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 The goblin language that originally made them uncomfortable now sounded more like singing.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
