Free Close Kin by Clare Dunkle

discussion.
    They scanned the
rocky faces that hemmed in the narrow valley, but they found no cleft or
opening. "Think like an elf," mused Ruby. "They
must have disguised it, but with what?"
    "With living things,"
suggested Emily, and that turned out to be the case. A thick mat of vines hung
down over one low cliff. Ruby brushed them
aside and discovered that a narrow gap lay beyond. In another minute, they were inside a cave that
could have held a crowd of hundreds.
    "This is the largest cave I've
ever seen," breathed Emily. Ruby gave a
scornful laugh. "I know," amended the young woman hastily, "that
the goblin kingdom is much bigger. But the kingdom doesn't look like a real
cave."
    "This,"
remarked Ruby, "doesn't look like a real cave, either."
    She was right. It looked instead like
the center of an enormous geode, with great
crystal faces and formations studding the walls and ceiling. The sparkling
dome caught the orange goblin light thou, sands
of times, like the quick, winking dance of fireflies. Underfoot lay a
coarse silvery sand, firm yet inviting to the foot. The grains of sand spread
the light as well, glimmering like tiny diamonds.
    "They danced here while the
storms howled outside," said the goblin woman sadly.
    Emily looked around the splendid room
that seemed so natural, yet so magical. She tried to imagine beautiful elves
dancing and laughing and leading their carefree lives. The wind rippled sand showed no tracks of animals or insects, not even
the tiniest mouse or spider. Spells still kept this great cave pristine.
They walked by a harp lying near the wall,
its strings broken and tangled. The curving wooden frame reminded Emily of the bones they had seen. This harp
was just as graceful, and just as dead.
    "That way lies an underground
spring." Ruby gestured toward another narrow opening. "Beyond it are
the storerooms and the elf King's library."
    "The library? Let's go see what
they left behind!" said Emily eagerly, but the goblin woman stiffened.
    "Nothing was left behind,"
she said in her most disapproving classroom voice. "The goblin King
himself supervised the removal of the books."
    Emily wouldn't be
dampened in her treasure-hunting zeal. "They're bound to have forgotten something,"
she declared. "Remem ber, they didn't
find that child's body. Come on!"
    Ruby
stopped where she was.
    "They weren't hunting for
bodies," she said coldly. "The goblin King said that they had found
everything they came for, and that is quite
enough for me. It ought to be enough for you, but humans don't know the
meaning of 'enough.' The impertinence! Thinking that you know better than a
King!"
    "Do you mean," demanded
Emily in complete astonishment, "that you've come to a place like this,
and you aren't even going to poke around at all? What on earth is the
matter with you?"
    "That is
just what I mean." Ruby glared at her. "And what on earth
is the matter with you?"
    "You
goblins are so sanctimonious!"
    "You
humans are absurd."
    "Well, I'm
going into those rooms!"
    "Then
you can go alone."
    Emily hesitated.
"I need a light," she stated with as much dignity as
she could. "I'll go without one if I have to, and I'll fall into that
underground spring and drown. But don't worry; I'm sure Marak won't mind."
    Ruby grumbled
for a few seconds. "Oh, if you must!" she snapped.
    A flickering flame
appeared right in front of Emily's eyes and defied her efforts to move it. The
goblin woman turned on her heel and walked away.
    ∗ ∗ ∗
    The
narrow corridor beyond the cave was quite steep, and a sizable stream rushed down
the middle of it, cascading melodiously from waterfall to waterfall. It was a lovely place, or
would have been if it weren't quite
so dangerous. The watercourse took up almost the whole width of the passage,
with the smallest rocky trails on either side.
Emily was obliged at times to crawl along the slim ledges on her hands and knees while the spray of the pounding
water flew around her and the goblin light made spots