After spending half the night on the inside of the group of huddled-up goblins, where it was slightly warmer, it was Nass’s turn again to be on the outer-most ring, to be one of those that sheltered the others from the cold and the icy wind.

He settled himself with his back to the rising sun and the metal bars of the wagon cage, facing his sister Niss and being as far away as possible from the strange human-like woman she was trying to befriend.

Behind him, outside the cart, the slavers walked along the caravan, lazily inspecting the carts for damage, yawning without covering their mouths, and generally being typical human tyrants who deserved to die.

He concealed a grimace. His and Niss’s father had told them the truth. It was shameful that they were half-breeds. The human parts of them were disgusting.

Niss turned and looked at him curiously. She smiled, suppressing a laugh. She always did have a knack for reading his face. He shook his head and turned away.

The cart was still in the Lyerateh forest, even after months – which was a testament to the slavers’ laziness. Since the time when they’d bought him and Niss, they could have gotten all the way to Ilfuhaen if they’d given the journey and sort of effort. Instead, they were stuck in the snow lands, in a frozen forest, running out of food. He’d been paying attention to how they were rationing the slaves’ meals. It wasn’t looking good.

“I think she’s gone again,” Niss said, looking towards the human-like woman on the other side of the cart. “Look at her eyes.”

Nass focused himself, looked where Niss was pointing, and nodded. The woman’s eyes were wide open, and they had turned completely white, the irises and pupils disappearing beneath a milky and cloudy-like substance.

“Stay away from her, Niss,” he said to his twin sister. “That’s not something we should get involved with.”

Niss turned back towards him, frowning. “She doesn’t look to me like a ‘that’,” she said.

He sighed. “That’s just because you’re hung up on trying to connect with a pink-skin again. Again, Niss – and that’s not even the real thing.”

“I am not. I hate them just as much as you do. Actually, maybe that’s why I hate you so much, brother. Is that a shade of pink on your green skin? Damned half-breed.”

“Takes one to know one. But seriously, Niss, look at her. She’s been alone in the cold for days, hardly anything to eat, and she’s fine.”

“Weird, I know.”

“No, not just ‘weird’. We huddle up for a reason – she should be frozen solid. And then there are her episodes…”

“Yeah, I’ll admit, those freak me out…”

Trinn, one of the full-blooded goblins sitting beside Niss, turned towards the two of them and groggily blinked sleep from his eyes.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“They freak all of us out,” he said. “Even the slavers are starting to talk. They don’t want to go near her.”

“Morning, Trinn,” Nass and Niss both said at the same time, then glared at each other.

“Urgh,” Trinn said, grimacing. “I must be damned by our holy patron Gromph – you two twins are so damned alike. Good morning.”

“We’re nothing alike,” Niss said. “Unlike him, I’m pretty.”

“And stupid,” Nass added. “And short.”

“You’re only two inches taller than me, Nass.”

“Those two inches matter.”

“Well then, it’s a shame you’ve got them in the wrong place, isn’t it?”

Nass frowned, then bit his lip, holding back a particularly nasty comeback.

“Don’t start again so early in the morning,” said Trinn. “Please? It’s bad enough being stuck in a cage – but being stuck in it with you two can be so much worse…”

Nass glared at Niss but had trouble holding his tongue. She looked far too smugly at him for her own good.

“Thinking is merely a step away from doing … one of these days, that thing over there is going to kill someone,” Trinn said.

Nass turned away from his sister and saw that the goblin was looking toward the human-like woman on the other side of the cage.

“She’s not a ‘thing’, Trinn,” Niss said, lightly tapping Nass on the shoulder. “Her name is Scypha.”

“I told you she’d have a weird name,” Nass said. “Pay up.”

“Whatever. Anyway, I’ve been studying her, and I don’t think she’s lucid right now.”

“She doesn’t seem to be lucid at any time. Why are you so interested in her?” Trinn asked.

“Because I heard the slavers were supposed to kill her. The mercenaries say they were hired by a priestess, that she’s cursed by Vifafey – that human god. Hey, maybe that’s what’s causing her to be like … that.”

Nass looked toward the human-like woman, Scypha. She was sitting on the far end of the cart, facing away from them, her arms and legs tightly wrapped around the metal bars of the cage.

He cringed. Metal sapped heat. Normally, what she was doing would be the fastest way to get herself frozen to death. Somehow, however, she was still alive – and apparently in perfect health … aside from the obvious.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Vifafey cursing people,” Trinn said. “He may be the god of pink-skins and bigots, but I don’t think that’s his work.”

“Maybe a demon is possessing her, then,” Nass said. “With the things she’s fond of saying, it certainly seems plausible to me. What did she say to that slaver, Amzev, when he came back last night?”

“That’d she’d drown him in his own spit, I think. Oh, look. She’s twitching again.”

Nass nodded, watching the woman’s head and arms shake and flinch in random directions. Those empty white eyes of hers were creepy as hell.

“It looks like she’s trying to grab someone,” Niss said.

“And choke them,” Nass replied.

They looked towards each other and nodded. Nass suddenly had a thought.

“What do you think would happen if someone came too close to her while she was doing that? Not one of us, obviously – one of the slavers.”

“I think they’d stop feeding us,” Trinn said. “Don’t do anything stupid. Nothing good will come out of that woman.”

“How about something evil, then? We could use that.”

“I know what you’re thinking, Nass,” Niss said. “But I don’t want to use her like that. She’s not a bad person.”

“I knew you pitied her. She’s a human, Niss.”

“Just earlier, you said that she’s not one.”

“Human-ish, then.”

“Human-ish? Human-ish like us two, Nass?” Niss asked.

He rolled his eyes. “We’re nothing alike, there’s no goblin in her. But look, chances are, she won’t remember any of it, anyway. Didn’t you say she has no idea what happens after her eyes turn white? Well, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Unless it does – but we’ll make sure it doesn’t. Come on, Niss. Those damned slavers said we’re headed to Ryzayah. Is that really where you want to be headed?”

“No…”

“Well, I doubt she’d want to go there, either, and neither does your awesome twin brother – so let’s see if we can find a way to use and abuse her little curse to get us the heck out of here.”

“What are you thinking?”