mom said sternly, then gave me an exasperated look. “He’s better trained than this. He would usually come right back.”
Whatever was inside commanded his full attention.
I touched my charm necklace and summoned Sindari. Maybe he could shed some light on this.
Mom dropped to her hands and knees. “I smell an animal scent.”
“I know. Me too.”
“I could probably squeeze in there.”
“It could be a trap,” I pointed out.
“How smart are these creatures? It could be an entrance to their den.”
“I haven’t seen any IQ tests for sasquatch.” I patted Sindari on the back after he solidified. “Goblins are as smart as we are.”
“We haven’t seen any goblin tracks since we left that house.”
What battle have you brought me to join? Sindari swished his tail and looked at the boulders and around at the forest.
I was wondering if you sensed any goblins around.
I sense two dragons off to the north.
Can you tell what they’re doing? I asked, distracted by the thought of Zav and Shaygor fighting.
No, only that they are in the same area.
Comparing penis size, maybe.
Dragons do not have external sex organs.
Comparing tail size then.
That is possible.
Sindari wandered away from the cairn, his nose in the air, and I followed him. He was looking in the same direction where I’d spotted that movement.
There’s a goblin out there, up in the tree branches. I cannot see him from here, but I sense him. I think he was looking this way, but then moved farther away when I started sniffing around.
Something glinted with reflected light.
A goblin wearing glasses? I asked.
Maybe a spyglass.
Watching us then. And waiting to see if we fall for this trap. Do you think you can capture him? I couldn’t sense him and remembered what Sindari had said about the other ones, that they had a way to camouflage themselves.
I will try. I’ll pretend I’m going to the lake and will use my stealth to circle back to get behind him.
Good. Thank you.
A startled yelp of pain came from deep inside the cairn of rocks.
“Rocket!” Mom scurried through the opening after him.
“Mom,” I whispered, “stop. I’m positive it’s a trap. Goblins love to lay traps.”
“I can’t let Rocket get eaten. Rocket, come back here.” She whistled, but her lips were tense with worry and the sound barely came out.
I dropped to my knees and caught her by the ankle. She was having trouble getting back there.
“Come out,” I said as sternly as she’d told Rocket the same. It probably wouldn’t work on her either. “I’ll go in and get him. If there’s magic, I’m better armed to deal with it.”
I didn’t think there was magic, or I would have sensed it, but maybe the argument would sway her.
A pained whimper floated to our ears.
“Let go of me, Val.” She tried to yank her ankle out of my grip.
“No.” I held on firmly. “Come back out or I’ll drag you out.”
She paused, and I imagined her fantasizing about stabbing me with her utility knife, but she shifted back out of the hole.
“I’ll get him,” I promised her, then pulled Chopper and crawled in on my hands and knees.
Rock scraped at my shoulders, and I got my braid caught under my knee. A vanity braid as Willard had once called it. We’d been discussing how people who got into a lot of fights should have short hair that an enemy couldn’t grab. Right now, my enemies were my hands and knees. And a dog that liked to take matters into his own paws.
I activated my night-vision charm and could see his furry hindquarters ahead of me. He was tugging at something. Hopefully not a sasquatch tugging back at him. But the crooked passage—tunnel would have been too lofty a word—hadn’t gotten any larger. There was no way a sasquatch would fit in here.
Rocket whined and didn’t seem to notice me drawing closer. I couldn’t see anyone in front of him. It looked like his foot was trapped by something on the ground.
“Tell him that you’re coming and it’ll be all right,” Mom called from her belly at the entrance. “Is he hurt? Tell him I love him and it’ll be all right.”
“I’m sure he can hear you, Mom. And, with a great deal of maturity, I’m going to refrain from being bitter that you never told me you loved me and that it would be all right.”
She hesitated. “You were lippier than Rocket.”
“Even when I was six and afraid of the monsters under the bed?”
“There were drawers and storage bins under the bed. I made sure to use every square inch of space we had.”
“That isn’t the point, Mom.” I reached Rocket’s back end and told him he was a good boy and that I would help, but there wasn’t much room to squeeze past him to see what had his leg.
“You weren’t so much lippy at six as obnoxious and abrasive.”
I snorted. Hadn’t I used the word abrasive to describe Amber? Or maybe Sindari had. I guess that meant she was definitely my kid.
“Thanks for this honesty.” I scooted up beside Rocket. Leaves and pine needles scattered the bottom of the passage, making it hard to see what had him. The way opened up ahead of him, but all I could see was more debris from the forest floor that something—or someone—had dragged in.
“I blamed myself that you didn’t have a father,” Mom said. “I’d never been what you would have called maternal.”
“I think that runs in the family.”
I was being sarcastic, but she said, “It’s true. Your grandmother was even stiffer and more aloof than me. Your grandfather was a gentler soul and made me toys when I was little, but he died at work when I was only about five. He was a topper for a logging outfit.”
For the first time, I sensed a hint of magic. An artifact or device, not a person. Was that what had trapped Rocket?
No, it was located deeper in the cairn. I could just make out the source, an object made from smashed soda and beer cans. I’d barely noticed it before, thinking it was garbage someone had tossed among the rocks. The urge to crawl in and investigate it came over me—that magical draw made me think of the dark-elf pleasure orbs. But this didn’t put images of desires in my mind, and it didn’t have the faint underlying sinister taint of the dark-elf stuff. It seemed innocent and conveyed without words that it would answer all my questions if I came and touched it.