Brian Pratt - Fires of prophesy

Miko takes up the pickaxe again and strikes the wall, this time a sizeable chunk comes loose and falls to the ground. He looks to Nate who smiles and nods his head in approval. They continue chipping away until they have a sizeable pile at their feet. Then Nate has him pick up the chunks and carry them over to the waiting wagon where he drops them in.

They continue like that for a while, chip away the stone before carrying it over to the wagon. Miko’s arms begin to tire and his hands become sore, as blisters start to form.

Nate notices that he’s slowing down and says, “Keep up.” He nods over to where Essin is watching another pair, “You don’t want Essin to think you’re slacking.”

Doing the best he can, Miko continues to chip away with the pickaxe despite the sores on his hands. After a little while longer, his back and arms begin to ache and hurt.

Essin hollers, “Rest break!”

All the slaves give out a sigh of relief, especially the new arrivals, as they rest their pickaxes on the ground. They go over to where Essin is standing with another slave who is holding a bucket of water and a sack containing stale bread. The slave goes around the group, giving each a piece of bread and drink of water that he draws from the bucket with a ladle.

“We get three such breaks every day,” Nate informs him. “They’re not doing it to be nice, but so we can have the strength to continue removing the ore all day.”

“Oh,” says Miko as he takes his piece of bread and drinks from the ladle.

It seems like he just received his bread when Essin announces, “Back to work!”

With a groan, the new slaves return to the wall with their partners and resume the arduous work of removing the iron ore.

Shortly after the break, Miko turns as he hears Essin’s whip strike out and hit someone. “Who gave you permission to stop working?” he shouts at one of the new arrivals.

“But my hands are sore and bleeding,” the man wails as he holds his hands out, showing Essin.

“I don’t care if they fall off!” he shouts, knocking the hands away. “Grab your pickaxe and continue working!”

When the man hesitates, Essin lashes him twice more. The man grabs his pickaxe and starts chipping at the wall again.

“See,” Nate tells him, “you don’t want to be slacking. He got off easy because he’s new. If he’s caught again, he’ll be put to much worse jobs.”

“Worse?” ask Miko after striking the wall again.

“There’re always worse jobs,” he explains. “Don’t ever forget that. Certain sections of the mine cave-in more often than others, the trouble makers and slackers are the ones who get to work those areas. You understand?”

Miko just nods his head as he continues to wield his pickaxe. As bad as this is, he definitely doesn’t want to go where it’s ‘worse’.

After a couple more hours of mining, the sores on his hand begin to rub raw and every strike now causes him pain. His shoulders and back feel like they’re on fire, their strength beginning to fail.

Nate sees how he’s struggling to continue and says, “I’ll do this and you take the rocks over to the wagon, okay?”

Too tired for words, Miko just nods in relief and begins to carry the rocks over to the wagon.

When their group has filled its second wagon since Miko’s arrival, Essin announces it’s time to head up to the surface. “Take your picks with you,” he tells the new arrivals.

Grabbing his, Miko rests it on a shoulder and follows Nate as they begin to leave the mines for the night. “When they first started mining here,” Nate tells him, “they used to have the slaves remain within the mines all the time. But many kept getting sick and dying so they started bringing them out every night and the sickness began to go away.”

“Quiet back there!” Essin hollers back to them.

Whispering, Nate continues, “Remember worse? The ones at the very furthest end aren’t allowed out at night. They stay down here a week at a time as punishment, few make it more than a month.”

A shudder runs through Miko when he thinks about having to stay in the mines for days at a time, never seeing the outside or having fresh, clean air to breathe.

They make their way back toward the winding road that leads to the surface. Other slave groups join them as they make their way up and out of the mine. Able to breathe fresh air again, Miko begins to feel a little better and some of his strength returns. Essin leads them over to a large, single story building with many doors spaced along the outside. Coming to one, he opens it up and leads them inside. “This is where you will be spending every night,” he tells them as the new arrivals drop to the floors, one even passing out. “No one is permitted outside during the night.”

Once they’re all in, he says, “In a little bit, someone will bring you food and water.” He glances around at the exhausted new arrivals and then to the one who has passed out, “Use this time to rest. I expect you hard at work in the morning.”

Just before he leaves, he says, “Share the food evenly, those who don’t will go without food for a day.” He glares around at everyone before leaving the room and shutting the door.

When the door closes, the new arrivals begin to quietly complain and bemoan their situation. “Shut up!” one of the old timers says.

“You’ll get use to it after a while,” another adds.

“Yeah,” a third says, “the first couple days are the worst, but your hands will toughen up.”

Miko looks at his hands in the dim light coming through the cracks in the walls and the one lone window. Open, oozing sores cover his hands, each one adding its voice to the throbbing pain.

When the food arrives, the old timers make it a point to share evenly with the newcomers. In fact, Nate actually gives Miko some of his portion, saying, “You can have some of mine, it looks like you need it.” The old timers know that a poorly fed worker only hurts the group, and it’s the group that counts down here. Everyone looks out for each other, those who don’t, tend not to make it long.

“Thank you,” he says gratefully as he takes the offered portion. The bread and meat they’re given isn’t the freshest he’s ever had, but after all the exertion in the mines, it tasted wonderful. Not nearly enough to fill him completely, but enough to quiet the grumbling in his stomach.

After he’s done eating, he goes over to a corner where he quickly falls asleep.

It seemed like he no sooner fell asleep before Essin is there waking them up. After a quick meal, they’re again marched back down into the mines. His arms and back are stiff and aching, it’s all he can do just to carry that heavy pickaxe as he descends into the mines. They arrive back at the same spot they worked the day before and commence to mine the ore.

After the first couple of swings, his arms begin complaining and by the first break, his back and arms are again on fire. His hands are slippery from the oozing sores that the swinging of the pickaxe has reopened from the day before. Nate does his best to help him along, he’s thankful that his partner is so nice and helpful. As Nate chips away at the wall, he carries the rocks over to the waiting wagon and deposits them inside.

When Essin calls for the first break, Miko is dazed and exhausted even though his day isn’t even half over. When the slave comes over to give him his bread and water, he at first doesn’t realize it, but then his eyes focus on who the slave is. Black Tooth!

When he reaches for his bread, Black Tooth gives him a dark look and drops it to the ground before he can take hold of it. When he gives him the ladle, he finds that it’s only half full of water.

Black Tooth gives him an evil grin as he takes the ladle back. Nate, standing beside him doesn’t fail to notice what is going on. After Black Tooth is gone and the break is over, they return to mining the ore.