‘…Double-crossing snake! Backstabbing weasel! Dishonest swine!’ Gifrey came into view and could now be clearly heard. Aurelius walked along at the head of a train of automatons. Six of the mechanical workers carried Gifrey on two poles slotted under his chair to form a sedan.

The expression on Edwald’s face dropped.

‘Look here, what’s the meaning of this, Edwald? Why have I found a letter from my advisor that tells me you reject the terms of our ongoing agreement and demand a renegotiation? Halt, damn you!’ Gifrey thundered and his mechanical soldiers stood to attention.

‘Gifrey, my old friend! What a time for you to come round. Well, this is unexpected.’ A nervous looking Edwald turned to Bellman, but he was no-where to be seen.

‘You! What are these blasted little miscreants doing here? Thieves, trespassers and vandals are what they are! Oh Eddy, don’t tell me you’re dealing with them, now? Not even you could sink so low, you fraudulent trinket-peddler!’ Gifrey’s face had gone crimson with fury.

‘Now look here, old greedy-guts! Who the devil are you calling names like that, avaricious and insatiable as you are, you artless glutton?’ Edwald retorted.

‘Oh, you…! What do you mean by not wanting to buy my iron any more? Are you trying to cut me out? I’ve got my overheads and a strict schedule to keep,’ Gifrey yelled.

‘I have had enough of marching to the beat of your crude, barbaric toy soldiers and your unquenchable demands of deals under duress! I’m exercising my right to play the market,’ Edwald shouted back.

‘I shouldn’t care if I never have to make brass and crystal and steel for your wretched puppets ever again. Nor would I shed a tear for making you gold enough to buy a dukedom, or turn snails, frogs and rats into escargot, grenouille, and veal enough for you to swim in!’ Edwald yelled.

‘What duress? You’ll deal with me fairly, old chap, or I’ll… you’ll regret it!’ Gifrey reprimanded.

‘I want lodestone, and I want it to fulfil my vision of perfecting my craftsmanship; to complete my collection of objects of divine beauty to exceed any of the old masters. I shall use it to save my ailing body and replace all that is human and imperfect with perfection.’ Edwald foamed at the mouth with the enraptured passion of his words.

‘Replace your body? You’ve been down here playing with your toys too long, you old coot. You’ve lost your marbles. I shall return to the surface as a lord with a vast wealth to found a domain all of my own, with no crown or taxman to take it from me. That’s sense! Your aims are baffling to me, old boy,’ Gifrey bellowed.

Bellman, dressed in blue, appeared by Edwald’s side and whispered something with a quiet strum of his lute.

‘None should be forced to labour under threat, but freely should they deal with whom they please. To bind another by shackles of coin burdens him to a debt of injustice,’ announced Edwald.

To the miners it sounded like he recited someone else’s words.

A moment later Bard, dressed in beige, appeared by Gifrey’s side and whispered something with a little jingle of his tambourine.

‘Loyalty and consistency holds fast the cornerstone of business trust. Our commerce and trade’s foundation doth shake as thy treachery rears its head at last,’ rebutted Gifrey, and to the miners it sounded like he also repeated someone else’s words.

‘You’ve been price-gouging me for years!’ Edwald accused.

‘Cut me out and you’ll knock down the whole house of cards and ruin us both!’ Gifrey accused right back.

‘Now, I don’t want to play silly beggars any more, and I don’t think you realise how tenuous your position is. All I need do is tell my soldiers “break down the house of Edwald and bring his trinkets to me,” and…’

On the utterance of Gifrey’s words, the automatons lurched forwards towards Edwald’s house.

This included the workers that carried Gifrey’s chair, which they dropped, and Gifrey tumbled to the ground.

The now purple-faced Gifrey rolled on the floor, helpless to right himself. The air was knocked out of him and he could give no call to the automatons to halt as they marched on Edwald and his home.

The formation of mechanical soldiers clambered over the walls of Edwald’s pristine stone gardens and swung their pickaxes as they went, taking chunks out of whatever came close.

‘That’s it! You’ve really done it now, Gifrey you old fool!’ Edwald roared as he whipped up his musket and sent blinding flashes of lightning that arced and blasted at the rampaging automatons.

‘Father!’ Aurelius cried.

The musical, mechanical voice of Aurelius was all but lost in the racket. He ran to Gifrey’s side and pulled him upright.

From a cloth bandolier across his chest, Edwald pulled metal objects that looked like French boules. He lit tapers on their ends and bowled them at the walking statues.

A series of explosions rocked the gardens. Some automatons were thrown off their feet, some were blasted into pieces.

Another lightning-blast from Edwald turned a mechanical worker into a blackened, smoking wreck.

Gifrey made a wordless sputter and wheeze as he pointed to the fracas outside Edwald’s house.

Aurelius made an attempt to call off the assault, but it could only be heard by the nearby sedan bearers, who came to a rigid halt.

Bard stood on a rock ledge above the scene of destruction and played a military march for the automatons on his penny-whistle.

‘What the devil are you doing up there, Wakeman? Help me! Do something!’ Edwald screeched.

Throughout this, all the miners could do was crouch for cover and watch. Any attempt Aurelius made to halt the advance went unheard, or unheeded, and soon the automatons reached Edwald’s mansion door.

‘You’ll never have what’s mine! I’ll take it all with me!’ This was the last thing those outside heard from Edwald as he fled inside his home.

The remaining automatons marched in through the doorway, then a moment later a burst of orange fire blew out the house windows. The walls cracked and crumbled, and the house fell in on itself.

The caverns had been stirred into a frenzy of howls, barking, and the screech of crows at the ruckus of battle.

‘My creations; my precious boys! All gone!’ Gifrey mourned as he gasped and clutched the left side of his chest. ‘Get me up on the chair. Take me home!’

The few automatons that remained hauled Gifrey into his chair. They picked up the sedan and marched off, as Aurelius ran alongside.

‘What’ll we do?’ asked Zachary as he peered at the state of carnage.

‘We need to get out of here before the fae arrive, they’re furious,’ said Irene.

‘We might as well follow him,’ replied Henry, and the miners chased after the sedan.

As they arrived at his workshop, the miners saw Gifrey was sat on the roof of his workshop, inside the scaffolding that reached to the cavern ceiling high above.

‘Oh, you little vultures! What are you doing here?’ Gifrey babbled in alarm.

‘They come to sink claws into your horde.

With your soldiers vanquished, none shall protect.

Dear Edwald known now only to the Lord

An end draws to your expedition’s prospect.

To the surface now flee to save yourself,

swift exit remains your only recourse.

Wicked scoundrels clamour for your wealth.

Voracious they come to burgle what’s yours.’

Bard gave an urgent jangle of his lute as he poured his words into Gifrey’s ear.

‘Workers, maids! Gather up all of my things and stow it here with me on the platform. All the gold and jewels, the silk, and the ivory. I must leave for the surface at once!’ Gifrey called to what remained of his labour force.

‘Oh, to call it all off when we were so close to achieving great things! I always thought Edwald would be here with me when the time came. Oh, silly old Ed, how did it come to this?’ Gifrey lamented.

The sedan-bearers lurched into action and began collecting Gifrey’s possessions.

Bard gave a tootle on his penny-whistle and the diminutive maids spring into view. They too began gathering armfuls of items and whisked them up onto the platform.

‘Stop listening to Bard, he isn’t your friend, he’s your enemy!’ Henry called up.

‘Nonsense, my news-bringer and trusted advisor speaks only truth and if you don’t hear it then you’re ignorant!’ Gifrey shouted. ‘You stay back! I’m making my way out of here.’

Aurelius stood outside the workshop’s entrance. ‘Father, you must listen. There are too many things and the scaffolding won’t take the weight. Please, you must stop.’

‘Aurelius, make yourself useful and help!’ Gifrey yelled. He grimaced and clutched the left side of his chest.

‘I won’t do that. It’s unsafe,’ replied Aurelius.

‘God blast it, do as you’re told! I simply cannot leave all this behind. It was too hard won. Still, it is not enough for a dukedom. My life’s ambition; my own domain. A fair and prosperous land of opportunity without government theft – still not enough, I need more. So much I consumed, so much I wasted…’ Gifrey fretted.

‘Bring my gunpowder and silver, the ornaments Edwald made, and the lodestone. Bring the cut crystal and the brass, the tools of my workshop too. I fought for all this, and nothing gets left behind! Fetch the brandy and port, the meats, and the wine!’ The platform within the scaffolding had grown high around Gifrey.

‘Hoist me up, I’ll take this load first and then be down for another. I’ll bring you up on the next one, Aurelius, I promise,’ Gifrey called.

The automatons obeyed and pulled on the hoist lever. Even combined, the mechanisms of their arms struggled. They gave a grind of gears, hiss of hydraulics, and creak of metal under strain. The platform began to rise.

The wood of the scaffold gave a terrible groan and cracking noise. Bolts and joints dropped loose and the scaffold bent and swayed from the weight.

If Gifrey ever changed his mind in the journey upwards, none would ever know. Once he was halfway up the scaffolding, he was out of earshot.

The wooden beams of the scaffolding gave a screech and series of popping noises that echoed through the caves.

The structure wobbled, then with a snap like a gunshot, one of the beams tore away.

The woodwork twisted and separated, and the shaft tumbled down. The platform and all it held cascaded into a ravine that had the rushing waters of a torrent in its depths.

Paraffin lamps were knocked loose by the scaffolding’s collapse and as they dropped, they set fire to the workshop.

The hoist chain was wrenched from the hands of the automatons. As they could no longer follow their orders, they froze in place.

Bard stood on top of a rocky pillar. He gave a mournful warble of a funeral song on his penny-whistle and wiped an imaginary teardrop from his cheek. He couldn’t conceal the mirth on his face as he played.

Aurelius turned to the miners. ‘Go to the workers and open the safety catches on the back of them, right below their neck. Quick as you can!’ he urged.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Taking advantage of Bard’s self-distraction, the miners did as they were told, even as the lanterns’ fire closed in.

The automatons’ safety catches were two brass clips, which when pulled together popped open the glass jar in each automaton’s chest, and ejected it.

‘Get him!’ cried tiny fae voices that were filled with rage.

With supernatural speed, the fae rushed out from their imprisonment.

The fae whisked the jars over to Bard and snapped them shut. They sealed his horn, tambourine, whistle, and lute by the same force that imprisoned them for so long in the jars.

The liberated fae were joined by hundreds more that poured out of every nook and cranny of the caverns.

‘You devils!’ Bard had time only to utter as he was seized and held in place.

The fae struck and pinched Bard with their tiny hands, tugged him by the clothing this way and that, and yanked at his hair and beard.

‘Cædmon!’ Gladys roared, with a voice like thunder. Bertrand leapt from hiding as Gladys rode on his back.

‘Cædmon, you disgrace! Your crimes against the faefolk have been unforgiveable!’ Her face was livid with fury, and her eyes were lit with the wrath of her supernatural power.

To the miner’s confusion, Gladys shouted at Bard, addressing him now by yet another name.

‘For years you have imprisoned fellow fae. You have enslaved them to serve the will of a human, and your actions have this day culminated in the unlawful and unsanctioned deaths of two humans!

‘By the power invested in me as a queen of the fae, I hereby convene the fairy court for testimony against you. Let judgment be passed upon your deeds!’ Gladys shook with rage and Bertrand snarled beneath her.

The air was filled with the clamouring of the mystic residents of the caverns. Present were Gifrey’s housemaids, a host of pixies, hounds, cats, and crows beyond counting that perched above and all around.

The air was filled with the cacophony of the many voices of the fae in raucous unison. There were shouts, barks, yowls, and squawks as the crowd gave their testimony, and condemnation.

‘ORDER!’ Gladys raised her hands for silence.

‘Cædmon, you are found guilty by overwhelming consensus. Your instruments, through which you subverted the will of others, shall be confiscated, and kept sealed by the same magic you usurped. Now, without your tools of manipulation, I call upon all fae for the duty to shun and harass you for the rest of time, as long as you dwell in this kingdom. Now begone, take yourself to these caverns’ depths where never again shall I look upon you!’ Gladys cried.

Kicked, pushed and dragged by the crowd of clamouring fae, Cædmon, or Bard, or Wakeman, parted with one last call to Gladys.

‘This is unjust! It is our duty as fae to meddle! You have grown lax and weak in your reign, Osthryth. I deserve a fairy crown for my innovation, my ingenuity, and my works; not you!’ Bard yelled, as he was dragged away.

Gladys turned to the miners. She still clenched her fists, and her veins were raised on her skin in anger. She fought to regain her composure.

‘Well now, you’re still here. I’m sorry you had to see that. You are the first humans to witness a fairy court in action and behold our justice system in the works. My temper got the better of me. I may have to answer for it,’ Gladys told the miners in a strained voice.

‘Your name is really Osthryth, and you’re a fairy queen?’ asked Flora, in awe.

‘It is so. Although, I really would rather you had never heard my true name,’ Gladys replied.

‘You call that a justice system?’ Henry remarked.

‘Does it surprise you that we have our own laws?’ Gladys retorted with a scowl.

‘Enough inane questions. You have been most useful in bringing that rogue to justice. It is much appreciated. You were nudged on the path since Bertrand here set you on to Gifrey. For me to directly intervene in his misdeed may have put me in harm’s way. It could have been a catastrophe if I had gotten snared by Bard’s spell,’ Gladys informed the miners, as her arch, arrogant tone returned.

‘Wait, all of what we did was for your benefit? So you could bring one of your own to justice?’ asked Percy, in a hollow voice.

‘After everything we’ve been through!’ wailed Irene.

Gladys scoffed and rolled her eyes. ‘I shouldn’t be too upset. It’s all a lesson to be learnt; all part of life’s rich tapestry… so on, and so forth. You did a good deed. After all, it is our duty as fae to meddle.’ Gladys gave a nonchalant sweep of her hand.

Oblivious, or indifferent, to the mortified expressions of the haggard miners, Gladys continued her speech;

‘A friendly piece of advice; you could at least do yourself a favour and rid yourself of the cursed items you have with you. They are imbued with a power that is not of the fae, so it’s beyond my jurisdiction.

‘That power comes from a darker and altogether more sinister realm than mine,’ said Gladys, as she tugged on Bertrand’s hackles to turn him around.

The crows hopped and flapped off to the cavern’s reaches, Gifrey’s ex-maids shook themselves free of their humiliating uniforms, and the various other creatures slunk off into the dark.

At Gladys’ beckoning, various fae picked up the jars that had Bard’s instruments bound inside, and carried them off to some hidden place or other that was known only to them. Gladys trotted away on top of Bertrand.

The miners were left alone with Aurelius. He remained wordless as he watched the blaze envelop his father’s workshop.

As if shaken from a stupor, Henry threw down his staff with rage. He let out a string of curse-words.

‘Gladys!’ echoed a bellow of fury from inside Henry’s helmet. He flopped down in defeat.

‘What did she mean about cursed items?’ Zachary asked the others.

Aurelius’ vocal instruments clicked and whirred into gear. ‘The items from Edwald,’ he replied. ‘I can sense it through the energies that power me. I don’t know who, or what, Uncle Ed dealt with to get that green eye, or how father got his jars with the power of binding. I can only presume the worst. Then, I think they put both powers together to create me.’

‘I don’t understand. How do you mean?’ asked Irene.

‘I’ve long seen these powers at work. With father and Uncle Edwald, I’ve been around them every day. They’re in the items that father asked from Uncle Ed and from the things Uncle made for himself. The love you have for those things isn’t natural. It’s a curse that uses what you want to control you. It is tainted with envy, jealousy, and greed.’ Aurelius told the miners.

The miners took another look at their gifts, with growing doubt.

‘Everyone’s been obsessed with their possessions, to the point where we’ve been neglecting ourselves,’ admitted Zachary.

‘Even still, my love for it faded, and I wanted something new,’ said Flora.

‘What use have they been, really?’ admitted Percy.

‘If you want to be free of the curse, throw them into the ravine where father, and all his possessions fell,’ Aurelius told the miners.

‘No! If I don’t know what time it is I’ll panic,’ cried Aisling.

‘We already have the Duchess’ clock!’ exclaimed Henry.

‘This costume has become a part of me, and it would break my heart if I could never read Shakespeare’s words again,’ said Zachary.

‘Mother, father; I couldn’t bear to never see them again, it would be like losing them for a second time,’ said Irene. She gazed with sad eyes over the portraits of her parents in her locket.

Still, one by one, and while shedding tears, Flora, Zachary, Irene, Percy, and Aisling threw their gifts into the blackness of the chasm by Gifrey’s workshop.

Down in the depths, they heard the distant roar of the underground river that swallowed them into the depths of the earth.

Aurelius turned to Henry. ‘Now, only yours remains,’ he said.

‘I don’t have one,’ said Henry. ‘I never got given one. Ed couldn’t read me. I would never be so daft as to fall for some magic trick like that,’ Henry scoffed.

‘I think you have. You’re blind to it,’ said Irene.

‘You stare at it for hours,’ said Percy.

‘This? The map? No, this is useful. We need this! There’s no way I could memorise it all, and I haven’t made a copy,’ Henry protested.

‘Henry,’ Irene gave a flat response.

‘No! I won’t do it! After everything that’s been taken from me, after all I’ve been through? No, I won’t! I’m keeping this,’ shouted Henry.

‘Henry!’ Irene said in a sharper tone.

‘Stop saying my name! Why should I have to give this up? Why do I never get anything? It’s not fair!’ Henry yelled in frustration that left him panting with anger.

There was a long, brooding silence. The other miners looked with anger, pity, or contempt, at Henry as he struggled to give up something as they had done. Aurelius’ unwavering gaze regarded Henry from his inscrutable metal visage.

After a while, Henry’s tormented breathing subsided. With a deep groan, he dialled back his arm and flung the map into the abyss.

‘I know that was difficult, but now that you have shown that you have the strength to do that, I think you can be trusted to keep hold of Edwald’s eye, if I can retrieve it from his house. It can’t fall into the wrong hands,’ Aurelius told the miners.

‘What will you do now that they are gone?’ Flora asked Aurelius.

‘I take it you didn’t want to steal everything from father and chop me into bits?’ asked Aurelius.

‘No, of course not!’ Irene replied.

‘I know you can’t see it, but I grieve for father, and for Uncle Edwald. They weren’t always like this. I think they were corrupted and didn’t have what it took to resist. I’m left alone again, an orphan once more. I don’t need food, water, or even to breathe. The energy in me won’t burn out for a hundred years, maybe more, they said. I haven’t got anything left to do until that happens.’

‘An orphan once more? Who are you… what are you?’ asked Flora.

‘I was a boy who came down here with Gifrey and Edwald. Even then they were like foster parents for me. My lungs were always bad, but down here the damp rotted them and I passed away.

‘I was well liked, even by the fae. So much so, that father and Uncle Ed made a special deal with the fae. They put their craft together and made their greatest work; this body. With the fae’s help, they brought my spirit back and bound it here.’ Aurelius looked at his hand and flexed his fingers. They were made to have such dexterity he could touch them to his thumb, one by one.

‘The outer shell is solid gold. But, the spirit in me is just a copy. I think my soul has gone to a place beyond where even the fae could reach.

‘I can’t remember anything of my old life; all I know was what they told me. They said my name was August, but they changed it to Aurelius. I was their golden boy.’

‘Come with us, if you have no-where to go,’ urged Irene.

‘I suppose I might as well. Thanks,’ Aurelius replied.

The miners followed Aurelius to the smouldering ruins of Edwald’s home, and witnessed in awe how he was able to pick up and cast aside even the heaviest masonry.

The golden statue emerged with the glassy orb that Edwald set inside his own head. They wrapped it in a cloth and stuffed it in a knapsack to hide the malicious, green glow that was still lit within it.

The beautiful works that inspired such deadly jealousy and envy within Edwald’s home, however, were destroyed and all the lodestone ore they mined was scattered among the debris.

‘Well, my little miners, I certainly hope you have something good for me!’ The Duchess’ voice rang out. She clapped her hands together in anticipation.

The lift had descended to the cavern floor and the Duchess stood with her powerful frame taking up its entrance.

Irene, Aisling, Flora, Percy and Zachary stood as straight as they were able despite how tiredness weighed them down. A long night of worry about showing up empty-handed to the Company had taken its toll. Aurelius remained unobserved in the dark along with Henry.

‘Look at the state of you. Where are your bags? We had an agreement; you would bring as much gold as you could carry. Where is it?’ the Duchess bawled out.

‘We dug deep into the seam, but nothing else could be found,’ Irene replied, with as bold a voice as she could muster.

‘You promised me more gold!’ The Duchess’ bluster now came with an anxiety that brought pallor to her powdered cheeks.

‘A nugget that size, with no others like it nearby? Preposterous! How could you show up empty handed? Do you realise how damaging this is for the Company? How embarrassing for me?’ The Duchess’ voice took on a growing alarm.

The miners cast their eyes down, shuffled their feet and remained silent.

‘Lord, what will I tell them? I promised the Company investors, patrons, and benefactors so much! Energy-charged gold nuggets, no-one had even heard of such a thing! How much iron ore did you get, at least?’ The Duchess implored the miners in desperation.

‘We mined a quota of ore, but it was lost in an accident,’ replied Aisling.

‘I have no interest in accidents or excuses, you are responsible for producing your workload!’ the Duchess screamed at the miners as her anger returned.

‘What of your mysterious benefactor who helped charge and weigh your first delivery? I don’t know what devils you made a pact with to pull that off, but it seems that this time they have sent you up short!’

All of Irene’s tiredness, ache of labour, and frustration at being trapped in circumstances beyond her control reared up.

‘There are no devils or things that go bump in the night. Those are merely rumours. Your Majesty.’ Irene’s scathing reply took herself by surprise as much as the Duchess.

‘You! How dare you talk to her ladyship like that!’ roared the Sergeant, as he leaned round the Duchess’ side.

‘SERG-‘ the Duchess prepared to scream at the Sergeant for interrupting her.

‘Actually, I’m going to allow this,’ said the Duchess. ‘Carry on Sergeant.’

‘You little devil! Where did you get the gall to address her ladyship like that, and after you showed up empty-handed? I could have you working down here in the mine for the rest of your days! Your debt could be extended indefinitely!

‘What have you been playing at down here all this time if you show up with nothing? If I find that you’ve been keeping ore back for yourself then you’re in for it!’ The Sergeant bellowed.

During his tirade, the Sergeant had shuffled past the Duchess and moved to the lift’s entrance.

As he came forward, the Sergeant almost stepped off the lift and onto the cavern floor.

For a moment the Sergeant’s foot hovered above the ground. He then retracted it as quick as he could, but everyone saw.

‘Thank you Sergeant, that will be all,’ the Duchess urged, and tugged the Sergeant back by his sleeve.

‘You have defaulted on your agreement,’ the Duchess informed the miners in a grim voice and cracked open her book of punishments for mining violations.

The Duchess thrust the book at the Corporal and rapped on the page.

‘Read it for me, Corporal. I think I have a headache coming on.’ The Duchess sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, and screwed her eyes shut in anguish.

The Corporal furrowed his brow. He held the book back and forth as he tipped it to the light, and squinted to make out the words.

In his snide, nasal voice, the Corporal began to read;

“Penal code chapter 6; paragraph 4; clause b; sub-section 1; addendum 8 for appendix 9; verse 2. You have incurred a debt on the indebtedness on the indentured servitude program… through which compound interest accumulates, amassing exponentially and culminating compoundedly, up to the accumulated compounded value of the principal debt. Indebtitude can be equitably repaid by expenditure of productive service against the company’s equity deficit until which such serviceable production expenses repay the equitable rates by the culmination of the expended…”

‘I can’t read no more, there’s a port stain on the page,’ the Corporal protested.

‘Give me that!’ The Duchess snapped at the Corporal and grabbed the book off him.

‘What does that mean?’ Percy demanded.

‘It means that you just earned yourself more work on top of the work of what you missed because you didn’t do no work!’ the Sergeant roared.

‘Sergeant!’ the Duchess yelled.

‘I can’t believe I forgave the shortfall of labour on the delivery last week. What pains me is the uncharacteristic haste with which I made promises of my own. Here, your wretched bolt of cloth and darning kit, as promised!’ The Duchess hurled the items at Irene.

‘You will present your usual workload along with the punishment quota of an extra fifteen per cent this time next week. Corporal, send us back up,’ ordered the Duchess, and she slammed the lift door shut.

Instead of the lift making its usual jerky, unsteady way back up, this time the miners saw the Corporal pull a new lever.

Gears chugged, chains churned and counterweights fell and rose along the length of the lift’s raising mechanism.

During this time, both the miners and the Company officials were left to glare at each other through the lift’s windows in awkward silence.

There was one more distant clank way above, a metallic groan, and the lift ascended in one smooth motion.

‘That was interesting. It went up easily, not jerking and bucking up and down like before,’ remarked Henry as he appeared out of the shadows with Aurelius.

‘Did you see that new mechanism? It looks more effective, but more complex. Maybe there are more things to go wrong?’ Percy wondered aloud.

‘Now you’ve seen our employers. This is what we have to work with,’ said Irene to Aurelius, as she gathered up the cloth and darning kit.

‘I see,’ replied Aurelius.

‘What’s all that for, anyway?’ asked Flora.

‘Fixing things,’ replied Irene, with a weary sigh.

‘Yeah, alright. You’re obviously planning something,’ retorted Flora as she searched Irene with a frown, but Irene let nothing on.

‘Have we not suffered enough? That this beastly company with its wretched rules only punishes us with more labour, after all the trials we’ve had to endure?’ Zachary slumped to his knees and lamented his fate aloud.

‘All of it instigated by a fairy trick. Once again we’re the ones at the butt of the joke. Fools once more,’ grumbled Aisling.

‘Did you believe Gladys, or whoever she’s called, when she said that she planned it all along?’ asked Irene.

‘I doubt it. I suspect she likes to flatter herself,’ Henry muttered in his typical dark, angry tone. ‘Believing any word of the fae is a mistake.’

Aurelius’ voice box clicked into life. ‘At least you’ve got me to help. I may not the fastest, but I don’t get tired,’ he told them.

‘Welcome to the team. Work begins tomorrow, but for now, let’s rest,’ said Henry.

Henry straightened up from where he leaned on his staff.

Together, the seven miners dragged their feet towards the chapel they called home.