by Jon F. Merz
Ran stopped swinging the pickax and looked around. The section of stone wall before him had been reduced greatly. Sweat soaked his entire body, and he felt warm and tired. But relaxed as well. He smirked. Remembering his lessons in Gakur usually helped him ponder on difficult challenges like the one he now faced.
“You’ve done some serious damage with that pickax.”
Ran looked behind him. Kuva had just brought back the cart. “Guess I sort of got into the action of it.”
Kuva chuckled. “I guess that’s one way of looking at it. This is the tenth trip I’ve made to the conveyor belt. You’ve done more damage than I was able to do earlier. I think Bagyo is suspicious of how much progress we’re making.”
“Did he say something?”
Kuva shook his head. “No, but he’s been looking at me like I’m some sort of toy for him to play with. I can tell you right now that I don’t like that feeling at all. Are you serious about escaping from here?”
“Of course.”
“Good,” said Kuva. “Because the last thing I want to do is end up being some sort of plaything for that beast.”
Ran set the pickax down and squatted on his heels, feeling the stretch in his thighs as he did so. “We just need to figure out a way to get out of here. I need to know if that conveyor belt goes all the way up to the surface or not.”
“I tried looking up it the last few trips I made,” said Kuva. “But I couldn’t see daylight.”
“That’s not good,” said Ran.
“Maybe it goes to another level and then turns? If it went straight up, then we’d be able to see daylight or snow or something, right?”
“Possibly,” said Ran. “But we won’t know for sure until we get a chance to talk to the other slaves. And even then we’ll have to be careful. If anyone suspects we’re trying to plan an escape, they might turn us in just to save themselves.”
Kuva frowned. “Why on earth would they do that? They could get out of here, too.”
“People are sometimes more intent on keeping things the way they are rather than attempt something new. There’s a certain comfort in what they perceive as normalcy. Any challenge to that is viewed as a threat to them, and they’ll sometimes do the craziest things to protect it—even if it means suffering still.”
“If any of them rat us out, I will make sure they don’t live to see the daylight again,” said Kuva.
“Save your fighting for those we need to kill,” said Ran. “Leave the others as they are. The hell they will have to endure is punishment enough.”
Kuva grumbled and started shoveling more of the rocks into the cart. Ran watched him work and then started swinging his pickax again. He heard Kuva push the cart away and kept swinging the pickax.
“Ran.”
The voice was soft, but he heard it and turned. Cassandra stood there smiling at him. Ran couldn’t help himself and let a broad smile break across his face. He clamped it down after a second, however.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
She waved a dirty hand at him. “Bagyo is defecating in the channel the same way he does every day at this time. We have a few minutes.”
Ran wanted nothing more than to sweep her up in his arms and kiss her, but he refrained. If the other slaves saw that and suspected something, they’d never escape. And he definitely wanted to get them both out of here.
“When did you arrive here?”
She sighed. “Four days ago. Iqban has more than one raiding party out at any time. We were taken so unexpectedly, we had little chance of fighting them off.”
“Are you all right?”
“As well as can be expected,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of here until I saw you. You do have a plan, right?”
Ran smirked. “I only just got here. I need some time to figure things out, but I’m sure we can get out of here. Hopefully before too much time has passed.”
Cassandra nodded. “Don’t take too long. The air down here is vile, and breathing it makes you weak. If you stay here too long, it will overcome you and you’ll hardly be able to think straight. The sooner you get a plan together, the better.”
“Will I see you later when we’re done here?”
“It’s possible, but it depends on where Bagyo puts you.” She looked back and saw Kuva coming toward them. She pushed her own cart back. “We’ll talk soon.” She winked once. “I guess you’re going to have to rescue me again, huh?”
“I guess.” He smiled and watched her push the cart past Kuva. Kuva gave her a long glance and then turned the cart into their work area.
“Should I ask?”
“My old friend,” said Ran.
“There’s nothing old about that,” said Kuva with a sly grin. “Even covered in dirt and grime, you can see she’s a beauty.”
“Well, the sooner we get out of here, the better chance I have of seeing her the way I remember her.”
Kuva stopped pushing the cart and stood up, arching his back. “Good, because I’m already tired of pushing this damned cart. Give me that pickax again and let me hammer out some of my frustrations, will you?”
Ran handed the pickax over and glanced back down the tunnel.
But Cassandra had already vanished again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The work day ended as it had begun: with no real clue about what time it was inside the mountain. Ran found the lack of daylight unsettling and had to rely upon his internal clock to gauge how much time had passed. Bagyo stomped over and stood before the part of the stone wall they’d been working on.
“Work done. You go now.”
Kuva set the pickax down and eyed Ran before looking at Bagyo. “Go where?”
“Back to your cells,” said Mithrus as he appeared behind Bagyo. With him was a squad of guards, all of them heavily armed. “You’ll get a meal and sleep. Work resumes tomorrow morning nice and early.”
“I can’t even tell what time it is now,” said Kuva. “That meal had better be something I can use for energy and not some slop.”
Bagyo started forward, raising the whip, but Mithrus put a hand on his arm. “No.” He looked at Kuva. “Perhaps you’d rather discuss this with Zal? I’m sure he’d love to hear your complaints. The last slave that put up a fuss was drawn and quartered. Slowly. In fact, I think he was still conscious even after he lost his first arm and leg.” Mithrus shook his head. “A mess, no doubt, but also rather effective at staying any complaints.”
Kuva frowned. “Zal wants a breakthrough, isn’t that right? He can’t expect one if he doesn’t feed us properly. Swinging a pickax all day long takes energy. Disgusting gruel isn’t going to cut it. Slaves need to be fed properly or it’s going to take us a lot longer to do the work.”
“This needs to be complete by the end of the week.”
Kuva laughed. “That’s a nice dream. This wall is too thick. Even with both Ran and me working on it, we’ve barely scratched the surface. And we’re in reasonably good shape. The other slaves you have here are in various stages of dying. They’re so underfed, it’s ridiculous. What Zal wants isn’t going to matter if he doesn’t feed us properly.”
“He will kill you all if you don’t break through that wall by the end of the week.”
Kuva shrugged. “I don’t fear death. And I’d go happily knowing that Zal didn’t achieve what he set out to accomplish. You might think this is a complaint, but in reality, I’m speaking sense. If Zal wants his dream to come true, he’s got to provide us with better food.”
Mithrus frowned and muttered something to one of the guards. The guard vanished, and Ran was momentarily concerned that Kuva had pushed it too far. Perhaps Mithrus was sending for some sort of punishment for Kuva. And if Ran lost Kuva, his chances of staging a successful escape had just grown smaller.
But when the guard returned and whispered in Mithrus’ ear, it was obvious Kuva wasn’t being punished. Mithrus looked at him. “Very well. I will convey your sentiments to the king. In the
meantime, you must return to your cells.”
“Fair enough,” said Kuva. He turned and walked right into Bagyo’s fist. The big man crumpled immediately, and before Ran could do anything, several of the guards with Mithrus rushed in and dragged Kuva’s body away. Bagyo held up a fist and aimed it at Ran.
“Stay.”
Mithrus broke into a wide smile. “Your friend should have kept his mouth shut. At least you don’t show any signs of being that stupid.”
“What will you do to him?” asked Ran.
“What needs to be done,” said Mithrus. “Bagyo will escort you to your cell. I’d advise you not to give him a hard time unless you’re anxious to end up like your friend.”
Ran waited until Mithrus had gone and Bagyo had backed out of the area before he walked out into the tunnel. Bagyo nudged him back the way they’d first entered the catacombs, but then steered Ran down a side tunnel he hadn’t noticed before. Again, the tunnel was lit with the blue flame torches. Ran sniffed the air and winced. The scent of feces and urine clogged his nostrils. As they stepped into a new cavern, Ran immediately spotted the source of the smell: a pit the slaves must have used as a latrine was positioned across the way. There was no privacy, just a simple set of logs set up to permit several people to squat at the same time. Zal clearly cared little for the well-being of his slaves.
Around the cavern were holding pens for the slaves. Log timbers gave them some semblance of structure, but they were far from stable. Ran thought they looked like pigpens on a farm, but refrained from saying anything to Bagyo. For all Ran knew, Bagyo might have constructed them.
Bagyo shoved him toward one. “You go. There.”
Ran nodded and made his way to the pen. He lifted the simple rope latch and then pulled the door open and walked inside. Hay littered the rock and dirt floor, but provided little cushion. Sleeping would be an exercise in futility for most of the other slaves, Ran decided. No wonder they all looked so haggard and exhausted. If they were being fed poorly and couldn’t even get decent sleep at night, then they would be unproductive as they worked. Not that Zal would understand or even care about that.
He heard a scream then, a long plaintive wail that Ran recognized as belonging to Kuva. No doubt Mithrus and his band of goons were exacting some sort of horrible punishment on the big man for speaking up. Still, Ran respected Kuva for trying to make things better for the slaves. That took guts. His timing was terrible, Ran decided, but at least Kuva had tried. Ran just hoped that his friend wasn’t being killed for his transgressions.
He squatted in the hay and looked around. There wasn’t much happening, as most of the slaves had simply collapsed into their respective pens. Bagyo took up a post near the latrine and seemed unfazed by the horrid stench.
Escaping from the pen wouldn’t be difficult, thought Ran. All he would have to do was simply unlatch and walk out. But escaping under the keen gaze of Bagyo would be more troublesome. He could do it, of course; he felt certain the beast had to rest at some point. But how long would Ran have before reinforcements were called in and every guard that Mithrus had under his control was dispatched to hunt them down? Certainly trying to get out through the tunnels they’d entered the mountain through would be nearly impossible. Although it might also be the last place they would look. Most escapees would opt for the easiest route, not the hardest.
Ran sighed. There were an awful lot of variables. If it were just him, he would have taken the risk. But he had Cassandra and Kuva with him, and that meant two times the risk.
The door to his pen opened and Cassandra rushed in, replacing the latch as she did so. “Shhh!” She looked through the logs at Bagyo, but the beast showed no sign of having seen her. Cassandra turned and slumped against the door. “Hi.”
Ran smiled in spite of their surroundings. “Hi yourself. How did you do that?”
“Do what? This?” She plucked a strand of hay from the ground and started twisting it with her fingers. “Bagyo doesn’t have very good eyesight. Mostly he just sees motion. If you’re quick enough or move slow enough, you don’t usually register, unless he’s very close to you. Then he sees just fine.”
Ran filed that away; it was good information. And it would make their eventual escape that much easier now. “How are you?”
She reached out and touched his face. “I’ve missed you.”
“Me as well.”
Cassandra sighed. “I look a state. My clothes are ridiculous. Even my hair.”
“You’re beautiful,” said Ran. “Slave or not.”
She smiled. “I’m not going to lie. When we were taken my first thought was that I’d never get to see you again. I threw my ring off in some sort of vain wish that you might find it.”
“I did find it,” said Ran. “But it didn’t matter. Iqban’s men overtook us shortly thereafter. I wasn’t too upset. I knew you’d been taken and wanted to find you.”
“You were coming west to see me?”
Ran nodded. “Yes. My clan wanted me to come to these accursed mountains, but I decided to go west.”
“You defied your clan?”
Ran took the strand of hay from her and played with it. “In the end, not really. I still wound up here—exactly where they wanted me to go. So all is well, I guess. I took a rather bizarre route to get here, but they don’t need to know those details. As long as I complete my assignment, I’ll be fine.”
“Can you complete it? Can you get us out of here?”
“No place is inescapable,” said Ran. “I just need the right opportunities, and we’ll be on our way.” He looked at her. “The people you were taken with, are any of them your friends?”
Cassandra frowned. “I wish I could say they were, but the lot of them are rude. They never liked me. Someone let it slip I was a princess, and they immediately treated me like I was scum. And that was before we were captured. So, no. They’re not my friends.”
“Because we’ll have to leave them behind, most likely,” said Ran. “I can’t afford to take more than you and Kuva with me.”
Cassandra glanced around. “Where is your friend?”
Another wail pierced the air. Ran winced and nodded. “He had some words for Mithrus. Mithrus apparently didn’t like what he had to say, and they dragged him off.”
“To the chamber,” said Cassandra. “I’ve heard of it, but thankfully haven’t seen it. One of the others taken with me was taken there and never returned. I hope for your friend’s sake that he didn’t say anything too bad. Mithrus is an evil man.”
“He complained about the food,” said Ran.
“Oh,” said Cassandra. “That probably wasn’t a good idea. Mithrus cares little for the welfare of slaves. Zal even less so.”
“Do you know anything more about what we’re doing here?” asked Ran. “They said we’re tunneling down to break through to some sort of other place?”
“Zal is a deposed king. He comes from these mountains, but not on them—in them. Apparently his people live inside these walls and spend their entire lives mostly underground. Zal was exiled instead of killed, and forced to come here. This mountain range stretches for hundred of leagues, and his people occupy these mountains. But Zal resents his exile and hired Mithrus and his men to help him conquer his people when we break through the walls.”
“Isn’t there an easier way to reach his former kingdom? If they live in the mountains, they must have roads or something that they travel upon.”
“I don’t know,” said Cassandra. “But Zal is clearly hoping to take them by surprise by tunneling into their realm. From the snippets of conversation I’ve overheard, there are other races that live deep within the mountains. And they’re not as nice as the race Zal comes from.”
Ran frowned. Subterranean people? It seemed too crazy to be real, but then again, he was inside a mountain, ostensibly a slave. Tomorrow he would go back to work swinging a pickax and pushing a cart. He took a breath and made a decision. “We’ll need to escape soon. Zal wants the brea
kthrough to happen within this next week. If that happens, you can bet we will all become expendable. Mithrus and his men will most likely have fun slaughtering us.”
“Mithrus makes me cringe,” said Cassandra. “I’ve caught him looking at me, and there’s little hidden in his gaze, if you get my meaning.”
“I do,” said Ran. “The sooner we’re out of here, the better.” He glanced around. “When do we eat?”
“Soon,” said Cassandra. “Bagyo will make the rounds. It’s not that good, but it does provide you some energy. I’d recommend getting some sleep after that. Tomorrow will be a better day for making plans.” She moved closer and gave him a quick kiss. “I’d better go before the brute finds me here.”
“He won’t hurt you, will he?”
“I don’t know. Bagyo is a weird creature. I’ve wondered if Zal captured him from one of the other races that live in the mountains. But I don’t know for sure.” She lifted the latch on Ran’s pen and took a final look back at him. “See you in the morning.”
Then she was gone.
Ran leaned back against the stone wall of his pen and sighed. If he was going to act, he would need to find out if the conveyor belt ran all the way to the surface or not. It would be a risky venture determining if it did, but he saw few other options for making their escape. As much as he would have preferred using the tunnels they had entered through, it simply didn’t make sense to go that route with Cassandra and Kuva in tow.
He heard movement outside of his pen and moved closer to the logs to see what was going on. Bagyo had a big wooden pail in one hand and bowls in the other. At each pen, he would dip a bowl into the bucket and then pass it over to the slaves. Ran waited, and then Bagyo’s face appeared at the door.
