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His eyes were locked on mine now.
“Can we play a game?” I asked. Dalk nodded once. “Can you name five things you can see?”
Dalk hesitated. “A pretty woman. A big man. My father. His friends. The cells.”
“Good job! How about four things you can touch?”
He nodded and listed the four things.
Just then an image popped in mind. A little girl and me in her bed, me holding her tight while I asked her these same questions and the shaking in her body slowly went away.
Minsi.
A pang cut through my heart, and when I spoke next, my voice broke. “Now, three things you can hear.”
We went on until this game, which I had no idea I knew, ended. By then, Dalk wasn’t screaming or shaking anymore. He still looked confused and alarmed, but we had stopped the panic attack.
After saying thanks, the female goblin took him away.
I watched until he disappeared past the door, a smile on my lips. I turned to my cell, but first found Shane with a lopsided grin, his eyes on me. His gaze was half I-told-you-so and half I’m-proud-of-you, and I had no idea what to do about that.
I reached for my cell, but the door was closed.
“Ye’re not going back there,” Sloz said. I turned to face him. “Dalk has had a hard time all of his life. He didn’t fit in the human world, so his mother abandoned him here as if he was the plague.” There was anger and sadness in his voice. “But he doesn’t really fit here either. He’s been havin' trouble adaptin', and others have trouble acceptin' him. His mother told me he had anxiety since he could walk, but the panic disorder started after movin' here. And I had no idea how to deal with it. But you just changed that. And for that, you have my eternal gratitude.”
My heart swelled for them. I was so freaking glad for being able to give them this, even if it was a brief moment of peace. “You’re very welcome.”
“Because of that, I’ll let you two go,” Sloz said.
Etyx unlocked Shane’s broken door, as if he needed that to get out of it now.
“I offered to send my vampire friends to help you with the demons if you let us go,” Shane started. “I know that is not why you’re releasing us, but if that’s okay with you, I’ll send them anyway.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” Sloz said. “Though I won’t be holdin' my breath.”
Shane nodded.
Etyx handed us our bags and gestured for the doors. “I’ll escort ye out of the village.”
We walked out of the prison building, and I squinted under the rising sun. Though there had been light inside the prison, it had been faint compared to natural light. The clouds from yesterday were long gone.
I stared at the small village in front of us. Several wooden houses with roofs made of hay along the side of the mountain, and many curious goblins peeking from their half-open doors at the two strangers.
Etyx didn’t pay them any attention while he walked through the narrow path between the houses, closer and closer to the mountain. When we walked past the last house, a wall of thick wood with sharpened tips came into view.
He halted right at the small gate and pointed up, to the mountain. “We found you through a tunnel up there. Just keep going and you’ll see it.”
Shane frowned. “While we’ve been here, have you heard or seen the dragon?”
Etyx nodded. “The dragon went out once, but he returned a couple of hours ago and hasn't left since.”
“And the people who were with us?” I asked, eager to know what happened to them. “Have you seen anyone else around the mountain?”
Etyx shook his head. “Ye’re the only two we’ve seen around here.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Thanks, Etyx,” Shane said, shaking the goblin’s hand. “You’ll be hearing from some vampires soon.”
