Goblin Tales

By Jaq D Hawkins

Six companion stories to take you adventuring through the goblin caverns, depicted in The Goblin Trilogy by Jaq D Hawkins. Subject to expansion as more stories are added.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Golbin Publishing
• Release date: Jul 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005042875

Jaq D Hawkins

Jaq D Hawkins was originally traditionally published in the Mind, Body, Spirit category, but moved to indie publishing soon after releasing her first Fantasy fiction novel, Dance of the Goblins. She currently has one book on chaos magic in release, The Chaonomicon, and a new, complete volume about Elemental Spirits is to be released July 2018.She currently has five fiction novels released which include the Goblin Series (Dark Fantasy), comprised of Dance of the Goblins, Demoniac Dance and Power of the Dance, and her Steakpunk novel, The Wake of the Dragon (Airship Pirate Adventure) is soon to be followed by a follow-up novel, The Winds of Winter Storms.A science fiction novel called The Chase for Choronzon is in progress, as well as further writings in occult subjects.Jaq lives in England with her family and works on amateur filmmaking when she isn't writing. Most of the time she juggles deadlines between the two. She is a strong advocate of human rights and equality, which is reflected in her Fantasy stories through diversity in central characters.

Book preview

Goblin Tales

by

Jaq D Hawkins

First published in Great Britain September 2022

ISBN 978-100504287-5

Copyright Jaq D Hawkins 2022

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Jaq D Hawkins has asserted the right to be identified as the author of this work under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All Rights Reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners.

Cover Art Credits:

Colour Drawings by Regina Curtis

Graphics Design by Jaq D Hawkins

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment. It is offered for free and may be updated with additional stories over time.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

Special thanks to all of those associated with the Goblin Circle, who continue to support the book and the quest to make the film.

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Please note that I use British spelling throughout. You will see doubled letters (e.g. focussed), ou's (e.g. colour) and ‘re' (centre) as well as a few other differences from American spelling. It's also typical for British writers to use single quotes for speech rather than the double quotes familiar to American writers. They're quite easy to get used to actually.

Those Who Provide

The Glittering Dark

Runner

Le'ina's Sorrow

In Dreams of Gold

To Fulfill A Prophecy

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Those Who Provide

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Nala crouched in readiness, waiting for the signal that all was clear. The comforting darkness of the narrow tunnel, only slightly illuminated with moonlight, enfolded him in the last touch of the refuge of youth before his final initiation into the company of Those Who Provide.

He could almost hear the excitement coursing through his veins as he prepared for his first raid on a human settlement. He had tended the goblin gardens since he had first joined the providers' grotto, long ago. Once he had even been chosen for an excursion to collect the sacred apples, but this new danger thrilled Nala in a way that seemed to electrify the air around him in anticipation.

The lessons in stealth that all young goblins received early in life might well preserve his own life now, not to mention the lives of all of his companions. If just one of them were to be seen by the humans, they would all be hunted down until the last goblin was dead, or until the goblins killed the humans first. Nala shuddered at the thought. He was no fighter. The very thought of bloodshed filled him with distaste. It was one of the reasons he had chosen to join the company of Those Who Provide, as he would find it easy to eat all he wanted of the fruits and vegetables he liked and never again have to touch meat from a dead animal if he chose not to partake of the swine they diverted from the human enclosures.

Nala had to admit to himself that the adventure appealed as well. There was no doubt in his mind, as the tension mounted before the raid, that he had found his true calling. The time he had spent as a runner among the Betweeners, the goblins who lived on the levels just under the surface where sunlight penetrated, would pay off now. The speeds he could reach while delivering messages through the long, human-made tunnels that ran between grottos had improved his ability to run fast. The garden raids he had participated in more recently had developed his familiarity with the changes of light that occurred when one left the caverns into the brightly lit human world, then re-entered the comforting darkness of cavern walls. His eyes could adjust much more quickly now. These experiences had trained him in ways that life as a young goblin in the deep places could never have provided.

The lead scout gave the signal and the small company of goblins emerged into the human-tended crop field, like shadows in the early morning half-light. It was the hour of silence, that short time in the morning when late revelling humans would have at last fallen asleep and early risers were still resisting the song of the birds that was just beginning to pierce the morning stillness.

Unlike most goblins, Those Who Provide had to be aware of the patterns of sun and moon light that had so much effect on the movements of humans. The minimal sounds of half-awake farm creatures beginning to stir would not disturb the sleeping humans. They would even mask any sounds that might escape the footfalls of the creeping goblins. The traps laid for the animals the humans believed raided their gardens were easy to spring. Filling the artfully woven baskets some of the goblins brought with them took little time.

When they had their baskets filled, the goblins returned to the passage to the deep places, the