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

boy still limp in his arms and for the first time in this adventure relaxed.

But adventures rarely have happy endings.

Jane heard the soft thuds before she saw three of the humans sink to their knees in the sands. There were bright splashes of red in their shoulders, but not blood.

“Feathers?” She couldn’t help but ask. For a moment, she thought perhaps the desert would answer her.

Ruric tensed underneath her arm.

“Feathers. That’s how they caught me.”

Drugs. Of course it was drugs. This entire damn city had been built on drugs and medicine. Jane thought angrily as she spun the two of them around.

For a moment she didn’t see them. So easily they blended into the color of the sand. But she saw the glint of the sun against the weapons in their hands and she flinched backwards.

“Running won’t get you very far, my dear.” The sickly sweet voice that had started to haunt her dreams came from the tunnel they had just escaped from.

The Doctor stepped into view. His hands were clasped behind his back and his white suit was pressed neatly into lines down his arms and legs.

“You.”

He held his arms out with a grin.

“Me.”

She hated him. Jane had never felt such a strong emotion before. It raged in her chest and made her face hot. It swirled in her limbs until her fingers clenched hard against Ruric’s ribs.

“Easy bright one,” Ruric murmured. “It’s not over yet.”

The Doctor stepped into the sun. Another wave of his hand brought a volley of brightly colored feathers that struck into the shoulders and thighs of those around them. Shusar pulled the needle out instantly, but Jane could see that he was already sagging towards the sand.

“Let us go.” Her voice was stronger than she had expected.

“No darling, I let you make your own choice. You chose to run.” The Doctor shrugged. “I told you what would happen.”

The man standing next to Ruric and Jane slowly dropped onto the sand. His face was peaceful as he fell into a deep sleep next to her. If only she was as peaceful.

“Why let us get this far?”

“I like to give people choices.” She could almost hear the tone of his voice changed as he began to lecture. “The human brain is a very strange thing. We make decisions based off of emotions with no real thought to reason.”

Again his hand lifted and three more people sank into blissful sleep.

“Why not all of us at the same time then?”

“I like to be entertained. And I wanted to clearly see your expression when you realized I knew the whole time about this ridiculous plan.”

Though she didn’t want to, Jane’s eyes cut towards Catherine. There were only a few humans still standing. Luther was among them, though Willow was crumped at his feet. Catherine and another human were huddled together with wide eyes.

There was nowhere for them to run. Jane knew that there was nothing behind them but wide open desert that would allow them to be picked off far too easily. The Doctor had managed to cage them without any bars.

She had to admit it was effective.

“Shusar is already asleep.” Ruric murmured. His eyes were squeezed tight. From the tilt of his head, Jane could tell he was listening intently to everything around them.

Jane glanced towards the yellowed body near them. She hadn’t expected him to be so easily handled. Shusar would have fought harder than any of them against the drugs in his system.

“And Illyrin?” She asked.

“Holding on.”

Though the Doctor was clearly watching them, Jane chanced a glance to their left. Illyrin had three of the feathered needles stuck in him. His knees were locked tight and there was a fine sheen of sweat across his brow. But he still tall and strong with his eyes shut tight against the sun.

“Come on now, Jane. I’d rather not have to shoot you two. Your state is far too fragile.”

“What state, Jane?”

“I don’t know.” She whispered back. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”

Ruric nodded at that. “Use me as a shield.”

“What?”

“Use me as a shield, and stop him.”

She couldn’t tell him that it was a foolish idea. She couldn’t beg him to listen to reason or that they were endangering the life of their child. Jane didn’t have the time to do such a thing.

Her thoughts whirled through all the possible outcomes and she found she could not settle on one in which this plan would work. Yet she trusted him. And when she looked up to see his eyes still closed tight and his head tilted to listen to her, Jane knew she had to also trust herself.

Ruric trusted her. That was enough reasoning for her to do the same.

“Aye.”

At her whispered response, Ruric lunged forward. He was a large creature with a broad back and wide chest. The amount of shots that fired was twice that of Illyrin and yet he continued to move forward.

Jane was tucked behind him and held against his back with one of his clawed hands. Nothing touched her. Yet every time a new needle sank into his skin, she felt his muscles twitch. Continuing forward, he took her as far as his body could before he too succumbed to the drugs.

Ruric fell at the feet of the Doctor. The great weight of his body made the sand jump around the man in white’s feet. But the goblin lay still as the shocking turn of events had everyone holding their breath.

No one knew what insanity had possessed the creature to run forward. Surely he knew that there was no circumstance under which he and his people would leave this place.

The Doctor himself watched with mere amusement as the beast charged forward. He had utter confidence in his men. He paid them well enough and threatened their families far too often to think that anyone would ever disappoint him. He smiled in satisfaction as the goblin was felled like a great tree of old.

As though time had slowed itself, the Doctor watched as Ruric’s knees