Free The Goblin Gate by Hilari Bell Page B

Something…someone was perched on the footboard.
    For an instant Jeriah thought he was still dreaming. The creature was a man, only two feet high. His nose, all the lines of his face, were long and sharp. His clothes were wellmade but worn. He eyed Jeriah shrewdly, up and down, as if he could see his body through the blankets. He was visibly unimpressed.
    “I hear you want to talk to someone who knew the gen’ral.”
    The goblins had made contact! But who was…?
    “The general? I need to speak with the sorceress, Makenna. The sorceress of the Goblin Wood.”
    “That’s the gen’ral, near enough. What do you want with her?”
    “With her, nothing. But she’s got my brother and I’ve—”
    “You’re the soldier’s brother? You don’t look like him.”
    Did he mean Tobin? His brother had been a soldier, but Jeriah wished the creature would use people’s names. “If you’re talking about Tobin, he looks like our father and I take after our mother. And there’s something important we have to discuss. Would you mind untying the blankets so I can sit up? I’m hot, and I feel silly looking up at you.”
    “But I feel just fine looking down at you. You can wiggle out when I’m gone.” The creature’s eyes glinted. Was he laughing? If Jeriah tried to free himself, the goblin would be gone in an instant, and who knew how long it might take him to contact a more reasonable goblin. If any of them were reasonable. Tobin had been in the Otherworld for over three weeks. A true knight would ignore the fact that he was sweating like a pig.
    “All right. I asked you to come because I need yourhelp. There are things about the Otherworld you may not know…”
    He told the creature the details of the Otherworld’s nature quite concisely—he’d practiced so often, he could have recited them in his sleep. “So you see,” Jeriah finished, “I have to get into the Otherworld. Todder Yon said—”
    “That tinker fellow? He talked about us?” The goblin’s voice was low, but the threat was clear. How could such a small creature sound so menacing?
    “He meant no harm,” Jeriah said swiftly. “He only talked to me because he knew that I mean no harm. To you or her. I just need your help to find Tobin and the sorceress in the Otherworld. If…ah…if you’ll help me?”
    He hated having to plead with them, but he didn’t see any other choice.
    “I’m inclined to agree with your priest. The gen’ral and our folk, they’re safe in the Otherworld.”
    “ They’re safe? Why you…Tobin risked his life, gave up everything, to help your kind!” Jeriah struggled against the blankets and heard something rip. The goblin shifted uneasily.
    “Don’t get flustered. I liked the soldier well enough, and I’ll be sorry for his death. But if your priest discovers there’s a chance of the gen’ral getting out, he might send hunters in.”
    “A lot of good your ‘sorry’ will do my brother!” But Jeriah stopped struggling. “You don’t need to worry about yourown precious skin, or your friends’. If Master Lazur ever finds out what we’re doing, he’ll just arrest me and put a stop to it.”
    “Hmm.” The creature didn’t even have the grace to look ashamed. “I admit, I’d like to see the gen’ral again.”
    A burst of hope overcame Jeriah’s disgust. “So if I can get the spell from Master Lazur’s books, could you or one of your people cast the gate? And then help me find them? And get Tobin—”
    “The finding is no problem,” the goblin replied. “If you take a few of us in with you, and those spells you’re talking about can protect our magic, there are several ways we can locate them. But not one of us can work the gate spell; that’ll take human magic. The folk you need for that”—the creature’s eyes gleamed in the darkness—“are the Lesser Ones.”
    “The Lesser Ones?”
    “Humans like the gen’ral, who wield the small magics. They’ve been concealing their abilities since that