The Goblin Bride (Beneath Sands Book 1)

come find you.”
  She didn’t start working again until she couldn’t hear Simon’s footsteps anymore. Now that she was alone she was starting to get nervous again. There were echoes of other people working, but in this moment she felt very isolated.
  The mines had a way of doing that to people. The longer one was down here the sooner one realized that the mines were a world of their own. There was no sand, no sweltering heat to blister your shoulders. Nothing here made sense, at least not compared to the world they were used to. Cool stone, slick walls, and hidden gemstones that only the rich wanted. Whatever the reason for it, she didn’t understand.
  It was likely the back breaking work would be the death of her. Every strike made her arms ache, every hit made her head ring. Jane was glad to have this be the last day of work. One last day and her family would be free from this hell hole. She would be able to live in a house with a floor. Her sister could get an education. Luther could do anything that he wanted now…
  Another hard strike had a large chunk of stone falling away from the wall. It was her biggest piece yet. Impressed with herself, she balanced the ax against the wall for a second to give her arms a rest. It was in this moment that her light flickered over the exposed stone.
  There in the depths of black she had been so used to, was a light.
  Jane squinted her eyes, narrowing them against the bright reflection.
  “What in the world?” She muttered.
  There wasn’t enough light to see it clearly, so she took off her helmet to hold it closer. Imbedded in the stone was something unlike she had ever seen. Every color and more that she had never seen swirled in the depths of the stone. If she hadn’t had her wits about her, Jane would have sworn that the colors were moving inside of it. It was like looking into pool of water that oil had been spilled upon. She was captivated by the colors.
  So this was what the rich and famous had them working for. She was breaking her back for a pretty bauble. True the stone was impressive, but really it was still just a rock. Why then could she not take her eyes off of the colors?
  It was fascinating, eye catching for sure, and large. Her eyes widened as she realized that she hadn’t uncovered the entire stone. There was so much more of it there. She leaned down to grab her axe, one hand holding her helmet up and the other scrabbling blindly at the floor. If she could knock off the rest of the stone that gem could fit into the straps that bound her breasts. This would bring them more than enough money to get to the City. They might even have enough to put a small down payment on a little apartment.
  She heard the sound then.
 She would not have heard it at all if she hadn’t already been on edge. The slight echo of a stone falling behind her, each strike against the ground sounding as loud as a gong in her ears. Stones didn’t fall like that. If it fell from the wall it bounced once, maybe twice in quick succession. They did not rattle as though someone had accidently disturbed them.
 Frozen in fear, Jane stared at the gemstone in front of her. Was this really worth it? Was the danger of being down here worth the money this rock could bring? Surely there wasn’t anything so spectacular, so important, about these things that made the City put hundreds of people in danger down here in these mines.
 She turned quickly, the light from the helmet in her hand flashing upon the most hideous creature she had ever seen in her life.
 Men were horribly scarred sometimes from the mines. A flash of hot air from the punctured stone could burn the flesh nearly off of a body. Jane had seen men come back with mangled limbs, broken bones, bloodied bodies and ruined strength. Yet even those horrific sights had not prepared her for the monster that stood before her.
 It was humanoid in appearance. It stood on two legs, had two arms, two eyes, ribs showing through a thin chest. Yet this was the only similarity to herself that she could find. Its skin was lighter than hers, yet had a sickly green tone that on a human would have been rot. A slightly upturned nose marred a deceptively human face. Its shaved head revealed bat like ears, the whorls and pointed tips startling.
 But it was the eyes that terrified her most. She had only seen a flash of them before it had backed away from the light in her hand. But she had not seen any whites in those eyes. Just pure black staring straight into her soul.
 She was backed against the stone with no where to go. She could not run. But Jane could open her mouth and scream so loudly she feared that the tunnels would cave in around them.
 The creature raised clawed hands to its ears, flinching back for a moment before opening those darkened eyes once more. It hissed at her, mouth opening wide to reveal sharpened teeth that could have cut into her in a moment.
 She wanted to stumble back. Wanted to hide so that perhaps she would have a chance to live. But Jane was cornered in this tunnel. Her spine pressed against the stones so hard she drew blood. The warmth spread down her spine in small rivulets from holes punctured by sharp edges.
 They say your life flashes before your eyes just as you die. Jane wasn’t thinking of her life. She was thinking of the future without her. Of her brother and sister who would have to fend for themselves. Of her mother and father who would have been so disappointed to know that she had