Within the hour, the Lords made it to the castle gate. They were hurried in by a team of wrinkled hags. The women all had brightly colored eyes that were almost white. They all swarmed around them and grabbed their wet coats, almost tearing it off of them. Lord Arlyn cheered them on and cackled with delight as he watched the women sprout snouts and mosquito-like limbs and wings. The women hovered away to hang the clothes on small hooks above a roaring fireplace. Lord Cambridge flinched away from the women in disgust and averted his eyes to the intricate woodwork that detailed every border. Lord Faust was gazing at the ceiling as a strange voice lilted through the air. It was a melody that hid through the corners and sought refuge in quiet trills, then suddenly it would become a powerful march with courage hailing at its forefront before fading once again to a more mischievous theme. It was the sound of someone’s life being born.

One of the weathered women returned. Her body morphed once more as she took a more human appearance again. She gave a timid and clumsy bow to the castle’s guests. “I was informed that you may find this form more comforting.” Her voice was grating and there was a gurgling sound in the back of her throat as she spoke. Faust thought it sounded a lot like gargling sea sand.

Lord Cambridge scoffed. In a gruff voice, he muttered at the hag, “Your absence would be most comforting.”

The woman shied away from the burling hulk. Lord Arlyn gave a wheezing laugh. “I am sorry for my company. He doesn’t find comfort in most. I dare to think he just likes being miserable!” Arlyn continued laughing as Cambridge scowled into the old man’s back. “Fear not, Madame, his bark is much worse than his bite. And here, it seems he is defanged.” 

The woman gave Arlyn an appreciative smile. “You must be Arlyn. And the hulk man must be Cambridge. My lady-lord has told me much about you. I am Agnesa. My lady-lord is in her study.” She turned to look at the young lad. “You… Yes, I remember you, Lord Faust. Although, you have grown much.”

Faust seemed to be pulled out of a trance as the older woman addressed him. He studied her as if he didn’t have a clue as to where he was for a moment before giving a courteous bow. “That’s right. Although, I’m afraid I don’t recall our meeting.”

Agnesa bowed her head. “My apologies. We hadn’t formally met. I was just a fly on the wall. Or perhaps, a shtirginian on the wall.” Agnesa gave a wild laugh to her terrible joke. Only Arlyn seemed to understand it, and he joined her with his own.

With that, Agnesa gave the three lords a brief show of the castle. The walls echoed with Arlyn’s ceaseless joy, and the floors rumbled with Cambridges mutterings. The ceiling, however, constantly rang with the song that continued to pull at Faust’s attention. Agnesa showed them the kitchen where beautiful dark-haired women stirred at a pot rigorously. They all seemed quite close and pleased with each other’s company. One woman looked at the low flame below the pot and whispered into the empty air. The flame grew larger and brighter as if whispering back to her. Another woman had spotted the growing flame and added a whisper to it. It grew even larger. A third woman noted the massive fire below and whispered as well. The fire dimmed to but a small ember.

“Witches,” growled Cambridge.

The women continued to play with the flame until it grew so large that the thick stew erupted in a plume of black smoke. They stared at the ruined dish in surprise and laughed uproariously. They took out a new pot and began again.

Agnesa led them away from the kitchen towards what was the dining room. White gloves flew about the room at high speeds, gently placing table mats and dishes into neat arrangements on the dark mahogany table. One massive yellow eye came flying into the room. Its pupil was in a tight slit, much like a cat’s and it turned about in a tight circle in the center of the room, surveying over the twitching gloves. It caught sight of the guests, and stared with a polite expression (or what it could manage as one). The yellow flashed a brilliant green, and then hundreds of little yellow eyes popped up all around the giant sphere. They all looked in many directions, watching every detail. Every now and again, the eyes would glance towards its guests before quickly looking away.

Agnesa nodded her head in its direction. “He wants to impress you.”

Arlyn seemed overjoyed by the idea and watched with eager eyes. In the corner of the room, one of the hands had placed a table mat crooked to the edge of the table. It was slight, but it wasn’t unnoticeable to the eye watching it. The one eye turned a dark red color. The table mat righted itself, seemingly on its own, and the hand responsible was flying towards the eye at an incredible speed. The hand twitched and seemed to make some sort of visual apology to the eye before continuing with its job. The red eye once again turned green and the one facing the group vanished before reappearing quickly in an attempt at a wink.

Arlyn giggled and winked back at the ball. Agnesa rounded up the group and moved them along. They were shown the sitting room, where indeed a dragon tended the flames, but he was the size of a house cat and made of leaves. He merely fanned the flames with his tail once they became too low. The bedrooms they would all be staying in had flying books, candles, vases. Upon closer inspection, they were being toted around by pixies. Some of which were made of pure fire, water, and wind. Some were even made out of a strange pulsing energy that only gave the feeling of what they resembled: knowledge, fear, love. Many rooms were revealed to them, along with many creatures. The beings in the castle worked harmoniously with one another, even better than most civilized castles, run by human maids and footmen.

Lord Cambridge groaned at every introduction. Lord Arlyn bubbled with excitement. Lord Faust continued to stare in the direction of the teetering melody.

Finally, Agnesa was to bring them to her lady-lord’s study. Faust could barely contain his anticipation. The melody on her floor seemed to come from the walls themselves. Many small goblins ran to and fro on this floor. They came in varying shades from green to grey to even brown. Almost all were completely bald. They were small and their limbs were thin as twigs. Upon seeing the newcomers, all of them would run and hide into small doors in the walls. All but one.

At the very end of the hall was a mottled-green goblin. His pointed ears contained notches in them here and there. He had a pointed tooth that stuck out from his bottom lip. Unlike the other goblins that wore simple cloth for comfort, this goblin wore thick furs of strange beasts. It was stitched together sloppily, and his raiments looked as mottled and sour as he did. On his right hip, he had a small scabbard. Only the top of a hilt peeked out of it. He stood in front of the door where the intoxicating smell seemed to poison Faust’s mind. Faust stared longingly at the door. Then when he looked at the goblin again, the goblin’s mouth was pulled down in a scowl. Faust sighed and averted his gaze. Irritation creased both their faces.

“Lord Faust!” the goblin called out in a growl, “I haven’t seen you in six years since you were removed from my Mistress’s presence!” He sneered at the young lord. “You look well. I’d assume you would look more distraught than that.”

“Grr’okk,” Faust sneered back, “I see you’re still following the princess like a lost puppy. Or have you been promoted to guard dog?”

Grr’okk, as the goblin was called, bared his teeth. “At least my company is invited! How dare you present yourself to my Mistress again? After all that you had done to her!”

Agnesa gasped and pardoned herself from the odd party. She hurried to the goblin and they began to whisper to each other in hushed, twisting tongues.

Lord Cambridge eyed the goblin and sneered. “What an interesting hello.”

Arlyn was staring at Faust, incredulous. “You know this goblin?”

Faust sighed, the irritation flowing out of his veins. “Unfortunately. I wasn’t expecting to see him again. I would have thought he was too stubborn to leave the princess’s old chambers. However, it appears that I am mistaken.”

Arlyn’s eyes lit with curiosity. “I knew you were included in this little negotiation since you knew her lordship, but I didn’t realize that you were close with her. What does he mean ‘all that you’ve done,’ I wonder.” Arlyn chuckled. Sometimes, the old man was still quite childish.

Faust stared at the door as the song finally came to a close. He frowned at the memory he wished hadn’t been brought up. “I wouldn’t say I was ever close to her. She seemed to fight my company every step of the way. But we were wards of the Cromgold’s. We were almost left with no one else but each other to keep company.”

Arlyn smiled knowingly and put a thin, wrinkled finger over his lips. “Say no more. I don’t need your life story if you’re not willing to give it.”

With that, the door to the study opened. A tall woman stepped out. She wore comfortable cotton pants and a buttoned shirt with the sleeves cut off. Her feet were bare and caked in dirt. Her eyes were bright green, and her mousy hair was a terrible mess as if it had never seen a comb. She was pale and splotchy and freely wore her face without any kind of powder. Blemishes and scabs appeared here and there, and she had a large scar across her nose. She was rather plain looking, but there was a wild energy about her that made you draw a breath. The way she stood was as if she had seen danger, and she feared it no longer. Which she had seen more than her fair share. However, if you asked her, she would tell you that only fools have no fears. Belted to her hip was a plain leather belt with an attached plain leather scabbard.

The hilt that peered out of its pouch was brilliant. The pommel was the face of a mouse. Its somber eyes cut deep into the face as if to hide what it were thinking. A mouse tail twisted itself around the crossguard. The hilt itself was decorated in goblin runes. Even though Faust couldn’t read them, he knew what they read: Barûk, the Mouse Demon and Goblin Princess. Faust knew that if she unsheathed the bastard sword, there would be more runes etched into the blade, all shining a brilliant blue compared to the blue-grey steel. Those runes were but pretty shapes to him. All he really knew was that they were symbols in the witch’s script to imbue it with peculiar powers. One was so the blade would never break. The only evidence against this was a jagged line cutting at an angle across the blade. One was so the blade would know when danger was near. Faust had never seen it, but he heard tales on how the blade would hum the moment something wished harm on its user. One was so the user would never be alone. Some say that its user would whisper to the sword. Whether that meant that it was true or the woman before them was crazy, one could only guess.

“What seems to be the commotion?” she asked the open room. Her voice was low for a woman’s, but it flowed with a soft warmth.

Arlyn bowed before her. “Many apologies, my lady lord. It seems there was a bit of history between one of our members and your guard.” Even with his head bowed, Faust could feel the mischievous grin across his face.

With her question answered, the woman sized up the party before her. A gasp escaped when her eyes fell upon the youngest. “Faust. What has it been? Four, five years?”

Faust sighed and looked towards the floor. A smile full of regret passed for but a moment. “Six as Grr’okk seemed to like to remind me.”

The woman looked at the grouchy goblin, who had taken his place in between her feet and her guests. “You, sir, have been in a mood all day,” she announced to him and placed her hand between his torn ears. Pleasant shock hit the goblin as he attempted to stammer out an excuse, but the woman shushed him. She bent so their eyes would be even. Her emerald eyes  peered into his onyx ones. All the while she kept her hand on his head. With a mocking grin she laughed. It was as if water were bubbling over in a small creek. “You can stand down. I’m sure I could take all of these draalukini alone if need be. However, I’m sure your presence alone has caused them to fear me.”

Grr’okk would have blushed if a goblin could manage such a thing. The love for his lady was apparent. With armed strangers in his hall and an old nuisance mulling about, it was easy  to forgive his earlier transgressions, which he promptly asked if they would. That was followed by a spattering of agreements, which in turn was followed by introductions. Finally, the lady lord of monsters was the last to introduce herself.

“I, my newfound friends, am called Barûk. Some know me as the Goblin Princess or the Mouse Demon. I am sure you’ve heard me called many more names, but those are the ones I have grown fond of.” The party all bowed before her, and for a brief moment, Barûk looked unsure of herself. Quietly, she opened the door to her study. “Please, enter. You did not come this far to talk to me in the hallway.” She stood to the side to allow her guests entry. She followed after them, leaving Grr’okk outside of her door. One of his ears twitched as a draft exited the room as the door closed.