Chapter 25 - Reaching the mine

Riin's POV

Asperd Isles - Late Spring.

First day of travel, Flinty region.

The trip to the base of the [Stoney Mountains], would take around four days of travel, of we did not hit any ‘bump’ in the road so to speak, with the speed we were going at. On each wagon a guard rode with the drive, in the front three guards rode on their own horse and in the back two guards rode behind the last wagon. I had taken up a spot between the second and third wagon, finding it a good spot to shoot from. The sun was slowly rising up, as we traveled along the main road, a short command and a signal went out from a hunter traveling alongside the first wagon. At his signal the guards in the front turned towards the hills on our right, our first real off-road trip begun. As we slowly made our way across the grass plains, the sun marked midday, we had yet to see anything of interest, I was told that we were too close to a village for any bandits to come this way. So, I sat there getting more and more aware of just how much my ass was killing me, the longer we rode on and by the looks of things we had no plans of stopping anytime soon. A good fifteen or so miles into our journey and the guards at the front gave a yell for a full on stop, it seem we would make camp here tonight and thank my ass for that.

Camp was made up of the horse tried to the wagons, as there were no nearby trees, the wagons was move into a ‘U’ form with the opening towards the north, as to spot incoming attacks, I guess. The campfires was set up in the small area within the wagons, and the sleeping bags laid out along the side, with the horse at the back, away from the entrance. I had seen Galore looking at me a few times along the way, yet he had not said a word to me, not that anyone was really talking much, just resting up, since as soon as we reached our destination, we would begin work on the new mining area and houses,stable and walls. So, I really don't blame anyone for not wasting energy talking. Food was prepared in form of smoked meat and bread, one of the hunter was talking about getting a stew going as soon as we reached our end camping spot, I for one second that plan. Any kind of stew, sound like a good plan, after four days of nothing but smoked meat and bread, my sleep came easy as soon as I hit the pelt laid out.

Second day of travel, Stoney region.

We once again set off with the first light, even as the wagons set of in a slow pace, I was fully awake the moment I got up on the horse, or should I say, the saddle… my fucking ass and thighs are killing me! I completely forgot to use the herbal cream, that I brought with me, against muscle pain, not okay, not okay at all, my poor little ass hurts so much, who ever made the invention of the car and car seat was a genius! Who said horse was the way to go! A motion up front caught my attention, I look towards the hunter riding on my left.

“What's happening up there?”

The man looked over towards me and gave a small shrug with his shoulders as he returned to look ahead.

“Probably, us passing into the [Stoney Region], I guess.”

“Ah, I see.”

Our road started to get more and more hills as we continued north, so the ‘start’ of the hills marks the beginning of the next region…

As the day progressed we made little headway inform of moving, the hills and rocks made our speed drop significantly, much to my regret. The slow speed meant more traveling and more day in this damn torture device of a thing, saddles are not meant for normal city people, I will tell you that right now. When the sun was setting we had only traveled about half the distance of yesterday, meaning that we had to at least add half a day to our traveling plans. Camp was set and food was eaten, soon the snores of the men and the sound of the horses, was the only thing remaining in the dark of the night.

Third day of travel, Flinty region.

We, like the days before set off at sunrise, slowing once more making our way towards the mountains in the horizon. As the day passed, it was slowly becoming more and more clear to all, that the trip towards the decided spot, was going to take a few more days to reach. When the sun was starting to set we reached the other side of the hills, which was apparently named [Flinty Hills], even if the where in another region. When sitting at our camps, I overheard the hunters talking about the progress so far, it seemed that we had only traveled about eight mile for the last two days, meaning that our speed was reduced by half in the hills.

I was checking up on the state of my bow, when a shadow fell over me. My first reaction was to reach for my knife, second to get out of the attackers range and third, I was cursing at myself for my lack of awareness of my surroundings. When I finally got a look at the person who had gotten close, I found myself staring at the hulk himself.

He was staring at me all the while grunting about brats being spooked too easily, I just stared back at him, waiting for him to state his business, with me, after a few moments he finally did.

“I think it's about time we talked, about what your job is going to be, when we start working.”

Hmm, I had foreseen this would come, but he had moved faster than I thought, he would, I gave him a short nod. Galore sat down on the other side of the fire, shifting around a bit before continuing.

“You seem like a smart kid, so I might take you with me into the mine.”

Might… being the bad word here… I needed to convince him that I was useful, if not anything else. But first I needed some more information on how they would mine, and most important of all create the mine itself.

“I have a few questions, if you have the time for them.”

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He stared at me for a short moment, before nodding for me to continue.

“How did you locate the spot that was chosen and how do you intend to start the mineshaft?”

He made that growling sound again then began to speak.

“The spot for the mine was located by a three man scouting team, that the elders of our village pointed out for them to look at together with a few other spots, does that answer your question?”

I have a short nod and he continued his speech.

“As to how the mineshaft is created, that is done by choosing an already weak point in the mountain, say a small neutral formed cave that end after a few feet or the spring of an underwater stream. In this case it was chosen from a small cave entrance.”

You have gained knowledge about [Mining]! Learn the basic of the mining trade for it to be unlocked, 1 of 4 has been cleared, how to locate a possible mining area.

Hmm, interesting.

“How come the mineshaft in the village collapsed on you?”

He looked at me for a long time before saying anything.

“The support beams that helped to hold the weight of the stone above it was not strong enough, so the beams broke, therein collapsing the ceiling, creating the rockslide you saw that day.”

Hmm…

“So, how was the beams made?”

“Made, what do you mean by that?”

Ah, I see so the support beams might have been simple wooden logs cut to fit the opening of the mine…

“How was the mine opening or the mine as a whole, being supported, was the wood a soft or hard type and was the wooden beams supported by metal?”

He was frowning at this point.

“Hmm, the beams was made from oak trees… but I don't know what you mean by metal support…”

Ah, so the wood itself was not supported.

“I mean if the wooden beams holding the ceiling was ringed with metal to help it support the weight of the mountain.”

Galore was scratching his head at this point.

After a few minutes of this, he finally began to talk again.

“So you are saying that to help the wooden beam support the weight you add this ‘ring’ of metal to the beam itself, do I understand this right?”

I gave him a nod, seems like I will have to explain it a bit more.

“The ring acts as an extra form of support to the beam itself, by strengthening the beam from splitting.”

He looked at the fire for a while, thinking probably, a while late to looked back at me over the fire.

“I see, by strengthening the beams, we strengthen the weak point, we create as we mine.”

I nodded at that, seems like he got the base idea of it.

You have gained knowledge about [Mining]! Learn the basic of the mining trade for it to be unlocked, 2 of 4 has been cleared, how to build a solid mineshaft.

Fourth day of travel, Flinty region.

After our talk last night, galore had gone back to his own campfire and talked with the other miners, soon after I went to bed myself. The moment the sun rose, we set off once again, like clockwork. We rode with the speed from the first day, making good progress, as we got closer to the forest border, marking the last of our travel. We reached the forest as the sunset.

That evening as the moon rose in the night sky, galore told me how to react if a gas was found in the mine or how to survive if a rockslide was happening. As for the gas release in the caves, he explained that most gas types that was common in the mountains was acting like smoke, meaning that is would always seek upwards. He also explained how to best survive a rockslide while inside the cave, - sometime while building and expanding the mine, a wall or ceiling would collapse. - if such a thing happen the people on the ‘inner’ side, the once without an exit, would first of all move as far back they could as soon as a rockfall was detected. A rockfall or slide would normally start with a steady stream of dust or small loose rocks falling, and in a matter of seconds the ceiling or wall would collapse. The short time one had to get away was the important ones, the moments one had to get the rest of the working men away.

You have gained knowledge about [Mining]! Learn the basic of the mining trade for it to be unlocked, 3 of 4 has been cleared, how to survive underground.

Fifth day of travel, Flinty region.

At sunrise, the hunters set out to find the easiest part for the wagons, to reach the cave, that would become the new mine. The rest of us spent our time cleaning out the nearby area of anything edible. I swear, miners might know how to survive falling rocks, but they know shit about what to eat from the forest floor, more than once did I have to yell at them to stop someone from picking up a poisonous fungus or try and pluck off some very unhealthy berries from the small bushes.

At midday the hunters returned with good news, they had found the cave, and a easy or easier way than what we was looking at, from our camp. So, the wagons slowly went on guided by two of the hunters, the rest of us, - being, me and a handful of the guards with their own horses, - was going to take the more direct way to the cave, and so we did. The ride itself was uneventful but I did get a few edible plants from the forest along the way, around six o’clock we reached the cave. I had been told it was a ‘crack’ in the mountain… If they call that a mere crack, than hell if I want to see anything bigger. The ‘crack’ was around thirteen feet high and a good nine feet wide.

Well, enough staring at a opening in a enlarged rock, time to do some work, I walked over the the first man with an axe in hand.

“Erm, where do I might find a axe of my own?”

The man who I guess was a miner took a double look at me before breaking into a roar of a laughter… Ah, the day I will make you bow before me and beg for me to spare your pathetic live will come, for now all I can do is wait for the goon to finish is laughing. A few minutes later I was rewarded with Galore, coming to stand next to the goon looking between him and me.

“What you done now, kid.”

I gave him a long hard look without saying a single word, needing time to not yell at the hulk.

“I have not done anything, I merely asked if he knew where I could get an axe myself.”

He gave me a short look, before pointing over his shoulder at a wagon father away from us.

“Over there, kid.”

Before turning to face the still laughing goon.

“Stop standing around, Berth, we have work to get done.”

I for one had given up on the goons state of mind and made my way to the wagon with the tools in it, soon finding myself an axe. Making my way to a nearby tree, that I found to my liking for what I had in mind, I started to cut into it.

Half an hour later, and I had myself most of what I needed for the plans that we had collected on the way here to survive at least a week, now for securing a place to do the building. I move from my workplace to go look for Galore, who was in charge of the whole area. My luck was with me after a few minutes of looking around the place.

“Hey, is there any place near the cave that I can set up a shelter, without it being in the way of your building plans, for the next weeks time?”

At that he raised a brow.

“Why just for the next weeks time?”

“Because I hope that we have a better place to store our food by then.”

He gave a smile at that, looking around the place near the cave for a few moments, before starting to walk towards the s´cliffside, waving for me to follow him. A good twenty some feet away from the cave itself, we stopped.

“Here should do fine, you fine with this spot, kid?”

Shaking my head at his constant usage of the kid word, I gave a nod. He in return gave a small laugh and turned to walk off, before stopping.

“Don't stay up too late, kid. We have a lot of work to do in the morning.”

“Roger that.”

After setting up the poles that would work as guide line for my walls, I called it a day. A few feet from my spot I started up a campfire, as soon as the fire was going, I went to sleep, tomorrow the real work would start.