The two found Gnebnik and Shin at the workshop, repairing the gear mechanism of a walnut-shelling mill.
“Hey Gnebnik,” said Lee. “You know the local mines better than any of us, right?”
“Aye.”
“How many veins of power crystals have been found, and how far down are they?”
Gnebnik glared at him.
Sam glanced at Gnebnik, back at Lee. Her eyes widened. “There are power crystals here? Why would you hold out on us? The defense of the city depends on—”
“They were low quality. Probably too many impurities to work with a lightning thrower. And if they had worked, they’d have been sent someplace else anyway.”
“And you figured this out? Lee, I’ve got to say, I’m pretty impressed.”
“I figured that the empire would have forced miners to venture into deeper, more hazardous sections of the mine. But probably would not have allocated any of the crystals to the city. So if the miners did find any, they would have had the incentive to keep it to themselves.”
“So what now?”
“Gnebnik, are the crystals accessible?”
“Maybe. They were found in some natural caverns below the mines. But natural caverns tend to be occupied. And if they are, you don’t wanna mess with whoever’s territory it is. The section was blocked off with several tons of rock. An’ fer good reason.”
“Which could be dug out?” said Lee.
“Aye. Might take a day or two. But we don’t wanna go stirring up trouble with whatever lives in the caverns.”
“The ogres are the most immediate threat, aren’t they? I mean, yes, the miners could encounter something nasty deep in the mines, but isn’t it worth the risk?”
“If the empire finds out we’ve been holdin’ back on ’em, they won’t be pleased.”
“So? They’re displeased,” said Lee.
“When the empire is displeased,” said Shin, “heads tend to be separated from bodies.”
“Oh.”
“Who’s to say the town was holding out?” said Sam. “If there are no records, the vein might have only been discovered this morning.”
“The timing is too convenient,” said Gnebnik. “Lady Isylnoir is no fool.”
“That’s putting the cart before the horse,” said Lee. “Let’s find them and see if Sam can make them work first.”
Gnebnik grumbled, but accompanied Sam and Lee to the mine. A pair of guards stood on watch at the entrance.
“Yrsa in there?” asked Gnebnik.
The guard nodded.
“Who’s Yrsa?” asked Sam.
Gnebnik led them inside. “A foreman. A friend. And someone who knows when to keep her mouth shut.”
“This is the cavern where we first arrived,” said Lee.
“Yup. Magic energy is strong here—the brokers use it to power their gizmos. Plus it’s a secure, decent-sized cavern.”
“Guess it wouldn’t do to pop out of that portal and immediately get munched by some ravenous beast, huh?” said Lee.
“Yup.” Gnebnik asked one of the miners about the foreman, and was directed to the third tunnel on the right.
The tunnel was barely over head high: Lee ducked his head as they passed under framing timbers.
“Should be high enough fer ya,” said Gnebnik. “Ceiling height is a bone of contention between the human and gnome miners. But these tunnels should be tall enough for a human to stand.”
“Instinct I guess. My hair brushes against the low spots.”
Sam grinned. “Guess there’s finally a downside to that hulking physique.”
They found Yrsa, a silver-haired gnome woman in a small chamber with two human miners, sorting through some ores.
“Gnebnik, what brings you down here? If it’s about that tool metal you need, I can’t help you.”
“We better talk in private.”
The two human miners stepped out. Sam glanced at Yrsa, took Lee’s hand and tugged. “Come on.”
“Right.”
Lee was just about to sit against the cavern wall when Yrsa and Gnebnik emerged from the chamber, both with a less than amicable expression.
Yrsa glared at Lee, her thick gnomish arms crossed in front of her chest. “So I have you to thank for this idea.”
“You’re welcome,” said Lee.
She glanced at Gnebnik, then at Sam, then finally back at Lee.
“I mean, I’m sorry, I suppose,” corrected Lee.
Sam jumped in. “The seam of crystals you found. We’d like to have a look. They might make a difference in the defense of the city.”
Yrsa frowned. “They might also spell the demise of the city.”
“We’ll protect you,” said Lee.
“What?” said Sam.
“You?” said Yrsa. “Fight the subterranean horrors? You have no idea what you’re facing.”
“We don’t even know if they’ll work,” said Sam. “But we won’t know unless we try.”
“The chambers are likely to be flooded. We shut down the pumps in the lower mine once we shifted work to this section. Don’t have the manpower to keep the whole place in operation.”
“Can you restart them?”
Yrsa grumbled.
Gnebnik stepped in. “It’s yer choice. We’ll stand by you as you excavate, but your miners are takin’ the risk, it’s your decision.”
Yrsa sighed. “Miner or not, we all live in Hazelhearth. We’ll clear the rubble from the shaft. Then we’ll see.”
Chapter 24
Gnebnik had been surlier than usual the past days, snappy at the quality of Sam and Lee’s work, while answering Lee’s frequent queries about what type of horrors they might expect to find in the mine with vague excuses about the subterranean hordes being poorly documented due to a lack of survivors.
Yrsa stepped into the workshop. “We’re done. Pulled the last of the rubble stone from the shaft.”
“And?” said Lee.
“And a horde of sawtooth fleshworms poured out of the chasm, tearing the flesh from the bones of every miner in the area,” said Yrsa, thrusting her fists against her hips. “And nothing. It’s your idea, you go in there.”
“Aye, that it is,” said Gnebnik. “Let’s gear up.”
“You could have just said so,” said Lee.
They trudged into the mine after a tense trip, the majestic trees of the forest not even drawing a second glance from Sam. What was wrong with her? When had the novelty worn off?
“What are those blue lines in the mine walls,” she said, though the question felt forced.
“Never been in a mine before, have ya?” said Yrsa.
“No.”
Yrsa picked a fist-sized glow stone from its brass frame and handed it to Sam. The stone dimmed dramatically. “Magic flows through everything. But it flows better through some things than others. Veins of certain minerals channel it. In large geological formations they’re called ley lines. But they’re not always where you need them. We cut a groove in the walls and fill it with a special caulk mixed with mineral dust.”
“You can channel magic energy? Why not build lines from here to the lightning thrower—”
“Won’t carry enough energy to do anything like that. You studying to be a mage?”
“No,” said Sam. “Well, maybe a little. I’ve been trying to help Lady Isylnoir reconfigure the lightning thrower.”
“It’s simple to learn, difficult to master. So I’ve been told. Magic is stronger underground. As a miner I’m surrounded by it every day. This invisible force. You know it’s there even if you can’t see it or touch it or taste it. And after a while you get a feel for it. An intuition. But to truly understand it, to bend it to your will, that’s rare. You need aptitude to channel it and intelligence to understand it.”
“And arrogance,” said Sam. “That would appear to be a requisite as well.”
“Hahaha, that’s more a side-effect.”
They stepped into an open-framed mine elevator, descendin
g to the next level amid creaks of the windlass and groans of the framing. The platform thudded against solid stone.
“This is the lowest level of the mine,” said Yrsa, leading them along a tunnel that felt lower, more confined than those above. The air here was damp, cool, musty smelling. “The lowest level that’s not flooded anyway. You know, if the empire would send us a decent pump we could increase—”
“If we could count on the empire to supply us with anything, we wouldn’t be asking ya ta re-open that section,” said Gnebnik.
“True.” Yrsa led them to a dead end in the tunnel. “This is it. We broke through to a vertical shaft four years ago. There’s a system of natural caverns below.”
“Caverns?” said Sam, emphasizing the ‘s.’
“Yup. Don’t know how far they go. Made a quick survey of all the adjacent caverns, so we don’t accidentally break into another one from a different section of the mine. That’s when we discovered the crystals. We grabbed what we could and filled it in with loose rock. Been using it to dump rubble stone ever since.”
“But you never saw any of these subterranean horrors?” said Lee.
“Lemme ask you this. You see a hornet’s hive, do you poke it with a stick to see if there are any hornets in it?”
“Good point.”
Lee peered into the shaft. It was a jagged elliptical gap barely wide enough for a single person to pass through. Steeply sloped, though not quite vertical, and very, very dark.
“I guess this is it. Do we get a torch? Or one of those miner’s helmets?”
“If ya want it,” said Yrsa.
“I’d like to keep my hands free. Helmet,” said Lee.
“What are those goggles I see some of you wearing?” said Sam.
“Wave filter goggles. The lenses let you see magic energy.” Yrsa pulled the goggles from her head. “Try mine if you like.”
A pair of stubby brass tubes housed a transparent disk at either end, with a knurled dial similar to the focus ring one might find on a pair of binoculars. A curved leather body and head strap held them against the wearer’s face.
Sam donned the goggles. “Ooooh! This is interesting. The conduit lines are now bright, and the glow stones are dim. It’s like they’ve reversed.” She stepped to the cavern wall and ran her hand along the rock. “I can see little veins in the rock. They weren’t there before, were they?” She shoved the goggles to her forehead. “Nope.”
“You’re seeing more magic energy, but it means you’re seeing less normal light. Some miners like the goggles, most get headaches using ’em.”
“Enough lolly-gagging,” barked Gnebnik. “Let’s move.”
Lee adjusted his helmet. He glanced at a head-high mound of rubble stones balanced precariously behind a set of planks. “Guess you want to be ready to plug it up again quickly.”
Yrsa nodded.
Gnebnik tossed a rope ladder into the shaft, slapped Shin on the shoulder, muttering “Don’ worry ol’ friend, I know ya don’t like mines, I’ll go first.” He turned on the lamp of his helmet and descended into the shaft.
Lee, relieved that the next words from Gnebnik’s mouth were ‘get a move on,’ not ‘help, I’m being torn apart by monsters,’ went next, followed by Sam and Shin.
The first chamber was slender, irregular, and no larger than the main room of the Dancing Dryad.
“Looks like two ways out of this chamber,” said Gnebnik.
“There’s no map of the area?” said Sam. “They were down here before.”
“A map getting in the wrong hands could bring some unpleasant inquiries from the Empire,” said Shin.
“Closest we’re gonna get is this,” said Gnebnik. “This is the working mine map. Natural caverns found to be close to one of the mine shafts are noted on it as a ‘miscellaneous natural instability,’ with an indication which way they should not tunnel in.”
“Right.” Sam scrutinized the mine map, trying to envision it overlaid on the level above them. “But given the current situation, I assume there are no objections to my mapping it now.”
“We should all do so,” said Shin. “Though with the exception of Gnebnik, I do not anticipate we will be able to do so accurately. Perhaps he could correct our individual maps as we go.”
“Aye. An’ it’s a good idea ta have yer own map in case you’re separated.”
“In case we get separated?” snapped Sam. “Here’s a better idea, let’s stick together.”
“Less talkin’, more explorin’,” said Gnebnik.
One of the two passages narrowed into a gap too narrow for even Sam to squeeze through, the other sloping sharply downward, terminating in a much larger cavern.
“This’ll be interesting,” said Lee, glancing about this new chamber. “I count four… no, five exits.”
“Seven,” said Gnebnik. “Remember to think in three dimensions.”
The gnome knelt on a stone near the bottom of the cavern, inspecting the pool of water on the floor.
“How deep?” asked Sam.
He poked a hand into the pool. “Knee deep. But it was a lot deeper. Look at the mineral marks on the walls.” A chalk-white band halfway up the cavern wall seemed evidence of a much higher water level. The exposed rock was only subtly different than that of the mine, in shades of charcoal, brown, with the occasional blood-red streak.
“Pumps did their work, huh,” said Sam. “How long do you think it’ll take to drain completely?”
“Dunno if it will. Groundwater will keep seeping in. May even be a channel ta the river. At some point water’ll be coming in as fast as they can pump it out.”
“And the pump fails, it fills back up,” said Sam.
“Aye. No point in waiting. Let’s find some magic crystals.”
The passages ranged nearly from the size of a proper mine tunnel to jagged gaps barely large enough to crawl through. The group started with the larger ones first.
“I don’t know if I like these miner’s helmets,” said Lee. “As a child I always wanted to try one out. But this lamp is actually very directional.”
“So?”
“So, I don’t like the idea that we’re blind in all the areas the light is not shining.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “I hope you’ve gotten over any childhood mining fantasies by now. Statistically, mining is tremendously hazardous.”
“On Arvia it probably counts as safe,” said Lee.
“Unless you get eaten by subterranean monsters.”
Gnebnik knelt, running rough fingertips along a seam in the tunnel wall. Most of the rock was shades of brown and gray. This was a diagonal stripe a handbreadth wide that sparkled silver. “This must be the seam Yrsa talked about.”
They followed the seam to a section where it widened out, forming a gap. Light from Gnebnik’s helmet danced and sparkled off crystal shards within the seam.
“This what you need?” said Gnebnik.
Sam scrutinized the seam, pulling a finger-sized crystal from it to examine further. It was transparent like a prism, with translucent impurities like milk glass.
“Here’s an amber one over here,” said Lee. “This good for anything?”
“I’m afraid this is where we need Lady Isylnoir,” said Sam.
“She is growing on me,” said Shin. “But imperial officers are not known for flexibility in how they interpret the rules.”
“Do you think she’d buy it if we told her we just discovered these?” said Lee.
Sam and Gnebnik shook their heads.
“And attempting to deceive her would only make any retribution worse, should it be discovered,” said Sam. “She would feel betrayed.”
Lee thudded his fist into his palm. “And so she should. We’re a team. All of us. Gnebnik, Shin, you two aren’t human, and yet I trust you both with my lives. That may not be a big deal on Arvia, but on our world it is.”
“What are you getting at?” said Sam.
“If Lady Isylnoir doesn’t feel like she’s part of t
he team, she should. If any of us hadn’t done our part against the basilisk, we could all be dead. Who knows, if the ogres attack, we could be in that situation again.”
“Lee, that’s an admirable sentiment, but it’s not something we could just tell her,” said Sam. “There’s no secret handshake, no ceremony to let someone know they’re an accepted member of the party.” She turned to Gnebnik. “Isn’t there?”
“Nay,” said the gnome.
“We can’t,” said Lee. “But you can. She respects you.”
“She nearly incinerated me last month!”
“But she didn’t,” said Shin. “Lee is right. You have the best chance.”
“Fine,” said Sam. “I’ll go talk to her.”
An hour later, Sam strode into the greenhouse, finding Lady Isylnoir examining a crimson orchid the size of a teapot.
“An ingredient for a potion?” asked Sam.
“A reminder of my home province in spring.”
“We all look forward to spring.”
“I hope the town will still be standing to greet it.”
“No word from Irondale?” Sam glanced at one of the dragonflies. “Or any of the other cities?”
“None. I fear we may be forsaken this winter.”
“Forsaken, perhaps. But not alone. We would not have survived the encounter with the basilisk alone, and we are not alone now.”
Lady Isylnoir stared at Sam. Her jade green eyes glistened with the suggestion of a tear, while tiny creases formed at the corners. “Master Teodrun’s dismissive assessment was erroneous. You have all proven most resourceful.”
“I thank you. And perhaps such resourcefulness shall bear fruit. Lady Isylnoir, as per your instructions, a team of miners excavated deeper in the mines.”
“As per my instructions?”
“Yes. And it’s fortunate for the city that they did, for they found signs of a vein of power crystals.”
“Power crystals? In that mine? But there have never been any reports of—”
“There have not. However, your uncanny intuition seems to have paid off. Under your leadership, the town may yet be saved.”
Lady Isylnoir’s gaze pierced into Sam’s eyes. The subtlest of smiles crossed her face. “Let us venture to the mines, that I might behold my good fortune.”
Hazelhearth Hires Heroes Page 22
