by Emma Hamm
“But not the others.”
“They do not know you as I do.” She could see Ruric’s jaw clench for a moment as he paused. “We will try to make them understand.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “This has all been because you need someone to create a baby. That’s wrong Ruric.”
“We are dying.” She could hear the fear in his voice as well as the sadness. “It is hard to stand by and watch your race die.”
He had a point. Jane didn’t know what she would do if she knew she was one of the last of her kind. The goblins were such strange creatures to her, but they were at least fighting to keep their species on this planet.
In a way, she felt as though she should be helping them. There was something valiant about the need to continue on in this world, whether it was in the same form or not. The goblins had forgone the attempts to creature full blooded goblins and instead they had settled for hoping their blood could be in the veins of living creatures for just a little while longer.
Their pride had taken a hit in agreeing to that. Jane knew that to offer to give up everything they were, to dilute the bloodlines until there were nearly no goblins left, was a difficult one. Her child wouldn’t be goblin. It wouldn’t be human.
But no matter what, it was likely her child would end up with a human. There were more of them and the numbers couldn’t lie. When that happened, the goblin would disappear even further.
They would die out no matter what they did.
The life inside of her was a chance at existing, even in a small amount, for a longer time than they could now. Neither choices they had were ideal.
“So this has all been about the child?”
“In a way.” Ruric replied. “But I will not let them take you from me.”
“No, I don’t think they will.” She murmured.
The words seemed to draw the tension from Ruric. He sighed heavily and moved to settle his head back in her lap.
Jane’s eyes were glazed for a few moments as she lost herself deep in thought. The butterflies were released once more when her mouth opened again.
“They can’t take me from you. You managed just fine.”
“I like to think so.” He murmured as his eyes closed.
Somehow, he hadn’t understood what she was saying. Jane suspected that there was a part of him that didn’t believe a child between the two of them was possible.
“Ruric.” She said with a short laugh. “You succeeded.”
“We won’t know if I succeeded until we get back home.” He grumbled. “The Council may have words about it, but I come with other humans.”
“You won’t force those other women to be hosts to goblin children. Only if they want to.”
“We don’t even know if they can carry goblin children. Of course I wouldn’t force them when we might not even be compatible.”
“But we are.”
“You don’t know that.” Ruric said firmly.
“I do.”
At that he cracked open an eye to squint at her smiling above him. “What are you going on about?”
“I know for a fact that we are compatible. Humans can carry goblin children.”
Confusion made his brow wrinkled as his tired mind worked in overdrive.
He cleared his throat. “So they tested you for compatibility with me?”
“Sort of.” Jane couldn’t help but grin at him. The butterflies had disappeared into hilarity at the entire situation. She cleared her throat and combed her fingers through his hair once more. “When Luther found me, he was certain that I had gone insane. Talking about goblins and a world underground. So he brought me to Catherine so that she could make sure I was healthy.”
Ruric interrupted, “And you are?”
“Yes, very healthy. But she also found that there was another healthy thing inside me.”
His brows furrowed again and he remained silent.
Exasperated she tossed her hands into the air. “I’m pregnant Ruric. I am carrying your child.”
“What?” He sat straight up then, nearly hitting her chin with his forehead. His eyes were wide and his chest didn’t seem to be moving as he turned to stare at her. “You are?”
She nodded as her eyes watered.
Rather than the excitement she would have expected from him, Ruric remained still as stone. Long heartbeats passed before he shifted so that he could lean forward to touch her face. His fingers ghosted with incredible gentility over the curves of her cheeks and square angle of her jaw.
Jane then noticed that his hands were shaking. His hands continued their journey until they spanned the width of her waist. He lifted her slowly until she was standing before him. Ruric remained on his knees as he slowly leaned forward to press a kiss against her abdomen and then shifted his head until his cheek was pressed against her stomach.
She wasn’t quite certain what he was doing, but appreciated the gentle hug that brought her closer to him.
“Ruric, I hope-”
He shooshed her.
Blinking, Jane stared down at the top of his head.
“What are you-”
Again he made the sound that silenced her.
Then she felt the wide spread of his smile against her belly.
“There you are.” He whispered, loud enough that she could just barely hear him. “Your mother’s heart was so loud I couldn’t quite hear you.”
Once more, tears pricked at her eyes until they rolled down her cheeks. Of course he wasn’t hugging her. He was listening for the heartbeat of their child.
“Ruric.” She murmured.
His hands spasmed on her spine and once more he pressed a kiss against her stomach. “You and this child are a miracle.”
Just when she was about to reply, they both startled at the sound of laughter and shouting from outside the tent. Jane managed to pick out the word “water” multiple times before she pieced it together.
“Shusar and Illyrin have returned.” She said quietly.
“Yes.” He slowly stood, drawing her into his warm arms once more before he tilted his head back and let out a whooping call she had never before heard from the goblins. Long and drawn out, it sounded far more like a howl than anything else.
The laughter immediately silenced. Jane could hear her own heartbeat as she waited for Ruric to explain himself.
Then she heard the whooping return calls that were shorter howls than the one Ruric had let out.
His hand hands clenched around her waist as he propelled her outside the tent and let out another call that had Shusar and Illyrin running.
The humans watched with wide eyes and the goblins charged towards Jane and Ruric. For a moment they all thought they were going to die. Whatever the big scarred goblin had done or said had clearly angered the others. The goblins were going to destroy them all.
Yet as soon as the goblins reached the couple, their reaction startled everyone. Shusar paused before Jane and gently drew her into his arms. Illyrin lifted Ruric from the ground, a feat no one had thought possible before they saw it happen.
The goblins were chattering in their language and Jane understood none of it. But with them she was laughing and crying all the same.
Willow squeezed in between Shusar and Illryin to demand what was happening.
“I’m pregnant.” Jane laughed between tears.
Willow stared at her for a moment before laughing with her. Word traveled quickly and soon even the humans were coming forward to congratulate the couple. They mingled with the goblins and told stories of how they raised their children or how they themselves were raised.
The entire crowd offered advice to both Jane and Ruric. For the time being, the humans discarded their fear of the goblins for excitement of a new life.
Jane was shocked that the humans didn’t seem to be offended that the child would be only half human. The smiles and kind words of the people around her reassured Jane that her child would be welcome in this world.
From the l
ooks of things, they would be well on their way to starting a new world when they finally arrived at the goblin home. She only hoped now that they arrived quickly and without further problems.
That night she spent in Ruric’s arms with his hand pressed against her stomach.
They arrived above the opening to the goblin kingdom just before sunrise. The entire group was covered in sand and dust. Their lips were parched and their muscles were aching. But they had managed, they were here, and that elation spread throughout the group in waves.
There wasn’t much at the end of their journey. The sand still stretched as far as the eye could see and a dune rose above them that revealed stones underneath the sand. What drew all of their eyes was the black shadow of a hole that disappeared into the ground.
A few of the humans began to whisper as fears rose again. Darkness had always been an enemy of humans, and being that close to an opening that howled when the wind passed by it made them all nervous.
But that was the goblins home. They were visibly more relaxed as they started to joke and laugh in their whooping language.
That was something the humans had become accustomed to. The goblin language that originally made them uncomfortable now sounded more like singing. Frequently the humans would comment on the beauty of the sounds the goblins could make. Regardless of how fearsome they were, they did manage to find beauty in the species that was so different than the humans.
The humans would have been even more afraid of that crevice if they weren’t so exhausted. The group laid down their heavy packs in the sands and collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
Jane and Ruric stood together watching as the humans set their packs onto the ground and flopped onto the ground. A few clearly had their own ties to each other. Jane’s eyes caught on a young couple who instantly curled around each other and fell asleep without putting up their tent.
“We made it.” She said quietly, surveying the barren land around the black maw of the crevice.
“Not quite yet.”
Jane looked sharply at Ruric and tried to remain calm. “I already told you Ruric, I’m staying here with them. They need me to help.”
“You need to come back with me and speak to the Queen.”
“Ruric, I-”
Someone cleared their throat and interrupted the conversation between the two lovers. As one, they turned to stare at Frank who was twisting his hands while he stared at them.
He had lost weight on the long journey. Frank had already been a thin reedy man, and now he was even thinner. His gaunt face made his nose appear even longer and his teeth far more prominent. Jane felt guilt in the pit of her stomach start to boil again whenever she saw the state that many of the humans were in.
Frank cleared his throat again as though to draw her eyes back to his face and not the hollows of his ribs. Jane blushed vivid red as she realized she had been staring at him.
“If you don’t mind Jane, would you come with me for a few moments?”
Ruric growled in frustration and opened his mouth to speak. He was silenced by the hand Frank raised. Rarely did Ruric follow that kind of direction, but he had a fondness for the frail human male that had managed to keep talking no matter what happened to him.
“I just want to show her a few things, I won’t keep her too long.” Frank embellished. “I promise.”
As long as she didn’t take too long, Ruric didn’t mind if she wandered. The goblins still had a long journey ahead of them. Though the Underground was familiar to them, they had two injured goblins and dangerous cliffs that could lead to their deaths.
Ruric would only feel more comfortable once he had reported to the Queen, gotten Juo back home, and was lying in his comfortable hammock. His hand reached back to press against his spine. Everything ached and he wanted the comfort of his own home to feel better.
“Go on then.” Ruric growled.
Frank blanched at the tone, but he remained standing. Ruric expected him to faint as the man tended to do whenever Ruric became angry with him. He remained standing and Ruric rewarded him with a wide smile of sharp teeth.
The man started to waver slightly then.
Jane rolled her eyes and reached out to grab onto Frank’s arm. “He’s just teasing. Come show me what you needed to.”
Frank seemed to shake himself and stand straighter as soon as she grabbed onto him. “Of course. Come with me please.”
It was Jane’s hand that was holding him up however. She could feel the shivers that continued to travel through his body. Soon enough he would be too warm, and the precious little water that was still in his system would be expelled as sweat. Perhaps even as tears.
“I should never have brought you all here.” She murmured. “I took you to your death.”
He patted her hand on his arm. “You didn’t bring us anywhere. We chose to leave with you.”
“I shouldn’t have let you.”
“You can’t control us Jane, we make our own choices. We’re adults after all.”
“But-”
He held his hand up again and Jane stared at the long fingers. When had he become so forceful? Jane had always considered him to be a quiet young man who talked whenever he was nervous. But now that they had arrived, Frank seemed to have far more important opinions.
“Look around, Jane.” She followed the line of his hand as he pointed towards the rest of their troop. “What do you see?”
She tried to see what he saw, but all Jane could see was people who had followed her to die. They were all sitting or lying on the ground. All of their faces were turned towards the pink sky on the horizon in silence.
She desperately wanted to think that they were here on their own accord. But there was a part of her that thought she had promised too much. Safety, food, water, that had all been in what she had told them. They had lived in the City their entire life, and she had told them they could continue that easy way of living.
They couldn’t here. The sands would swallow them whole before she returned. The pressure of having to keep them alive was nearly choking her, and yet she would remain. The life inside of her was enough of an incentive for her to attempt to give others the same thing.
If only she could figure out how. She was a simple woman with no schooling in her background. How was she supposed to fix this?
Her response to Frank was after much thought.
“People who followed me here to die.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong.” He said quietly as he took hold of her hand and pulled her towards the others. His hands were surprisingly strong for someone who was so thin.
She was dragged towards one of the women, and Frank had her bend down so that they were on the same level.
“Julie, could you show Jane what you brought in your pack please?”
Julie was only too happy. She opened her back and showed Jane packs of seeds and small green sprouts that were held together by burlap.
“I brought a small garden with me.” She said with a grin. “My boy, Roger, brought enough dirt for these to grow in. We weren’t all that sure if there would be a good place to plant things.”
Jane blinked at her, confused and elated at the same time.
“You brought food?”
“Of course! Couldn’t start a new home without bringing a way for us to stay alive.” The fine lines around Julie’s eyes crinkled in mirth.
“I hadn’t expected…” How hadn’t she known? Jane should have noticed that the two had stayed in other people’s tents. Or should should have been able to expect that these people would have been smart enough to bring what they needed.
Frank looked over at the others and nodded to a man who was watching them closely. Said man instantly stood and walked over to them with his pack gently held against his chest.
“Thought you might want to see these.” The man said as he opened the flap and held out the pack for her to look at.
Inside were fuzzy bodies that instantly looked up at her and s
tarted chirping. They were piled high on each other, but Jane estimated that there were at least twenty babies in that pack.
“Chickens.” She said in a stunned tone.
“They’ll grow up quick and they eat anything.” The man explained before closing the pack and wandering back to his spot.
Frank placed a hand on Jane’s knee and smiled at her. “We’ve got carpenters, architects, and doctors with us. We’ll be able to set up camp wherever we are can keep ourselves alive from here.”
“But the sandcats-”
“And we have a couple guards as well. Weapons were plenty in the City. We took a few of those as well.”
She was floored. These people didn’t need her help after all. Perhaps they had never needed anything but an opportunity to disappear from their home that they had so clearly hated. She was happy for them, but there was also a part of her that was disappointed.
Jane wasn’t the person they had needed after all. She couldn’t help them because they didn’t need help. They were going to be just fine on her own.
“Then why didn’t you say something before hand?”
“We were saving our breath.” Frank said with a laugh.
“So you don’t need anything from me?”
“We like you.” Frank was quick to reassure her. “And you have helped us in so many ways. We’d love to have you stay with us and provide as much information about the goblins as possible. You know more than any of us.”
Jane cocked an eyebrow at him. “Are you trying to tell me that if I left, you would be alright?”
“Yes.” He at least had the decency to blush.
“Ah.”
“It’s not that we don’t want you here. Don’t take this the wrong way please, but I couldn’t help but overhear what you and Ruric were saying. You need to do what is right in this situation. If you want to return home, with the baby on the way, you should.”
“You still need to have some sort of alliance with the goblins.”
“We would like to, yes. But we understand that may take some time.”
