by Emma Hamm
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 his face.
“You’re too young to look that smug.” She growled at him.
His expressions were not the same as hers, but Jane swore in that moment he arched an eyebrow at her and pointed directly up.
“What?” Her lips pursed. “What are you trying to-”
Her words slipped out of her mind as sand falling through her fingertips.
The light that flooded the cave was not from the globe at her side or rattled crystals upon the ceiling.
As Jane raised her head, she was looking directly into the comforting sight of the moons.
Her face relaxed into an expression of awe as she stared into the light. The stars sparkled around the twin orbs. She stepped into the shaft of silver light and bathed in the welcoming arms of the sky.
The goblin stood back to watch her, his thin arms crossed firmly over his chest. The light was nearly too bright for his eyes. Still, he had to watch her.
Her bright gold hair turned white in the moonlight. She fairly glowed as the light danced over her skin. The goblins all found her to be a prize among their ranks. She was beautiful. Strange. Odd. But compared to them she was a gemstone glittering among common stones.
“I thought you might want to go home.” He told her in the goblin language. He knew she wouldn’t understand him. Humans could barely hear some of the words that they said in high pitched tones.
She turned towards him, though her eyes constantly strayed towards the light.
He remained in the shadows. Slowly he sank onto his haunches and picked up a handful of sand. The small granules fell in a waterfall from his fingertips. Black eyes looked back at her and he pointed towards the opening.
Jane followed the line of his fingertip as he pointed outside then pointed out the foot holes to get there.
He was telling her how to leave.
Her gaze broke from the sight of the sky to stare at him. Somehow she doubted that any other goblin knew what he was doing. They wouldn’t simply let her go, not after everything she had done.
Ruric wouldn’t let her go. He wouldn’t have let someone take her away from him without saying goodbye. Even though they were no longer the same as before, he would never have let her go.
Would he?
Jane paused to think. This was her chance to leave. This was her chance to return home, to find her family, to forget about the bloodbath that had happened beneath the sands she grew up in.
She stared down at her palms. The sudden realization that she now held her future in her own palms for the first time in a very long time was overwhelming. This was her choice and no one else’s.
“Should I go?” She whispered.
The goblin remained silent as he watched her.
Jane looked up at him and met that odd gaze. “Why did you bring me here? Why are you giving me this choice?”
Predictably, the young goblin did not reply.
Her head tilted back to stare up at the moon again. She missed the wide open sky and bright stars that sparkled. She missed the sands and the sun.
But even as she thought of all these things, Jane realized there were other memories that she would miss if she left.
The warmth of Ruric’s arms at night. The sound of his awkward chortling laughter. The sight of green creatures with polite smiles and nods that followed her wherever she went.
No matter what her choice was, Jane would always miss something. She was always going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Slowly her head dropped and her shoulders curved inward.
“Let’s go home.” She said quietly. Jane met the goblin’s gaze once more and gestured towards the crevice.
The goblin seemed to start at that, and once more he trilled towards her. She did not understand what he said, but she knew a question when she heard it.
“I can’t leave.” She answered. “I can’t leave this place and I can’t leave him.”
Jane cast one more glance up to look at her last sight of the moon.
“Not like this.”
The goblin was already leaving the small cavern. Jane decided she would remember how to get here so that someday she could see the sky again.
She turned away from the light and stared into the darkness of the caves. Her pupils were so contracted from even the small light of the moon that she could no longer see through the shadows.
3
From within a cave far beneath the others, the council members met. The Queen and her most trusted members were gathered. They each sat upon high crystal chairs, each higher than the next.
Ruric and Micah had both been invited to this meeting. It was not unusual for Ruric to be there. He was frequently required as matters of war and defense could not be discussed without him. However, Micah was not a face that was usually seen in this room.
Though he was meant to be paying attention, Ruric found his mind continued to wander to a particular person who was holed up in his cave.
Ruric did not know what to do with Jane. H
e couldn’t force her to come out of the cave. He was not a barbarian that forced women to do what he wished. He didn’t think of her as a slave, and as such he treated her as he would a goblin woman. When she told him to do something he jumped to do it. She did not appreciate this, it seemed.
When he entered into the cave, she became nothing more than a shadow. Quiet, unassuming, she would merely nod or shake her head when he asked her a question. And though she allowed him in their bed once more, she did not move nor respond to him.
His mind should not be wandering. The goblin council had met many times over the actions that had occurred. The humans had escaped yes, but the goblins were still counting their own numbers.
It came to pass that they discovered a goblin was missing. Not dead as they had suspected. The bodies were easy to find in the caves. The humans had naturally gravitated towards the wide open tunnels that had been well worked. But after weeks of searching, they could not account for the goblin that had disappeared.
Even more concerning was the fact that there was a human also unaccounted for. The man had disappeared entirely it seemed. To be missing both human and goblin was too much of a coincidence for the council to ignore.
“We have to do something!”
“What is there to do? Really do you expect us to follow them?”
“And if they find a goblin above ground? What then?”
“Surely the likelihood is very small.”
“Are you willing to take that chance?”
The council of goblins had been arguing amongst themselves for hours now. Ruric was slumped in his carved crystal seat. His wrists hung limply over his knees as his head dropped to stare at the ground.
They were all right in their own way. The goblins could not allow such an action to go without reprimand. If the humans discovered that goblins actually existed there was a high chance of a war. They could not afford such a thing. Their numbers would dwindle too quickly.
And yet, the chance that a goblin could even survive above ground was so small that they might not have to worry.
It was a risky chance to take.
The reality was that they had no options. They could not follow the human. They had never been Above before and they wouldn’t know how to follow the human in the first place. But they could not allow a human to take a goblin for risk of being found.
“You have to follow him regardless.” Micah said from his similar crystal chair. “Or do you really believe that he won’t go straight to the City and explain what he has seen?”
A council member shifted and the room seemed to echo with the soft shushing motion of silk fabric. They were all raised higher than Micah and Ruric, yet it seemed as though they were asking the human and goblin what to do next.
“Will anyone believe him?”
Micah snorted. “I think if he dragged a goblin body with him someone might. All he needs is one person to show interest and hire head-hunters to come down here.”
He spoke in the human tongue while the goblins spoke in their own. Though Micah was capable of understanding the goblin language thanks to the hearing aid in his ear, he could not speak it. Regardless, they all heard the sarcasm in his tone.
“I don’t think there’s a choice.” Dumar said. The council member cared little for his own people. He would always ensure to save himself before all others. “We have to follow him. We have to send one of the human slaves remaining to track him down, and kill him.”
“Really?” Micah said in response. “And if he makes it to the City before your pet finds him? What then?”
“Then the human will follow him still.” Dumar shook his head. “Your mind is growing feeble in your old age, Micah. This is a sound plan.”
“A human cannot simply walk into the City whenever they wish. They have to have a reason for it. Those gates are locked to everyone.”
Ruric watched Micah’s face as a red blush slowly traveled from his neck to his cheeks. He recognized the reaction as anger. He had seen it many times in Jane.
“Micah, I don’t believe you understand how truly dedicated these humans are to us. They will do anything we ask.”
“And you are repaying them by sending them to their death. How many humans will you send after this man before you realize every single one will be killed before they set foot on those stone steps?”
Micah had raised himself from his seat. Ruric watched as the knuckles of the elderly man’s hands turned white. His fingers turned into claws as they gripped the edges of his chair.
Dumar raised as well. The added height of his chair made the goblin appear even taller. Though he was thin and weak for a goblin, he still could harm the frail human before him.
The Queen raised a hand and everyone in the room quieted.
“Micah your concern is noted.” Her voice was so frail compared to what it used to be. Ruric could remember the power she used to wield with every single word. “Yet we have to do something. Without arguing, what are our options?”
They all remained silent as they stared at her. There were no options. All the choices seemed to lead to death and destruction.
Micah’s voice rose from the silence like a bird taking flight. “There is one human we have that has connections in the City.”
As one, the goblins turned to face him. He looked at all of them for a moment. What he would suggest would likely cause another eruption of arguments.
“It is unlikely that the goblin will survive the sands to the City. The goblin that was taken may have already lost his life. However, I do believe a human could manage to bring the body into the City dead or alive. This poses a dangerous threat. We need to have someone that can enter without suspicion.”
He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Jane is the only one that has those connections.”
As predicted, an eruption of complaints quickly followed.
“You would have us trust her?”
“She is under suspicion of releasing the humans and causing a mass riot!”
“What reassurances we have that she will even return?”
“We have no reassurances! She won’t return. That is why she released the humans in the first place!”
Once more, the Queen rose her hand. This time they did not stop arguing. Their voices swelled into shouting in the cave. Her frail fist pounded against the crystal she sat upon with surprising force. Only then did the voices fade.
“Ruric?” She asked. “What are your opinions on this?”
He had been surprisingly silent through all of the conversation. He had known all along there was only one direction this could go. And it was a direction he did not wish it to.
He shrugged in response to her question. “I do not believe she will return.”
Dumar leaned back heavily as he waved a hand in front of him. “See? Even he believes she will not return. It is not an option.”
“She may not return.” Micah nodded slowly. “But I believe she respects our kind enough to get the job done. If she does not return, but the humans do not find knowledge of us, does that not still work in our favor?”
“Us?” The council member leaned forward, his face grave. “You have not been given the honor to consider yourself one of us, old man.”
Once more silence weighed heavily upon everyone in the room. Ruric watched the expressions of the goblins around him. The silence seemed to weigh upon each of them. Every second that ticked by was another that they were failing to do their job.
They were the ones tasked to protect their kind.
“We should send her.” His voice was deep as it echoed through the cave. “She will make certain that we are not discovered.”
The council members disagreed with him. Their unhappiness was made very clear as they once more erupted in shouting. He was relieved to see that this argument seemed to be amongst themselves. There was a chance the plan would prevail if only a few agreed with him.
“Ruric.” The soft voice made him look up as the Queen spoke dire
ctly to him. She knew he would hear her over the loud squabbling of the males she had appointed to advise her. “They do not trust her. Neither do you.”
He nodded. “No.”
“Then why do you suggest this?” Her dark eyes watched him carefully. “You who value the safety of our kind over all other things. You would suggest sending someone who offers no guarantee that we will remain safe.”
“I do not trust her, but I believe in her. She has a good heart and a good head on her shoulders. She merely uses the wrong one at the wrong time.”
Slowly the Queen nodded. She tapped a finger against her chin as she thought. There were many possible outcomes, but Ruric knew that she would make the choice that best suited them all. No matter how much the council members liked to think that they ruled this tribe, the Queen was the one that made the final decision.
“Silence.”
The word rang true in the cave as the others stopped speaking. Their words still echoed in Ruric’s ears.
“I will send the girl on one condition.” The Queen’s words were grave. “We send a goblin with her.”
Stunned, the others stared at her.
Micah was the first to recover. “We do not know if goblins can go Above.”
“There were rumors once.” She responded. “Stories that said goblins used to go Above for food and water. The ancient tomes speak of goblins traveling across sands to find new caverns that could house them.”
“Those are merely stories, my Queen.” Dumar stated.
“I do not believe them to be untrue. We will send a goblin with her to ensure that her actions remain in our best interest.”
Dumar appeared uncomfortable with this as he shifted. “And who are we sending?”
The Queen nodded towards Ruric. “I believe Ruric is the best choice.”
Ruric responded by shaking his head. “I’m not the most qualified for this job. My feelings for her have compromised me.”
The words were the hardest he had ever spoken. Pride had made him the strongest goblin that led their men in raids. Yet he was well aware that if Jane asked him to move mountains for her, he would. He was not the goblin they should send with her.