by A F Kay
Stairs led up on each side of the room, and the center of the back wall had a set leading down. The only people in the room were the cooks, and Ruwen smelled fresh bread.
Big D pointed to the stairs leading down. “They can’t take all of us at once, so I’ll be sending you in groups. Head down, you can eat when you finish the tour.”
“It was nice meeting you, Bekka,” Ruwen said.
“Likewise. Good luck,” Bekka said.
Hamma, Sift, Qip, and Ruwen walked toward the stairs. The air cooled noticeably as they approached.
“Have you ever been here, Qip?” Ruwen asked.
The large man nodded. “I’ve worked some supply deliveries. But I’ve never been down the stairs.”
Six more people followed them, and then Big D funneled people toward the food.
“Why do we have to go first?” Sift asked as he rubbed his stomach.
“You just ate an hour ago,” Hamma said.
“That was a long walk,” Sift said.
Qip smiled at Sift. “Tomorrow will be shorter. The camp is much closer to the dungeon.”
“That doesn’t help my stomach now,” Sift mumbled.
The stairs down narrowed quickly, and they moved into a line. Holes used to fire arrows through in case of an assault were spaced at different heights. Even the ceiling had them.
After about fifty stairs, they stepped into a wider tunnel, which quickly ended in a metal door. Qip was in the lead, and he knocked. The sound echoed off the smooth walls of the tunnel.
A stone wall fell from the ceiling behind them with a thud, and Ruwen flinched. The only source of light had been from the stairs, and they now stood in complete darkness.
Hamma muttered, and her hand emitted a soft blue light.
They were trapped in the tunnel.
Chapter 21
Ruwen had taken three deep breaths to calm himself when the door in front of them opened. Light flooded the hallway.
A voice yelled from the next room, “Hurry up, don’t just stand there.”
Qip immediately moved forward, and they all followed. As soon as the last person entered, the door slammed shut behind them. Ruwen couldn’t see what controlled the door.
The room they entered could fit about thirty people comfortably. Two Fighters stood against the back wall, and a Mage sat on a chair between them. At least that’s how they were dressed. Ruwen’s Perception didn’t give him any information on them. It seemed everyone at the mine liked their privacy.
Five openings lined each side of the room. They all began at waist height and were partially covered with a clear window. Immediately to Ruwen’s left, stairs climbed upward into a tunnel of darkness.
The same voice that had yelled at them to enter spoke again. It came from a bald man in brown Worker garb behind the first window to Ruwen’s right.
“Place all your weapons in your Dimensional Bag and step up to a window to register. You there, the tall sour-looking kid,” the bald man said and pointed at Ruwen.
Ruwen looked around.
“He means you,” Sift said.
“I’m not sour-looking.”
“When you think, you look kinda grim-sourish…and you think a lot,” Sift said.
Ruwen looked at Hamma, and she raised her eyebrows and pressed her lips together.
“Uru help me, are you deaf?” the bald man asked.
Ruwen tried to not look sour and walked up to the window.
“Is that a tattoo or a band?” the bald man asked.
With a flick of his concentration, he opened the Void Band a few inches and then closed it.
The bald man leaned back in his chair, turned to the side, and yelled. “Get Tora, we have a Band.” The man turned back to Ruwen. “You can call me Jeddy. Put your baton and dagger in the Void Band, please.”
Jeddy’s sudden change in attitude surprised Ruwen. The man almost sounded friendly.
Ruwen placed the weapons into his Inventory and glanced to his left. Sift, Qip, and Hamma stood in front of other windows.
“Stand still, I need to get a weight,” Jeddy said.
The floor vibrated and Ruwen looked down. The two-by-two foot area he stood on looked different than the granite of the floor. The brown square vibrated again.
Jeddy held out his hand. “Your left wrist, please.”
Ruwen stuck his hand through the window. “Why do you need a weight?”
“We weigh you again on the way out. It’s to make sure people don’t leave with anything they shouldn’t. Everyone else will be leaving their Dimensional Bags with us, but you can’t do that. I’ll be putting a gripper on your wrist instead.”
“What’s that?”
Jeddy pushed a thin white bracer over Ruwen’s hand and onto his wrist, covering the Void Band. Jeddy placed a finger on a rune etched into the soft fabric, and the bracer tightened around Ruwen’s wrist. The entire bracer turned green.
“The gripper will resist your Void Band opening. With enough Energy, you can force your Void Band open, but it will turn the gripper red. That will get you a meeting with the special security team as they force their way through your entire Inventory.”
Ruwen rubbed the green bracer. “You guys really take this seriously.”
“We have to. People change when they’re surrounded by vast wealth. This helps everyone stay honest.”
A tall, thin woman wearing brown Worker clothes approached Jeddy on his side of the wall. Her brown hair had been tied into a ponytail, and she had a green bracer on her left wrist. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties.
Jeddy looked at her as she drew near. “Hey, Tora. We got a surprise today.”
Tora looked at Ruwen, and when her eyes saw the green bracer, she smiled. She immediately put her arm through the opening, and Ruwen grasped it.
“Well met, Tora. I’m Ruwen.”
“Well met,” Tora said, her smile turning into a grin. “Thank Uru, too. I won’t be the youngest anymore.”
Ruwen brought his arm back through the opening. “The youngest?”
“The youngest Band at the Dizzy Judge has a special glass. It’s twice as big as everyone else's. It makes shots of spiked jitter juice feel lethal. In the last ten years, my alcohol tolerance has tripled.” Tora looked at Jeddy. “Is he good to go?”
Jeddy nodded at Tora and then smiled at Ruwen.
“Walk to the door at the end of the room. I’ll meet you there,” Tora said.
Qip, Sift, and Hamma were already waiting near the door, and Ruwen walked over to them.
“Nice bracelet,” Hamma said.
“It’s to keep me from stealing stuff,” Ruwen said.
“What is it with this place?” Sift asked. “They are so paranoid I wondered if they would let me keep my clothes.”
“I’m sure you’ll manage to lose them on your own,” Ruwen said with a laugh.
Sift opened his mouth to respond, but the door opened behind the Mage and Fighters, and Tora walked through. She waved at Ruwen to approach.
Ruwen’s group moved forward.
Tora held up her hand. “Just you, Ruwen.”
“My friends can’t come?” Ruwen asked.
“Someone will be here shortly for them. You’ll have special responsibilities at the mine because of your Void Band, so you’re getting a private tour.”
“Well met,” Qip said crossing his arms over his chest. “My name is Qip. I’m supposed to shadow the boy.”
Tora shook her head. “You’ll have to go with the others.”
“Big D assigned me,” Qip said in a casual tone.
Tora raised an eyebrow. “Then I’m happy to have you along.”
Ruwen hesitated.
“Go,” Hamma said. “We’ll see you after the tour.”
Ruwen nodded and then walked to the door. As he approached, the Mage who had been sitting there the whole time stood.
“Stand still,” the Mage said.
The Mage held out his hand, palm upward, and a black mist
formed. The Mage clenched his hand into a fist and then flicked his fingers toward Ruwen. The black mist shot toward Ruwen, and he took a step backward in surprise. The spell swirled around him, covering his entire body in seconds and then gathered around his left wrist and the green bracer there. The middle of the black cloud pulsed an angry red.
Ruwen held his left hand out, not sure what the spell would do. The Mage clenched his hand again, and the black cloud disappeared in a blink. Ruwen stared at his wrist and then at the Mage.
“You’re good. Move it,” the Mage said.
Ruwen walked through the door as the Mage repeated the process on Qip. This time the black mist didn’t collect anywhere and returned to the Mage.
“Off with you,” the Mage said.
Qip joined Ruwen and Tora.
“He’s not very friendly,” Ruwen whispered.
“He’s better than most Mages,” Tora said. “Let’s go.”
Ruwen and Tora walked down the tunnel, and Qip followed silently behind them. The tunnel sloped downward at a steady angle.
“What was that?” Ruwen asked.
Tora looked at him. “What do you think it was?”
“It concentrated on my Void Band, so it must be related to that,” Ruwen said. He thought about all the security and how paranoid they were about people stealing. “Maybe some sort of spell to check for hidden Dimensional Bags?”
“Exactly,” Tora said. “All the Mages here are expensive, but he probably costs the most. He’s a Creation Mage who Specialized in Spatial magic. His spell can sense anomalies like Dimensional Bags and our bands.”
Ruwen knew all about Creation Mages, but he had concentrated most of his time studying the Summoner Specialization. He had spent many nights thinking about the incredible beasts he would summon to do his bidding.
Ruwen shivered as energy passed through his body. Runes etched on the floors, walls, and ceiling glowed briefly.
Tora glanced at the runes. “And since the Mage that just checked you can warp space and basically teleport, these runes alter Spatial magic, making it erratic. There’s a good chance a Mage trying to teleport down here would end up trapped in solid rock. Every tunnel has them. Locks within locks.”
“It is like everyone is watching everyone,” Ruwen said.
Tora nodded as they entered a circular room. It had ten large openings spaced around the walls, and each had a different color above the entrance. They walked through the doorway with a grey marking.
A Mage sat on a chair in the middle of a large wooden platform. Benches were spaced evenly across the platform, and Ruwen guessed forty people could sit comfortably. Tora stepped up onto the platform and sat on the nearest bench. Qip and Ruwen joined her.
“Extraction,” Tora said to the Mage.
The Mage nodded and sat up straight. A moment later, the entire platform lifted off the ground and moved sideways down a short tunnel.
Ruwen had seen Air Mages flying through the air but had never been on anything under their control. Air Mages were a popular specialization of the Elemental Mage branch. Most everyone wanted to fly. Ruwen had never really considered it because he hated heights. The idea of being so high in the air terrified him. But maybe if he knew he wouldn’t die from a fall, it would be different.
“Hands inside the floater at all times,” the Mage said. “If you need to puke, there are buckets at the end of each bench. If you puke anywhere but a bucket, I’ll make you regret it.”
The side of the floater approached a wall, and Ruwen wondered why people got sick.
Tora leaned toward them and whispered, “Hold tightly to the bench. These guys fly like they’re trying to make you sick.”
“Fly? We’re underground,” Ruwen said.
The floater reached the wall, paused for a moment, and then the front of the platform dipped. Ruwen grabbed the bench just as the floater shot forward and down. In a blink, they were hurtling down a tunnel at what Ruwen considered a very unsafe speed. His stomach seemed to rise inside his body, and he was very thankful they hadn’t eaten when they’d arrived.
Tora smiled and looked relaxed. Ruwen turned to Qip. The big man had his eyes closed and had hunched forward. He didn’t look well.
The floater only slowed when it came to intersections or when it needed to turn into another tunnel. Otherwise, the platform raced forward. After the first thirty seconds, Ruwen decided he probably wouldn’t die. After a minute, he smiled.
The wind pushed against him like a giant hand, and on long straight stretches, he had to turn his head to breathe. By the time they slowed, easing into a small tunnel and coming to a stop, Ruwen wanted to do it again. The floater ride provided an excellent example of why he needed to stop letting his fears keep him from trying new things.
“Great trip, thanks,” Tora said to the Mage as she stepped off.
Qip stumbled off the floater and put a hand on the wall.
Ruwen grinned at the Mage. “That was fun.”
The Mage smiled back.
Tora patted Qip on the back. “Take your time, I’m going to give Ruwen the speech.”
“You do this a lot?” Ruwen asked.
Tora held up her wrist with the green bracer. “This puts you in contact with a lot of people you’d normally never meet. Because of that, I don’t get as nervous around people like most others. So when it comes time to lead the City Council on a tour, or give an important Craftsman a look around, or whatever, they call me.”
“Bliz mentioned life would be more interesting with a Void Band,” Ruwen said.
Tora grabbed his shoulders. “Don’t take any quests from him.”
Ruwen grimaced.
Tora let Ruwen go. “Which one?”
Ruwen opened it up to make sure he got the name right.
A Wasted Youth
Eighty-eight-time Bandball World Champion Bliz has challenged you to a game of bandball at the Dizzy Judge.
Reward: Shot of spiked jitter juice
Penalty: Two shots of spiked jitter juice
“A Wasted Youth.”
Tora shook her head. “Not good, but at least he didn’t get you to take the Blind Bandit one.”
“He explained that game. It sounded fun.”
“Oh, it’s fun,” Tora said. “Until you pick the Bandit and have to do five shots. And unless Uru gives us another Band soon, you’re the youngest, and your glass is bigger. It’s like taking ten shots. It will cripple you. If you don’t know a healer, I would hire one for the night. Better yet, avoid the Dizzy Judge.” She grinned. “I can finally start going again.”
“I love that game,” Qip said, still hunched over against the wall.
“Okay, enough of all that. Bliz manages to waste our time when he’s not even here,” Tora said, shaking her head. “We’re near extraction, so I’ll explain how all the rock gets here. Thousands of feet below us, small teams are mining. A Stone Mage creates instability in the rock, and Workers use Dig to transfer that loose rock to a sled. An Air Mage takes the full sled up here. There are two healers. One stays with the team mining and one with the Air Mage. The healers keep the air healthy enough to breathe. Depending on how deep the teams are, there might also be a few Fighters. There are dangerous things deep in the ground.”
“I had a buddy, knew a guy, got attacked by a Rock Serpent,” Qip said as he stood up and leaned against the wall.
“It’s dangerous down there. You okay to move?” Tora asked.
“Yes, I’m sorry. I’ve never moved that fast before,” Qip said.
“That Mage tried to make you puke. I’m impressed neither of you did,” Tora said. “Let’s go.”
Ruwen and Qip followed Tora, and within a minute, they had entered a vast room. The sleds full of rock Tora had talked about exited tunnels at the far end of the room, dumped their rock on a long vibrating table, and then exited through different tunnels. As the rock moved down the table, Stone Mages turned the rock into powder. The powder fell through tiny holes and onto a conve
yor that funneled it to a black hole at the end of the conveyor.
Ruwen pointed to the black hole. “What’s that?”
“It’s a one-way portal. It instantly transports the waste outside the mine,” Tora said and then pointed at a closed door. “Whatever the Stone Mages can’t vaporize is routed into the next room to be sorted.”
They followed Tora as she walked to the next room. Fighters stood on each side of the door, but let them through. The room they entered was a fifty-foot square, and Craftsmen sat alongside a narrow vibrating table.
Tora pointed at the table. “Craftsmen sort whatever was in the rock. Most of it is common minerals and gems of various qualities. But anything metallic gets sent on to the next room. Here’s where it starts getting interesting.”
The next room had guards as well, and these wanted an explanation of why Ruwen and Qip were there. Tora had to sign them all in.
This room didn’t have a long table. Instead, it had six stations. Five of them had large metal cubes about the size of a desk. The sixth station had a metal table with a glass structure hanging from the ceiling. Twelve Workers, one on each side of a station, sat with what looked like square plates in front of them.
Tora leaned toward them and whispered, “This is the financial heart of the mine. Those plates in front of them contain whatever metal has made it through the processing in the other rooms. The screen on the bottom of the plate is made from terium.”
Tora walked over to the first station but stopped a respectful distance away. It was close enough for Ruwen to get a good look at what the Workers were doing. The Worker closest to Ruwen placed a screen full of metal fragments over a mold in the table and then put his hands over the screen. They glowed, similar to when Ruwen used Scrub, but the light looked redder.
Tora whispered again. “They use Melt and Harden in here. Each station increases the Energy to melt and harden different metals. The liquid metal is captured in the molds, and the station partner uses Harden to solidify the metal.”
As Tora spoke, liquid ran through the screen into the molds. It looked dirty green. The Worker on the far side of the station held his hands over the mold, and they glowed blue.
