“We mined them; they belong in our pile!” Tadd retorted, standing his ground.
Pig-face waded into the fray, brows furrowed. “That’s enough!” He rounded on Stefan, who had already raised the overseer’s ire once that day by being too slow to begin his work. Pig-face eyed Stefan, then the pile of rocks, and the smaller pile where Tadd and his fellows worked.
“Since when have you ever mined more than them, Stefan?” Pig-face asked.
Stefan took a step back. “We had a good day,” he replied, sulking. “Ain’t no crime in that, is there?”
Pig-face’s expression made it clear how unlikely he thought it was that Stefan and his mates had increased their production. “You want their rock pile? Then take the whole thing—and their spot with it. Switch places, and no more out of either of you or there’ll be a whipping!”
Pig-face glowered at the two chained teams as they switched places. Albert’s foot caught on a rock and he stumbled into Stefan, pushing him into Pig-face.
“Watch where you’re going, you big ox!” Stefan growled.
Pig-face gave Stefan a push, knocking him back into Albert, who managed to angle his body so his shoulder caught Stefan in the face. Stefan gave a feral cry and grabbed for Albert, but Pig-face hauled him back.
“That’s enough,” he snapped with a warning glare at both men. Tadd exchanged a glance with Piran as the miners resumed their work. Piran gave a nod to Blaine. Everyone’s in place, Blaine thought.
It had taken three days for Blaine, Piran, Verran, and the others to work out their plan. Secrecy was difficult in the crowded barracks, and trying to keep plans hidden from Stefan and Coan and their toadies made it doubly hard. Blaine forced himself to keep his attention on the stretch of rock wall he was digging. Maybe prison isn’t as different from court as I imagined, Blaine thought. Both are consumed by petty jealousies and small grievances that become the reason for revenge.
Tanner and Welton made their rounds as they did each day. Piran alternated paying them with real coins and counterfeit to make his deception more difficult to spot. Most of the newcomers and some of the old hands paid half their rations for the privilege of eating. The two extortionists had no problem finding willing buyers for the extra food among the miners, prisoners who always seemed to have a few coins on them. Most of them were spies, Piran had told Blaine. Some volunteered for extra duties, hoping to send money back to relatives in Donderath, but the likelihood of anything actually reaching its intended destination was slim. By the end of the morning rounds, Tanner and Welton had collected a fat bag of coins.
All the better, Blaine thought, as they waited for the right time to spring their trap.
They worked steadily through the rest of the shift, biding their time until Tanner and Welton came around for lunch. The arguments of the morning had been staged to maneuver participants into position, or move problem people out of key locations.
“Time for lunch!” Tanner boomed, his voice too loud for the confines of the underground room.
“Rowse. McFadden. Colling. Pay up—one way or the other,” Welton looked like he enjoyed his job extorting money far too much.
“Here—but it’s the last time I’ve got coin this week,” Piran said, making a show of paying for food with a real coin.
Welton looked disappointed, as if he was looking forward to taking half of Piran’s lunch just for fun. Piran groused and rumbled but dutifully handed over his payment.
“You’re getting soft, Rowse,” Welton gloated. “Ain’t like you not to put up a fight.”
“Take your money and get out of my sight,” Piran said, eyeing Welton and Tanner with loathing.
Welton moved to leave. He guarded Tanner’s blind left side. Ernest tripped Welton, which threw Tanner off balance and into Blaine, who managed to stagger from the collision in such a way as to come down hard on Welton’s knee.
“Yow!” Welton shrieked. “Get off my knee, you oaf!”
“Sorry, sorry,” Blaine apologized, hoping he looked sincere. He had intentionally not hit with his full weight, so that Welton’s knee was sore but not broken. Welton’s limp put him a step behind his boss, leaving Tanner’s blind side open.
Welton hobbled behind Tanner as they moved on to the next group, the last of the convicts to get their meal. Normally, that would have been Coan and his crew, but thanks to the change, Torr, Bickle, and Dunbar were in that spot.
“You’re a bloody louse, that’s what you are,” Torr ranted when Tanner demanded payment. “You’re a tick on a mangy dog.”
“Do you want to eat or not?” Welton demanded. “Pay your coin or split your food. We ain’t got all day.”
Torr sprang toward Welton, fists flying. Bickle moved to pull Tanner back, as Dunbar bumped against Tanner nearly hard enough to knock the big man over.
“Sorry, mate,” Dunbar mumbled, trying to keep Tanner from falling over. He gave the big man a gratuitous pat on the chest in goodwill as Tanner growled and rumbled like an angry bear, pushing Dunbar away.
“Get away from me,” Tanner snarled, striding off so quickly that he nearly dragged Welton with him.
Coan and his crew had stopped to watch the scuffle. “See, that’s what I mean,” Dunbar said, loudly enough for those around him to hear. “Coan wouldn’t know hard work if it hit him on the head. Look at him slacking! That proves he stole our rocks!”
“You lying son of a whore!” Coan roared, and launched himself at Dunbar.
“Your mother was a clap-eaten poxy trollop,” Dunbar returned, as Torr and Bickle stepped up, helping Dunbar have the space in his chain to block Coan with his shoulder without being dragged off balance.
Torr wrestled Coan backward, fighting off interference from his two partners, while Bickle tackled Coan from the front. The six men went down in a pile of flying fists, clanking chains and kicking feet.
Tadd, Albert, and Shorty were carting scuttles of rocks toward wheel barrows near the room’s entrance as Pig-face noticed the fight.
“Break it up!” Pig-face shouted. The convicts had moved away from their stations to watch the fight, and Pig-face had to move around Tadd’s men in order to get close enough to do anything about the fight with Coan.
Pig-face tripped over Tadd and stumbled, flailing to keep his balance. Albert ducked out of the way, dragging Tadd with him, compounding the problem. Shorty grabbed at Pig-face in an effort not to fall. The four men ended up tangled together atop the wheel barrow. Pig-face righted himself first, adjusting his uniform.
“Get out of my way!” he stormed, red in the face at the indignity of the collision. Shorty, Tadd, and Albert ducked their heads in obeisance and backed away. In the process, Shorty backed right into Stefan, barely avoiding knocking him over although they staggered, leaning on each other for support.
“Sorry, mate!” Shorty apologized. Stefan looked angry enough to throw a punch, but his friends pulled him back, arguing for a cool head now that Pig-face had waded into the fray.
Just then, Tanner felt down his shirt front with both hands. “My coins are gone!”
“Where did you put them, you big oaf?” Welton snapped. “That’s a full day’s work gone missing!”
Tanner searched his pockets and his person frantically. “It’s gone! My coin pouch is gone! Someone stole it!”
Pig-face had managed to break up the fight between Coan’s triad and Dunbar’s group. The six men stood a few feet away from each other, bloodied and brooding, with dark glares that made it clear the fight would continue in the barracks that night. It looked as if Pig-face had taken a fist to the cheek at some point in the altercation, since one side of his face was red and swollen.
“Look again, Tanner,” Pig-face said. “Are you sure it didn’t fall on the ground?”
Tanner and Welton looked around themselves frantic to find the coin purse. “It’s gone,” Tanner moaned. “I’ve been robbed!”
An odd look came over Pig-face as he slipped a hand beneath his own jacket. “I’m missing something as well
,” he snapped. “We have thieves among us!”
“Imagine that,” Piran remarked. Pig-face gave him a killing glare.
“Turn out your pockets, all of you!” Pig-face ordered.
The miners grumbled, but each in turn emptied their pockets. “Hey, he’s got my coins!” Tanner roared as Coan reached into his pocket to withdraw two small pouches.
Coan stared at the coin bags in disbelief. “I don’t know how they got in my pocket,” he said, shaking his head.
“Two bags of coins?” Pig-face noted. His tone had gone flat and hard. Blaine took his meaning immediately. Welton and Tanner had been holding out on Pig-face.
“I report the whole amount, honest!” Tanner yelped, eyes wide with fear. “Just didn’t have one bag big enough.”
Pig-face was counting out the coins from both bags. He swore under his breath. “That’s twice what you reported yesterday,” he grated.
“It was a good day,” Welton protested. Pig-face’s expression made it clear he was not convinced.
“I know how the bags got there!” Tanner growled. “His thieving hands put it there! You misbegotten thief!” Tanner hurled himself at Coan, arms outstretched, meaty hands grasping. Welton was hauled along for the ride, squealing in protest as the chain dragged him smack into the middle of a fight between men more than twice his size.
Before Pig-face could move to break up the fight, he saw Stefan make a clumsy attempt to hide something. “Show me what’s in your hand,” Pig-face demanded.
“Nothing but trash,” Stefan retorted, but beneath the insolence, he sounded scared.
“Show me!” Pig-face bellowed.
Reluctantly, Stefan held out a worn piece of parchment with markings on it. “That’s mine!” Pig-face snatched the paper from Stefan and grabbed him by the collar, lifting Stefan off the ground. “How did you get this?” He gave Stefan a vicious shake. “You stole it from me! Confess!”
“I didn’t take nothing,” Stefan protested. Pig-face gave him another shake, hard enough to rattle his teeth. “Liar! This was inside my jacket. Now it’s in your pocket. Explain that!”
“I don’t know how it got there,” Stefan argued. “I didn’t take it.”
The overseer had grown red in the face. “I don’t believe you,” he snarled. “And by the gods, I’m sending you and your thieving mates out on the wolf hunt for the rest of the month.” He turned to where Coan and his two partners were being dragged back from Tanner and Welton, who were bruised and bloody. “You as well,” Pig-face snapped, glaring at Coan’s group and then at Welton and Tanner. “If you’ve got the energy to fight, you can fight wolves and bears.”
With that, Pig-face waved over two more guards, who forced Tanner, Welton, Coan’s group, and Stefan’s triad out of the mine chamber and up the tunnel toward the surface. Through it all, Piran had carefully kept his attention on the stretch of wall he was mining, as did Blaine and the others. After a few shouts from the guards, who by now were surlier than usual, the other miners returned to work as well.
A few of the miners gave sidelong glances in Piran’s direction, and Blaine heard murmurs as the prisoners speculated on the day’s events. Blaine kept his head down and avoided eye contact with anyone, but he felt himself sweating harder than usual, and his heart pounded. His mind raced, imagining scenarios in which their plot was discovered and ruthlessly punished.
At court, the politics was just as deadly, he reminded himself, it just came wrapped in a prettier package. Losing favor with the king might mean not being invited to parties—or being sent to exile. Political enemies have managed to be the death of many a courtier, either indirectly, with a few words to the right ears to reduce a man to starvation, or straight-forwardly, with poison or an assassin. Why am I so surprised?
Piran took up whistling again. Blaine glanced at his co-conspirators, but none of them appeared to have concerns beyond making their quota of rocks for the day. Blaine hoped his expression did not betray him.
Many a man has had to swallow his pride and bend his knee to a tyrant—not much different from the way Prokief’s set himself up to rule this little ice realm. And we’re the court, maneuvering for advantage, competing for favors—and slipping a shiv in someone’s back to clear a path for advancement. I never liked court, but I understand it. So I guess I understand Velant better than I expected.
No one spoke until the miners finished up their shift and shuffled toward the cold, fresh air aboveground. Once they had been freed of their shackles, the men headed toward the barracks in small groups. Bits of conversation drifted across the still air.
“…Coan had it coming. Got what he deserved.”
“…never liked Stefan. Probably won’t make it long against the wolves. Good riddance.”
“…why he’d be stupid enough to steal from the overseer…”
“…Tanner’s a greedy son of a bitch. Welton’s just as bad.”
Piran clapped a hand on Blaine’s shoulder. “Nice work, Mick.”
Blaine shrugged. “Just glad that today it was us and not them.”
Piran nodded. “That’s the way it goes up here. You caught on quickly.” He punched Blaine in the shoulder. “I think you’re going to do just fine here.”
More from Gail Z. Martin
Short Stories:
Deadly Curiosities Adventure:
Vanities (1500s #1)
Wild Hunt (1500s #2)
Dark Legacy (1500s #3)
Steer a Pale Course (1700s #1)
Among The Shoals Forever (1700s #2)
The Low Road (1700s #3)
Buttons (2000s #1)
The Restless Dead (2000s #1A)
Retribution (2000s #1B)
The Final Death* (2000s #2)
Coffin Box (2000s #3)
Wicked Dreams (2000s #4)
Collector (2000s #5)
Bad Memories (2000s #6)
Shadow Garden (2000s #7)
Spook House (2000s #8)
*Free Novella on Wattpad for a limited time.
Jonmarc Vahanian Adventure:
Raider’s Curse
Caves Of The Dead
Storm Surge
Bounty Hunter
Blood’s Cost
Stormgard
Monstrosities
Bad Places
Dead Man’s Bet
Dark Passage
Bad Blood
Haunts
Cursed
Death Plot
Brigands
Bleak Harvest
Hard Choices
Dead Reckoning
Desperate Flight
Coming in June 2016
The Shadowed Path - Jonmarc Vahanian Anthology
Blaine McFadden Adventure:
Arctic Prison | King’s Convicts I
Ice Bound | King’s Convicts II (Nov 2015)
No Reprieve (Orbit Books - Dec 2015)
Storm and Fury Adventure: (with Larry N. Martin)
Resurrection Day
Grave Voices*
*Free Novella on Wattpad for a limited time.
Full-length novels:
Jake Desmet: (with Larry N. Martin)
Iron and Blood
Deadly Curiosities:
Deadly Curiosities
Vendetta (December 2015)
Chronicles of the Necromancer:
The Summoner
The Blood King
Dark Haven
Dark Lady’s Chosen
The Fallen Kings Cycle:
The Sworn
The Dread
Ascendant Kingdoms:
Ice Forged
Reign of Ash
War of Shadows
Shadow and Flame (March 2016)
About the Author
Gail Z. Martin is the author of the new epic fantasy novel War of Shadows (Orbit Books) which is Book Three in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga; Iron and Blood: The Jake Desmet Adventures a new Steampunk series (Solaris Books) co-authored with Larry N. Martin and Vendetta: A
Deadly Curiosities Novel in her urban fantasy series set in Charleston, SC (Dec 2015, Solaris Books). She is also author of Ice Forged and Reign of Ash in The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, The Chronicles of The Necromancer series (The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven, Dark Lady’s Chosen) from Solaris Books and The Fallen Kings Cycle (The Sworn, The Dread) from Orbit Books. Gail writes three series of ebook short stories: The Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures, the Deadly Curiosities Adventures, and the Blaine McFadden Adventures. She also co-authors the Storm and Fury steampunk short stories with Larry N. Martin. Her work has appeared in over 20 US/UK anthologies. Newest anthologies include: The Side of Good/The Side of Evil, The Weird Wild West, The Big Bad 2, Athena’s Daughters, Heroes, With Great Power, Realms of Imagination, Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs. Aliens. You can find all the latest news on what’s out and what’s coming, including excerpts on AscendantKindoms.com.
Find her at www.AscendantKingdoms.com, on Twitter @GailZMartin, on Facebook.com/WinterKingdoms, at DisquietingVisions.com blog and GhostInTheMachinePodcast.com, on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/GailZMartin and free excerpts on Wattpad http://wattpad.com/GailZMartin.
Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page
Part One: Edgeland
Part Two: Welcome to Velant
Part Three: Inside the Walls
Part Four: Down in the Mines
Part Five: Bribes and Paybacks
More from Gail Z. Martin
About the Author
Arctic Prison: King's Convicts I Page 7
