by Emma Hamm
“With the others.” Shusar replied.
“What?”
“There are others helping. We’re going to meet them.“
Ruric obviously didn’t believe him.
“If you’re lying to me old man…”
Shusar jostled his shoulder against Ruric’s side, enjoying the answering groan far too much for the circumstance.
“You’re not in much of a position to argue with me. You’ll see your female soon enough. Now keep your mouth shut.”
Frank had been waiting for the warbles to stop, but as soon as there was a pause he managed to interject.
“Come on then, we’ll need to be going to the tunnels.”
“You know how to get out?” Ruric said over Shusar’s angry growl.
“Not really, but I know the tunnel is where they receive shipments of animals. It leads outside and will be a fair bit easier to get you through than the front door.”
Shusar grumbled again, but Ruric was surprised when he agreed with the human.
“That’s where the little one said to go.”
As they started moving in a slow shuffle forward, Ruric found himself asking Shusar, “Little one?”
“Said she was Jane’s sister. Looked enough like her, except her hair was curly.”
They continued down the hallway as Ruric’s mind raced. Jane’s family was alive and here. They had helped in the escape. He couldn’t help but wonder what that meant for his own future. Her entire life was here including her own people.
Perhaps it was the drugs in his system, but Ruric felt a bloom of panic in his chest. He couldn’t ask her to stay with him. Not if she wanted to remain here where she was comfortable.
Once more the differences between their two peoples were shoved in front of them. Now that he had been subjected to the treatment of her people, he understood what she meant when she said they couldn’t be together. Her words made sense.
If this was the treatment he could expect from her kind, then Ruric could not allow any goblins to be near the humans.
They stumbled down brightly lit hallways, but no one came upon them. Even when Frank would slip out from under his arm to peer down areas where they should have been people, no one appeared to stop them.
This made both of the goblins wary.
Their bodies were tense and they strained their ears to hear what the human couldn’t. But the building seemed to be nearly deserted other than noises that were too far away to worry about.
“Why is it so quiet?”
“I don’t know.” Frank answered Ruric’s question. “It’s unnatural. There’s usually people everywhere.”
“Bad.” This time Shusar managed the word in the human language, although his voice mangled what the sound should be.
Frank flinched underneath Ruric’s arm, but he nodded. “That would be an accurate description. Yes.”
They rounded a corner and paused at Frank’s command.
“That’s the door.” He was breathing hard. They were all breathing hard under the combined struggle of moving the giant goblin.
The door in front of them looked innocent enough. The metal edges were slightly rusted and Ruric could hear a whistle of a breeze from underneath it. But behind those doors lay an unknown life in front of him.
He’d grown accustomed to her, he realized now. He enjoyed even the angry times because she was at least there. He still saw the bright sparks of her eyes and the way she would bite her lower lip in anger. He got to see the delicate arch of the small of her back and enjoy the defiant way she would stand up to him.
She wasn’t a weak thing, his Jane. She wasn’t delicate or soft in any way. But that was what made her so endearing to him. Her strength, her loyalty, even her foolishness were all part of what made her so important to him.
And now that could all vanish before him.
He could not ask her to give up her family. Not when he knew how she had struggled to find them. Not when he knew how far she had come.
He didn’t even consider the thought that she had travelled so far to actually help the goblins. His strong bride always had her own thoughts in her mind. She was here for them. The brother and sister she had talked about in her sleep for months.
The awkward trio walked forward and shouldered the door open to step into a large tunnel line with metal paneling.
A group of people were waiting for them. With his eyes already incapable of seeing, Ruric instinctively flinched backwards. Shusar and Frank stumbled under his weight as the big goblin attempted to force them back through the doors.
He should have known they wouldn’t be able to leave this easily. His spine curled as though preparing for pain even as he bent his arms inwards to pull the two men towards him. He would at least protect them from whatever was down that tunnel.
Then he heard it. The soft exhalation of his name that sounded as loud as a shout.
Jane.
Her name seemed to scream through his mind until all he could hear was it’s sound. She was alive. She was here.
He turned towards the sound of her voice as she once more repeated his name. The blessed sound of her feet striking the ground rushed towards him.
And damn it all, he couldn’t see her. He could only see the blurry shape that rushed towards him. But as he gathered her gently into his arms, her sweet sunshine scent was underneath the smell of the hospital and fear. He inhaled deeply, finally feeling the worry inside of her loosen.
Her fingers traced the lines of his back, over the stitched edges of wounds without fear of hurting him. Though her touch was white hot, he didn’t want her to stop. She couldn’t because she was alive and he was alive.
Ruric pulled back so that he could attempt to see her. His large hands framed her face. One tipped with black claws and the other barren other than dark scabs. But when his thumbs traced her face, he knew she wasn’t disturbed by them.
Her own fingers were reaching to touch his forehead above the swollen and destroyed eye. Her other hand reached forward to hover above the foot long stitched line across his stomach.
Neither said words, they allowed their hands to do the speaking for them.
Only once she had completed her assessment of his health did Ruric lean forward. His lips were chapped when they touched hers. They cracked and bled against her but he refused to stop until the taste of her washed away the taste of metal and drugs.
He found relief in her arms that gently held onto his ribs. He found peace from the silken weight of her hair in his fingers. But most of all, he felt strong as her lips touched his.
The group of humans behind them shuffled awkwardly, though there were two who couldn’t seem to tear their eyes away from the scene.
“Well.” Luther said gruffly.
“Mhmm.” Willow said as her lips twisted to the side.
Awkwardly the siblings scuffed their feet against the floor. When it became clear that Ruric and Jane were not yet parting for breath, Willow let out a sound.
“What?” Luther stared down at her, seeing the clear expression of disgust on her face.
“I’m never going to be like that.”
He laughed as his sister wrinkled her nose as the two lovers reunited.
“You will someday.”
“Absolutely not.” She stuck her tongue out at her sister and turned back towards her brother. “That’s disgusting.”
Luther Burst into laughter at her words. The sound rung throughout the tunnel and rose up to burst against the ceiling. It was the first sound of happiness many of them had heard in a long time.
As his laughter started to slowly die, others joined in. A few chuckled and before the group knew it, the entirety of them were laughing as quietly as they managed.
Ruric and Jane broke away from each other then, ignoring the sounds of happiness and slight hysteria behind them.
“You’re alive.” He said gruffly as his thumb smoothed away the wrinkle between her eyes.
“I managed.”
“I knew yo
u would.”
She cleared her throat, her fingers ghosting once more over his wounds. “I’m sorry you came here. I’m sorry for everything that happened.”
He shook his head. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“It was my people who did this. My people who hurt you.”
“I did not apologize when my people hurt yours.” His words were softer than a butterfly landing upon her. Yet their weight was heavy upon her shoulders. “You do not apologize to me.”
Jane stared up into his eyes and her heart ached for the eye that likely would never see again. She reached up to cup his jaw in her hand. He tilted into her touched and his good eye closed.
“I apologize for the both of us then.”
The sound of someone clearing their throat made both Ruric and Jane turn.
Luther was standing behind them, a blush riding hot against his cheeks.
“Sorry, but we’ve got to go. We don’t know when, ah-” He rubbed the back of his neck
“Of course.”
Jane tucked herself under Ruric’s shoulder. Together with Shusar, she was able to help Ruric walk towards the rest of the group.
The tunnel extended further than Jane could see. There was the slightest light at the end which the entire group stumbled towards like moths towards a flame. Particularly Catherine, who led the group with confidence. Jane could tell she had been here before.
Lingering nerves from the last time they had been in this situation made her wary. Jane couldn’t help herself as her eyes darted towards the shadows. Their feet echoed in the tunnel as boots hit against dirt.
The more distance they put between them and the City, the more the entire group became nervous. Jane’s fingers curled against Ruric’s ribs as tensions rose.
As a group they stumbled into the bright sun of the desert. The goblins had already tied scarves around their heads, effectively blinding themselves. Ruric was the only one who’s face was not covered. Even he had buried his head in the crook of Jane’s neck.
“We made it.” Jane’s breathy whisper seemed to ripple through the grouping of people around her. They had survived. They had somehow managed to free themselves from the City and now blinked up at the sun.
A chuckle spread across the group as relief rippled across the odd group of humans and goblins. Even Illyrin, the silent shadow behind them, felt a soft smile cross his lips. He flexed his hands against the body of the young boy still limp in his arms and for the first time in this adventure relaxed.
But adventures rarely have happy endings.
Jane heard the soft thuds before she saw three of the humans sink to their knees in the sands. There were bright splashes of red in their shoulders, but not blood.
“Feathers?” She couldn’t help but ask. For a moment, she thought perhaps the desert would answer her.
Ruric tensed underneath her arm.
“Feathers. That’s how they caught me.”
Drugs. Of course it was drugs. This entire damn city had been built on drugs and medicine. Jane thought angrily as she spun the two of them around.
For a moment she didn’t see them. So easily they blended into the color of the sand. But she saw the glint of the sun against the weapons in their hands and she flinched backwards.
“Running won’t get you very far, my dear.” The sickly sweet voice that had started to haunt her dreams came from the tunnel they had just escaped from.
The Doctor stepped into view. His hands were clasped behind his back and his white suit was pressed neatly into lines down his arms and legs.
“You.”
He held his arms out with a grin.
“Me.”
She hated him. Jane had never felt such a strong emotion before. It raged in her chest and made her face hot. It swirled in her limbs until her fingers clenched hard against Ruric’s ribs.
“Easy bright one,” Ruric murmured. “It’s not over yet.”
The Doctor stepped into the sun. Another wave of his hand brought a volley of brightly colored feathers that struck into the shoulders and thighs of those around them. Shusar pulled the needle out instantly, but Jane could see that he was already sagging towards the sand.
“Let us go.” Her voice was stronger than she had expected.
“No darling, I let you make your own choice. You chose to run.” The Doctor shrugged. “I told you what would happen.”
The man standing next to Ruric and Jane slowly dropped onto the sand. His face was peaceful as he fell into a deep sleep next to her. If only she was as peaceful.
“Why let us get this far?”
“I like to give people choices.” She could almost hear the tone of his voice changed as he began to lecture. “The human brain is a very strange thing. We make decisions based off of emotions with no real thought to reason.”
Again his hand lifted and three more people sank into blissful sleep.
“Why not all of us at the same time then?”
“I like to be entertained. And I wanted to clearly see your expression when you realized I knew the whole time about this ridiculous plan.”
Though she didn’t want to, Jane’s eyes cut towards Catherine. There were only a few humans still standing. Luther was among them, though Willow was crumped at his feet. Catherine and another human were huddled together with wide eyes.
There was nowhere for them to run. Jane knew that there was nothing behind them but wide open desert that would allow them to be picked off far too easily. The Doctor had managed to cage them without any bars.
She had to admit it was effective.
“Shusar is already asleep.” Ruric murmured. His eyes were squeezed tight. From the tilt of his head, Jane could tell he was listening intently to everything around them.
Jane glanced towards the yellowed body near them. She hadn’t expected him to be so easily handled. Shusar would have fought harder than any of them against the drugs in his system.
“And Illyrin?” She asked.
“Holding on.”
Though the Doctor was clearly watching them, Jane chanced a glance to their left. Illyrin had three of the feathered needles stuck in him. His knees were locked tight and there was a fine sheen of sweat across his brow. But he still tall and strong with his eyes shut tight against the sun.
“Come on now, Jane. I’d rather not have to shoot you two. Your state is far too fragile.”
“What state, Jane?”
“I don’t know.” She whispered back. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”
Ruric nodded at that. “Use me as a shield.”
“What?”
“Use me as a shield, and stop him.”
She couldn’t tell him that it was a foolish idea. She couldn’t beg him to listen to reason or that they were endangering the life of their child. Jane didn’t have the time to do such a thing.
Her thoughts whirled through all the possible outcomes and she found she could not settle on one in which this plan would work. Yet she trusted him. And when she looked up to see his eyes still closed tight and his head tilted to listen to her, Jane knew she had to also trust herself.
Ruric trusted her. That was enough reasoning for her to do the same.
“Aye.”
At her whispered response, Ruric lunged forward. He was a large creature with a broad back and wide chest. The amount of shots that fired was twice that of Illyrin and yet he continued to move forward.
Jane was tucked behind him and held against his back with one of his clawed hands. Nothing touched her. Yet every time a new needle sank into his skin, she felt his muscles twitch. Continuing forward, he took her as far as his body could before he too succumbed to the drugs.
Ruric fell at the feet of the Doctor. The great weight of his body made the sand jump around the man in white’s feet. But the goblin lay still as the shocking turn of events had everyone holding their breath.
No one knew what insanity had possessed the creature to run forward. Surely he knew that there was no circums
tance under which he and his people would leave this place.
The Doctor himself watched with mere amusement as the beast charged forward. He had utter confidence in his men. He paid them well enough and threatened their families far too often to think that anyone would ever disappoint him. He smiled in satisfaction as the goblin was felled like a great tree of old.
As though time had slowed itself, the Doctor watched as Ruric’s knees hit the same and he fell face forward to drag a claw against the Doctor’s foot. But the more stunning image was that of the woman behind the goblin.
He had always thought that the human woman Jane was a rather remarkable specimen. Her build was not that of a lady but of a man. She was strong and made for work rather than for pleasure. Yet there was still something about her that remained regal.
A warrior through and through, she had managed to impress him.
She stood behind the beast like a goddess of old. The sun set behind her and streaked the sky with bright red strokes of blush against the canvas of the sky. He was so sure of himself that he didn’t consider the danger he was likely in.
She was a woman, and a captive at that. Her entire life was now in his palm.
Because she stood behind the creature meant nothing. He palmed the needle that he had kept in his pocket for this exact moment. He had three little pieces of satisfaction, as he tended to call the drug. It was his weapon of choice.
When injected into a body it had a similar effect to that which had stunned the others. The body would be immobile but the mind would remain sharp. Eventually, control over one’s limbs would return with immense pain. The recovery from the drug in the needle was slow, uncomfortable, and punishing.
The Doctor considered it, in a word, perfect.
Yet the fact he did not consider was that Jane did not like him. She did not like being a prisoner and she did not like the way he ruled this place. She was not a City woman who was under his thumb or worried for the safety of her family.
She had been born in the sands and the desert. She had existed among sandcats and wild animals that screamed at the twin moons. She had been taken from her family and felt the loss of them already. Her life had been changed as she had been forced to exist underground with monsters that had always haunted her dreams.
