Keelie glared at Knot. “You brought me all the way down here, for what?” Knot raced up to Hrok and Keelie followed.Well met, Hrok. Everything okay here?Hrok’s face pushed through the bark. Most certainly, Tree Shepherdess. How goes your faire? Have you met goblins there? We’ve seen them in their metal skin. The bhata have seen them too. Keelie’s blood chilled at the words “goblin” and “metal skin.” Armored goblins? Finch and the elves had been right. Yet Hrok didn’t seem concerned.Where have you seen these goblins? she asked.They came from Under-the-Hill. The bhata will show you.Keelie looked around nervously. The meadow seemed like an obvious location for an entrance to Under-the-Hill, but Keelie knew that the dark fae were wily. Several bhata appeared from their nearby hiding places. The dry sound of sticks rubbing together, along with the crackling whir of wings, surrounded her. She felt a tug on her hair and put her hand up carefully to feel for the creature. She’d become used to the bhata, but it was still strange to feel one in her hair.Her fingers touched something long and slender, shorter than a chopstick, followed by a fuzzy softness that she knew to be moss, which the bhata used to bind together their stick-and-berry bodies.
