Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

T he rat was fast, it was already up the stairs before Mary and Hamish reached them. They heard the screams from the kitchen staff as the rat scurried through the kitchens. The guards continued to chase it and Mary and Hamish chased them.

"Stop the rat!" they called out.

Instead of doing as they said, the people in the great hall merely jumped and dropped things as the rat ran out of the large wooden doors. As it scurried down the steps it shifted into its goblin form, jumped on a horse, and sent the spooked creature running.

Hamish took off at a run, by passing the guards, he went for a horse being dismounted near the stables, He mounted, turned it, and raced for the iron gates after the goblin.

Mary didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to ride, but she couldn't let Hamish go after the goblin alone. She had to do something. She'd managed to shape shift a few times at Maggie's using the goblin powers, but so far she'd only done very small animals. She decided to try something larger. Maybe she could become a horse. She concentrated on the image in her head and after a moment her body began to change shape.

Only she didn't quite come out as expected. She was shorter than a regular horse and when she opened her mouth she didn't sound like a horse, more like a donkey. Still that was better than not shifting at all. She took off after Hamish.

They probably made a funny sight racing down the land bridge toward the mainland. The goblin on the back of a freaked out horse, Hamish on the brown mare and then Mary bringing up the rear as a black haired donkey. As the goblin reached the main land, it turned right, toward Maggie's and the village.

Mary knew they couldn't let it get that far. They had to catch it. She hurried after them, hoping she'd catch up. She put her head down and charged forward, moving her legs as quickly as physically possible. After a few minutes she caught up to Hamish and slowed. He was off his horse and looking at the hoof prints on the road.

Panting, she shifted back to her form. "What's wrong? Where's the goblin?"

"Turned into the woods. I think it's hiding, hoping we'll pass it by."

"What do we do?"

"We follow it into the woods. I'm not letting it go." He looked at her and said, "Can you shift again?"

"I think so," Mary nodded. The shift happened quicker this time since her body already knew the form.

"Amazing." He mounted his horse and they started running again, this time through the woods.