Goblins! by Royce Buckingham

Author:Royce Buckingham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US

28

SLURP’S SECRET

After the events in the arena, all the goblins emptied into the city’s catacombs to sleep, eat, and yammer about the strange human boy who had refused to kill his final insect foe. Slurp made his way to his bedchamber in the tunnels beneath the city. He was weary from the earlier battle with the humans at the wall and the later chase through the swamp .

Slurp’s chamber was little more than a dirt cave. A rock shelf protruded from one wall like a crude, uncomfortable jail cot. Slurp approached the shelf, checked over both shoulders, then pulled the bag of fireworks from under the cloak he wore over his armor. He removed a bottle rocket similar to the one that had blown a patch of fur off his head. He handled it carefully and examined it with great curiosity. It could be a grim weapon, that was clear. Slurp was not certain what had made it fly or explode into a ball of flame, though he knew it had something to do with the small fire the human had held in his hand. But the gadgets could not be turned over to Brains, who served Eww-yuk. The power-hungry general would surely find some way to rob Slurp of the find, as he had the human child, and put the dangerous things to ill use.

Slurp thought for a moment that he might take the find to the Great Goblin. But the Great Goblin was old and less interested in gadgets now than was normal for a goblin. Strangely, as the ancient ruler began approaching his time of death, he had taken to puzzling over philosophies about life and never left his great hall. Very ungoblin. It was a sign of a fading mind, Slurp thought.

He snorted. It was well known how unhealthy it was to think outside of the present or to live according to anything but what lay in front of you. To stay sharp, strong, and ready to react, a goblin had always to focus on the simple and not get caught dreaming or pondering. It was like the old goblin saying: “The rocks will outlive we beasts who think too much.” The saying had originally been simply “Argggh,” but using the human language had made it longer and more complicated.

Slurp put the bottle rocket back in the bag. Its mysterious power was unsettling. He would decide what to do with it later. For now, it was only important that it was a prize, one not to be surrendered to his scheming superior.

Slurp stuffed himself under the shelf in a tight ball, as goblins did when they slept. When he had settled in, his fur blended with the surrounding stone so well that he looked like little more than a dark lump of rock. He placed his singed head on the bag of fireworks and fell into a fitful sleep.

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