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

time any two species meet, there should be general understanding don’t you think? You seem like a reasonable…” He paused and swallowed. “Man. It will be good for both of our species if we manage to have an intelligent conversation. I’m happy to meet you. My name’s Frank.”

The man was odd. Ruric was having a hard enough time focusing on the words he was saying, let alone understand him. But there was a part of Ruric that also felt sorry for him. Frank was like a woman. So delicate and small that he needed someone else to take care of him.

If that wasn’t an uncomfortable thought, Ruric didn’t know what else was.

“I have met humans before.”

“You have? Who?”

“Many slaves.”

“Slaves? Why that’s…” The man seemed to not be able to find words.

Ruric finally took pity on the talkative man who had suddenly fallen silent. He was clearly uncomfortable again.

Sighing, Ruric grudgingly added, “And my wife.”

“You’re married?” Frank perked up once more and his hands busied themselves in cleaning the wounds once more.

Ruric grumbled an affirmative.

“How unlikely. And to a human woman of all things. How does that work?”

“Quite well.”

Ruric could almost hear an audible click in the man’s head when the pieces fell together.

He knew that Jane had made it into the City. She had slipped away from them, but Ruric had known where she had gone. The others had thought she had deserted them. But he knew her heart more than that. But doubt was an easy worm to wiggle into his mind.

When she hadn’t returned by nightfall, Ruric had followed her.

The wall had been easy to climb. His claws had tucked into the crevices and his strong body had pulled him into the City. The guards had caught him nearly instantly.

He could still feel the surprising pricks when they shot him. Not with bullets or anything that could kill him, but with tiny darts that had decorated his skin with red fletched feathers. He had managed to pull only one out of him before he had fallen at their feet.

He remembered very little other than small sparks of pain and anger.

“You’re married to her.”

The other man whispered the word as though it were a secret between the two of them.

“Jane.” Her name on his tongue felt like a hymn.

“Yes, that was her name. I’ve heard them speak of her.”

“She is safe then?”

“Well…” The man paused. “In a sense.”

Ruric’s tense muscles eased at the man’s tone. Though it suggested she might be in danger, at least she hadn’t abandoned him as the other goblins had thought.

“Where is she?”

“In a cell. They’re holding her for study.”

Ruric understood little of that, but he didn’t need to know the ‘why’ behind any of these human’s actions. What he needed was his wife back in his arms and underground.

“Let me go.”

“I can’t.” Frank’s hands disappeared entirely then.

“Let me go human.”

Ruric’s eyes opened in the barest amount so that he could track the human’s movements.

“You need to calm down.”

“My wife. I need to find my wife.”

Ruric renewed his struggles. This time, he managed to shake the entire table he was laid out on. The metal clanged loudly against the floor and made his ears scream in pain. But he wouldn’t stop. Not when he knew that she was here, that he was so close to her.

“I’m sorry, but you need to stay quiet.”

Just after the words, Ruric felt a prick against his forearm. He knew what that was. He had felt that prick more times than he consciously remembered.

He tried very hard to remain awake. But his limbs would not hear his desperate calls for them to awaken. It felt as though he was dying. Numbness crawled from his fingers to his chest. His eyes drifted shut though he struggled against it.

The last thing he thought was that Jane was so close to him that he could almost feel her.

Jane’s eyes opened to stare at the light above her. The light stung her eyes, but she forced herself to look at it. Wherever her boys were, and Jane had started to think of the goblins as her boys, they were looking at the same thing. Two of them were in pain, two of them were lost. She had managed to fail them entirely.

Days had past since Willow had wandered by in the vent. Luther had become strangely silent and she knew he was worrying about their little sister.

She was too. Jane was questioning whether she had made the right decision in sending Willow. She was just a child. But Jane, unlike Luther, knew that Willow was capable of keeping herself out of trouble. Jane had more faith in that girl than Luther did.

The problem was that both of them were feeling guilt that they couldn’t help. Jane didn’t like sitting and doing nothing when other people were saving her. Luther felt as though he should be the “man” and be doing the saving.

Rather than argue, the two of them had fallen silent. Few words passed between them and those that did were meaningless.

Thoughts danced in their minds as they both considered what could be happening outside their walls.

“Do you feel like a butterfly in a jar?” Luther asked her. He was lying on his cot and staring at the ceiling.

“I’ve never seen a butterfly.”

“I have. There are a few tacked up onto the wall with their wings spread out in the intern hall.”

“That seems cruel.”

“I think it’s supposed to be beautiful.”

Jane rolled to watch the expression on Luther’s face as his nose scrunched.

“I don’t think anything dead and on display is beautiful.”

“In a way they are. The others are bright and they make you think about what the creatures looked like when they were alive.”

“I hope they don’t do that to humans here too.” Jane slumped back onto her cot and stretched her arms over her head.

“Probably.”

“How did you end up working here, Luther? Of all places?”

“It’s the best job in the City. The most prestigious.”

“Nothing makes sense here. Why is this a prestigious job?