The Goblin Bride (Beneath Sands Book 1)

by Emma Hamm

  Her pale hand sliding into his would be forever etched into her memory. Not because it was the first time she had done it, but because it was the first time she had thought perhaps he wasn’t trying to trick her.

  “Hello.” She said as quietly as she could to the gaggle of small children in front of her. They looked at her with those uncomfortably wide eyes, hands curled in their laps. She suddenly had the impression that she was some kind of trick pony that they were expecting to do something. She didn’t know what she could do to entertain them.

  Perhaps she could do what her siblings used to like. Humans weren’t that different from goblins, they just didn’t have any of the scary bits left.

  One of them made a warbling sound deep in their throat, and she realized that frequently the goblins did not open their mouths when they made the sounds. The child had made more of a thrumming sound. A drumbeat that pounded inside of him without air.

  “He asks. What is name?” Ruric said quietly.

  “He?” She blinked at him before turning to look back at the goblin child that had spoken. She really couldn’t tell which one was a boy and which was a girl. They all had long hair, all had the spindly bodies that were wrapped in identical outfits of silk.

  “They are all male.” He said, seating himself opposite the children. “No females this year. Not in our tribe.” He was pleased he was now able to string together four words at a time. It made conversing with her much easier.

  “Ah.” She said quietly, looking back at them. Pressing her hand against her chest, she said, “Jane.”

  They all politely attempted to mimic the sound back before seeming to sound off their own names. Helplessly she looked at Ruric for translation who shrugged.

  “Too hard.”

  “I can imagine.” She chuckled.

  All the goblins in the room stared at her, seeming to hold their breaths at the sound.

  “What?” She asked, suddenly nervous as she looked from each of them.

  The boys started to trill, all of them trying to speak to Ruric at the same time who eventually held up his hands for silence.

  “They ask. What was sound?” He asked.

  “The laugh?”

  “Laugh?”

  “Um,” she tried to think of how to explain that. “When you find something amusing or funny?”

  “Ah.” He nodded, turning to the boys to continue in that strange singing language until they started nodding and making their awkward thrum of a laugh in return. She noticed that they seemed to bob their heads when they laughed, perhaps that was why the drum beat of a laugh sounded so strange to her ears.

  “Micah does not sound.” He paused, scratching the back of his neck as he sought for the words. “Not same sound.”

  “Well Micah is a man and his voice is considerably deeper than mine.” Jane had a rather loud booming laugh when she was truly amused. That a chuckle had seemed to fascinate them made her worried for when she truly laughed.

  One of the boys moved. She had been watching him out of the corner of her eye as he inched ever so slowly towards her. This time his hand reached out slowly. One claw touched the big toe of her foot that had been bared when she sat down.

  It twitched in response. His touch was so light that it tickled. She was surprised that one of them had been so forward with her. There were many places to touch her first. Why he had chosen a toe of all places she would not understand. It was the smallest of the boys so perhaps he felt as though he had more of a chance to get away with something than the others. If goblins worked in the same way that human children did.

  She craned her neck to look at him, biting her lip when she saw he had already held out his foot to compare to hers. In contrast, the green tinged skin and long black nails would indeed look odd.

  “Have they never seen a human before?” She asked Ruric as she pushed herself backwards so that she was seated next to the boy. She arranged her skirts so that her feet were completely bare.

  “No. They are not safe. Not enough children.”

  Her toes wiggled, and it appeared that every goblin in the room was once again staring at another new part of the human that was odd for them. Even the other goblin that seemed to be the caretaker was blinking wide eyed as she moved her toes.

  The rising chatter had her looking at Ruric for an explanation. “They are surprised. Very…” He leaned forward to tap the back of a claw against one of her toenails. “Dull.”

  “Blunt is the word you’re looking for.” She corrected. One of the boys scooted forward to put his feet next to her. He tumbled backward with more of the deep throated laughs before another boy came forward to take his place.

  “It appears that I am this morning’s entertainment.” She said quietly.

  “You are very different. They have never seen.” The boys had moved onto her hands which she held up for them to play with as they laughed and gestured to each other.

  “I’m not sure they remember I am alive.” She was amused though. It was good to see such happiness, even if it wasn’t from a human.

  “They are the last.”

  The words were somber given the whoops that the boys were giving. Jane leaned around one of the boys, one hand placed on his spine to hold him in place as she looked at Ruric.

  “The last?”

  “No more. Last of our tribe.”

  It gave her pause. “How can they be the last?”

  He shook his head. “No more females. Others in other tribes. None left here.”

  One of the boys grew disinterested in Jane, clambering back over to Ruric. Of course this was what Micah had meant. These were good, decent, creatures that had children and lives. They had families that were trying to grow but simply couldn’t anymore. It didn’t escape her notice that there were no females in this gaggle of children.

  And they were kind. The boys had been very gentle with her even though she could see scrapes on Ruric. It was sad that they were slowly dying out. It was horrible that the boys in front of her were likely the last of their kind. The only generation that would never see a female version of themselves.

  But she still could not see how she should carry the burden of helping them. Species died out. She was not capable of saving every last one of them, nor was she capable of being the person that they wanted her to be. Luther and Willow were waiting for her. She knew they were. How could she leave them waiting?

  “Ruric,” She said quietly, her brows furrowed in sadness.

  “Quiet.” He raised a hand. “No words. Just thoughts.”

  So he didn’t want her to say anything. He wanted her to think about what she was seeing here. A part of her wanted to ignore all of it. She wanted to think of her brother and sister and all the bright children Above. She tried to think of Simon’s face when he had hit the ground next to her.

  But the longer she was here, the more she saw these people for what they were. Gentle and kind, they protected their world only when forced to. As much as she had thought Simon an honorable man, she also could see that he had killed one of their own. For these goblins every life was precious now. They were dying and without someone to help them they could very well disappear in less than a hundred years.

  It wasn’t her job. It shouldn’t be on her shoulders to give them a solution to this tragedy. One of the goblin boys plunked himself down on her thighs, looking up at her with deep furrows between his eyes.

  Slowly he raised his hands, tracing clawed fingers over her cheekbones and jaw. To him she was a different, strange creature that he had never seen before but trusted. It was the opposite for her. He might be young but she saw the sharp teeth and claws as pieces that made him dangerous. It was hard to believe herself so weak.

  “He is young.”

  She looked towards Ruric, careful not to move her face too much.

  “What?” She asked, trying not to move her lips too much since it seemed that the boy in her lap zeroed in on that movement ra
ther quickly. He moved too fast for her comfort. His claws scraping along her skin without breaking through.

  If the goblins could look amused, somehow he managed to do it. “He likes your words.”

  “He doesn’t understand me.” She said, dodging the claws that suddenly grabbed at her face.

  “Your lips move strange.” He leaned forward though, catching onto the boy’s hand. He seemed to scold him for a moment before letting go once again.

  She looked at the boy in her lap, wondering when she had started seeing them as people. The ghost of Luther’s expressions were in this boy. In the way he cocked his head as he tried to figure out a puzzle. As well as in the way he seemed to smile instantly at every new thing that she did. It didn’t matter that he had a mouth full of fangs. He was just a boy.

  “Well then. The more I talk, the more familiar you will get with me.” She scooped her hands under his bottom, arranging him so that he could sit and look at her as the other boys watched her avidly. “Would you mind translating, Ruric?”

  It was in this moment that Ruric realize exactly how lucky he was. She had fallen apart in his arms just an hour ago. He had then forced her to walk when she didn’t want to. Opened her eyes to the truth of the goblin world, and forced her to see the last generation that would survive.

  He had been unkind and harsh. Yet she was here with these children asking him to translate stories.

  How was he supposed to tame this woman? She had the spine of a warrior and the heart of a mother. It was a blessing in disguise to a man who had fought his entire life. He had brought many a human here to be enslaved. The humans deep within the ground worked their gardens, gathered the silk from the worms, fished along side the goblins.

  They were not treated as she was. They were nothing more than beasts of burden that would work for them. He had never questioned that way of thinking. Yet this woman somehow managed to make him wonder. If she was like this, was it possible that the others were as well? Or was it perhaps that their males were not like the females?

  The goblin behind him shifted, remarking quietly, “She has a way with the younglings.”

  Ruric paused in his translation for a moment, holding up a hand for her to continue since the goblin children weren’t listening to him anyway. They were too fascinated by the way she spoke.

  “She is. They seem to like her.”

  “Yes they do. I think they are fascinated by her oddities.”

  Ruric chuckled. “Are we all not fascinated by the same thing? She is very strange to us.”

  The other goblin hummed underneath his breath, watching the human just as avidly as the others.

  “Strange is not always a bad thing.” He said quietly.

  Ruric had to agree. Strange sometimes brought about good changes and he could only hope that was what to expect from this. He couldn’t afford to not have that hope. There were others that were skeptical but he would do his best to remain confident and happy.

  It was the least he could do.

  By the time she finished with her story, Ruric was ready to go. He was quick to jump to his feet as the boys shuffled away from her.

  “Come.”

  Once more he was back to the one word orders, finding it difficult to switch to her language after he had been translating into his for so long. He was tired and his brain was already aching. Ruric might have a fairly good handle on the way the humans spoke but that did not mean that he was fluent.

  Her small hand slid into his, not hesitating this time as she let him pull her to her feet.

  “They are very sweet.” She said quietly, smiling and waving at the boys as they laughed at her blunted teeth.

  “Yes.”

  “This does not change anything, you know.” Her voice was sad this time, quieter than even before. He watched her eyes slide towards him, those awkward orbs were so hard to understand. “I’m sorry, Ruric. I know why you did this but… It doesn’t change how I feel.”

  He hadn’t thought it would. He had hoped of course that it might make her think a little bit more. But he was aware of her stubbornness. After two weeks, Ruric knew this trait of hers as well as his own. It was good for her to understand that there were others here. That she wasn’t needed for him or even for the creatures she had seen so far. She was needed for these children that would never know what a female of their species even looked like.

  Hopefully she would figure that out before she hated him too much.

  CHAPTER NINE

  HE LED HER away once more, winding through precarious ladders as her stomach rose to her throat. The ladders did not feel safe. Surely they could have build something sturdier. A bridge across the tops of these cliffs would have been stronger than rope that could snap at any minute.

  Ruric seemed as confident as ever. He remained in front of her, leading her across so many ladders that she was once again lost. How far did these caves extend? How deep was this chasm that she could not see the bottom of it?

  The darkness seemed to stretch so far in front of her here.

  When her legs had just started to tremble with exhaustion, he finally stopped in front of one of the openings. The flap was held open for her and Jane was quick to tumble through it.

  The inside was much the same as the other she had recently been in. Somehow it still managed to have the flavor of poor decorating style of men. Soft colored tapestries covered the walls, revealed as he shook the globes throughout the room and bathed it in light.

  “So this is your home?” She asked wearily.

  He glanced over his shoulder and nodded at her.

  “It’s nicer than the one we were in.”

  “Yes.” His voice vibrated with that strange laugh she was slowly getting used to.

  She didn’t have the strength to speak with him now. Jane had once again lost all the fight in her. The children had been beautiful little things, but she was so tired. She wanted to curl up and sleep. Homesickness weighed heavily upon her shoulders.

  “Ruric, I would like to sleep.”

  She didn’t know goblin expressions well, but if she had she would have realized he looked at her worriedly. He hadn’t heard that tone of voice from her before. He was as confused by her expressions as she was about reading his moods. He lead her to the bedroom and settled her down onto the hammock.

  Jane rolled away from the sight of the beast at her back, falling quickly into a deep dreamless sleep that carried her away from this place. He stayed behind her, watching over her. The slow rise and fall of her ribs was reassuring to the creature that didn’t understand humans in the slightest.

  Another week passed, and a pattern emerged between the odd pair. There was the usual schedule that they followed. He would bring her to the caves to wash, then return with her to his home cave. Jane would be fed fish and unsightly greens. Afterwards he would give her something to entertain herself with. There was, however, a new addition to their schedule. She was brought to meet other goblins.

  Never before had she been subjected to such awkward meetings. The goblins would stare at her. Their eyes too wide, their voices soft as they murmured together. It was clear they were commenting about her, though Ruric never told her what it was that they said.

  The schedule would continue unaltered as her third week Below passing by with a sluggish crawl. She would have no way of knowing how many days had passed her by. Jane could only guess without the harsh light of the sun.

  On this day, she awoke to the soft sound of singing. There was more light than normal in the cave, but it was still dim compared to the brightness of dawn.

  A soft clacking from beside her head had her turning. It was the sight of the claws reaching for her hair that had her flinching backwards.

  Jane would never get used to sleeping in hammocks. She swung up and over the edge, landing hard against the stone ground. At least it was a little softer since there was a silk braided rug underneath it. Small comfort since she was in a dan
k underground hole.

  Groaning, she rolled herself to her side and looked up at the goblin that had startled her. It was one she had not seen before. She would have remembered the elaborate tattooing that decorated one half of his face.

  Ruric was no where to be found.

  Her lips compressed tightly together as she slowly pushed herself up, eyes dancing behind him and trying to figure out a safe escape. She was slowly beginning to trust these creatures, but there was always a chance that one would want to harm her. The rumors of goblins eating humans were hard to forget.

  “Peace.” The stuttered word made her pause, eyes wide as she looked back at the creature.

  It had held its hands up, palms facing her and long claws glinting in the light of the globes.

  “Cere-” It paused, shaking its head firmly. “Mony.”

  The goblin was trying to talk to her.

  Wide eyed, she swallowed hard as she realized that the creature was trying to tell her that it was here to take her to the ceremony. She had thought her opinion had been made clear on that subject. It seemed Micah was right after all. She didn’t have any choice on this matter.

  Slowly she stood up, realizing that the goblin was giving her space so that she wouldn’t startle as she had before. He seemed just as wary of her.

  She nodded at him, holding up her hands as well so he could see she was agreeing to peace. Quickly, his hands were at the ties of her clothing.

  “Hey!” She shouted, grabbing at the ties as he flinched back and clapped his hands over his ears.

  “What do you think you’re doing goblin?”

  He was already scrambling away from her. Hands still pressed to his ears, quickly moving out of the cave. Jane was confused. Somehow, she had scared him enough to run. It seemed likely that her guess of their sensitivity to sound was correct.

  She was pressing the silk he had unwound to her chest when she saw the flap to the cave open once more. At least this time it revealed a familiar goblin face.