\u201c…it wasn’t your imagination. The plains are thick with goblins, especially along those dark gullys and river bottoms where no man has travelled in a thousand years. The natives learned to avoid the areas and the white settlers soon after. There are goblins and ogres all along there. No trolls though, no trolls…\u201d<\/i>
\n— transcipt of a raving madman in Watertown, SD
\nI don\u2019t know how long I sat on the deck. The moon wasn\u2019t bright, and the lights were off in the house by the time I finally took notice of my surroundings again. I pushed myself to my feet and massaged the small of my, which was complaining about sixteen hours in a car. I hadn\u2019t slept since the night before last.
\nSomewhere during this musing, I realized I wasn\u2019t alone. I\u2019m not sure what gave me the hint, but when I turned the direction my intuition pointed, there was a shadow where there shouldn\u2019t have been in the treeline next to the house.
\n\u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d I said, glancing around the deck for some sort of weapon. Nothing. Would have been nice if there\u2019d been a big meat fork next to the grill at least.
\nThe voice that spoke was gutteral in a way that made me realize I\u2019d never truly understood the word. \u201cWe\u2019re not your enemy, Sean.\u201d The large not-supposed-to-be shadow split into two: one shorter than me and one… still much larger. The shorter one spoke again. \u201cWe\u2019re after the same things that took your father.\u201d
\n\u201cThings?\u201d
\n\u201cDirt-eaters.\u201d He sounded hungry when he said it. He sounded like he was smiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201c…it wasn’t your imagination. The plains are thick with goblins, especially along those dark gullys and river bottoms where no man has travelled in a thousand years. The natives learned to avoid the areas and the white settlers soon after. There are goblins and ogres all along there. No trolls though, no trolls…\u201d — transcipt … <\/p>\n