10. GIRL IN THE TREE
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Colb awoke with a start, upset he’d fallen asleep before 27 came back. Colb glanced around the cabin. He could only see Stibs and Drek, snoring away. Hmmm, Stibs usually wakes up earlier, yes? He must need extra rest today, Colb thought. Hmmm, but where is 27, yes?
Colb stepped outside to see what time it was. The sun had fully secured the sky; it was at least two hours past sunrise. The rain had entirely ceased over the night, leaving behind a damp must in the forest. The ground quaked slightly as mighty autumn giraffeworms surfaced from their flooded burrows in the distance. Spiderbats chirped with joy overhead as they searched for toadroaches in the shade of the dense mapleoak trees.
Colb inhaled the cool, misty air of the unfamiliar region, and looked out towards the human city. As far as he could tell, there were no signs of 27 coming back to the cabin last night. Hmmm, Colb worried. I hope he didn’t run into some humans that… hurt him, Colb thought. Someone needs to go into the city to figure out what happened, yes?
Colb stepped back into the cabin, shutting the door behind him. He surveyed his options. Stibs was still asleep on the dancefloor, a blanket thoroughly twisted around his waist and shoulders. Part of his leg was visible: still very red and swollen. A couple of the healing crystals seemed to have gotten loose from under his shirt during the night, and had landed on the floor around him. Drek was blanketlessly curled up in a perfect circle upon the beanbag chair in the sleeping area. Neither of them seemed ready to get up for the day.
Hmmm, Colb thought to himself as he gathered the fallen crystals around the eyepatched goblin. His leg is still swollen... I knew I must’ve done something wrong. Poor Stibs… I should let him keep sleeping, at least; maybe that will help his leg, yes? He looked over at Drek, who seemed knocked out as well. Perhaps I should let them both sleep, yes? I’ll find 27, then come back in an hour to make a meal for everyone. Colb finished collecting the gemstones that had fallen off Stibs, and placed them in a pile on the floor, next to the Hewmish instruction sheet.
Colb then headed out of the Yiklar Folding Cabin, and to the city. With the rain gone, the dried-off wood of the mapleoak buildings looked to be a lighter brown than they were yesterday. The smooth bismuthslate roads looked the same: black from some angles, but a brilliant rainbow-color from others.
Cantia’s city streets were bustling with morning activity. Loud clanks of metal against metal came from a blacksmith’s studio. A pair of human seagullfisherman shouted about their latest catch in the streets. A group of short children marched into a school with stressed looks on their faces. Truly, the city was alive this morning.
Colb hid in the shadows, aiming to avoid another dangerous encounter with the humans. He sneakily searched the town for what felt like days, looking for a lick of green skin amongst the crowds of pale humans. Finally, after three hours of searching – which was much longer than he’d planned to be out – he heard 27’s telltale “AaAaaaaahhhh” come from the window of a nearby tavern.
Colb grabbed the bottom edge of the windowsill, hoisting himself up for a view inside. Within the building, he saw a party of human nobles, sharing pints of beverages with 27. These dozen men and women were covered in fine robes of blue, red, white, and purple silk. They were cheerfully chatting in Hewmish, and 27 seemed to be the center of attention. Piles of silvopper ingots sat upon the table, and as Colb’s Yiklar Amulet of Open Ears glowed, he could hear the conversation was about making purchases from 27.
Colb awkwardly climbed in through the window, landing flat on his butt upon the wooden floor inside the building. He scanned his surroundings, then snuck between the legs of waiters to reach 27’s table.
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“…So a normal king-sized bed is 76 inches, by 80 inches,” a well-dressed man with a white beard and brown eyes was saying to 27 as Colb reached their table. “...but I like to sleep on a perfect square, right? So, can you make this… Yiklar Floating Bed of yours in 80 inches by 80 inches?”
“Yes, of course,” 27 replied as he noticed Colb walking up to the table. “AaAaaaaahhhh, Colb! Everyone, this is Colb! He is traveling companion of mine, yes he is. We are on an adventure.”
The human group all shifted in their chairs to look at the goblin. Now, Colb had looked directly into the sun only a few times before, but the searing burn of these 24 unfamiliar eyes beaming down upon him felt like that same sensation. Colb stepped back, sweating from the attention. “Hmmm, we… it’s morning, 27. It is time to leave… yes?” he mumbled in Goblish.
“AaAaaaaahhhh, ye-what? Wow! It is morning already? I am so sorry – I had no idea, no I did not. I am so sorry, yes I truly am, but I must be going,” 27 announced to the table.
The noble goblin shoved a pile of silvopper into his Yiklar Bag of Traveling Inventory, then pulled out a map. He slapped it onto the table, and circled the Yiklar tribe with a nearby quill and ink. “This is where I am from, yes it is,” he announced to the humans. “If you wish to purchase more highest-of-quality goods, for example that custom Yiklar Floating Bed for you, Alton, or those custom Yiklar Spectacles of Extracting Secrets for you, Miranda,” he continued, gesturing to the respective humans as he named them, “then you can just send somebody here to meet with my tribe. In fact, maybe we could even set up trade route through Consta or Dalsin, yes we could.”
The humans nodded in approval, and scooted out of the booth to give 27 room to exit. “Always remember: quality defeats quantity. That is the Yiklar way,” 27 cheered as he regrouped with Colb. “And thank you very so much for your purchases!” As the duo exited, 27 stiffly danced his way out the tavern, to which the humans laughed and clapped with glee.
With his friend physically closer, Colb could tell 27 hadn’t slept the entire night. The circle of skin around his eyes had turned from healthy green to a sticky brown, and the goblin’s usually fluid dance moves were now rigid and slow. “Hmmm, perhaps we should take some more time to rest before leaving, yes?”
“AaAaaaaahhhh, nonsense, Colb,” 27 replied as they set foot onto the cool, bismuthslate road. “It is morning – late morning, yes it is, so we should be on our way, yes we should.” 27 let out a wide yawn, then the duo marched off towards the hidden campsite. “I made many deals!” he cheered. “It’s not the fortune I used to have, but it’ll be enough to make a highest-of-quality purchase or two of our own when we need to, yes it will be.”
Colb led the way to a narrow section of nearby forest, where Drek and Stibs were waiting in an open clearing. Stibs sat on a nearby rock, twiddling the Yiklar Folding Cabin doorknob in his palm. His leg still looked twisted and swollen, but he seemed to have higher spirits than the day before. Drek, on the other hand, looked exhausted. He was flat on his back in the middle of some mud, panting while holding a dagger and a large stick. A massive, beastly cowmammoth thrashed nearby, tied to a thick mapleoak tree.
“Hurmph! Took you two long enough,” Stibs announced from his sitting place.
“Hmmm, it took me three hours to track down 27, yes?” Colb replied apologetically.
“Hurmph, it’s no trouble. While you were gone, I taught our young hunter here how to catch a steed. This thing should be able to carry all four of us.” Drek let out a long, winding wheeze from his spot in the mud.
“Hurmph, he’s a little out of breath from the experience,” Stibs chuckled, “but I think it’ll be well worth it to have this cowmammoth, considering I can’t walk at the moment.”
“Hmmm, you still can’t walk?” Colb asked.
“Hurmph… my leg’s actually feeling worse today, not better,” Stibs replied.
Colb looked up at the eyepatched goblin’s forehead, and noticed the two rocks had been removed and the glue cleaned away. “Hmmm, did you pick up the instruction sheet before closing the cabin?” Colb asked. “We can do better treatment now, since 27’s here to translate the Hewmish writing, yes?”
Stibs and Colb glanced at 27. The noble goblin seemed too out-of-it to even notice the large cowmammoth struggling against its bounds nearby. “Hurmph, he looks exhausted,” Stibs observed.
“It is not problem,” 27 announced, unable to keep his eyes open as he spoke. “Just… just carry me, and keep going, yes you should,” he mumbled, leaning heavily onto Colb’s shoulder.
“Hmmm,” Colb muttered sadly, looking at 27.
“Hurmph, you heard the leader,” Stibs agreed. “We should get moving. I think the treatment failed, but we can try again, with 27, another time. For now, these two are much too wiped out to do anything useful, and I’m hurt. So, it looks like you’re taking the reins, Colb.” Stibs gestured to the large, tusked beast that had been lassoed and tied to a tree. It was covered in rough white fur, broken up with various patches of brownish-black skin. It thrashed about, trying to undo the rope’s knots with its long trunk.
A nervous gulp rippled down Colb’s green neck. “Hmmm, is this… like when we were riding pigeonhorses? That was a little outside of my comfort zone, yes?”