Chapter 2 - An Unlikely Rescuer

“Don’t cry, child.”

Startled, Jadelin stopped her wailing at once and spun round to see who had spoken. Standing there was a figure, only four feet tall, with green, scaly skin and pointed ears. It grinned, and displayed an array of needlepoint teeth.

“Greoblin! I had a dream about you. I dreamed that you would help me again. But yet I should not need your help. Which is true?”

“I have come to help you, yes. Whether you need my help or not depends on whether you want to die or not.” He chuckled, amused by his own words.

“I don’t want to die.” Jadelin didn’t find it funny in the slightest.

“Oh, you won’t. I’ll take care of everything. Good night, Jadelin.” He slipped into the shadowed corner of the cell and was gone. Jadelin sat for a while, wondering what he planned to do. Then she lay down on the cleanest spot of floor she could find and closed her eyes to sleep.

Jadelin was rudely awakened by the bolt on the door being thrust back, and the door crashing open. Sleepy-eyed and aching from the hard floor, she looked up to see the Captain and her brother.

The Captain spoke. “Jadelin, you are hereby pardoned.” His voice sounded peculiarly monotone, and he stared vacantly into the distance. “The charges against you have been dropped. You are free to go.”

“You hear that, Jade? You can come home!” Samuel looked ecstatic. Jadelin jumped up, suddenly feeling a lot more alert, and ran into her brother’s arms.

“Come on, let’s go.” Jadelin urged. “I can’t stand this place. It smells.” She looked up at the Captain, expecting him to have something to say about that, but he remained fixedly staring at nothing. Almost like he’s under a spell…Jadelin thought.

“So why was I pardoned?” Jadelin asked when they got home. They still lived in the same cottage that they had done since they had been children, although now they lived there alone. It was small but homely, with a kitchen and living area and a couple of adjoining bedrooms.

Samuel shrugged. “I don’t actually know. I went to see the Captain, to argue your case, and he just said that the charges had been dropped. Quite frankly, I was so happy, I didn’t really care why.”

“I know why.”

“You do? Why, then?” Samuel collapsed into a chair and began pulling off his boots.

“It was the Greoblin.”

“What?!” The boot that he had been trying to remove went flying across the kitchen. It smashed into the pots and pans that were hanging on the wall, and they all clattered onto the floor.

“Samuel! Look what a mess you’ve made.”

“Never mind about that. What were you saying about the Greoblin?”

“Oh, yes. He came to me when I was in the cell. He said he would help me, and he must have done, because they let me go.”

“So that’s twice he has helped you. But he never helps people. I don’t like this.”

“Maybe he wants to be good. You know, do nice things. Become accepted in the community.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Oh, never mind, I’m not dead, and I’m happy. I’m also hungry. What’s for breakfast?”

“I don’t know, it’s your turn to cook.” Samuel began pulling off his other boot.

“What? But I’ve been stuck in a dirty, cold prison cell all night without any dinner and I’m exhausted! You cook. Your cooking’s better than mine, anyway.” Jadelin smiled sweetly at her brother, who gave her a knowing look.

“Oh, resorting to flattery now, are we?” he accused her teasingly, then his hands flew into the air to signify defeat. “Oh, I give in. I’ll cook.”

“Yay! Tell me when it’s ready, I’m going for a walk.” Jadelin bounced out of the door, in what Samuel thought was a rather energetic way for someone who had just a moment ago been claiming that they were exhausted. With a sigh, he bent down to the pots and pans littering the floor and began searching for the frying pan.

Jadelin stood, her long black hair billowing out behind her, gazing out at the Marnalli Valley. She had come to her favourite spot, a grassy ledge from which she could see the whole valley stretching out before her. It was here that she could gather her thoughts, and momentarily escape the world. It was here that she could ponder on the mysteries of her life. Somehow she’d always been aware that she was different, and it wasn’t just because she wasn’t from Marnalli originally. It was something else, something she couldn’t quite fathom, but there nonetheless.

She wondered about the Greoblin helping her. Why did he do it? Then she realised she had never thanked him for his help. Guilt began to grow inside her. He must think I am so ungrateful… But then, he was the Greoblin. A creature that usually spent his time terrorising the inhabitants of Marnalli by destroying crops, kidnapping people to inflict unimaginable torture upon them, before releasing them when they had been driven half-mad. Then there were the indescribable dark shapes that moved across the land, bringing fear and chaos in their wake. The Greoblin was their master, everyone knew. He could control them at will, and sent them to do the most terrible things. But what exactly they were, no one knew for sure. Some said they were simply shadow itself. They were made of darkness, just like the Greoblin. The Greoblin was evil, and that was something no one could dispute. Yet he had saved her life. Twice. What was going on?

Jadelin suddenly remembered breakfast. What was the time? It would probably be ready by now, and she ought to go home. She turned to do so, and there he was, standing only a few yards away, grinning with those same needlepoint teeth.

Jadelin yelped in surprise, but recovering quickly, said:

“Greoblin! I’m glad you are here. I would like to thank you for saving my life, twice! I realise it was very rude of me not to thank you before, but you left so suddenly, and anyway, you’re here now. So, thank you.”

It all came out in a rush, and when she finally stopped, the Greoblin had stepped closer. He stared up at her, he being shorter than she, and spoke, in an even, almost pleasant voice:

“You wish to thank me?”

“Well, yes.”

“You can. You owe me your life. In return for what I did, I want you to come and be with me forever.”

His cold eyes locked with hers, and she shuddered. Those eyes seemed to burn with a hatred for all things living.

Jadelin stammered, “I… I’m grateful for what you did, but, please, let me make it up to you in some other way…”

“No other way would be acceptable! I will come to fetch you today at dusk. Be ready when I arrive. You may bring what you wish. Don’t try to run away – I will find you.”

Once again, he slipped into the shadows and was gone.

Hardly able to believe what she had just heard, Jadelin began to run. Across the hillsides she flew, heading for home.

Samuel was just serving up the fried eggs when the door was flung open, and Jadelin fell into the cottage, breathing hard and gasping something that Samuel could not make out. He looked up to see that her face was white, her eyes wide, and her long, black hair wild and tangled. She stood before him, tugging at her favourite blue dress, her mouth forming the words that his ears could now recognise and understand, but the words he had feared he would hear but hoped he wouldn’t for over five years. And as she told him what had just happened, his body was gripped by cold, his mind reeled in fear, and one fried egg slipped from the spatula and fell to the floor.

“Samuel, what am I going to do?” Jadelin wrung her hands, and he knew she was waiting for him to say that everything would be all right, that he would save her. But he couldn’t. All his years of military training meant nothing. Not against a force such as this! The Greoblin could not be defeated – he was too powerful. Who could help? Who would know anything about dark magic? Perhaps someone who used it. But the only ones who did were the realm folk, sorcerers and witches…

The midday sun saw Jadelin and Samuel clambering up the mountainside towards Devil’s Peak. It was a steep climb, but the pair had feet as sure as those of mountalopes, and had no difficulty reaching the small stone hut perched on the mountaintop. It was the dwelling of the reclusive witch, Ziandra Castell. She had long fallen out of favour with the inhabitants of Marnalli, due to their automatic distrust of anything to do with magic. Samuel wondered if there was a more specific reason, but he didn’t want to delve into the past. In his experience, Ziandra had shown them only kindness, especially when they were suddenly orphaned three years ago.

Still, calling on the witch for help made him feel a little uncomfortable. After all, the Greoblin had shown Jadelin kindness too… twice – but it seemed his ‘kindness’ was not without a price. Samuel fervently hoped that this wasn’t the case with Ziandra. She could be a little overdramatic sometimes, with a tendency to lapse into odd moods, but on the whole she seemed to be good – if perhaps a bit overly-concerned about her appearance. She appeared to be a young woman but he’d known of her presence in the Marnalli Mountains all his life and the oldest people in the village also said that she had been around all their lives… so how old was she really? Magic was evidently involved somewhere. But anyway, she was the only one who could possibly be able to help Jadelin. Despite his misgivings, he had to ask her. As they approached the cottage, they saw smoke billowing out of the chimney.

“Oh good, she’s home,” Samuel said, and they walked up to the door. “I hope she’s in a good mood,” Samuel murmured under his breath, and knocked on the wooden door. They waited. And waited. Samuel was just about to knock again when the door flew open, and their eyes were greeted by a woman with a shock of bright red hair, beneath which blue-green eyes shone and a wide mouth beamed brightly. She wore a flowing emerald green dress from which protruded two black-booted feet.

“Samuel! Darling! How absolutely lovely to see you!” She leant forward, planting a kiss on his cheek. As she did so, she murmured, “You look very smart in that uniform.” Though he had deposited his armour at the castle, Samuel was still wearing the red uniform of the King’s guards, along with his sheathed sword. Stepping back again, the woman winked flirtatiously.

Samuel directed his gaze to the floor, feeling his cheeks flush. “It’s good to see you too,” he mumbled, but the woman had turned to Jadelin.

“Hello Jadelin, darling!”

Jadelin had barely begun to say “Hello…” when she was swept up in a huge hug by Ziandra.

“Lovely to see you darling! Lovely!” Then she released Jadelin as suddenly as she had taken hold of her, and was ushering them inside her home.

When Ziandra had the pair sitting comfortably around the fire with a mug of hot tea, she slid into the chair opposite and enquired, “So, what brings you two here then? I may be vain but I’m clever enough to realise that you haven’t just come to pay a visit to dear Ziandra the Witch, have you, darlings?”

Jadelin smiled at the red-haired woman.

“Yes, you’re right, Ziandra,” she admitted. “I need your help. I’m in trouble, and I don’t know what to do.”

“What sort of trouble?”

“The Greoblin.”

“Ah.”