Chaleek and Jieun rode double so Candle-Eyes could ride ahead. They'd lashed Ryo to the back of Goda's mount and the big man gladly volunteered to run. While the battle had awakened a violent streak in Strider, none of the other animals seemed overly affected by the attack. Shin, on the other hand, had become hyper vigilant. Weapon in hand, he galloped up and down their column scrying the countryside for approaching danger.

Candle-Eyes had warned them against lighting too many torches with a reminder that torch light would pull the attention of creatures for miles. As such, they rode by moonlight for a few hours. As dark clouds rolled in to cut off their only illumination, Taeyang warned of approaching hoofbeats up ahead. Speaking an oath to Lord Jun, Shin rode off to meet whoever was coming. The others slowed their mounts.

"Here," Jieun whispered, passing Chaleek a pair of leather gloves from her pocket. "For your fingers."

"Thank you, sister." Chaleek chuckled and worked the first over his stone fingers. "I feel a bit silly calling you that now."

"I understand." Jieun leaned forward, resting her chin in his dreadlocks. "Yet I feel like I still need your protection, brother."

He patted the hand with her own stone digits. "I saw how you used sorcery to turn the troll's hide brittle. To have cast such a spell so quickly is no small feat. I can't help but wonder if your vulnerability is part of your act."

"Not with you," Jieun whispered.

Jieun heard the two horses coming just before they emerged from the darkness. With them came a sour odor. Candle-Eyes approached with a bundle under his arm, Shin beside him, scanning the night.

"Took you long enough," Rocio said.

Candle-Eyes tossed a heavy cloak at her before riding past and throwing Jieun a similar second cloak.

"I had to get the lay of the land before I led a bunch of northerners into town."

Chaleek picked up Jieun's cloak and sniffed it.

"These rags smell putrid."

"Good. They'll smell like they belong."

"Jieun isn't wearing this."

Jieun looked away so no one would see her blush at Chaleek taking charge of her care.

"She will if she knows what's good for her." Candle-Eyes caught the curious way Rocio watched him and sighed. "The Goblin King has put out a bounty for northern women. He's paying extra if they are clean and attractive."

Taeyang chuckled.

"The cloaks will mask your appearance and the stink will suffocate your scent." He steered his horse to the front of the group. "I've secured quiet passage into town, so let's hurry before the guard takes my silver and forgets our bargain."

Jieun and Rocio donned the stinking rags and the troupe followed Candle-Eyes down the dark road. Above, the moon hid itself behind a shawl of silver and gray clouds. Jieun took shallow breaths as they rode, trying to keep out the stink of her cloak, but it wasn't long until that little measure didn't matter. The air around them grew stale and thick. After a while, it seemed the smell of her cloak was better than the stink all around them. The horses' hooves clopped loudly across a stone bridge. Barely visible on either side, was a black river of bubbling filth. Taeyang retched and everyone nearly brought up their gorge.

They were stopped at the opposite end of the bridge by a towering bluish man with thin arms and legs. One ear was huge, the other tiny. Jieun had never seen a creature like him before and, if not for his brightly glowing yellow eyes, she would have wondered what he was. She might have marveled at how strange he appeared, but the stink of the bubbling river made it hard to think.

"Identify yourself," the thin goblin said, brandishing a broad-headed spear.

"Let us pass, you lout," Candle-Eyes growled.

"Identify yourself and speak the password, stranger."

"Stranger? I'll slit your–"

"Password." The tall goblin grinned.

"Rejoice! The Eternal Stench!"

The goblin rubbed his chin with fingers like spider legs. "That might be the password. I'm not sure..."

"It better be the password, you just gave it to me!"

The guard cackled. "Huh? I guess you're right then!"

The guard backed away and gestured for them to continue. A hundred paces from the bridge sprouted a collection of hovels carved out of stout mushrooms. Their sweet funk managed to mute the stink of the river. Jieun wanted to wash it all away with a swig from her waterskin but was afraid the stink would ruin the water. An old goblin picked his nose as he watched them from his yard. Candle-Eyes led them to the rear of a large mushroom building with its own stables. A wrinkled bright pink goblin woman with a beak for a nose waited for them at the stable entrance.

"Took you long enough," she grumbled, opening the stable doors.

Candle-Eyes hopped down and took his mount by the reins. "The bridge guard demanded a password."

"You should have given it to him."

"You took my silver to ensure he'd let us pass!"

"True..." She picked at something between her large blockish teeth. "I decided to keep the coin instead of bribing the guard. He's not too bright, figured you'd get past him easy enough. How'd you figure out the password?"

"I made one up."

Candle-Eyes shouldered past the woman and motioned for the others to follow. She studied them with her glowing eyes. Inside, Candle-Eyes lit a lantern, filling the space with a sickly green light.

"Made one up?" Rocio asked as she shoved Candle-Eyes into a pile of graying hay.

"As she said, he wasn't too bright."

"Now is not the time to play fast and loose, Candy."

"Relax. I know what I'm doing." He climbed out of the pile.

Jieun jumped down from the saddle and took the reins of Chaleek's horse so he could help Goda with Ryo. Taeyang fought with Strider, trying to force the huge bird into one of the stalls. Shin rushed over to the stable doors, but came up short as the pink goblin woman skipped inside. Smiling, she smoothed out her wrinkles and batted her eyes and ears at him.

"Hey, handsome. Do you rub feet?"

Shaking his head, Shin backed away.

A side door burst open and a fat pink goblin waddled into the room, his huge protruding belly button pierced by a thin bone needle.

"Northerners? I won't stand for any infestations in my—" His eyes settled on Candle-Eyes and his mouth gaped like a fish. "Pri... Prince Candelabra Isley Rain, I did not know you'd returned."

Everyone stopped what they were doing to gape like the fat goblin. Candle-Eyes managed to avoid everyone's gaze except Chaleek and Jieun. His eyes burned as he looked into theirs.

"My Prince, I—"

"Daddy, calm down," the wrinkled goblin said.

"Shut up, girl! Can't you see his highness standing in our stable? Show some respect!"

"Respect? I brought him here."

"Respect, Dublene! Respect!" The fat pink goblin looked around and began to frantically snatch tools off the wall. He offered Candle-Eyes an armful of weirdly shaped implements. "A tribute, my Prince."

"Enough!" Candle-Eyes snarled. "My friends need lodging and food. Let that be my tribute."

"Of course, of course! Dublene, come! We have to make space."

"But, Daddy-"

The fat man howled, snatched the woman by her ear, and dragged her kicking and biting through the side door.

Everyone stood in silence for a long time. Jieun's racing thoughts filled the void.

Prince Rain, son of Rain The Goblin King? Now that she thought of it, she saw a slight resemblance to the dancing monarch from her first dream. Is that why Candle-Eyes stared at me and Chaleek? Did he somehow know?

It was Goda who spoke first.

"Candy, can we take Ryo inside?"

"Of course." Candle-Eyes walked over to the unconscious brute and took a hold of their makeshift stretcher. "Come on, you louts."

"As you wish, my Prince," Taeyang said, imitating the fat goblin.

He and Rocio tittered then feigned sobriety under Candle-Eyes' baleful gaze.

"Keep your cloak up. A reward from the king is not something most goblins will turn down."

"This place stinks," Shin said, moving close to Jieun.

Candle-Eyes took a deep breath. "There's no place like home."

The pink goblins gave up their kitchen for Ryo. Clean water boiled in a huge cauldron and foodstuff littered the floor. Dublene offered to buy Ryo, but Goda vehemently refused. Taeyang and Rocio worked on the big man while his brother fretted. Candle-Eyes and the others were shown to a large room with a dozen hay piles. When Shin mumbled something about rats, Dublene's father offered to find some if it would please The Prince.

Once he was shooed away and the door was locked, Candle-Eyes kicked off his boots. Jieun threw back the hood of her stinking cloak and took a deep breath. It was exquisite.

She ventured over, biting her lip to keep from blurting out the myriad of questions buzzing around her head.

"So, you're royalty?"

He looked up at her for a long moment then his eyes flitted from her to Shin then Chaleek.

"From the smell of it, I'm not the only one." He bared his teeth in an expression too violent to be a grin. "It's a unique kind of stink, nobility. A lack of filth, a lack of struggle. It has a scent."

Chaleek joined them, but Shin sat on a stool by the door, his spear across his lap.

"Is that why you look at us the way you do?"

Candle-Eyes nodded. "The two of you have been lying from the moment we met. I've never trusted you."

"You're little more than talented bandits, how dare you judge us?" Chaleek retorted.

"You know what we are, we wear it on our sleeves. We don't hide it." He plucked the bottom of her tunic with a dexterous toe. "My mother liked to say, lies fold into lies. She understood northerners quite well."

"Was she... a northerner?" Jieun almost said human, but she'd noticed that none of the goblins seemed to use the term.

Candle-Eyes grumbled. "Half. My father was an adventurer from Ngun-Mwar. My grandfather is king of all he can hold!" He shouted the last and fell back against the hay. "That's why I left. Can't hold what you can't see."

"And now you're back." Jieun took Chaleek's hand and led him to the next pile where both took a seat.

"I intended to skirt the big towns and find the collectors holding the princess' treasure. Rob them or pay them and return rich. That was the plan... plans change." Again he focused his glowing eyes on the pair.

"This will make all of us rich," Jieun said, squeezing Chaleek's hand.

"If we avoid the king." He left the air pregnant as if there was more to be said.

"Speak up," Chaleek prodded. "You know more than you let on."

"The Labyrinth is my grandfather's pet project, a grand maze with an altar to the feral gods at its center. He's collecting northern women for his blood ritual. The place will be guarded by his best hobs and gremlin priests. We're going to have to fight our way in and out." He clicked his tongue. "And there's no guarantee Princess Durrumi is even alive."

"She's alive!" Jieun blurted.

"So you keep saying," he rubbed his chin, "and I'm inclined to believe you. If the king is trying to increase his power he'll need the blood of a living royal. He'd gladly keep a prisoner for two years for such an occasion."

"Does it have to be a woman?" Chaleek asked.

Jieun hadn't thought of that.

"No, but the old man is quite the pervert, and he loves to marry his blood sacrifices."

"This place is twisted," Shin commented from across the room.

Wood groaned and the room's single window swung inward, Dublene squeaked and ran off into the night. Candle-Eyes snarled and went to the door. Someone knocked as he reached for the knob. It was Rocio.

"He'll live, but he'll need to rest for a few days. If his skull wasn't so thick, those rocks might have killed him."

Candle-Eyes grabbed her wrist and yanked her into the room.

"Where is your cloak?" he hissed.

"I couldn't work on Ryo in that filthy thing." She yanked free and tripped him in the same motion. "You know better than to get rough with me without my permission."

"You can't be seen like this." he said from the floor.

"You don't trust these people?"

"Only as far as I can kick them."

"Then why'd you bring us here?" she growled, getting in his face.

"Circumstances gave me no choice," he growled back.

"Curse of a windless night..." She looked around the room. "We leave at first light."