Chapter 4

Chapter Four IN WHICH Everything Goes into the Fire As he crossed the highway, Jared tried not to jostle the deliberately loose knots that kept his hands bound behind his back. He marched behind a similarly bound Mallory and avoided looking up at the distant shadow of Byron and Simon flying overhead—their only means of escape if things were to go wrong and the quickest way out if things were to go right. Hogsqueal poked Jared with the tip of the dwarven

sword. "Hurry up, nose pickers." "Cut it out," Jared said, nearly stumbling. Thimbletack squirmed against the back of his neck. "We're not even inside yet, and that thing is sharp," Jared said. "Right," the hobgoblin snickered. "My bad, lump- meat." "Leave Jared alone, or I'm going to show you how to use a sword," Mallory hissed, then suddenly went still. The trees on that side of the highway were almost entirely leafless, blackened, and dead. The few remaining leaves hung from the branches like bats. The trees looked less real than the dwarves' ironwood trees. Just beyond, Jared could see the junkyard. The gate was rusted open, and the worn dirt path was overgrown with patches of dead weeds. A NO TRESPASSING sign was stuck in the ground at an odd angle. Old cars, tires, and other trash were stacked in haphazard piles that resembled swells of sand along a beach. And ahead Jared could see the palace clearly. Its spires gleamed with glass and tin in the full light of the sun.

Jared saw several goblins peering out of the rusted heap of a car. Two sniffed the air and a third began to bark. Then the goblins started to crawl from the vehicle. Each lifted a toadlike head and gnashed teeth of glass and bone. They carried dwarf-forged pikes and curved swords. "Say something," Jared whispered to Hogsqueal.

"You say you captured both?"

"I caught the humans," Hogsqueal called. "No thanks to you trash hounds!" A large goblin scuttled closer. His teeth were made of bottle glass, and they shimmered in the sunlight— brown, green, and clear. He was dressed in a ragged coat with tarnished buttons and a frayed tricornered hat. The hat in particular caught Jared's eye because it was dyed a strange ruddy brown. Flies buzzed close. "You say you captured both?" "Easily, O large Wormrat," Hogsqueal bragged. "There they were, the girl swinging around this sword right here—sharp, isn't it?—but I was too fast for them! I.." Wormrat eyed him, and the hobgoblin's words trailed off. "Okay," he started again. "They were sleeping and I—" The goblins began to bark loudly. Whether it was laughter or something else, Jared wasn't sure. "I still caught the scallywags! They're my prisoners," Hogsqueal said, raising Mallory's sword. It looked huge in his small hands and was wobbling slightly. Wormrat barked, and the tip of the sword drooped. Jared glanced upward to see if Simon and Byron were

nearby, but they were either well hidden or gone. Jared hoped for what seemed like the millionth time that Simon would be able to control the griffin. "We do what I say," said Wormrat. "Bring them!" Mallory and Jared were pushed and pulled through the junkyard by a barking mass of goblins. They had to be careful not to step on the jagged pieces of metal that stuck up from the dry dirt at odd angles. Whenever Mallory and Jared slowed, the goblins shoved them and poked them with weapons. Rust from the cars streaked Jared's jeans as he squeezed through the narrow passageways between them. Finally they were led into a clearing where a dozen more goblins were lazing around a fire. Smallish bones were scattered among the debris. Wormrat grunted and pointed toward a blue car close to the fire. "Tie the prisoners there." "We should take them to the Palace of Trash," Hogsqueal said, but he sounded halfhearted. "Quiet!" barked the big goblin. "I give commands." A grinning goblin used a coil of rusty wire to attach Jared and Mallory's tether to the car. As the goblin