Ophelia Skyfeather's Arc

Chapter 11 of 11

The trader came before the next moon. He led a young harpy on a short rope and asked for his price in the yard. Gruk Ironjaw looked her over once and paid without speaking. The goblins took her inside and fitted the collar. They walked her past the burn pile where the ash had long since been raked into the dirt. She did not know what had happened in the chamber she was being brought to. No one told her. The room had been swept and set in order, and the bedding was clean, and the corner where a nest had once stood was empty and waiting. Gruk stood in the hall and watched the new harpy pass. He said nothing to her. He told the goblin at his side that the eastern chief would come again by spring and the deal would hold. He turned back to the business of the day. Somewhere west, a clan of harpies argued over their own matters and did not think of the one they had driven out. In the yard the work went on. The story of Ophelia Skyfeather ended there, in a room that no longer knew her name, closed and finished, with the kingdom moving on without her.