Читать книгу The Realms of Faerie - Linda Massola - Страница 7

In the caves at Gloomia, Drabon and Putrida were still congratulating themselves on the capture of Mab and Oberon. Daily, they gloated over the silent statues with Oblong, and the few remaining Whorls.

‘When we have replenished our army, we will descend on the Castle of Feathers and take it for our own!’ Drabon told Putrida.

‘Yes, yes. Those stupid fairies will have no hope against us without Mab and Oberon’s magic. We will be in control of the Kingdom of Fairy as well as Gloomia!’ she said excitedly.

However, all was not well among the surviving A to Z goblins. With Drabon’s army of Whorls decimated, they felt unprotected.

‘What will happen to the gold if the gnomes attack us?’ they cried among themselves. The gnomes were large in numbers and lived in the toadstool houses in the foothills of the caves. They had never attacked the goblins before.

‘That’s because the Gloomians outnumbered them!’ said Losing-it.

‘Yes, and now we have no protection, they are sure to advance on the caves and steal our gold!’ Lost-it agreed.

‘Well then,’ Drabon said overhearing their complaints. ‘Do something about it. Attack them before they attack you!’

‘Attack them?’ Losing-it asked. ‘How? There are too few of us!’ Drabon sighed. ‘I am destined to be around stupid Beings! Use your brains idiot – use your brains!’ It didn’t do for Drabon to be displeased with them and Lost-it instantly jumped to Losing-it’s defense with an idea.

‘We don’t have the numbers to attack, but we could burn their villages!’

‘Yes, yes, we could burn the toadstools just as a warning!’ Losing-it jumped up and down in excitement. ‘That’s more like it!’ said Drabon munching on his toenails.

Losing-it and Lost-it gave a sigh of relief. Since they had lost their Changeling charges, they had no particular job to fulfill, thereby losing Drabon’s respect daily. A raid on the toadstool village would restore Drabon’s admiration for them.

Down in the Village of Toadstools, Zebulon the leader of the gnomes was discussing the events of the past few months with Lori, his wife. As leaders of the gnomes, Zebulon and Lori lived in a brightly colored red and white spotted toadstool. The lesser gnomes were relegated to the grey toadstools. The long red cap with white spots that they wore over their ancient wizened faces displayed the fact that they were leaders. Even their child, Orin wore the special cap so that he could easily be recognized as the child of the leaders of the people.

‘It has been very quiet up in the caves lately,’ Lori told her husband.

‘That’s because there are so few of them now,’ Zebulon replied. ‘It would be a very easy matter to take the gold!’ he mused.

‘The gold? What do we want with more gold?’ Lori asked.

‘Why we would always ensure our prosperity if we possessed all the gold,’ he told her.

Lori just shrugged. They had each other. They had Orin and they had an abundance of food and water. They were able to live in peace too. What more did they need? What was the prosperity her husband was always talking about?

As each day passed, Zebulon looked up at the caves and his greed festered. It wasn’t hard to convince the gnomes to rise up against the Glooms and the goblins now that their numbers were down. There was much gold to be had!

‘We must give them no inkling of what we are planning!’ he told them. ‘We do not want to evoke Drabon’s rage and risk a spell from him which could destroy us. Therefore, we must strike when he is least expecting it!’

The gnomes in the Village of Toadstools were not noted for their quick-thinking abilities. As a result they spent many weeks formulating plans, then discarding them and never really coming to a definite conclusion. As they procrastinated, Losing-it and Lost-it assembled the few remaining A to Z goblins along with the very small number of remaining Whorls. On a moonless night, they charged out of the caves down the mountain side bearing torches of fire.

‘Don’t set fire to the red and white toadstools,’ Drabon instructed them. ‘We need to leave the toadstools belonging to the leaders to show them we mean business!’

He and Putrida then joined in dropping their torches of fire from the sky while the goblins ran below at ground level. Screams were heard as the gnomes realized that their village was burning. Drabon and Putrida shrieked in excitement.

‘That will teach them a lesson!’

‘The children, the children!’ the gnomes cried, desperately trying to reach the toadstools allotted to communal living before the smoke overwhelmed them.

When morning came, Zebulon and Lori surveyed the smoking remains of the village in shocked silence. ‘The children – we have lost so many children,’ they wept openly.

‘And the homes – it takes so long to grow new toadstools. These poor people will be exposed to the elements for months!’ Lori cried, hugging Orin to her.

‘We will rebuild!’ Zebulon shouted to his people. ‘When we do, we will march on the caves of Gloomia and show the goblins no mercy!’