The next day dawned bright and early. No one had said anything to Arianna. She woke early, hearing the groans of the other girls in her group. She was on the bottom bunk of the furthest bed. A tall blond was her bedmate. She had groggily introduced herself as Gemma, the night before. As they slowly shuffled into a line Arianna couldn’t stop herself looking up at Gemma. She had never seen a girl her age so tall.

           “Haven’t seen an Undorian before?” Gemma asked.

           “No, I don’t mean to stare. What’s an Undorian?” Arianna said with a smile.

           Gemma grinned, but before she could answer Lt. Pateer appeared.

           “The new girl will take lead.” Lt. Pateer said.

           “Linnie, you’ll pike in first and she’ll haul it out. Gemma you’ll back up with Doro.”

           Lt. Pateer continued down the names creating five teams of two. Arianna still didn’t know what to do and it showed on her face.

           The tall Undorian nudged her shoulder, “Come on, it’s time to go.”

           They walked quietly from their bunk down a dirt path. The air seemed so dry. Arianna licked her lips and touched her stomach as it growled in hunger. She wondered when she would get something to eat. She and her mother had often worked together to make a simple breakfast of oats and honey. Thinking of her mother brought tears to her eyes and she quickly wiped them away.

           “So where are you from?” A girl who had introduced herself as Linnie asked. She didn’t tower over her like the other girls did. Linnie’s short curly hair had been covered by a band of red cloth and when she talked Arianna noticed wide gaps, where teeth had fallen out.

           “The village of Fairedge.” Arianna spoke quietly. “And you?”

           “I’m from here. My mom sold me to the Miner’s Guild.”

           “Sold you!” Arianna could not keep from gasping.

           “Quiet girls. You wake up the generals and you’ll be in for trouble.”

           Arianna walked silently behind Linnie while she wondered where the others had all come from.

           The passed the last tent and arrived at a wide flat area. Wooden structures were spaced unevenly around the land. Tracks made lazy circles in and out of the structures. In the center a large cave pulled itself out of the ground like a giant creature yawning. Arianna had never seen so many people moving around before.

           Giant wagons moved black and silver lumps along the tracks. Men, women and children scurried around. Their faces black from the dirt of the mine. Pateer took them to a large tent near the cave.

           “Group 4 ready for gear.”

           The man grunted and handed her five picks and five buckets. He also handed ten small cloth bolts. Pateer turned around and handed them out. Arianna looked down at the bucket in her hands. Pateer herded them away from the tent and into the mine.

           Arianna shivered at the chill clamminess that touched her skin. She coughed slightly at the mustiness in the air. The mine entrance was wide but slowly slopped down. They moved deeper in and Arianna saw several tables and lamps in a wide cavern.

Sounds of clanks and chips echoed around her. She saw several black holes staring at her from different angles of the room. She stopped and stared as she watched people crawling in and out of the passages.

           Fear tightened into a ball in the pit of her stomach. She turned to see a couple of her group mates smirking at her. Arianna straightened her shoulders and tried not to look as scared as she felt.

           “Let’s go.” Linnie grabbed her arms and headed toward a passage on the side of the wall. Pateer followed them and stood outside the passage.

           “I want to see some good numbers today, remember there is a good vein in here and if we find it I’ll make sure you all get extra rations.”

           Linnie stepped inside and Arianna followed her closely. The walls were close to her skin and she shivered but not from the chill… She lifted her hand above her head and felt the top of the passage. She turned to see that Gemma frequently had to duck so that her head was not rubbing on the top. Gemma also carried a wooden beam with her pick.

           “What’s the wood for?”

           “To give us support if we need it.” She said and hefted it to her other arm.

           “Oh… support from what?”

           “What do you think?” the girl behind Arianna sneered. “In case the walls collapse.” Arianna recalled her name as Sorsa.

           Arianna tripped over a loose rock and brought her hand against the wall to keep herself from falling. Loose dirt covered her hand and she moaned.

           “You’re not going to be sick are you?” Sorsa said “Cause I don’t want to be behind you if you are.”

           “I’m not going to be sick.”

           “Leave her be Sorsa, you cried on your first day.”

           Linnie turned slightly and held the lantern up to look at everyone behind her.

           “We are almost where we ended yesterday. Light the other lanterns.”

           Suddenly four more lanterns lit up and Arianna breathed in relief.

           “I don’t know what to do, Linnie.”

           Linne looked at her quickly. “You’ll figure it out. I pick, you gather any lumps of ore or prisms and carry it out.”

           Arianna looked at the bucket in her hands. Empty it looked large enough to carry a chicken or at least a good sized bag of flour. Linnie went to the point of the passage and began swinging the pick. The others spaced out two teams on each wall slowly picking their own spaces. Arianna held the lantern. The girls had taken the cloth out of their pockets and tied them around their faces. Arianna quickly grabbed hers and did the same.

Arianna had filled the bucket full of lumps and carried it out of the passage to a large wagon and dumped it. She moved slowly back into the passage. A man with a shovel and smaller wagon would come into the passage with a pail of water. He would give them a sip and scoop up much of the large dirt that piled around them. Arianna had learned that it was the way they could keep moving forward in the mine… but if ore or a mineral lump was found in the discard dirt, they would be punished by half rations at lunch. The ore was sent directly to the Miner’s Guild in Tuleth. There it would be cleaned and used for armor and weaponry and engineering. The guild would also ship raw ore to other cities in the empire of Rystria. Crystilline prisms were much rarer than the ore, and much more valuable.

           The prisms would be sent to the Mage’s guild in Tuleth. There the crystal callers would call to the raw power of the prism. That power could be unleashed and used. Arianna didn’t understand how sparkling rocks could have power or how it could be used. After several trips to the wagon her arms began to ache and her fingers had started to bleed. She thought little of anything else. Digging through the loose soil at Linnie’s feet for lumps was harder than it sounded.

           Finally Pateer came in and told them to break. They all lowered their materials and put them on the ground, each received a wedge of cheese, a large hunk of bread and a strip of dried beef. Then they were given a large flask of water to share. The beef was salty but it felt good to her sore throat.

           Pateer left them to eat and went to inspect what they had gathered so far.

           “How long have you been here?” Arianna asked Linnie who was sitting next to her chewing loudly.

           “I don’t know.” Linnie said

           “You aren’t gonna last long.” The chubby girl sitting next to Linne said suddenly, looking at Arianna.

           “What do you mean?” Arianna asked her.

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           “You aren’t gonna make it. I’ve seen em like you. I give you another seven day. You don’t know anything of anything.” The chubby girl still held the cheese wedge in her hand. She pointed at Arianna with it and then shoved it in her mouth. Her cheeks bulging out like a squirrel storing for the winter.

           Arianna turned to her side and ignored the minor chatting of the others.

           “Just ignore Chiala. She doesn’t like anyone new.” Gemma said quietly.

           “I don’t want to be here.”

           “None of us do. Why are you here?” Gemma asked.

           “Family debt.”

           “Ahhhh,” Gemma nodded and chewed silently. She grabbed the water flask from Chiala.

           “Hey!” Chiala cried out.

           “Shut up.” Gemma took a swallow and handed the flask to Arianna.

           “Thanks,” Arianna smiled and took a long drink. “So why are you here.” She passed the flask on to Linnie.

           “Ah, well… that’s a funny story, one best for later.” Gemma stood as Pateer entered the passage.

           “Breaks over girls, time to get busy.”

           Arianna’s hands clenched when she grabbed the handle of the bucket. The sharp cramp in her hand made her bite her lip.

           They worked until the lanterns started to flicker. Only when the first lantern puttered to an end did they stop. Arianna’s arms hung limply by her side. Blisters had formed and broken on the palms of her hand.

           Gemma picked up her hand and looked at it.

           “Pateer has some oil you can rub on your palm to help with the blisters.”

           “What’s the point? Isn’t this my punishment?” Arianna’s voice dripped with self-pity.

           “Hah! If you think this is punishment you probably won’t make it!” Gemma chuckled to herself and continued on.

           Arianna sniffed and straightened her shoulders. She would make it. She would serve her time and then she would laugh as she left them to rot in the mine. A twinge of guilt pierced her gut. Then she shook it aside. She quickly caught up to the others and followed them back to their bunker house. They passed two other groups on their way back. One group was of young men. One in particular was very small and smiled at Arianna as she walked by. Arianna sniffed at the smell of roasting meat.

           “Line up.” Pateer lined them up along the wall. They stood looking out into the room. “You call what you did today work? Not even half of quota. Tomorrow there will be no lunch break.” She slapped her hand on the table. “Get out of here.”

           The girls quickly left and headed for the dinner hall.

           “She’s actually one of the nicest lt’s. You are lucky to be with us.” Arianna turned to look up to the girl walking next to her. This one was very thin with long hands that ended in blue tipped nails. “My name is Revin. Pateer spent several years here working just like us. That’s why she is nice to us.”

           The smells from the dinner tent lulled them all to silence. They quickly got into line. The group of boys that they had passed was in line in front of them.

           “Hi!” A young voice piped up in front of her.

           “Hi!” Arianna couldn’t help but respond.

           “My name is Twiddle. Who are you?” He shifted from leg to leg. His hand fingered at his vest.

           “My name is Arianna.”

           “You guys work in the passage near mine. I heard your group talking today.”

           “I didn’t hear anything from the other passages.”

           “Nah, you wouldn’t. I was scouting a narrow strip. Just went by yours.” He was the only person she had met that was shorter than she was. At first glance he seemed younger than her. Yet the more she looked at him the more she wondered. The line moved forward and Twiddle spun around and darted between two or three people to wedge his way closer to the front of the line.

           She was handed a hunk of bread and a bowl. Someone dumped a ladle full of meaty stew into her bowl and pushed her on. She waited for Gemma to get through the line.

           “Best to sit over here.” Gemma led the way to a narrow table in the corner of the room. The sound of a hundred voices turned into a soft buzzing noise.

           “So, why are you here?” Arianna could not stop from gulping a heaping spoonful of stew.

           “Well… I’m an Undorian, like I told you. My father was a clan chief. My brother Gregor is the youngest son.” She paused to take a bite of bread. She continued to speak while little bits of bread fell out of her mouth. “My brother wanted to be given a “sign of respect”. My older brother said he wasn’t ready. Gregor felt it was time he left the clan and doing something worthy of respect. I went with him and we ended up in a tavern and after my brother had too much ale he ended up getting into a little bit of a fight and doing some damage. The punishment was that we both work the mines.”

           When Gemma was done with her story she nodded her head toward the next table. Arianna turned to see a large boy sitting at the edge of the table next to them. He had the same short blond hair as Gemma. His green eyes twinkled with a touch of laughter. He had heard everything Gemma said.

           “It was your fault Gregor.”

           “You always blame me Gem” He flexed his arm and Arianna watched the muscle contract.

           “Because it’s always you.”

           “If he was the one to get in a fight why did they send you here too?”

           Gemma smirked a little, “I couldn’t let him have all the fun.”

           The evening cooled off quickly and Arianna began to get drowsy. A bell rang out over the tent.

           “Time to go.” Gemma raised her arm to her brother. He grabbed her hand and squeezed.

           “Gregor doesn’t seem like a trouble maker.”

           “He never does. That’s why he always ends up in trouble.”       

           Arianna laughed and she felt momentarily better.

           She fell into her bed and barely noticed the dust that fell from her clothes to coat the sheets. She had barely closed her eyes when she was shaken awake by Pateer.

           Arianna groaned. “I just fell asleep.”

           “The first night is the shortest.” Linnie spoke up from her bed.

           “Only for those who can’t handle it.” Chiala looked at Arianna.

           “Good morning to you too, Chiala.” Arianna cupped some water out of the morning water barrel.

           Gemma walked over and also took a sip. Arianna looked up at her and noticed the dirt streaks on her face.

           “Do we get to bathe?”

           “Once a seven day, if you would call it bathing.”

           Arianna’s nose crinkled at a whiff from her friend.

           “How long has it been for you?”

           “What do you mean by that?” Gemma frowned and sniffed her underarm. “You get used to it.”

           The day continued much like the previous and the days slowly melded into one long, never-ending day. She woke up, worked in the mine on rotating teams. Ate, slept and then started over again. After two seven days had passed the only thing that had changed was that every day Chiala and Sorsa seemed to develop a greater taste for tormenting her, and she and Gemma had developed a strong friendship.

One morning they stepped outside and bells rang out across the encampment.

           “Back to your bunker!” Pateer yelled out to them as she ran by.

           They quickly turned and ran back in side. They waited for several moments for someone to come. Minutes turned to hours and they waited. A sudden scuffling at the door drew all their attention. Twiddle stepped inside and turned around.

           “Twiddle, what are you doing here?”

           “I have to find out what’s going on!” He sped over to the table and pushed at it. “Come on,” he motioned toward Gemma and Arianna.   

           Arianna stepped over and frowned at him.

           “What are you doing?”

           He pointed up to the small window on the wall. “You face the command tent. I want to see who is here.”

           “You’ll get us all in trouble.” Sorsa paced against the back wall.

           “No, I won’t. Everyone is at the command tent.”

           “What are you even doing out of your bunker, Twiddle. Didn’t they lock the door?” One of the others, Kada, asked.

           “Yes,” He huffed as he finished pushing the table against the wall with Gemma’s help. He jumped on top of the table and then jumped again, his hands barely grabbing onto the bottom of the window ledge. He pulled himself up enough to peer out the window.

           “Well… what do you see?”