Today was just another simple day at the orphan mines to everybody, but to me, everything changed. Waking up, I found myself already stumbling toward the mines with a small rock hidden in my hands. This was my ticket for a better meal and I have been saving it for a week. Nothing good would come from holding your rocks out in the open, nearly everyone would try to steal them. If they were thin, strong, or malnourished, they would find a way to steal them.
“Get to work with the lot of ya.” Max shoved us into the cramped mines one by one. No torch, no nothin’. Everything was going by uneventful until somebody acted up.
“No! I'm not going back in there! THE WORMS EAT YOUR FLESH FOR STEALING THE STONES!” The slave gripped the edges of the door that led into the mines as guards pushed with all their weight trying to make him fall in, but he didn’t budge and continued to cling to the edges. Once they found out he wouldn't move, they stabbed him with spears until he became limp. His corpse tumbled through the doorway with a sickening splat at the bottom. Nobody said a word and we all silently went down the doors into the darkness that was beneath.
The mine may not have been lit with torches besides a few crystal-like rocks jutted from the walls. They held a blue luminescence that sparsely lit the cave to light, revealing all of the ragged workers and the black sludge that formed near their boots. Small worm-like creatures could be seen swimming within the sludge.
“Hey, you runt, what's in your hands, is it anything for me?” Blitus, who was one of the larger orphans, put his hand on my shoulder and spun me around. He took my hands and squeezed on them until I dropped my precious stone. With a thud, it landed on the ground. This stone was by far the largest one I have ever found. It was roughly the size of my thumb and a pinky’s width larger. Right when Blitus snatched my stone, I gave up on it “Ha what a treasure, I'm sure I can get some new pants with this!” Blitus bent over and picked up my stone.
“Hey you! Give it back to him!” A regular rock went flying in the air, missing Blitus entirely.
“What was dat?” Blitus said as he looked toward the direction the rock was thrown from. It was another slave, a girl to be exact. She wore the same as everyone else, a rag draped over her body, she also had red messy hair that contrasted the surroundings.
“You give him his stone back right this instant! You big farty face!” She snatched another rock and threw it harder, it surprisingly just bounced off of his chest. I was surprised she even attempted another throw because Blitus was too big for anybody to mess with him. He held the top rank out of all the orphan slave workers. I could barely comprehend what was going on between the two, a small frail girl I had never seen before was standing up to the big monster, because he was taking my stone.
“Ha ha ha, a little girl dinks she can beat Blitus?” Blitus snorted and punched me perfectly right in my eye. “Ya see girl, if Kai can't fight me, what makes you think you can?” Blitus laughed and walked off.
“I'm sorry he hit you. He’s just a big bully, I'll show you something cool to cheer you up.” She leaned over and flipped me onto my back, only to find that my face was swollen and blood seeped from my nose, she then wiped the snot and blood from my face with a small corner of her rag.
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“Thanks uhh, what's your name?” I couldn't help but blush at her beautiful amber orange eyes. I also couldn’t make much more of any other detail, but she was kinda cute, if not for this place and my swollen face. “I'm Reatha, but most people call me Rea.” She smiled down at me with a toothy grin and started to walk away, “You comin’?” suddenly she stood up and held out her hand. Without a second to spare I grabbed her smaller hand in mine. As we ran through the sparsely lit cave, we saw and heard all sorts of things, from ragged pickers smashing at the wall furiously in pursuit of dinner to the blue crystals and their soothing hum. We trudged through black sludge and jumped over obstacles for nearly an hour before reatha finally came to a stop at a dead end.
“This is it, I think, follow me.” Reatha propped her hand ahead of her and felt the wall as she walked. Eventually, she melded into the blackness. I freaked out and reached out for her hand.
When I found out she wasn't there, I called out to her, only to receive the silent hum of the crystals. I then thought of the moment she fought for me and slipped into the darkness after her. The next thing I felt was the world slipping from beneath my feet as I fell.
--Xerin’s Journey--
In the far back of the caravan, there were many platoons from the noble factions following Xerin’s men to the wall. Most of the soldiers were second rate warriors who were to be used as cannon fodder to slow the demon advances.
“Aye, it has been days as since we have been out here! I can't stand it.” A soldier yawned as he marched on foot toward the walls.
“We've only just begun! Sharpen up you idiot. We have two more months before we reach the wall and were just 2 days away from the closest town.”
Another soldier slapped his friends back. “Yea, but it's not fair at all! We have to walk like pigs yet the honor guard gets to ride horses!. “
The first soldier pouted even more. “Don't worry once we get into StoneHorn it will all be worth it! I'll pay for your first girl, how ‘bout it?”
The second guard pulled out a purse and jiggled it up and down showing off how much money he had.“Ha ha ha, you got me there, brother!” both of the guards ran even faster trying to catch up to the honor guard.
Far up in the caravan sat Xerin atop his battle horse. A battle horse was raised with magic and muscle enhancing food from birth so they would one day be ridden by the strongest of warriors across the land. Not many people could afford these horses, they were deadly and cost too much for their handling.
“Lord commander Xerin!” A group of scouts sent ahead earlier rode back calling out to Xerin. Each scout wore a face of distress as they rode toward him. “Sir, the men and I rode for a few hours and we found a bandit army ahead, they number in the hundreds!”
“What?!” Xerin couldn't believe bandits would camp that close to the wall. To attack the honor guard marching to defend the walls, it would be dangerous. Nearly everyone in the kingdom knew that, but these bandits seem to not know any better. They only had a simple thought process, “Allow the demons to march into our lands or gather gold.” they pondered.
“Sir, some of our men got caught and are being dragged away by the bandits as we left. We know not of what happened to them, please save them!” The scouts pleaded for their friend's lives.
“We must hurry then if our men truly lie in peril.” Xerin begins to shout over the crowd of men “Attention, this is the commander guard speaking, bandits have camped near the wall and have imprisoned our fellow men, we must advance with posthaste.” Xerin, along with his caravan increased their speed. All of the caravans now trailed toward the bandit camp.