The goblin cackled and jumped off the log it was standing on, then disappeared into the trees. None of the wolves moved to follow. They had to decide amongst themselves what to do next, but Ken knew before the goblin started moving away that they didn't have much of a choice. There were certainly goblins hiding in the trees, but how many? Did they have lethal weapons?
They couldn't fight an enemy up so high—but they could run. Goblins were relatively slow on foot compared to a wolf.
Only then it became a question of what way out of the woods was safe. Ken hadn't noticed any signs of the goblins on their way in, but they had surely been spotted.
He cast a nervous glance at Beth, whose ears were pressed back. Understandably, she wasn't happy to be in this situation at all. They had Joanna to worry about. If they ran and perished along the way, who would take care of her? If they went with the goblins and their memories were all stolen, would they even remember Joanna?
Would his little girl be taken from him before he'd had the chance to truly get to know her?
Ken shifted closer to Beth, seeking to comfort her with a brush to her side. He licked her face and nuzzled her, trying to tell her that it was all going to work out, even if he didn't know whether it would.
Meanwhile, Finn, Rick, and Ryel got into a snapping argument. Their opinions on what to do were divided; of course they were. But they weren't going to get anywhere like this, where they couldn't argue with anything more than general senses of desire and urgency. They needed the utility of words.
Ken was the first who shifted into his human form. Ryel and Beth followed at once. Rick, Finn, and Lily stayed as wolves, all of them on guard in case more goblins came from the shadows. It seemed as though they figured what direction this conversation would go.
"What do we do?" Beth said.
Ryel looked at her sternly. "We have to follow. We don't know how many goblins there are, what their weapons look like, and we're far from home. We can't rely on any backup to support us."
"You're not serious, are you? Don't you remember what happened to me? They stole my memories and ruined my life!"
Ken placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. "She's right. Following the goblin deeper into the unknown will be dangerous. We could leave now and come back with more wolves. We'veseenone. All of us. That would be enough to convince the others to come in full force."
"The goblin could have ambushed us and killed us, or captured us and forced us to follow him, but he didn't," Ryel pointed out.
"So what?" Ken scoffed. "That means nothing."
"It means they don't want to hurt us. Maybe we can use that to our advantage. They could just want to talk."
"I can't believe you're saying this. You're the last one I would have expected to trytalkingwith the goblins."
"I suggest talkingbecauseI know what they're like. Cunning, cruel bastards that don't have the same sense of right and wrong as we do. Defying them with too many unknowns is too dangerous."
Ken didn't like this idea one bit, but he saw where Ryel's thoughts were leading. They could learn more about the goblins this way, even though it would be a significant risk. But going with the goblin posed just as much of a threat.
There was no winning.
Even now, Ken's skin prickled as though he was being watched with a thousand tiny eyes. The goblins were out there, even if they couldn't see them.
Ryel shivered and turned back to the others. "We're following," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Stay alert at all times."
The group shifted back into their wolf forms and cautiously strode into the trees after the goblin that had spoken to them. He was lounging lazily against the trunk of a tree and sprung up when he spotted them. "Well, well," he said. "Decided you don't want to die after all? Can't say I'm too delighted. Haven't had wolf meat in a while."
The goblin picked his teeth with long, yellowing fingernails as he led them through the trees.
Ken's heart was pounding in his chest as he scanned the trees for any sign of movement, but there was nothing, even though he knew the goblins were there. He didn't recognize this part of the forest, and with the strange scents in the air that confused his senses, he began to worry that they would never find their way back out again.
After what felt like hours, the group finally came to a clearing. In the center of the clearing was a large tree with a door carved into its trunk. Beth stopped beside Ken with a whimper.
The goblin beckoned them inside, and after a moment's hesitation, they complied. Before stepping in, they shifted from their wolf forms one by one. The interior of the tree was much larger than it appeared from the outside, and it still smelled of the forest: fresh pine, damp earth, and mushrooms.
There was a small fire burning in a pit in the center of the room, and several goblins were milling about. One stood by the door and handed the shifters long, shapeless robes to cover their naked bodies as they came back to their human forms.
Ryel, as the alpha, took the lead. "We've come to speak to the Goblin Prince," he said, his voice brimming with the proper confidence and authority of an alpha."
Finn and Rick came close behind him, but Ken lingered in the back, sandwiching Beth and Lily between the males. This time, he didn't mind Lily being so close. They all had to be protected here.
"So impatient," a voice laughed from somewhere nearby, but Ken couldn't find the source. "You won't even rest by the fire or eat some of our delicacies before getting down to business?"