Granny Rags slogged steadily through the swamp, staying next to Kitty. The two female goblins chatted about magic as the group pressed forward.

“You have the gift, girl. It’s a shame you don’t use it more.”

“I know. But the Chief is so against magic. If I had worked a spell and he found out, he might have exiled me as he did to you,” answered Kitty.

“Show me what you learned. Cast a Light spell,” said Granny Rags. The old woman offered Kitty a lightning bug from a pouch. With a sigh, Kitty took the insect and held it in one hand.

“I better cast this on a rock or something. I don’t want anyone else knowing what I can do,” said Kitty. Stopping on a hump of earth, she spotted a rock poking up out of the ground. Picking it up with one hand and holding the lightning bug in the other, she spoke words that were nothing like the normal goblin language. “Fosfo.”

The stone suddenly burst apart, shattering as it fell from Kitty’s hand.

“Ow! That hurt!” yowled Kitty as she put her fingers in her mouth to soothe them.

“No, not fosfo, fospho!” scolded Granny Rags. “You said it wrong, and it backfired on you. Here, I have two more. Try again.”

Kitty took the second firefly from Granny’s fingers and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she began.

“Do it. You never know when a magic light would be useful.”

Kitty looked at Dizzy for a moment, then picked up another rock. “Fospho!” she said, and this time the rock lit up with an internal light.

“You, you did it!” said Dizzy. The goblin stood amazed as Kitty held the rock up in the air. “How long will it last?”

“Oh, about an hour or so,” answered Granny Rags. Kitty placed the last firefly in her belt pouch and closed the flap. With a sudden movement, she tossed the rock out into the murky water and watched it sink. The light faded after a few moments, unable to penetrate the muddy water.

“Magic is dangerous. I might have the gift, but I’d rather not use it,” explained Kitty. “I got that spell wrong, and my fingers ended up paying the price.” She turned to continue their march.

The four goblins made their way through the swamp with the ease of long familiarity. After another two hours, the village came into sight. Dizzy waved his hand, palm down, having everyone drop to the ground. He wanted to see what was going on first before strolling in unawares.

Surprisingly, the goblins were running around, doing their usual things. Arguing, squabbling over possessions, cooking rats. At the top of the steps to the temple lolled the minotaur and his orc companion. The Chief could not be seen anywhere. Dizzy pointed that fact out to Kitty and YDB.

“He might be further inside the temple,” said Kitty, looking unsure.

“Maybe. We better get going though.”

Dizzy led the way into town, with Kitty, Granny Rags, and YDB trailing behind. Dizzy boldly marched up to the temple. Stormhoof smirked, then stood to greet the goblins.

“Welcome home, Granny Rags,” he rumbled.

“Wait, he knows her?” whispered Kitty. Dizzy shushed his friend.

Granny Rags stepped out from behind Dizzy and Kitty.

“Captain Stormhoof. Is our arrangement still in effect?”

“Yes, yes, it is. Now!” answered Stormhoof. At his shout of ‘Now!’ dozens of orcs appeared at the edge of the village, weapons drawn. The goblins of the village whirled to face these sudden foes. Orcs began moving into the village, cutlasses, and swords at the ready. The goblins moved to form a defensive circle.

“Throw down your weapons,” roared Stormhoof. The minotaur drew his own broken blade and held out it in front of himself. “Surrender now, or my orcs will kill every last one of you where you stand!”

The goblins cowered in fear. One, more foolish than brave, charged into an orc, his spear held in front of him. The orc slapped the spear away and drove his sword completely through the goblin.

“Any other heroes? No? Good. Now drop your weapons!” repeated Stormhoof. When the orcs entered the village, Granny Rags had trotted up the steps and now stood beside the minotaur pirate.

“What is going on here?” asked a befuddled Chief as he came from the depths of the temple. “You! I had you banished years ago!” The Chief glared at Granny Rags who stood in the protection of Captain Stormhoof.

“Yeah, Ravenous? And now I’m back. I’ll be reclaiming my temple,” sneered Granny.

“Wait, Granny! Why are you doing this?” asked Kitty.

“Because Ravenous here, or Chief as you call him, stole my home. I want it back, and I want all of you gone!” Granny glared at Chief, then looked back down at Kitty. “I might make an exception for you, my dear. I’d like to have an apprentice.”

While Kitty stared at Granny, the orcs drove most of the goblins into one of the animal pens. “Stay in here, and ya won’t get yerselfs hurt!” threatened one of the orcs.

Chief Ravenous looked at Stormhoof. “Captain, we’ve been your loyal troops so far. Why are you betraying us for this… witch?”

“She knows where the gem is. And she’s going to help me get it,” replied Stormhoof. He nodded to Granny Rags. “Get on with it. You said you knew where the entrance was. Open it.”

Granny walked to the bronze bull, looking the beast over. “Let me see if I can remember the trick.”

Placing one hand on the bull’s nose ring, Granny pressed the bull’s right eye twice, then the left, followed by the right once again. She then pulled on the ring. Nothing happened. Stormhoof growled.

“Maybe left eye twice?” murmured Granny to herself. The old goblin woman tried again, pressing the right eye twice, then left, then right. This time when she pulled on the bull’s nose ring, the bull statue slid forward. Under the bull, a square hole in the stone floor appeared. Stormhoof stepped forward to look down.

“Too small for me.” Looking at Granny Rags he added, “You said there were traps below?”

“I was almost killed by a spear that shot out of the wall the one time I went down there. It went right over my head,” answered Granny.

“Then it looks like I need volunteers again. You three.” Stormhoof pointed down to where Dizzy, Kitty, and YDB still stood. “Since you did such a great job bringing Granny Rags home, you can now make sure no one else bothers her for that gem after we’ve left by going down there and getting it.”

Dizzy looked around for an escape route, but several orcs had already come up behind the three goblins.

“Uh,” began Dizzy.

“NOW!” roared Stormhoof. Dizzy and his friends ran up the steps. As the trio stood before him, Dizzy spotted Slugger standing in the shadows. The Battle Boss raised his finger to his lips. Slugger faded back into the shadows.

“Down you go,” said Stormhoof. He gestured with his broken sword. Dizzy looked at the opening, and the stairs leading deep under the structure.

“Can… Can Granny come with us?” he asked. Stormhoof shook his head.

“I might need more information from her. If she gets killed, then where would I be?”

“The first trap is a spear that shoots straight at the door,” Granny warned. “After that, I don’t know. Duck your head, and go down one at a time. I don’t know how many spears are loaded.”

Dizzy nodded at this advice. He looked up at Stormhoof.

“And after I get you this gem? Will we be free to go?”

“Yes, yes,” answered Stormhoof. “My conquest of these lands will require real troops. Orcs, men who fight for money and plunder, maybe even giants. Goblins will just get underfoot. Get me the gem, and you’re free to squat here in this stinking swamp for all I care. But move your ass, before I lose my temper.”

Knowing he had no other choice, Dizzy led the way down under the temple. Kitty and YDB stood at the entrance, waiting to see if their friend would be killed. Peering into the gloom, Dizzy tried to spot where Granny had indicated a trap. He couldn’t see the far wall. As he stepped off of the last riser of the stairs, he heard a whistle as a spear flew over his head.

“Whoa! No, no, no! I’m not doing this!” he yelped.

“Get moving goblin,” came the reply from Stormhoof. The minotaur didn’t bother with making a threat, Dizzy knew the orcs and minotaur wouldn’t hesitate to kill the goblins they had penned up.

“Well, at least send Kitty and YDB down with some torches. It’s too dark!” said Dizzy. He peered up the steps as Kitty went to gather up some branches. YDB stood at the top step and gave Dizzy the thumbs up.

A moment later Kitty returned with not a torch, but a lantern. “This should last longer. It’s almost full,” she said.

“Bring it down, but don’t step on the stones in front of the bottom step. I think that’s the trigger,” said Dizzy.

Kitty lit the lamp and held it in front of her. She peered down the steps to where Dizzy was waiting. Swinging the lantern about, she spotted two spears on the ground. They appeared to have been fired from two widely distant points.

When Kitty reached the bottom step, she made a low long jump to a spot away from Dizzy. Nothing happened for a long moment. She blew out the breath she had been holding.

“I’m safe! Come on down, YDB! Jump low from the bottom step!”

YDB came down the stairs, eyes scanning left and right. With Kitty’s lantern illuminating the room, YDB let his eyes pass over the walls. Skulls, human and bovine adorned the surfaces. At the bottom step, he jumped, landing a few feet from Dizzy.

“Safe!”

“Good, now let’s see if we can’t find this gem,” said Kitty. She raised the lantern and looked around the room. The place was roughly rectangular, with two doors along the west wall and an opening to a curved hallway to the north. “Try those doors first?”

“Sure, what’s the worst that could happen?” answered Dizzy. Moving carefully across the floor in case there were any more spear triggers, Dizzy reached the north door of the west wall. Examining it closely, he saw that the door was made of stone, and appeared to open by pushing. Shrugging, he placed the palm of his hand on the door and pressed.

The stone door fell forward and dropped down a deep hole beyond. Dizzy fell to his knees and waved his arms wildly, trying to keep himself from falling down the gap that the door had hidden. YDB bounded across the room, grabbed Dizzy’s arm and pulled him away from the opening.

“What the?” said a stunned Dizzy as the door reached the bottom. A crash and crunching of stone could be heard.

“Trap,” said YDB. He shook his head.

“Yeah, trap. Wow, and Dizzy almost fell through it,” added Kitty. Dizzy crawled forward and looked down into the pit. Feeling around, Dizzy found a pebble and dropped it down the hole, and counted. He ran out of fingers before he heard the pebble strike the probably demolished door, far below. He rolled away from the opening and slowly rose to his feet.

“Okay, new plan. Anytime we have to open a door from now on, someone has to hold my belt,” he said. Kitty and YDB both nodded vigorously.

“Should we check the other door?” asked Kitty.

“No, it’s probably the same type of trap as this one. Hey, what are you doing, YDB?”

“Helmet!” said YDB as he picked up a broken human skull from the ground. There was a gap in the wall where it had fallen from. Dizzy examined the hole and found a forked piece of wood and a strip of steel. Pushing the steel revealed that it was a spring.

“Ah, I get it,” said Dizzy. “The spring is pushed back by the spear. When the trap is triggered, it releases the spear and launches it across the room. The skulls must hide where the spears come from.”

YDB had placed the human skull over his head, his bright eyes peering out from where the human’s eyeballs had once been.

“Helmet!” he repeated.

“Yeah, you can wear it as a helmet if you want. I don’t think it will give you much protection though,” said Kitty. She dug through her bag and found an old rag. “Here, use this as padding.”

YDB removed the skull and stuffed the rag inside, then put it back on.

“Better.”

“Good, good.” Turning to Dizzy she continued, “Where to next, fearless leader?”

“That way. Looks like our only choice. Let’s see if we can avoid any more traps.” Dizzy crept slowly across the floor, feeling for any triggers before he stepped on one. The opening on the north wall showed a short passageway leading to a longer passage to the left and right.

“Which way?” asked Kitty. “Both ways look identical.”

Glancing back at the door that had nearly led him to his doom, Dizzy said, “Those doors are in the left wall, so let’s go right.”

Taking the lead, Dizzy carefully followed the hall until it stopped at a door. YDB stepped behind his friend and grabbed Dizzy’s belt.

This door was made of wood and had been painted sometime in the distant past. Dizzy tried to decipher the image, but he couldn’t quite make it out.

“Any ideas?” asked Dizzy.

“Scarecrow,” answered YDB. He let go of Dizzy’s belt while they examined the picture.

“Maybe,” added Kitty as she licked her thumb and tried to wipe away some of the dust. As Kitty swept away the grime, the image formed, revealing a scarecrow with a bulbous orange head standing in a field of rice. A village seemed to be at the far end.

“What does it mean?” asked Kitty. Dizzy and YDB just shrugged. Why did the humans do anything? The village and temple had been long abandoned, with no one to ask even if the goblins had cared.

“Let’s just see what’s beyond,” said Dizzy. Once YDB had a firm grip on his belt, Dizzy pushed on the door. This time the door merely swung open to reveal the room.

The new chamber looked like a farm field, with urns painted to look like plants standing in neat rows. In the center of the room stood a scarecrow, its pumpkin-shaped head facing the door. The face carved into it had jagged teeth and the eye holes looked permanently angry. Kitty clutched at Dizzy’s shoulder.

“Should we go in there?” she asked in a whisper.

“It’s just a scarecrow. It can’t hurt us,” said Dizzy. He took a step into the room, then another. YDB followed him while he tried to look everywhere at once.

“Tunnel,” said YDB as he pointed to a corner of the room that had been obscured by the scarecrow. Kitty entered and knelt down before one of the urns. There was a lid on top of each urn. Curious, she knelt to inspect the urns more closely. Lifting the lid, she looked inside and saw nothing but ashes.

Dizzy and YDB moved past the scarecrow and peered down the tunnel. It wasn’t like the rest of the rooms, with smooth walls and neatly fitted stones making up the floor. It had been dug roughly through the wall and deeper into the earth. As Dizzy turned to see what was holding up Kitty, a flaming light appeared inside the pumpkin.

“Who dares disturb my crops?” rumbled the scarecrow as it dropped from the supports, its stick-like claws extended. An angry growl came from somewhere inside the now living scarecrow.