Sparrow ripped down the poster that said his name and used it to light a small fire. When it was crackling with heat he took a battered steel pan and placed it over the embers. He dropped four sausages into it and grinned as they made little squeaking sounds.

‘I feel bad.’ he said to his sausages, And I don’t want to feel bad.’

The sausages just made the rumbling sound that something makes when it’s being nicely browned on all sides.

‘One day, it could be in a few months, it could be in a few years - but one day Princess Jade isn’t even going to remember me. She’ll be busy running the kingdom and sorting out nobles, and doing the things she’s born to do. In fact. She’ll be glad she didn’t marry me.’

Sparrow peeled the onion root he’d dug up and started to chop it into the pan.

‘You see. It’s better this way - a bit of temporary pain. But the pain is less than what it would’ve been if I’d stayed and pretended I wanted all that.’

Sparrow swallowed and peered down at the sausages, now almost brown, ‘You guys get my point?’

The sausages didn’t say a thing so Sparrow just shrugged, ‘Anyway. What’s done is do-’

He ducked behind a tree as a horse flew past him. He spent a few minutes crouched like a ball, then reached out and grabbed a sausage from the pan.

‘Mmmmh,’ Sparrow licked his fingers and grabbed the entire pan.

After breakfast Sparrow started hiking again. He would’ve liked to have flown - and probably could’ve outflown most of the emperor’s warriors - but there was something nice about the slower pace of the small trails. Besides, there was no telling who you’d meet.

For hours he followed a busy road beside a riverbank where barges and canoes and large galleons transported goods, warriors, and people.

At midday Sparrow stopped at a small beach and rested.

For the most part he was alone as he sunk his feet into the ground and drank in nutrients like a tree. It was slow, and kinda weird because the rest of his body was still very much human, but Sparrow had no other food and he kinda wanted to try out his skills again.

Then, all hell broke loose.

On the river in front of him two barges collided. They didn’t just collide a little bit - scraping slightly against each other.

No. The two ships which were traveling in opposite directions on the opposite side of the river spotted each other, turned directly towards each other, and rammed each other in a storm of wood and splinters.

Sparrow got to his feet. The first ship was slowly rotating onto its side, while the other one was going down front first.

On the front of the boats two men wearing ridiculous hats were punching each other in the face.

Sparrow sat up. There appeared to be no one else on board the barges - just the two men at each other’s throats.

They were fighting over something. Something that glittered in the sun as it rolled across a deck. Even Sparrow felt himself drawn to it as it sparkled in the sun.

The man in the red hat with a thousand roses jumped for the shiny object, and wrapped his hands around it while the man in the blue hat lined with goosefeathers bodyslammed his opponent. They rolled along the deck, grappling as they went. The boat was slowly tipping further and further upward. Finally the men collided and the shiny object plopped into the water in front of them.

The men looked at eachother, then scrambled across the nearly upright deck. They got to the top, and without hesitating, dived off in search of the golden object. Both ships disappeared into the deep in a cloud of bubbles.

Little bits of wood and flotsam bubbled to the surface. But they weren’t followed by the men. Sparrow waited, and waited and waited some more. But no. They were gone.

‘Do I want to go down there after them?’ Sparrow asked himself.

‘No.’ said a grizzly voice from next to him, ‘Whateverrr that gold thing was, it looks like the sort of treasure that could destroy yourrr life.’

Sparrow raised an eyebrow at the grizzled man, ‘Right… And you would know that because…’

‘Because I’m a minerrr,’ the grizzled man said, ‘I hunt treasure for a living. And I know good treasure from bad treasure.’

‘What’s it like being a miner?’

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

‘Oh, it’s bastard hard. It’s bastard long hours. And it’s bastard uncomfortable.’

‘So why do you do it then?’

‘Oh…’ there was a twinkle in the man’s eye - the sort of mad twinkle you get when you’ve seen a million gold pieces in the form of a rock sticking out from a wall underground, ‘The adventure, the comradeship - a thousand miners all working under one cavern for one purpose, and the love… I tell you, boy when you get the jewellust there’s no going back.’

Sparrow stuck out his hand, ‘I’m Sparrow.’

The miner spat over both shoulders, crossed both his fingers, then shook Sparrow's hand.

‘I’m Digerrr,’ the man scratched at his huge, coal-clogged beard.

‘Nice to meet you Digger,’ Sparrow said, he looked down at the river, where barges and sailing boats were floating past as if nothing had happened.

‘Could you tell me that thing again?’ Sparrow said.

‘What thing?’

‘The thing about the love. The jewellust.’

‘Ahh…’ Digger said, ‘I would, but I would wagerrr boy, that you’ve already caught it.’

****

Sparrow didn’t have the jewellust. He’d just passed up the fortune of a lifetime. No… he decided to join Digger because the man rolled his rrr’s, and Sparrow thought that was interesting.

Sparrow and Guy found a barge in the next village. It wasn't a large barge, and it sat quite low in the water, but the captain would take them both on for a bronze coin with the Emperor's face on it as long as they were willing to help out on the ship here and there.

The days passed slowly, cruising up the river, the sun was hot and the water warm. Sparrow swam more times a day than he could count, while Digger would just dangle his feet in the water.

'I neverrr trusted swimming,' Digger said, 'I figure the moment you put yourrr head underrr the waterrr is the moment a giant serpent rushes out and swallows you whole.'

Sparrow scratched his nose, 'I don't think that's ever happened to me.'

'It happened to my Uncle Joe once.'

Three days on the barge and they reached the foothills of the Azure Mountains. The Azures were renowned for their jewels, Digger explained, 'Sure you can find jewels in any old mountain but in the Azures you're twice as likely to die while doing it.'

Sparrow cocked his head, 'What's so great about dying?'

'Well, you see...' Digger said, as he helped the captain unload his food supplies, 'There's a direct correlation between how likely you are to get killed in a mine and the amount of money you're likely to make in a mine. Now this place here has so many people being killed that this outranks any other mountain that I know of. Perhaps any otherrr mountain in the world.'

Sparrow stared up at it, in some ways it did look like a tombstone, 'How do miners die? Rockfalls?'

'Yeah you get the occasional rock or little misplaced blast or something like that, but more often than not it's the miners doing each other in.' He picked a large booger out of his nose, 'Piece of advice young Sparrow, you're safe until you find something. At the moment you're some poorrr kid in ugly clothes. No one's even gonna take a second glance at you, but the moment you find something you get out of there and you run alright Sparrow.'

'Couldn't I just hide it and keep mining?' Sparrow said.

Digger shook his head, ‘Miners have an instinct boy, they have an instinct for when someone's hiding a jewel from them.' He scratched his nose, 'Although sometimes theirrr instinct doesn't quite correct. I know a few guys who took knives in the back when they tried to give theirrr friends a surprise birthday gift.'

Digger shook his head, 'Never wrap anything up Sparrow, even cheese, I've seen more guys murdered overrr cheese then you've probably seeing dead in yourrr lifetime.'

Digger dropped the crate, and rested on it, 'She's a tough life being a minerrr. But I tell you boy, when you see the jewels, even if you only see them for a little bit. Well that's when the magic happens.'

Sparrow and Digger bought a pair of pickaxes, a pair of sealed lanterns, and a pair of heavy leather boots each in Runes-Lzu, a small village located just in front of one of the many mines. The woman selling the boots eyed Sparrow and then turned to Digger, 'Bring some more cannon fodder did yah?' she said, 'Make sure this one comes out alive.'

Digger shook his head, 'Don't you worry Li Zhu. This guy's tougherrr than the last one, in fact he's almost suicidal.' He leaned close to her and whispered, 'I saw him swimming in the riverrr.'

The woman cocked her head, 'That means nothing to anyone except you, Digger.' she pointed at Sparrow, 'Make sure he comes out alive or I ain't selling you any more boots.'

Digger just held up his hands, 'Yes miss!'

As they walked off, Digger turned to Sparrow, 'She says that every time but honestly no matterrr how many young guys I get killed, she's never gonna stop selling me boots. I'm an important part of herrr business.'

Sparrow stared at the man, 'What was that about being killed?'

The guy slung his pickaxe over his shoulder and whistled, 'Welcome to mining.'

That was the last sentence he said to Sparrow for the next few hours, those hours were spent trudging along the giant rat's nest of tunnels that wound their way through the mountain. They moved using pulleys and staircases and carts and wagons and a million different contraptions that Sparrow either banged his leg into, pushed over, or just generally tripped down.

The lights they'd been given gave off weak beams of light, but Digger warned Sparrow about using anything else. The man took a deep breath and snorted the air, 'You smell that boy? That's what you call mine gasses. There's no perfume more beautiful than the gasses of a mine.' He gave Sparrow a pointed stare, ‘And there's no woman more deadly than the gasses of a mine when they catch alight.’

He poked a finger at the sealed glass lamp, 'An open flame is the best way to ruin everyone's day and put a short end to yourrr life.'

****

Eventually, they ended up right in the thick of the mountain, underneath it where springs bubbled, gas vents erupted and rockfalls weren't just a hazard, they were an hourly occurrence.

Digger pointed at a large wall that had bits dug out of it, 'Here we go.'

He swung his pickaxe at it. The thing dug in, and tore out a small amount of gravel.

'That's it?' Sparrow said, 'Is there anything I need to look for… or do or...'

'...just keep swinging your pickaxe,' Digger said, 'There's supposedly a science to seams and densities and all that sort of thing but I've never looked very farrr into it. To me the only sure way to get rich is to keep swinging yourrr pickaxe.'