Ollie pulled the Chief to the side of the gravel road and flipped off the lights. He stared at the slice of Kimmie’s chimney barely visible over the incline of the road ahead. After a minute or two of waiting, he felt Grika watching him curiously.
“You going?” the pygmy asked.
Ollie grunted, his eyes fixed on the road. He was stalling, and for no good reason. All he had to do was walk up to the cave and kill a goblin. A chained goblin. Easy. But something told him to be wary. He glanced at himself in the rearview mirror and rubbed his chin, where his beard used to be. A weak attempt at opening up to someone and making a good impression. It probably wouldn’t matter. The job would be done tonight, and he’d be on to the next thing.
He turned the engine off, grabbed his bag from the passenger seat and hopped out, shutting the door behind him. A quick jaunt up the road brought the house into view. Kimmie’s white Prius was alone in the driveway, and he wondered if her boarders were out for the night, or if they’d moved on to the next leg of their vacations. Kimmie stood on the patio, throwing a ball to her dogs, who chased it, fought over who got to grab it, then brought it back. When she saw him, she gave him a polite smile.
“That’s a nasty bruise you got there.”
Ollie resisted touching his face. “So I keep hearing.”
“You need something for that? Some ice?”
“Nah. Let’s just get this over with.”
Kimmie wrangled the dogs and put them inside. They walked around the side of the house and then up the trail into the woods. The sun had drifted below the hills that separated her land from the coast a mile or so away, but hadn’t set entirely, leaving a cascade of purple and orange hues across the sky.
“No Grika?” Kimmie asked, glancing back at the truck.
“Not tonight.”
They walked in silence for a while. A long while. Long enough that Ollie began to suspect something was wrong.
“You seem cool about this.”
She shrugged, but didn’t respond. Not a great sign. A hundred different possibilities went through his head, but he tried not to take any of them too seriously. Kimmie was a strong-willed woman. This was her being difficult. Once the goblin was gone, everything would get back to normal. For both of them.
They trekked along the darkening path, then crossed over at the V-shaped tree toward the lair. As soon as the cave was in sight, Kimmie jogged ahead and ducked into the entrance. Ollie paused. Was she trying to race him? He hurried after, shotgun at the ready.
He came inside to see Kimmie standing in the middle of the cave, the lantern sitting on the ground at her feet. The goblin was nowhere to be seen. He dropped his bag and raised his gun.
“Where is it?” he growled. One of the possibilities that flitted through his head earlier today had been of her letting the goblin go, but he never considered for a second she’d be that dumb. The thing killed her aunt and uncle after all.
Kimmie took a few steps back, toward the crevice at the rear of the cave. “We need to talk about something. I’ve been thinking about your deadline, and I’ve decided–”
Something green twitched in the shadows at the back. “Move!” He raised his shotgun and reached out for her, but she pulled away and held her hands up.
“Don’t shoot!”
He could see the goblin almost right behind her, close enough to grab her and smash her head into a rock. He sidestepped, trying to flank her and get a clear shot, but Kimmie moved with him. “Kimmie, get out of the way!”
He charged in, but she pushed back on his chest. “Put your stupid gun away! I’m trying to tell you something!”
Ollie’s eyes nearly bulged out. “It’s right behind you!”
“Will you settle down and listen to me?” she shouted, glowering. “Jeez!”
Ollie froze, not entirely sure what to do. The goblin cowered behind Kimmie’s legs, and part of him realized that if the goblin wanted to hurt her, it could have easily done so by now. But another part of him remembered his warning to himself that Kimmie would mess this up somehow.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
He lowered his gun.
“We’re not killing it,” she said.
He stared at her, then at the goblin, who peered around her hip at him. He didn’t entirely comprehend what was happening. He stepped back, waiting to see what possible explanation Kimmie could have for not finishing this thing off.
“His name is Buka, and he didn’t kill my aunt and uncle.”
“Buka?” Ollie tried not to roll his eyes. “You’re on a first name basis now?”
“He’s innocent.”
“Of what? It admitted to killing them last night!”
“No. He said it was his fault. Not that he did it.”
Ollie shook his head, not understanding.
“Buka was friends with my aunt and uncle. They let him live here after he wandered away from his pack. And they got along fine.”
“Until he killed them.”
“His boss killed them. Some other goblin named Kranka. He got mad about Buka hanging out with humans and decided to teach Buka a lesson.”
Ollie exhaled, then slowly rubbed his temple. “Can you come over here so we can talk about this?”
“So you can shoot him as soon as I move? I don’t think so.”
“Kimmie…” he said through clenched teeth, “this is, by far, the dumbest thing you could’ve done.”
She cocked her head. “Excuse me?”
“It told you a sob story because it doesn’t want to die. And you bought it. That’s fine. Plenty of people get conned every day–”
“Conned?”
“It’s fine. It happens. But I’m here now, to remind you that you’re dealing with a creature that makes hedge fund managers seem saintly.”
“You told me last night that you believed him, and that was enough for you to put an end to all this and finish him off right there. So why is it that when he tells me something different, and I believe him, it’s not good enough?”
“Fine. Kranka killed them, whoever that is. But you’re going off the word of a goblin. A goblin that is bred to be evil. Think about that. Think very hard.”
Ollie had a hard time saying those words. Until last night, he’d worked under the impression that some other goblin had killed her aunt and uncle. But he couldn’t admit that right now. Not when Kimmie was defending this beast.
Kimmie’s expression became cold. “I have thought about it. And I don’t want you to kill it. It doesn’t deserve that. It’s not angry, or evil. It’s scared out of its mind. And it didn’t even do the thing we’ve been chasing it for this whole time. Kranka did it. That’s who we need to be hunting!”
“Then we’ll find Kranka next. But that doesn’t mean this guy gets a pass.” He could see the defiance in her eyes. “This is what you asked me to do.”
She looked away. “I changed my mind.”
Ollie straightened. He’d been afraid of this. People got soft once they were face-to-face with hard decisions. That’s what his father had tried to teach him all those years ago, and as much as they disagreed about a good number of things, the old man was right about this. Someone had to make the hard call. And as usual, it would have to be him.
“Too bad.” He stepped forward and raised his gun. The goblin cowered even more. “It has to be done.”
Kimmie reached out and grabbed his arm. “No!” He tried to move her but she squirmed, keeping herself between him and the goblin.
Ollie grabbed her shoulder, pushing her away. She stumbled against the wall, then fell. Ollie tried to catch her with his free hand, but before he could, the goblin leapt forward, knocking the gun sideways and then shoving him backward.
Ollie lost his balance and fell onto his back. Instincts kicked in, and he immediately lifted his head, aiming at the enraged goblin… only to find it lifting Kimmie back to her feet. His mouth fell open, wanting to both tell her he was sorry, and to warn her that this goblin was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
It had to be.
Once back on her feet, she positioned herself in front of the goblin again. She stared at Ollie, her eyes hard and unforgiving. “I’m not letting you kill it.”
Ollie slowly got back to his feet. He lowered his gun and bit his lip, holding back the stream of obscenities he wanted to shout.
“See?” He shook his head. “This is exactly what I’ve been warning you about. You’re lapping this whole adventure up because it’s exciting and fun and you’re getting to play around in a fantasy. You think you’re a princess taming a dragon. But that’s not what that is!” He pointed at the goblin. “That thing is not a fairy tale. It’s a monster. You can’t be friends with it. You can’t keep it as a pet. It was created to do evil. And sooner or later, that’s what it will do.”
She stared back at him defiantly. “I will take that chance.”
Ollie was taken aback. “Oh, you will? Should we warn everyone in town first that you’re ‘taking a chance’ with a goblin? Because they might need time to run away before more people end up like your aunt and uncle.”
As soon as the words left his mouth he knew he shouldn’t have said them. It didn’t matter now, though. He’d said it, and Kimmie’s expression darkened accordingly.
“Ever since you got here, you’ve been treating me like some delinquent little kid who wants to play with a loaded gun. Well, I’m done. I’ve had enough of you and your holier-than-thou attitude, and I don’t want to hear another word out of your mouth that doesn’t start and end with, ‘I’m sorry for being such a jerk.’”
“Fine. I’m sorry for being such a jerk, but someone has to be the jerk here, and it’s clearly not going to be you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Not even close to what I asked for.”
“Kimmie…”
“In fact, I don’t want an apology anymore. I want you to leave.”
She pointed dramatically at the entrance. Ollie stared at her, slack jawed.
“You want me to leave?”
“This cave is on my property. Which means you’re on my property. And I want you off it. If you can’t treat me like a person with actual thoughts and opinions, then I don’t need you around.”
Ollie stewed for a long moment, then he held up his hands. “Fine. I caught your goblin. What you do with it now is on you because I’m done.” He picked up his bag and stuffed everything in it. “I’m done with this town, I’m done with you, and I’m done with this whole, stupid little fairy tale.”
“Then leave!”
“Fine!” He slung his bag over his shoulder and stalked out of the cave. “Have fun with your new best friend.”