Turning in her haul to the evaluation station, she was surprised to find that the small amount she brought in had netted her nearly three times what her previous load had.
She was shocked.
“Um, excuse me. Has there been some sort of mistake?”
The orc gave here a sidelong glance as he stopped cataloguing what she had given him.
“What? Not enough for you, greedy lizard? That’s all you get for discovering a new vein. Now scram!”
She was a bit taken aback by this development but quickly scooped up her reward, lest some ravenous vultures swoop in to claim it before her.
While she had worked new veins before, she had never been the first to discover one. Fortune had never really smiled upon her poor, empty stomach.
As she ate her fill on the provided rations, the rest of the miners seemed to flood in after her, no doubt the same ones who were clamouring to get a piece of the new ore. It was honestly a bit surprising that there hadn’t been an explosion from all the commotion down there.
She noted that her fellow miners seemed to be given far less than herself despite the similarity in quality and size of the hauls, perhaps even less than her prior load. Must have been the difference between discovering a new vein and simply mining it apparently.
Among the throng of scales and magicite though, she kept her eyes peeled for a familiar sight.
Towards the back of the mass, slowly weaving between the crowd that was moving towards the front, she glimpsed the occasional flash of blood coloured scales.
Runt.
She waited for him to get to the front of the line before she repositioned herself to get a better look.
Normally, she would have no interest in a boy like him, much less the men around her, but there was a single factor that had piqued her interest and set him apart from the common masses.
He had been right.
Given, it would have taken him ages to tap the new vein, however that did not change the fact that he had been dead-on precise in the location of the magicite.
Focusing her attention back on the boy, she examined what he had provided for evaluation. And immediately grimaced.
What he had presented was small, even considering his stature, and looked to be made of more rock than ore.
He mustn’t have had the chance to gather a sufficient amount before the foremen regulated the miner’s actions again.
The orc examining the ore sneered at the presented goods and proceeded to clear away all but one chunk of rock which had an ample stripe of magicite through it. The boy’s face had paled to an all but white colouration as the chances of possible punishment had suddenly sky-rocketed.
“Passable, but only just. Take this and stop wastin’ my time,” the orc declared, throwing scant few bites of rations on the table.
Tears in his eyes, the boy snatched up his paltry reward and quickly scampered away from the line.
Apparently, he was so distraught that he didn’t even seem to register that he was running straight towards his former acquaintance.
THUD.
Falling backwards, careful not to spill his reward, the lizardboy glanced up at his would-be obstacle.
What followed was a series of conflicted emotions that flitted across his face; shock, fear, confusion and then finally, anger.
“HEY! YOU’RE THE ONE THAT-mmf”
Shoving a chunk of leftover rations in the lizardboy’s mouth, she then proceeded to pick him up and drape him over her shoulder. A few eyes turned to the commotion but quickly lost sight of their target as the two of them disappeared down an off-shoot tunnel.
~~~
She examined her surroundings for any nearby onlookers, satisfied that they were far enough away, before dumping the body of her unwilling and currently perplexed captive on the ground.
Looking up at her were a large set of eyes, mouth filled with her remaining rations. While she could have saved them, she had to admit that she wouldn’t have had nearly that much if she hadn’t discovered a new vein.
That, and she could barely stomach her current rations, let alone day-old ones. Frankly, they seemed to quickly become inedible to the point of being able to chip a tooth and yet rotten enough to entice the surrounding insect populous.
“Okay runt, listen up. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, so right now I’m thinking about whether it’s in my best interest or not in keeping you around. Got it?”
His eyes seemed to get even bigger at the insinuation, widening in fear at the sudden change in tone of his current situation. Trying to scramble up off the floor, he found himself promptly pinned beneath the foot of his captor, her weigh pushing his chest firmly against the wall.
Her brow furrowed at his reaction.
“I think you’ve got the wrong idea here, runt. I’m trying to give you a chance to survive this hellhole.”
Swallowing the food in his mouth, the lizardboy responded.
“Oh yeah? From where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re just trying to keep everything for yourself!”
A faint smile touched her lips as a memory echoed through her head. Similar words, however this time there would be no beating, no subsequent subservient catering to a bunch of bullies, no days of hunger watching your spoils stolen from you. No. None of that.
“Tell me. Do you know how deep that vein was in the wall?”
Presented with the sudden question the boy’s eyes started darting back and forth, seemingly trying to remember something, before fixing his eyes back on hers with a determined gaze.
“2 and a half feet.”
She seemed to remember it being around that much based on the number of swings it took to reach the vein.
“Hmm. Not bad. Now would you be able to tell me when you would have had to account for the fragility of the magicite to make sure it didn’t explode?”
Less sure of himself, this time he answered in a hesitant voice, “S-six inches?”
CLAP!
She suddenly brought her hands together in front of his face, causing him to jump in the process.
“Boom. And with that, you would have been dead.”
“Huh, why!?”
It was almost cute how clueless he was, however it ended up as being more annoying more than anything else. Complete novice.
“Up top in the earlier tunnels, yeah, that might have been what was considered safe,” she paused as she lifted her foot off his chest slowly and leaned in, “but in the new tunnels, magicite can go off at the slightest incorrect tap. Correct answer: There is no safe distance. You just need to be able to tell when the magicite starts leaking mana.”
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She stood back up to her full height and gazed down at the boy, “With the size of that uncovered vein, I’ve seen similar miners been blown apart by not being too careful. On the other hand, I’ve seen others starve to death for using too much caution. Both gruesome and messy ways to die. You wouldn’t have uncovered that vein either way.”
Realisation struck the boy like a sledgehammer and he utterly wilted before her.
He clutched his undersized pickaxe in his hand and curled into a ball, his arm and tail wrapped around his legs. Tears began to bead in his eyes as the hopelessness of the whole ordeal smashed into him like a runaway minecart full of rock.
“I don’t wanna die. I just wanna go home…”
She didn’t hear the barely whispered objection but regardless, her heart twinged with pity; it wasn’t so long ago that she herself was in a similar situation.
Sighing, she sauntered up to the space adjacent the lizardboy and sat down beside him.
“You know, it’s near impossible to tell where to find new veins. There no markings or cracking in the rock to let you know where you’re able to find ore.”
She took her time to pause and found that she had a rapt audience, eyes still wet and glistening.
“You though, even though you’d lack the experience digging out the ore, you can still somehow find it, right?”
She was careful with her words. It had been more of a question but came off as being taken as a statement. She didn’t want this opportunity to slip through her fingers.
It took him a while to process the words but finally he acknowledged what she had said with a nod.
“Here’s what I propose: 40%. That’s what you would get from my spoils if you’re able to keep leading us to new veins. In return, you tell no one else. Got it?”
The lizardboy looked back down at his feet, tail twitching back and forth contemplatively before coming to a conclusion.
Wiping away his tears, his eyes met hers again with a fire of resolve burning within them.
“Got it.”
Smiling she stood and walked towards the tunnel entrance.
“Good. Now we have to get back to work before they think I’m satisfying some other kind of hunger.”
“Huh?”
Chuckling, she watched as the lizardboy suddenly comprehended the meaning of her words and turned a few shades redder, before hefting his own tool in both hands and joining her on the trip down to the new tunnels.
Hah, complete novice.
~~~
It took a while for the lizard boy to fall in step with his new companion but eventually he was managing to keep up with her stride despite being several feet shorter than her.
Looking around it was his first time noticing that everyone seemed to avoid this particular person.
On any other day, he would have been pushed and bumped and, on the odd occasion, trampled while moving through the traffic down to the new tunnels.
However, he distinctly noticed that both of them had been unbothered by the comings and goings of the other miners.
He supposed he understood.
The person before him, which he now realised was a lady, stood well over a foot above her fellow brethren. A veritable amazon considering the circumstances.
He realised that, even for a lizardman his age, he was by far shorter than most of his peers. He hoped one day that he would be as tall as his father.
A tear started to accumulate in his eye.
No, stop thinking about that. Think about something else.
His attention turned back to his new, hmm, friend? Accomplice? Associate?
Partner. His new partner, he decided.
Walking along, his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to ask her a question.
“Hey, um, lady?”
“Ha, lady. Yeah, what is it runt?”
Runt!?
He sighed lightly in acceptance of his appointed nickname.
“Why is everyone avoiding you?”
She took a moment to pause, nearly causing him to run right into her butt. It was lucky enough that he had completely missed stepping on her tail.
She tapped a clawed finger on the end of her chin, considering the question, before she began walking again.
He fell back into pace beside his partner.
“Hmm. I suppose…it’s because they don’t like me, I guess.”
His blank face could not do justice to the sheer exasperation he felt from that half-arsed answer.
Swallowing his contempt, he reiterated his question. “I mean, why would they hate you?”
Her response was almost immediate.
“Oh, that’s easy. I killed their big boss.”
His blood froze in his veins at her casual and dark response. Just what had he gotten himself involved with here?
“Uh, what do you mean?”, his voice gave away his uncertainty about the answer he was given.
She took a turn down a left-hand tunnel and he followed behind her. There were considerably less miners down this way.
Keeping her voice low, she responded.
“Do you notice any other females doing mining down here, or for that matter, any mining at all?”
He took his time to go through his memory, checking for a sign, any sign, that indicated that there were other female miners.
And yet, the realisation suddenly dawned on him that the only female he had encountered in all his time here was the one who was standing before him.
She grinned as his epiphany showed on his face, no doubt a mixture of surprise and confusion.
“It’s because all the lizardwomen go somewhere else, a breeding den designed to churn out more workers for the mines once they’re old enough.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Going back over everything he knew, he supposed it made sense. Miners were a commodity, and an easily expirable commodity at that when coupled with the volatile nature of what they mined.
“But that still doesn’t explain why they don’t like you.”
“Well, it all comes down to a few powerful lizardmen.” she stated, “If you’re strong enough and productive enough, certain perks come with that. Including, breeding rights.” Her words crawled with disgust.
Hearing that, his jaw dropped open. He had never really wanted anything like that; just wanting to survive was enough. But for it to actually be considered a potential reward; his scales grew a few shades redder.
His partner’s reaction to that however, was anything but kind.
“Don’t go getting any ideas, runt. Only absolute bastards become those breeding machines and they don’t have a lick of mercy for anybody that threatens their position.”
She took a sudden right-hand turn and he quickly adjusted himself before she continued.
“Let’s just say that I took one of their greatest heroes down a peg and ever since, they’ve never let me forget it.”, her gaze was cold as she described years of solitude and injustice in a single sentence.
“If you want more, then forget it. I’m not comfortable enough with you to share that yet.”
~~~
Finally coming to the end of the tunnel, far from the nearest miners, she felt the chipped and rugged stone for any decent cracks.
Many didn’t want to work the frontier of the new tunnels, as the likelihood of getting killed was an almost certainty. There was no telling when you’d find a new magicite vein and the result was often a violent expansion of the tunnel by the resulting explosion, turning everything and everyone around it into itty bitty chunks.
However, they didn’t have their very own magicite detector.
At least, that was what she hoped. A few of the foremen they both passed by had probably already discounted their chances of survival and were filling out the paperwork for their new replacements.
All said, she would either wind up very well-off or very dead.
“Hey runt,” she called over her shoulder, “we’re here. Do your thing and I’ll do the mining.”
“It’s not that simple lady!”, he huffed. Being over 3 feet shorter than her, arms crossed, it was a pretty comical sight.
She, though, was in no mood for a joke.
“Explain. Quickly.” Her hand tightened on the shaft of her pickaxe, making an audible creak.
Hearing the distress from the tool and the edge to her voice, her blood-scaled companion decided an expeditious explanation was necessary.
“I-It’s not like I can just know where the magicite is!” Creeeak. “I have to detect the mana behind the rock!”
Her expression changed from serious to satisfied.
“Is that all?”
“You make it sound like it’s easy.”
He placed his hand on the wall, taking a moment to breathe in, and started walking towards her. His eyes were closed but a sheen of perspiration and a look of extreme concentration were plastered all over his face.
Stopping suddenly, about 2 feet from where she stood, his eyes reopened and he pointed to the spot on the rock level with his head.
“Here, a small amount about 4 feet deep,” he said out of breath.
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
Taking here pickaxe in hand she walked up beside the boy and struck into the rock at a rapid pace.
~~~
Initially surprised at the sudden speed of her work, he suddenly began to worry as he realised that she had cleared well over half the estimated amount of rock in under ten minutes. Taking a step back, he waited for the inevitable boom.
But it never came.
Frozen, with her pickaxe about to strike the rock, she had halted her momentum mid-swing as soon as an orangey-green mist had sprung forth from the crevice.
Over the next few minutes, he marvelled at her self-control, as the previous berserk miner began fastidiously chipping away chunks of rock in a method honed from years of practice.
She had been right. Either way, he wouldn’t have uncovered that ore.
A few minutes more and the magicite was laid bare.
“See, runt? All in the wrist.”
Yeah right, there’s no way any average miner would be able to do what she just did.
“Come on runt, get over here and start filling our pouches, or do I have to wait all day for you to do that too?”
Blushing slightly, he made his way over and started carefully filling their satchels with the crystals and ore that she offered him.
He was anxious about being discovered; discovery would mean that the chances of having ore stolen and being targeted by the shadier elements of the mines that much more prevalent. However, his partner eased his worries slightly with a short explanation.
One of the few reasons she chose one of the more twisted passageways was so as to obscure any discovered veins in the new tunnels from any other miners who were brave enough to tempt their luck with the uncertainty of digging so low.
Given that nothing went awry, they could both secure a steady supply of magicite before others caught on and they would be well-fed before moving on to the next place.
There were plenty of tunnels after all.
Packing the last of the spoils from the nearly tapped-out magicite vein, their satchels bulging, they made their way up to the evaluation station on the upper levels for their reward.
No doubt, their current haul might raise a few eyebrows among the foremen but when all was said and done, they just cared about the job getting accomplished.
Hopefully, they could continue on like this for some time to come.