Free The Goblin Wood by Hilari Bell Page B

of the known world lay before Tobin. “You’re a knight. Find me a border we could defend against a barbarian force eight times the size of the one you’re fighting now.”
    “Eight times!”
    “That’s how many there are. When the drought has driven them out, they’ll all come here, so find us a defensible border.”
    Tobin turned shocked eyes to the map. Sea to the east and west. In the far south lay the desert, with the unexplored lands of the barbarians beyond. In the far north, past the vast expanse of the goblin woods, the map trailed off into a great white plain of ice and snow. Between the desert and the goblin woods lay the Realm of the Bright Gods.
    First the southlands—rolling, rocky hills, dry and warm and dusty. Poor soil for crops, but the best wine in the realm.
    Above them, the midland plains—grassy, flat, and fertile with the great rivers twisting through them and the low-lying wetlands off to the east. The heart of the realm, wider and even less defensible than the south. Tobin’s eyes sought the curve in the Abo River that bounded his home, and sickness twisted through his stomach.
    North of the midlands were the light woodlands—poorer crops, but they produced timber and furs. The land narrowed here. Fewer miles to hold, but the barbarians could slip an army through those woods, man by man, and nothing could stop them. And that was where the realm ended, at the narrowest point where the great goblin wall…
    The great wall, stretching right across the narrowest part of the continent, ten feet high and six feet thick—the army could hold that wall against all the barbarians in the world, but…
    “But that’s the northern border of the realm! There’s nothing beyond it but the deep woods, and then the ice! We couldn’t possibly—”
    “Move the whole realm behind that wall over the next ten to fifteen years? It’s already begun. What do you think happened to the southern villagers when the border passed over their lands? The ones we were able to evacuate have moved north and resettled. Since we understood the situation, we’ve been trying to talk them into traveling all the way to the north woods and settling beyond the wall. Most refuse to believe the barbarians will make it that far, and they settle in the midlands. Only a few of them have been wise enough to see the truth and gone all the way, to build anew on the other side of the wall. And these are people who’ve already been driven out of their homes!” Master Lazur sighed. “Even with the enforcement of the Decree, which consolidated our power, we haven’t been able to persuade anyone else to start moving. And we can’t really begin to try, until—”
    “The Decree of Bright Magic.” A chill passed down Tobin’s spine. “You didn’t pass it because the Bright Ones stopped favoring the army.”
    “Of course not. How could the Hierarch’s army lose the Bright Gods’ favor? But peasants who will turn to a hedgewitch for healing, even though their magic is far inferior, just because it’s cheaper…” The priest shook his head. “You can imagine how they’ll react to being asked to pack up and leave land they’ve farmed for generations. The church’s power must be absolute—proven to be absolute—long before that question arises.” For a moment, naked steel sounded in his voice. “But there’s an even more urgent problem before us.”
    “I can imagine,” said Tobin. “Having to uproot a forest to plant a field must appall the southerners.”
    “It does,” Master Lazur admitted. “But the ones who go that far are determined, farsighted people. Trees wouldn’t stop them. The problem, ironically, is goblins. Three centuries ago the church sought to drive the goblins into the north, and failed. But the Decree of Bright Magic has accomplished what those old priests couldn’t. A large number of goblins have been driven out and settled behind the wall, precisely where we ourselves must now go.”
    “But