CHAPTER 5. THEFT ON A RAINY NIGHT

Dagul and Uruk were making their way to their camp, where an accomplice was waiting for them. He was a small, skinny goblin named Brakha. He seemed to have no strength in him at all, and it was honestly a wonder his thin legs hadn’t snapped yet. Next to Dagul and Uruk, he looked especially ridiculous. Still, Brakha had one virtue, and it was thanks to this virtue that he’d ended up in their company: he was excellent at handling riding rams. There seemed to be nothing special about this simple work, but the animals in his care were remarkably hardy and never fell ill. And right now, too, he was watching over three rams.
The two goblins returned to camp just as it was beginning to grow dark. At first Brakha was frightened by the green shapes calmly approaching him, but he soon recognized his accomplices.
Dagul ordered Brakha to light a fire.
Fire will scare off any forest creatures, he decided, so sleep will be calmer and sounder. And the rams will stay safe, too.
The animals mattered a great deal, since a long road lay ahead of them, and they needed to get home as quickly as possible.
Dagul wasn’t worried about the fire being spotted. He’d deliberately chosen a campsite well away from the forest’s edge. He had no wish to make such a foolish mistake again, the way he had the evening before, when some Bignoses gathering corn in a field had noticed them.
Before long the fire was blazing brightly, and Dagul and Uruk were eating hungrily. They were a little short-tempered just now, as goblins tend to be when they’ve gone too long without food. Because of this, Brakha didn’t dare ask why they’d come to the Bignose lands, or why they were now sneaking around every one of their goblinums. Like Uruk, he didn’t know the true purpose of the journey. The Warden had arranged it that way: Uruk and Brakha were only to learn everything once the anthills were found. And not just any anthills, of which there were plenty in the forest, but many anthills in one place.
Once their bellies were full, and after prudently waiting a while, the goblins decided to drink some skauti. Back in their own lands, little of this drink was made, so it was considered especially valuable. They had been overjoyed when the Warden gave them some to take on the journey.
Having enjoyed the skauti, Dagul decided to tell them why Warden Appo had sent them here. Uruk and Brakha listened with bated breath. To them, this was an initiation into the greatest secret the Warden himself had ever shared.
Brakha, in particular, was fascinated by the magical power of the ants. He didn’t let it show, though. After all, he was nothing more than the keeper of the riding rams, and no one thought of him as anything else. Because of that, it seemed unlikely even a single drop of the wondrous drink would ever come his way.
But the yearning to possess it had already taken hold of his whole frail body. Brakha decided he would get hold of some Ant Power, to prove he was no worse than the other goblins. Maybe then they would stop laughing at him and calling him a little runt. And maybe he’d even manage to leave his hateful, forgotten goblinum behind for good.
Still, all that would come later, if he managed to get the power. For now, Brakha simply listened.
“I never would have thought such wonders were hiding right under our feet in the Goblin Forest. So it turns out these ants are real magicians. Or maybe it’s some kind of sorcery, and their power is only good for them — and poison for us? I wouldn’t want to be the first one to try it. That’s all we’d need — to either die or turn into some kind of freak. Though we already look like a couple of green monsters as it is,” Uruk said, glancing at Brakha.
“Don’t worry. Our Warden knows what he’s doing,” Dagul answered.
“Then Ant Power will make us the strongest in the clan. No, more than that — the strongest in the whole goblin tribe. There’s nowhere else it exists, is there? We could move and live on these lands. I’m sick of the swamp stink anyway,” Uruk went on.
“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Uruk. Who are you to go deciding what’s done with Ant Power we haven’t even found yet? Maybe there isn’t any in these anthills at all. And what makes you think the Warden’s going to give it to you, of all goblins?” Dagul asked angrily.
Uruk grew embarrassed and fell silent. He was afraid of Dagul, because Dagul was stronger.
Silence fell, broken only by the crackling of the fire. There wasn’t a sound anywhere around, the way it is in the forest deep in the night.
“Time to sleep. Important work is waiting for us tomorrow. No sense dividing up what you don’t even have yet,” Dagul said, calmer now, and looked at Uruk.
“I understand,” Uruk answered quickly.
Seeing that Dagul had calmed down, he let out a relieved sigh and asked:
“Then why don’t we go there right now and dig around in the anthills? There’s still plenty of time before morning. We could be on our way home by the first rays of sun.”
Dagul had been thinking the very same thing himself. But now he was afraid to rush, in case they were spotted by someone again. If that happened and they were caught, they could forget about the anthills. Of course, they’d lie their way out of it somehow and go home. But then they’d have to explain themselves to the Warden and face his anger. Dagul didn’t even want to think about that, since the Warden’s anger might not stop at words.
“Better to wait until tomorrow. We’ll watch a while longer during the day, and go in the evening. We were already spotted yesterday, and I don’t think those Bignoses believed that story about the Road of the Four Clans. Any goblin knows that road. So let’s not rush. Besides, the rams need a good rest too. We’ll ride back fast. What do you say, Brakha?”
“It’s a long way. Let the rams rest a while longer. Then we’ll be able to ride fast, with hardly any stops. So you’ve decided rightly.”
“Good, then. Now let’s really get some sleep. Brakha, keep watch over the rams, so they don’t become someone’s prey. The fire’s burning, sure, but we still don’t know these parts. And remember: if you let even one ram out of your sight, you’ll be walking home. We won’t take you, and we won’t wait,” Dagul threatened.
“I’ll keep watch. Don’t worry about the rams. You can sleep easy,” Brakha answered, and sighed with resignation.
That night he wouldn’t shut his eyes at all, tired and sleepy as he was too. Brakha hated this insolent, arrogant goblin, but he was powerless against him and couldn’t talk back. Still, today a hope had come to him — that one day this would change.
The next day, Dagul and Uruk climbed the now-familiar trees again to continue watching the surroundings.
Uruk, remembering Dagul’s displeasure the day before, climbed very carefully. And he managed it: he didn’t fall, didn’t slip, and hardly a single branch bent under him.
Though right now he could have jumped from branch to branch for all it mattered. No one was working in the fields. Realizing there was no need to sit up in the trees, the goblins climbed down and went back to camp.
After sitting a while by the long-dead fire, they decided not to waste any more time, but to eat their fill and nap until evening. Dagul told Brakha to wake them when the sun began sinking toward the horizon.
The poor goblin wasn’t entirely sure just where, in Dagul’s opinion, the sun ought to be in the sky when it “began sinking toward the horizon.” But he didn’t dare ask, for fear of getting a smack for it. Now he was afraid of waking them either too early or too late.
He had to climb almost to the very top of a tree several times, just to see where that wretched sun had gotten to. He started waking the goblins when the fiery disk had nearly touched the forest. And by all appearances, he’d gotten it right, because all Dagul told him was to light the fire once it started getting dark. The goblins took their packs and left.
The would-be thieves quickly reached the edge of the forest, but it was still too early to go out. Dagul decided to climb a tree and take one more look around. As usual, he did it quickly, without lingering long up there. There was no one around.
Once he’d climbed down, he reminded Uruk, just to be safe, that what they needed to look for in the anthills were small, elongated, light-brown pouches, something like large caterpillars. That was how Ant Power looked in the drawing from the ancient manuscript the Warden had shown him.
It was starting to grow dark. The goblins carefully stepped out of the forest, crouched down, and looked closely all around them. Once they were sure there was no one nearby, they bent low and moved slowly toward the anthills.
Darkness quickly settled over the meadow and the fields. By the time the goblins reached the first anthills, it had grown completely dark.
Dagul thought the darkness had swallowed up not just the ground but the sky as well. Usually, by this hour, the first stars would already be out, and the Cold Sun would have appeared. He raised his head. The stars really were shining, but in the east the sky was completely black.
And suddenly, far off, Sky Light flashed, lighting up the clouds for a moment.
Rain is the last thing we need, Dagul thought, and told Uruk to light the candles.
Uruk took the sparking stones out of his pack, lit a bundle of dry grass he’d picked up along the way, and used this little torch to light two candles.
Each choosing an anthill, the goblins got down to work.
They tore them open very carefully, worried for their hands. After all, these were no ordinary ants living here, and who knew what they might be capable of in defense of their home.
So far, everything was quiet. The ants simply scurried around, as if they couldn’t tell who had disturbed them at such a late hour.
Dagul worked faster and had already reached the inner part of the anthill. He couldn’t dig any deeper — the loose earth had run out. Clearing away what soil still gave way, he waited with curiosity to see how the ants’ home was built inside. After all, he had never torn open an anthill before.
Before him opened up a level space full of tunnels leading down into the ground. The ants had already cleared them out and were now hurrying inside, dragging along what looked like either larvae or little sticks. The dim candlelight didn’t let him make them out properly. Dagul only noticed that the ants coming back out had nothing in their legs.
So they’ve got something like our cellars down there too. Right now they’re hiding everything valuable from uninvited guests, he thought.
Dagul went on carefully examining every clump of earth, hoping to find what he’d seen in the manuscript.
His attention was caught by a small mound right in the center of the anthill. There wasn’t a single tunnel in it.
“How did I not just scrape that away?” he muttered in surprise.
Dagul touched the mound with his fingers. To the touch, it was perfectly ordinary earth, only rather hard.
But what’s it doing in the middle of the anthill?
He struck the mound lightly. Nothing happened. So he struck it harder, and it caved in, revealing a small hollow.
Clearing it out, Dagul saw several neatly stacked light-brown pouches.
So this is where the ants keep their power.
There was no doubt left. What lay before him was exactly what he’d been looking for.
Just then Uruk’s excited voice rang out:
“Dagul, I think I found it. It looks a lot like what you described. Here, look.”
Uruk held up his find, bringing the candle close to it.
“You fool. That’s just a caterpillar. A perfectly ordinary dead green caterpillar. I told you light-brown pouches,” Dagul answered irritably.
He told Uruk where to look. Uruk quickly got his bearings, and before long he was holding in his hand the very thing they had come here for.
Now that the goblins knew where to look, and were no longer afraid of the ants, the work went faster. The weather was pushing them along, too. The air had noticeably grown colder, and fewer and fewer stars were showing in the sky. The clouds were about to bring rain.
Before long the first drops fell to the ground. At first a light rain fell for a long while, one that barely got in the way. Gradually it grew heavier, and in the end it put out the candles. It grew so dark that the goblins could hardly see each other even sitting side by side. Despite this, they kept searching for Ant Power, almost entirely by feel.
Meanwhile the ground was turning to mud and sticking to their hands. Finding the mounds was growing harder and harder. Uruk, though he didn’t complain outright, had already begun to grumble a little. Dagul finally decided it was time to stop. He was confident they’d gone through nearly every anthill, which meant the job could be considered done.
The goblins ran quickly toward the forest. Under the trees the rain was much less of a bother, and after that they walked on calmly.
“You little runt!” Dagul shouted furiously at Brakha, who was sitting by the nearly dead fire, trying to get it going again.
Dagul had been counting on the burning fire to serve as their landmark. In two days they hadn’t managed to properly learn the surrounding forest, and tonight, on top of that, they were coming back in the dark. But no matter how hard they peered into the darkness, they never spotted the fire. They’d had to wander among the trees for a long while, hoping to catch sight of some kind of sign.
Purely by chance, Dagul noticed a few red specks. At first he grew wary. But there was no choice anyway — solid darkness stood all around. Coming closer, the goblins made out the red specks as smoldering embers.
And now Dagul was truly angry. It never even occurred to him that the rain was what had put the fire out.
At first Brakha wanted to defend himself and say it wasn’t his fault. But seeing what kind of mood Dagul had come back in, he chose to stay silent.
While he worked hard blowing on the still-living embers, the rain stopped, and stars began to appear in the sky again. After a while, the fire came back to life. Brakha at once threw onto it the dry branches he’d kept sheltered from the rain. Almost right away the fire was leaping with long tongues of flame again and crackling loudly.
Everything around grew bright, and a pleasant warmth drifted from the fire.
Without any word between them, the goblins moved closer, wanting to warm up and dry off as quickly as they could. Even the rams began looking for a spot by the fire, as if they knew it would dry out their soaked, heavy wool. They were probably the only animals in the Goblin Forest that weren’t afraid of fire.
Brakha noticed this and stepped aside to make room for them. He loved his rams and tried to take care of them just as he took care of himself. All the more so since a hard journey home awaited them very soon.
Once the goblins had warmed up and eaten, Dagul reached into his pack and pulled out several pouches. Now he examined them closely, slowly rolling them in his palm and scratching at them lightly with a fingernail.
But the most important thing was on the inside. And the Warden had strictly forbidden opening the pouches, so that not a single drop of the magical liquid would be lost. Dagul would never have dared disobey the Warden. He feared him too much for that. That was probably exactly why he’d been chosen for this task.
After turning the pouches over in his hand a little more, Dagul put them back in his pack. Then he took Uruk’s pack as well. Uruk, of course, didn’t dare object, and only watched it go with his eyes.
The whole time, Brakha had been watching Dagul closely. Or rather, not Dagul himself, but the pouches of Ant Power.
Now he knew exactly what they looked like. How badly he wanted to possess them. After all, they were so close.
Maybe I should risk it, grab the pack, and run for the forest? It’s night now, and it would be easy enough to hide from these two. But what if they catch me after all? Then they’d kill me, and torture me first besides. I’m nobody to them, after all. No, no. Better not to rush. First I need to get home, think it all through properly, and then wait for the right moment, Brakha thought, narrowing his eyes.
He was standing almost in darkness behind the rams, so he knew no one would see his sly look. Not that anyone was looking at him just then, anyway. Uruk leaned against a tree with his eyes half closed, and Dagul was savoring his skauti. As for the rams, having apparently noticed that their wool had dried out completely, they no longer wanted to stand by the fire. They wandered off and began lazily searching the ground for something to eat.
Brakha, chilled through from the rain as well, took their place by the fire.
“Why don’t we count up the harvest we brought in? What do you say, Uruk? Can you count?” asked Dagul, in better spirits now.
Uruk opened his eyes and shook his head no.
“What, did you never go to the Lore-master at all?”
“I went. But not for long. Twice. I learned to count to five on sticks. But not to write. What good is that useless skill to me? I know five is not many, and we’ve definitely got more than that. But I never thought there’d come a time when I’d have to count past five. Actually, I’d never even counted to five before now,” Uruk admitted, a little embarrassed.
“So you’re a fool, then. Though you’re not the only one like that in our goblinum. And you?” Dagul turned to Brakha.
“I can count to a hundred. And add numbers together, too.”
At that, Uruk looked at him with envy.
“You’ve surprised me, little ram-keeper. And when did you find the time to study with the Lore-master?” Dagul asked.
“I never went to the Lore-master. I just wanted very badly to learn how to count. So I listened carefully to people who knew numbers, and then taught myself. On the rams. I’ve been around them since I was little, after all.”
“Well, if I’d been hanging around people who could count since I was little, I’d have learned easily too,” Uruk said, and sighed with relief.
“I’ve been hanging around rams since I was little, Uruk. That’s why our Warden sent me with you. Because no one takes care of them better than I do.”
Uruk lowered his head sullenly. He felt a little hurt, and even ashamed of himself. Right now he would gladly have given this chattering little runt a good smack across the face, just to shut him up. Because next it might come out that Brakha could write, too. And that would have been just too much for Uruk’s pride.
But he didn’t dare hit him. Dagul was sitting right there, and he wasn’t the least bit angry at Brakha just now.
Then again, Dagul really had no reason to be angry with him. Unlike Uruk, he knew how to count and could read and write. But it came as a surprise to him to learn that Brakha knew a thing or two as well. And he decided to test him.
“You know what? I’ll give you Uruk’s pack, and you’ll count how many pouches are in it. That way we’ll find out whether you lied or not. Just don’t you dare hide even one. Because then your head will come off that skinny neck of yours pretty fast.”
“Come now, Dagul. I swear, I’d never take what belongs to Warden Appo,” Brakha answered quickly.
But the thoughts in his head were something else entirely. A chance like this could not be let slip.
“Now go and gather some more branches. See, the fire’s already starting to die down, and it’s not lighting things up well anymore. We’ll need good light.”
Brakha went off into the darkness of the forest.
Uruk decided that now was just the moment to show he wasn’t as stupid as people thought. To do that, in his opinion, he needed to tell Dagul something interesting. And it seemed to him he’d found just the topic.
“Listen, Dagul, don’t you think today’s rain didn’t come by chance?”
“Why’s that?” Dagul asked, surprised.
“Well, look. We spent several days getting here, and there wasn’t any rain, not once. The weather here was fine too, right up until we got to the anthills. Then suddenly, this rain. It’s strange. Very strange.
Here’s what I’m thinking: maybe some kind of power was behind it. A very powerful one, at that. Stronger than Ant Power, stronger than anything. After all, today we were thieving. And thieving from goblins too, even if they do have big noses. So maybe it was the Supreme Rider who brought the rain?
Notice this: we left that place, and before long the rain stopped. And now the stars are already out again. As if someone wanted to stop us from doing what we were doing. I wouldn’t want to anger the Supreme Rider. Goblins say he can do a great deal. Save you, or destroy you. And if he’s got magical powers on top of that, and he suddenly strikes me blind, or deaf, or takes my mind away entirely…” Uruk said anxiously.
“Don’t worry, Uruk. That last one wouldn’t change much for you,” Dagul smirked. “If the Supreme Rider wanted to stop us, believe me, he would have stopped us. Today’s rain was just a coincidence. Besides, it washed all the green off us, and now we look like normal goblins again. So you’d do better to keep quiet than to talk nonsense.”
Dagul had finished his skauti a while ago, and his good mood was gradually fading away.
Meanwhile Brakha came back with an armful of branches, broke them up quickly, and threw them onto the fire. Everything around grew noticeably brighter, and he waited impatiently for Dagul to hand him the pack.
While gathering the branches, he’d decided he would definitely steal at least one pouch. It could be done quickly, and Dagul wouldn’t notice a thing. At home he would try the Ant Power and find out what it could do. Perhaps things would turn out quite differently from how he pictured them now. And only then would he think about what to do next.
“Forget the counting. I changed my mind. Better to just get some sleep,” Dagul said suddenly.
“But Dagul, you promised you’d give me Uruk’s pack. I really am good at counting. And fast, too. You’ll see, I won’t let you down. I’m sure you count fast yourself, so it won’t take long at all,” Brakha said, in a voice that was nearly pleading.
“We’re not counting anything. You’d do better to go check on the rams instead. You can count them while you’re at it,” Dagul answered with a crooked smile.
He’d caught himself in time and realized that some ram-keeper had no business knowing how many pouches of Ant Power they’d gotten hold of. And Warden Appo would hardly have liked that either.
There was nothing left for Brakha to do but obey. He turned and walked off toward the rams. And if anyone had happened to be beside him just then, they would have caught a barely audible whisper:
“Never mind. I’ll be patient. I’ll bear all the mockery. But I swear, once I get hold of Ant Power, and my body grows strong, you, Dagul, will be the first to feel the cold of my blade in your heart.”
Brakha didn’t linger long by the rams, and soon came back to the fire.
“Well, time to sleep. As soon as night starts to give way, we head home. First we’ll ride through the forest. Just to be safe, we’ll come out onto the Road of the Four Clans well away from here. We’ll cross the river by the Stone Bridge, and from there follow the bank to our goblinum. And don’t even think about coming near me. My sword’s always within reach,” Dagul warned, lying down on his cloak and holding the pack tightly against himself.
Before that, he had poured the contents of Uruk’s pack into his own.
“Almost forgot. Brakha, you’re keeping watch over the rams, as usual.”
The little goblin sighed heavily. A second sleepless night in a row awaited him. But this time, he had no wish to carry out Dagul’s order. Once both goblins had fallen asleep, he dozed off too, and in the morning woke before either of them.
The next day turned out sunny. As, indeed, did every other day on the way back. Well-rested, the rams carried their riders confidently. Just as Brakha had promised, the rests were short — only long enough to eat and water the animals.
The goblins crossed the river by the Stone Bridge, and then made their way safely through the Black Lands. That was the name given to the part of the forest ruled by the black wolves. The Black Lands were considered an unmarked border between the domains of the Bignoses and the Hermits. They stretched in a broad band from the river all the way to the northern edges of the forest. Goblins rarely lingered in these parts and usually tried to stay close to the river, since no one had ever seen black wolves near the water.
Even so, the present travelers had nothing to fear. They crossed the Black Lands with only one very brief stop. So the scent of the goblins and the rams didn’t have time to spread through the surrounding forest, and the local inhabitants had no chance to catch the scent of prey.
By the fourth day of travel, it had become clear the rams were breathing harder and harder. Even so, Dagul had no intention of stopping until he caught sight of his home goblinum. By his reckoning, it should have come into view very soon.
Brakha asked several times for at least a short rest. He felt sorry for the animals. He tried to explain that even the strongest and hardiest riding rams couldn’t bear so many days with almost no rest. But in answer, he got a solid smack across the face. After that he rode in silence, only glancing at the exhausted animals with sympathy now and then, as if asking their forgiveness.
By the end of the day, the forest came to an end. A valley opened up before the goblins, and dark specks appeared in the distance. As they rode closer, they made out houses among them. It was their long-awaited goblinum.
Dagul finally agreed to go on foot. The goblins climbed down off the rams. The exhausted animals, freed of their tiresome burden at last, let out a breath of relief. The rest of the way took longer than expected. The rams kept stopping every so often to rest a little. But by now that hardly mattered anymore. Home was very close.
Soon the familiar fields came into view. No one was working them, since it was already starting to grow dark. Only now did Dagul finally relax. All these days, the pack had never once left his hands. He hadn’t known what dangers might turn up along the way, but the journey had ended well, and now all his worries were behind him.
When they entered the goblinum, Dagul grew noticeably cheerful, and even praised Uruk and Brakha, which surprised them both quite a bit. All that remained for him now was to meet with Warden Appo and hand over the Ant Power. He hoped the Warden would value his efforts and draw him closer. And then whole new opportunities would open up before him.
Except Dagul didn’t yet know that they hadn’t managed to steal the Ant Power unnoticed after all. And very soon, unexpected guests would arrive in their goblinum.