“We’ve got a crazy over by shoes.” The report came crackling over the radio.

 “I’m close by, responding.” Carol answered. The 27-year old security guard jogged across the mall, bustling on a late October afternoon. Sure enough, just past the discount shoe store, partly screened from sight by a small sunglasses stand, a figure was bent over doing something on the ground. The crazy designation seemed pretty apt to. The woman, Carol saw that as she straightened up, was wearing what looked like long robes, made of a patchwork of wildly colored and patterned fabrics, with numerous pockets stuffed with odd items. She had a shock of untidy white hair, but her round face was surprisingly youthful. A set of gold-rimmed glasses with half a dozen oddly shaped lenses of various colors was perched on a short, pointed nose.

 As Carol approached, she saw the other woman was busy drawing what looked like a complex in chalk on the marble floor, filling it with squiggly characters. A number of items: crystals, candles and the like, were laid out at regular points. When she got close, the security guard realized the strange woman was muttering to herself in a low, rapid fire tone.

 “Okay ma’am...time to close up the art show.” Carol said with a wave. “Clean all this up and move along. You don’t have permission for this.”

 The other woman started and turned, noticing Carol. “No no no...can’t afford interference...it’s nearly time…” She sped up her frantic scribbling with the chalk.

 “Did you hear me? I said you need to leave.” Carol repeated herself, stepping over. She crossed into the circle, bumping aside one of the candles with her foot. She had started to reach for the other woman when there was a sudden, loud chiming coming from her robe. The strange woman jumped in alarm.

 “What! No, it’s too early! They can’t come now!” She dug into one of the numerous pockets and fished out something that resembled a large, old, brass pocket watch, only it had several faces, some quite strange looking. Whatever the various hands and dials read, it clearly alarmed her. “Listen, you need to get out! Evacuate the building!”

 “Evacuate?” Carol asked, momentarily taken aback by the insistence in the other woman’s voice. “What do you mean?”

 The strange woman was about to speak, when there was a sudden rumbling all through the building. The ordinary hum and chatter of the customers stopped and was soon replaced by cries of alarm. All through the mall, strange circles of glowing green energy began to appear, forming from nothingness. For a long moment, they grew in size and solidity, then the creatures began to appear.

 The creatures were short, the tallest little more then three or four feet high. They had large, round, hairless heads with green skin ranging from a dark emerald to a bright lime, large yellow eyes and enormous bat-like ears. Their wide mouths were split open in wide grins of sharp needle teeth. They were dressed in suits of what looked like silver scales and strange implements were in their hands.

 “What...what’s going on? What are they?” Carol said in stunned disbelief. Her eyes were wide with shock.

 “Well…” The strange woman replied, “They’re goblins, crossing over to our world through magic portals. Or if that’s too much to take in, let’s just say they’re little green men from another world and leave it at that.”

 That, in an of itself was too much for Carol. She watched in stunned disbelief as hordes of the...goblins, she guessed they might as well be goblins...charged out of the portals, some rushing into shops, others chasing the shoppers who had started to panic. “What are they doing here?” She asked.

 “Stealing things, mostly.” The other woman replied. “Their home dimension is lacking in most resources, so they’ve learned to raid other dimensions. They’ll steal anything that isn’t nailed down.” Nearby, a group of goblins had rushed into the shoe store and begun filling up a large sack of what looked like burlap with a random assortment of footwear.

 “And the people?” Carol asked. One of the shop-girls ran out of the store, chased by two of them. The goblins tackled her. As she fell to the ground, kicking, ropes appeared in their tiny hands and they began binding her hands and feet.

 “Ah...well...when I said they’d steal anything, that includes people as well. Mostly women and girls...they think they make better slaves. Bunch of tiny misogynists if you ask me.” The other woman replied.

 “We have to do something!” Carol said, frantically. The urge as a security guard to try and protect people warred with her fright and the unpleasant fact that all she had was a nightstick and a can of mace and she couldn’t see what it good it would do against the horde coming through the portals. “You...you knew they were coming, you must have something!” She said with sudden realization, and hope.

 “There’s nothing we can do.” The other woman replied sadly. “This was just a simple recon mission, I didn’t bring any of my strong magic...would have leveled the place and killed everyone anyway. I was hoping to study their portals, find out how to reach their home dimension. Maybe then we can put a stop to them once and for all...But for now, as long as we stay in this circle of invisibility we should be fine.”

 The goblins had finished tying up the shoe salesgirl. A couple of them lifting the trussed up captive and carried her, kicking and squirming, off. One of them started to turn, either to return to the shop or find another one to loot, when he eyes seemed to fall on Carol and the odd woman. He stood still, squinting as if he wasn’t sure what he looked at.

 “Are you sure about that?” Carol asked, nervously.

 “Yes...yes...I managed to get the runes marked properly, despite your interruption.” The other woman replied. “As long as all the components remain in place…” With a shock, Carol recalled the small stone she’d kicked out of place when she stepped over. Before she could bring it up, the goblin gave a sudden, hissing yelp and pointed with one claw at them.

 At his cry, another of the goblins, an older fellow with one of those odd implements in his gnarled hands stepped over. “Oh crap…” The other woman said in a quiet tone. The goblin raised the long staff at them and hissed something in their odd, chittering tongue. To Carol, it seemed as though nothing had happened, but she was somehow conscious the two of them were now fully visible to the goblins.

 “Run!” Her companion shouted. The two women turned and tried to flee, but it was hopeless. Without their previous protection, it seemed as though every goblin in the mall spotted them. They got maybe a dozen yards before a dozen of the tiny monsters leapt from all directions.

 Carol yelped as she tripped and fell forward. She gave a loud ‘Oof!’ as the air was knocked out of her. What feeble resistance she could put up was futile with dozens of tiny hands scrabbling over her. In short order, her hands were pulled behind her and lashed together with cord. More cords encircled her chest and her knees. She opened her mouth to scream at them, only to have more cord pulled between her teeth, garbling her threats. Nearby, the other woman had it just as bad.

 The two women were roughly pulled to their feet. As she rose, one of the goblins slipped a loop of rope around her neck. She gave a groan of fright, thinking it a noose, but to her relief it was pulled snug against her throat but not tighter, even when several of the creatures took hold of the other end of the rope and pulled hard. A leash then.

 Carol’s companion had a lead of her own. Helpless, they were dragged back towards the center of the mall. The green portals were still there, humming and glowing. A stream of goblins passed back and forth through them, dragging the spoils looted from the shops. Among them were dozens of captive humans, most women and girls like Carol had been told. Like her they were bound and gagged and leashed, or tethered together in long coffles. Muffled sobs and moans of fright rose up as they prisoners were marched forward towards the portals. Unlike their captors, those that went in did not reappear.

 “I can’t believe this!” Carol thought, straining against the ropes binding her. “I’m being abducted by goblins from another dimension!” It all seemed too crazy. But there was no denying the tight ropes binding her, or the incessant pull of the rope leash at her neck. Struggle she might, but slowly, awkwardly, Carol shuffled forward.

 Soon, she was at the portal. The odd woman, a wizard Carol guessed, went ahead of her, trembling with fear. Then she stepped in and was gone. The goblins holding Carol’s leash gave a might tug, while at the same time more goblins gave her a shove from behind. She stumbled forward, through the portal…