CHAPTER 16. THE WAY HOME AND UNEXPECTED ADVENTURES

When Nuk’s head stopped hurting and Vuk was no longer feeling sick, Mor scooped them up under his arms again and dashed onward. His legs still moved just as fast, and his arms held their heavy, at times even grumbling, burden firmly. Mor felt no tiredness at all. Every movement came surprisingly easily. What’s more, he wasn’t hungry in the least, even though they had last eaten two days before. Feeling wonderful, Mor meant to keep running until the power’s effect wore off.
But he had completely forgotten that Nuk and Vuk had no Ant Power. At the start of their flight, they hadn’t thought about food, because they had been very worried. Now, though, they asked more and more often to stop, if only to get something into their mouths. Mor felt sorry for his brothers. As it was, they dangled under his arms like two thin twigs in a strong wind. Toward evening, Mor stopped.
“Well, finally!” Vuk breathed out in relief. “I really thought we wouldn’t stop until we saw our own goblinum. But I’m afraid that by then, you’d already have had a dead Vuk under your arm. And who would that have been good for? That’s right — no one. So let’s eat calmly, get our strength back, and run on confidently.”
With those words, he made a show of collapsing to the ground.
“All that’s left is to find food and catch it with our bare hands,” Nuk remarked.
“I’m already willing to settle even for worms and caterpillars. What about you, Mor?” Vuk asked, after resting a little.
“Strangely enough, I’m not hungry at all. So all the worms and caterpillars are yours,” Mor said, smiling.
“This Ant Power really is amazing, after all,” Vuk said dreamily. “It gives you strength, and it satisfies your hunger, too. I hope someday I’ll get to try it myself. Not even for the strength — just to eat my fill.” He began scanning the ground closely for any living creature at all.
Nuk started feeling around on the ground too, peering under every leaf. But all they came across nearby were ants and tiny little beetles.
“So much for eating,” Vuk said sadly. “What kind of forest is this? Nothing edible. Whatever crawls is too small, and whatever’s big runs so fast I can’t catch it. And there’s no time to hunt right now, anyway. We’ll have to eat ants, if you can even call them food.”
“All right, wait for me here. I’ll go to the river. Maybe I’ll manage to catch something there,” Mor said, and quickly vanished among the trees.
The hungry brothers watched him go, their eyes full of hope.
The important thing is not to run into a snake. Even with the Ant Power, it won’t be easy to deal with one, Mor thought as he approached the bank.
Fortunately, there was no snake nearby. Though in the thick reeds, which had grown almost to the middle of the river, one could easily have hidden.
Mor walked right up to the tall green wall that rustled with every gust of wind, and looked around. The reeds stretched far to the right and left, as if guarding the river from curious eyes. There was nothing to be done. To reach the open water, he had to get through this living barrier.
Mor carefully stepped into the water and began making his way through the thicket. It turned out that farther from the shore, the reeds thinned out noticeably. So far, the water was only a little above his knee. It had had time to warm up nicely over the course of the day, and Mor now felt its soft warmth with pleasure. The rays of the setting sun lit the already-clear water all the way to the bottom. The goblin watched with interest as schools of small, shiny fish scattered at the slightest disturbance in the water, only to gather together again a moment later.
A little farther on, Mor noticed a large, potbellied fish lazily grazing on the weeds.
“There’s dinner,” he muttered, pleased. “I won’t even have to go far.”
Now the important thing was to sneak up on it unnoticed. Carefully placing one foot after another and trying not to stir up the mud from the bottom, Mor slowly approached his prey. A few more steps, and he’d be able to make the final lunge.
He had already gotten ready, but at that moment he noticed another fish nearby. It was bigger than the first, with an elongated body and sharp teeth in its half-open mouth. The fish barely moved, but Mor understood that the predator had already picked its target.
Before he could decide what to do next, the fish shot forward and sank its teeth into the round belly of its victim. The goblin let out a frustrated breath, but he still had no intention of giving up. Stepping forward quickly, he plunged his hands into the water and grabbed both fish firmly by the tails. They hadn’t even had time to understand what had happened before they were already at the surface. Startled, the predator unclenched its jaws and let go of its prey.
“Now that’s a catch!” Mor exclaimed happily, lifting the fish higher.
Pleased with his luck, he was about to head for the shore when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg. Looking down, Mor saw another predator just like it, its teeth sunk deep into his leg. The fish thrashed its head furiously, trying to tear off a chunk of goblin flesh.
Mor tried to lift his leg, but he nearly lost his balance and nearly fell into the water. He had no free hands. Of course, he could have freed one hand and easily dealt with his tormentor. But right now Mor was holding his catch, and like a true hunter, he had no intention of just letting it go. Meanwhile, the water around him was quickly turning red with blood. Something had to be done, and fast.
Mor decided to get to shore and deal with the insolent predator there. Ignoring the pain, he started walking. The fish, for its part, had no intention of letting go of its catch either.
After a few steps, Mor suddenly felt a strong blow to his other leg. He glanced quickly into the water and saw another toothy fish. It was turning rapidly toward the goblin. It wasn’t hard to guess that its first strike had missed, and now it meant to try again.
Mor was almost running through the water now, paying no attention to the pain. Glancing back, he saw there were now two predators.
Well, now there are more and more of them. If they catch up with me, I’ll be the one who ends up as food here! Mor thought angrily, and pushed off the bottom with all his strength to land on the shore in a single leap.
He never did figure out what had helped him — the Ant Power or fear — but he managed to fly over the reeds and land on dry ground. Two fish still remained in his hands, but the third one was no longer there. It had unclenched its jaws already at the start of the leap and vanished into the reeds, apparently unwilling to leave the water.
Feeling solid ground under his feet and no longer feeling teeth in his leg, Mor breathed out in relief and looked back at the river. Right at the water’s edge, he saw three predators. They had chased him right to the end, but beyond that was not their element. The fish stared at the goblin, opening their mouths again and again and baring their long, sharp teeth. Probably realizing that their big prey wasn’t going to go back into the water, they turned and swam slowly away. Mor watched them go, and, limping, headed back into the forest.
Meanwhile, Vuk and Nuk had completely lost hope of finding anything edible at all, anything they could actually sink their teeth into. So they kept their eyes fixed on the spot where Mor had run off to. As soon as his figure appeared flickering between the trees, carrying something large in his hands, the brothers immediately rushed to meet him.
“Now that’s a catch! And you handled it so fast! No, the Ant Power really is an amazing thing, after all. Not only are you strong as a bear and run like a moose, but it looks like you swim better than any fish, too,” Vuk kept marveling, eyeing the long-awaited food.
“It’s not all that great. Better take a look at my leg. Turns out this river isn’t home only to creatures that eat weeds and worms. I barely made it out of there with my legs still attached. I could have left them there for good. At least I managed to hold on to the fish,” Mor answered, and for the first time took a careful look at his wound. It turned out to be serious. The sharp teeth had left deep holes that were still bleeding. He handed the fish to his brothers and, at last, was able to sit down, leaning against a tree.
“Wow… What kind of fish was that? Maybe we should put some sort of leaf on the wound?” Nuk suggested, a little frightened by what he saw.
“No need. It’ll heal. I think the Ant Power will help with this too. You two eat. Get your strength back. We still have a long way to go,” Mor answered wearily.
“So it turns out everyone’s taken a beating on this trip. First Nuk, now you. And me most of all, really. The bump on my forehead only just finally went away, and my stomach and sides are still burning. Listen, Mor, maybe we should spend the night here? Your leg will heal up a bit, and it’ll be easier for you to run,” Vuk suggested, feeling a little guilty. After all, Mor had gotten hurt getting food just for them.
Mor agreed. For now, he still couldn’t even walk properly, let alone run. He still didn’t feel like eating, so each brother got a whole fish. Nuk chose the toothy one, and Vuk the potbellied one. For some reason, that choice didn’t surprise Mor at all. The famished goblins, without any knives, quickly gutted their catch and began eagerly devouring it. Soon, all that remained of the two fish was one toothy mouth and a pair of spines. Everything else rested peacefully in goblin stomachs.
“Thank you, Mor. This is the best dinner of my life,” Nuk said sincerely, wanting to cheer up his friend.
“That’s for sure. After two days of starving, I couldn’t even have dreamed of food like this,” Vuk agreed.
After finishing their meal, the goblins settled onto their cloaks and kept talking. Before, they had hardly used them at all. But now the cloaks had taken on special value. Nuk laughed as he recalled the first day of their journey and the boiled partridge with feathers. Vuk brought up the snake again, and even envied its remarkable appetite. Mor brought up the damp cellar with the centipedes, and admitted how anxious he had been that someone might notice the Ant Power hidden in his cloak.
Night fell. There was less and less talk, and soon it stopped altogether. Sleep came quickly to Vuk and Nuk. Mor, though, kept sitting under the tree. Whether because of the pain in his leg or because of the Ant Power’s effect, he didn’t feel like sleeping at all. He was thinking about what Warden Appo would do once he found out the prisoners had disappeared.
He’ll be in a hurry. He may have already set out to seize our goblinum, while they’re not expecting us there yet. With the Ant Power, he’ll get there very quickly and catch everyone off guard. I need to get home as soon as possible and manage to prepare, even a little, Mor thought.
With these thoughts, he sat under the tree for a long while yet. All around, it was silent. In this spot, the forest turned out to be especially dense, and the darkness almost completely hid everything around him. Only here and there did narrow rays of the Cold Sun break through the foliage and reach the ground, keeping the gloom from taking complete hold of the forest around him. Right now, Mor himself was like just such a ray of light. He, too, was trying not to let the darkness become mistress of the Goblin Forest.
The pain in his leg gradually eased. His thoughts grew calmer and calmer. A little more time passed, and, without even realizing it himself, Mor sank into sleep.
Morning began with a wild scream. Mor and Nuk jumped up and saw Vuk’s frightened face, his eyes fixed on his own leg. A rat was sitting on it, gnawing at a goblin toe. Or rather, it was only just starting to gnaw, because Vuk had woken up at the very first bite.
Looking around, Mor quickly understood where it had come from. The thing was, Nuk and Vuk, like all normal goblins, paid almost no attention to keeping things tidy around them. Just yesterday, after gutting the fish, they had quite calmly tossed the guts right nearby. Apparently, having caught the scent, a whole family of forest rats had come here. Right now, two big rats and three little ones had surrounded the fish innards and were eating them with relish. Another small rat sat on Vuk’s leg — probably the most curious one in the whole family. Wrapping its paws around his toe, it was trying to taste this never-before-seen creature.
The goblins knew these forest dwellers well. Forest rats were different from the ones that lived near the goblinums. They were somewhat larger, had long, thick fur, and gripping claws that let them climb trees quickly. They molted twice a year: as warmth arrived, their fur took on a green tint, and with the onset of cold it turned brown. Their tail looked unusual, because it had a fluffy tuft of fur at the tip. The rats liked to use it as a soft little pillow when they settled down to sleep.
Forest rats loved fish very much. And all of it, down to the last bit — guts included. Catching it themselves, of course, they couldn’t. But they gladly ate sick, dead, or beached fish. The stronger it smelled, the more rats gathered from the surrounding area. And right now, they were happily devouring the fish guts, but to Vuk’s misfortune, one of them decided to try something new.
Feeling some kind of movement on his leg, he opened his eyes and, through a sleepy haze, saw a green blob with a tail. At first it seemed to him that this was some kind of tailed toad. Then he remembered that toads don’t have tails. And when he felt teeth on his toe, he finally understood his mistake.
Now Vuk carefully reached for the rat. It sat with its back to him, noticing nothing, diligently trying to gnaw through his nail. At last, Vuk reached it and swung his hand sharply. The rat rolled across the ground, squeaking loudly in surprise, and hit a tree.
At the familiar squeak, the two big rats immediately raised their heads.
“That’s the papa and the mama, and the rest are their children,” Mor guessed, not moving from where he stood, watching what was happening with interest. Nuk, for the time being, was doing the very same thing.
The big rats quickly figured out who had hurt their baby and now studied him closely, gauging the size of their future victim.
Meanwhile, Vuk got to his feet and glanced warily now at the big rats, now at the little lover of goblin toes.
Apparently, the decision had already been made. Both big rats rushed at him swiftly and leapt onto his legs, digging their claws in firmly. The poor goblin howled in pain and began stamping his feet desperately. The rats bit his knees so fast that he couldn’t even tell where it hurt worse. Vuk waved his arms, trying to knock them off, but the little creatures dodged nimbly, and even if a blow sent one flying, it immediately pounced right back. Nuk could no longer calmly watch the torment of his brother’s knees, and hurried to help. But the moment he shook off one rat, all four small rats instantly rushed at his legs. Now it was the children defending their parents.
Well, they’re a close family, Mor thought, for some reason.
He touched his wound. His leg barely hurt anymore and had visibly closed up. This didn’t surprise him in the least. Though now, Mor was doubting more and more often that the ants alone had created such a power. It seemed too magical. As if someone with something more than strength had had a hand in its creation.
Mor could see that Vuk and Nuk couldn’t manage on their own. He ran over and helped them get rid of the rats. Then he quickly scooped up both goblins under his arms and took off running.
The rats were so absorbed in their victims that they paid no attention at all to the third goblin. So they were briefly thrown off when they started getting flung in different directions. That confusion turned out to be enough. Within a few moments, Mor had already disappeared behind the trees.
After spinning around in place for a bit, the rats went back to the fish guts and calmly resumed their feast.
“It seems those beasts aren’t chasing us,” Vuk said, once they had already run quite far from the site of goblin suffering.
Mor was in such a hurry to get away that he’d grabbed Nuk head-first, and Vuk, by contrast, feet-first. So the whole time, he’d been forced to keep watching to see whether the rats had given chase. Just in case, after running a little farther, Mor stopped and set the goblins down on the ground.
“Check yourselves over, and we’ll run on. We need to hurry. By evening, my power will be gone.”
The brothers began examining their wounds. There turned out to be many. They hurt, of course, but fortunately, the rats hadn’t managed to do anything serious.
Nevertheless, that didn’t stop Vuk from complaining in the least:
“No, just look at me! I’m torn up from my heels to my forehead. By now, there isn’t a single spot on me left unhurt. And my legs are downright gushing blood!”
“Calm down, Vuk. They’re just rat bites. By the way, my legs don’t look any better, but for some reason, I’m not complaining,” Nuk remarked, showing off his own legs, just as bloody.
“I don’t know how your legs feel to you, but mine are very dear to me. I actually walk on them, you know. And if Mor hadn’t torn us from the paws of those forest bandits, there’s no telling how it would have ended. You got off easy, at least. It was the little ones that attacked you. But I was tormented by two enormous monsters. Did you see their teeth? No? Well, I did. And I felt them very well in my poor knees. If forest rats start gathering into gangs like that, it’ll soon become dangerous to walk through our forest.”
“That’s no gang at all,” Mor objected. “It’s a family. Papa, mama, and four little ones. They were just protecting each other. Though if you don’t get away from a family like that in time, things really could end badly. So it’s better to steer clear of them.”
Mor understood perfectly well that without the Ant Power, it was still unclear whether they would have managed to get away or not.
“Yeah, you’re right. By the way, what are their papa and mama even called? For example, with us it’s all clear. Papa’s a goblin, mama’s a gobliness. I’m a goblin, so someday I’ll become a papa. And you too, probably,” Vuk looked at his brother. “Bears have a bear and a she-bear, wolves have a wolf and a she-wolf. But we just call all of these rats. So does that mean their papa is a rat, and their mama is a rat too?”
For some reason, this particular question interested Vuk a great deal right now.
“I don’t know about forest rats,” Mor answered. “But I do know what humans call themselves. My grandmother told me. For them, it’s man and woman. Only which one is the papa and which is the mama, I don’t remember anymore.”
“Well, there you go. Your grandmother told you so many interesting things. But our father only ever talks about sheep and caterpillars. Though he did teach me to fish, after all,” Nuk remarked with pride.
“What funny names these humans came up with for themselves,” Vuk said with conviction. “You can tell right away they’re not dwellers of our forest, and have nothing to do with us at all.”
“Maybe they do. Haven’t you heard the ancient legend that says goblins descended from humans?” Mor asked.
“Some legend that is! So what, does that mean I was once a woman? Or a man? Which one’s which? Who cares, anyway! I don’t believe it no matter what. Me, a cultured goblin who can talk and lives in a stone house, descended from some humans? That’s the same as saying snakes descended from worms.”
“It’s only a legend. What in it is true and what isn’t, I don’t know,” Mor answered calmly.
“But humans can talk too, you know,” Nuk remarked. “I’ve heard that goblins even used to talk with them, back in the day. And humans have stone houses too. Maybe theirs are even better than ours by now. What do you say to that?”
“I’ll say that humans descended from goblins, then. That’s what I’ll say. And I’ll never believe it was the other way around,” Vuk declared stubbornly.
“All right, that’s enough arguing. It doesn’t matter right now who descended from whom. It’s time for us to get moving. There’s not much time left, and the Black Lands lie ahead,” Mor said.
The brothers came to him obediently. Already used to it by now, he scooped them up under his arms and ran off.
Toward evening, Mor felt a slight tiredness — the Ant Power’s effect was wearing off. He kept running, but his arms were quickly growing weak. So as not to drop his already battered burden, he had to stop.
“Well, that’s that. The Ant Power’s barely working anymore,” Mor said with annoyance.
“Did you only have one pouch?” Vuk asked.
“Yes.”
“Too bad. We could have kept running without stopping for a long while yet. I’ve already gotten used to jostling around under your arm, and I hardly feel sick anymore. You know, Mor, the day I drink the Ant Power, I’ll put you on my back, and we’ll run wherever you say. Even to the mountains. And even trolls won’t scare us. The Ant Power will help me deal with them, won’t it? Well, at least with one?” Vuk asked hopefully.
“With one, it probably will help. But don’t forget that trolls are much bigger and stronger than us. So it’s not enough just to have strength. You also need to be a good warrior,” Mor answered.
“Then we won’t run to the mountains. We’ll travel through the forest instead. Though even here, there are places better left unvisited.”
Vuk rubbed his forehead, and then his legs.
“Listen, now it’ll be hard for us to get food, you know. Good food, anyway. I have a feeling we’ll have to look for worms and caterpillars again. I hope they’re around here,” Nuk said, already scanning the ground beneath his feet.
Suddenly, Vuk froze in place and pointed ahead.
“Look! Now that’s a tree! It must reach all the way up to the clouds! And even ten goblins wouldn’t be enough to wrap their arms around it!”
An enormous tree truly did tower before them. Its top was impossible to make out. It seemed to be hidden somewhere above the clouds. Mor and Nuk stopped and gazed at the green giant with the same wonder.
“Even its smallest branch is the size of an ordinary tree, and its leaves are like our cloaks,” Vuk kept marveling. “Have you ever seen anything like this in our forest? Or have we already wandered into some other one?”
“This is most likely a Watchtower Tree,” Mor answered. “That’s what our ancestors called the biggest trees in the Goblin Forest. There aren’t many of them, and they grow closer to the edges. It’s strange that this one grew here. Goblins used to climb them once, to survey the surrounding area. Especially in the times when there were many trolls around. They say that from the top, you can see the edge of the world.”
Mor remembered the Lore-master’s story and smiled despite himself.
“Right! I’ve heard something about trees like that too,” Nuk perked up. “I just didn’t believe it. I thought they were just made up.”
“And what did you hear?” Vuk asked, intrigued.
“That each such tree is like a separate forest. It has its own inhabitants living on it, who are born there and die there too. For them, the tree is an entire world. And they also say that climbing up is easy, but not everyone manages to climb back down.”
“Why? Do the branches come alive and grab curious goblins?” Vuk smirked.
“No. It’s just that its inhabitants are very big and very voracious. Only who they are, I don’t know.”
“Then we’d better walk on past. I wouldn’t want to become prey to some giant mosquito. It’d drink all my blood. I don’t know what I need it for, of course, but I suppose I need it, since I have it. We’ll find caterpillars for dinner somewhere else.”
“Look over there first,” Mor said quietly, and carefully pointed with his hand.
It was already getting dark in the forest. At first, he couldn’t tell exactly what he was seeing. Something dark and motionless stood near a fir tree. Mor was about to move closer, but the shapes stirred and slowly started toward them.
A few moments later, the goblins clearly saw five black wolves watching them intently. Suddenly, a long howl sounded from the right. Almost at once, it was answered from the left. The goblins looked around in fright and saw even more wolves. The predators had already managed to come close enough. Now they sat on their hind legs, softly howling.
“Why are they howling? Maybe they’re just chasing us off their territory?” Vuk asked, hope in his voice.
“Yeah, keep dreaming. They’re calling the rest of the pack. They can tell there’ll be enough prey for everyone,” Nuk answered.
“Such clever animals,” Mor remarked, unexpectedly calm. “While we were admiring the tree and chatting, they crept up quietly, surrounded us, and now they’re not hiding anymore.”
“This is all because of you and your stories about some special tree-dwellers!” Vuk burst out at once. “If you’d kept quiet, I’d have been looking around out of boredom and noticed these lovers of fresh meat much sooner. And I want to remind you, these aren’t rats. We won’t get off with just some bitten legs this time.”
“So it’s my fault? You asked me to tell you! And you’re the one who made up the giant mosquito. I was just repeating what I’d heard!” Nuk protested.
“Enough arguing!” Mor cut them off sharply. “We’re climbing the tree, before it’s too late. We’ll find out what creatures live on it there. It’s a good thing the first branches start low. We should be able to jump up to them. The wolves won’t give us a second chance.”
“Maybe we should still try to run, though? At least to another tree?” Vuk asked, resigned. “I don’t want all my blood going to some huge wooden mosquito. Its needle would go right through me.”
“What wooden mosquito?” Nuk asked irritably.
“What other kind would it be? It lives on the tree. So it’s a wooden one,” Vuk answered unruffled, and looked at Mor.
“Vuk, you can see for yourself that we’re surrounded. We won’t make it to the other trees in time now. If I still had the Ant Power, that would be different. But I don’t. So if we want to survive, there’s only one way — up the Watchtower Tree. Run!”
Mor shouted the last word so loudly that the wolves faltered for a moment.
The goblins dashed for the tree and began grabbing at the branches. They made it in time. Wolf jaws snapped loudly, very close to their dangling legs. But a moment later, all three were already climbing higher.
“Phew… saved,” Vuk breathed out. It would have seemed that it should have been hardest for him of all of them. But now his laziness had vanished, and his agility, by contrast, came into its own. So he’d shot up the tree almost faster than anyone, completely forgetting about his bitten legs.
“It’s too soon for us to celebrate,” Mor said grimly, looking down. “The wolves won’t leave quickly. We’re too appetizing a catch for them. Looks like we’ll have to spend the night in the tree.”