He locked eyes with the big man, but his expression remained indifferent and his intentions unclear. A moment passed of them just staring at each other. He didn’t sense any hostility but rather pity. Then, PP simply pointed to the sack with the pickaxes on the ground between them before going off to join the other miners waiting for the knights’ arrival. It must have been him. That asshole!
He wiped away the tears in his eyes and grabbed the sack. He got into the back of the lines where this time, having an uneven number of miners, he was without a partner in his row. Soon, Reacher and Becket arrived at the shanty town to round up the slaves, and the march towards the mines began, winding through the dense forest. The path was rough, and the air was thick with humidity. The knights were more composed that day, and the slaves decided not to challenge their patience.
“You know you’re allowed to sleep in the manor as a Player?” Reacher asked, the horse strutting closely behind him. “Or at least pick a shanty like the other servants.”
The Mace hadn’t said a word all day, leaving Becket to do all the commanding, but now after an hour of marching, Reacher tried to strike up a conversation. He kept his gaze forward, ignoring him. He didn’t want to give the other slaves any more reason to think he was different or treated especially well. The other slaves trudged along, their eyes on the ground, but he could feel their silent judgment. He wanted to shout that he was one of them, just another slave trying to survive, but he knew it would fall on deaf ears.
“Are you listening?” Reacher asked.
He wanted to explode in Reacher’s face and tell him to fuck off, but he feared that the Mace might retaliate at the slaves, so he remained silent. With his failed attempt at communication, Reacher didn’t talk for the rest of the trek. After a long and arduous walk, the group finally arrived at the entrance to the mines.
“Don’t forget your quota. Five gems per person,” the Sword yelled as they received their torches.
The slaves lost no time grabbing a pickaxe from his sack and entering the cave. One miner saw his shaking arms and purposefully dropped his pickaxe back into the sack, making him drop the sack. The clanging sound echoed throughout the cave, and everyone stopped dead in their tracks and turned their attention to them. Reacher shouted at the distracted slaves to move along, and the stream of miners entering the cave continued. The miner who made him drop the sack apologised sarcastically. Don’t let this idiot get into your head.
After everyone went inside, Becket stopped him for a second to offer him some water, which he refused before entering the mine. The air grew cooler, the smell of earth and damp stone filled his nostrils. He was assigned to work in the deepest parts of the mine again, so he followed PP in front of him closely. They received some mean looks passing by the others, and some hurled insults at them like “goblinshits” and “pets”. Only a few of the miners like Cadmun and Varyan simply ignored them. After a while, they had left all of the others behind, with the clanking noises becoming quieter when they arrived at the fork. Now, as they descended into the bowels of the mine, the silence between them was heavy with unspoken words. As they passed the big hole, he fantasised about pushing the big man inside. No one would know or even care. What the fuck am I thinking?
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He quickly snapped back to his sanity. He never talked to PP to even confirm that he did spill his secret. Why would he consider murder over talking to the man? The shortness of fresh air must’ve been getting to him. It’s not like I would be strong enough to shove him anyway.
They arrived at the section without the supporting beams and immediately got to work. The work was gruelling. He found it hard to concentrate, his thoughts drifting to the hostility from the other miners, the gnawing hunger in his belly, and the constant suspicion about PP. What irritated him the most was PP’s unchanged demeanour despite everything. How long have you been an outcast to stay unaffected by all of this?
Of course, he never got an answer. That day his productivity suffered immensely. By the time the signal came to leave, he didn’t reach his quota of five gems. When they finally emerged from the mine, exhausted and covered in grime, Reacher was waiting. He braced himself for a reprimand, but Reacher simply glanced at him and turned away. The lack of punishment was almost worse. The other miners glared at him, their resentment burning brightly. The way back was gruesome. Since he skipped breakfast and Reacher didn’t use his magic, he had to take the full brunt of his exhaustion and fight through it until they reached the manor. After they passed the palisades, he was reminded of the miners starting a fight once the knights went home. He frantically scanned the others for any sign of hostility, but they left him alone in his paranoia. I don’t think that I could survive a fight without PP.
He felt shame admitting it. At dinner, he was last in line again. By the time he reached Cadmun, the food was gone. He clenched his fists, his stomach growling louder, but there was nothing he could do. A whole day without food. I have to do something about that.
He wanted to talk to Cadmun about Montgomery and the red-haired people Lydia told him about. But Cadmun avoided him, keeping his distance. He sent him off with a simple “Good night”.
As night fell, he finished washing himself and his clothes. The moment he hung the rags on the clothesline, he realised he didn’t have a tent because Cadmun had moved into Montgomery’s old one. He went searching behind the shanty town in his undergarments, but at this point, he was too hungry and exhausted to care about embarrassing himself. It took him a while to find the rock where he had washed himself the previous night, but luckily he found the discarded remains of Cadmun’s old tent still lying on top of it. To his delight, the cloth had dried over the course of the day. It was barely more than a ragged sleeping bag at this point, offering little comfort against the night’s chill, but he bonded with that piece of cloth over his hardships. It stinks, but it will do.
He curled up on the ground next to the dying fire where Montgomery had slept the night before, pulling the thin fabric over himself. The stars glittered coldly above, indifferent to his plight. Today felt like a bad dream.
image [https://i.imgur.com/GBwCw91.jpg]
He wondered if that was his new reality until the day that Cassandra returned. As he closed his eyes, exhaustion finally overtaking him, he slowly came to terms with that new reality. He was here now, among the miners who resented him, with no way out. He had to survive, to endure, to find a way to make this new life his own.