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

exactly the opposite of her delicate mother. She was stocky and far too tall. A gangly girl who had turned into a woman more suitable to be a man. Jane had always thought her mother would want someone to become the spitting image of herself. Who wouldn’t have wanted that? Her mother had been perfect.

“No these green people weren’t goblins.”

She looked up when Shusar spoke. His blade flashed in the moonlight. Ruric translated his words for her.

“Why do you say that?” She asked.

He grunted. “No goblin would make those.” He gestured towards the skeletal remains of the well. “It is too loud.”

The entire company burst into laughter. They were all equally shocked that the aged goblin could make such a joke, but were pleased to lighten the mood. In that moment, the tension that had been strung tight between them was released.

Laughter had a way of doing such things.

A clanking sound was what alerted Jane the next morning. Metal striking against metal had a way of carrying over large distances. She had not heard such sounds in a very long time. The goblins were always quiet in their actions, and the mines had been metal striking against stone.

She was surprised she could still tell the difference.

But the jangling noise of travelers had her rising quickly from Ruric’s chest and rousing the others. Thankfully the sun was nearly touching the horizon. Though the goblins could not see very well, they were perfectly capable of rolling up the tents they had created and rushing with her over the sand dunes. They crouched together to wait and see what had caused the noise.

She recognized the slow movement of the vehicles that pulled up. They were mostly covered in dust and well used, but they had the quality of raiders. Banners and fabric were tied in complicated knots over the metal frame, and the loud coughing crunch of the transmission let everyone for miles know that they were coming.

Raiders didn’t have much sense to them. They lived entirely on the fear that they inspired in others. Most of the times if they pulled up to a mining town people would just give them what they wanted.

Sure the raiders would likely be put down by the City officials, but they would take out as many people as they could along the way. They collected rifles like they were toys. Most of the raiders knew how to make their own ammunition.

The miners had decided long ago to give them whatever they asked for, though sometimes they needed to be reminded of why. Raiders had no love of life. They would kill without question and it didn’t matter if it was another raider or miners. Jane had never understood that.

With a loud chug, the trucks stopped by water source and the passengers emptied from their metal shell.

“Shit.” She cursed, before ducking behind the sand dune once more.

Ruric raised an eyebrow at her.

“They aren’t going to be leaving anytime soon. We’ll have to go around them.” Her eyes glanced at the other goblins. “Did you fill your water?”

Illyrin shook his head, but Shusar indicated that he had managed. “Good.” She said quietly. Her worried eyes cast towards Ruric who also shook his head. “That makes one of us.”

One full skin of water meant they only had enough to last a few days. Jane did not know how long it would take to get to her camp, and she wasn’t certain where the next water source would be. She had come across this one by chance.

“We’ll have to make it then.”

“I think we can take such a small number of humans.” Shusar said quietly to Ruric. “It would be safer to kill them and gather water.”

Ruric nodded. “I agree with you.”

“What are you saying?” Jane asked, obviously frustrated. “Ruric, what is he saying?”

The last goblin shook his head. He stood as a silent shadow behind the rest and was frequently the voice of reason. “I do not like it. There may be few of them, but they are like insects. Kill one, and the swarm follows.”

“Ruric!” Jane asked again, her voice harsh. “What is going on?”

The three goblins eyed each other, their dark eyes blinking slowly as the light faded from the sky. They were able to see clearly now. As one, they moved towards the edge of the dune and counted the humans below them.

“Seven. Not so many to worry about.” Shusar said.

“Seven is enough to worry about depending upon the weapons they carry.” Illyrin replied.

Ruric was about to give his opinion when he felt the harsh claws of his wife against his ribs. “Ruric.” She said once more. “I need to know what’s going on.”

“We believe it is better to kill them now, and take water for ourselves.”

“No!” Jane shook her head forcefully. “Those are raiders. They don’t care if they live or die. One of them might have an explosive and that would kill all of us. We cannot risk it. We have to go around them.”

“And risk dying without water?”

“That may not happen. The chances of them having something in their pocket that would kill all of us is much higher.”

He seemed to pause. Once more the soft trills started, and Jane stood back to watch the goblins argue once more. She didn’t need to understand their language to know what was happening. Shusar wanted to fight, Ruric was on the fence, and Illyrin would always choose the safer route.

She was starting to quite like the behemoth of a goblin. Illyrin had always been intimidating to her. He was intimidating to other goblins. But he seemed to be overly aware of his size. His movements were careful, his hands gentle, and he never ceased to amaze her with his intelligence. He was always more concerned with keeping everyone alive than the others.

It was both a good and a bad quality.

The argument started to a take a turn towards Jane’s opinion when they all heard it. The high pitched wail of a woman quickly ended by