The Daughters Daring (The Daughters Daring & The Enchanted Forest Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

the end of her staff. Elizabeth aimed her bow into the mouth of the cave, her arrow ready.
         “Liz,” said Emily, her voice tight. “We don't want to kill them!”
         “I know that,” answered Elizabeth, somewhat breathless. “I'm using the safety arrows Father gave me. Wooden tip, see? It won't harm them, but it will hurt!”
         Seconds later, the first of the small creatures emerged from the cave, but instead of gnomes they were goblins! They were small, like gnomes, standing about as tall as Elizabeth. Their skin had a green hue, and their eyes were beady black. Some of them carried crude weapons made of sharp rocks bound to wooden handles. Others carried daggers or sharpened sticks. All of them seemed menacing.
         Goblins naturally tried to avoid sunlight, so they wore hooded cloaks to give cover from the sun. The light of the forest disoriented them as they first exited the cave, but one soon spotted the girls and screamed at them.
         Whoooosh! Elizabeth's arrow hit the goblin square in the forehead, its blunt tip knocking the creature senseless.
         Whack! A rock from Emily's staff sent another goblin to its knees.
         The girls continued hurling missiles at the small, green creatures, but now the goblins knew where their enemy was, and moved to surround them. Emily grabbed Elizabeth and was ready to retreat, when the sound of a new commotion arose behind them.
         “Gnomes!” Emily shouted as she looked back.
         A large group of actual gnomes had arrived and were moving to outflank the goblins. Several gnomes quickly set up a strange contraption while others guarded them. It was a square platform with a seat in the middle, a hand crank attached to gears and pulleys, several poles with what looked like cups on the end, and on the platform, a basket of rocks.
         When the contraption was finished, one of the gnomes took his place in the seat and started the hand crank, while others loaded rocks into the pole cups. He yelled, “Firing!” Almost immediately, rocks the size of goose eggs started rapidly hurling at the goblins, smashing into them and knocking them off their feet. Faced with this weapon, the goblins started retreating into the cave.
         A group of gnomes, on the other side of the girls, collided with other goblins, pushing them back with small staves and strange, handheld weapons that seemed to shock the creatures with magical energy. Puzzled, and fearful of the strange weaponry, these goblins retreated, as well. With hisses and squeals, they scurried into the depths of the cave.
          Once the last of the goblins had disappeared into the cave, the gnomes turned to face the girls. A gnome with frizzled gray hair and a wrinkled face approached the daughters. “Who are you, and what are you doing in our forest?”

Chapter 4
     
         “No, the question is: Who are you?” Emily countered, ready to launch another rock at the army of gnomes surrounding them.
         The old gnome grunted and said, “We're the forest gnomes. My name is Randolph, I am the leader of the forest gnomes. Well, we don't actually have titles of authority, but I am the “unofficial” leader as it were. It all started one day when the gnomish high council got together and realized that we had no official leadership. Even the high council was just a gathering of any gnome who chose to show up to meetings, which was usually any gnome who wasn't already engaged elsewhere. Say, those eyes are familiar, by any chance are you related to Duke Daring?”     
         Elizabeth stepped forward, amazed that the gnome had stopped to take a breath. “Yes, he is our father. We are the Daughters Daring. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
         Randolph looked surprised and all the gnomes behind him began to whisper quietly to each other. It had been a while since gnomes had actually talked to humans, let alone two who were related to