“Maybe we’ll see him in the hill one day, then,” mused Neil, “you never know.”
“I’m glad for Wullie,” Clara remarked as they wended their way down the length of the High Street. “His wee shop is lovely and he always seems to have lots of customers.”
“I’m happy for him too,” answered Neil, “but seeing him and Matt Lafferty together reminds me of Ali Baba and the Underground City. Life’s a bit dull these days now that the pantomime’s over.”
“I shouldn’t worry,” Clara grinned as she waved to Mr MacGregor who was standing at the gates of their school. “Don’t forget that Prince Casimir has invited us to spend half term at Ardray and we’ll be staying with Lewis in Aberdeen at Easter.”
“That’s true!” Neil’s eyes brightened considerable as he mentally totted up the weeks until half-term.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Clara mused dreamily. “With the MacArthurs around, life is never dull for long, is it? There always seems to be something happening in the world of magic.”
As they walked down the Canongate, their eyes lifted involuntarily to the green slopes of Arthur’s Seat that loomed behind the turreted grandeur of Holyrood Palace.
Clara smiled as she thought of Kabad — for the little goblin now lived in a very comfortable little home on Arthur’s Seat. His eyes had shone with delight at his first view of Dunsapie Loch. High, quiet and secluded, with wonderful views over Edinburgh, it was an ideal spot.
“Think you’ll like living here, then?” Neil had asked him.
Kabad’s long fingers had gripped Clara’s hand so tightly that she’d almost yelped. “Oh, yes!” came the delighted answer.
Archie, Jaikie and Hamish, who had taken an immediate liking to the little water goblin, explored the fringes of the loch with him, looking for a suitable cave or hole in the bank to give him shelter. It was a problem at first as the shoreline was quite open, but with their help, a rickety, disused jetty on the far side of the loch was cunningly converted to incorporate a concealed waterfront residence. Spacious, warm and comfortable, Kabad assures them that, by goblin standards, it is quite definitely palatial.
“We ought to visit Kabad tomorrow and see how he’s getting on,” Clara mused, stepping aside to avoid some tourists, clustered around the Scottish Parliament building. “It’s a while since we’ve been up there.”
“Kabad?” said Neil. “Oh, he’s doing all right. Kitor and Cassia visit the loch almost every day and according to them, he’s still as happy as Larry! Spends his time fishing and playing with the ducks, apparently. He says he wouldn’t go back to Loch Ness if you paid him.”
Only a few people have spotted Kabad on the slopes of Arthur’s Seat and then just for seconds. He’s happy and contented in his snug little home at the edge of the water, uses his beautiful, new spear to catch fish and finds the ducks, geese and seagulls much nicer company than the spiteful goblins of Nessie’s caves.
In fact, if you are ever up there on a moonlit night, you might be lucky enough to spot him for he always dresses in his best clothes when visiting the MacArthurs — so if by any chance you’re there and see a tiny figure walking by the loch, dressed in an ornate turban and a tunic and trousers of dark purple, shot with gleaming stripes of shiny, glittering gold … well, you’ll know who he is, won’t you? And you’ll know where he’s going …