The Goblin Bride (Beneath Sands Book 1)

the ground and at least a little warm.
His hands were back in the pack now, rummaging until he pulled out something that looked as though it was wrapped in bark.
Her brows furrowed as she looked at him in confusion. He handed the bundle to her which she realized were reeds covering the food. Each one had been painstakingly cut in half so that it could be used as lashing.
“What is this?”
By the time she looked up, he was miming bringing something up to his mouth.
“Food?”
That made her nervous. In all the stories goblins were flesh eaters. And while that meant that perhaps he had gotten some kind of cattle beef, it was more likely that this was going to be something she had never seen or heard of before. It made her stomach roll just thinking that she might open this up to see an arm of one of the miners she had come down here with.
Gulping hard, she unraveled the reeds to reveal a strangely shaped fish.
It wasn’t as bad as she had expected. Jane was relieved that at least for the time being she wasn’t going to be eating someone that she knew. That thought wasn’t going to be tossed out of her head though. At some point, she very well might have to do that.
“Eat.” Ruric said quietly from where he sat.
“It’s rude to watch people eat,” she quipped.
Her stomach clenched hard as she remembered she hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. She didn’t let herself think that the fish was still raw nor did she let herself think about the pale pasty color it was. If it was half rotten she would have eaten it just to keep her strength.
Still she paused, looking at him for a moment.
“Are you going to eat?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He didn’t answer. It was good enough reason for her to dig in, even though she wasn’t expecting the best.
It was far from half rotten. Sweet against her tongue, she was surprised at how it didn’t taste like any of the fish she had eaten Above. Those had been dried so that they would last the trip across the sands this was… different.
She had expected it to be slimy, and while it slightly was, it was also smooth against it tongue. Easy to swallow. She had eaten a little more than half before she knew it and her stomach finally stopped complaining.
She took this moment to watch him, her eyes tracing the large bulk of his shoulder and inhuman movements.
Ruric had taken out that strange bit of crystal once again, his clawed fingers moving surprisingly well as he chipped away pieces. Jane didn’t know if she would ever get used to those sharp blades that were attached to him. He could tear her apart with just a touch and yet he always seemed to be so gentle with them. The fact that he could carve without scratching the crystal was a testament to his control.
“Where did you learn to speak my language?” She asked quietly.
He didn’t look up from his carving. “Micah.”
Now that there was more light she could see that every word he said forced his throat to bob. His lips struggled to form the sounds over teeth that were pointed.
“You understand it very well don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Is it hard for you to speak it because of your teeth?”
His tongue traced over the points. “Yes.”
“Is that why you don’t say full sentences?”
“Some.”
“Some.” She repeated quietly, narrowing her eyes as she picked at a few pieces of the fish. “Does that mean it’s part of the reason why you don’t?”
He grumbled, the sound familiar enough to her now to know that it was an affirmation of what she was saying.
“Your language is very different from mine.”
“Yes.” The word was accompanied with the strange warbling laugh that the goblins seemed to have. It made shivers travel up her spine.
“Could I learn to speak it?”
She wasn’t going to be here long enough to learn it, not if she had her way. But Jane also understood that it would probably be good to understand at least a few words. She could use that to assist in her escape.
“No.”
She blinked in surprise at him.
“No?”
“No.” He repeated once more.
“Why not?”
“Hard.”
“Hard to teach me or hard to speak?” She asked. Her voice had risen in frustration until she saw him wince. She remembered then the younger goblin from the tunnel, the one whose ears had bleed when she had screamed.
“Both.”
“I’m sorry I’ll try to keep my voice down.” She said quieter. “Why is it hard for both?”
He leaned forward slightly, turning the crystal in his hand as his mouth formed the words before saying them. “Words. Hard. Human.”
“They would be difficult for me to say?”
He nodded.
She leaned back, one arm bracing herself against the end of the seat and the other holding the fish still in her lap. “Could I understand it at least?”
His hand raised, flattened, and rocked back and forth in the air.
“Sort of?” She asked in response.
“Sort of.”
It was a start. He couldn’t speak very easily it seemed, though she had hopes that with enough practice perhaps he could start stringing together words easier.
“Why sort of?”
“Sound.”
That gave her pause. What in the world could he mean by sound? Eventually though she snapped her fingers, the sound echoing in the cave. She leaned forward animatedly.
“Can I not hear some of what you say?”
He seemed to avert his eyes from her but made that affirmative grumble. So she couldn’t hear some of what they said. That certainly posed a problem.
“How does Micah converse with you then?”
He pointed at his ear and shrugged. “Metal.”
“He has metal in his head?”
“No. Ear.”
He had a hearing aid. Jane had heard of those before. People in the city lived considerably longer than those that worked outside the mines. They aged to a point where their hearing sometimes became poor and there was supposedly a technology that could be placed inside the ear so that these people could hear once more. Jane had never seen it before,