Chapter 5 – Can You Read?

Onch rubbed his head in frustration. The two Triabians were yet to return. While the Qwizontite was still breathing, there was no sign of him waking up. Also, who gives a goblin a written message?

“Two, I think this one’s ok for now,” he said as he pointed to their sleeping companion. “We need to find something to eat.”

Two turned back with doubt written all over his face. He hacked out a glob of saliva into the water adjacent to their platform.

“Not really hungry.”

“You know me. Always work on a full stomach,” Onch shot back. It was, of course, the goblin way to think with one’s stomach. That required fuel.

Two shrugged in defeat. “Lead on.”

Onch nodded in approval. He could always count on his brother.

“C’mon,” he said as he got up. He drew his dagger, letting his eyes adjust to the dark again. When he could see about as well as he could with light, he started down the tunnel they’d come from.

At the first ladder, he grabbed the highest rung he could reach and propelled himself up. It was a swift climb with him skipping rungs as much as he could. Two followed behind, albeit at a slower pace.

At the top, a metal grate covered their exit. He listened for a few moments at the top of the ladder. Hearing nothing, he peered cautiously between the bars of the grate. Nothing, just an empty road.

He pushed at the grate absently, expecting it to move easily. Instead, it barely moved. With a growl of frustration, he pushed harder only to be met with the same result. Putting both hands on the grate now, he pushed.

The grate lifted just slightly, then fell back down. Onch took a few deep breaths before trying again. Two, who had reached the top now, balanced precariously next to Onch and lent his own strength to the task.

Nothing. Both goblins looked at each other perplexed. Another try later and Onch decided it was time to move in.

“Let’s try the next one.”

As both moved down, the grate fell open with a clang towards them. It hung loosely from one side, its hinge, creaking as it swayed back and forth.

“You should’ve thought to pull it you dolt,” Onch growled.

Two, in his usual fashion, just moved on. They emerged onto another street again lined by homes.

“No way we go to one of those again,” Two advised.

Onch concurred. Once was enough for tonight. He wasn’t feeling like getting ripped to shreds.

They moved down the street until a junction, taking care to keep to the shadows. There was no one about in any event.

“Your senses back, or still having the same problems?” Onch asked.

Two shook his head silently. “Still the same. But I can find what you need. It’ll just take some time.”

“Hmm. Food first then,” came the reply.

Two nodded in agreement. He sniffed long and hard, keeping his nose high in the air. One of his cow-like ears twitched, turning backwards and forwards in search of something.

After a while, Two opened his eyes. “This way,” he said and began to lope forward on all fours.

Onch followed behind, although he kept his dignity by staying on his two feet. Stop here, turn there, walk back here and at last they made it to their destination.

A bright chicken was just going dim as they approached. What a picture of a chicken was doing glowing like a star, Onch had no clue.

“This is it,” Two murmured. “Wait till it’s empty.”

Onch settled on his haunches and waited with his brother. Three humans exited the building talking and laughing animatedly with each other. They entered their box projectile which then proceeded to roar off into the distance. Two stopped him when he moved to get up.

“One more,” he said as he pointed in the direction of the back of the building.

True to his word, after about ten minutes, another human exited. She was more subdued as she left. The street now lay dark and empty. All adjacent buildings were dark, and not a soul could be seen.

“Let’s get to it then.” Two started towards the back entrance with Onch following close behind.

The steel-reinforced door was locked. Both looked at each other, and they silently agreed to find a different path. Last time had been enough of a lesson to teach them that their lock-picking skills were not up to par.

A window lay slightly open along the far side. It was a simple matter to push it open and steal inside.

Straight into a tub full of mildly hot dirty, oil. Chunks of something could be felt against Onch’s sole as he pressed down to jump straight into a stand of pots and pans.

Cling, clang and smash. Cooking utensils went flying everywhere as Onch writhed in pain. Two was lucky. He jumped past the oil on the counter straight onto the floor.

Onch flicked the oil off of his foot as best as he could, and Two ran forward with what looked like a washcloth. Onch angrily grabbed the cloth and cleaned his leg. It wasn’t too bad except for the shock. Thankfully he wasn’t burned.

“I’m starting to think this wasn’t such a good idea,” Two commented.

“You think?” Onch angrily retorted. “I was aware of that before we even came here.”

Two ignored him completely. He busily scrounged around before pointing to a door.

“Behind that.”

Onch snorted and tested the door handle. Finally, something that wasn’t locked. The thieves here had to be even worse than goblins for humans to be locking every single door.

A red light lit up around the room. Sirens blared. Some kind of security system probably. What kind of thieves required such intense measures?

Two was already halfway out the window. He could be surprisingly swift when he wanted. Onch shot his head through the door. He grabbed two marinated chickens and what looked to be a packet of cheese before fleeing the way they’d came.

The two brothers made it back to the tunnels without incident. Their red friend lay snoring blissfully where they'd left him.

Onch slid down to sit wearily against the wall. He held out a chicken which Two promptly grabbed and began tearing into. There were a few moments in which all that could be heard were the table manners of a pig; or one could say a goblin.

Wiping away the last of the cheese, Onch stared back the way they’d came. Come morning, they’d have to figure out what exactly their assignment was. He’d yet to see a grandma of any kind.

***

Two nudged his brother awake. Always the light sleeper, he’d woken first.

“Uhhh,” Onch uttered as he turned in his sleep. He could sometimes be difficult to rouse, especially after a day like yesterday.

“Time to move,” said Two. “Time’s a wasting,” he said as he kicked a particularly daring rat away.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Onch rubbed his temples as he lay back. That’s right. He wasn’t feasting on a scrumptious lamb leg; he was on an unknown mission in an unknown place with an unknown objective.

“What a mistake,” he mused to himself. “Any ideas?” he asked Two.

Two only shook his head. “Not a clue.”

“Of course,” Onch muttered. “I forgot I was the brains of this operation.”

He scratched his chin thoughtfully. Food was done. They had a safe space for now. Their red friend could lay where he was in his comatose state. The two coward Triabians needed dealing with, but that was secondary. First, he needed clarity with regard to their assignment. It was time to find someone who could read.

“Well, let’s get a move on then,” he ordered as he set off down the tunnel they’d come from. “We need to figure out why we’re here.”

“And how’re we going to do that?” questioned Two. His voice sounded even more raspy than normal. Must’ve been a long night.

“First, we find one of their wisemen. They should be easy to find. Just got to figure out how they look. Then, I suppose we force him to read this.” Onch held up the envelope from his pocket. “Under mild duress of course.”

Two nodded sagely. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll go topside and find a place with books.”

Onch nodded back, acting as if he’d been thinking that all along.

“Right, then we’ll pull to old trick on one of them.”

“Which one?”

“The old one!” growled Onch. “Now get up there,” he said as he pointed to the closest ladder. “I’ll wait here.”

He watched as Two scurried up the ladder. Another wait. Just what he needed.

Yawning, Onch sat down in the waters of the narrow tunnel. He put his feet up on the opposite wall and leaned back closing his eyes.

***

“Got your beauty sleep?” inquired a voice startling Onch out of his rest.

Two hung from the ladder he’d come from with one arm. He used the other to scratch an itch on his back.

“Find something?” Onch asked groggily.

“Hopefully. Lots of books but lots of humans. Didn’t see anyone resembling a wiseman. But there was this female everyone was asking questions.”

Onch hopped up the ladder, following Two closely. They emerged on a side street in the bright daylight. Both goblins ran for the cover of a nearby clump of bushes, peeking out at the empty street.

“No humans?” questioned Onch.

Two started to shake his head but stopped. “Can’t really tell. They pop up out of nowhere all the time.”

The two brothers flitted from hiding place to hiding place as they moved forward. Two led the way, sometimes stopping for entire minutes as he waited for a group of humans to pass by. Both were even forced to jump into a garbage bin together as they hid from a human who suddenly exploded out a door blaring music of the most foul kind and carrying a garbage bag. He promptly threw the bag onto Onch’s head and walked away. It had taken all of Onch’s self-control to not strike out with his saber.

After climbing up another ladder at the side of a building, both brothers crouched over a ceiling window looking down into a very obvious library. It was huge. With books piled high onto shelves. Rows and rows as far as Onch could see. Humans moved about in multitude, reaching for books and conversing.

“Onch, I’ve been meaning to ask. Didn’t you learn to read?” asked Two suddenly.

“It’s been too many years. I can barely remember,” came the reply.

Onch gestured towards the window. “Where’s the wisewoman?”

Two pointed a long finger towards a bespectacled lady manning a desk. “That’s her.”

“We’ll have to get inside.”

“I know a way.”

Two led the way to a vent opening that stuck out of the roof in the shape of an L. Warm air drifted out of the vent. Onch rapped his knuckles against the thin vent.

“You think it’ll hold our weight?”

“Only one way to find out,” responded Two with a shrug.

Onch crawled into the shaft on all fours. He navigated the L-turn with ease and carried on. The sound of his limbs hitting the floor echoed loudly as he passed what he felt was the roof. Wincing he moved forward, now slowly.

They passed a number of openings that at first led into large dusty rooms, then into small chambers where humans sat looking at glowing rectangles. Both kept forward in silence. It took almost fifteen minutes before they found an opening into the main hall of the library.

Onch looked back in question. Two gave an affirmative nod, and Onch pried the vent cover back, taking care not to make any noise. Who said they couldn’t be sneaky when they wanted?

It was a short jump down to the ground. Both goblins hid behind a trolley half-filled with books. Two poked a head through the parted books then turned back.

“That’s my job done. Now what?”

In truth, Onch had been thinking the same thing. It wasn’t as if they could just waltz up to the woman and ask her nicely to read the message. Two turned back to keep an eye on their quarry as he was thinking of a plan of action. He was saved from the effort by a screech from behind.

“Rats!” screamed a middle-aged woman escorting a glob of fat walking in two feet.

“Now just a minute,” Two protested turning about. “I resent being called a rat.”

Onch punched the woman square in the jaw, knocking her out. He sent a kick at the wailing blubber-human sending it flying down the aisle. Two was already climbing into the vent by then.

“This sucker,” Onch murmured as he watched Two climb.

“Any day now,” Two whispered as he made it to the top.

Onch braced a foot on a nearby table and propelled himself upward with a giant push. Grabbing the edge of the vent, he pulled himself up.

They backed down the vent as swiftly as they could for a couple dozen meters before listening closely. No one was following, but that didn’t mean they were out of the woods.

Onch signaled for Two to move on. Both exited onto the roof a few moments later.

“What’s the backup plan?” Two asked. “Don’t tell me I did all that for nothing.”

Onch held the bridge of his nose in thought. Yet another mistake. They had a target. They couldn’t give up now.

“Let’s keep a tab on her,” he said as he pointed to the still-busy librarian, for that’s what she was. “We’ll get her once she leaves.”

Two nodded his assent. “Alright.”

***

It was almost night by the time the librarian came out. Both goblins had managed to rest, alternatively taking watch. She bounced her way speedily across an empty lot to her box projectile and opened a compartment at the back.

While she rummaged around Onch placed a hand on the pommel of his dagger. Two readied one of the two clubs he kept in a crisscross fashion across his back. This would be an easy job.

Except that the woman moved just as Onch sent a backhanded swing at her head with his dagger held pommel-first. He fell head first into the compartment that was previously being rummaged in just as the covering hood to the compartment slammed down on his thighs.

Onch suppressed a scream as he felt the box projectile stir to life. Two roughly pushed his legs in and climbed into the compartment. They pulled out of the parking lot at high speed, the hood banging repeatedly against Two’s strategically placed club. If not for Two's quick thinking, they'd have been trapped. Their target remained blissfully unaware as she sped them along the road.

Both goblins clung to each other and the club for dear life. Onch could feel his thighs aching where the hood had slammed into them even as he and Two held onto each other, preventing each other from falling out.

The projectile screeched to a halt only to start flying again at insane speeds. This was even faster than a horse!

At last, they seemed to reach their destination as they stopped their continuous motion. Two flopped out of the compartment face first, his club tumbling to the ground. Onch was a bit more dignified, but not by much. He swore furiously as he rubbed his still throbbing thighs.

“Never again,” he swore.

Two agreed wholeheartedly.

Of their quarry, there was no sign, but a single building lay illuminated in front of them. They stole to the back of the building and snooped through an open door. No one was there. Quietly, as quickly as they could, they rushed for the darkest place inside.

Conversation could be heard in the adjacent room. Two slid the door between open an inch and peeked through. He looked on for a few moments before closing the door behind himself.

“She’s reading a book to a bunch of people. Some sort of witchcraft lesson, I’m thinking.”

Two was getting sharper. Either his senses had returned, or he was getting used to the situation. He was acting more like he could see.

Onch took a look around. They were in a mostly empty room except for a bag thrown in the corner next to a medium-sized square table. A thin, blue coat lay draped over the single chair in front of it. A stuffed bookshelf lined the opposite wall.

Onch smiled in realization. This was it. The place they’d get their answers.

“You hide behind the door. Grab her from behind, then I’ll come in from outside and get this done,” he ordered Two. “No mess ups,” he said with a meaningful glare.

Two took up his station and Onch his own. They waited for almost two hours before the door slammed open.

“Whew. What a day,” their target said as she entered.

Two made to tackle her to the ground as soon as she was a few steps ahead of him. They both tumbled to the floor in a mess of limbs. The woman shrieked and reached for her bag. She pulled out a can and was about to spray something just as Onch kicked the can from her hand.

He hadn’t been totally successful in stopping her. Some of the spray leaked out onto all three of them. At once, tears leaked from the three of their eyes.

“Dammit Two, can’t you do anything right,” Onch complained.

Tears leaked from Two’s eyes as he held down the similarly crying librarian.

Onch unfolded the note he carried. Pushing the librarian’s face to one side he forcefully stuffed the page into her face.

“Can you read?” he asked. “Read! Read, dammit,” he commanded even as he wiped away his tears.

The poor librarian could barely see. Two reached down and pulled back her eyelids, but that didn’t help. They then let her writhe in pain, with Two covering her mouth until all of their tears lessened.

Onch tried again. “Please tell me you can read,” he pleaded.

The librarian tried to speak, but Two’s hand prevented her from doing so. A signal from Onch and Two removed his hand.

The woman went to scream, but the tip of Onch’s saber on her neck stopped her before she could get a sound out.

“Read,” Onch threatened. “Or else your blood'll stain the floor for eternity.”

He couldn’t be sure the woman understood until she finally looked at the page he was holding.

In a shaky voice, she read:

Fulfill the wish of Grandma living at 37/2, Trile Lane

Her wish: Take her to her most memorable place

Be warned: You must not reveal yourselves to Grandma. In the event you are noticed, you will have failed.

Well, that seemed simple enough. Until Onch realized that he’d first have to figure out where this most memorable place was. With a nod to Two, he placed the letter back into his inner pocket.

“I suppose it has been a long day for you. You could use some sleep,” he said.

Two swung his club at the back of the librarian’s head knocking her out cold. The two goblins fled through the night back to their hidey-hole.

37/2 Trile Lane. Their next destination.