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

chance as the two turned around a corner and disappeared from sight.

However, she very clearly heard the delighted laughter that echoed in the cavern around her.

10

“Hush.” Jane whispered as she leaned to secure the blanket across Illyrin’s broad chest one more time. The coarse material kept slipping down and revealing the yellowed skin beneath it. There were only so much she could talk away.

They were all too warm. The rickety train had more people on it than it could hold and the heat from all the bodies was stifling. It was only made worse that all of them were covered from head to toe in cloth that was meant to hide them. Unfortunately, this also meant that they were all overheated and grumpy.

Shusar refused to stop complaining. His grumbling was making her uneasy. They had a small sidecar entirely to themselves for a grand total of four minutes before more people started to file in. The goblins were pushed into a far corner where they refused to move from.

Jane had managed to convince others to give them space.

“They’re terribly ill.” She kept saying over and over again. She was the only one who’s face was uncovered. The goblins were not letting her forget that.

As another person wandered away, skepticism clearly showing on his face, she turned to hiss at them. “My face has to be uncovered. One of us has to be the human in the bunch.”

“They don’t know there are anything other than humans.” Ruric grumbled under his breath.

“Let’s keep it that way, shall we?” She angrily hissed before turning back to keep the crowds of people away from her goblins in the corner.

The train was an utter nightmare. There were too many bodies, there was too much noise. Not to mention that every now and then the train would turn at a right angle and a beam of sunlight would splash into the sidecar.

If only there had been another way to the City. But they hadn’t any time to waste. Too much time had already been wasted.

Ruric and Jane had managed to tunnel their way out after the sandstorm. They had been hard pressed to find the other two. The tents had been buried under nearly a foot of sand. But as the moons finally rose to the peak of the sky, they had pulled the other two goblins from their tombs.

None of them had been interested in getting on the train. They had nearly bolted when they saw the metal beast chugging towards them.

Jane didn’t know how the old thing was still running. Rust peeled from its sides and the wheels shrieked loudly when the brakes were turned on. However, it was the only way that the people in the mines could be transported to the City. There had never been any reason for her to head in that direction.

Until now.

“Excuse me. Ma’am?”

She looked down. The smallest woman she had ever seen was standing very close to her. In her hands was a skin of water that was being held towards her. “Looks like you and your kin could use this more than I.”

“I can’t take your water.” She said quietly and pushed the skin back towards the woman.

“I must insist.” The wrinkles upon the woman’s face deepened. “I remember coming to the City the first time to be healed. The Doctor is a good man and he knows many cures. Your family will be well again.”

“Thank you.” Jane said.

A saucy wink from the small woman made a smile crack the sullen corners of Jane’s mouth. “You got to get to the City first there love. We’re all looking for the same thing.”

Jane could breathe once more when space was given to her. The further people were from the goblins, the better she felt. There would be a riot in here if they saw even a glimpse of the creatures hidden beneath the cloth.

As much as these people were willing to help each other, Jane had seen what they did to others. The tattooed deserters sometimes accompanied the miners on the train. They managed to catch a ride in hopes that someone at the City would cast pity upon them. Even being sent to the mines was better than the horrors that awaited people on the sands.

She clearly remembered the haunted looks in the eyes of those people as they waited for the train. Stories would always surface afterwards. People would say how they weren’t meant to be on the train. How they would be thrown from the side if they were found.

Jane didn’t know if there were any truth to the rumors, but she certainly didn’t want to find out whether they would do the same to the goblins.

The train was nothing like what she had imagined. But then again, all the children from the mining camps used to dream of being on this metal beast.

Jane’s mother used to bring the children to watch others get on the train. Her mother would hold a cloth over her face and wave at them.

“They’re going to a better place.” She used to whisper to them. “Someday, my children, you will be on that train.”

Jane scoffed at the thought now as she passed the water to the goblins. If only her mother could see her now. Surely the woman would be rolling in her grave to know that her daughter was here to take something out of the City.

It was a beacon to light to so many. Even those who were too ill to ever leave the mining camps would push others to go. Everything good was in the City. Peace. Hope. Health. Love.

Jane had always assumed that people were building it up to be something that it wasn’t. There was no way that any grouping of people got along that well. The City was going to be a big let down. Still, that didn’t stop her from pushing Luther into making his way towards the gilded light of the stone City.

Now