Princess Irenie drank sheepishly from a glass while Curdie fisted two at a time, his face already lobster red.

"I just can't fathom it, Irenie, I just- a goblin, Irenie, and not just any goblin," Curdie took a moment's pause to soak his tongue in another full glass of Chevalier. "She's got her arms wrapped around the most disgusting, the most unappealing- " Curdie barked out as he threw his arms up in the air. "You remember, right? He tried to kidnap you!"

Curdie was now shouting and a couple of eguests looked their way as Irenie tried to shush her friend.

"That's all in the past, and Froglip has been a gentleman." Irenie's pleading eyes turned amused and she clapped her poor drunk friend on the shoulder. "Besides, you know Ophelia doesn't feel anything for Froglip, don't you? She's just having fun, like you should be."

Curdie didn't seem very amused by that answer but she shuffled him towards a group of people.

Meanwhile, again, in another different part of the great hall, the king sat in his throne stewing and Curdie's father stood beside him as a guest.

Normally, regal events were held only for members of court but since the goblins had also been invited, in the words of the king 'who bloody cares who we allow in'.

"I just don't understand it, your majesty," Mr. Peterson said with his brow all bunched up as they wetted their lips with Ophelia's champagne.

The king looked up over his shoulder and grunted back, too miserable to maintain his majestic aura.

"Ya' teach a kid his whole life to hate goblins," Mr. Peterson said, "just for 'em to up and make peace with the bloody creatures." The old miner shook his head, his brawny arms crossed tightly over the simple tunic. "I feel as if I failed as a father."

"Here, here," the king said, in a dull sluggish way, "but I don't blame your boy, Peterson, if he gets it from anyone he got his love of goblins from my daughter."

The two men sighed in unison.

"The blasted things don't even like music!" The king shouted a little loudly, although it was lost over the voices of the others.

Meanwhile, Froglip and Ophelia were talking like a couple of well-to-do socialites at the party.

"My goodness! Prince Froglip, your arms are so muscular," Ophelia gushed and pinched the arm of the goblin prince as he devoured the praise. "You must be incredibly strong."

He closed his eyes and a full, smug grin curled up the sides of his long face. He had never felt this good in all his life.

"Th'tronger than any thun-boy," he replied casting another cocky look in Curdie's direction as he and Irenie approached the group. In his excitement, Froglip wrangled two of his goblin men and lifted one in each hand far above his head as the audience whooped and clapped their approval.

"Yah, but step on his foot and he'll be crying himself silly," the drunk Curdie grumbled as Froglip set the goblins down where they plopped onto the floor.

"Got 'thomething to th'ay, thun-boy?" Froglip laughed.

"Gentlemen, please, let's not fight," Irenie interrupted, standing her ground between the two of them.

"I wasn't going to fight," Curdie scrunched up his face and crossed his arms. "I was just going to tell that no-good thieving brat, that those diamonds he's been throwing at everyone here are property of the rightful owners of the mountain," Curdie said pointedly. "Irenie owns the mountain, and everything in it."

The princess stepped back, her heart hammering as she tried to pull Curdie away in vain. She locked eyes with the goblin prince in one terrible moment, both of them shocked, until something worse happened.

The king and Mr. Peterson, who had been arguing over their favourite drinking shanties, began belting the words out to one. The courtiers who recognized the music soon began pointing and joining in the drunken revelry.

Even the musicians, who had partaken in the drinking, began playing their instruments with a new found gusto that sent the whole room clapping rhythmically and stomping their feet into the ground.

Now the goblins who had been eating at the tables or loudly engaging the sun-people in talk, slowly stopped. The entourage that Froglip had brought to the castle were very much drunk like everyone else and like a drunk who had just put his hand on a burning stove, their reaction was a bit delayed. However, one horrific shriek was enough to get them all going.

As if burning hot wax had been dripped into their ears, the goblins began clawing at the sides of their head and throwing themselves into a wild panic. But the singing didn't stop. The goblin's incredible reaction only inspired the people to sing louder in excitement, thinking that this was part of the festivities.

Irenie, probably the most conscientious of them all, turned wildly to her father who was still belting out the song, one of his arms hooked around Mr. Peterson's shoulder.

"Father!" she screamed as a goblin bolted past and ran head first into a stone wall.

The prince of the goblins dropped to his knees howling, and somehow the goblins became even more frantic to see their leader fall.

Irenie backed up into the centre of the hall, her chest heaving as she watched them in dismay. Some of the goblins who had been zipping across the room to frantically escape the music settled for spinning on the floor.

Irenie closed her eyes tightly until her senses finally grabbed a hold of her and with one mighty, swift motion she screamed a the top of her lungs: "SHUT IT!"

Whether it was by magic, or by the power of her own shrill voice, everyone was shocked into silence. The great hall door, which had been left leaning precariously against the wall since the beginning of the night, crashed to the floor.

The echoes settled into complete silence save for the whimpers made by the traumatized goblins, most of whom had crumpled into the fetal position.

As for their prince who had been at the center the wreckage, Froglip had his bony knees buckled against his chest as he rocked back and forth on the ground.