“Those bastards got fresh meat,” Heras grumbled.
They watched as the outpost clearing group got portions of freshly roasted meat to get them ready for the battle ahead, courtesy of some noble guy in Shina.
“That’s the final request’s meal,” Moswen waved away.
“Where is our meat then?” Theos huffed out as he raised the bucket out, pouring the water into the washing basin. He washed his hands and face and tried to wash out whatever sand was in his messy hair, realizing that he had little chance of success.
“The shade was killed, right?” Na’heb asked, unsure. No one replied “Right?”
“Yes,” Moswen replied.
“Do we even believe a new squad about their shade-slaying claims?” Heras asked.
“Does it matter?” Moswen retorted. “Consider it alive. It will make you a better guard – a living one – at least.”
“At least we won’t have to stand in the sun today,” Theos sighed in relief as the cool water took some of the sun’s edge off. Being a morning guard in the scorching desert's sun was.
“I don’t know,” Na’heb grumbled, “sun, shade, sun, shade. Don’t think it’s hard to choose.”
“Shade shade or the shade monster?” Heras grinned.
“You know well which one I meant.”
“Alright,” Moswen stretched, “you guys ready?”
“Trick question,” Heras answered, “No one is ever ready for mine duty, and why does it have to be us?”
“Because the new guys are going to the outpost,” Moswen shrugged.
“Still don’t know which is worse,” Theos said as he filled a small waterskin. “Fighting master ghouls or shades.”
Although it was somewhat poetic, Theos mused, that the people who hid ghoul bodies that could be reanimated by the masters were the same ones that would have to fight them a day later.
“Go and grab the gear from the armory,” Moswen ignored the comment and continued, “make sure you don’t have anything valuable on you during the inspection,” he grinned.
As if they owned anything of value in here, Theos scoffed.
“Question,” Heras raised his palm, “do we get to keep shinies?”
“Only if you want to be strapped and whipped,” Moswen pointed toward the mine’s entrance. “They are tightening the checkups.”
“What if I don’t get caught?” he waggled his eyebrows.
“Then we get a share out of your shiny,” Moswen waggled his eyebrows back. “Or we snitch.”
“Ah, so you-”
Theos walked away, leaving them to their pickering. He moved from the compound of tents towards the small collection of sandstone buildings, the command, the armory, and the treasury.
He never got to see the command, but it wouldn’t be that different from the other buildings, he thought. Barren with the bare minimum of furniture.
“Name?”
“Theos,” he replied to the stern old man, not a chatty fellow, he found out when he joined. “Of the Rus.”
“Right,” the man grumbled as he pulled parchments within parchments. “The bastard.
It did not make Theos flinch anymore to be called that outright by the brash man. He learned it was how he just puts people in his mind. One eyed thief. The walking brothel. The bastard.
He understood. It did not make him any more endearing to him.
The people who were laughing deeper in the armory, however… lazy idlers.
“Mine duty?” the old man frowned while looking at the paper. “Reassigned squad? Strange. But-” he shuffled the parchments around. “Yes, here. Reassignment. Requested.”
Requested, Theos hummed as the man went through the seemingly unorganized papers like they had some strange sorting system to them that he couldn’t figure out. Being requested means only one thing…
“One shard lantern,” the man raised his voice – and interrupted his thoughts – to address the guys idling inside. “You will not be given any more shards, only the squad leader will be given those to be distributed at his discretion.”
Theos nodded.
“Do you need a new weapon?” the old man pointed at his broken dagger.
“Nah,” Theos patted the half-weapon. “Family heirloom.”
“Sure,” the man grumbled, probably adding the ‘bastard’ to ‘family heirloom’ and figuring out the lie. Theos sure as the sun was bright today wasn’t going to pay three quarters of his incoming payment to get some subpar cast khopesh.
“Lanterns are to be returned,” the old man grabbed the metallic object with both hands before placing it on the table. “Any damage to the lantern will be deducted from your pay, and these things are expensive even without a shard inside.”
“I bet…” Theos said as he grabbed the lantern by a circular handle on the top. “Everything is cut out of our pay here. The extra arrows, the lanterns, the extra food.”
“The parchments and ink,” the old man scoffed.
“Missing inventory!” the guy who brought the lantern shouted to the cheers and laughter of the others.
“Quiet!” the old man raised his voice. “The lantern will be expected to be in the armory before the night is gone, otherwise…” he did the ‘pay up’ gesture.
“Sure,” Theos raised the lantern and examined it. He could not figure out if it was disfigured or something. Hopefully, it wasn’t damaged by these guys and blamed on him.
“In the unfortunate case you meet your demise by the many – but not limited to – mine hazards of shades, cave-ins, getting stabbed by a maddened miner-”
“Yes, yes,” Theos walked out, “I know the drill. I pay.”
“Very well then,” the old man returned to writing things and being grumpy as Theos left.
Theos watched his squad approaching – still arguing – and locked his eyes on Moswen, he wondered…
Was he the one who requested they should be assigned to the mines?
-
“You insult my honor,” Heras held his dagger, tip pointed at Theos who pulled out his own.
“Never knew you had any,” he smirked as they circled each other.
Heras jumped in so quickly, starting with an under slash that would’ve cut him in the chest. Theos didn’t step back, learning from their last bout. He moved in and put his dagger in the way, pushing as hard as he could as the two weapons collided.
Wood on wood, because Theos had half a dagger for a weapon. Heras followed up with a few swings, wide enough that he could see and parry them. He dodged the last swing as it came in an upward slash.
And that became his first mistake.
The punch came as soon as he stepped back, with Heras pushing in harder than before, and he nearly dodged it, but not the knee that followed as the distance between them became nonexistent. The strike landed on his stomach and it made him collapse almost instantly, heaving.
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“Honor regained,” Heras placed the blade on his throat. “Again.”
Theos struggled to breathe but looked up to see a grinning Heras.
“Just calm down,” Heras leaned and patted him on the back. “Breathe slower.”
Theos nodded and coughed out. His lungs felt like they were constricted by a sand python, but the feeling was easing off.
“I don’t know why you insist on fighting Heras,” Na’heb shook his head.
“Because I’m the only one who can teach him anything about fighting,” Heras pulled him up to his feet and helped him to the shade of the stone wall before letting him slide on the wall and into the ground.
“I can totally fight,” Na’heb protested.
“You are huge bodied,” Heras patted him on his pot belly. “You don’t need to know how to fight with these idiots, just how to land a hit.”
“Those are dangerous words,” Na’heb narrowed his eyes.
“Want to test them out?”
“Eh,” he shrugged, “not really.”
Theos watched the exchange and tried to calm down and take slower breaths. At least he didn’t feel like he was dying now. “I’d appreciate it if you-” he coughed out, “if you don’t do that again.”
“Ah,” Heras turned. “But that is how one fights!”
Theos gave him a look but decided to not speak, for now.
“And if you knew how to fight properly, you wouldn’t have lost your blade in a ghoul, and fought me with this…” he held Theos’ wooden sheath dagger in his hands. He looked at his sash and found the weapon missing. “Yeah, you need to learn how to not get robbed, too,” he added before tossing the weapon his way.
It was lighter, without the entire blade that was inside it.
“You should get a new weapon,” Na’heb helpfully pointed out the obvious.
“Yeah,” Theos cleared his throat. He wanted to add the family heirloom thing in, but he was threatened by another coughing fit.
“Alright,” Heras stretched. “Now to wait until it’s mining time.”
They rested on the walls for a bit, and he soon found himself relaxed enough that he could stand and start a conversation again.
“Do any of you guys have an urgent need for money?” Theos asked, leaning back on the wall to get the most out of the shade it provided this close to noon.
Na’heb raised his hand. “If you are offering!”
Theos smiled, remembering how many quivers of arrows he had wasted. Nearly three pieces of silver in worth. “Would you do a mine job for it, though?”
Na’heb lowered his hand just as quickly as he raised it. Not much to think about there. “I refused to go down the slope for a chest of gold,” he nodded sagely.
Theos turned to Heras who was busy picking under his nails with his dagger. It took a while before he noticed them looking. “Oh, no, not really. I’d want more spending money to celebrate after I’m out, but nothing so urgent to go to the mines.”
He hummed as he considered. “Do you think Moswen volunteered us on purpose?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Heras blew on his fingers. “He needs to be paid at least twice as much to get his dowry ready. And with the Astral thing…” he finished with a shrug.
“He doesn’t want to return here for three more times, or more,” Theos concluded.
“Don’t blame him,” Na’heb yawned. “But that would only work if he managed to get something out-”
Theos and Heras jumped to shush him at the same time. One did not get whipped just by smuggling things out of the mines, suggesting that someone was entertaining the idea was a crime enough. He nodded after a bit and Theos returned to his spot.
“He could’ve asked us,” Theos spoke in a soft voice as a group of outpost guards walked near them.
“Would it matter?” Heras put the dagger back into its sheath.
Both he and Na’heb responded at the same time. “Yes.”
“We are either in the mines,” Heras pointed, “or the outpost clearance.”
That was true. But he would’ve liked the choice, at least.
“And the mines are safer,” Heras crossed his arms.
“How’d you figure?” Na’heb asked, skeptical.
“Shade’s dead,” Heras opened his arms like that explained it all. “Chances of running into a new shade is less than them running into ghoul masters!”
Well, that did make kind of sense. “Still…”
“Alright,” Moswen said cheerfully, coming from the armory with the pouch of shards. He got one out and held it between his fingers. “Who’s ready to mine?”
-
Theos slid the glass pane back into its place after he placed the shard inside the lantern. It was a weird piece of work, metallic all over, aside from the glass side, with a metallic hoop for a handle.
“How do we make these things work again?” Na’heb fiddled with his own.
“You push the metal thing on top,” Moswen pointed at the tiny lever thing that was near the handle. “Don’t push it now, though, unless you want to pay for that shard.”
“I’ve lost enough,” He replied solemnly.
“These are your guides,” the mining supervisor pointed at the two men before they joined them, a big burly guy, and a small guy who was still on the muscular side, “go in and check the first few tunnels, then check deep branches, and so on,” the man gestured. “You must be done with the third shaft before the next mining shift begins.”
“Alright guys,” Moswen moved, “I’ll light up first, you decide who goes next.”
They went into the large tunnel, and the two men who were told to guide them followed closely. The group movement was not slow, by any means, but it was careful. Moswen took the lead and the pace by which they advanced through the place. As soon as the place became dark enough, Moswen clicked his lantern and a bright azure color lit the area.
“Shouldn’t you guys be on the front?” Heras grinned, addressing the guides. “You know, to guide.”
“Nah, we prefer staying behind you guys, so we can run first,” one of them replied, tone serious.
“Fair,” Heras replied, still grinning.
Theos decided to stay on his feet, despite all of the banter, his fingers were on the light mechanism and ready to click on a moment’s notice. “Where did you find the shade last time?” he asked.
“Salem and Betra were running out of the fifth shaft, so it could be anywhere there.”
He got to see the mine’s rough map, it was messy and web-like, but the webbed areas were separated by long passages, in case they needed to cave something in and lock it away. Shaft five was deeper inside than any of the other shafts, even the ones that came after it.
“Was it really killed?” Na’heb decided to ask, voice betraying the brave facade.
“It did not chase anyone else after the new guards,” the first guy shrugged, “I’d like to think they managed to help everyone before they died.”
Hopefully, Theos gulped. He’d only hoped they actually did, and the shade wasn’t just waiting for them somewhere along the way.
“Okay, we reached the first shaft,” Moswen said as the tunnel they were in forked into three different paths. Which would fork into more, deeper in, depending on where the ore was, and the softer rock walls that were easier to make a path through.
It was always a strange thought to him, that there were rocks softer than other rocks, but that was how some of the miners explained it.
“We have to split here,” Moswen grumbled. “Not enough guides here to take all paths separately, though,” he turned around and looked at the guides.
“I’m okay with staying here,” Na’heb chuckled nervously.
“We don’t need to take all three paths here,” the second guide pointed to the leftmost path. “That one circles around to the central path, and the last one converges with the central one just before the shaft. They won’t take long to check either, and we need to move faster if we are to clear the mineable areas for the mining shift.”
“The first and second shafts are rather small,” the other guide added. “Will have to be a quick sweep.”
“Alright then,” Moswen huffed out. “Who’s coming with?”
Theos looked at the other path, the leftmost one. “I’ll go that way,” he said.
“Na’heb’s with you, Heras with me then,” he replied, frowning, “big guide with them, small guide with us.”
“Uh, can I stay here?” Na’heb added again and got unimpressed looks. “Alright. Left it is, then.”
Theos lit his lantern and moved in, leading the way, he heard other footsteps echo as everyone else moved.
These side tunnels were more tight, more constrained, to follow the ore, Theos guessed.
“Thought it would be more stuffy,” Na’heb said in a low voice that echoed more than he expected.
“We dig large vertical holes to the surface from every shaft, to get some air in,” the guide explained. “We’d die from suffocation otherwise.”
“Ah, that sounds- wait, does that mean that shades can climb to the surface from those holes?” Na’heb’s voice shuffled between surprised and worried.
“That’s for you guys to figure out,” the man answered, “we are just here to dig out things that will make other people rich.”
“And we are here to die so they don’t lose those riches,” Theos smiled, remembering what his grandfather used to say. “Bread commands.”
It was a phrase that most people from lower classes knew. Getting a living trumped everything else, even if it was something that did not seem fair for everyone involved.
“That it does,” the guide conceded.
They moved through the tunnels without much trouble, and the guide told them where to turn when they needed to, Na’heb and the man shared a few conversations on the way, and Theos joined in occasionally, but felt too nervous otherwise. They soon were near the tunnel that led down to the second shaft.
“Nothing,” Na’heb breathed out in relief. “The others aren’t here yet.”
“The other side is longer,” the guy explained, leaning in to look into the tunnel. Theos extended the lantern that way, just in case something decided to crawl up.
“What do you guys usually mine out?” Na’heb started a new conversation as things calmed.
“Shards, mainly,” the guy was looking at the lantern as he spoke, Theos noticed. “We find the odd metal vein here and there and follow them,” he stared down the tunnel again before he continued. “We managed to dig a new deeper shaft that had some holy stones recently, too.”
“Let me guess,” Theos grumbled. “Near the fifth.”
“Under it,” the man nodded, “Going through the twelfth, then going deeper.”
“How do you get more air there?” Na’heb asked, his interest in another suffocation hazard.
“We didn’t manage to finish digging the hole up to the fifth, which is connected to the surface,” he grumbled.
“We won’t be allowed to cave in that part,” Theos said absentmindedly. “The Astral’s death would make them send us in droves to retake the place if they have to.”
The man just nodded, everyone’s expressions were more solemn now.
Footsteps and echoes were heard from the other side. Theos saw the azure light before the others stepped into view, and before they resumed their delve.