Chapter 6

Chapter Six IN WHICH Jared Is Forced to Make a Difficult Choice Let me OUT!" Hogsqueal yelled. Jared snapped into motion and cut through the last knot. Hogsqueal danced onto the branch, heedless of the goblins barking beneath him. They had begun to surround the tree. Jared looked around for some kind of weapon, but all he had was his little knife. Simon was breaking off more branches and Hogsqueal was running away, jumping from tree to tree like a

monkey. He and his brother were abandoned and trapped. If they tried to climb down, the goblins would be upon them. And somewhere down there, in the gloom, Mallory was alone and blind. Her only protection was the red of the sweatshirt she wore. "What about the animals in the cages?" Simon asked. "No time!" "Hey, mucky-pups!" Jared heard Hogsqueal shout. He looked in the direction of the voice, but Hogsqueal wasn't talking to them at all. He was dancing around the campfire and sticking a large strip of burnt cat meat in his mouth. "Ninnyhammers!" he yelled at the other goblins. "Pestleheads! Goobernuts! Jibbernolls! Fiddlewizzits!" He leaned back and urinated on the fire, making the flames blaze green. The goblins turned from the tree and headed right for Hogsqueal. "Move!" Jared said. "Now!"

Simon climbed down the tree as fast as he could, jumping once he was close enough. He fell to the ground with a soft thud. Jared landed beside him. Mallory hugged them both, but she didn't let go of her stick. "I heard the goblins get close, but I couldn't see a thing," she said. "Put this on." Jared held out the eyepiece to her. "You need it," she protested. "Now!" Jared said. Surprisingly Mallory buckled it on without another word. After it was on, she reached into her sweatshirt and gave Simon his shoe. They started moving into the woods, but Jared couldn't help looking back. Hogsqueal was surrounded like the griffin had been only moments before. They couldn't leave him like that. "Hey!" he called. "Over here!"

The goblins turned and, seeing the three children, started moving toward them. Jared, Mallory, and Simon started to run. "Are you crazy?" Mallory yelled. "He was helping us," Jared yelled back. He couldn't be sure she'd heard him since he was panting at the same time he was speaking. "Where are we going?" Simon shouted. "The stream," said Jared. He was thinking fast, faster than he'd ever thought in his life. The troll was their only chance. He was sure that it could stop ten goblins with no problem. What he wasn't sure of was how they could avoid it themselves. "We can't go this way," Mallory said. Jared ignored her. If only they could jump the stream, maybe that would be enough. The goblins wouldn't know there was a monster to avoid. The goblins were still far enough behind. They wouldn't see what was coming. Almost there. Jared could see the stream ahead, but they weren't to the ruined bridge yet.

Then Jared saw something that stopped him cold. The troll was out of the water. It stood at the edge of the bank, eyes and teeth gleaming in the moonlight. Even hunched over, Jared guessed that it was more than ten feet tall. "Luckyyyy meee," it said, reaching out a long arm in their direction. "Wait," said Jared. The creature moved toward them, a slow smile showing broken teeth. It definitely was not waiting. "Hear that?" Jared asked. "That's goblins. Ten fat goblins. That's a lot more than three skinny kids."

It stood at the edge of the bank.