I noticed the writing. It was script that was very similar to Ogham, the old writing of the druids. There were signs on things all over the mine. The other slaves did not take notice of them. I wondered if they were illiterate, or perhaps had not been as educated as I was.

It was easy by context to get some words:

Cotuld, meant sleep. When I returned to Earth after becoming King I learned this was an Old Irish word for sleep. And this made sense to me. Bia was the word for Food, this was also similar I found out later was also similar to the words in old Irish.

They had a world for Temple, which was not one that was in old Irish, “Gods-Home” was how it roughly translated to English. That word had a sign carved into the stone. I began to use that to comprehend how words were signed. How sounds were made.

The words I figured were basic. But I did not give a sense to my captures that I was understanding their language. Because I did not yet have a real idea how to get home. Indeed, as I looked at an alien sky, the idea of home became one that filled me with Anxiety.

A portal brought me here, so I would have to find another portal? That seemed reasonable. Unless there was only a one-way gate. That didn’t seem logical, but I had no real way to know. There could also be time dilatation like in Flight Of The Navigator.

While these things could all be true, I couldn’t worry about them. Such worry and dread would certainly crush me as hard as any of the stone in the mine.

While I was strong, I wasn’t the strongest. Where I excelled was in endurance. The slaves here were a sickly lot as a rule. I could go on for longer and do more. And as the month’s passed where I took to learning the nature of the mine I was getting stronger.

I was also getting the best food and water. I only later came to understand why. The Lord who ran the mine knew that the better the food I ate the stronger I would become. These were things the God-King taught men before he ascended into the heavens.

I was able to feign ignorance of their attempts to convert me. The lead guards and the Lord of the mine seemed quite zealous in their desire to convert me to the worship of their god.

He looked like King Conan from the teaser at the end of the Conan movies. He wore a cloak made from a white bear. The ministrations they made to him reminded me of the few times I went to Catholic or Episcopal services with friends.

I was however too ignorant of the language of the Ayalosian people to understand the Catechisms they were preaching from. I was foolish at the time and didn’t have sense to hold my tongue. They would have slit my throat from ear to ear for blasphemy.

It was a season. By my count of things, it was 90 days and the cool weather of the area of the mine had given way to heat. What passed there for Winter was bleeding into spring. And it was becoming insufferably hot.

The food in the pits was thin, and the water was thinner. By the end of that first season, I was the lead bearer of burdens. My food was the finest and I had the cleanest water they had there. I felt my filthiness as I had not bathed since I fell into the water in Mexico. One of the slaves whose skin was a greenish-yellow didn’t take well to that.

The guards on duty were not concerned about prisoner’s fighting. I had seen several fights before this. They only stepped in to protect the property of the mine. We could hurt each other, but we couldn’t destroy the property of our owners.

He was tall, maybe an inch taller than me. I would be taller than him in a season. While his body was gnarled and twisted, he was like a tree animated by some unholy power. One eye had been lost to him in a fight.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

He came at me with a stone hammer. He swung wildly at me. He missed 3 hits out of 4, but the fourth connected. I stopped my labors and tried to back away from him. Prior to this point in my life I had never been in a fight. And had I been in a fight it would not be one where death was realistically on the table.

My father and mother didn’t like the fact I did what I was told in school. I was told not to fight back against bullies. While I couldn’t talk him out of trying to hurt me…. that instinct to not fight was still in me.

He eventually knocked me to the ground and pinned me. It was much easier for him to hit me when I was prone on the ground. I started to bleed from several of his blows to my head and face. It was in that moment.

I in a fit of instinct wrapped my hands around his neck. There was a TV show or two I watched. Buck Rogers and Captain Kirk both did something similar to this once. His blows went to my arms and I soon had him pinned to the ground.

He thrashed more violent at me. I know now that I broke several of his ribs as I weighed more then him and was putting my weight on them. I also didn’t know how brittle his bones were. I watched the life drain out of him. He did not yield until he was no longer able to move.

The lead guard was very agitated at his subordinates. The fact this happened seemed to have been some dereliction of their duty. Not that the other died…. but that the other harmed me. The lead guard lead me to the healer.

She was an older woman. She saw to it my wounds were cleaned and sealed, and that any bruises were treated. The lead guard came to the healer woman and lead me into the chamber of the Lord of the mine.

They were having a spirited conversation. I could tell that they were most displeased at what happened to me. I choose that moment to speak.

“Brian Kane” I said pointing to myself. Then I pointed to each of them.

The lord of the mine followed suit “Gann” and the guard seconded with “Slaine.” They seemed disturbed that I spoke a surname. Given the other words connections to Ireland I said “Kane…. O Cathain” and then followed “Brian Cathain.” This of course bothered them as well. Cath meant battle here, and O Cathain translated to ‘Son of battle.’ And given I had just killed my first man, that had meaning here.

Gann began to write a letter. He and Slaine both noticed my watching it. They were more concerned. He directed Slaine to take me to another room.

Gann came back with several objects from the mine. He showed the object to me and I said their names: First in English and then in Ayalosian if I knew it. Gann saw me when I came to the mine. If I were in his shoes I would likely be trying to figure out if I was faking being ignorant of the language then.

Gann called to a servant, a woman who looked to be at most 18, to see to it I was given a bath. What Gann had in the way of a bath was barely more then a shower. But it felt heavenly. The young woman looked to bath me and I refused her.

I was then brought with Gann and I would eat with him. The superintendents of the mine, Slaine, and Gann ate food I would consider PROPER. I tried not to eat this food like the deprived child I was. But I failed as I ate the food like a wild fire.

I did not sleep in the pit for my remaining time in the mine. I was barracked with the guardsmen. And two guards were assigned to me. This was how I spent the next month in the mine. The other bearers of burden looked to me like I was a superintendent. But I was a slave no better then them.

It was near the middle of the second month of spring when a man came to the mine. He was a warrior in armor. It was well maintained…..I know now the army was well used. In his company was a Druid and a Poet…. though I didn’t know what a poet was at the time. The three men rode in on tan horses.

Gann spoke “Arsa Kane” Arsa meant aged Veteran. Gann then pointed to me. “Brian Kane.” The poet laughed at this.

Old Kane motioned for the druid. The druid inspected me for a moment. He nodded for a moment and went to speak to Slaine. I was directed to return to my business.

I was brought to dinner, which was now regularly with Gann and his men.

“Brian” Old Kane spoke to me. He pointed to himself and then me. “Fosterage?” Fosterage was not a simple concept. But he saw understanding on my face. The druid and poet seemed to be taken a back by this.

I pointed to myself and said “Foundling” I hoped they had some word that was similar to that. He confirmed with the druid. While they didn’t know the word they suspected what it meant. He then said “Yes” or at least how the Ayalosians said it. I nodded. While I wasn’t an abandoned child, not by choice, I was essentially one.

I slept that night….and the first time since I arrived I saw the woman in my dreams again. The old woman. “You know who I am, don’t you?” She said it in a way full of hope and energy. I looked up in the sky….it was the same place as was in my dreams before. But there were now 4 moons in the sky. The air felt like the air of my new world.

When I awoke I went into the household of Old Kane, the Dog of the King of Draygea.