"Where are you, my goblins? Come out to play," the voice continued. "What delicious treats will you bring me today?

I stood at the edge of the kitchen, ready to step out into the hall, knife in hand. However, there was a problem. I had never heard of a Goblin King before. Even with my scattered memories of Grandma's stories, there had never been a single mention of one. I looked back to Grandma, but she was still tied up on the tray, and I didn't think I could cut her loose in time. It was up to me. I had to trust that I was prepared to take on the Goblin King.

I peeked out into the foyer.

A short, pudgy, green-skinned goblin stood in the hall, a long scepter in his head and a tattered gold crown on his head. He wore a long jacket that dragged across the floor as he looked around the hall. His beady eyes looked high and low, but he saw not a single goblin in the home. He let out a grunt and tapped his scepter against the ground before his eyes traced over to my own. I slunk back against the wall, but it was too late.

"You there, child, are you a boy or girl?" the Goblin King laughed. "Does it really matter? I guess not. Have you seen my goblins? I sent them into this home to capture me a treat, but I don't see a single one around."

"I got rid of them!" I yelled, clutching the knife close. "Get out of this house, or I'll get rid of you too!"

"Hah, hah, hah—hah," the Goblin King laughed again, his cries long and played out. "Child. I am the Goblin King. No mortal knows how to get rid of me. Not that many haven't tried, but I am King precisely because no one knows how to eliminate me."

"What about a knife?" I asked, jumping around the corner and brandishing my chef's knife. "Even a Goblin King should be afraid of such a thing!"

"Hardly," the Goblin King yawned, strolling forward and pushing my knife aside with his scepter. "A knife to me is but a child's toy. We goblins are nothing like you, human child. We are not injured by simple tools. We can only be harmed in very specific ways. A knife won't do, and that is the truth."

Clink.

I dropped the knife. It couldn't be true. Then my toy sword would even have been useless to try. I questioned why I had brought it with me. Clearly, if goblins were so hardy, I only had my Grandma's sayings to rely on. Those had worked four times. Surely, I was just forgetting about the Goblin King. Surely, Grandma had given me a saying to protect us from that. I wracked my mind and tried to remember. I needed to know what I could do to stop the creature.

"Oh, you're thinking, how brave," the Goblin King said, beginning to walk a circle around me and dragging his jacket across the floor as he did so. "Perhaps you're thinking of some saying or rhyme that will stop the Goblin King. I can tell you it is futile. There is not a person who has met me and survived. I am the Goblin King precisely because I am undefeated. I, alone among my brethren, have never been made to disappear.

I had no more secrets to share that no one knew. He wasn't in the hall, and I didn't have a ball any longer. He wasn't on the stairs, and purposefully, he stopped short of stepping into the kitchen. A yellow, sharp-toothed smile crossed his face as he came around his full circle, standing before me with his arms crossed in front of himself and his scepter in hand. He began to laugh again, in his long, horrible laugh.

"You know, I think I've been here before. I recognize this home. The last time I was here, I took two people along. A husband and wife who loved each other very much. I can still remember the taste of the meat pies that day. Baked to perfection."

He cackled, and I froze, my mind going blank. My mom and dad had disappeared so long ago. Was the Goblin King the reason why? Had he come to the house and taken them away all those years ago? The realization was like a burning hot fire that burned in the front of my head. I reached up and clutched at it. I needed a moment to think. I needed time to figure out what I was supposed to do. Most importantly, I needed to remember Grandma's sayings.

"No."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Oh, yes," I can still remember the taste," the Goblin King licked his lips. "If I had known there were others in the home, I would have demanded a third serving. You must have been hidden away by a caretaker, perhaps. Maybe even a grandmother?"

"No."

"Now, this is a delectable day. I tell you what, child. I will give you a chance. The same chance I gave to those two people who lived here so many years ago. I am a creature who loves a good riddle. Tell me the answers to my riddles; answer every single one correctly, and I will leave you be. I will leave this home and never return again. Can you do that for me?"

Tears stung at my eyes as I looked up to the Goblin King. His mouth was stretched wide into a sharp smile, and I could see every rotten tooth in his mouth. However, the riddles were the only way I could see. I had to do it, didn't I? I had to answer the riddles if I wanted to save Grandma. If I didn't, the Goblin King would take both of us and bake us into a meat pie. My shoulders sagged as I accepted the conditions. I would need to answer the riddles if I hoped to survive.

"Yes."

"Good, good," the Goblin King smiled. "Then let us start easy and work our way to the hard ones. That way, you have a fighting chance. I wouldn't want you to lose on the first go. That would take all the fun out of it."

He tapped his chin as I stood there shaking. What horrible riddles would he come up with? I didn't even want to imagine.

"Tell me what I am. You cannot see me or touch me. You cannot hear me or taste me. You can use me or create me. You can find me. You can interrupt me. Some enjoy me, and others fear me."

I scrunched my eyes tight. I didn't know the answer. I couldn't even imagine what he was talking about. Quiet filled the room around me as I thought back to every time I had heard a story from Grandma. She had never really taught me riddles. She had told me stories from all over, almost all of them about goblins, but that was useless now. In the face of the Goblin King and his riddles, I could do nothing but stand in silence.

"Silence," I said, opening my eyes and blinking away my tears. "You're silence."

Tap.

The Goblin King tapped his scepter against the ground, shaking his head and turning away. "A good guess and a guess was all it was. I still have more riddles and more chances for you to fail. Be ready, child. I will not go so easy on you for the next one."

He placed his hands behind his back and didn't face me this time. Instead, he started reciting the riddle while turned away. At first, I was worried it was some kind of trick, but he spoke the riddle all the same.

"I keep you safe, but I make you weak. I make your hands sweat and freeze your heart," the Goblin King said, turning to face me with a smile. "I shackle the weak but leave the bold to be. What am I?" I looked down at the knife. The knife kept me safe; it made my hands sweat to hold it, and if I actually had to stab with it, even if it was a goblin, it would freeze my heart. However, I couldn't see how the knife would shackle the weak. I couldn't see how it would make me weak at all. I closed my eyes. My fear was getting the best of me. It was making me panic, and I couldn't think straight. My fear was stopping me from going forward. I needed to calm down, and I needed to think. If only I wasn't so scared…

"My fears," I said.

"Hmph," the Goblin King said, turning his head to the side and spitting on the ground. "Another lucky guess. I have one more riddle for you, child. If you answer it, I will let you free and leave your home, of that I promise."

He held up one hand, palm out, and put the other holding the scepter behind his back. I watched him with narrowed eyes, but he seemed to be honest about it. I nodded, and the Goblin King smiled. He dropped his hands to his side and started pacing around me again.

"A person loves me more than life and fears me more than death. The poor have me, and the rich need only me. I am the desire of the happy. The tight-knuckled spend me, and the loose save me. I am the only possession of the dead."

My eyes opened wide. I had no idea what could possibly answer that. What did the poor have that the rich needed? What did a happy person want? What did a person love more than being alive? What did a person fear more than death? What did the dead possess?

"Hurry, hurry," the Goblin King said. "We don't have all night!"

I couldn't think of anything that matched the riddle. There was nothing in this world that all of those people needed. I stood there, struggling to put together the pieces. Surely, there was something, some secret thing that everyone desired. A secret treasure, gold, something that they all wanted and at the same time couldn't carry with them into death. In the end, I didn't know the answer. "Nothing," I said.

"Curses," the Goblin King sighed. "I am foiled. Take your prize and free your Grandma, child. I must take my leave."

I turned to the kitchen, ready to leave the Goblin King to leave. However, then I realized a problem. I hadn't heard the sound of a goblin disappear. How would the Goblin King leave the house? Would he do the same as the others?

Thump.

A sudden heavy strike hit the back of my head, and I fell face-first into the floor. My vision wavered, and as my eyes looked back, I noticed a pair of dirty boots beside my face. The Goblin King laughed again as I closed my eyes to darkness.

"You don't get to be the Goblin King by following the rules, child," was the last thing I heard.