Darla knew the mines well, and Maela realized quickly that she would have had no hope of escaping without her. They exited the tunnel that led from her cell and moved off to another tunnel that led to the left. Maela could hear voices a short distance down the tunnel that had led to the right. After two more turns, Darla patted Maela's arm.

"I can walk on my own now."

Maela felt guilty that she had hit Darla so hard. In hindsight it seemed like all she had to do was ask her for help. "How is your head?"

"I have a headache, but I guess that's to be expected."

"Here, let me see." Maela tugged Darla toward a torch, and gently pushed Darla's hair aside to examine the cut. There was a gash, but it was not long and had stopped bleeding. "You are cut, but it won't require more than keeping it clean. It isn't bleeding anymore."

Darla reached up and took Maela's hand. "I don't blame you for hitting me. I should have offered to free you."

Squeezing Darla's hand, Maela replied, "We're both free now. Let's just find a way out." Maela went to look over her shoulder, but Darla darted forward and kissed her quickly on the lips.

Maela's eyes went wide as Darla pulled away quickly and turned to face down the tunnel. Not knowing what to say, Malea struggled with whether it would be better to thank Darla or to just stay quiet. To her relief, Darla spoke up, her voice clear and confident, "We are safe here. This is beyond where the guards make their rounds. Our only concern will be any search party that looks for us and perhaps an expeditionary miner."

Maela couldn't make sense of what had just happened. Darla kissed her, but immediately became matter-of-fact and clinical in her words. Deciding to just to go with Darla's current line-of-conversation, Maela replied, "Expeditionary miner? What's that?"

"These tunnels extend for miles. The Captain of the Mines is constantly sending out people to look for new veins of ore."

Maela nodded. "So what is the plan? We work our way through some little-used tunnels and then sneak through the entrance?"

"That is impossible."

Frowning, Maela replied, "Nothing is impossible. We can hide in the shadows and wait until they give up looking for us. Then we can disguise ourselves and leave."

"That is true, but it will take a long time. I know Captain Fraken. He will not forget about us, nor will he give up on finding us. But I have a better idea." Darla pointed down the tunnel. "We can take the South Tunnel."

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"The haunted one?" Darla nodded. "The one you described as treacherous?"

"Those are rumors. I have actually investigated the tunnel a great deal. It is a rite of passage for those born here." Darla started talking with her hands, waving them to the right and left as she described directions and tunnel entrances. "There is a deep chasm through the side entrance. It is why it isn't guarded. It would be impossible for an army to traverse, but there is a path, and it winds down along the chasm, presumably to the bottom."

"You've not been to the bottom? Then how do you know it leads outside, and what about the ghosts?"

I have been through the natural tunnels that lead off from the path. The wind howls through creating the noises that sound like ghosts."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"But those tunnels are near the top, where the youngsters hide and play. Very few have made the trip down the path beyond them. I have." Darla pointed down. "I went as far as I could, but ran out of time. I tossed an extra torch down into the chasm to see how far I had to go and discovered something amazing."

"What did you find?" Maela hung on every one of Darla's words. She loved hearing about parts of the city that she had never experienced. As a thief, it was her job to know the city's secrets, but the secrets of the mines appeared to be hidden even among many of those within the Harvest Guild, which oversaw them.

"Metal tracks with abandoned mine carts and tools. I was about fifty feet from the bottom, but the trail was steep, and it would have taken me too long to get down and back, so I had to give up. I never went that far again."

"Did you mention what you found to anyone?"

"Of course. I told my friends, but they dismissed my comments as lies to support my claim of having been near the bottom of the chasm." Darla's voice sounded bitter. "They could not believe a girl would be braver than any of the boys."

"What about your parents?"

"Tell my parents that I broke the rules and went into the South Tunnel? That didn't seem wise."

Maela laughed. "So there is an abandoned tunnel to the south that no one knows about. How do you know it leads outside?"

"I don't, but with the wind and a cart, it seems likely that the cart tracks would lead to an exit."

"That does make sense, but is it wise? It seems safer to wait and eventually go out through the front."

"I am not waiting any longer." Darla's voice was strong and cold with the certainty of someone on a mission. Maela remembered their conversation. She needs to be free more than I do.

"Okay. Maybe there is an exit that was abandoned near the Ash Fields. I'm willing to risk that with you."

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense. If the mines in the Wretched Quarter went dry the same time the fields died, then it would, of course, have been abandoned."

"Old Quarter."

"What?"

"Not Wretched Quarter. Old Quarter."

Darla peered at Maela and then nodded. "So we will exit to the Old Quarter. That seems safer than exiting into the Silo District."

"Yes. Much safer." Maela thought of what was possibly a secret path through the mountains that linked the Old Quarter to the Inner Fields and the Silo District. That would not only free Maela and Darla from the mines, it would be very valuable for the Thieves Guild in future operations.

"Grab every torch you find. We don't know how long we will be walking. The last thing we will want is to be without light deep underground." Darla pulled a torch from the wall and extinguished it under her boot.

Maela nodded and followed Darla down the tunnel, looking forward to returning to the Old Quarter soon.

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