The Brightest Shadow, page 37
Melal grunted and set down his pickaxe, pretending to be proud of his work. His chest was heaving from the recent exertions, so he really did seem like he'd been working hard. Usually Ulviab gave a few words of encouragement and moved on, but this time he paused.
"Ah, young man... you are the one who joined us just today, correct? I hope that your injuries are not causing you any trouble."
Slaten shook his head. "I've recovered fully."
"Well, don't overexert yourself. It seems we will be mining for a long time to come, so there is no point wearing yourself out in a sprint." Ulviab touched him lightly on the forearm and gave him another smile. "I don't know what experience you've had with my people, but I hope your time here need not be more unpleasant than necessary. We're all working together here."
It would be better not to irritate Ulviab, but Melal couldn't help himself. "Work together? When we're the ones swinging the pickaxes and you're just watching?"
"I admit my job seems easier, but someone needs to manage everything." Ulviab seemed completely untroubled by the challenge, turning his smile on Melal instead. "As a matter of fact, we have begun bringing mansthein into the mine in one of the deeper tunnels. We've struck rock that only sein-trained warriors can make significant progress on. So for the near future, humans and mansthein will be working side by side!"
They might have said more, but at that point a small creature poked its head out of the sling of cloth Ulviab wore around his neck. Melal just glanced at the furry face briefly, while Slaten stopped in surprise. "What is that?"
"This?" Ulviab's smile widened even further and he pulled the creature out of the sling. It clawed and bit at his fingers playfully, doing no harm. "This is called a cat - or rather, this one is still young, so it is called a kitten. You do not have them on Breilin, I think, though there are much larger creatures of this kind in the mountains."
"What's it for?" Slaten bent closer, observing it. Melal rolled his eyes. He admitted they were cute little things, but he'd grown tired of Ulviab's hobby.
"In my home, they are cared for as pets." Ulviab stroked the kitten's head with one thumb and it mewled at him before attacking the thumb. "However, when they are fully grown, they are adept at killing rats and other vermin. Did you know that a large portion of each harvest is lost to rats? I thought that introducing cats could assist with problems of supplies, so I am trying to raise new litters."
"I understand."
"Would you like to play with one?"
Slaten gave Ulviab his usual blank stare. After a moment, Ulviab laughed and tucked the kitten back into the cloth. "Well, there's no need now. I actually came to check on your progress and see if you couldn't join the others in the new tunnels. It seems you have some strength - and Melal, you've made more progress than I expected! Very good, you're learning to channel that power."
No, surely not... Melal seethed as he realized what Slaten had done to him. Thanks to his stubbornness, he'd gotten them noticed. Now they'd get transferred to this new tunnel, where they'd probably be forced to work harder. And alongside Deathspawn, which turned his stomach. Having to deal with Ulviab was one thing - the man didn't seem even slightly trained - but having to work alongside blooded killers was another.
It was too late, though. Ulviab waved for them to follow and they snuffed their lantern before following his. Melal glared over at Slaten, who returned an uncomprehending stare. Of course he did.
They soon made their way back to the central chamber, the only part of the mine that wasn't cramped corridors. When a cart of rocks moved through, they still had to press themselves to the side to give it space. Tunnels extended in multiple directions, a random pattern that meant nothing to Melal. He didn't know much about mining, but he was pretty sure this was a stupid way to go about it.
Only two people occupied the chamber, an overseer who coordinated workers and Laeri. She was supposed to be there to help heal injuries from accidents, but at the moment was playing with one of the kittens. As it pounced and wriggled on her arm, Laeri giggled like a child.
Melal tried not to scowl as they approached. It was unfair that she got treated better as a healer, didn't even need to wear a collar. She did seem to hate the Deathspawn, though, and she was damn beautiful. Whenever he got injured, he always hoped that it was Laeri who helped him instead of that Deathspawn bitch.
"Be careful not to let it fall!" Ulviab said. "It could get run over by a cart!"
"I won't." Laeri didn't even look up, still playing with the kitten. Meanwhile, the overseer glanced over the small group.
"What's with these two? Insubordination?"
Ulviab waved a hand. "No, no. I'm moving them to the lower tunnels. See if we can't make some more progress there." He scooped the kitten out of his clothes and set it down next to Laeri. It almost immediately pounced on the other one and the two began tumbling, making Laeri laugh in delight.
They took a tunnel Melal had never been down before, wider than the others. The reason became obvious soon as he spotted a wooden structure with a rope ladder leading down a shaft. There was a woman crouched beside it, waiting - not a bad looking one, though smudged from work and covered by a shapeless tunic. She rose to her feet when they approached.
"Can we go down now?"
"The three of you should be good enough for today." Ulviab gestured expansively toward the rope ladder. "It looks dark from here, but I made sure there were enough lanterns below. Go report to a man named Safakiv. He'll direct you to where you should start working. From now you will report to him every day, understand?"
They nodded and Ulviab left them with a cheery wave. The three just stood beside the shaft, not eager to move on. Eventually Melal decided he should be the brave one and step forward. He was careful to grip the ladder tightly as he went over the edge, then began to make his way down.
As he'd hoped, Slaten didn't move quickly. That meant the woman came next and when he looked up he saw a shapely ass instead of Slaten's legs. Loose as her tunic was, when the woman's legs moved he could catch glimpses of the curves underneath. It looked like she had good muscles for a woman.
Though there were several lanterns on the level below, they failed to light up the tunnel as well as they did above. The stone itself was darker, maybe, though Melal didn't care about that. What mattered was whether this Safakiv would be a pain in the ass or not.
Once all three of them reached the bottom, a Deathspawn approached. He had a large scar across his mottled green-gray face and otherwise looked like most of his kind. A bit bigger and tougher, perhaps, definitely had some training in inner strength. After looking them all over, he gave a low grunt.
"You'll do. The main thing here is to make progress however you can. I don't care if you slam your head into the rock, so long as you get through. If you can't make it here, we'll send you back up. Understand?"
They nodded, not that they had much of a choice.
"Alright, you two - down the left corridor. But you..." His eyes fell on the woman and Safakiv licked his lips. "I think I have easier duties for you."
He moved forward and she stepped back on instinct, but she was pinned in the tight corridor. The Deathspawn tugged her shirt out of her belt, jammed his hand underneath, and began to crawl up her shirt. Rage boiled in Melal's veins as he saw him paw over her. Though the woman shuddered in revulsion, there was little she could do, little any of them could do.
"Well?" Safakiv looked back at them and sneered. "Don't you have work to be doing?"
Melal hefted his pickaxe, imagining driving it into the Deathspawn's skull. He could say it was an accident, maybe, then the woman would be grateful. But the Deathspawn settled his hand on the hilt of his sword and glared straight at him, as if he knew what he was thinking.
"She was sent here to work," Slaten said. Safakiv turned his glare on him.
"And this is all the work women are good for. Human cunts have all these fancy thoughts... at least most mansthein women know their place." The woman's eyes were filled with hatred, but she did nothing, just let his hand reach up her shirt.
"Safakiv!" A new voice called from one of the tunnels. It proved to belong to a Rhen man carrying a lantern. At first Melal disregarded him, then he saw that the man wasn't as scrawny as most Rhen. Safakiv tugged his hand out of the woman's shirt and turned to glower at him.
"This better be worth it."
"We broke open a new crack. It smells odd and some of the men are feeling light-headed. Think we need to check for gas again?"
"Dammit." Safakiv stomped away down the corridor, soon disappearing into the shadows.
With him gone, the tension faded. Melal was still furious at the Deathspawn's presumptuousness, didn't see why the others weren't just as angry. Slaten didn't look like he felt anything at all, the woman was still pressing her back against the rock, and the Rhen had a neutral expression. He turned to the woman and spoke in a low voice.
"There's not much I can do. Stay away from Safakiv, don't let him get you alone, and it won't be as bad. There's always a big group in the rightmost tunnel."
Nodding, the woman headed in that direction, pushing her shirt back into her belt. Meanwhile, the Rhen turned back to the two of them and smiled.
"I heard he was putting you in the left tunnel? I hope you're strong, because that one is damn hard going. I'm Rhilanor, by the way." He didn't hold out a palm in the funny way that Rhen did, instead giving Melal a quick bow. "Not sure what we're doing down here, but the Deathspawn seem to be getting impatient."
"Just who are you?" Melal demanded. "They have some kind of human overseer now?"
The Rhen raised both hands, as passive as most of his kind. "Not at all. I just want everything to move smoothly."
"By giving orders? You don't look so tough to me - can you even swing a pickaxe hard enough to break through stone like this? I'm not taking orders from-"
Rhilanor punched him. The blow hit his shoulder and slammed Melal into the tunnel wall hard enough that he dropped his pickaxe. He sprang off the wall, roaring, only to find Rhilanor grinning at him.
"I don't give orders here. But I'll kick your ass if you mouth off to me."
Despite himself, Melal grinned back. "Alright, you can hit. Can you take a punch, or do you just throw them?"
"I suppose I hit you once. It's only fair for you to get a chance." Rhilanor gestured for him to come with one hand, still smiling insufferably.
Melal wanted to hit him straight in the face, knock out some of those teeth. Unfortunately, it looked like this Rhen was a lot tougher than most. Plus, brawling would only bring attention they didn't want.
Instead Melal settled for hitting him in the shoulder as hard as he could. Rhilanor grunted and had to take a step back, but he didn't fall. Damn, he was tough. Melal hadn't met a Rhen like that before and found his grin widening.
"Alright, you're not so bad. I'm Melal."
They made their introductions as they headed down the tunnel, which branched off at a few points. Melal lost track of the exact direction, not that it mattered. In the end they reached a wall of solid rock, not so different from the one he'd been chipping away at above. There were a couple other men there, trying to widen the corridor for some reason.
Soon they were back to exactly the same kind of work. Except that now Melal couldn't rest - even if there were no Deathspawn, he didn't want to look bad in front of Rhilanor and the others. Yet every swing of the pickaxe jarred his hands. This stone was definitely harder than the stone above.
Usually Melal didn't like to focus on inner strength too much. Looked like he didn't have a choice. Melal flexed his muscles, making sure the power was pumping through them. He swung again, this time making a proper dent. It was going to be hell doing it all day, though, and his hands already hurt. Maybe he could get moved to a different corridor. There were so many here, the overseers obviously couldn't keep track of progress on all of them.
Metal clattering on stone interrupted him. Melal turned to find Slaten frowning down, his pickaxe fallen from his hands. Rhilanor stopped his work and came up beside them.
"Having trouble?"
"Just harder than I thought." Slaten's hands seemed to be trembling in pain as he took up his pickaxe again.
"Yeah, this stone is tougher than it looks. Seems like you've made some real progress, but you're going to hurt yourself going that hard." Rhilanor paused, glanced down the corridor, then turned toward Slaten and Melal with a conspiratorial look. "You want to learn a little technique that will help?"
Slaten nodded and Melal shrugged.
"This is technically a secret Kelfaa art, but I think given the circumstances I can teach it. We call it the Scorched Palm. You have to move sein through your skin, right as the impact jars your body. Gradually, your body gets tougher and you don't even feel it anymore."
Rhilanor showed them the technique slowly, opening his lantern and letting the flame burn right next to his hand. Though Melal wasn't much good at observing new techniques like that, he was usually good at physical ones. There were a few tricks to it, but Rhilanor made suggestions as they tried to copy him.
They started with the flames in the lanterns, which got his hand pretty burned before he got the hang of it. From there they moved to using the same skill while striking at the wall. After about a hundred strikes, Melal felt like he'd got it. His hands were completely numb and the pain from the blows was gone.
"Keep practicing the Scorched Palm and work like this won't hurt you in the slightest," Rhilanor said. "It creates a tougher layer of sein in your skin, too. My master can be stabbed through the stomach and not even feel it, though it takes years to master it to that extent. But it's useful for this sort of work, no? And this way all our time down here isn't wasted."
Slaten had been standing and staring at his hands, then nodded. "Thank you, Rhilanor. I may have some questions to ask you about the technique after we finish work today."
"I'll answer them if I can. This isn't really my role, they just grabbed me from Bundlin while I was traveling through..." As they worked, Rhilanor told them his story, having no difficulty speaking while swinging his pickaxe. Apparently he'd been traveling on an assignment, not like whatever ritual the Rhen girl had been doing. In Bundlin he'd been near the battle, so he'd been captured with the others.
Melal preferred not to think about that. He dedicated himself to hitting the rocks, over and over again, letting the numbness in his hands spread through the rest of his body. Since Slaten often didn't talk even when he could, things soon went silent except for the sounds of their work.
It got boring fast. Melal started imagining that the stone was a Deathspawn face, broken apart by his swings. One day, the Hero would arrive and then they'd all die - all the Deathspawn would die. When that day came, he'd fight alongside the Hero, he was sure of it.
Just when Melal thought that he couldn't take it anymore, he noticed that Slaten had stopped working. Finally, even his dull stubbornness had given out. Yet when Melal stopped to look more closely, he saw that something was off. It looked like a large area of stone had broken open. Slaten bent down beside it, looking at something.
"Is this important?" He raised his hand, revealing a fragment of silver. It looked almost like part of a shattered blade.
When Rhilanor saw it, his eyes went wide. "It could be! Stand back, let us take care of this!"
Several men along with Rhilanor moved up and began striking the area with precise aggression. Melal was almost impressed with how they coordinated their strikes, one after another without getting in the way of the others. Their inner strength was focused, too, as if trying to carve out something instead of just hammer through the rock.
With surprising speed, they opened a new area. The wall crumbled into not only dark rock, but also fragments that looked like polished stone. Melal had been standing back and using the opportunity to rest, but that made him look again.
It seemed that there was something man-made inside the rock. Though it was shattered, the pieces were clearly not natural. When they uncovered the main part of it, they discovered scattered fragments like the ones Slaten had found, as well as gold and what looked like a small jewel. They all stared down at it, then Rhilanor bent and gathered it up in his hands.
"This isn't a vein of ore, but I think we need to tell them. Not Safakiv, what's the name of the one that stays up top?"
"Herakin?" The answer came from one of the other men and Rhilanor nodded.
"Right, him. If this is something that matters, we might get the rest of the day off, boys. Let's go."
They sifted all the unusual pieces from the rubble and collected them in a sack, then went up as a group. Did they all get the reward because they'd found it together? Then again, Melal wasn't sure the Deathspawn would give them any reward at all. He was just glad not to be swinging his pickaxe for a while.
Getting out into the sunlight was always a relief, especially earlier in the day instead of at sunset. Melal stretched, wincing as his muscles complained. While he did so, Rhilanor and the others headed toward one of the central buildings with surprising speed, forcing him to run to catch up.
Herakin turned out to be a lean Deathspawn with no muscle on him. He was sitting back with his feet up on a desk beside Eraes. His clothes were silk robes similar to Kolanin, though Herakin wore them loosely and didn't seem to care that some of the ends were frayed. When they entered, he pretended not to see them until they crowded around his desk.
"Alright, fine. What stupid bullshit have you gotten worked up over this time?" He didn't take his legs off the desk, just stared at them with hooded eyes.
"This." Rhilanor emptied the sack onto the desk.
Abruptly Herakin jerked, swinging his legs off the table and leaning forward. There was real interest in his eyes as he stared at what they'd found, then began sorting through the rubble. He pushed the gold aside as if uninterested, instead collecting the marble in one pile and focusing most of his attention on the silver shards. After a time, he sat back and nodded.
