William threw himself into his work; idleness gave him chance to recall things he’d rather forget. The only way he could fall asleep at night was to be too exhausted for his mind to replay unhappy memories—or worse, pleasant ones. He pondered the advice Sir Hiram gave him, and sought new things to record, and new ideas to investigate. He inspected the camp at different times of day to get a sense of how much work was being done, and kept tabs on which projects progressed and which were frequently delayed. The laborers started calling him “Bookworm,” a nickname he normally detested, but unlike those in Marshland they said it without mockery. Most knew he had been captured and tortured by the rebels on this very spot while buying time for his friends to escape. They respected him, and soon he knew most workers by name.
A week after Melissa’s letter came he was surprised to find one of the construction sites abandoned. It was a permanent housing site, due to be finished within a week, and should have been crawling with laborers. It was too early for the lunch bell, so where had they gone? As though in answer, a worker ran past, barely noticing him, spade and bucket in hand. Puzzled, William followed the man down the path leading to the river.
When they reached the river bank, William could only stare in disbelief. This was the same river bank he had seen from the waterfall’s edge as they returned from the dragon’s hive. Only now the black sandy gravel was swarming with people digging, most shouting and laughing, a few squabbling.
“Hey, Bookworm! Look at this!” Duarte, a worker he’d spoken with many times during his rounds, ran up to him and jumped around in frenzied elation. His shaking hand held a shiny object the size of his grimy fingernail. William had never seen gold before except on fingers or necks of lords and ladies. How out of place it looked in the dirty hands of this ragged, aging worker with missing teeth and a lazy eye. All he could do was stare at the nugget before him, its value exceeding that of everything he himself owned. Duarte shook William’s shoulder. “There’s loads of it here, boy! Get a shovel before it’s all gone!” The man scampered to an empty spot and resumed digging.
Emotions battled within him. Gold was good. It would pay for things Rebel Falls needed. On the other hand, the rush for it might cause chaos and spell the end of the settlement. But foremost in his thoughts was what the Elder had told him: the Queen needed gold for her hatching. Without her, the hive would slowly die. That would mean the loss of an ally, as well as any possible trade in metal, trade worth more than all the gold they could ever dig from the ground.
“Get a shovel, Bookworm! You’ll miss out!” Duarte said as he attacked the sand.
“Right, a shovel,” William said. “I’ll be right back.” He knew what had to be done, and he hoped Sir Hiram would agree. It took several minutes to explain, but the Administrator acted quickly once he grasped the situation. Within moments the entire Guard company was deployed, rounding up men and women from the beach and herding them to the same square in which Antony Kaleb had nearly taken William’s life. A small force remained at the beach under orders not to allow anyone to step foot on the sand.
As the entire labor population of Rebel Falls waited for him, Sir Hiram ranted in his office. “That gold is the property of Rebel Falls, and by extension, the Town,” he said as he stomped back and forth. “They should know better than to steal Town property. Any man or woman caught there again will be expelled, do you understand?” he said to the Guard Sergeant. “I brought these men here at my expense to build, not dig for treasure. If they don’t want to work, they can leave.” William clenched his lips as Sir Hiram spoke. His eyes must have given him away, though, because Sir Hiram shot a glance at him and said, “You don’t agree, I take it?”
William had known Hiram Doran for as long as he could remember, but he had never seen him this angry. Jack once told him that whenever his father got mad, he would hide for hours before sneaking home after dark. If Jack was scared to face his father’s rage, William would be smart to follow that lead. “It’s not my place to argue, sir,” he said.
“King’s pants, boy, it is your duty to argue when you disagree with me. Otherwise you’re no more than a servant. Speak up!”
William swallowed hard and met Sir Hiram’s gaze. “Very well, sir. Most of these people have been hungry for much of their lives, or at least poor. Most have lived in shacks that barely keep out the wind, and they’ve chosen to seek a better life here.”
“What of it?” asked Sir Hiram.
“Finding gold is probably the only lucky thing that’s happened to them. If you take away not only the gold, but their jobs too, the rebels will have a bunch of new recruits overnight. Not only that, but we won’t get our work completed here, either.”
Sir Hiram relaxed somewhat. “If you’re going to tell me what I shouldn’t do, you’d better have an alternative for me.”
“I do, sir. Let them dig for gold during their off hours. Anyone who hasn’t worked a full day can’t dig. Half of what they find, they keep; the other half goes to the Town.”
“That’s a lot of the Town’s gold you’re giving away, William.”
“I don’t think so. Without their help, most of it will stay in the ground, and that helps no one. This way, everyone benefits.”
Sir Hiram stared out his window, silently pondering. After a moment he turned back to William. “What if someone tries to hide what they’ve dug up?”
“Send those ones home,” said William. “They’ll have themselves to thank instead of bad luck.”
Sir Hiram nodded. “You’ve convinced me, William. Don’t ever hold back again, you hear me?”
The Sergeant broke in. “I’ll need to post more men at the river bank, but they won’t like not being able to dig for gold. We might have deserters.”
“Have your men pool what they find, and share it evenly among them,” said Sir Hiram. “That way your night watch won’t feel cheated.”
The men and women of the labor force received the news with surprise and gratitude. From what they told William after, they had expected the Administrator to declare the river bank off limits. William didn’t tell them how close it had come to being that way.
The rush for gold was surprisingly peaceful. Fights were few on the first day, and non-existent the day after when the combatants were ejected from the site. No one wanted to risk their digging time; politeness reigned. Sir Hiram announced a policy at William’s suggestion that all gold would be held in trust under guard to prevent theft among the laborers. Every person leaving the dig site was escorted to the weighing station and had their gold stored and added to the ledger. Only three people were foolish enough to try to hide their gold; they were arrested and shackled to await transport. After that, no one attempted it again.
William decided to try his luck, and spent the better part of an evening prospecting with Jack. Between them they found a few small nuggets, but they lacked the tools that the other diggers had devised to pan and filter for small flakes and dust. They might have earned good money if they spent enough time at it, but as with the iron bogging, the work was harder than it appeared.
Maya and Rachel laughed when they met for a late evening meal. “I never thought I’d see you give up so easily, boys,” said Rachel.
“Well, Will is more of the administrator type, you see,” said Jack.
“And Jack here is the explorer type,” said William.
Jack nodded. “Digging isn’t our thing.”
“Of course not. You need muscles for digging,” said Rachel as she squeezed Jack’s arm. “Maybe you need Charlie’s help.”
“Here he is,” said Jack as the smith’s son pulled up a seat. “Care to join us in a gold mining business, Charlie? We’ll split it three ways down the middle.”
“That makes no sense, Jack,” said Maya. “Down the middle is two.”
“I never said they would be even splits,” said Jack with a mock look of hurt on his face.
“Careful Charlie,” said Rachel. “You’ll probably find more gold on yo
ur own without these slowpokes in your way.”
“No, I don’t really want to do that,” said Charlie. “I want to work the metal, not look for it.”
Jack nodded. “A man has to know his strengths. Will’s still trying to figure out if he’s good at anything.”
How easy it was to laugh at his own expense now. He’d always known Jack never meant those insults like other people did, but he’d always reacted the same regardless: with shame and resentment. So what had changed? He didn’t feel different, so it had to be the circumstances. Yes, that was it. Here, he was among friends. He had a job he was good at. The people around him respected him.
He belonged.
It felt good. He was buoyed by a sense of lightness that let him relax in a way he never could before. But that only made it harder to broach the next subject.
“You know, speaking of metal,” he said, his voice trailing off. He looked around to make sure no one else was listening. The others caught on and looked around as well. Satisfied, he continued in a whisper. “You know what this gold discovery means, don’t you?” he asked. “The Queen.” Despite being alone with his friends, he was reluctant to spell it out.
“We can’t just pick it up and bring it to them,” said Jack. “You saw how hard it was to find the small amount we did. And half of that isn’t even ours to keep, and honestly, I’m not sure I’d want to give up my half.”
“Jack, that’s not nice,” said Maya.
“No, but it’s practical. Did the Elder say how much they needed?”
“No, not exactly,” said William. “More than we could manage ourselves, I’m sure. But we don’t have to get it ourselves.”
“What do you mean?” asked Rachel.
William looked around at the puzzled faces staring back at him. “Think about it,” he said. “Where did the gold here come from?”
“I guess it was always here,” said Jack.
“Of course it wasn’t. You and I bogged for iron back in the marshes. Where did the iron come from?”
Jack shrugged and shook his head. “No idea.”
“The mountains,” said Charlie. “The iron came from the mountains. The gold must have too.”
“Exactly,” said William. “I’m not sure why we found it here before anywhere else. Maybe whatever caused the land to rise and fall here exposed a vein of gold, but I’m willing to bet everything Jack owns there’s a vein of gold somewhere near the tunnel that the dragons brought us through to avoid the rebels. Somewhere near the river.”
“King’s treasure, you’re right,” said Maya. “It’s been so long since I studied anything but plants and medicine that I’d forgotten the geology I learned as a kid.”
“We have to go tell the Elder,” said William.
Once William explained, Sir Hiram insisted they leave as soon as possible. Charlie’s work on the kiln was complete, and his father needed no help making bricks for now. Maya had no patients to monitor, so she was free to go. Rachel made it clear she was going regardless of what duties she might have, and Sir Hiram did not argue.
They left after dark to avoid being followed. Traveling with all the speed they could muster, they reached the tunnel in just three days, and met the first dragon well into the tunnel a few hours later. They were recognized immediately, and a pair of cargo dragons was dispatched to deliver them to the Elder. When they reached his den after a bumpy ride, they found the Ambassador already in attendance. “Your arrival is unexpected,” said the silver and black beast. “Is this a good omen or bad?”
“Good, I hope,” said William. “Elder, we have found gold downstream. A lot of it. You might be able to find gold too, within a reasonable distance from here. Perhaps enough for…”
“The Queen,” said the Elder in a hushed voice. “At last. Our wait may be over.”
“Tell us how you found this gold,” said the Ambassador. William and the others related the story from the time of William’s rescue to the present, and they answered many questions regarding how much gold they found, the depth they found it at, the size and consistency of nuggets and flakes, and the concentration of gold. There were many other questions they could not answer, and still more they couldn’t understand.
The Elder and the Ambassador exchanged comments in their musical language. The group could only watch and listen without comprehending. The discussion ended, and the Elder pondered in silence. Finally he spoke to the Ambassador, who then left without a word or a whistle.
“Thank you, William Whitehall, for this information,” said the Elder. “The news you bring may save our hive.”
Embarrassed to be singled out, William replied, “It was a group effort, Elder. And we were glad to do it. As I understand it, I have my life to thank you for as well.”
The Elder nodded, the most human gesture he or any other dragon had made. “It was a calculated risk, and I am gratified that our plan succeeded. As for the gold, I can only hope it will be enough.”
“What do you mean?” asked Rachel. “If you find gold, then that’s it, right? You can hatch the Queen?”
“Yes,” said the Elder. “But it is not certain that we can extract it.”
“I’ve seen your mining operation at work,” said Jack. “It shouldn’t even be a challenge for you.”
The Elder hesitated. “The information you brought tells us that the gold, if it exists, is likely reached by a tunnel we have excavated already, a branch off the tunnel that you just arrived by. It has long been abandoned.”
“Why?” asked Rachel.
“Most of our deaths and illnesses have occurred there. Some of those dragons return, but not all, and none can tell us what attacked them.”
William felt a chill not entirely due to being underground. An unseen assailant was mortifying enough, but something that could kill dragons by stealth was that much more menacing. “So even looking for the gold is a risk?” he asked.
“Yes,” said the Elder.
“What did you decide?” asked Maya.
“I have told the Ambassador to send prospectors to obtain samples, but not to linger. My hope is that they can locate the gold and return in time to be cured by the ash bath.”
“And if they find it,” said William, “will you have enough dragons to extract it?”
“That depends on where we find it.”
William did not envy the Elder. What a heavy burden to bear, to decide the fate of not only himself, but also for his entire colony. An entire people, in a way, since this hive no longer communicated with their home planet, just as humans on Esper had lost contact with Earth more than five hundred years ago. For all anyone knew, Esper might contain the last dragons in the universe…or even the last humans for that matter.
Message delivered, it made no sense for them to remain. The Elder assured them that their fate was not immediate, and that he would send a message if their help was desired. William felt relieved. To stay would have been depressing. The hive, never crowded from the time they first saw it, now appeared nearly empty. Dust had accumulated on once busy tunnel floors, and their footsteps echoed along the dark hallways. How many dragons had died in their attempt to secure a source of gold? He did not dare upset the Elder by asking.
On the way back they paused near a side tunnel. They had no guide to confirm, but it appeared to be the tunnel branch the Elder mentioned. For one, it lay on the correct path toward the river. For another, it had been recently traveled after a long period of disuse. Fresh tracks led into the tunnel in what looked like a deep layer of dust. They listened for hints of what might be going on, but no sound emanated from the tunnel. Thoroughly spooked, they hurried to the exit and made camp for the night.
Subsequent to the terraforming of Esper, the Colonization Authority began the process of building agricultural centers. Only a few breeds of dog were deliberately imported, such as Border Collie and Welsh Corgi, for their intelligence and herding instincts.
However, a few individual pets were smuggled to Esper during the
Arrival, though most were confiscated before their owners could make the crossing. From records taken at the time, it appears that only the most clever and obedient dogs avoided capture, leading to a canine population more intelligent on average than its predecessors.
Planet of Hope: A History of Esperanza
“What’s bugging you, Will?” asked Maya.
William sat in silence, his meal untouched. Glancing down, he realized it had gotten cold. He tasted it, dropped the spoon, and grumbled. “Nothing,” he said.
“You can’t fool me, Will. You haven’t said a word since we made camp.”
“It’s that girl, isn’t,” said Rachel. “Melissa’s her name, right? Trust me. Girls are trouble. I should know. I am one.”
“No, it’s not that,” he said.
“Aha, so it is something,” said Maya. “You’re worried about the dragons, aren’t you?”
“He’s not worried,” said Jack. “He feels guilty. He thinks we should go back and find out what’s killing the dragons and destroy it.”
“No, I don’t think we should do that,” said William, anger giving his voice an edge. “I wish we could. But I didn’t say it, because I know we can’t.”
Maya patted William’s shoulder. “They’ll be fine. And even if they aren’t, it’s still not our fault. We helped them more than they had reason to expect. Especially since they wanted to kill us first.”
“I know,” he said, handing his bowl to Charlie who gladly accepted it. “I’ll share the first watch with you, Charlie. I can’t sleep anyway.” Charlie nodded, his mouth too full to answer.
Hours later, the stars gently illuminated the faces of his sleeping friends near the tunnel entrance. Concealed from the river and anywhere else on the ground, visible from the sky: it was a perfect spot for dragons, and more than good enough for humans. They really didn’t need two people on watch.
He sent Charlie to sleep early, and soon heard his gentle snoring as he lay next to Maya. Maya and Charlie had long abandoned any pretext that they were no more than friends, unlike Jack and Rachel who hid their feelings for each other when others were around. William wasn’t sure which was worse: witnessing the kind of love that he once thought he might have, or the pity implied by those who would hide it from him. Then again how could he be jealous of his friends, or wish that they couldn’t experience what he so desperately wanted? To cherish someone, and be cherished in return…he’d experienced it for such a short time, but the memory was fresh, and already he missed it.
The Defender of Rebel Falls: A Medieval Science Fiction Adventure (The William Whitehall Adventures Book 1) Page 30
