The men hacked their way through the jungle, fighting
viciously for every foot of progress that they made. They’d run out of food the
day before, and unless they found a water source quickly, they wouldn’t make it
another two days. The rendezvous point, with its waiting helicopter, was a
three day walk north. Aiden lowered his machete, needing a moment to rest more
than he’d ever needed anything in his life. Looking around at his six
companions, men that he had been through so much with, he realized that he’d
lost any semblance of hope for their survival. He closed his eyes and felt
himself droop. “Captain, do you hear that?” Aiden opened his eyes, “Hear what?”
“It sounds like there’s a woman singing over there.” The men froze, no one even
breathed. After standing motionless for what felt like forever, Aiden heard it
off to the left of their position. It was definitely a woman, and she was
close. Feeling a renewed sense of purpose, Aiden began frantically hacking at
vines, making a beeline toward the mysterious song.
The trees and lush
undergrowth seemed to disappear from one step to the next, and the exhausted men
stumbled into a large clearing that was dominated by what appeared to be the
ruins of an ancient temple. Seven small and tidy thatched roof cottages
surrounded the imposing ruin. The singing woman had frozen at the edge of a small
pond, seeming surprised by the sudden appearance of sweaty, disheveled men. Hesitantly,
the woman began to step towards the group, smiling in welcome, and asking who
they were. Achingly weary, and swamped by a sense of relief that was so intense
that it was painful, Aiden didn’t think to question how the strange woman spoke
English. The beautiful woman, who introduced herself as Dakini, said that her
village would be happy to provide food, water, and shelter.
After bathing and
gorging themselves, Aiden and his men met with the other residents of the
village. There were seven of them, and they were all stunningly beautiful
women. “We were always a small village,” Dakini explained, “but a year ago all
of our husbands and children went missing. We never found what happened to
them. The village is rich in food, there is little work for us to do, but we
are lonely. We have prayed every night that we might find new husbands one day.
Please, get some rest and we will talk again tomorrow.” Alone with his men,
Aiden asked his men their thoughts about the woman’s tale. Conversation went
back and forth for several minutes, before coming to a consensus. Sam, the
oldest member of the group summed up the groups thoughts, “Captain, we’re
mercenaries. We have no family, no one that loves us, no friends except for
each other. Maybe we found this place for a reason. Maybe this is fate.” So,
the men determined to offer themselves as husbands to the most beautiful women
that they had ever seen. They settled into village life, and for several weeks
the men enjoyed the first sense of peace and happiness that any of them could
remember. However, Aiden could not shake off the feeling that something wasn’t
right in the village. One night, waking up from a nightmare that he couldn’t
quite remember, Aiden realized that he was alone in the cottage.
Slipping
quietly into the night’s darkness, he heard chanting coming from the ruins of
the temple. Flowing from shadow to shadow, he quietly made his way to the door
and slowly peaked inside. What he saw would be imprinted on his mind for the rest
of his life: seven hideous goblins,
wearing the clothes of the village women, feasting on the flesh of a spitted,
roasted man. Aiden stumbled back to his cottage, realizing that if he wanted to
save his men, he would have to act like nothing was wrong when his wife
returned. The next day, while the wives were off washing clothes in the stream,
Aiden gathered his men and told them what he saw. At first, several doubted
Aiden’s account. But, he was their captain. He had saved them all on many
occasions, and such trust is not easily broken. The men realized that they
would have to escape quickly before they became dinner themselves. Grabbing
what supplies they could carry, the seven men set off through the jungle,
headed north. Aiden and his men traveled through the jungle as quickly as they
could, constantly looking over their shoulders, terrified that the goblins would
find them. When they stumbled into the rendezvous point three hours later, they
were stunned speechless. It was far closer than they had thought, and the
helicopter was still waiting. Relieved, the men piled into the chopper as quickly
as they could, and told the pilot to take off immediately. As they lifted up
above the jungle, Aiden looked down into the upturned face of his goblin wife. His
men had survived, he had gotten them out safely, but he would forever have
nightmares about how close a call it had been.
Author's Note - I chose to do a variation of the jataka called
Goblin City. In the story, 500 shipwrecked sailors arrive on the goblin island of Ceylon, which was filled with female goblins. They marry the goblin women, not knowing that they are man eaters who marry men for a time, but then eat them after they grow bored. The captain discovers this ruse and tells his men. Some believe him and some don't. The ones who do escape with him thanks to the help of a fairy on a flying horse. The ones who don't stay and get eaten. I liked many of the ideas in this story, such as the goblins ability to create illusions. However, in mine I limited their illusion to their appearance. I also used fewer people, because I didn't want it to feel unwieldy. One of the most important changes that I made is that I didn't have any of the men disbelieve their captain. I didn't want anyone left behind to get eaten.
Bibliography - Goblin city from The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.
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