The Goblin Warrior
Emma E Hamm
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Thank you
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Emma Hamm
All rights reserved.
I thanked my family in the first one, but I’ll always thank them again and again. Thank you mother, father, family, friends for your belief in me. I know I’ve annoyed the lot of you more than enough with my constant prattle about characters that don’t exist and a world that I made up entirely.
Your thoughts and time will always be appreciated.
1
Goblins struggled out of the mouth of the mine. Their skin was streaked with dirt and exhaustion bowed their strong backs. They had been working in the mines after their human slaves had attempted to escape. The humans had not succeeded. What had been an attempt at freedom, had turned into a massacre. Blood had streaked the caves for days afterwards as the goblins removed all traces of rebellion from their home.
Now, the goblins had to pick up the work without the strong human bodies to swing the axes for them.
They were not happy about this change. The goblins had used others to complete the back breaking work for many years now. Humans were more capable of manual labor than goblins. They had no curved nails that got in the way. They had no delicate ears that would bleed when the ringing strikes against the stones grew too loud.
For a goblin, this kind of work was the utmost low. Mining was where they had once come from, but they had evolved past that. They were meant to be artisans now. They spun silk out of spider webs. They decorated their caves with vibrant colors and bright things.
Goblins were not meant to be returning home with bleeding ears and hands.
“They cannot keep this up much longer.” an elderly man said to a tall goblin.
The pair were a strange sight. The curved spine of a pale old human clothed in bright robes standing equally next to a proud warrior covered in furs and leather strappings. An odder pair could not be found beneath the ground, save perhaps the goblin and his wife.
“I understand that Micah.” The goblin sounded tired as he spoke.
“You need another raid.” Micah struck his cane hard against the ground. “You should have had another raid the moment the others died.”
“I am walking on eggshells as it is old man. A raid would be foolish when the relationship between human and goblin is so delicate.”
He did not see the old man roll his eyes.
“There is no relationship between human and goblin. The humans don’t know the goblins exist. Unless, of course, you are referring to your wife. I take it she’s still not speaking to you?”
Ruric ran his fingers through his hair, snagging on a few tangles that had yet to be worked out. Jane usually would tame the snarls from his hair. She would have tamed the snarls that came from him as well. His wife withdrawing from his arms had only made Ruric even more irritable. “Not in the slightest. I am convinced she has turned to stone.”
He couldn’t blame her that though. The rebellion against the humans had been bloody, and Jane had been in the center of it. Though she refused to admit that she had something to do with it, Ruric knew better.
The other goblins wanted justice. It didn’t matter who they blamed. Jane had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whether she had wanted to hurt them or not, she had been a human standing at the root of death and destruction.
He had thought about the angry words she had thrown at him. Jane had been adamant she hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone. Ruric would admit, he never thought she would have harmed the goblins. Her fascination with their world had borderlined on love. Perhaps he had been projecting his own desire for her to feel those emotions. Whatever fondness his wife had felt, now was certainly swallowed in anger as she realized what he had done to her.
There had been a tentative truce for a while when Jane had been unaware of what the collar around her throat had meant. She had been meek as she apologized time and again. She continued to insist that she did not have anything to do with the rebellion. The goblins were not as certain that she didn’t. Some even came forward to say that they had seen her in the crowd as Ruric had executed a few of the weaker slaves. Surely that was enough reason for her to set the others free? Ruric didn’t know who to believe.
Regardless of what she claimed, the skirmish had nearly resulted in both she and Ruric dying and retribution was a large part of their society. Seventeen of their own had died and they were lucky it was not more.
The goblins were still a little sore when it came to the subject.
“Ah the enjoyments of having a wife.” Micah said quietly as he stared at the goblins disappearing into the tunnels towards their homes. “I miss it.”
Ruric shook his head. “I always knew you were insane. I just did not know how much.”
“It’s a good thing to argue every now and then.” Micah said as they both turned to follow the others. The cave widened as they drew closer to their home. The blue glow at the end of the tunnel grew brighter as the bioluminescent algae that covered the stones were touched. Each goblin that passed the stones left blue streaks as their hands trailed along the walls.
Micah looked up at the face of the large goblin next to him, and snorted at the disgruntled look he saw there. “It’ll get it out of her
