“I … I didn’t get to go home free. I was caught. But all of you who have encountered goblins before know that they’re not killers, per se. They don’t enjoy the hunt the same way we wolves do. They like to play with their prey, driving them to hopelessness in their minds before they pounce.”
The room was silent, and Beth stared at her feet. It was all she could do to keep her voice level. “The goblins tampered with my memory, so I wasn't able to report what I saw to the pack." Her lips trembled, and she swallowed back a sob. "But their magic also did much more than that. Instead of just sending me home, oblivious about what I'd seen in the woods, they tore apart my life and made me believe I had nothing in Silvercoast." She turned away from the assembled councilmembers, and this time, she looked directly at Ken. His arms were crossed, his jaw hard set. "They tricked me into thinking I was better off leaving the town, and the people I loved."
He didn't react to anything she said. If anything, he looked stonier and angrier, a thick vein pulsing in his neck.
"You weave a compelling tale, Ms. Falls," one of the older councilwomen said. "But this all happened fourteen years ago. Surely if there were any treasure goblins left, and they had any intention of attacking us, they would have done so already. There has been nothing but silence since the last big battle and our mighty wolves hunted them down one by one."
"I know it sounds far-fetched,” Beth agreed. “I don't have an explanation for why the goblins haven't moved or acted against Silvercoast yet. I don't know what their plans are. All I know is what I saw in those memories before they were hidden away from me."
"That's because it's all a pretty lie," Ken bit out. "A fanciful excuse to try and stir trouble in Silvercoast. I wonder what really happened, hmm? You ran away from the cozy life you had in Silvercoast because, what, you were bored? Got tied down too soon and realized you still wanted to go out and have fun? Then a few years went by, and you realized how well you really had it, and you thought you could get it all back. That if you came up with this insane story, stirring all our heartstrings and our fear, you'd win your way back into our hearts and we'd welcome you back?"
"The goblinsforcedme to build a completely new life hours away from here. Until yesterday afternoon, I had no idea that Silvercoast or any of you existed. You'd been wiped completely from my memories. Ineverwould have been disloyal to my pack if it wasn't for that."
"If that's true, then why do you remember everything now?"
Beth paused, glancing from Ken to Ryel. She'd told Ryel the truth, but could she reveal everything to Ken right here in front of a bunch of angry wolves who would eat her drama for breakfast?
Ken had already shown so much disdain for her, and Beth handled it because after her memories had returned, she felt his pain as if it were her own. Because it was. But Joanna ... she didn't deserve to be dragged into this just yet. Not until Ken wasn't so angry and unresponsive.
"I don't know why," Beth started, having settled for explaining half of the truth. "For the last two years, I've been experiencing these horrible migraines. Doctors have been completely unable to explain it. Then yesterday, when I … It was like something inside me shattered. Everything came rushing back, and I hurried here as fast as I could. I couldn't describe my relief when I got here and Silvercoast was still standing. Still thriving, bigger and better than before."
"And that's only possible," Ken maintained, "because the goblins are gone! I can't believe I thought, even for a moment, that there was truly some threat to Silvercoast on the rise. It's just another lie."
"This changes nothing, Ken," Ryel said. "There's every possibility that what Beth saw fourteen years ago could have been grossly misrepresented in her memories, or that the danger has already faded. But there's also the possibility that the goblins have been biding their time, waiting for the right moment."
"We did nearly wipe them all out," Finn agreed quietly from the sidelines. "If any survived, then they wouldn't have had the numbers to act on us again right away. They could have been expecting the effects of the treasure sickness to lull us into complacency while they grew in numbers again."
"This is bullshit," Ken growled. "You can't possibly believe the lies she's spewing?"
“You don’t have to believe anything I say if you don’t want to,” Beth said. “If my explanation isn’t good enough, fine. I understand. Let me prove it to you instead. Let me take you to the spot I saw the goblins, then you’ll see why I was so afraid.”
“That’s just a waste of time. You’re distracting us all from more important things and replacing order with fear.”
Beth opened her mouth to defend herself again, to continue driving her point, but she saw that it was a fruitless endeavor. Ken had already made up his mind, and anything else she said while he was in shock and so angry would only make it harder to talk to him in private later. At the end of the day, she'd tried to do her best for Silvercoast. It was up to them if they were going to heed her warning.
But it broke her heart just how cold and cruel Ken had become. She’d dreamed of having a happy reunion with Ken, but she wasn’t oblivious to the years that had passed. The pain that had grown between them. It was a hope, a dream, that she hadn’t been foolish enough to count on.
But that didn’t stop her from wanting to throw herself into his arms and apologize for a million different things. For ever straying too far from their home, for starters. But also for not being strong enough to resist the goblins' magic, and for leaving him all alone.
For taking his daughter from him.
But Ken was not the man he'd been when she left him fourteen years ago. So much darkness had festered inside of him, and Beth knew it was because of her.
Because of the things she'd been forced to say to him when she left.
So Beth forced herself to stay silent. She forced herself to believe they would have another chance to reunite properly.
If she didn’t believe it, she would have fallen to her knees right there, broken inside.
"We realize you have a lot of feelings about everything that's been said, Ken," Ryel said evenly. "And it seems that the council has differing opinions on the best path forward. It seems to me that the best avenue for the time being is to dismiss and think deeply about everything that's been said this morning, and about what we truly value as a pack. Because as it stands, I see a potentially devastating threat waiting for us on the horizon. The decision we come to could determine the fate of our entire town."
“It’ll be your own funeral,” Ken growled. “I won’t have any part in this.”
Then he left without another word, his boots squeaking against the polished floors. The door shut with a bang, and then he was gone.
Beth’s heart with him.
She wheeled around to Ryel, who wore a scowl while he watched Ken shuffle out. The other council members began to disperse, too, many of them giving her pointed, distrusting looks.