"We made a deal to bring the foal here. They will leave in peace."

"Very well. Loft me down, then the foal."

"And me," Jenny Elf said.

"Now wait!" Nada protested. "Jenny shouldn't be made prisoner!"

"Che is my friend," Jenny said. "I want to be with him."

Godiva looked at Che. "This was not part of the deal."

"She is my friend," Che said. "I would much prefer to have her with me."

No one else looked particularly pleased, but they understood that the elf belonged to none of their parties, and could choose as she wished. "We'll have to let her go," Nada said at last, and Electra agreed.

"We'll have to take her," Godiva said grimly. "She did enable us to save the foal."

Goldy faced the elf. "Do you understand that once you enter our mountain, you may not be allowed to leave?"

"Yes," Jenny said. She was evidently quite nervous about the prospect, but she wasn't going to leave Che. "I'll bring Sammy too." She picked up her cat.

"Then so be it." Goldy signaled Godiva and abruptly was floating up, across, and down to the ground.

Then Che Centaur floated similarly down, followed by Jenny Elf and Sammy Cat. Then Moron, Idiot, and Imbecile.

After that Godiva threw the wand down to her mother, who caught it neatly and used it to loft Godiva herself down.

The party filed into Goblin Mountain, walking between lines of armed goblins.

"Oh, I don't like this!" Nada exclaimed, her eyes overflowing. She spoke for all of them.

Dolph backed away from the mountain, then slowly walked around it, proceeding on south. There was nothing else to do.

Chapter 9. Cheiron's Chaos

Chapter 9. Cheiron's Chaos

Cheiron walked along the rim of Mount Rushmost, ill at ease. The news Chex had brought was horrendously disturbing, but that was only the personal aspect. The political aspect was just about as bad. For he knew the moment he heard the news that this was no ordinary crime; Che would not have been abducted just by chance. No, this had the earmarks of goblin involvement, and that suggested that the war between the monsters of the land and the monsters of the air was about to be resumed.

It had started centuries before, even millennia before, when the goblins and the harpies had their falling out, because the harpy males were attracted by the goblin females' legs. Before it was done, the harpy males had almost disappeared, leaving the harpy females severely out of countenance, and the goblin males were as mean and ugly as the goblin females were nice and pretty. Their wars had involved their allies of land and air, and had contributed to the decline of civilization in Xanth.