CHAPTER 128

"There was no choice, Caretaker. We could not reason with them, they attacked us on a daily basis. It came down to them or us, and we won."

"Uncle Foot?" Velvet looked at her uncle with a mixture of awe and horror. "There are whole families here."

"I know." Bigfoot winced. "For your parents, your survival was far more important. This was not a choice made lightly."

"How did you do it?" Mike shook his head in shock. The goblin homes were everywhere. "I thought they were immune to poison."

Bigfoot grunted. "It wasn't easy. Ana and Darren spent weeks mapping out this cave system. Once it was done, they figured out the passageways where the air was coming in and then sealed them off. The goblins here had rituals that involved the phases of the moon. When we knew they would all be here worshipping their gods, we set up generators and flooded the tunnels with carbon monoxide. It was done in such a way that goblins sent to investigate the noise died first. Their bodies were immune to poison, but they still needed air to breathe."

Horrified, Mike sat down on one of the ledges. From where he sat, he could make out the central dais of the chamber. A figure in ceremonial garb lay nearby, the fabric now moldy from the dampness of the cave. Velvet's parents had slaughtered the goblins while they had essentially been attending church.

"There had to be a better way," he muttered. But was there? If the goblins kept attacking them, then there would have been no option. Still, to see that an entire tribe of goblins had been wiped out?

"Evil is in the eye of the beholder. The goblins didn't see themselves as evil, they were just doing what they have always done. This was the price they paid." The owl-woman transformed and flew toward the top of the cave. "I have one last thing to show you," she said, after transforming back.

He didn't want to see. The owl-woman had already made her point. But he stood and followed. A cool hand found his, and he looked into Velvet's eyes.

"I had no idea," she told him. "I always thought they drove them off, or at least killed them in battle."

He nodded, then navigated his way up the path. The footing was treacherous, but Velvet had no problem with it. She supported him until they got to the top. The ceiling was low and the passage led to a narrow chamber.

"Here." The owl-woman pointed at the back of the cave. Mike clicked on his flashlight and almost dropped it.

In the back of the cave, a rudimentary bookshelf had been carved into the wall. There were a few books still on the shelf, but they had long ago turned into little more than paper mush. On the nearby wall, he saw that someone had drawn symbols in dark paint. In crude letters, someone had practiced the alphabet over and over again, until the letters culminated in a declarative statement that sat away from the others.

I LYKE TO TINKR

TINKR IS ME NAME

Beneath the words there was a series of stick figures that were clearly meant to be goblins. They were drawn with angry faces and clubs standing around a tiny goblin with tears on her face and knees pulled up to her chest.

"Tink," he muttered. He had never thought to ask where she came from, and she had never brought it up. What little he did know was that the other goblins hadn't liked her. Is this where Emily found her? How had the goblins come to be here in the first place?

"The goblins were ready to evolve. If one could learn to read and write, then why not more?" The owl-woman hung her head. "Alas, we can never know. If they hadn't been exterminated, this one could have led them to a brighter tomorrow. I wanted you to see this, Caretaker, so that you would better understand why we can never predict the future of an entire species based on the truths of their past. Good men can become evil, and evil men can find redemption. Why not an entire people? My story alone may not be enough to sway you, but this should. The goblins have been seen as irredeemable for centuries, but this? This is proof that they had the potential to change, to be better than what they were."

Mike reached out to touch the letters on the wall. How many decades had they been there?

"He can't lead the Nirumbi to a brighter tomorrow." Yuki's voice came from back in the cave. She stood at the edge of the goblin pit, her fists balled up at her side. Foxfire illuminated her from behind. "You can't just expect him to drop his life and come be a leader to people he doesn't even know. This isn't his burden to bear."

"You misunderstand. If the Caretaker agrees to let the forest children stay, then our only obstacle is Leeds. I will stay and guide the children of the forest. I have much to teach them, and not enough years." She made a symbol with clawed hands that glowed an angry red color. "On the topic of Leeds, his is the magic of shadows. He learned it from a witch. Though I can't take down his barrier, it is in my strength to help you cast him out. Once he passes through the barrier, it will come down and you will be free to leave."

"What guarantee do we have that he won't come back and start this shit all over again?"

The owl-woman shrugged, which sent a few loose feathers to the ground. "Even if he does, he won't be able to build his trap. I and the others will make sure of it."

Mike traced his fingers along the letters of the wall. Tink was in danger. Everyone at the house was. Maybe there was a catch in the owl-woman's deal that he couldn't see, but he didn't have time to figure it out. The others could leave with him, and even if he were to lose the forest, he would still have his family and his home.