Chapter 10 First Encounter

Eznho woke up early and got himself ready for his first day of work, he planned on waiting for the old man at the entrance. After breakfast, he followed the crowd and waited for the old man at the entrance.

An hour has already passed but the old man still did not show up. Eznho was in a pickle on what to do, even if he wanted to enter they would not allow him, especially that it is his first time. He tried to calm himself down and patiently waited.

Another hour has passed, still no signs of the old man.

“Did he already enter?”

Eznho asked inwardly and decided to go first check on the old man’s tent. He was about to go when he saw the old man coming with a pickaxe in tow.

He looked the same as yesterday except with a lazy look on his face.

“I have been waiting for you,” Eznho tried to talk calmly while suppressing his anger.

“Huh? Who are you?” The old man looked at him with a confused face.

“I am your assigned partner to enter the mines, I went yesterday to talk with you, remember?” He replied with a forced smile.

“Hmmmm?” the old man was trying to remember.

“Aha! You’re the sissy, tsk! Still trying to follow me? I don’t want any sissy following me, shooo you are in my.” The old man tried to dismiss him while waving his hand and walked past him.

Eznho was starting to get furious when the old man stopped.

“Wait a minute, did you put something in my food yesterday?”

The old man turned back with narrowed eyes.

Crap!

Eznho suddenly felt a chill.

“No, why would I do that?”

Eznho answered while trying to show an apathetic face but cold sweats started to come out on his back.

The old man was still looking at him trying to have a good read on the boy.

“Tsk! Stop following me, go find someone else,” He turned back and continued to proceed inside.

Eznho heaved a sigh of relief but was determined to follow the old man, he had a feeling that he will learn things from him so he still followed.

The old noticed him but was too lazy to bicker with him and continued on his way.

The entrance was wide about three meters high and three meters wide. Eznho continued to follow the old man after passing the entrance guard and did some miscellaneous things. They were quite the whole time while sounds of men chattering and digging echoed inside. The tunnels were lit with lamps. Finally, after walking for half an hour they turned left then walked for another fifteen minutes. The old man stopped and started to check out the place.

They were the only ones in that place, but echoes could still be heard.

“Uhmmmm, what should I do?”

Eznho asked he had to start work already because he started late. Even though he has chosen the fixed payment, he had to meet a quota.

The old man ignored him and started to dig with his pickaxe after examining the wall.

Veins popped out on Eznho’s head after the old man still ignored him.

He walked and stood a meter beside the old man and raised his pickaxe above his head and swung it with all his might.

Clang!

The pointed edge of the pickaxe clashed with a hard stone and produced a spark then went sideways and landed few centimeters from the old man’s foot.

Shit!

The old man could not react as it happened fast, the boy walked beside him and suddenly swung his pickaxe and the next thing he saw it landed on the ground barely grazing his foot.

“Are you crazy?! Huh? Does my foot look like gold to you?”

He yelled at the top of his lungs, while sweet was trickling down his wrinkly forehead.

“Fuck!” He cursed while pointing his finger on the boy.

Spit was showering on Eznho’s face but he did not dare to move.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” He apologized and repeatedly bowed his head.

“Tsk! Go dig far away from me!” The old man shouted.

Eznho immediately backed away and picked a place ten meters from where the old man was digging.

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“Stupid sissy, you’re gonna be the cause of my death.” The old man grumbled while continuing to dig.

Clang!

He turned his head to see what’s happening and saw a rotating pickaxe hurtling towards him.

Fuck!

Both of them shouted inside their minds.

“Tsk, Stupid sissy!” He cursed again and easily dodged it by jumping backward out of reflex.

The axe landed and stuck on the wall. Veins were popping out of the old man's head while his face was beginning to get red. He looked sideways towards the boy who had an apologetic look on his face.

“You sissy! Fuck! Are you trying to kill me, Huh? Might as well come and struck me with your pickaxe! Fuck! What kind of shitty luck is this? Fuck! Are the heavens toying with me, Fuck!”

The old man started to curse loudly while Eznho buried his head on his shoulders enduring the old man’s curses.

After a while, the old man stopped but was still breathing loudly, clearly still pissed. He walked towards Eznho’s pickaxe and easily pulled it out and headed towards Eznho.

Eznho saw and wanted to run but could not, he was nervous. Who knows this old man might be mad and murder him here. He mustered his courage and started to back away slowly and tried to run.

“Stop!” The old man shouted.

He stopped and just stood there waiting for the old man.

“Are you really that stupid? Did you think you could come inside and randomly swing your axe and strike gold? Huh? Tsk! Do you even have a brain?”

The old man berated him and handed back his pickaxe. He tried to calm down and after a while, he took a deep breath.

“Tsk, seeing that you're stupid and I am stuck with you I’ll teach you the basics, first carefully observe the walls and try to find out if there are gold deposits and then...”

He briefly explained the basics while Eznho listened earnestly.

“Alright, I told you the basics, now go and stop trying to kill me, if that happens one more time, I promise you, I will bury you here with the gold you understand?”

Old man Dan said with a serious face.

“Yes sir! Thank you,” Eznho bowed and immediately found a spot a little bit further from the old man.

“What a sissy, tsk!” the old man grumbled and continued his digging.

.....

No accidents happened ever since and Eznho slowly learned the way of mining, he had his fair share of hardships especially the first week where he could barely raise his pickaxe because of muscle pain and blisters on his palms. Bruises and small cuts also formed on different parts of his body.

Every morning before work, he still waited for the old man. They still did not talk much with each other and worked silently. The mine slowly progressed and was only three kilometers from the border. Eznho stored his payments and started to get paid by percentage, he was improving. His life was a routine with some variations, he sometimes visited the old man or went for a swim in the river. He never knew anyone else, everyone pretty much minded their own business.

.....

Six months already passed since Eznho first arrived, it was the end of spring and the summer heat started to bore down. Green grass filled the valley, and the mountains were painted in green. Just like always, Eznho waited for the old man and they went inside and started to dig.

He was digging while the old man was several meters away from him. Suddenly he noticed from his peripheral vision that small rubbles were falling a meter from the ground two meters beside him.

“Hmmm?” He got curious and stopped digging and walked towards it.

More and more rubbles started to roll down. It piqued his curiosity and bent down to take a closer look while narrowing his eyes trying to focus. Then suddenly two wiggling seemingly antennas came out which surprised him.

“Huh?”

He had a bad feeling and wanted to back out but a dark blue green centipedes head suddenly came out and spit something towards his face.

“Ah!”

He was surprised and landed on his butt then adrenaline came pumping in and he subconsciously covered his face using his left hand. A green toxic liquid land on his left palm which made a sizzling sound when it made contact with the leather glove. It easily corroded it and made contact with the skin.

“Arrrggghhh!” He could not help but shout due to the sudden pain. He poured his strength on his right hand that held his pick axe and swung it towards the centipedes head.

He did not have time to look at the result of his struggle as he felt a painful burning sensation on his left hand. He started to get dizzy and landed on the ground, his eyes were blurry. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a silhouette of a man standing beside him and a feeling of being carried while a strong gust of wind was passing by.

.....

An unknown time has passed, Eznho slowly opened his eyes, it was blurry at first and he was trying to adjust his vision. He felt a stinging pain on his left palm but he could not move it, his body felt weak all over. He tried to familiarize himself with the surroundings, the smell was a mix of medicinal herbs, sweat, sewer and the smell of old men, it was unpleasant.

After adjusting his vision, he can see that he was in a tent while he was covered in blankets. The tent was a little old, the blankets also had holes in them.

The tent opened and an old man came inside with a bowl of medicine, it had a sweet aroma,

“Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty, I thought you’ll gonna lay down there until you are dead.”

Old man Dan greeted him.

Eznho felt irritated and wanted to get up but he had no strength to do so.

“Ugh!” he exclaimed.

“Tsk! Do you wanna die after all the troubles you made me do? I should have just left you inside to rot, stupid sissy,”

Old man Dan scolded him.

Eznho just listened and did not argue, his life was in the old man’s hand so he just endured.

“Okay, now that you are awake drink this and I’ll change your bandage later, you will be like this for a couple of days.” Old man Dan instructed.

Days passed like this and on the fifth day he regained his strength and struggled to wake up, he removed his blanket and saw that he was butt naked.

The hell?

He could not imagine the old man taking off his clothes and...

Bleggh!

He nearly vomited thinking about it but what else can he do, he just prayed that the old man will not talk about it.

He found his robe and put it on, there was stinky sticky black ink on his body and on the blankets, he ignored it and went out. All his things were inside the tent but it was really smelly inside. A bandage was wrapped around his left palm.

He walked and saw another tent outside, his tent. He was on the old man’s tent and still on the edge of the camp. A pot of boiling soup was outside and he helped himself. He went to peek inside his tent and saw that the old man’s belonging was there.

The heck?

He was puzzled and wanted to ask the old man but he was not around. He went in the river and took a deep that made him feel alive. He took of his bandage and a white scar was almost covering his left palm. He touched it and felt smooth.

It was already evening when the old man came back from the mines, still grumpy as ever.

“Ow, the sissy is up now, time to pay up for my services. Don’t even think that you’ll get a special treatment from me, the great Dan without paying,”

The old man spoke first without care.

“Fine, I’ll pay you, but why are you in my tent?”

Eznho rolled his eyes and answered back.

“Tse, you speak like your tent is a special dwelling, mines definitely better. I had no choice but to switch it you know, you made my tent stinky!”

Old man Dan answered back like he was wronged.

Eznho was irritated but did not want to argue, he owed the old man.