Chapter 166

All That’s Left

The sand was warm. I lay in it, unable to move. All of Abigail’s beers put a tremendous thirst in my throat. Even my tongue was out of energy. It lay lolled outside of my mouth. Breaths were hard to come by since I felt so utterly weak. I didn’t know a goblin could break through her limits of endurance over and over.

My heart felt the weakest. I couldn’t take it. I felt useless when I couldn’t return to sea to search for Slime-tooth. All I could do was let my head roll on its side so that I could look out at all the ships. There were only a handful of white flags left. One by one, they became stained with colors and symbols.

One of them stained bruise-purple. Crusty bubbles filled the flag from corner to corner. Bubble-scab had always wanted to be Captain. I was glad she got one. Another flag turned black and shards of bones appeared upon it. Ouch-kneecap was probably the owner. The last white flag stained green, and a darker question mark appeared in the middle.

Might it be Brain-hunh’s flag?

Below the line of the sea, humans dragged wet goblins ashore. They worked quickly to revive and bring comfort to the goblins. Only a speckle remained at sea.

Around the Mist Hidden wall, a ship cruised up. It was one of my sloops, and Gabby’s flag whipped in the wind. The jungle had been squashed underfoot, and some of the sails were torn.

With tremendous effort, I leaned up on an elbow. I couldn’t believe it. Gabby was on deck holding Stub-toes’ hand! There was Soft-song and Old Wrinkle-twinkle too! They had at least a dozen more goblins onboard who I recognized. I couldn’t return their eager waving, but I could smile back at them.

A jolly boat sped around the sloop. Pinky-chew was at the stern, blowing a massive gale from her lungs. Stumble-not pulled goblins from the water as they went. With such speed, the jolly boat slid up the sand and bumped into a handful of goblins.

Remember-not and Knot-knuckle arrived right behind them, and they carried exhausted goblins ashore and passed them to the humans who tended to them.

Thrush waddle-sprinted ashore. He leaned over and dumped goblins out of his mouth. The goblins looked petrified, and they trembled with wide eyes. Not a moment later, Thrush cut through the world, and a giant chute of water gushed from a splash behind some sloops.

I struggled to my knees as my crew came barreling to me. They dropped to their knees to hug me, and I couldn’t hug them all back at once, however hard I tried.

“Slime-tooth?” I asked them.

“No Slime-tooth, yet,” said Gabby.

“Where’s Boggo and Captain Ella?”

“I’m sorry, Admiral,” said Stumble-not. “I had to follow Captain Ella’s orders.”

“What happened to them? I saw them go aboard the dark ship.”

Hawkin and Abigail suddenly appeared out of thin air. They had a bunch of goblins in their arms, and they awkwardly set them down like they were dropping off squirming cats.

“Haven’t found Slime-tooth yet,” said Abigail. “We’ll keep looking.”

“Wait, take me with you!” I said.

Hawkin and Abigail already had beer to their lips. They vanished, and all I was left with was a view of the small Craft bobbing at sea. It was empty. Wait!—It wasn’t empty! I was just able to see a blue bestie and a yellow bestie inside.

Hawkin and Abigail suddenly appeared once more. They carried the Craft between them, and they lowered it to the sand right in front of us.

“Whoa!” said Boggo. “That was fast!”

Boggo’s fur was matted with blood. His teeth were red, and he was trembling. He winced as he favored his weak rib. Ella was on guard.

“We’ve got him!” she said.

“Slime-tooth?” I said.

Hawkin and Abigail lifted Slime-tooth out of the Craft. He seemed dazed, but alive. After rolling out a stack of bedrolls, they gently laid him down and made him comfortable.

“Give him space,” said Hawkin. “Back away.”

While the humans tended to Slime-tooth with healing beers, I wrung my hands something fierce. I chewed the inside of my cheek. My heart beat rapidly.

“He looks terrible,” said Gabby.

“Gloom-glower did this,” said Stub-toes.

“I have to go back out there!” said PInky-chew. “There's more goblins to save!”

Already there were hundreds of goblins around. There were so many that they split off into the woods. There were those under the care of the humans, and there were those who found out the humans were passing out food.

“So he’s not a god?” said Stumble-not as he stared at Slime-tooth.

“He’s not?” said Knot-knuckle.

“He’s my like-a-father!” I said. “Is he going to be okay?”

It wasn’t too long until Slime-tooth was able to sit up. He smacked his lips after the beers he’d just had. He smiled a crooked mangled smile. His cloudy eyes searched us until his gaze landed on me.

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Squinting, he said, “Barnacle-eyes? Is that you? My like-a-daughter?”

“It’s me! I’m most definitely me! I saw you on Home Camp but I couldn’t wake you up, and I didn’t want to wake you up. You always warned me about waking up a sleeping goblin. But now I wish I’d woken you up! I wish I’d carried you away! I couldn’t see your face under the blanket! I couldn’t see—”

“Come here.”

Being in his arms wasn’t a question of how much strength I had left.

“Not too tight,” he said. “Not too tight please. I’ve got many things that hurt to touch.”

“I found you,” I said. “I found you.”

“I’m right here.”

“But what about before, where were you? I kept looking and looking, and I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“I was sleeping on Home Camp. When I returned, the ship was sinking. That fat sloop rat and her little friend saved me.”

Boggo had until then been tending to Ella. He paused to say, “We’re going to let that one go.”

“What’s going on?” said Slime-tooth. “Did I miss something?”

“Barnacle-eyes started a mutiny,” said Stub-toes.

“Shh! Shh! Don’t say that! Oh no, please don’t say that!” Slime-tooth was suddenly taken with fervor. He thrashed like a flopping fish. With his crumpled fingers he started desperately digging in the sand. “Please, don’t hurt me! I promise I’ll never say that! Please, I can’t take it anymore! I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything you said I did wrong. I didn’t mean to sink the ship. I didn’t mean to drink the beer. I didn't mean to eat the food. I didn’t mean to sneeze. I didn’t mean to sleep. I didn’t—”

Abigail swooped in to calm him down. “Slime-tooth, you’re with Barnacle-eyes now. You’re safe. Gloom-glower isn’t king anymore. There’s no more fleet.”

There were now less than a thousand ships left. Each of them had a new Captain. Goblins were back to bailing water. Ships were sailing off in the three remaining cardinal directions. It was a great disband.

“It’s okay Slime-tooth,” said Remember-not. “All your friends are here. We’ll protect you.”

Slime-tooth, although calmed, still cowered at my knees. I hugged him fiercely as if he were being attacked, like I could be his shield. Then my entire crew came closer to pat him on the back and say sweet reassurances. It must have worked because Slime-tooth uncrumpled, and he stopped shaking.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t help it. I get nightmares.”

I couldn’t keep myself together. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one that’s sorry, Slime-tooth. I’m so sorry.”

How did things get like this? Why didn’t we save him sooner? I should have gone to see him the moment I returned. Why did he refuse Hawkin and Abigail’s help? I wished I could have saved him sooner!

“I should get back to work, shouldn’t I?” he said.

“No!” I said. “No more work. Gloom-glower’s gone. It’s over.”

Slime-tooth searched me with his foggy eyes like he was finally catching on to things. Another mangled smile came to him. “Oh Barnacle-eyes, it’s over!”

My crew gathered to hug him. He tilted his head back, and under the sun I could clearly see pure joy on his face.

“Are these your friends?” he said.

“Now and forever,” said Soft-song. “We’ll follow her anywhere.”

“Where’s the rest? Where’s your fleet?”

“No more fleet,” I said. “They mutinied. Well, I guess they mutinied against Captain Cheese-pits, but either way, it’s gone. I lost everything.”

“Well ptooey on them! They didn’t know what they had in you.”

“I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too, little one.”

We must have been causing quite a commotion. Goblins around us started taking peeks at us. They whispered to each other what we could clearly hear.

“That can’t be Slime-tooth can it?” said a goblin.

“I think that’s him.” said another.

“Didn’t he smite Gloom-glower?” said a snot. “Why isn’t he up in the sky with the other goblin gods?”

“What do you mean?” said another snot. “That’s Slime-tooth. He makes the ptooey for the spit beer.”

“Some of the goblins think I’m a god?” said Slime-tooth.

Boggo let out a sigh that I thought sounded guilty. “It happens.”

“Would it be all right if I could sleep somewhere?” Slime-tooth said. “I’m awfully tired, and I don’t feel well.”

“What would make you comfortable?” said Hawkin. “Home Camp?”

Slime-tooth pinched his chin with fingers that looked like they’d been rebent by hammers. “Could I sleep somewhere around Barnacle-eyes and her friends? I haven’t been allowed to talk to another goblin besides Gloom-glower in over a year.”

“Then how about we get all of you to Home Camp,” said Hawkin.

And Hawkin passed everyone a sip of Home Camp. One by one—poof!—we found ourselves on Home Camp under the weird colors of the ethereal plane. We gingerly helped Slime-tooth roll onto the cot. He gave a happy sigh as he wiggled until he was comfortable. At least ten goblin hands tucked him in at once. He smiled at that.

“We’re going to make one last search along the coast,” said Hawkin.

He and Abigail left.

“I don’t think I can sleep,” said Gabby.

“I’m wide awake,” said Stub-toes, and they were still holding hands.

“I don’t think I’ll be sleeping tonight!” said Stink-lip.

“I’m sorry little ones,” said Slime-tooth. “I’m just so tired. I wouldn’t mind if you talked. It would be a nice sound to fall asleep to. One of my favorite sounds in the world. In fact, why don’t you tell me all about your adventures so far?”

The best way to tell a giant big story was to blabber about it! So we babbled all at the same time. We had to take turns being louder than everyone else to be heard.

Slime-tooth quickly fell asleep with tears in the corners of his eyes. And however much I wanted to blabber about all the sailing we’d done, and all the goblins we’d hired, I found myself speechless. As I gently rubbed Slime-tooth’s back, I listened so deeply to my crew.

Losing my fleet had been worth it. Now I had my before family and my after family together.

So I listened and laughed, and so many times I wanted to jump in, until Slime-tooth was softly snoring in what seemed like a really deep sleep.

That was when Gabby said, “Admiral? I’d like to hand over the sloop to you. You’re the most capable Admiral of us all, and I would please thank you if you were our Admiral once again.”

“I would like that too,” said Remember-not.

Everyone except for Stub-toes nodded at that. Stub-toes seemed downcast.

“As long as I don’t have to be Stub-toes anymore,” he said. “I don’t like it.”

“You don’t wanna be Stub-toes?” I said. “But look at your feet.”

“That’s not my real name. Gloom-glower did this to me. He’s been stepping on my toes since I was a little snot.”

“What’s your real name?” said Gabby.

“Sweet-thumps.”

“Will you all be part of my crew?” I said. “Sweet-thumps, you too?”

“I already miss our home,” said Gabby.

All my goblins nodded. Even Stink-lip.

“So what do you think, snots?” I said. “Wanna start over? With the sloop Gabby commandeered?”

“Aye, aye, Admiral!”

“As your Admiral, I’d like to propose our first new rule! Protect Slime-tooth.”

“I’ll protect him from anything!” said Stumble-not.

“Me too!” said my goblins altogether.

“What about the other rules?” said Remember-not.

“Let’s start with just the one for now,” I said. “And after Slime-tooth gets some well deserved rest, we’ll start rebuilding our fleet. We’ll build the best goblin freebooter family that’s ever existed!”