Benton leaned close and placed his hand on her scarf, and it lifted and folded into a perfect rose shape at her neck. She squealed in delight. It seemed this test had brought some of the people together.
This would definitely make today’s events more interesting. Freya explained we would eat breakfast together and then head down the mountain for the first of the many events of the day.
But I never made it to breakfast as a streak of orange and gold blur crossed my path, running in circles, a trail of flames following close behind.
Sol had left the safety of his flames. Fire elementals were not meant to stray far for long periods from their flames, which meant something was wrong.
I hung back as everyone left, and he continued to spin in circles until I followed him toward the Gilded Hall.
I veered off and headed toward the workroom. I had left Grimkeep’s artifact, and I had a sneaking-suspicion I shouldn’t have. It was an important piece of history, and I’d foolishly left it unguarded. At the thought, I took off in a run, the clang of Kash’s armor rattling behind me. As soon as I dashed through the open doors, I looked into the dark hall and sighed in relief.
There it was on the table, safe and sound. I had panicked over nothing.
Except Sol was still frantic. He raced up the table, and then back down, the flames along his back were slowly ebbing out. He needed to get back into a burning fire before he flickered out.
“Sol, there’s nothing here. It’s fine. Let’s get you into the fire.” I kneeled in front of the fireplace to get a fire going.
Sol let out a cry and raced toward me. He scrambled up the side of the brick and launched into the air, biting the long-clawed hand that snaked out of the chimney to tear at my face. Sol sunk his teeth into the goblin’s hand and an inhuman scream let loose. The goblin dropped out of the chimney and into the ashes.
There was no mistaking the thin spindly arms, the oblong nose, sharp pointy fangs, and the smell of sulfur that accompanied these devilish creatures.
“Goblins!” I yelled.
I grabbed the fire poker that was hanging on a hook and flailed it, but more goblins were filling into the room. They were coming out of the fireplace, up from the hidden grates and wood chutes, like bees swarming out of a hive.
I was worried that Kash was still under the king’s influence. Would he protect me or fall under the dark spell? Who would I face?
Kash’s knife whipped out, and he backhanded a goblin that jumped onto the table, making a grab for the artifact. The goblin tumbled backward into another that had climbed on the table.
They were after Grimkeep’s treasure.
Three goblins launched onto Kash’s back, scratching, clawing, and one even tried to bite Kash’s helm, but the armor protected him.
Sol collapsed in my lap, the warmth of his body quickly fading. His scales felt like ice.
I wasn’t going to lose him.
“Fiergo,” I cried, and a ball of fire exploded into the grate, sending a wave of flames upward into the chimney. I could hear the screams as the goblins clawed their way upward and away from the magical blaze.
I dropped Sol into the inferno and watched as he soaked up the magical flames. I didn’t know elementals could change their size, but Sol grew, his body eating the fire and absorbing my magic until he was the size of a large Kern Hound. His eyes flashed with excitement as he raced out of the fire and began attacking all the goblins, snapping them between his teeth, tossing them over his shoulder into the wall, his tail whipping out and bowling them over.
A goblin grabbed Grimkeep’s artifact and took off running toward the exit.
“Over there!” I yelled as I swung the fire poker at the nearest goblin, smacking him in the skull and sending him tumbling head over heels.
Kash picked up Sol and tossed the giant fire salamander across the room like a flaming arrow.
The goblin saw the halo of light around him and looked up to see a massive smiling fireball with black, beady eyes crash into him with an explosion that rocked the chandeliers. The two tumbled and rolled across the floor like a blazing tumbleweed, scattering arcs of light. The goblin dropped the artifact as he was preoccupied with swinging his spindly arms, trying to douse his clothes that were incinerating into ashes.
Sol grabbed the artifact between his teeth and was running back to me. With each step he took, I could see his size diminishing as the magic was consumed.
There were too many, and as we fought, more kept streaming in along the ceilings. Kash had gone berserk. I wasn’t sure who or what was controlling him. I watched in awe as he lived up to the name of the silent blade. He twisted, turned, striking with his dagger before hitting two more targets. All of it a silent deadly dance as he continued to fight and incapacitate the goblins.
Sol made it to me, and I kneeled down to grab the treasure and I almost dropped it as it was infused with power. My power, and it was resonating back to me.
Shake and bake, an echo filtered through my mind.
“What?” I said in disbelief, as no one was speaking to me.
“Goblins hate earthquakes and fire,” the voice explained.
“Oh, makes sense, I think.”
I knew I must be going crazy, listening to a voice in my head, but I reached down to the floor, pushing through the stone for the ley line of power, and found the closest one. I only wanted to make the ground shake, focusing it in the room so I didn’t take the entire mountain with me.
“Shake,” I whispered. The ground trembled, and the goblins froze in fear. A few backtracked up the chimneys and across the ceiling.
With one hand on the ground, I reached the other out and touched Sol. His golden scales were hot like boiling water, yet he wasn’t burning me. I found the ley line and gripped it, feeding power into Sol at the same time. The fire salamander grew again. This time I didn’t stop, continuing to feed him magic. His feet stamped in excitement, his head elongated, and churning balls of fire seeped out of his nostrils.
“Now bake,” I urged Sol, who turned and released a blast of fire at eye level of the goblins.
They screamed as the room continued to quake as my fiery salamander chased them down. He burped fire at a final goblin that was attempting a last-ditch effort to get to me.
Kash blocked his path. With the shaking room, the dangerous blade and a burping fire salamander were too much. The goblin backed away.
When the room was empty, I released hold of the ley line and the shaking stopped. Sol quickly returned to his normal size, and I collapsed to the ground, still cradling the artifact.
“Good riddance, stinking little mouth breathers.”
I stared around the room, searching for the speaker before gazing down at the artifact. The runes inside the treasure glowed with magic before fading away, and an eerie silence followed.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The goblin attack didn’t go unnoticed, and I heard the coming footsteps of soldiers. Quickly, I shoved the treasure into the embers and called out to the salamander. “Sol, can you and your brethren hide this? I’ll call for you when I need it.”
The salamander replied with the last dregs of his fiery burps.
If the goblins really were afraid of fire, then I could think of no safer place than in the nest of the fire salamanders. Sol crawled into the fireplace and wrapped his body around the artifact, giving me a sly wink before disappearing into the flames.