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

Her heels dug into the ground. She had wanted to leave the cave, but not in this way. She hadn’t wanted to be dragged out of her tomb, nor had she wanted to be forced to leave its sanctuary.

“Wait. Hang on.” She said, but still attempted to keep her voice quiet. She didn’t need another goblin finding her attempting to break free from a child. Jane had no idea what they would think of that.

The boy continued to drag her. Though he did not understand her language, Jane knew very well that he could understand her distressed tone. He simply didn’t seem to care.

Eventually, she stopped struggling. They were upon one of the most dangerous ledges in this underground world. The goblins were certainly stronger than her, but she doubted one of their children could catch her if she were to tumble off the edge.

“Listen.” She said quietly. “I don’t know what you’re trying to get me to do. It would be helpful if you didn’t drag me and somehow indicated what we were doing.”

The boy flashed a mischievous grin over his shoulder. A few final tugs and the boy led her directly to crevice in the stone walls around them.

Only then did he pause. His hands fluttered in the air, alternating between pointing at her, the crevice, and gracefully wiggling his fingers in the air.

Jane had no idea what he was trying to tell her.

“I’m sorry.” She said while shaking her head. “I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me.”

It was one of the few crevices she and Ruric had not explored. In fact, she had not been to this section of the cave system. There was less light here. Algae did not seem to grow upon the walls.

She reached out to touch the cool stone. Instead of the usual flare of light, this stone remained hard and immovable. The change was reassuring in some strange way. Not everything Below was entirely different.

“Why did you bring me here?” She asked the boy.

He shrugged at her words, but then pointed once more at the crevice.

“Do you want me to climb?”

The thought was strange. Jane couldn’t fathom why a goblin would be telling her to climb into a crevice without having bad intentions. But this was a boy in front of her, a child.

He smiled again. His sharp teeth seemed to glint all the more brightly in the light of her blue globe. Those teeth no longer made her flinch.

“You’re not going to push me off a cliff on the other side of this crevice are you?”

He only blinked at her.

“Right.” She nodded firmly. “You understand nothing I’m saying.”

Jane sighed and turned to look back at the crevice. Her hands plunked firmly onto her hips as she attempted to push away the anxiety that bloomed within her chest. She could do this. This wasn’t the first time she had gone climbing in these caves.

She hoped it wasn’t the last.

Her hands gripped the stones as she hauled herself into the small crack. Surprisingly, the path did not lead down as she expected. It did not lead straight.

The path made by the crevice ascended upwards.

The journey took them longer than she would have expected. In some places the stones were so close together that she had to lead with her shoulder. Her chest pressed against the cold rocks that scraped at her clothing.

Each breath was a struggle as she forced herself smaller. The goblin behind her was having trouble as well. She could hear the boy scrabbling as he used his claws to force himself through the tight spaces.

Jane paused as the crevice thinned even further before her. The back of her head touched the stones behind her and her nose nearly grazed the front. Her spine and chest pressed against the walls on either side of her.

“I can’t go any further.” She said to the goblin behind her. She could not turn her head to see if he understood.

“It’s too thin.”

A hand touched her ribs, pushing her forwards even though there was nowhere else to go.

“Stop!” Her words were frantic. “I will get stuck!”

The hand raised to touch her shoulder, pushing her to crouch until her knees were skinned against the harsh stone. Once more, the hand pushed her forward.

Panic made it hard to breathe. Of course they weren’t going to push her off a cliff. They were going to wedge her between stones and wait for her to die slowly.

A fittingly cruel death.

The globe at her hip was jostled free. Jane listened to the clinking as it rolled away from her. Her head was turned so she could watch it go, the last bit of her light.

It rolled to a stop against another wall. Jane could barely see it, but the warm glow of the light was obviously no longer constrained by the tight crevice.

“Is there an opening there?” She muttered.

The goblin behind her gave another shove. He pushed her so hard that her head thumped against the rock and popped free into a new cavern.

“Oh!” Her soft exclamation echoed in the small cavern.

Jane pulled herself this time. As one hand was freed from the tight space, the rest of her body was easy to pull through. Carelessly she emerged from the crevice with new cuts and bruises on her body.

She was out. She was alive.

She didn’t think she could do that again.

Jane bend at the waist, her hands on her knees as she gasped air. The panic attack slowly subsided as the goblin managed to free himself as well.

“I don’t want to do that again.” Her voice was ragged. “I can’t do that again. There has to be another way down.”

The goblin chirped at her. The high pitched trills wore upon her ears. He did not stop talking though. The frantic sounds eventually made her breathing slow.

She scooped up the globe and stood. The goblin was standing before her, his hands on his hips and a triumphant look upon