by Emma Hamm
He held his breath as the goblins passed by, then launched into movement once more.
He rounded another corner, fully intending on grabbing the next goblin he saw to tell him where to go. Surely they weren’t dumb enough to not understand him. The creatures seemed to be smart enough.
But as soon as he reached for green skin he realized the beast in front of him was one he recognized.
Ruric had heard the sounds of struggle, knew precisely what had happened as soon as he heard it. She was foolish, arrogant, pig headed and he was worried for her. He was going to throttle her for the terrible things she had said. But he knew what it meant if the humans were trying to get away.
Of course she would try to help them. That was who she was. He understood that she felt loyalty to them. If he had been in her situation, he would have felt the same. Loyalty was not a feature he wanted her to lose. But her foolishness knew no bounds.
His heart was in his throat as he followed the other goblins out of the cave they had been in. He had put the others down and he had hated every moment of killing them. It had never been hard before. They were simply animals that were no longer useful. He would have done the same to a fish. Yet this time he saw her eyes in their faces. He saw the blunted fingers and thought them pitiful.
Killing them had felt wrong. They had thoughts just like the goblins. And though none of the men would have been as talented or as lovely as his bride, they were still the same kind. In a way, it felt as though he was bringing down the knife upon her neck.
He had to find her. The mob mentality was making him nervous that she was going to get caught in the middle of it. He knew how bloody battles could become. He had fought against other tribes. He had killed many humans. Lines blurred when in the middle of death and gore. She could easily be killed by mistake.
It was only by pure luck that he managed to be in the right place at the right time. He felt the harsh hand on his shoulder and frowned when he realized the hand was trying to turn him. Who thought that they could force him to do anything?
He turned with a snarl. His teeth were bared and his claws ready to kill. But he stopped short by the sight of Jane slung across the humans shoulder. He knew the shape of her without seeing her face.
“Let her go.”
His voice rang loud in the cave. It gave him nothing but pleasure to see the human flinch from the sound.
There were very few who could say they were not intimidated by him. Ruric was larger than the other goblins and strong. He knew he was straight out of a human’s nightmare and because of that he expected the human to drop Jane and run. That would have been the smart thing for him to do.
But he did something that Ruric did not expect.
He began to laugh.
“I never thought I’d see your ugly face again.”
The man stepped away from him, leaning to gently place Jane onto the ground. Ruric flinched at the movement. The human had no right to place hands upon her. He could see there were scratches upon her arms that were not the ones that he had given her.
“You don’t like me touching her, do you?”
He looked up at the man with his eyes narrowed.
“What is this then? Some case of beast in love with beauty?”
Again Ruric said nothing, looking for some way to kill the man. He deserved a death that was slow and painful.
“It is!” The laugh that came out of Simon was hardly amused. Dark and twisted, it was the laugh of a man that knew hatred very well. “She’s hardly a beauty my friend. There are plenty of women better than her.”
Simon’s head cocked to the side as his face furrowed in anger. “You’ll never have her, goblin. She’s human, you are not. You think she’ll stay here with you?”
“I am going to kill you, human.”
“No you aren’t. She came to let us go, you know. She wanted the humans to live. Kill the goblins, she said. Do you really think she loves you back?” He wanted to hurt the goblin, but he also wanted to distract him. The bead of sweat dripping down his temple betrayed that.
Still, the words shivered down Ruric’s spine. Jane would never do that. She wouldn’t betray them like that. He had known she was angry and that she was feeling alone here. He had tried to explain to her that she was not. But surely she wouldn’t have done something so foolish. She wouldn’t have harmed the goblins that had taken care of her.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Well you could ask her yourself but I’m afraid she’s not awake for questioning.” Simon toed her limp body, nudging her in the ribs until she groaned.
“Do not touch her!”
“Oh it’s far too late for that. Don’t you ever wonder why you found us together? You split up a happily married couple, all for what? A little piece of tail?”
Ruric growled deep in his throat. The sound vibrated roughly, anger starting to cloud his vision. He hated this man, just as he had always hated the humans. He was going to kill to him. Tear his entrails out and let him rot in a cavern somewhere so deep he would never again see his precious sun.
Just as he lunged forward, the human leaned down to place his hands on her though. Jane, the one human that had made him thinking differently. She was the one he had thought was filled with light. Never in his life had he thought he would be so lucky as to find one such as her.
Perhaps he had been wrong. If the human was telling the truth, then she hated it here. She hated him and his people with a fire that had caused her to wish them all dead. With such a small group of humans, weak and underfed, it had been a suicide mission from the start. Perhaps that was what she wanted. A swift death that would send her back to the place she wished to be.
“Ach, mate you don’t want to hurt her now do you?”
He had stilled as soon as the human touched her. His body ached to move as the human touched skin that was his. Lingered upon curves that were to be touched by no one else. He had saved this woman. He had given her everything. Jane was his.
“You’re going to let me go, goblin, and I’m going to take her with me. She’s going to live and you’re going to stay here. That’s how this is going to work.”
“Never.” The word ripped through his chest and throat with a ferocity that startled even him.
The expression on the human’s face did not calm him. The man tilted his head to the side, looked down at Jane and touched her face. He hadn’t wanted it to come to this. “It’s a pity that you’ll have to choose between the two of us then.”
Ruric did not have time to question the man’s motives.
Time seemed to slow as the man leaned his weight forward and pushed her off the edge of the cliff.
It was his worst nightmare come to life. She wasn’t awake. She didn’t know what was happening. His sweet beautiful Jane, tossed over the edge of the cliff like something that had no meaning to anyone.
He didn’t have to think about the choice. He lunged after her limp body.
His hand caught one of her arms and held on as he scrabbled for purchase against the stone. He slid forward, her weight pulling him down. He held his breath, trying desperately to keep her with him as they both slid over the edge.
They were close enough for him to touch the wall. Close enough to hit against it when he reached forward. It was a choice he would have to make. He held her in place with his legs, claws grappling with the rock wall.
Speed was what he fought against, though neither of them had managed to fall long enough to be unstoppable. His claws ripped out of his hands, yet still he held on. Eventually he managed to hold onto one of the outcroppings. His arm wrenched out of its socket, his pained cry ringing through the cave systems.
Loud and low he groaned, raising up his other arm to try and take the pressure off of the other.
He was a big man and Jane was no small woman. The added weight and slick blood on his hands made it difficult to hold on. He had to, for the both of them, or they would plummet to their deaths.
Pain was
something he could handle, but worry was harder to bare. The woman he held onto with his legs had yet to awaken.
“Jane.” He gritted between his teeth, relieved to hear her groan.
“Ruric?” The next thing he heard was a strangled gasp of pain, her eyes squinting hard as she looked up at him.
“Jane I need you to climb up me.”
“My head hurts.” She whispered. “That bastard knocked me out.”
He let out a slow breath. “Bright one please. Focus. Climb up me and pull yourself onto this ledge.”
She seemed to realize then what had happened. Her eyes widened in fear at the drop below them, but she nodded and started the climb.
Her feet tried to find purchase on the parts of him that would hurt the least. His thighs and hipbones held most of her weight, her hands balancing on his shoulders. But when she reached for his wrist, her own hand shaking in fear and pain, she couldn’t grab onto it.
There was blood running down his arms.
Biting her lip, she tried to see in the dim light where he was hurt. She knew the metallic smell of blood well. That was a scent that she could never forget.
She did not know how they had arrived here. There was a large blank spot in her memory, nothing after the realization that Simon was not the man she had thought. Thinking past that or even trying to figure out what tunnel they were in, made her head throb even harder.
She reached past Ruric’s hands, whispering an apology as she raised herself so that her feet could push against his shoulders. There was no response but a groan from him and she wondered just how wounded he actually was.
Damn Simon for this. Damn all of them for this. She had never thought that the hatred between goblin and human could have grown so strong. This was nonsense, foolishness that made no sense to her. Were they missing their home so much?
A world of a sand and sun. She would always miss the sun. But their lives? Nothing had truly changed from their lives Above. Their shackles had simply been given to someone else. Yes they were wounded, yes they were hungry, but at least they were not dying of thirst. They had likely lived longer here than they would have Above and that was without the sand sickness that had killed so many loved ones.
But she could understand their frustration. Not everyone was given the opportunity she was. They could not speak the same language, they could not know what was happening.
To the goblins, they were simply slaves. They gave her the opportunity to prove herself but ignored the fact that the males of her species might be similar. There was such a gap between their thought process that they had forgotten how to be kind. She could hardly blame the humans for their anger. But she also could not blame the goblins for their actions.
After all, wouldn’t humans be the first to enslave creatures they did not understand?
This had all turned into such a mess. Jane dragged herself up onto the ledge and made room for Ruric who was quick to follow her. The muscles along his arms and back bulged as he struggled to move himself even that far.
“I’m so sorry.” Her voice shook as she talked. Short shuddering inhales that she could not quite control.
He laid down on his back, arms loose at his sides as he struggled to control his breathing.
“Why should you be? We are beneath you.”
The words cut down to her very soul. She flinched back from him at the sound of his voice. She had never heard him speak like that. Not to her.
“I was wrong to say that. I was angry and confused.”
“We say the things we truly feel when we are angry and confused.” He responded quietly.
“That is not true. I said what I thought would hurt you the most and I know that is not fair Ruric. I was wrong. I was so wrong to do all of this.”
“Yes, you were.” He slowly sat up. It did not escape her notice that he tried to use only one arm and even then it was gingerly.
“You’re hurt.”
“It is not of your concern.”
“Of course it is!” Anger was the only way she could hold herself together. If she allowed herself to think for even one minute that he was casting her aside, she was unsure whether or not she could survive that. Her family was gone and even if she returned Above she may never see them again. He was all she had.
For a moment she thought he was going to leave. She knew how to read his body by now.
His shoulders slumped, curling in on himself as he used one arm to raise the other. Limply it rested in his lap as he stared down at hands slicked in blood.
“You let them go.” She had to lean forward to hear him.
“What? No! Who told you what?”
A mangled hand raised to gesture behind them. “The human.”
Jane stilled. “Simon? Simon told you that I helped them? What did he say to you, Ruric?”
“That you wanted the goblins to die.” Again, she had to lean forward to hear him. For a moment she thought it was because he was saddened by even saying the words. He was so quiet, so still, she was certain that she had broken something in him. Until he looked up at her with those black eyes and she realized it was not remorse but anger that had made him hold so very still.
“I never said that Ruric.”
“Why would he lie?” He laughed though, the sound choked. “Or do all you humans lie? I should know better than to trust any of you. You say we are beneath you, and yet the words that come out of your mouths are twisted.”
This time he did move to stand. It pained her to see him move so stiffly.
“I did not help them, Ruric. I didn’t want anyone to die! I went down there to do… something I don’t know what, but all that changed!”
She was scrambling to her feet, only to stumble backwards when he turned upon her. This was the goblin she had expected when she first arrived into these caves. The bared teeth of an animal, the low grumble of noise that betrayed how dangerous he truly was.
Her foot slipped on the stones, arms pin wheeling as she tilted backwards. Once again, she thought she was going to plummet to her death. Yet he grabbed the fabric between her breasts, held on with a red hand that smeared blood across her clothing and skin.
“You’re not going to fall again.”
She tried not to take that as a good sign. He was angry with her. Far more angry than she had ever seen. Yet he was not going to let her fall. Surely that was a good sign?
He leaned close, those black eyes staring into her very soul. “You freed the humans, Jane. Our slaves. What did you really think was going to happen?”
Leaning back over the open chasm, she swallowed hard knowing that he held her life in his hands. “I didn’t free them Ruric. You have to believe me.”
“You are naive.” He said angrily. “I cannot trust you, you are one of them!”
“No!” The panicked shout burst out of her. “I did not want or plan to hurt anyone! I found them to see what was happening for myself. Perhaps I thought for a moment to free them but when they admitted to wanting to kill, I tried to stop them!”
“You lie. You have said nothing else but how you want to go home. This was your opportunity to leave, and you took it.” He tilted her dangerously over the edge, his good arm extending.
Jane’s fingers held onto his wrist. “I do not want to leave anymore Ruric. I told them that!” She gasped as he let her slip further. “I was not going to go with them!
The last sentence was shouted into the chasm, echoing until the words rang in her ears.
He pulled her back up slowly. Her hands held onto his wrist as she stared into his eyes. Those eyes that she hadn’t even known had color in them until recently. Perhaps, in the end, they truly did not know each other as well as they thought.
“We have to get back to the others.”
“We?” She asked quietly.
He looked back at her, face hard and impassive. “As much as I wish I could throw you off that cliff, Jane, it would be impossible. I cannot harm you.”
That moment made it diff
icult not to cry. She had shed tears before him many times at this point, but to know that she had disappointed him, that he wanted to kill her, was a blow to her very soul.
They picked their way through the caves, very little light guiding them as Simon had fled with the globe. Ruric was kind enough to leave handprints on the wall for her. Yet still she had to go slowly to make sure she did not slide off of the cliff once again. He did not help her as he usually did. Instead he would wait, just out of her line of sight until she caught up with him.
Her heart was breaking the entire journey.
Finally they reached the goblin center and she had to stop once the light met her eyes. What had they done?
There was so much carnage here. There was blood slicking the edge of some of the ladders, streaks staining the cave walls. She could see the glisten from where they had emerged from the stone walls.
Now tears sprang to her eyes, though she bit the inside of her lip hard against them. She would not cry now, not when everyone was looking at her.
And they were, she realized. The goblins were staring at her in a way she had not experienced since the first time they stole her away. Some bared their teeth at her, others hissed when she walked by.
They had assumed the same as Ruric. What trust had been built up was no longer there.
She now understood what Ruric meant when he said that she was considered goblin. No goblin had every done this to her before. She had never experienced the raking claws and gnashing teeth.
Ruric did not help her nor did he seem to flinch when the other goblins scraped at her skin. There was always a clear path between her and him. She feared for her life now and the only person that she cared about in this abyss would not look back at her.
They paused in front of their cave, though she supposed she should think of it as his now. Things had changed. She wasn’t certain that they could ever change back.
“Stay here.” He said firmly, narrowing his eyes at her. “There will be retribution for this.”
“Are they going to kill me?” Her voice was steady, chin held high, shoulders squared. She knew very well what could happen. Jane would face it with courage.