The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle Page A

little overwhelmed by all the help she had received that night from goblins. There was something deeply wrong in these unnatural monsters rallying around her, if only because the most urgent help she needed was some means to escape them. It made it very hard for her to decide how to battle them when they kept rushing solicitously to her aid. It was beginning to make her feel rather ridiculous.
    Emily was feeling no such qualms. Tonight was without question the most thrilling evening she had ever had. Of course, she could understand Kate's outraged feelings about being a potentially captured bride--after all, who wanted to be a bride?--but goblin life obviously had its advantages. Pets, for instance. Even Seylin was allowed to have a cat, and for heaven's sake, he was one himself! And he could work magic, too. Emily felt a pang of envy. All she could do was embroidery. A lot of good that would do her if she ever had to open a locked door. Nor could she imagine people standing around marveling at a display of needlework.
    Considering her lack of magical abilities, Emily decided it was a good thing that the Lodge doors were never locked. Kate and Emily slipped inside and tiptoed up the stairs. Kate felt like lying down on her bed without even changing clothes, she was so tired, but instead she involved Emily in a whispered council of war. Emily told her what had happened while Kate was unconscious, and Kate told her about the goblin King's decision to bring things to a swift conclusion.
    "This is it, Em, I know it," she said urgently. "This is my last chance, and we have to make it work. We haven't tried to escape on foot. We might make it."
    Emily thought about this for a second. Then she sighed, thinking of her soft bed.
    "All right. Where are we going to go?" she asked gloomily.
    Kate shot her a swift look of gratitude. "I don't know yet. We'll just go as far away as we can. Maybe we can get off goblin land in one day if we start early."
    Emily looked extremely skeptical. "We can't even walk as far as Hollow Lake in one day," she pointed out, "and the goblin King said he stole his wife by the lakeshore."
    Kate shivered at the thought of the poor mad bride. "We'll go the other direction, away from the Hill, and we won't bring anything but a picnic basket so we can avoid attracting attention. Go tidy up, Em, and put on a clean dress. We can't walk down a country road with blood and dirt all down our fronts. But don't light a candle, or Seylin will call the others. And don't wake up Aunt Prim!"
    Emily slipped out, and Kate changed quickly, wadding up the old dress and stuffing it under her bed. Then she put on clean stockings and picked out another pair of shoes. She remembered losing one of her favorite pair in the woods. This was the second dress in a week, too, that she had destroyed in midnight scrambles. She surveyed the meager choices left in her wardrobe and sent bitter thoughts in Marak's direction. Then she splashed water into her washbowl and combed the blood out of her hair. By the light of the setting moon, she surveyed her uninjured forehead in the mirror. Try as she might, she could find no sign of the large wound Emily had described.
    Emily tiptoed back in, carrying her shoes. She made a face when she saw Kate.
    "Why are you wearing that nasty blue thing?" she wanted to know. "It's all faded, and the sash makes you look five years old."
    Kate felt that this was just the sort of comment calculated to undo her resolve. "I have far more serious things to consider than thecondition of my dress," she declared a little tragically. "I'm really beyond those sorts of petty concerns right now."
    "That's good," said Emily. Then she brightened. "I know. If the goblin King sees you looking like that, maybe he'll change his mind." Kate didn't see any reason to honor this with a reply. She grabbed her shoes and headed down to the kitchen. She pulled out a small wicker basket and piled some provisions into it.
    "Let's go," she