The Goblin Warrior (Beneath Sands Book 2) by Emma Hamm (100 books to read txt) 📕

If he didn’t do something soon, they were going to come to the wrong conclusion. He couldn’t imagine she was running away from them.

No matter how much he did not trust her, Ruric also knew that she was smarter than this. If she had wanted to run, she would wait until they could not stop her.

“Jane!” He called out as he ran across the sands. He wasn’t as fast as he should have been Above. The sand grabbed at his feet and made him sink into the ground. His weight suddenly made him weaker.

His heart beat hard in his chest. She had promised. He had thought… It didn’t matter what he had thought. If she was running there was only one fate for her.

“Please don’t be running.” He muttered to himself as he slowly caught up to her.

The three goblins crested a dune only to skid to a stop as they caught sight of Jane in a valley.

There was a strange contraption buried in the sand between two large dunes. Rusted metal creaked and groaned, muffled by the sand that surrounded it. It rose higher than two goblins and cause the wind to whistle loudly as it filtered through the curls of rust and steel.

Jane was crouched next to the strange beast, her hands twisting a small wheel.

Ruric was the first to wander towards her, though he held back from the scene. They had never seen machinery before and worried it might bite.

“What is it?” He asked as his head cocked to the side.

She grunted as her forearms strained to turn the wheel that had long ago rusted shut. “A well.”

He watched as the muscles of her biceps stood out in stark relief. They cast shadows where the moon touched the curves of her flesh. His Jane was a strong woman, not weak. The sight made him stand tall with pride.

Finally the beast gave way with a shriek of metal on metal. He jumped back when the water started to spout from what he could only imagine was the creature’s mouth.

Jane stepped back and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “The first settlers made them a long time ago. I thought they were a myth.” She shrugged. “Guess not.”

The other two goblins stepped towards the water, Shusar held out a finger to the water and licked it.

“First settlers?”

Jane was startled to hear the goblin repeat her words back to her. Perhaps the older one knew more of her language than he had originally let on.

“The ones who were here before the mines. Before the City.” At this point all three men were staring at her. Jane remembered then that goblins dearly loved a good story. So she stepped back, turned the water off once more with great effort, and then nodded towards them.

“We should set up camp here. It’s not necessarily safe, but we could use the water.”

Between the four of them it was short work to set up the meager tents. They had not travelled quite as far as Jane had hoped, but they would need to refill their skins with water.

Tomorrow they would make better time. Tonight was to ensure they were well rested and hydrated before they began the long journey again.

They had gathered in a small circle in the center of the tents. Ruric settled himself beside her. His great form cast a shadow over hers, yet filled her with warmth. Shusar settled across from the two of them and pulled out a wicked blade. He cleaned his nails with them and filed the points. Illyrin shied away from the rest of them and sat at a safe distance. He was tilted so he could watch the dunes as well as the rest of their company.

“The first settlers were always a myth to us. It is said they were great people who came across the sands to create a world that was different. The land they came from was green as emeralds. The ground, the plants, even some of the people had green things growing from them.”

Ruric flashed his teeth. “Perhaps we are your green people.”

She smiled. “Somehow I doubt they were quite as large or as terrifying as you. They were the ones that created these machines. Great minds and intelligent beyond all knowing. My mother used to say that they arrived to these lands on the backs of great beasts. Taller than four people high with wide ears and tusks so long that they could be used for furniture. Atop these beasts were small homes that people lived in.

“The green people who brought water to the sands.” She said softly.

Her finger hooked as she pointed to the well behind her. “They left these wherever they went. They would drill so far into the earth that she started to bleed. Every wound she gave willingly so that her green people could survive in this new and harsh land. They were the first to build the City. But then they disappeared.”

“What happened to them?” Jane had never heard Illyrin speak before. The honeyed tones came from a deep timber that was pleasing to the ear. She smiled at him.

“No one knows. Some say the green people with the flowers in their hair simply died out. My mother said that the machines swallowed them whole. That the monstrous machines they had created eventually took so much from the land around them that they turned upon their creators. The green people gave themselves up so that their work may remain.

“I had never seen a well before. But it was their machines that allowed us to make the mines in the first place. We never would have been able to drill so deeply without the work of the green people.”

As Jane spoke, she could see in her mind the way her mother’s hands had twisted and turned. She had been everything graceful and beautiful in their lives. Even as her health had failed her, Jane’s mother had been like a feather floating on the breeze.

Jane was