It didn’t take her long to find the stature the glamour had talked about. She’d gone to bed early, so there were still plenty of people to ask about it. She had snuck out the window after checking her door was locked. It wasn’t a good look. If Abbigail found out, she’d be furious. She’d have a right to that fury as well. This was exactly what she’d told Ratface not to do.

  Yet the old knight’s fury wasn’t enough to stop her getting information about the lost children.

  A few questions later and she was standing in front of the backwards swimming fish. It wasn’t just a statue but a fountain. The way the water shimmered across the fish gave the impression that it was fighting against the current. She sat down in front of it and waited for time to pass. They hadn’t set a time, but she couldn’t imagine the glamour coming out until it was darker. In that way he was like a goblin. They were always safer when they were harder to see.

  The sun disappeared and eventually she was left under the moon. In this light the fish was more obvious. A faint sheen of magic surrounded it and was push the water around it back.

  An old man joined her. He stared at the fish with apparent amusement.

  “Not from around here, are you squire?” asked the old man. Ratface tilted her head at the titled.

  “Just an adventurer I’m afraid.”

  He chuckled. “Well, that gives you away too. Has anyone told you the story of this fish?” Ratface shook her head, and the old man stroked his beard. “It’s said that after Sofia’s town was destroyed by water serpents, she saw one little fish. It was fighting against the current sweeping her town away. It’s what made her choose water magic to be her focus, despite fighting masters of it.” He gestured around himself. “This city is her last work. A reminder that humans can defy even nature itself, if given the chance.”

  “It’s certainly impressive,” said Ratface.

  “That’s the interpretation anyway. Personally, I think it’s an eye sore. A reminder that for all her power, all she ended up doing was building a monument to her revenger.” The old man looked at the fish with resignation. Ratface sighed.

  “Did you bring me here just to play pretend? Because I’ll listen if it gets me the information.”

  The glamour turned to her with a smile. It was weird seeing him move like himself in the old man’s body. Uncanny.

  “What gave me away?”

  Ratface tapped her eyes. She’d been focused the entire time, and he burned with magic.

  “Thought I told you to be careful with that.”

  “Yeah, because I would take advice from you. What did you bring me here for?”

  “Got that core on you?” he asked.

  Ratface pulled it from her bag to show him. She hadn’t let it leave her side since she’d grabbed it. She stuffed it back in before he could get closer. The glamour started wading into the fountain and feeling around it.

  “This city may be an eyesore, but it’s a well designed one. The human cities each provide some part of their runic armour, but the most important part, the part that can’t be replicated is made here.”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “The core,” said Ratface.

  “The very same,” said the glamour. He felt under the fish and waved her over. “Of course there’s no way to get to their source. It’s blocked off from anyone entering. Unless you have a key.” He pulled the fish up and a complicated set of runes sat there. Ratface hesitated but pressed her core against it. The water around them swirled and once again she was falling into that cavern.

  This time they came out in a different set of pools. These ones had giant serpents swimming around surrounded by eggs. Ratface hissed. An entire set of creatures just turned into a farm. The glamour looked at her outrage and shrugged.

  “It beats being extinct.” He walked closer to one of the pools. “You know, I saw how you beat the test. Clever, but I wonder why you didn’t use magic?”

  “I can’t,” said Ratface. She practically hissed it through clenched teeth.

  “There’s a goblin-made glamour wandering around that tells us that isn’t true. You’ve used magic before. Remember the jellyfish?”

  Ratface couldn’t forget. She’d pulled that magic from the elf. She just couldn’t remember how she’d done it. The glamour rippled and turned back into his goblin self.

  “It’s easy really. A goblin trick I learned from one of you.” He stood at the edge of a pool and one of the mothers saw him. It twisted around its eggs defensively. He didn’t even spare it a glance.

  “All magic used to be goblins. All you have to remember is how to take it.”

  He walked into the water. He didn’t swim; the water just rippled around him. The mother reared up and screamed at him. He reached out in front of himself and gripped something. Ratface focused and could see he’d grabbed hold of the serpent. With a snarl he pulled, and the magic ripped out of the serpent and into him. The current in the water changed as it came under his control.

  The serpent wasn’t faring so well. It was still alive, but it was like something vital had been taken. Ratface was watching it waste away in real time.

  The glamour walked closer and grabbed five eggs. The mother tried to stop him, but it was so weak that he didn’t even notice her attempts. He walked out of the water with his eggs and surrounded them in water.

  The two of them didn’t talk as they left the cavern. Ratface could feel a pit in her stomach. She’d seen the trial takers fight the serpents for their cores but that had been before she’d talked to it. He’d just murdered it in front of her. She hadn’t known that was what he was going to do but she should’ve. Her hands trembled at her side. She wanted to hurt him. She could feel her body fighting against the fact he was a goblin. The idea she could even consider hurting a goblin made her feel sick.

  They arrived back outside, and the fountain closed behind them. Ratface shook in place.

  “You killed it,” she said.

  “I just took its mana. If they check it in time it might survive.” He didn’t sound concerned about whether they did or not.

  “You could’ve just asked her for the eggs.”

  “I don’t ask monsters. I take.”

  Ratface glared at him. He held her gaze for a moment before sighing and looking away.

  “Sometimes kid, you gotta do horrible things to help those you care about. You think you’ll get through these trials without compromising something for them? Just coz you’re not desperate now doesn’t mean you won’t be later.”

  Ratface hesitated. She wanted to say she wouldn’t but the conviction in his eyes made her falter. He nodded at that.

  “Well, a deal is a deal. I’ll give you the information you’re after. I’ll even help you use it if you keep helping me.”

  “As if I’d keep working with you.”

  He offered her a dreadful grin.

  “One of your goblins is in the Lady’s city.”

  She closed her eyes. Something like resignation flitting through her as he kept talking.

  “They’re stuck in a locked down part of the city. Something odd about them just like another goblin we know. Just so happens the thing I’m here for is in the same place.” He shrugged as he stuffed his stolen eggs in a bad that he materialised.

  “We want the same things. I’ll even prove it by offering you some help with your current trial. Go find the witch at the edge of the city. She’ll be able to make an armour you can use.” He started to walk off but paused and turned back.

  “You think what I did is awful but make no mistake, that trick I pulled is a goblin one. If you want to survive these trials, it’s one you’ll have to use as well.” He left after that, but Ratface didn’t really notice. She was still thinking about the water serpent mother he’d maimed. It was awful what he’d done.

  She didn’t know what she hated more; the fact that a part of her had already worked out the technique, or the fact it felt familiar.