When the goblins of the Licktoad tribe in Brinestump Marsh discovered that one of their own could write, they had no choice—they ran him out of town, tore down his hut, and burned all of his stuff. Writing, after all, is bad mojo, since it can steal words out of your head and thus snatch away your soul. Yet while even the exiled goblin’s name is now taboo (he’s known today only as “Scribbleface,” after the Licktoads branded some of his precious words onto his forehead and cheeks to punish him for breaking custom), the wonders the goblins found in his house were significant.
For Scribbleface had kept more secrets than his writing.
Before the rest of his belongings were claimed or burned, the Licktoad goblins found a large trunk that contained several items of interest. To the majority of the tribe, it was the cache of exotic fireworks in the trunk that was the most impressive, but to the leaders of the tribe, it was the intriguing map (one that, fortunately, contained no writing—only nice, safe drawings and dotted lines). This map showed the extent of Brinestump Marsh, including the route from the Licktoad village to an old shipwreck near the coastline that—according to the drawings on the map—contained many more crates of fireworks. How Scribbleface had come into possession of the fireworks, the map, and this knowledge in the first place was largely irrelevant to the goblins, for if the spot marked on the map were to indeed lead to more fireworks, the Licktoads would be unstoppable!
Or, if not unstoppable, at least they’d be more fireworkrich! Think of all the longshank houses they could burn down with a big supply of fireworks!
