Free Elliot and the Last Underworld War by Jennifer A. Nielsen Page A

so far we’re alone here. When other creatures start appearing, I want us to use Kovol’s cave as our defense. It’s the closest thing Kovol has to a home, so I don’t think he’d collapse it, even to fight us. I’ll wait on top of his cave, watching for any sign of trouble. When everyone is ready down there, let me know. We’re going to fight as many Shadow Men as we can before Kovol comes.”
    Mr. Willimaker bowed and poofed away. Then Elliot closed his eyes and poofed with the broom to the top of Kovol’s cave. It was higher off the ground than he had expected, but that only gave him a better view. Not that there was much to see. It was as black as midnight in all directions.
    That didn’t last for long, though. As the different creatures poofed into Demon Territory, they created enough light to help them see and to help Elliot see them. The Satyrs arrived first. They were as tall as the Elves, each of them with thick fur on the bottom half of their body, the hooves of goats, and a man’s body on top. They had horns on their head and long ears that stuck out sideways. Then several Leprechauns flew in, each on the back of a Pegasus so white it almost created its own light. Elliot wasn’t sure how he could use the Leprechauns (although he had plenty of ideas for how his family could use their gold), but he liked the flying horses. He wondered if the Underworld had any Dragons, because that would be cool too. Then he figured maybe it was better not to ask. Being creatures of fire, they probably had more in common with the Shadow Men than with him.
    The Elves arrived next, and near the front of them was Slimmy Tojam. He nodded at Elliot, who only wanted to yell down to him that Minthred’s book had been a huge waste of time. But if a goat herder could defeat Kovol, then surely Elliot could. He was only in fifth grade, but he was positive that was more education than Minthred had ever got.
    He realized that several creatures hadn’t come. Agatha wasn’t there. There were several Fairies, but no Pixies. Many Brownies had come, but not the women or children, and Elliot was glad for that. He didn’t want to risk anything happening to Patches.
    Then Elliot saw Fudd poof in with a group of familiar creatures. The Goblins had arrived.
    Elliot closed his eyes to poof himself down there. The Goblins looked surprised to see him use magic, but not Fudd, who obviously had not seen Elliot do anything at all.
    “Well, well. Look at how the human king has grown,” a voice sneered.
    Behind all the other Goblins was Grissel. He was the strongest and boniest of all Goblins, and the meanest too. Every other Goblin was literally green with envy at the exact shade of Grissel’s skin, for it was the closest in color to their favorite food, pickles. Grissel was plumper now than he used to be, due to the amount of chocolate cake he had eaten over his last several months inside Brownie jail. He was probably meaner too. “It looks like you’ve learned a few tricks since we last met,” Grissel added.
    When they had last met, Grissel and Elliot had tied in a battle to the death. It wasn’t the first time they had fought. In fact, every time Elliot and Grissel met, it always seemed that Grissel was trying to finish him off.
    “You’ll fight for me?” Elliot asked Grissel.
    Grissel’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll fight for the Underworld. I’ll even fight for the Brownies, if necessary, to defeat Kovol. But I’d never fight for a human.”
    As if Elliot cared about a detail like that. “Then fight for the Underworld,” he said. “I need the Goblins in front when the Shadow Men come. Slow them down by blowing things up. We can’t fight all of them at once, but we can fight back if only a few get through at a time.”
    With that, Elliot turned to everyone else. He told his magic to make his voice louder, and when he spoke, it was as if he was speaking through a powerful microphone. “The Shadow Men are nothing but fire and