by Emma Hamm
Ruric sighed. Jane had been worried about their chapped lips for a while now. The goblins needed a considerable amount of water compared to humans. Their bodies were not used to heat and could not retain moisture. Though the goblins remained stoic, Jane could not help but worry.
“I’ll be back by nightfall. These are my people. They will remember me. They will help.”
If she saw any sort of resignation in his eyes, Jane ignored it. She knew that Ruric still did not trust her. Neither did his people.
Trust was a fluid thing. It ebbed and flowed through life with the inconsistency of sand pushed by wind. Jane would prove to herself and to them that she could be trusted once more.
First, she needed to get cloaks for all of them that could cover them on the train to the City. She had to get water. She had to get anything that could cover the goblin’s feet better than small leather strappings.
The list of needed items grew until they pushed the worry out of her head. Ruric would have to wait for her.
She ducked out of the tent and made her way across the sand dunes.
A storm was brewing. She could feel it in her bones. The way that the sand whipped across her face was a telltale sign that the sands had started to boil. The sands people could always tell when a storm was coming.
This was the perfect time to sneak into the camp. No one would want to linger upon the sight of a figure who wasn’t rushing towards its home.
Jane planned on taking more than her share. Guilt spiked through her chest, nearly knocking her back a step. These people had little to nothing to their name. They could not afford to give her what she was going to take.
She had no time for guilt. They needed the things she repeated in her mind over and over again. Therefore, she had to take them.
She stumbled through the whirling sands until she came upon the first line of tents.
This one wouldn’t do. There wasn’t anything hanging on the lines. They had been smart and taken in all the laundry that had likely been airing out. There wasn’t enough water here to actually clean any clothing, but they could at least beat the fabric down and let the wind take whatever it could.
Jane continued to wander through the tents. Each tent became more and more familiar until she realized her feet were taking her home.
There it was. Their old tent in the exact same place as it had always been. The dull color was slightly redder than the others. Jane would never forget that sight.
She ducked into the tent as the flap fluttered in the wind and her breath caught. Nothing had seemed to change. If she was lucky, there were a few things left from her old life that she could manage to gather. Memories were few and far between here. She would take what she could get.
“Jane?”
The shocked gasp had her spinning on her heel.
Standing in the middle of her tent was a familiar face that she did not want to see.
“Reedy?”
They had grown up together in this area. The boy turned man was looking at her as though he was seeing a ghost. In a way, Jane figured that she actually was. They had all likely assumed her dead. Luther would have told the family friends that she had been breaking the rules. There was no need to keep the secret once she was gone.
The law couldn’t prosecute a dead woman, after all.
“Oh god. The sand is finally goin’ to me head.” He whispered.
Jane held a finger up to her mouth. “Reed, please be quiet.”
“I’m not bloody bein’ quiet about a ghost in me tent!”
“I’m not a ghost!” She said in a harsh whisper. “Reed, please shut your mouth before you get me in trouble.”
And wasn’t that how it always used to be? Reed got her in trouble. Jane took the fall for him. That had been their relationship. It appeared that wasn’t going to change even when she was back from the grave.
“But then… Yer not?”
Jane sighed. “No Reed, I’m not dead. But I’m not staying here for very long, so please just keep quiet!”
He sat down hard at the table. Her father’s table. A flash of anger turned her face red. “Reed, what are you doing in here?”
She knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth. The sheepish expression on his face said it all. “Well, you was dead and yer family left. I knew ye’d want me to ‘ave it and not someone else.”
She growled in response. “You mean your tent didn’t look nearly as big as this one and you took it before someone else could get it?”
He grinned at her. Jane noticed he was missing one of his front teeth. “Well, when an opportunity arises.”
Before she could stop herself, Jane had a fistful of his shirt in her hand and she was bearing him down onto the table. “So help me Gods Reed, I’m not even dead yet and you’re already looting my body? I should wipe the floor with you!”
A gasp made both of them freeze, and Jane looked over her shoulder to see the white-faced expression of what could only be Reed’s new wife.
Tension made her neck pop when she let go of Reed’s weight. This time, she reached out her arm and yanked Reed’s wife into the tent with her. Jane didn’t hold back as she propelled the woman towards her husband. The two of them slipped off of the table and fell onto the ground.
“You two are going to keep quiet while I figure out how to keep both your mouths shut.” She muttered.
“What is ‘appening?” The other woman stuttered. “Reed? What is going on here? She’s dead!”
“I’m what?” Jane repeated, staring at the other woman as though she had gone insane. Surely she hadn’t heard right. She didn’t remember the woman from her time here, and Jane remembered most people that had lived in the mines.
The woman pointed at her with a shaking finger. “You died. Everyone knows it. The woman who went into the mines to save her family.”
Reed slowly stood back up with a grim expression. He had been a good boy if a little gangly when they were children. He had always wanted to tag along with her whenever she was doing her work.
Jane could remember that he used to try and distract her so that she could never seem to finish a project. She hated that, but at the same time had enjoyed the attention. There weren’t many people who liked to talk to her. She was too tall, too strong, and men found her to be competition rather than “cute”.
Then her father had explained to her that Reed would never be a good fit. He wasn’t going to be the man that could work in the mines. Like his father, he was going to grow into a thin man with little strength. The mines could not afford to hire people who were so physically weak.
She could hear the soft echo of her father’s voice in her head as she stared at the man before her.
He had turned exactly into the kind of person her father had thought he would. Tall, thin, gangly arms hanging at his sides, Reed had a softer look than most of the men here. He would have died immediately upon going into the mines.
“Jane.” He said quietly. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
As he took one step forward, her hand drifted to the knife at her waist. “I’m not.”
He nodded in response. “Aye, I can see that.”
There was something in his expression that made her pause. He was inching towards her as one would a wild animal. The movement brought back old memories she had buried. People in this camp had always been nervous around her. She was unpredictable, too strong for a woman, too tall for men to feel comfortable around.
“Why are you in my tent, Reed?”
His wife made a soft noise as she reached for her husband. The soft touch made Reed jump. He seemed to have forgotten about the pale woman behind him.
“Your brother suggested it.”
“He wouldn’t do that.”
“He did.” He said quietly, and took another step towards her. Reed paused when her hand twitched over the knife. Even he knew when to tread lightly around a woman on the edge. “He said they were going to the City and had no need of a tent like th
is. He let me know when they were leaving so that we could set up home here before anyone else.”
Jane’s shoulders seem to slump. So her family had at least been thoughtful in their leaving. She had always known that Luther would step up to take care of their family. He had always had the potential to do so.
“Then it’s true? They went to the City?”
Reed shrugged. “As far as we know. They’re gone. He was accepted.”
Jane nodded. “I’m going to find them, Reed.”
“What happened to you, Janie?” He said quietly. His hand stretched out as though to touch her. It fell short of its mark. “You were in that cave in. No one survived.”
“You keep saying that like it’s going to make it true.” She said through gritted teeth. “I ain’t dead. I’m standing right in front of you. And now, I have to figure out what to do about that because I’m not supposed to be seen.”
“Are you hiding from someone?”
The two of them turned to look at the thin woman behind Reed. She was the flower to Jane’s stone. She was too pale to be healthy, but no one was in the mining town. There was a natural grace to her movements, and Jane found herself captivated by the thin wrist that raised towards her.
“Lara. I’m Reed’s wife.”
Jane did not shake her hand nor make any move at the introduction.
The other woman didn’t seem to mind so much. Instead, she nodded to Jane and wiped a nervous hand down the edge of her skirt. “Well I know a thing or two about running. You’ll be looking for supplies to get to the City then? They ought to let you in since the rest of your family is there.”
Jane was surprisingly uncomfortable by the thought that this woman had figured out her plan so easily. The people here weren’t known for their intelligence. But this woman had a shrewd look about her that Jane now understood could see far more than she should.
“Yes.”
Lara nodded firmly. “We can get you water. There was a shipment in recently. That ought to do. Is it food you’re looking for as well?”
“Cloaks.”
This time it was Reed who gave her a strange look. “Cloaks?”
“And boots. Facemasks would be acceptable as well rather than cloaks. We have our own.”
“We?”
“Reed. I can’t tell you anything.” For his own safety. Jane didn’t want to pull either Reed or his wife into all of this. If things went badly, the last thing these two needed was City officials dragging them in for questioning. No one went to the City and came back out.
He shook his head at her sadly. “Janie, what kind of trouble did you get yourself in this time?”
“I wish I could explain. I can’t right now, Reed. There’s no time.”
Lara nodded. The fact that she was not asking many questions said a lot. Jane knew that many women in the mining camps were running from something. She was pleased to know that Reed had managed to find a strong woman. He needed someone who was going to take charge of his life and take care of him.
“Lara?” Jane asked quietly. “Are those items you think you can get?”
The other woman’s face hardened and she nodded slowly. Without looking back at either of them, she started to walk out of the tent.
“Reed.” Jane said quietly. “Go with your wife.”
“But-”
“Go with your wife.” She said in a stern tone. “It will go faster that way. Three pairs of boots. Three pairs of face masks or cloaks that can be easily ripped.”
As the two of them drifted away into the sands that still swirled, Jane had a moment alone in the place she had always called home.
It wasn’t as she remembered. Jane could now see that there were little bits here and there that made the place Reed and Lara’s. It was a shame that all of her things were gone. She would have liked a few pieces of memories to bring with her.
If they did not make it to the City in time, she wasn’t going to be getting anywhere. Her siblings would be stuck in there and she would never see them.
Jane knew now that if she was given the choice, she would return home with the goblins. Her siblings were happy and safe. She wasn’t going to rip them from that. If she could not see them, then so be it. They were safer in the City than they would be anywhere else. She could only hope that they would understand that as well.
The tent bent and drifted as the winds buffeted it. This was something that she would miss. The sound of the wind howling through the gaps of the fabric and the heat that always seemed to make the hairs on her arms rise.
There was no wind underground. No sand. Very few sounds. And yet, Jane found she missed it. Below was safe, it was comfortable. There were less worries there. Unlike the mining town, Below was a constant adventure. Her time with Ruric, though fleeting, had been imprinted on her memory as pleasant. Blissful even.
Her fingers drifted over the edge of the table her father had been so proud of. Blunt and strong, they were not graceful fingers. But they were hardy and they could do work that others could never dream of.
“I hope I make you proud, Daddy.” She whispered quietly.
Kissing the tips of her fingers, she pressed them down onto the table as a last goodbye to the ghost of her parents that surely drifted through this cursed place.
“And I hope you can now find peace. Your children are safe and happy.”
Jane had never really believed in ghosts, but she hoped that the slight tingle that ran down her spine was from the souls of her parents finally finding rest.
“Jane?”
She turned slightly as Lara and Reed returned. Half of her face turned towards them, and they were both struck by the changes they saw in her. Even turned away from them, she appeared far more exotic and dangerous than either of them had ever seen. Her movements were hardly even human.
“You gathered those rather quickly.”
“Well.” Lara placed two pairs of boots and a face mask on the table. “We’ve never been overly fond of our neighbors. They’re rude and they think they’re better than us.”
Her hands patted the boots roughly. “They’ll be brought down a few notches to walk without boots for a while. And they were gone. Sneaking into their tent was easy.”
Reed put his stolen belongings on the table with the others. “Who are you giving these too, Jane?”
Once more, Jane shook her head. “That’s something I can’t tell you.”
“After we stole these for you?” A lock of hair fell across his forehead. “After we’re putting our necks on the line for you?”
Jane reached forward and tucked that long back into the tangled mess of his hair. “You did nothing. A ghost of a woman long past came through the camp this night. If asked, you were safely in your bed.”
“What?”
The two of them watched her leave them with bewildered expressions on their faces. Neither of them would know what to say when a band of raiders came through the camp in a week’s time. The raiders would speak of a massacre they had found on the road here. The raiders would appear shaken, the first time any in the mining town had seen such a thing.
Reed and Lara would look at each other in fear. They understood now what Jane had been running from and were shaken to their very souls. They would sleep in each other’s arms that night.
The raiders would leave without any bloodshed for the first time in years.
Leaving the mining camp where she grew up was both bittersweet and freeing. The tents flapped in the wind behind her and the sound of life flickered until she could hear it no more. There was always something wrong there. The people were ill, there was not enough water, the food was running low.
Jane longed for the ease of life Below. She longed for sight of happy faces that weren’t lined with stress and discomfort. Perhaps it was petty to think that a life imprisoned was better than one here. But for her, it was.
She walked back towards the goblins with a renewed purpose in her step. She wanted to see them. She wanted to see Rur
ic. She wanted to be in the company of someone who protected her at all costs. Someone who she would protect at all costs.
Her hand raised to finger the chain around her throat.
Of course, there was a fine line between protection and control. She did not understand why he had chained her. Even more so, she didn’t understand why he refused to remove the chain. It had been long enough. There were even goblins who were confused by why he was still marking her his slave, yet calling her his wife.
She shifted the clothing in her arms. There was hardly time to be considering her feelings. They needed to get to the City. They needed to find the goblin boy and then her family.
“I’m coming for you.” She whispered into the wind. For a moment she paused to turn her face towards the sun. In her mind’s eye, she could see them clearly. The bright colors of their hair that echoed the yellow orb. They were everything to her. Luther and Willow had to know that she was at least alive.
It was dangerous to tell them where she was or how she was living. But the wound in her soul that had never healed called out for them. Jane understood now that she needed them to know she was alive. She didn’t want them to mourn for her.
When she opened her eyes and looked towards the horizon, she squinted to see what was there. The wind had picked up, but what worried her was the red tint on the horizon.
She swore loudly.
A sandstorm barreled towards her. The sky darkened under the mile high wave that could not be stopped.
She turned on her heel and sprinted away from it. The goblins had no idea how to survive in something like this. They would surely be taken unawares and what would she do then? The sun was just starting to reach the horizon, but it was doubtful they would be coming out until full darkness had fallen.
She clutched the clothes hard to her chest as she crested a dune and slipped. Her body rolled down the sand, and for once she was pleased to be Above ground. There were no stones to harden her fall. Still, the breath was knocked from her lungs for a moment before she pulled herself back to her feet.
Running seemed impossible in the sand. Every step slowed her down. Every movement was half the speed she needed to be moving.