The moment Coral had stepped into town she could feel eyes upon her. From the shadowed doorway of the Dogs House, Iris Woodmore stood talking to men dressed in Epril’s Adventurer Guilds tangerine colours. The woman hadn’t acknowledged Coral as she passed by, but her spine itched with the feeling of being watched. She took comfort from the warmth emanating from the black snapdragon coiled about her shoulders.
The cobbled streets were far busier than she had expected, with more than a few groups of Adventurers wearing colours or sigils representing their Guild. She was recognising more faces now, if not by name, she knew them by the cut of their shoulders, their gait, and some even by their smell. She could see the apprentices training hard in the small garden by the river, all trying to replicate the force push spell she had seen used on them weeks ago. Further on, she spotted Doctor Thornheart among the crowd, watching with intense scrutiny at the adventurers as they passed by, nodding her head to some and offering up a word or two.
Guards were arguing with surly looking men, being urged to move their massive caravan off the main road. They could have stayed where they were, if it weren’t for the dead troll strapped to the roof of their caravan.
As far as trolls went, with Coral never having seen one except for illustrations in books and paintings, it was smaller than she had expected. Its thick legs were easily three times the size of her whole body. They hung from the back of the caravan like absurd stone masts from a ship. Its arms were tied to its sides, bulging with thickly corded muscle. Its skin was ash-brown and covered in so much lichen and pockmarks that it resembled stone. The troll’s head faced away from her, which Coral was grateful for, as there was a dribble of a thick brown liquid oozing from its ear. A tuft of moss grew from the folds of its neck, as though it had stayed still long enough in the forest that the flora claimed it. If she hadn’t known better, Coral would have thought it an odd boulder.
“Get this stinking thing out of town, you dim-witted guttersnipe. No dead things are to be brought into town at all,” barked a guard at the Adventurers staring him down.
“We’re selling it,” they answered, unconcerned with the surly guard.
“We get enough dead shite hanging around at mid-winter. We’ll not have you add a troll to the mix. Move on. Now,” the guard growled.
“I’ll take it,” Doctor Thornheart said, walking up to the caravan, her eyes set on the troll.
At this the guard seemed beside himself with frustration. “Have you been sniffing those herbs Norwood keeps? Do you have any idea how hard it is to pierce a troll’s hide, it’d go rotten before you make a dent,” the guard growled out. “It needs to be taken far from town, far enough away that this bloody thing isn’t going to come level our houses.”
“I’ve a way to de-bone it,” Doctor Thornheart said dismissively. “There’ll be nothing for it to pull together to be of any real nuisance when I’m done with it.”
Coral gave the monster and the Adventurers a wide berth. What Doctor Thornheart would want with a dead troll; she didn’t know. If it were Orvil Norwood asking to buy the troll’s carcass she wouldn’t have been surprised. He seemed to be the type to want odd, nauseating things.
The black snapdragon seemed rather insistent on looking at the troll corpse, eagerly twisting around to get a better view. Coral had to hold on to its middle to stop it from leaping from her shoulder.
“Settle down, we’re keeping it low key today. In and out as soon as possible,” she told it as it writhed about to look past the crowd of people that walked by. She felt as though she were drawing far too much attention to herself. She still had that nagging feeling that eyes were still set upon her. When she looked, no one was following. It took a moment of two for the snapdragon to calm down and stop scratching at her neck or whip her in the throat with an agitated flick of its tail.
Coral entered Cravings and Delirium and spent a moment perusing the full shelves before finding what she had come for. The shop was bursting with an assortment of goods, but far from the usual trinkets and furnishings, there was a variety of items more suitable for the Night of the Undead. There was a range of protective clothing, bandages, poultices, swords, axes and clubs. Shields were leant up against the walls. Hammers and nails filled baskets by the counter. A section had been dedicated entirely to dried meats, cheeses, and desiccated fruits. She spied apricots that she hadn’t thought to see until next summer and had to restrain from buying. Her purse was far lighter than she had intended already, and this trip into town was going to prove to be an expense that she could little afford.
Not far from the display of edible goods, was what Coral had come for. On a shelf beside a small statue of a Soul Harvester carved from a smoky quartz, was a wicker basket with a scattering of raw black crystals. A small sign had been left inside the basket. Twenty-five bronze coins for the large size, and fifteen for the small. Her heart sunk a little at the cost, though it wasn’t unexpected. She would have to make do with the supplies she bought for the repairs and maintenance of the manor until she could start earning coin.
There were only a handful of the larger crystals, but Coral scooped up as many as she could afford. She piled the crystals atop the counter, the woman behind it giving her a questioning look.
“These won’t stop the Undead from entering your manor. You’re more likely to have better luck with that wall that surrounds your grounds,” the woman said.
Coral blinked at her. She hadn’t met this person before, there had been someone different behind the counter with every visit. Was she so recognizable that everyone in Direwood knew who she was?
“It’s just a little extra precaution,” Coral said, nudging a few chunks of the crystal towards the woman.
The woman’s storm-grey eyes flicked over her, assessing whatever it was she saw. Coral was no longer the well-dressed noble from the city. Truthfully, she may have a remnant of that time clinging to her still, like an aroma she couldn’t wash away. She was sure the filth curse had probably had a chance to splatter her with some mud or leaf litter on her trek into town.
The woman must have approved of what she saw. She leant forward, her silver-streaked hair spilling onto the counter between them. She was somewhere perhaps in her fifties, with skin so smooth and blemish free she could have been looking at a doll. An oddity in a town whose resident’s main occupation were farmers or Adventurers.
“You don’t look like much for the Scurge of Direwood,” she said lightly.
A muscle in Coral’s cheek twitched as she tried not to smile at that. “I only reveal my evil plots during special events. Should I sneer more to remedy my appearance?”
The woman gave her a half smile, her eyes creasing just a touch. “Only if Orvil Norwood comes slinking around my shop again,” she said. She took a moment to count out each of the crystals before her.
“You’re the owner of Cravings and Delirium?” Coral asked.
“I was the last time I checked. Though I only come in on days when I get new stock. I prefer to go looking for items rather than stand behind a counter all day. But travel is harder as it gets colder, and sales are always best in the lead up to Midwinter,” the woman said.
“That will be a silver and thirty. Though, if you pass the cemetery, I’d take a handful from there too. The Adventurer’s Guild take it upon themselves to restock the crystals every so often.”
“I wouldn’t be living up to my namesake if I didn’t take such an opportunity,” Coral said, handing over the coin. “Though, I would prefer to be called Coral.”
“I’ll try to do so in the future. I’m Glenna Morvel.”
“Morvel,” Coral said, taken aback. This woman was little Otis Morvel’s sister. Coral stared at her, as though one of the ghosts had just materialised in front of her. She searched the woman’s face, studying her nose, the shape of the forehead, the roundness to her cheeks, then remembered she didn’t actually know what Otis looked like. Coral had only ever heard his voice.
“Yes?” Glenna said.
Coral’s cheeks heated a little for staring a little too openly to be polite.
“I came across your surname in the records I have for the manor,” Coral said, trying to regain her composure. “That is to say, specifically, Otis Morvel.”
Glenna sighed. “He was my younger brother,” she confirmed.
“I’m sorry,” Coral said.
Glenna quirked an eyebrow at her. “Whatever for?”
“Well, he passed away at the manor. I – read that Lord Rayner had been a necromancer. Otis was in his employment around the time things took a sour turn.”
Glenna shrugged. “It was a long time ago. He met a tragic end and the culprit paid for what he did. I haven’t thought about it for quite some time.”
She looked Coral over with a shrewd expression. “I thought those records were kept at the Guild.”
“I was looking for plans of the manor, for repairs and the like. I’m still not sure just how many rooms are in that place. Crowcaller was kind enough to provide what information she could to me.”
“Just so,” Glenna said, tallying up the coins Coral had paid with.
Coral packed away the crystals into a cloth pouch she brought with her. As she moved, an idea formed that could possibly benefit more than herself. Otis had wanted to send his family a letter, and perhaps she too could gather a few more coins for herself if Glenna was open to buying. If she invited Glenna over, it would give Otis a chance to see her again. It was the least she could do for the poor boy. Though, she was unsure on how the woman would react to the idea of visiting the place of her brother’s demise.
“Would you by any chance by in the market for furniture?” Coral asked.
“Perhaps, what do you want to sell?”
“Chairs, a couple of tables and a wardrobe. They’re all in reasonably good condition,” Coral said. They were if one were to ignore the distinctive claw marks from the snapdragons. She didn’t expect to fetch a high price for the pieces, and there was more than enough furniture left abandoned in the manor.
“It’s not the right time of the month, though after midwinter when furniture has been waylaid by the undead, there’ll be folks looking to buy.”
“A perfect opportunity if you ask me,” Coral pressed.
Glenna was quiet for a moment, then nodded her head once. “It can’t hurt to have a look. Would tomorrow be suitable for you?”
“I’ll see you then,” Coral said.
Coral strung the cloth pouch around her wrist, the contents a comforting weight. She emerged from the shop and found Ariella Remstone across the Dire River, standing at the blacksmiths. Their eyes met, and for a moment they stared at one another.
Coral was the one to break that cold gaze, turning back up the street to return home. She had only to travel a small way for her to discover Iris Woodmore still standing at the front of the tavern. As though she had been waiting.
Perhaps Coral was being a little paranoid. There were many people out today, and it was unreasonable to think that she wouldn’t see them about. Still, that cold gaze that fell upon her was unsettling.
Coral didn’t acknowledge her. Instead, she side stepped a passing caravan weighed down with plated steel, pulled by four large horses slick with sweat. They breathed heavily as they trundled down the cobbled road, tossing their heads. The horse in the rear had a fresh cut along the side of its neck, gaping and bleeding. A concerned Adventurer bristling with weapons murmuring encouragement to it.
There had been a marked increase in activity the last few days in both the town and the outskirts. Coral and Pearl had heard the howls late at night, and she could only assume it was Silas’s pack hunting. Often the howls were answered with screeches that came from no human mouth, a blood chilling cry wrenched straight from a nightmare.
Coral had been fortunate enough to not see whatever had made that cursed screaming. If not for the monsters encroaching on the town, it was certainly the thought of Pearl left alone with naught but snapdragons and ghosts for company that spurred Coral’s feet to hasten along the road back.
She passed farmers and fields, leaving the hustle of the town behind her. The air was as chill as a vampire’s kiss, and the ground was covered in a dusting of frozen spiderwebs. It was a beautiful day and Coral found herself enjoying the walk even as she approached the towering trees for the forest that lined the road, the space between the trunks dark as night. The road ahead was clear, not a single other person shared it with her. Coral seldom did, apart from a farmer carrying his wares to sell.
The black snapdragon lifted its head to the air, tongue poking out to taste. Coral had long since discovered that it was a male. She really couldn’t keep referring to it as ‘the black snapdragon.’
While it wasn’t particularly cuddly, it did seek her out purely to be near her. It would trot after her, watching as Coral went about her day cleaning or mending the manor. If the black snapdragon followed her, then it wasn’t causing trouble with the other snapdragons. Coral had even taken to letting it sleep at the end of the bed, its warm little body the perfect warmer for her feet.
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The black snapdragon leant over her shoulder, its claws scratching at her skin through the thick cape she had wrapped about her for warmth. She was going to have to find a way to file those down if she wanted to keep any flesh on her arms. Coral let it down and it immediately took to sniffing the ground, tail lashing in a way that Coral had learnt that it was irritated by something.
It kept it up as she walked. It would stop, stiff and still as it listened to a shiver of dancing leaves in the wind, to a rustle or snap of a twig somewhere deep in the forest.
They were almost home when Coral could finally see the tall stone wall that surrounded her land from amongst the branches. Even this far out away from the manor, Moonflowers trailed along the stones, shining like drops of moonlight in the darkness.
The black snapdragon growled; its little teeth bared. Coral stopped.
She had been so focused on looking out for a glimpse of the manor, that she hadn’t seen what had stepped out on the road.
The snapdragon had. Perhaps he had known something was amiss this whole time.
A small hobgoblin, no taller than her knees, stared her down. His dark eyes gleamed as it stared at the black snapdragon. Its long grey beard hung by its knobby elbows, encrusted with old, dried blood. It wore a filthy tunic about its body, the remnants of a shirt intended for someone larger than itself. It had likely pilfered it long ago, judging by the stains blotching its surface and ripped patches.
It had been weeks since she had seen her last monster. She had known they were abundant here, but Coral had strayed into a false sense of security having not seen any other creature in the time that she had come to live in Direwood.
Coral could understand why Pearl would imagine Hobgoblins as little bearded men. This one did, though it didn’t look human. Its head was too wide, it’s nose too squashed over a mouth that split from ear to ear. Its eyes were large dark pits in its skull, and one pupil was pointed crookedly up to the left. It was an amalgamation of human like features badly sculpted into the creature that stood before her.
Though, it was rather ragged looking, as far as hobgoblin standards went. The creatures had their own sense of style, fashioning clothing in ways not intended for their use. Their clothes were often scavenged from towns, along with small game they could get their hands on. Most people warded themselves against hobgoblins, and with the increased population of Direwood with far too many skilled with weapons, Coral supposed the creature was becoming desperate. She hadn’t seen a single rabbit in the fields on her way home.
Hobgoblins rarely travelled alone.
A single hobgoblin was somewhat of a challenge. Coral might even be able to handle two of them on her own if luck were on her side. If she was cautious, she might be able to convince them to leave without any harm. Hobgoblins were foremost tricky little monsters that only became a real nuisance if they were offended, and they could be offended by anything.
Coral moved slowly, showing the cloth pouch and shaking it slightly to show that it was full. From the lean look of the creature, she would have had better luck with food. Still, she would much rather lose whatever she had of value on her at the time and replace it later, rather than part ways with a limb or two. It wasn’t unheard of people losing their lives and being eaten by the cursed creatures. She slowly opened the pouch and pulled out one of the crystals within, holding it up for the hobgoblin to see.
It’s eye twitched.
Taking this as a bad sign, Coral let her hands sink down. Luck definitely didn’t seem to be on her side. From amongst the tree trunks, a second hobgoblin slunk out of the darkness. Its bare feet had been entirely silent among the leaf litter. It too was dressed in rags, a cotton girls dress with the neckline ripped wide open for its bulbous head.
Thinking fast, Coral lifted the hem of her skirt to show off her boots. “You can have my shoes, if you let me go,” she said, hoping they understood. She wiggled her foot a little for emphasis.
The second hobgoblin sneered, then pointed at the snapdragon emitting a low garble. The snapdragon lashed its tail, button eyes locked on the hobgoblin.
Three more hobgoblins scurried out from amongst the trees. They were all similarly dressed, with stolen clothes and dirt smeared across their faces, with each wearing a distinctly greedy look. The last one to emerge must have been female, as it didn’t have a beard like the others. It had set itself apart by draping a dead cat skin around its shoulders and wearing a grin of needle-sharp teeth. The poor cat looked as if it had been gnawed on before and after it had been skinned.
Five hobgoblins. A trifling thing for any Adventurer. A seriously dangerous situation for Coral.
The hobgoblins garbled nonsense at her, gesturing at her feet. Coral’s lungs froze as she realised they wanted her snapdragon. Coral took a step back, trying to stand in front of it protectively. She would not give him up to them.
“You can’t have him,” Coral said. She would have given up every item she had on her before she would have let those monsters get near the snapdragon. Even then, she would rather fight them than give the snapdragon up for her own safety. She wasn’t far from the manor. She was beside her own land right now, if she could make it back, or find a way to scale that wall, she would be alright. She could lock the creatures out of the manor until they gave up. If they tried to climb in through a window, well, she could bash their hateful heads in with whatever fire poker she could get her hands on before they could use their own magic on her. She just had to make it back first.
The hobgoblins didn’t wait for her to offer up the snapdragon. They ran at her all at once, pulling sharp stones from amongst the folds of filthy rags. One had a kitchen knife. Coral scooped the growling snapdragon into her arms, then took off as fast as she could.
The hobgoblins were faster than she thought, their feet pattering against the ground behind her like a drumbeat. She searched the road ahead, hoping for a hole in the wall that she could use as a foothold to climb. Only tall trees loomed over head, their branches thick with moss and too high to reach up and grasp a branch.
The snapdragon snarled as a hobgoblin appeared beside her. A slice of pain cut along her arm that held the snapdragon to her. Coral cried out and reacted without thinking, swerving straight into another hobgoblin and sent it tumbling to the ground. It latched on to her leg and bit her calf.
Coral shrieked, the weight of the creature forcing her to fall forwards. She threw out a hand to brace herself, and she landed awkwardly as she tried to keep her weight off the snapdragon. She felt the hobgoblins land on her back as they threw themselves at her, hands gripping and tearing at her hair as they tried to pry the snapdragon out from under her.
Gritting her teeth, Coral kicked out at the little bastards. They were garbling and cackling above her, like this was some exciting game they were playing. Their weight bore her down, one stamped on the back of her knee. Another jabbed something sharp into her shoulder.
Coral got one of her legs beneath her, holding the snapdragon hard up against her chest, and she flipped herself sideways and pinned one of the hobgoblins legs beneath her. She caught the arm of another as it swung the kitchen knife at her. The edge of the blade pressed against her chest; the material of her coat thick enough to stop the knife from slicing her open. She shoved against it, pushing it back, and rocked forward, ripping her hair out of the grasp of another hobgoblins.
Somehow, Coral rolled back to her feet in the jumble of grabbing hands and limbs as they scrabbled about. The creatures must have been half starved, as a hard shove was enough to push them back. She struck out with her free hand, grazing her knuckles clumsily against the female’s jaw. It fell back, and was replaced by another, its beard flying back behind it and arms reaching for the snapdragon. Fighting them was useless, she had to get back to the manor, put a barrier between the snapdragon and them.
She ran, her legs working harder than ever, the back of her knee aching. Up ahead, only about fifty meters or so, was the gate to Moonflower Inn.
“Open the gate!” Coral screamed, hoping that one of the ghosts or Pearl was close enough to hear. She hadn’t locked it when she left, but opening the latch would take precious seconds.
The air shimmered ahead of Coral. She almost fell in her haste to avoid it. A moment later, one of the hobgoblins appeared in that wavering space. Coral’s skin pricked with the telltale sign of magic, though, this felt different from the kind of magic she had been exposed to. Hobgoblins could control their own magic, without the need for sigils or words to spark the power into existence. They could use their own innate magic as naturally as breathing.
The hobgoblin reached for her, shoving its fingers beneath Coral’s arm, gibbering away at her and trying to pry the snapdragon free. Another appeared to her left and jammed its fists into her ribs. Coral flinched. A small space opened up as she moved, and the hobgoblin in front of her managed to wrap its grimy fingers around the snapdragon.
“NO!” Coral yelled as the snapdragon was ripped from her. She lunged forward, hand outstretched. The hobgoblin blurred, then disappeared, taking the snapdragon with it. The other hobgoblins jeered, one of them kicking her a last time before they too blurred and disappeared from sight.
Coral looked about her, breathing hard. Panic was flooding her veins like poison. They took him, the tiny, defenceless snapdragon. An easy picking from a foolish human. They may have been too weak to take her on, but a snapdragon was a meal.
If they were starved and desperate, then they couldn’t have gone far. They could use magic, but at what cost? Their teleportation magic would have to be limited.
“Cursed Shit!” Coral snarled, searching the trees. She quietened her frantic breathing, listening hard over the desperate beat her heart drummed against her chest.
A gut wrenching, pain-filled cry filled came from her left, just beyond the road. Coral ran towards it in an instant, her fear replaced with rage at the sound of that scream. If they hurt it, she was going to hunt each of them down and skin them. There was no goodness left in Coral, not with her anger burning bright and furious.
She caught a flash of movement between the tree-trunks. She cut towards them through the undergrowth. The hobgoblins startled as she barrelled into them. She aimed herself straight for the monster holding her snapdragon. It was attempting to bite the hands that held it, embers sparking from its mouth. Coral threw her arms around that hobgoblin, catching it around the middle before it could teleport away. The others yelled nonsense as she brought it down, landing atop it. A tree branch whipped out at her, throwing her backwards several meters. Somehow, she missed the trees entirely and landed heavily out on the road, her head smacking hard against the hobgoblin she had locked her arms around.
She hit that ugly bastard in the face with her elbow and tried to pry its grip from the snapdragon. Something hard struck her in the head, and Coral looked up in time to see stones rising from the road. They reached the same height of the hobgoblin wordlessly directing them, Coral’s skin prickling with the feel of the odd magic. With a wicked snarl from the hobgoblin, the stones shot towards her. Coral was able to duck her head in time as she was pelted with the rocks with bruising force. She grit her teeth and with strength she didn’t know she possessed, she forced back two of those fingers, feeling them break in her hands as she bent them in the wrong direction. The hobgoblin screeched in her ear, a high-pitched keening laced with pain.
That was enough to loosen the grip around the squirming snapdragon. It broke free and leapt, flapping its wings hard so that it rose high into the air, clearing the heads of the other hobgoblins and straight for the manor’s gate.
The hobgoblins chased after it, some teleporting inches away. The snapdragon twisted about, evading snatching hands and kicking feet and all the while hissing and snapping back.
Coral kicked herself free of the hobgoblin yowling over its fingers, then threw herself in the way of another, preventing it from grabbing the snapdragon. It snarled and jabbed its kitchen knife at her. Coral side stepped, though not far enough. She felt a shallow cut rip across her hip, and she cried out in surprise rather than hurt.
“Coral!”
Coral could hear Pearl scream her name from the manor, but she was too busy holding back another hobgoblin to respond. The snapdragon growled, small sparks showering the ground as it barred its teeth and bit the air while bounding between the hobgoblins.
It was not going through the gate. It wouldn’t leave. It hissed and snapped at ankles, tearing into whatever flesh it could before leaping back out of the way. One of the hobgoblins snatched the snapdragon by the tail and swung it up high in the air with a triumphant yowl.
Coral couldn’t stop them, there were too many. One of the hobgoblins waved their arm in her direction. She was struck in the stomach with a large rock, sending her backwards. She lay on the ground, blinking dazedly into the canopy above. Pearls screams were ringing in her head. She needed to get up, but the pain in her stomach kept her rooted to the ground. She rolled sideways and stared at the wall that separated her from the manor’s grounds.
She needed to get up. She needed to get her snapdragon back!
Coral blinked hard. The stone wall had moved and a shadow fell over her. For a moment Coral couldn’t make sense of what she was looking at. Long pointed teeth in a snarling lion’s maw, curling horns and pointed ears. Then all at once Coral realised what she was staring at, or rather, what was staring down at her. The manor’s gargoyle.
Coral stared in shock as a large stone claw reached down and grabbed the hobgoblin that held her snapdragon. The other hobgoblins froze, then sneered back, flashing their needle teeth at the gargoyle. The stone claws curled inwards, piercing the hobgoblins sides and spilling blood on to the ground. The hobgoblin thrashed and screamed in agony as it was crushed in its grip. Its scream cut off abruptly as the gargoyle flexed its arm, snapping the creature’s spine. The snapdragon dropped to the ground as the creature went limp.
Two hobgoblins appeared either side of Coral, taking up her arms and what felt like try to wrench them from her sockets. The snapdragon scrambled up Coral’s leg and latched onto her front with its claws, digging in through the fabric. It snarled at the hobgoblins, the embers spitting from its mouth and burning Coral’s skin.
Before she could move, the gargoyle lunged forward, snapping that stoney mouth hard down over the head of one of the hobgoblins. Blood spurted over Coral as the gargoyle lifted its head, the body hanging from its teeth. The other hobgoblin impaled on its claws, somehow still alive. The gargoyle stared down at Coral, unblinking. Then, with the sound of grinding stone, it settled back to perch on the stone wall above the gate, and became still as a statue.
Coral couldn’t bring herself to move. She lay there, staring at the gargoyle, waiting for it to move. The impaled hobgoblin struggled against that unyielding grip, its efforts growing weaker as it bled out, staining the gargoyle red. The body of the other hobgoblin still strung between the teeth swayed slightly as a breeze picked up. A lonely caw of a crow breaking the silence.
The gate swung open, and Pearls timid voice called out.
“Coral?”
“I’m – I’m alright,” she stammered out, still unable to look away from the gargoyle. After a long minute, Coral could feel all the pain as the adrenaline seeped away. She winced as she took a deep breath.
“Help me up, I’m cold,” Coral said.
Pearl skittered past the gargoyle, never turning her back to it. She knelt beside Coral, her hands reaching for Coral’s arm, head turned up to watch the gargoyle.
“I don’t think it will come after us,” Pearl said finally. “I saw it watching me a few weeks back. It didn’t attack me then.”
Coral grunted as she sat up, the snapdragon falling into her lap. “You’re in big trouble, why didn’t you go inside the grounds. You’re lucky you’re still around to tell your story,” She grumbled at it.
The snapdragon shook its body, as though it were shaking off its ordeal without a second thought, then leapt from her lap and headed towards the blood pooling beneath the gargoyle. Pearl helped Coral to her feet, and she had to usher the snapdragon from lapping at the ground.
“Don’t eat that, that’s disgusting,” Pearl chastised. With more bravery than Coral thought Pearl possessed, she hurried forward and stooped right below the gargoyle and collected the black snapdragon into her arms.
“You’ll have to name him now after such an ordeal,” Pearl said.
Coral tested her leg by putting weight on it. Her knee throbbed, the cuts stung, and she was just about ready to call the end to her day. Except she didn’t have that luxury.
“I think I’ll call him Fable, I have a feeling this won’t be his first little adventure.”
“Probably not, judging by the events over the last several weeks. And here I thought we were going to have a peaceful, small-town life,” Pearl said.
Coral huffed in amusement. “What part of living at the edge of the world with monsters at our doorstep made you think we were going to have a quiet life?”
“The part where you said it was an excellent idea and would be easier than city life and a husband that wore a handlebar moustache like it was his personality,” Pearl shot back. “I should have known, considering you’ve never even seen the man.”
“I have it on good authority that he is likely to be some taint-haired boil on a hobgoblins arse to agree to buy a wife, rather than fall in love like nature intended,” Coral said with conviction.
Pearl walked with Coral to the manor. She had expected the front door to swing open for her. She hadn’t known quite when it had started to become an expectation.
“That’s strange, I would have thought the ghosts would have enjoyed watching me be beaten by those cursed monsters,” Coral said.
“I probably should have said something a little earlier, but I was distracted. We have a guest, a paying one. You also have a letter waiting for you,” Pearl said.