Free Close Kin by Clare Dunkle Page B

Mouse, and that's what she was
for the rest of her life."
    "I remember something about
her," lied Emily cautiously, but for once Ruby didn't bother to scold her.
    "Mouse
came to the kingdom to try to free her father, who was in prison for killing goblins. The goblin King offered her
the choice of marrying him and
saving her father's life, or of going free and caus ing
her father's execution. Mouse lived in the kingdom for three months before she had to make her decision, and
she spent the whole time studying
goblins. Her elf fiance was a scholar, and she wanted to be one, too.
That's when she wrote this book.
    "Marak Blackwing recorded in the
chronicles that Mouse never intended to
marry him. She always told him that she would go back to her people when
the three months were up. The goblin King fell in love with her, and he
released her father rather than force her to choose
his death. But when he told Mouse that, she decided to marry him after
all. He sent her book to the elves with the announcement that she had become
the King's Wife."
    "Why would she do that?" asked
Emily, flipping through the volume. There was a crude sketch of the throne room
on one page, and a diagram of a typical
palace apartment on another. "Had Mouse fallen in love with Marak
Blackwing, too?"
    "Goodness,
no," answered the goblin woman sincerely. "Not for a long time. Mouse was a strong, brave woman, and she
realized her elf King was a fool. Mouse knew that
her people couldn't protect themselves, so she stayed to be a friend of the
elves in the goblin King's court. Her plan
worked. Marak Blackwing adored her, and he would have given her
anything. He never harmed another elf as long as he lived. Their son, Marak
Whiteye, actually protected the elves until the death of their last King. Then,
of course, there was nothing he could do for them."
    "Wait a minute!"
interrupted Emily. "Do you mean that the son of this amazing elf was the
goblin King who ordered the elf harp rowing? The goblin King who destroyed this
very camp? Some friend of the elves he was!"
    "I there was
nothing he could do," snapped Ruby. "The elves couldn't survive without their King. They must have
hidden his mother's book
because they knew he wanted it so much. That's a nice
dose of elvish spite for you."
    "They didn't
hide it at all," argued Emily. "I practically fell over it."
    "Don't be ridiculous! It must
have been hidden by a spell, and the spell wore off over the years."
    "It was wrapped in this,"
explained Emily, standing up and dragging
the heavy folds forward. Ruby stood up to take them from her. Then she
sat down with a jolt.
    "No," she
gasped. "No! It can't be!"
    "What is it?" demanded
Emily, pulling back the folds to shake them out. They formed a perfectly
ordinary cloak, undamaged by time. A black cloak, of the sort that the King's
Guard always wore."A goblin hid
it?" she asked slowly, turning it in her hands. "The book that
the goblin King wanted? I don't see how that's possible!"
    Ruby didn't
explain. She sat without speaking, rocking back and
forth, obviously quite distraught.
    Their supper was
ready, but Ruby didn't eat. Emily ate heartily, meanwhile making plans. The old
goblin woman didn't want to tell her what was wrong, but getting things out of
people who didn't want to give them was one of Emily's specialties.
    "Mouse
must have been an outstanding King's Wife," she remarked in a casual
tone. "Her son must have been a great goblin King."
    "He should have been."
Ruby's voice was unsteady. "He had tremendous
gifts. He spoke and read elvish like one of their own schol ars, and he
knew more of their history than their own lords did. He dressed like an elf and hunted like an elf He even looked like an elf."
    "He did?
The goblin King?" Emily thought of Seylin and all the teasing he had endured. She supposed a goblin King could
be teased, too, but it was hard to imagine.
    "Well, he did have blue skin and
white hair," amended Ruby, "and
white eyes like mine. But aside from