“I thought there were none left,” I said over the screeching.

Remy shrugged. “Not all gone. Nog live here many years. He stay away from most other People. They not like him.”

I rubbed my ears. “Gee, I wonder why. Is his name really Nog?” It seemed more fitting for a Disney character than a real life goblin.

“His real name too long to say in human tongue.”

“Oh. Nog it is then.”

Remy stepped past me and spoke to the goblin in what I assumed was Nog’s language. He gestured toward the goblin’s leg and then pointed at me, which only set the creature off again. Then Remy raised his voice, something I rarely heard him do, and spoke very forcefully. Watching the goblin suddenly calm down and glower at me sullenly, I was reminded of how Remy had talked to Fren that day in the old house. Very few could stand up to a determined troll.

“Come,” Remy said. I followed him cautiously, not wanting to upset Nog again. Remy pointed at the goblin’s leg and I saw blood around his calf. “He caught in trap. Little ones free him but his leg hurt.”

I gave Nog what I hoped was a comforting smile and knelt beside his legs. “I’ll need to touch his leg.”

Remy spoke to the goblin again and then said “Fix now.”

I reached out tentatively and pulled the pants leg up over the wounded leg. The cut wasn’t as bad as I had expected but there was a lot of swelling and I suspected the bone was broken. When I laid a hand gently across the swelling, Nog made a growling sound and bared his teeth at me. Of course he had to have a mouthful of needle sharp teeth.

“Is he going to bite me?”

“No,” was Remy’s response. I trusted him so I set to healing the goblin’s leg. The heat filled my hands and quickly found the fractured bone. I heard the creature gasp as my power did its work, fusing the bone together until it was whole again. Soon after, the swelling shrunk and the last of the heat seeped out of my hands.

I sank back on my heels. “All fixed,” I said and the younger trolls cheered.

“I knew you fix him,” Minka said, running over to give me a rib-crushing hug.

Remy spoke to Nog and the goblin got to his feet slowly, testing out the leg. He peered at me for a long moment then said something to me that I could not understand. I looked to Remy for help.

“He say you smell bad and now he smell bad like you for days.”

“Not big on gratitude, is he?” I retorted and Remy grinned. I turned back to the goblin who had already started walking away. “Next time you get caught in a trap I hope a bear eats you,” I called after him.

“Gobels not know how to say thank you,” Remy explained. “This just their way.”

I let him pull me to my feet. “It’s no wonder they almost went extinct.”

Remy chuckled. He ordered his little cousins to go home then we resumed our walk to my bike. We took our time so I could regain my energy. Strangely, I didn’t feel as drained as I normally did after mending a broken bone.

“So what is Nog’s story? Does he have family here?”

“No family. He like to live alone. Gobels not like other People much.”

“He seemed friendly enough with your cousins,” I said as we reached my bike where I’d hidden it behind some bushes.

Remy made a snorting sound. “Little ones think he funny. When they grow older they not like him so much.”

“Yeah, everything looks different when you grow up.” I strapped on my helmet and grabbed the bike’s handlebars to stand it up. “By the way, I’ve been keeping an ear out and no one’s mentioned the bile. I think we’re safe. But we should probably lay low for a while.”

“Okay. We wait some time before we make more trade.”

“We’ll have to wait a few months, maybe longer” I reminded him. For someone wise in so many ways, Remy knew very little about technology or the resourcefulness of humans. He did not understand that someone determined enough could track trade patterns in this area. I’d used the bile twice as currency and I always tried to be as vigilant as possible, trading only with Malloy. But there was no telling who was paying attention out there.

“You feel strong to ride?”

I wheeled my bike up to the road. “I’m fine. It’s only a few miles.”

The road was little more than a gravel path with grass pushing up in the center. A long time ago there used to be an old silver mine down this way but that closed up back in the forties. Now the only vehicles that came down here were the occasional ATV or dirt bike. There were a lot better trails out past the Knolls and up near the old lighthouse.

It was a rough ride until I reached the main road. I thought for the hundredth time that I really needed to get my license. Nate had a Honda Element that fit his wheelchair and he’d probably let me borrow it sometimes if I could drive. Roland was always offering to teach me, maybe it was time to take him up on it.

Once I hit the main road I moved to the shoulder to avoid the evening traffic. Halfway home a sleek black Ducati roared past me and the wind almost knocked me sideways. “Watch it!” I yelled at him as if he could hear me. For a moment, he started to slow down and all I could think was Oh crap! But he apparently changed his mind and kept going. Hanging around Jed’s I’d seen a lot of bikers and most of them were decent guys, but there were always a few troublemakers. The way my luck was going lately, I didn’t want to push it.

Needless to say, I was taken off guard when I reached the waterfront and saw a black Ducati sitting in front of the coffee shop next door to our building. It could have been a coincidence – there are lots of black motorcycles – but something told me that wasn’t the case. I considered cutting between the buildings to Market Street and going the long way around to our building, but I dismissed that idea. Eli had made me suspicious of strangers but I wasn’t a coward and I would not start acting like one now.