“Elena, love, I would prefer it if you remain here. There’s been a collapse at one of the mines. I’m certain everything that can be done is being done. I must go, but you need your rest.”
Elena spun in his arms and raised concerned eyes to meet his equally concerned ones, “Michel, my place is with you and with the families whose husbands and fathers are trapped beneath the rock. How uncaring would it be for me to return to the comfort of our bed while other wives fear for their husband’s lives.”
Michel reluctantly nodded his approval. “You may come, but you will eat first. I must go with Amele. One of the guards will escort you after you’ve fed our babe.”
He waited for Elena to agree to his dictate, then bent and brushed his lips across her lips before turning back to where Amele waited for him in the hall outside his chambers.
Upon reaching the site of the accident, Michel learned the news was grim. More than twenty miners were trapped beneath the rock slide. All attempts at a rescue had been thwarted by the unstable condition of the mountain. Even as he stood listening to a report by the man in charge of the rescue attempts, a fresh rumble of rock slid down the side of the mountain, burying the trapped men even deeper beneath an additional layer of stone. Amid the crash of stone, Michel could hear the agonized cries of the men’s families where they waited a safe distance away.
“Every time we attempt to create an opening wide enough to get a team of men underground, there’s a new slide. At this point we don’t even know where to focus our efforts, or if anyone is left alive under there.”
Michel nodded. “We need to get a man down there to try to make contact with the trapped men. A single man alone has a better chance of making it through the debris without creating enough of a disturbance to bring about a fresh slide.”
“That may be true, Your Highness,” the head of the rescue team began.
Michel interjected, “But you are reluctant to order a man to his death.”
“Frankly, yes.”
“Then I will go,” Michel stated.
“Your Highness!? You cannot be serious.”
Michel met the other man’s astonished look. “I am very serious. I too am loath to order a man to his death, but I am even less willing to stand here and do nothing while the trapped men’s families look to me to save the lives of their husbands and fathers.”
“Your Highness, you cannot take this risk. Allow me to go in your stead,” the older man pleaded with him.
Michel’s met the other’s resolved glance in understanding even as he shook his head, denying his request. “What is your name, my friend?”
“Allon, Your Highness.”
“Well Allon, I cannot allow you attempt to enter the mine when I can see the blood seeping through the wound on your leg. I am guessing you have already made such an attempt and it proved unsuccessful.”
The other man sighed and admitted, “Yes, Your Highness. I was not able to make it far before the last slide. The others were barely able to pull me out in time.”
“Then let us go and retrieve a rope and tools,” Michel commanded and the older man reluctantly nodded.
When the two men joined the others, Allon announced, “King Michel will attempt to reach the trapped men. Mason he’ll need rope, fresh water, and tools.”
From where he stood with his brother, Amele became aware of Michel’s intent, and swiftly approached his side. “My king, you surely do not think to carry out this rescue attempt personally. You are unfamiliar with the mines. There are men here who’ve spent their entire lives in them and are far more familiar with what to do in the event of another slide.”
“I am aware of that my friend. Most of these men, like my good Allon here, have been injured in their attempts to rescue the trapped men.” Michel accepted the rope and tools he would need from Mason’s outstretched hand. He could see his tunic and breeches were liberally splattered with blood and noted there was a bandage binding the arm he held stiff at his side, while he offered Michel the necessary supplies with his uninjured hand.
“Then allow me to make this attempt in your place, my king,” Amele pleaded with him as Michel tied the rope around his waist and stowed the water and tools in the leather pack Allon offered him.
“No, my friend. We both know you do not do well in confined spaces and if I assented to your request I would soon be forced to come in after you anyway,” Michel rejoined with a lighthearted smile to ease the pain of his rejection. Amele nodded his acceptance of Michel’s reasoning, but Michel could see his agreement cost him.
Michel listened attentively to Allon’s instructions as to how to signal the surface if he discovered news of the trapped miners, what to do in order to protect himself in the event of another collapse and how to let them know he was in trouble and himself in need of rescuing. As news spread across the city of the accident in the mines more and more men gathered at the site to offer what assistance they could to the team of rescuers. A stunned whisper rustled through the crowd when it became obvious to the onlookers that the king himself intended to make the next attempt to reach the trapped miners.
“Please, my king, you must allow me to render you this service.”
The pleading voice reached him from below and Michel turned in the direction of the source to see young Colin on his knees before him.
“Rise, my friend,” Michel commanded and reached down to assist his young guardsman to his feet.
When the younger man stood before him, Michel looked over his shoulder to see his mother fighting tears. He could see Baron James’ widow stood a little apart from the crowd of onlookers, as if her neighbors still judged her for the treacherous act of her husband. He met the older woman’s worried glance and shook his head.
He reached out to grip Colin’s shoulders and gently denied his request, “Colin, your mother has already given two sons in the service of Calei. I cannot ask her to sacrifice another.”
The younger man turn to where his mother stood regarding him with anxious tears in her eyes, then he excused himself from his king and swiftly crossed the distance between them and his mother.
He gripped her hands in his and whispered fiercely to her, “Mother, you must not take this opportunity from me to render this service to our king and to our home. If I am to die, let me do so in replacement of the life my father thought to steal, and restore our family’s honor. I understand your fear, Mother, but I am a man full-grown and you must not deny me this chance to serve my king.”
His mother closed her eyes over her tears and nodded once. Colin took her slender frame in his arms and kissed her brow. “All will be well, Mother. King Michel will see to it that you and my sisters are taken care of.”
Colin disengaged from her clinging arms, and returned to kneel before his king. “Your Highness, my mother understands my need to render you this service. I beg of you to allow me to do so and restore my family’s honor in your sight.”
Michel once again reached down to assist his determined, fiercely loyal guard to his feet. “Each man is responsible for his own honor, Colin. You have never defiled yours so there is nothing you need to do in order to restore it in my sight.” Michel could see that the young man’s resolve remained firm. He glanced over his proud shoulders and met the anxious eyes of his mother. She nodded her assent to his silent question and Michel released a heavy sigh. It did not sit well with him to send this young man in his place, but he could see Colin was resolved to go and would likely follow him underground at the first sign of trouble. He nodded his assent reluctantly in answer to the anxious question in Colin’s eyes. “You know what you are to do?”
A relieved smile curved the younger man’s lips, as if Michel had just bestowed a great favor upon him, rather than having just consigned him a task that more likely than not would lead to his death beneath a mountain of rock. “Yes, Your Highness. I am to seek out the lost miners and when I find them, I am to tap on the stones above our heads to signal the men where they are to dig in order t
o free us.”
Michel nodded and instructed, “If you become trapped, or lost, send a signal to the surface and we will do our best to free you.”
An understanding smile curved the young man’s lips. “My king, I see that your heart is full of misgivings, but do not grieve my passing, if such is the will of the Almighty. You bestowed upon me a great gift. I render this service freely to Calei, my home, and to my king, both of whom I love. My homeland needs you, my king, far more than it needs a single soldier in its service. You are destined to restore Calei to its previous heights, and I think, to exceed them. I would rather die in its service, than see my beloved Calei deprived of its true king.”
Michel blinked back the bitter tears of regret that stung his eyes. “Go then with my blessing, my friend, and the blessing and gratitude of all true Caleinians.”
Colin nodded, his eyes free of the doubts Michel knew were reflected in his own. The younger man, smiling now that Michel had granted his urgent request, bent down to kiss Michel’s hand and then rose and turned to the men who waited with the ropes and equipment he would need to find his way below ground.
Minutes later, Michel observed his young guardsman squeeze his way through the narrow crevice that was all that was left of the previous wide entrance into the mine. He noticed Colin lift the lit lantern in his hand as he passed from his sight. Though dawn was already beginning to lift the darkness over the city, beneath the earth it was always dark. Michel felt a hand slip into his and squeeze gently. He turned to look down into Elena’s concerned expression. Her clear brown eyes were filled with understanding of his decision and compassion over what she knew it cost him to send another to his almost certain death, rather than take on the task himself. Mingled with her compassion Michel detected barely concealed relief that it was Colin’s mother and not her that might lose a loved one this day.
He bent and kissed the top of his wife’s heard as his arm came around her no longer slender form. As if aware he must return his attention to the task at hand, and she was a source of distraction away from it, Elena slipped from his encircling arm and made her way over to where Colin’s mother still remained standing anxiously apart from the wives and daughters of the missing miners. He watched his wife place a gentle arm around the widow’s stiff posture and speak softly in the older woman’s ear. Michel nodded his silent approval of his wife’s caring, gentle nature and then turned his attention back to where the rescuers huddled in hushed silence waiting anxiously to hear the faint sound of rock tapping against rock.
For an hour or more the same heavy silence reined, but no signal came from either Colin or the other men trapped underground. Michel wasn’t certain whether he should be worried or relieved. He had no idea how long it would take Colin to reach the location of the collapsed mine where he assumed the majority of the miners were trapped behind a wall of rock, but at least there had been no additional rock slides, so maybe the ground was stabilizing and they would be able to dig through the slide without fear of another one.
As if to dispel even the uncertain glimpse of hope in his heart, another rumble shook the mountains and more rock crashed down from the steep slope burying deeper beneath another layer of granite, the trapped miners and covering the onlookers in a fine layer of dust. Hushed gasps and tearful, agonized cries echoed from the families of the trapped men before a more ominous silence fell over the lips and faces of the men who waited for even the smallest sign to give them an excuse to mount a fresh rescue operation to free their trapped friends and comrades.
Michel was done waiting. If the curse meant to have him anyway, he could at least offer his life in exchange for its bloodlust. Maybe it would be satisfied with his willing offering and leave his family alone. He approached the waiting men with a determined stride and reached for a rope from the pile of supplies near them.
“What you are planning, my king?” Amele gave voice to the misgiving Michel could see in the grime covered faces of the waiting men.
“I’m going in after them. I shouldn’t have allowed Colin to persuade me to take the task upon himself. I likely sent him to his death.”
“The boy knew what he was doing, my king, and gladly made this sacrifice on your behalf. Will you in your grief, make his sacrifice meaningless and at the same time deprive Calei of its king?”
“I know you offer me sound advice, my friend, and a better king would heed it. But I am not a man who can stand aside and send another to die in his place, to risk all he holds dear in my service when I am unwilling to risk the same sacrifice for myself and my family. You may blame yourself, my friend, for doing your job too well. I learned most the measure of a man’s honor from you.”
Too moved to respond, Amele nodded briskly and reached out to help Michel with his equipment. When Michel was ready to go underground, Amele nodded to where Elena waited with a fixed expression on her face, belied by the terror in her stunned expression. “Your wife and the babe she carries?”
Michel understood what his friend was asking and he raised his gaze to lock with Elena’s. He’d avoided doing so before, afraid her fear and her desperate love for him would turn him aside from his intent. He recalled their earlier conversation about the curse on his blood, and her soft words of surest conviction echoed in his ears, “I am not afraid of the price I may one day pay for the great treasure the Almighty has bestowed upon me. If all I have with you and our babe is a few short years, or weeks or even a single day, I will count myself blessed and settle my debt honorably, understanding and accepting that all great treasures are not bestowed without price.”
Through her tears, she nodded her assent of his plan and his lips curved in a grateful smile. In that moment he knew he loved her as he could never love another. If he did not pay the highest price for the risk he was about to take at the urging of his honor, he would spend the rest of the time allotted him on this earth, proving to her how much he valued her. With an effort Michel pulled his gaze from his wife’s clinging one and turned his focus back to his friend who waited an answer to his question. “Tell my wife and my son or daughter, that I love them and that I’m sorry I could not be around to see what they would become and to share our lives with each other.”
Amele nodded and pressed him, “You know I would take your place, if you would but allow it.”
“Yes, but we both know this is an undertaking I must pursue alone and if this is to be a final farewell between us, there is something I would have you know. I mean no disrespect to the father God bestowed upon me, but you, my friend, have always been the father of my heart. Watch over my family as you have watched over me.”
Amele nodded through his tears and the two men exchanged a brief, but fierce embrace before Michel slid from his friend’s restraining hold and picked his way onto the fresh layer of rock, seeking a crevice large enough for him to fit through.
Across the distance separating them Elena watched her husband, her beloved, her king and the father of her child pass through the narrow opening that he hoped would lead him to where the miners were trapped below a mountain of rock. Her heart clenched in agony in her chest but no protest sounded from her lips. As much as she longed to, she knew she could not run after him and throw herself on her knees at his feet and beg him not to leave her. Not when just moments earlier she had kept her silence, offering no protest, when the woman by her side sent her only remaining son in place of his king, knowing as Elena knew now, that she would likely never see him alive again.
Elena felt the bitter tears of incalculable loss sting her eyes, but she blinked them back. She was aware of the surreptitious, pitying glances cast in her direction, but she refused to allow the tears to stain her cheeks. Nor would she acknowledge the others who willed her with their stares to turn to them for release and comfort. It was not her intent to rudely dismiss such offers, but the futility of them kept her from availing herself of them.
There was no comfort for her to be found except in the arms of her beloved husband. There were no w
ords, no sympathetic gestures, and no offers of assistance that could compensate for the magnitude of her loss. To pretend otherwise would be to distract the attention of those waiting and listening for an improbable, impossible echo of a faint tapping to sound from the depths of the fallen earth and she would not risk such a distraction with her husband’s life hanging by a thread.
To think her greatest fear these past weeks was that an ancient curse would somehow find a way to steal her happiness and would someday claim her child’s life. But if she was honest with herself she could admit now that she never really believed it would come to that. Michel promised he would keep her and their unborn child safe. She believed him. It was only now she realized he hadn’t included himself in his promise. Maybe she was paying the price for their arrogance in assuming they could cheat the fate so many others suffered. But those other losses seemed far away and were suffered by names only, barely familiar names at that. She didn’t believe the curse was responsible for her uncle’s death. It was an evil man behind the deed and that man was dead. Justice had been served.
The rumors, the old legends, even the death of Michel’s grandfather and his sons barely touched her, and to her mind, lent little credence to the threat of the curse. Were there not evil men in every generation? Were they not happy to attribute their evil to a misty bane beyond the reach of men’s minds or their ability to defend against it?
How condescending she had been when the news first reached her of the mine’s collapse and that there were men trapped beneath the ground. Though she mourned their misfortune it had not really touched her where she lay warm and safe in her husband’s passionate embrace. She hadn’t fully comprehended what lay behind the vacant stares of the wives and children of those trapped men as they waited anxiously for word, clinging to improbable, foolish hope until even that last tiny straw of comfort was snatched from their clenched fists.
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