They settled down by the warm fire, which was a pleasure. Nada did not fully trust the gobliness, but as long as Electra held the wand, and the goblins didn't know that Electra's charge was gone, perhaps it was all right. It was evident that Godiva had information they needed.

"We know little of her, and I will tell you what there is. But first I must explain our interest in the foal," Godiva said. "Have patience; I will make this brief, and I think the Golden Horde will not harm them until morning."

"I hope not!" Electra said.

"We are from Goblin Mountain in the east," Godiva said. "Some time back, an ogre passed by with an entourage of seven females. He was remarkably decent for his kind, and suspiciously unstupid, except with regard to women. One of the females was Goldy Goblin, daughter of Gorbage, chief of the North Slope Gap goblins. She was seeking to trap a husband in the approved fashion. The ogre managed to fathom the secret of the magic wand the tribe had stolen, and he gave it to Goldy, who then had power to snare the son of the chief. The ogre stomped on northward and was lost to history, but Goldy remained, and married, and the stork brought me. I am so named because of an obscure legend associated with hair and taxes; I need not bore you with that." Godiva tossed her hair, and they saw that she wore little or no clothing beneath it; the hair served as an effective cloak.

"In due course I snagged my own chief's son, who seemed to appreciate my costume," Godiva continued. "In due course the stork brought us Gwendolyn, who was as lovely and nice as any female child. But through a tragic mischance she was rendered lame, and can walk only with difficulty. Since I will not suffer my daughter to be humbled by circumstance, I determined to obtain a suitable steed for her to ride. Thus it was that I borrowed my mother's wand, and used a tunnel spell, and took the centaur foal."

"But Che's too young to ride!" Electra protested.

"He will grow," Godiva said. "Meanwhile, we shall tame him, so that he is safe for Gwendolyn. On such a steed, when she is grown, she should be able to achieve my hope for her, and our tradition will continue. Unfortunately our tunnel spell malfunctioned, and when we emerged we were not back at Goblin Mountain, but here on the wrong side of the Elements. That was the beginning of our problem."

"Murphy's curse!" Electra exclaimed. "It made the plot go wrong!"