The Goblin Gate Read Online Free PDF Page B

going to make up tales, you should at least make them plausible.”
    “I came north as Master Lazur’s assistant,” Jeriah told him.
    “Oh, then I’ll certainly trust you.”
    “You can,” said Jeriah grimly, “because when she vanished, she took my brother with her. And if I don’t get him out of the Otherworld in two months, he’s going to get sick and die.”
    Less than two months, now. He shivered.
    The tinker was frowning. “Still, Lazur’s assistant…”
    “It was…a new position for me,” Jeriah told him. And not entirely voluntary, but he had no intention of sharing that with a stranger.
    “Hmm. Maybe we can trade a thing or two,” said Todder Yon slowly. “The true tale of what happened to the sorceress and her goblins, that’d be of some value in the towns I visit. That’s my only interest, mind.”
    Jeriah nodded eagerly. “And in exchange, you’ll put me in touch with the goblins?”
    “I told you, they’re not inclined to trust any human thesedays—including me! I’ll give you as fair an exchange for your information as I can, but I make no promises as to what the goblins will do! In fact, I doubt you’ll ever see a sign of them.”
    It wasn’t much, but it was more than Jeriah had now and the story cost him nothing. Not even time, for it would be at least another day before he could ride.
    “I can only tell you what happened from my point of view,” Jeriah warned him. “And there’s plenty I don’t know! The first I heard of the sorceress was when Tobin was sent into the north, several months ago, to help Master Lazur capture her and destroy her goblin army.”
    “Getting rid of a sorceress and a whole goblin army seems quite a task for one lone knight and a priest! If you don’t tell me the truth, the whole deal’s off.”
    “It is true! Tobin wasn’t supposed to get rid of them by himself. His part was to allow the goblins to capture him, so their camp could be located. Master Lazur brought a whole village of settlers, and several troops of the church’s guard, into the wood to actually capture the sorceress and wipe out her army. I came north with them.”
    “So your brother, he got himself captured and then betrayed them?” The tinker’s face had hardened.
    “She was delaying the relocation,” said Jeriah firmly. “And since the barbarians just captured over half the Southlands, no one can deny that Master Lazur is right about that! Tobin was a hero! At least he should have been. It went perfectly,all according to plan, but then he went crazy! We had captured the sorceress, holding her in charmed iron so the goblins couldn’t free her, but Tobin sneaked into camp and got her out. And I don’t understand that at all! He acted like he knew what he was doing, but the goblins bespelled me to get them into Master Lazur’s tent. Could the sorceress have bespelled Tobin as well?”
    “I doubt it,” the tinker said dryly. “Spells that can compel a person against their conscious will are difficult to cast, and very hard to maintain for more than a few minutes. Even for a hedgewitch, Makenna didn’t have much magical ability. It’s more likely that your brother found destroying ‘the goblin army’ more than he’d bargained for.”
    “I saw hundreds, maybe thousands, going into the Otherworld,” said Jeriah defensively. “So I don’t think Master Lazur put much of a dent in their numbers.”
    “I heard she’d cast a gate.” The tinker’s voice was soft with wonder. “I thought it had to be a tale. Are you sure…?”
    “There was a big shimmery patch of light across the road,” Jeriah told him. “And when people stepped into it, they vanished. Master Lazur said it was a gate to the Otherworld. And I don’t think he was lying.”
    “But the legends say that only the saints themselves have the power to do that!”
    “Master Lazur told me she drained magic out of the great wall,” Jeriah told him. “A power sink, he called it.”
    A smile lit the