As it turned out, destroying the creatures was much easier than negotiating with them. The bombing of Eldagar had taken less time if you didn’t consider the weeks he had spent capturing the goblins. He froze as the thought crossed his mind and his gaze trailed slowly down to his pocket where he kept the stone. Slowly he pulled it from his coat and stared down at the black gem. He had never meant to keep the creature in stasis for so long, but then, there had never been a good time to release it before. There had always been someone nearby and he knew no one, but perhaps Jala would give the creature a chance. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure if Jala would be willing to give a goblin a chance. There was no one around now, though. His gaze rose to scan the forest once more before returning to the gem.
“I have to be desperate for company,” Shade sighed as he cracked the gem and dropped it to the ground in front of him. The goblin lay on the ground stunned for a long moment and Shade wondered if he had inadvertently damaged it with the storage stone, but then it was sputtering and struggling to its feet. He watched it in silence as it gibbered and spun around, eyes wide as it examined the surrounding forest. It stopped the moment its eyes found him and hissed.
“I did just free you,” Shade reminded it gently. He made no move for the daggers that were hidden in his coat. It was possible that the creature would settle down if he didn’t show any aggression. Of course it was also possible it would consider him weak and attempt to rip his face off. It was a gamble, but from what he remembered of the creature when he had caught it, he didn’t really think it would attack.
Sputtering once more the goblin gibbered at him loudly with what he was sure was the goblin equivalent of cursing. Shaking his head at him it waved its spindly arms at the forest surrounding them and hissed and snarled more.
“And I am going to name you Neph Junior,” Shade announced with a nod. The creature’s eyes narrowed and it hissed once more. “All right, that was insulting to you. I’m sorry,” he added with a smirk, wondering what was truly upsetting the creature. He knew it couldn’t understand him well enough to know what he was saying, and even if it did, Neph had never been around the goblins. “Food. That is probably it,” Shade decided at last and slowly reached his hand into his backpack. The creature scampered back several feet and watched him with an expression of suspicion as he pulled a strip of dried meat from his backpack. “And you probably don’t trust me, considering I fed your buddies explosives, so watch,” Shade murmured as he took a bite from the jerky and then offered it out to the creature.
The goblin snarled once more, but its anger seemed to be fading quickly as it watched him chew. It took a hesitant step forward and its nose quivered as it tried to determine what Shade was holding.
With a smile, Shade took another bite and offered it to the goblin once more. “If you don’t hurry up and take it I’m going to eat it all,” he warned in a calm voice.
The goblin had apparently reached the same conclusion after watching him take another bite, and greed outweighed its caution. Scrambling forward, it snatched the remaining jerky from Shade’s hand and scampered back, sniffing it, and then shoving it all into its mouth at once. It stayed there, crouched beside a massive elm, watching him with cheeks that were protruding like a chipmunk’s.
Shade snorted in amusement and nodded to the goblin. “See, it’s all good. I’m not going to hurt you as long as you don’t try to hurt me, and I have food so you don’t want to hurt me,” he smiled at the creature, taking care not to show his teeth. He didn’t want it to get the wrong impression and let it think he was actually snarling.
The goblin chewed for a few more moments then swallowed heavily and moved toward Shade once more. Its shining black eyes settled on his backpack then rose to look at his face. Settling back on its haunches it made a trilling sound that reminded him of a bird and held its small hand toward his bag.
Shade nodded in understanding and produced another piece of jerky from his bag. “See, we can communicate,” he said softly as he knelt down in front of the creature and offered it the jerky.
The goblin watched him for a long moment, eyeing his posture, and then cautiously leaned forward to take the offering. Unlike the first time, it didn’t snatch the food, and it didn’t scamper off to eat it. The creature eyed him as it devoured the meat with an expression of curiosity on its face.
“I get you, and I feel the same way right now,” Shade agreed with a nod and slowly stood once more. “But as interesting as you are, little guy, I have a job to do. So you have two options. You can follow me and keep me company or you can scamper off into the wilds . Your choice entirely, but if you do scamper off, please scamper a long way. I’d hate the Blights to get hold of you.” He smiled once more at the creature who seemed to be listening intently to him and then began walking north again. He wouldn’t reach the lakes tonight, but he could at least get a mile or so closer.
A frantic trilling rose behind him and Shade paused to look back as the goblin scrambled to its feet and stumbled after him quickly. Smiling he watched it approach and offered it another piece of jerky. “I was hoping you would decide to follow,” he admitted with a nod to the goblin as he began walking once more. It fell into step behind him. “Now we have to think up a name for you, because Neph Junior is just way too mean. You have already shown that you have a better personality than Neph does.”
*
“It’s not done yet,” Shade chuckled as he pushed the goblin back from the campfire once more. Shaking his head with a smile he stirred the stew and tested the vegetables. “The potatoes are still too crunchy,” he informed the creature and leaned back from the fire.
For the first few days he had shunned campfires and had rested in the treetops in animal forms. Now, however, Shade was making his presence as blatant as he possibly could. He had been in Glis for six days now, and still there was no sign of the Blights. He was beginning to wonder if they had already moved on to Arovan. If they had, there was no hope at all of saving them, or Arovan for that matter.
The goblin trilled and gibbered at him as it tried to worm its way past him to reach the food. Snorting back laughter, Shade planted a hand calmly on its chest and pushed it back once more. With an expression that reminded him of a pouting child the goblin sulked off to the fringes of the camp and watched him with a mournful face.