As they walked, Irenie heard Curdie mumble behind her, but it was different from his other complaints.

"What's wrong?" she asked. 

"The trail just ends here," Curdie said in a whisper although his deep voice didn't really allow it. "Just at the 'X'."

They had come to a dead end. A bolder blocked the path ahead.

When Irenie looked over at her friend, her brow was scrunched up and Curdie stared back with equal confusion.

A sound like the mountain moving of its own free will grated on her nerves and Irenie gasped as she watched the dead end open into a hole. Inside it, there were many pairs of golden eyes staring at her. Some were narrowed, some wide with their bright pupils like.

"Irenie..." Curdie muttered, but the princess stayed him with a hand while the other held the flame out in front of her.

The group of goblins come to welcome her shied away from her fire with gasps of astonishment.

"It's alright," Irenie said in her firm Queenly voice, and even managed a smile as she took a step forward. "I'm here to speak with your ambassador."

There were grumbles of confusion that rocked the tunnel, but Irenie felt herself grow more confident with the gentleness of their reply.

"Your leader? Who leads you?" She asked.

She was answered, but not by a voice.

There was a black hole that opened up in the ceiling and a large dark lump fell from it. The body landed with the loud slap of skin meeting rock.

More pairs of golden eyes crept forward from the tunnel and the goblins began to come into focus.

"Printh'eth," the voice hissed. The body on the ground uncurled from itself and turned into an incredibly tall, lithe figure whose pointed ears nearly glanced the tunnel ceiling where she stood.

The voice had carried only the faintest hint of a lisp but it was enough to chill her blood and plunge Irenie into an icy river of all her worst nightmares.

Curdie leapt to her defense and shielded her from the creature. "Prince Froglip."

The shadow snickered and took one long step into the light of her flame as the rest of the goblins poured in around them.

"It hath' been much too long," the Goblin Prince cackled and his beady, black pupils flicked to the princess whose feet rooted themselves into the rock. "Printh'eth Irenie."

"I knew this would be a trap," Curdie growled.

Prince Froglip stepped out from the hoard. Just the sight of him made Irenie weak with dread.

He wasn't the tallest or the strongest looking, or even the ugliest, but this was the goblin that caused Princess Irenie's breath to stand still in her lungs.

"Look at you. Th'till as fiery as before," the prince said, but Irenie had not been able to speak a word.

His gaze glowed from the dark hollows of his eyes. "You're full of th'uprises, Printh'eth."

He bared his teeth which must have been some try at a grin, but she was frightened.

The Goblin Prince circled around them again, the space growing smaller as Curdie pressed his back into Irenie's, fists slightly raised.

However, by the number of glowing eyes behind her, there would be far too many goblins to fight. They might be too far into the tunnels to sing either. Sound never carried well here.

"We- we're here to meet–" Irenie forced herself to speak. "We have permission, for negotiations. We're here to talk with your ambassador."

The goblin prince continued his prowling walk, circling them again.

"Negoth'iath'ions?" the prince lisped, a hint of a sharp tongue flicking between his lips. Froglip stopped and leaned into the two humans, his bright orange eyes glowing sharply in the shadows. "We aren't hardly at introducth'ions yet, Printh'ethh–"

"Now stop that, goblin," Curdie said between clenched teeth and took a step in front of Irenie.

"Printh of the Goblins, thun-boy," Froglip sneered, puffing out his bare chest and taking a step toward Irenie's friend.

"That's knight-boy to you," Curdie replied haughtily. "And official hand to the Princess-" He stamped his foot down right next to the prince's.

A round of gasps went up from the goblins to see their prince remain so calm, but Irenie could see the sweat on the side of his face as Prince Froglip sneered down at them.

"Are... are you the ambassador?" Princess Irenie asked.

It seemed to be the only logical answer, unless Curdie really was right and this had all been a trap.

Prince Froglip's bright orange eyes widened and then flicked back to the princess as Curdie looked over his shoulder in shock.

His face twisted into an evil grin, one eye squinted with the other wide open. "I am."

"Then it was your letters I was receiving?"

She saw even more of the strange looking teeth as Froglip's grin grew even wider.

"They were." And as if to prove it, Froglip retrieved a slim crumpled piece of paper from one of the goblins who had accompanied him and snapped it open with a smug look. "And this was your letter to me, I pre'thume?" The goblin Prince asked as if he didn't know any better.

Irenie checked just to be sure, but there was no denying it was her writing.

"Oh, ah dear," she almost felt like laughing except tears were coming quickly to the corners of her eyes. This was certainly not the way she had seen things going and now the creature of her worst nightmares was standing before her and several feet taller than he was in her memory.

"Irenie," Curdie whispered to her, a soft hand upon her shoulder to keep the princess steady as she wavered in the mouth of the cave. The goblin prince stood obliviously before her, that closed-lipped grin still on his smug features.

"Now, you've done a lot, you've gone further than anyone else ever thought you would get with the goblins," Curdie said. "And I think there is no shame in quitting now," he paused for dramatic emphasis. "It's Froglip, Irenie. No one would blame you for giving up and going home now, there's no shame in it."

She looked at her friend with wide unsure eyes, but it barely took a second for the princess to shake her head. The lecture she would receive from her Father and all his advisers alone was enough to convince her.

Besides there was a reason she was doing this. In a matter of months her kingdom might not even be hers anymore.

Irenie turned around to face the astounded Froglip, her eyes like two broiling balls of blue fire. The goblin prince who once seemed like the more intimidating of the two, curled back on himself when he saw that look in the princess' eyes.

"Prince of the Goblins." Irenie took several long strides until she was nearly under his chin.

Froglip held firm like a soldier, puffing out his chest in mock confidence. "Thun Printh'eth-"

"I am hereby inviting you to a ball hosted at my castle in preparation for the goblin-human alliance." She paused and looked him right in the eye, her shoulder bunched up. "But there are going to be some changes."