Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

H amish heard a ringing in his ears. He had hit the ground hard when Mable had pitched him from her back. He hadn't expected it, but then, he hadn't expected the goblins to ambush him like that either. He shook it off as much as he could and got to his feet. Mary ran to his side as quickly as she could in the cumbersome goblin body that she inhabited.

"We've come to help," Maggie said moving out of her garden to the side yard.

“Maggie. Darter. I’m so glad to see you,” Mary replied.

"It is good to see you well, dear girl," Maggie said.

Several guards could be heard on horses, racing up the road toward them, but suddenly a tornado like breeze hit them, knocking them all this way and that. The horses went down and the guards flew off their backs, landing hard on the ground, all unconscious.

Mary felt her rage building and she blasted Nellie with it, but it was too late to save the guards from being hit by the harsh winds.

"Hamish! Watch out for Rattlebones!" Darter called.

Suddenly the goblin leapt onto Hamish. It seemed like he appeared out of nowhere and out of the dark. Perhaps Nellie had helped him achieve that, but it was a shock to Mary.

Rattlebones pulled his dagger and tried to stab Hamish in the back. Mary saw it happening as though it was happening in slow motion and she conjured up another blast so hard it blew Rattlebones off of Hamish.

Rattlebones was caught in the momentum of the blast flew past the shore of the Loch out to the middle of the deep water.

Nessie raised her head from the Loch and noticed the goblin, swimming toward the shore. She swiftly followed, as Mary watched. Silently she was cheering Nessie on, hoping she would catch the sneaky goblin and eat it. Rattlebones made it though, quickly jumping out of the water and onto shore, running away as fast as he could.

“Be gone sorceress,” Maggie shouted, drawing Mary's attention. She threw some magic dust in the direction of Nellie which caused Nellie to start choking on the air for a brief moment. Protecting the Sorceress, another goblin knocked Maggie over. It was sudden and quick.

Mary gasped.

Darter moved to hover over Maggie, dagger drawn, to protect her. "You'll not hurt my Maggie, Gray Mick! We will defeat you and Nellie!" he shouted.

Gray Mick approached Hamish. Hamish drew his sword and Gray Mick drew his thick club.

As Hamish swung his sword at the thin goblin, Gray Mick blocked it, then spun to take his own swing. It went back and forth, blow after blow, with neither making any head way.

Mary stepped toward them ready to intervene, but Nellie came right for her.

“So weak human, I see you are making use of my powers,” Nellie said.

“Give me back my body. I want it now,” Mary said.

Nellie laughed and said, “Or else what?”

“Or I will use these powers of yours against you,” Mary said as her energy built.

“I'd like to see you try, human.” Nellie cackled.

Mary raised her hand and released an energy blast at Nellie before Nellie could even counter it. Nellie flew backward onto the ground.

Rattlebones clearly having seen how powerful Mary was when angry, ran and fled the area, retreating into the forest. Mary guessed that his close call with the Loch Ness Monster and seeing Mary's powers was enough to send him on his way. She just hoped he wouldn't be causing any trouble for anyone else.

Mary glanced over to see Hamish and Gray Mick still battling. Hamish spun, hitting Gray Mick and slicing him open across his chest. Mary knew as soon as Gray Mick started screaming and the wound began to smoke that his sword was iron. She had known it was but seeing him in action with it just made it more real in her head.

She was nearly distracted by watching their battle when Maggie called out, "Mary, my girl, watch out!"

Mary turned and blocked a spell just before it hit her. She wasn't even sure what she'd done to block it, but she didn't stop to think about it, merely sent her own spell back at Nellie, followed by several more blasts.

She couldn't take her eyes off of what she was doing to make sure Hamish was okay. She had to deal with Nellie. She sent multiple spells at her, trying to defeat her as Nellie threw her own spells back.

Hamish yelled out in pain and Mary spun to see what had happened. Hamish was on the ground, holding an injured leg. In that moment, Nellie got the best of her and hit her with an energy burst. Mary fell onto her back and felt the pain reverberate through her body. It dawned on her that it was possible they were going to lose this fight. Mary turned her head and looked at Hamish. They locked eyes and she wished in that moment that if this was going to be the end of them that at least she would be in human form. That way they could see each other truly before perishing.

Maggie conjured up another dust cloud and aimed it at Nellie and Gray Mick. It was enough to stop her attack on Mary, which gave Hamish and Mary time to recover.