Pale: 8.a - Interlude

Vanishing Points – 8.a | Pale
Liberty sauntered down the forest path, arms out to the side, and thorny branches, thorns, and nettles scraped at her bare arms, legs, stomach, and the sides of her face.  A keychain hooked into the beltloop at her hip winced, bounced, and uttered the occasional quiet ‘ow’ in response, and her skin was left untouched.

Goblins scrambled to climb trees, push each other off branches, and make enough forward progress that they could not only predict where she was going, but intercept in time.  Rubtug almost made it, but a huck of flung mud slapped him off the branch.

She was outfitted for war, but that was mostly because she hadn’t bothered to sort out her stuff and put it away.  The fighting was supposed to be done.

“Good throw,” she said.

There was a satisfied huff of a laugh from the goblin who’d done the throwing as it hurried forward, trying to take advantage.

Not that Sis knew that.  ‘Meri stalked her way through the not-path of the forest, intense, focused, and pissed off.  Bigger goblins hurried to keep up with her, moving alongside.

Liberty zig-zagged through the woods, and a smaller goblin made the scramble and leap, crossing a bridge where two branches met, ducking a thrown rock, then leaping like a squirrel, landing on Liberty’s hand, wrapping arms around wrist and clamping legs around fingers.

Liberty smiled, lifting the little goblin to her shoulder.  If the goblin had a mouth, it wasn’t clear.  Her eyes were huge and stapled open, in an arrangement that made the staples look like cartoon eyelashes, five above, three below.  Either it was the little goblin’s own work, or another goblin had done it to her and she’d kept it like that out of spite, to show it didn’t bother her.

“Winner!” Liberty cheered, doing a twirl, holding the goblin steady at her shoulder with one hand.  The goblin made a tiny sound.  “Here, a prize.”

She reached into her pocket, got one of the awful five cent lollipops she’d grabbed from the bulk bin, and gave it to the goblin.  To her right, another small goblin made a leap and was dropkicked out of the sky by a goblin with wings.

The big-eyed, squirrel-sized goblin clung to the straps of Liberty’s top and bra to stay at her shoulder, toes dragging against the skin of her shoulder blade to find traction, as she took the prize.  Liberty watched as she tried to open a mouth that Liberty’s finger wouldn’t have fit in, to try to put the much larger lollipop inside.  She settled for jamming the stick of the lollipop through the straps, twisting it around once to anchor it there, and then proceeded to savage it with a tongue the size of a pinhead and claws she stuck in her mouth between licks.

Two goblins landed, fighting even as they landed, at Liberty’s side, clinging to fabric.  She raised her arm up and out of the way to give them space to scrabble and push, and the smaller one scampered up her side, her shoulder, and one of her two braids; this one had barbed wire spliced into it.  It settled at the top of her head, splayed out belly-down, panting for breath.

“Yay!” she cheered with him.  She gave it a lollipop, then gave one to the one ti had been fighting with, as it found a position at her shoulder.

They had a herd around them.  Most of the goblins in the area, drawn in as if by magnets.

A fourth and fifth goblin pounced onto her, one grabbing the keychain and the other landing at the middle of her back and clinging to her top there, not moving.

“Okay!” she announced.  “That’s enough of you catching rides.  Don’t be pests, have candy instead!”

She reached into her pocket and threw out some more tiny candies into the bushes.  Plants summarily died in the ensuing fracas, caught between goblins who were fighting over one cent, strawberry-flavored granny candies.

A good share of the herd around them hurried forward, getting ahead of even America.  Those who didn’t were either fighting for the candy, giving up on that fight, or were just happy to be near Liberty, trotting alongside and getting shoved so they’d get bumped, kicked by, or caught under her feet as she walked.

They were resilient, didn’t matter if she stepped on one, really.  Here and there, she avoided stepping on the smallest, crossing her legs as she stepped to avoid it, or she gave a light kick to the ones who looked like they could take it and the ones who deserved it, not paying enough attention to where she was walking.

The spot the goblins were rushing up to was a clearing.  Her sister had already gotten there, and the goblins were crowded around, looking up.  Liberty ducked under a branch and stepped into the clearing, looking around, while America kind of glowered, seeming especially surly and unsatisfied.

“What?” Liberty asked.  Goblins who’d been tag-alongs, happy to be near her, were now claiming their territory and hugging her calves and shoes, snarling at others who drew close.

America scrunched up her nose.

“Whaaaaaat?” Liberty asked, again, dragging out the sound.  Then, drawing in a breath, she repeated the sound, making it as nasal and annoying as possible. “Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?”

Some goblins picked it up, then others did, until the entire crowd was making noise.

America turned around, striding from the clearing.  The sounds became plaintive, complaining, booing.

“Stop, stopstopstopstopstop,” Liberty told them.  She took a breath and then shrieked, “STOP!”

“This is an important place,” she told them, indicating the log at the end of the clearing.  “One we fucking respect, got it!?  So shut your yaps for five seconds.  Trust my sister.”

She saw the massed sixty or so goblins all glancing at one another, some nodding obediently, others sneering.  Some looked back at the log.

“Uh!” one raised its voice.  Immediately, half the goblins present began making noise, talking over one another, pushing others down so there would be that small fraction of a better chance that they’d be heard.

“Five more seconds!” she told them.

“Fifteen!” America called out, from the woods.

“Fifteen more seconds!” Liberty told them, stabbing her finger out in their direction, as much a warning as an order.

Those fifteen seconds were torture to the little blighters, half of them contrarians, half of them with the attention spans of four year olds on literal crack, half of them dumb, half of them class clowns and showboaters looking to stand out from the crowd.  Some were all of the above, probably none were none of the above.

Just as the fifteen seconds were up, America whooped and came tearing into the clearing, dropping about five fireworks while holding ten above her head, the sticks that were meant to be embedded into the ground held between her fingers.  They fired off as a volley, made goblins scramble for cover.

America hollered, goblins went apeshit, and fireworks got aimed at any goblin that wasn’t apeshit enough.

Liberty laughed, doubling over, shielding her face with one hand as America let a few fireworks fire off in her general direction.  The goblin at her right shoulder who’d been in third place leaped for cover.

“Put out those fires!” America ordered.  Goblins quieted enough to listen, though some were cheering still.  “Yeah, I’m talking to you.  Go, stamp that out or I’ll use your face to grind out the embers.  I’m seeing a lot of new faces around here!”

Some of the newer goblins answered with cheers and jeers.

“You heard there was trouble and you want in on it?  Sorry guys, you missed the boat, but you get my company, at least.  I’m cool, you can ask around, the locals love me.  Goblins far from here love me.  Stay on my fucking good side!  That goes for my sister too!”

“Heck yeah!” Liberty chimed in.

“She’s kick-ass, so you’d better respect her!” America declared.

“And ‘Meri’s one of the coolest people you’ll ever meet, so hop on board, don’t cross her, it’ll be great!”

“That means you play cool, read the fucking room.  If we’re having fun, stay fun!  If we’re chilling, stay chill!  And if Libs or me are up to something, follow our lead!  And don’t be creepy, because creepy is boring and I hate being bored!”

Liberty took the barely-damaged lollipop from the big-eyed goblin at her left shoulder, to peeping sounds of protest, and popped it into her own mouth.  She crunched it in her teeth, picked out a chunk, and handed it over, to now-delighted sounds.  She sucked on the ruined remainder, while the goblin popped the chunk into her own mouth.

“Stay in our good books, we’ll throw a party at the end of summer, before we have to go back to regular public high school!”

“Party yay!  Boo to school!” Liberty jeered, smiling.  Goblins chimed in.

“Now I’ve just got some crap to resolve while I’m here, so I need you to shut up for a few minutes,” America said, turning around.  “Great sage!”

Liberty found a spot to sit, pushing a goblin out of the way, and settled on a rock, her back to a tree.  Goblins already perched on her found new positions.

Two goblins nearby were pushing and shoving for a spot by her leg, and she prodded them with her toe.  “If things are chill, be chill,” she told them.

She sighed, unhooked the keychain, and found the little goblin carving, which was covered in scratches and making a pained expression.

She leaned forward, holding the goblin at her shoulder steady, and poked the pair with the little carving.

The scratches of a walk in the woods and having goblins clambering all over her slipped off the carving and onto the pair, who yelped as scratches, red lines and poke-holes appeared all over them.  They hollered as they ran off into the bushes.

“Be chill,” she said, settling.

“Great sage!” America shouted.

Goblins all throughout the clearing were settling in, sitting and kneeling.  Some bowed their heads.

Liberty reclined back, moving some goblins into more comfortable positions as they used her as a perch, as something to recline against, or settled into folds.  The one with the eyes who’d had the lollipop chunk settled in between Liberty’s arm and body, head on her ribs, watching.  The one on her head had its elbows propped up near her hairline, she was pretty sure, chin in its hands.

The sage made his appearance, walking up the log, nearly tripping, holding a pencil that had an image drawn onto it, probably graphic.  The pencil skewered a playing card that had a sexy devil on it.  He was potbellied, about seven or eight inches tall, and shaggy, with a fake beard made of strips of plastic bag and lots of scotch tape.  He stood at the peak of the log, which leaned against a rock at a diagonal, so one end stabbed skyward.

“Thank you for your audience, great sage,” America said, head bowing.  The entire clearing had gone quiet.

“You have served our kind well,” the sage proclaimed, voice high and small.  Liberty smiled.  “Witch princess Tedd, you could be a goblin queen if you wished.”

“My head is not ready for that crown, and evil queens in the movies get their shit kicked in way too often.  I’d rather be a princess for now,” America said.

“These words, uh, are really wise,” the sage stated.  “Uh.”

A small goblin poked its head out of a hole in the log to whisper something.

“Oh!  Gifts!  To have audience with the great sage you must bring gifts!”

America got her bag, opening it.  She pulled out three sticks of dynamite, and the great sage’s eyes bugged out of his head.

America had booze too, and cigarettes.

Liberty watched as one goblin trundled by, carrying an armful of the crappy little candies she’d chucked into the woods.

“Hey!” she whispered.

The goblin stopped.  It looked at her.  It had rabbit ears, draped off to one side, and a general appearance that was proportioned like a very plump rabbit’s head and neck on a hippo’s body, made bipedal, and wrapped in bulldog skin.  The eyes were high on the head, the nose small and crammed together, and the jowly features extended from that small nose to make for a triangular, slack jawed mouth.

Like a human from a video game with the proportions all messed around to make him as dumpy and pinch-faced as possible, jagged sharp teeth, wrinkled folds to the skin, and the ragged bunny ears that looked like they’d been bitten a hundred times by things of varying size.

“Yeah, you, come over here,” she hissed.

He hesitated, looked down at the candies, and turned his body away, as if protecting the candies from her.

“Come!” she told him, stern.  “Come on.”

Reluctantly, he advanced a few steps closer.

“You got all of those yourself?  Did you take them from other goblins?”

He moved his belly and arm further away, so the candies he had were on the opposite side of his body from her.

America presented the collection of gifts to the log, holding them up.  Goblins within the log did their best to claim the weighty objects and take them into the log.

“Come on,” Liberty said.  “What’s your name?”

“That’s Flops-left.”

“Flops,” she cooed.  “Are you big and strong, did you get all those candies yourself?  Took them from smaller, faster goblins?”

Flops hesitated, then nodded.

“I keep an eye out for goblins like you,” she told him, petting the one with the eyes who was nestled in at her side.  “Want to join my crew?”

“Beat some people up?  I’m a raider princess, I kick the door in and I need people to cover the flanks.  You gotta be ready to deploy through the nearest Warren hole.  My power greases the way, I whistle and you’d come crashing in through a window or something, with a bunch of other goblins.  Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“Set everything on fire, wreck crap, but you gotta follow my orders.  Sometimes I gotta set one of you guys on fire, or blow you up, and I’ll only do that if you’re not doing a good job.  Just warning you ahead of time.  You’ll live a lot of the time.”

America caught a dropped gallon-size bottle of vodka and offered it up again.

Flops nodded, and relaxed enough to grab a candy and pop it, wrapper and all, into his mouth.  He saw her looking and again moved to hold it back and out of the way.  A smaller goblin was sneaking up on him, and he punched it, scaring it off.

“Come closer,” Liberty said.  “Let me get a good look at you.  If you’re interested, that is.”

He was.  He approached until he was in arm’s reach.  He shrank back a little as she reached out, lifting up one thick-skinned, ragged, long ear and trying to drape it right.  The construction of his head only let it flop to the left.  She scrunched up his face and then pulled it back the opposite way, then she stretched his mouth open, looking at his teeth.

He was a bit of an Eeyore-type.  Shy, very sad looking.  Goblins tended to wear their experiences on their skin.  It was refreshing.

“Can you run fast?” she asked him.  He didn’t look it, but goblins could be subtle in that respect.

He looked around, unsure how to answer.

“Doesn’t have to be for very long.  Just need a burst of speed.  You had to catch those goblins to get their candy somehow.”

“That’s what I need in my raiding party.  Can you work with others?”

“No,” another goblin piped up.

“Come on,” Liberty said, putting her arms under Flops’s armpits.  He was a dense fellow, and shied back as she started to lift, fighting free of her grip, even growling.  A lot of goblin heads turned at that sound.  Some even looked ready to fight on her behalf.  She gestured for them to stay back.

A bit like a stray dog who’d been treated unkindly from day one.

She gave him a sympathetic look.  “Ever had a hug, Flops?”

He scowled, looking away.

“A pat on the head?  A treat you didn’t have to steal?”

He shook his head, jowls shaking, scowling more.

The scowl became something more closed, face scrunching up, mouth closing for the first time.  Looking away, he muttered, “‘sed I was big and strong.”

“What I said just now?  Was that the most recent, or was it the first and only time?  Really?  Buddy…”

He scowled, and he flinched as she reached out, growling, resisting, but she lifted him up bodily, and she plopped him down on her own stomach.  Dense little potato of a fellow, who put a few holes in her arms as she manhandled him.  As she relaxed her grip on him, he stopped fighting and biting, and remained poised, stubby knees and hands digging into her.  She caught some of the treats that fell from his grip and positioned them closer to his hand.

At her urging, he laid out flat, until he was draped out across her belly, her arms around him.  She held him there with one hand and pet him with the other.  Because of the construction of his head, he couldn’t really look up at her, so he remained there, face pressed against her solar plexus, breath hissing out.

America glanced her way as the great sage got his shit together, rolling her eyes a bit.

Liberty saw the great sage leaning over, watching as the gifts were properly stowed, and saw some of the tape had come free.  She gestured.

America looked, saw, and very quickly darted forward to fix the tape and beard before returning to her position of awaiting audience.

A bunch of goblins had seen, but it didn’t really matter.

“For your generosity, we’ll give you access to our great texts…” the sage proclaimed.

Goblins were struggling to lift out stacks of the magazines that had no doubt been collected from far and wide, taken out into the woods by teenage boys and abandoned, or left on a truck’s dashboard, in easy reach of an open window.

“I don’t need those, great sage,” America stated, kneeling.  “I need counsel, and I want your blessing.”

“For what, witch princess?”

“For revenge,” America growled.

“There was this hot older dude, you’ve seen him around.  Alexander Belanger.”

Goblins booed and hissed.

“I know, I know, but there aren’t many unattached guys out there who dress well, who don’t underestimate you guys, and who gives a girl like me actual respect.  Not just a little, but the respect I deserve.  Say what you will about the guy, but he never once made any of us out to be less than we were.  He held himself up higher.  And that’s the way it should be.”

There were some nods around the crowd.

“I go to high school and it’s all dress code, ‘Meri, no improvised weapons, ‘Meri’, don’t bring weird things to school, ‘Meri, put the safety pin down you can’t give classmates prison tats, ‘Meri, and guys are gross and guys dads are grosser and you’d think the girls and women would get it and they don’t.  Humans suck.  It’s why I hang with you guys.  You guys are great for the most part, except you, Scuttlebutt, fuck you!”

“Next to Daddy Tedd and my excellent sister, there’s only one human who’s ever acted like I’m worth anything.  One human being besides family who was willing to ask me who and what I wanted to be and who cared?  Who was willing to work with that?  One dude.  He listened to me when I said I wanted the school to go easier on you guys, that you were useful sometimes.  And he wasn’t saying or doing all of that because he wanted to bone me.  So naturally, I had to joke about wanting to bone him.”

There was a clamor in response.  Liberty added to it, leaning forward as much as she could with sixteen goblins all sitting or lying on and against her.

“Natural and wise words,” the goblin sage said.

“I’m not okay with how it all went down,” America said.  “I’m not cool with the fact that the hot old dude was turned away and got got, somehow.  I’m not happy with how it’s going after.  And I’m putting that nicely.”

“Why!?” Liberty shouted.  The suddenness of it made Flops tense under her hand, and she gave him a pat, urging him to relax.

“I don’t freaking know why I’m putting it nicely, Libs!” America raised her voice.  “I’m pissed!  I’m holding back because if I don’t I’m going to lose my utter shit!”

“Lose it!” Liberty shouted.  “Don’t hold back!”

“I’m pissed and I don’t know why!  I’m a little freaked I’m as bothered as I am!  I liked him and I might have loved him a bit and that’s really fucking lame that I might’ve loved some old hot guy because he listened to me and was nice to me sometimes and shit!”

“Really lame,” the sage agreed.

“Fuck you!” America spat the words at him with enough venom he nearly fell from the log.

The clearing was quiet, and over the seconds that passed, the Sage found his footing and stood tall again, and the anger seemed to leech out of ‘Meri, making her sag a bit.  Some smaller goblins got restless.

America’s voice was low and quiet.  “I don’t know who did it, but when I do, I want to rally all of you guys and go after them.  That’s later, if ever.  For right now?  I’m pissed, and the closest things I’ve got to having anyone to blame are three kids who stuck their nose in things and told that hot old dude to get lost without checking in with the rest of us.  I want to kick some ass, and I want your blessing for it.”

The great sage crawled forward along the log, held out the pencil with the card on it, and, straining to reach, bapped her on the head with it.

“So blessed, witch princess Tedd.”

Liberty whooped, and the crowd of goblins took up the call.  The sage retreated, and goblins stirred, rallying, giving Liberty’s sister their full attention.

“Ass kicking time!” America shouted.

The goblins went crazy.  The goblin on Liberty’s head bounced up and down, nearly slipping and falling.

Flops, though, just lay there, having finally relaxed enough that he’d kind of melted a bit around the edges, muscles untensing.

“First comes the declaration of war!” America cheered.  “Letting them know we mean business!”

Liberty smiled, massaging the lumpy, wrinkled goblin, pushing loose skin around.

“Hey, Libs!” ‘Meri called out.

“That means you too, right?”

Liberty smiled, candy-less lollipop stick sticking out of one corner of her mouth.

She didn’t want to.  She was tired of fighting.  America had been caught and bound and Liberty had been quietly freaking out.  ‘Meri might have only ever had daddy and Alexander and Liberty backing her up, but Liberty had only ever had America and daddy.

And while things had been bad, for a while, she’d had no idea what had happened to her sister.  Their entire world had turned upside-down, she hadn’t known if she’d ever get a clear answer about America, and those three that America was so pissed at had sorta helped.

Her sister was in the middle of the fight, ‘Meri had been sidelined early and she hadn’t had a chance to really go to bat.  Liberty had just finished that fight, she had ‘Meri back, and she wanted to chill like this.  She wanted to enjoy the summer, to enjoy her sister’s company, to find ugly-cute goblins and party and shit.

She gave Flops a pat, and scratched the one with the big eyes under the chin.

But they’d made a deal early on.  To not let their sisterhood slip away, like so many sisters did.

No other choice, thanks to a years-old oath.

“Declaration of war,” America said.  “Gotta let them know you mean business, first.  Then you stomp their buttholes in, and then you kick them while they’re down, deliver the hurt to Self and soul.”

“They’re trying to make nice.  Estrella introduced them to Silas, and Silas and his guys have influence,” America said.  She spat to one side, and because there were so many goblins herded around them, the spit landed squarely on the bald dome of a three-foot-tall goblin.  He looked up at her and smiled toothlessly.

They reached the edge of the trees.  As they did, there was a whistle.

The bridge was wooden with some metal plates affixed to it, many with more than half the material degraded or rusted away to oblivion.  Wooden struts, beams, and two-by-fours arranged in ‘x’ shapes, some logs for the actual part that cars were supposed to drive over, not that they really did anymore, and a part of the railing that had been torn away by students of a previous year, so there’d be a good gap to jump from.  Water churned below, a river deeper than it was wide because of the force of the waterfall that the bridge was braced over.

At the start of every summer, students tested the bridge to make sure it was stable, then dove to check the base of the bridge to make sure no wood or metal had fallen in and positioned in a way to skewer anyone jumping.  Anything that had fallen was scavenged.  Liberty had used some for a knife she had in one of her other kits.  Elementally charged and degraded and spiritual.  Scrap to humans and workable material to practitioners.

Avery was on the bridge with her opossum in human form, both wearing swimsuits.  At the base of the bridge, standing in the water, was Lucy, with her other friend Veronica sitting on the shore, drying off while reading a library book.

Other students had gathered, and it looked less like the three were really fit into that group and more like they were tagging along.  Playing at diplomacy.

Lucy was pointing at the woods, at them.  She’d spotted them?

“We didn’t trip any alarms on our way in, did we?” Liberty asked.

A goblin near the lead gave her a shrug.

Man, it would be nice to go for a swim, Liberty thought.

“Well, if they know we’re here…” America declared.

She strode forward, out of the trees and onto the shore opposite the two girls.

With a whoop, Avery leaped from the bridge.  It was more than twenty-five feet up, varying depending on the water level, and she had time to windmill her arms and position before splashing down.

She emerged a few feet down, pushing wet hair out of her face, and walking over to where her friends were.

The opossum looked like she was going to jump, then hesitated.

Liberty walked out of the woods alongside the collection of thirty or so goblins they’d recruited.  They could have invited all of them -that was the power of the blessing- but America thought it was more important to keep some back for later moves.

Plus, the way goblin mentality worked, if there were a hundred goblins, a lot of goblins would put in one one-hundredth of the effort.

“Transformation: war bikini!” America shouted, hurling a pellet at the ground.

Smoke exploded all around her, and in the trees, a goblin hurried to get out a scrapbook-style booklet and flip through pages, squeaking out orders as goblins hurried forward, pulling off outer layers to reveal the swimsuit ‘Meri was wearing underneath, or putting on other accessories, like spike-studded straps and belts.  They squabbled here and there as they got entangled.

The smoke faded and a few goblins took another second to get things connected before leaping away and hiding.  America gave the stragglers an annoyed look, held out her hand, and a group of three goblins hurried forward with a staff topped with a conch shell with a bunch of giant nails driven through it.  The outfit, loaded down as it was, was a swimsuit-centered outfit that was ironically less suited for swimming in than her regular one.

“Are you for real?” Lucy asked them.

“I’m very for real,” America answered.  “I’m pissed.”

Guys were running, and as Veronica took a step back, America pointed the staff at her.  “Don’t you dare run.”

Liberty hurled her own pellet down.  It exploded into smoke.  She put her arms out, t-pose, and waited, rolling her eyes, as goblins updated her outfit.

The moment they were done, finishing with a pat on her shoulder, she started moving.

Heading for the bridge, wearing decorative armor meant more to intimidate than to protect.  A goblin tossed her a helmet, rusty metal in a scowling visage, and she pulled it on, undoing her braids so that her hair hung free.

“I have no intention of doing anything to you, because that would get me expelled!” America declared, “But the great goblin sage of this area has made it clear that you guys got rid of a really hot old guy and that isn’t right!”

“I don’t think that works!” Lucy called out.

“Oh, it works for me!  See, I’ve got responsibilities to these guys, and now Liberty and I are going to help them!”

Two of their larger goblins emerged from the woods.  They were more toadlike than humanoid in proportion, heads broad and built into their bodies.  One was lopsided, the other heavily scarred.  They stopped so they each stood to one side of ‘Meri.

“Would Toadswallow be cool with this?”

“That is the wrong name to bring up if you want me to go easy, kid!” America shouted.  “The wrong fucking name!”

Seeing Liberty head for the bridge, goblins in tow, Avery grabbed stuff and hurried up the shore to the opposite end of the bridge.  The opossum backed up, then stopped as she realized smaller goblins had already snuck in around behind her, cutting her off.

She looked like she was going to jump, then stopped.

“What are you hoping to get out of this?” Lucy asked.

“This?  They’re making this a declaration of war.  This is the part where we make it clear we’re serious, we try and ruin your day, mess with your stuff, and maybe we kidnap one of you.  Who is it gonna be that enjoys our hospitality until this whole thing is done?”

“I like how you’re going from saying it’s the goblin’s grudge and you’re helping, to saying ‘we’ and ‘our’.”

“Yeah?  How do you like this?” America asked, reaching into a pouch and pulling out a pellet.  She tossed it, then batted it through the air and over the river at the two girls, using her staff.

They scrambled out of the way before it exploded into another cloud.  It left a mucus-y slime on everything the mist touched.

Some goblins were circling around, further down the bank, crossing the river using slimy, algae-covered rocks that cut across a narrow portion of the bank.  Others had to use the bridge, which meant they backed Liberty.

The two girls at the shore seemed to recognize that.  They grabbed stuff and took up a position like they were ready to fight back to back against threats from two directions, keeping one eye on their flank, where America was.

Lucy reached for a necklace, lifted it up, hesitated, and then dropped her hand.

Goblins couldn’t easily cross clean running water.  And this water was clean enough.

Liberty reached into her pocket, then pulled out a dead rat wrapped in flypaper.  She hesitated.

It would be so nice to swim, to enjoy the summer day.

“I’m already on it, geez!”

She let it tumble from her hand, off the side of the bridge.  A small part of her hoped it would stop on the rock face, get caught, get stuck.  She could excuse it to ‘Meri as an attempt at drama, which it was, but it was also…

She saw it tumble into the frothing water beneath the bridge.

Froth became something else, yellowed and foaming, and the water changed tint.  Dead rats began to bob in it.  In some places the dead rats and things were so dense the water flow changed, frothing more or making sucking sounds.

“Ooh, nice one, sis!” ‘Meri called up.

Goblins surged into the water.  The pair on the shore had to scramble back.

Some goblins went straight for the shucked-off clothing and bookbags, jostled stuff-

An explosion ripped out.  Goblins screeched.  They’d been painted bright pink, paint gluing eyes shut.

“Nettlewisp, nettlewisp, nettlewisp,” Lucy said.  “Don’t touch my stuff.”

The pink joined dead rats, streaking the river.  Liberty watched as the current carried it down around the bend, out of sight.

No swimming today.  What a pity.  Boys in swim trunks, lounging around, catching some sun, getting skin cancer, maybe eating some overly sweet stuff…

“Hey!” Avery shouted.

She was carrying a goblin club, wearing a cape, hat, and deer mask with a sporty swimsuit.

Liberty wore armor.  She reached down to either side, snapped her fingers, and goblins reached up to hold her hands.  They shrank, twisted, and changed, and when she raised her hands, she was holding two machete-like blades.

“I want to talk!  If this is a declaration of war, then there’s room for parley!” Lucy shouted.

“I want to kick ass!  How about we hold a vote!?  I think my side wins!”

Goblins cheered and jeered.

“We already beat you once,” Avery said.

“Sure, but that was a fair fight,” Liberty answered.

Goblins were clambering along the bridge now, climbing along struts.  Below, goblins were swimming through the river, or leaping across dead-rat-bergs where the muck in the water now had clumped together.  A few were getting stranded, sailing down the river waiting for another ‘berg to leap to that never came.

Shitty rickety bridge?  My home turf, Liberty thought.

She advanced, legs crossing to choose the best footing, hopping here and there to avoid spots where a foot could go between the logs, boards, or metal sheets.  She held out the blade as she got closer, and Avery swatted at it.  Liberty pulled it back.

The girl and her opossum tried to retreat, and goblins snapped and clawed at them.  They tried to stay put, and Liberty advanced again, jabbing, poking, testing.  Looking for gaps or opportunities.

Below, goblins were claiming makeshift weapons out of the bridge’s construction.

She hoped they weren’t doing too much damage.  She liked this shitty bridge, the chance to jump off it, the thrill, the way other kids were into it.

Some goblins climbed up the railings, reaching out with claws or pointed sticks, which forced Avery closer to the edge here, or to the middle of the bridge there, where wood sloped, water pooled from a rainfall days ago, and things were soft, wood sinking visibly beneath her sandal.

It was a space only broad enough for a single car to pass over, but the state of it narrowed it further.  Liberty navigated that narrow space, weapons out, darting around, to use the fact the goblins were on her side and that she had walked over a hundred bridges like this one.  Her Sight glowed beneath the visor of the hot metal helmet she wore, and she could see that damage, the weak points, the stronger material, like television static running through everything, sometimes thin, sometimes dense, sometimes a disrupted, easy flow.

Through the girl she was fighting, a deep-set tiredness, close to the heart, running through the core of her, crown to root.

Liberty felt that same tiredness.  She probably wanted to enjoy the same kind of day.  Swimsuits, sun, jumping off dangerous bridges…

Liberty’s heart was heavy as she walked around, her back to a railing, while Avery retreated to what should have been a railing, but was just a gap in the railing for people to jump off from.

Below, the teeming filth of a river of dead rats boiled and frothed.  A dozen goblins waited, pointed sticks jabbing upward, ready to catch her on the way down.  If they didn’t, or if that wasn’t enough, the goblins swimming in the murk could.

Avery kept one hand at her opossum’s shoulder, keeping herself between Liberty and the animal-turned-human.

If it weren’t for the great sage’s blessing, some goblins would have skipped out.  It wasn’t like the great sage was anything more than a game, it was just a ruse, a conceit that let the goblins play and find the occasional excuse to band together.

‘Meri was pulling out all the stops.  A font of mud, slime, a detonation.  Something triggered one of the other piles of clothing to detonate into pink paint, no doubt intended to stain any prying eyes.  It was good.

Veronica did something and fire erupted, setting one of the big guys on fire.  He charged forward, not even caring, and she turned into a bird, flying around to another spot.

America whooped and laughed as she launched a stream of muck at the bird.

“Having fun?” Avery asked.

Liberty met her eyes, tossed one machete, then caught the handle again.

Liberty stepped forward, dodging a soft spot, swinging.

Avery met the swing, bracing one foot against a plank, club smashing metal.  The weapon left Liberty’s hand, clattering onto the bridge.

But Avery had firmly planted her foot on one part of the bridge that wasn’t that secure. It was soft, and it gave way.

She went down with surprising speed, twisting her head to one side to avoid cracking her chin on the bridge’s edge as she slid down.  Stomach scraped against wood, hand dropped club as fingers sought purchase, and found it.  The opossum fell too, but sprawled off to one side.

Avery hung there, hat drifting off the edge, wind catching it, blowing it in the direction of her friends, who paused mid-scrap to look up.  To see their friend hanging on by one arm.  Veronica caught the hat out of the air.

Liberty approached the edge, one weapon still in hand, and looked down as she took a few steps to the left, then a few to the right.  Avery’s stomach was lightly scraped all over, she’d lost a sandal.

Goblins crept in closer, and she used her blade to motion for them to back off.

“Snowdrop,” Avery said.

Snowdrop flipped over, then scrambled forward, and Liberty stepped back, weapon ready, as the opossum reached down, gripping Avery’s wrist, holding on.

“No, stop.  I need you to jump.  The river’s gross but you can deal with gross.  Get enough clearance they don’t jab you on your way down, deal with the goblins in the river.”

“Yeah, good plan,” Snowdrop said, without moving.

More goblins were congregating.  More were preparing sticks below Avery and Snowdrop.

Verona?  Veronica.  Verona, right.

“Will do,” Snowdrop said.  She fumbled at the side of her swimsuit, blazoned ‘Drowned Rat Aesthetic’ and pulled out a rusty fork, jabbing it at Liberty, who held out her blade.

Lucy had fought her way up to the end of the bridge, a dozen feet away, but there were a lot of goblins between her and Avery.  She held a spear and pointed it at any goblin that got too close.

Liberty could only stand there, wishing that America would get on with it, decide she’d won, and leave.  But America stood there, watching.

What was the easiest way to end this?

Avery slipped.  Her fingers lost their grip on a plank, scraped for a few inches, then found another gap.  Goblins whooped and jeered.

Snowdrop abandoned her weak fending-off, taking hold of Avery’s wrist with her other hand, her back to Liberty’s.  America, on the bank a couple dozen feet down the river, raised her head, eager and waiting.

It would be so easy to boot her off.

The cracked rusted fork, abandoned, did one full rotation, then cracked further.

Like an egg, it popped open.  A tiny red goblin lunged at Avery, “Boo!”

“Yes!  Good timing,” Snowdrop hissed.  “Help out.”

“I scared her!  I got her!” the tiny goblin cheered.  “Did you see her flinch!?”

“Not now, Cherry,” Avery spoke through grit teeth.  Feet scraped at planks below and Liberty could see through gaps in the bridge as goblins pushed her away from any footholds.

Avery reached under and through the bridge to grip the same plank from beneath, fingers reaching up through the gap to wrap around the board.

“Bahahaha!  Spooked her.  With an audience, so everyone saw!  I was waiting, we were waiting!”

“The entire time!?” Lucy raised her voice.  “Did you know, Snow?”

“You knew, you so knew, I told you!” Cherrypop bounced, looking around.  “How dumb are you, Snowdrop?  You have a small opossum brain, it’s so sad!  You’re dumber than me sometimes!”

“How many fights have we been in, that you had that up your sleeve, Snowdrop!?  We could have used that!” Avery grunted.

“You’re right,” Snowdrop told her.  “Cherrypop as a goblin is way more useful than a rusty fork with a wobbly handle.”

“I mean… you’re right,” Avery said.

“Respect!” Cherrypop cheered, scrambling around, like she was trying to view the same scene from a bunch of angles, except she was part of that scene.  “I did it!  A genius plan!  Bahaha!”

“Great moment to do it,” Snowdrop said, sounding unhappy.

“…On so many levels,” Avery added, grunting as she tried to get a foothold and failed.

The opossum was glancing up at Liberty, tense.

This wasn’t what Liberty wanted.

“Go,” Liberty ordered.  “Clear out.”

“Wha?” a goblin asked, aghast.

“Go!  Declaration’s made, and I made a promise, a long time ago… I can’t disrespect a great plan like this.  Gotta let Cherry here bask in her glory.”

“It’s a terrific plan,” Snowdrop said, deadpan.

“Yus!” Cherrypop cheered.

Liberty smiled, seeing how happy the little one was.

Goblins were drawing back.  Liberty motioned using her blade, and they moved with more force.

“What the everyloving shit, Libs!?” America called up.

America wanted respect and she rarely got it, and Liberty felt it was important to extend that out, to carry out a promise she’d made on very similar foundations.  When they’d sworn to stay close, to be good sisters, they’d also promised each other they’d play along and go along.  The idea had been that they’d be cool to their kids and any students in ways their teachers hadn’t.

But it went for goblins too.

“How long were you self-bound into the shape of a fork?”

“Weeks!  Ever since we left to come here!” the little goblin cheered.  “I almost did it a few times, every day I almost jumped out at them to shout ‘boo!’ and I held back, and I waited and I waited, and I snuck out and I ate food- she gave me food and she’s still too dumb to remember I became a fork-”

Cherrypop was too excited to even accurately point her arm in Snowdrop’s direction while answering Liberty.

“-and I waited and I finally did it and look at the look on her face!  Look!  It’s great!  Bahaha!”

If this was the best this little mouse-sized goblin could manage… Liberty would respect the shit out of it.

“Nice one,” Liberty told the goblin.

“In respect, I’m backing off.  America can continue fighting this grudge on her own.  I’m calling off my troops too.  Hey!  You, scram!”

She motioned, and more of her goblins left.  She pointed at the woods, and they backed off.

As their number dwindled, other goblins peeled back as well.  Only those closest to America remained.

America gave Liberty an exaggerated shrug, expression dumbfounded.

Avery climbed back up onto the bridge.  Liberty backed off, and Lucy approached to help.

The little red goblin kept jumping up, punching the air, happiness distilled.

“You guys aren’t around for long, right?” Liberty asked.

Lucy looked up, eyebrow raised.  “Couple more days.”

“‘Meri’s going to pull something during the field trip.  I don’t want any part of it.  I’m tired.”

“We’re tired too,” Lucy said.

“Tell her that.  I’m out.  I’ve got a crappy excuse ‘Meri won’t like, but I’m out.”

Avery was standing now, hand at her stomach, where it had been scraped up, a dozen red lines of varying thickness and a bit of ripped up skin extending from pelvis to ribs.  She winced.

“It’s okay, getting used to it,” Avery said.  “Thanks for not going as far as you could have.”

“It’s okay to you maybe,” Lucy said, to Liberty, she said, “I know I don’t have as much room to complain, less claim and whatever… but can I ask a favor?”

“You can ask, but I can’t and won’t cross my sister.  We’re in this together.”

“Not asking you to cross her.  We could use some help with something else.  We’re trying to gather notes on dealing with Others.  We could use some anti-goblin tips.  Just in case we end up having to deal with them.”

“Okay,” Liberty said.  “Get my email from the student directory or something.”

“Field trip,” she told them.  “Be ready.  She wants a fight but it all makes her so unhappy.  It’d be nice to have a resolution.”

“This conversation would have been great to have before my friend nearly fell off a bridge.”

Liberty looked around, made sure the goblins were clear, then she leaped.  Off the bridge.  Into teeming dead rat water.

The armor she wore weighed her down.  It made for a harder fall in a way, not because heavy things fell faster, but because she wasn’t able to brace herself in the same way.  She plunged deeper, and after a second of sinking, her boots touched mud.

She felt out, used Sight, and found the original dead rat, sunken to the bottom.

She waited, cut off from the world, until her lungs started to reach their limit, then pushed herself through mud and scraggly plants to the shore.  She emerged, fighting, dripping wet, and threw her helmet to the side.

America stood over her.  Goblins were dissipating.  The girls were getting their stuff, watching the pair of them all the while.

“What the shit?” America asked.

“I’ll explain later.”

“You’d better.  You going to help me with the rest, or are you-”

Liberty was already shaking her head.

She could see the pain in America’s eyes.

America getting kidnapped by Bristow had been scary for Liberty in the exact same way that Liberty saying no now was scary to America.

“It had better be a damn good explanation,” America said, as she wheeled around and stalked off.

“Fuck off!” America shouted.

Liberty, tired from the swim and tired at heart, sat herself down on the bank.  Smaller goblins who’d hung out with her before crept closer.  The one with the eyes and Flops were among them.  Some had handkerchiefs and napkins of varying cleanliness.  They used the cleaner parts to dab at her.

“I know stuff,” Flops said, voice deep but small.

“Stuff?” Liberty asked, leaning her head back.  A goblin was combing fingers through her hair.

“Stuff.  About the hot dead guy.”

Flops nodded.  “A goblin saw.”

“Okay.  Keep it quiet for now.  All of you.  Shut up the ones who’re talking.”

The various goblins she could see as she twisted around nodded.

“Who or what was it?”

“Gunman,” Flops answered.

“Blond?  Short hair?  Scary eyes?”

“America doesn’t need to hear that.  It makes her angrier for longer.  It’s going to get out sooner or later, because that kind of thing always does.  Has to.  But not now.  Not while it’s all raw and she’s already bloodthirsty enough.”

Her retinue of goblins nodded.

“You have fun?” she asked, stretching and unstrapping some armor.

Flops nodded with enthusiasm.

She reached over and mussed up his ears, scrunching up his face.

“Not a total loss then.  Come on.  Let’s get on top of that rumor mill, make sure ‘Meri isn’t too pissed, and see about dinner.  We’re getting takeout instead of Brownie-made stuff, and that’s way better in my books.  Do you ever watch TV, Flops?”

Flops shook his head, ears whipping out to either side.

“Oh my gods, buddy.  We’ve got to get you caught up with the times if you’re hanging with me.”

She got to her feet, some goblins pushing on her legs to try and help the process, then headed into the woods, weary, her herd of loyal goblins following after.