Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [139]
This tunnel looks more a continuation of the road than another offshoot, it’s wider than the others have been and has many tunnels branching off like veins from an artery. Spaced periodically along the tunnel are lanterns hanging from pegs in the wall to light the way. Empty wagons are spaced throughout the tunnel waiting to take the place of ones currently being filled. The horses of the empty wagon are removed and then hitched to the full one which is taken out of the pit.
They don’t progress far down before a man comes over and they’re brought to a halt. He begins talking to them while others divide them up into different groups. To Miko’s relief, Black Tooth is taken away by one of the guards and led back up to the top. Five others are grouped with Miko and once the man stops talking, are led deeper into the mine.
“What are they mining?” he asks the guard in charge of them after passing a group of men working on the beginnings of another passage.
The guard replies, “Iron ore, as you soon will be as well.”
“You speak my language!” he exclaims.
“Of course,” the guard says. “There are many here from the north.”
As they continue deeper into the mines, the tunnel they’re in begins to narrow. The frequency of other branching tunnels diminishes the further they go. The guard begins talking again, alternating between the empire’s language and the north’s. “This is where you will spend the rest of your days. We have only three rules here but they are enforced strictly. First of all, if you try to escape, we will kill you.”
“Second, you will work hard when and where we tell you. If you fail to, you shall be punished,” he says. Pausing momentarily in his speech, he has them move over to the side of the tunnel as several slaves carry others past them. The ones being carried are bloody and a few are even unconscious, maybe even dead. Miko asks, “What happened to them?”
The guard looks at him and says, “Cave-in. It happens sometimes, that’s why we need new slaves occasionally.”
Once they’re past, the guard gets them moving again and they walk in silence until Miko asks, “What’s the third rule?”
“Don’t hurt or hinder other slaves,” he explains.
“That’s nice of you,” Miko replies.
The guard pauses and turns to look at Miko. “Nice?” he asks with a short laugh. “Hardly. Slaves are expensive and we have a quota of iron ore to mine each day. We’ll not have anyone messing with our schedule. Understand?”
Miko nods his head and continues to follow with his group further into the tunnel. It’s grown very dark now, with only occasional patches of light from a lone lantern illuminating slaves hard at work to mine the ore from the walls.
They come to a branching tunnel and the guard moves into it. He leads them down the tunnel until they reach a gang of slaves hard at work, chipping the ore from the walls.
One slave, who’s carrying a whip, comes over to them. “This is Essin,” their guard tells them. “He will be your overseer and you will do as he tells you.”
“New bunch, eh?” Essin asks the guard as they near.
“Just arrived today,” the guard replies.
“Good,” Essin tells him, “we’ve been falling behind in our quota and old Vorn has been complaining.”
“Not your fault though,” the guard says, “since that cave-in took out half your group.”
Essin nods and says, “I know, but try telling that to him.”
The guard laughs as he turns and returns back the way they came.
Turning to the new arrivals, Essin announces, “My name is Essin and welcome to the Mines of Sorna. Whether you live or die will be determined by me, understand?”
Six heads nod agreement.
“Alright,” he says as he hands each of them a pickaxe or a hammer, Miko gets a pickaxe. “Here we dig out the iron ore that the empire needs. We have a certain quota that must be achieved each day.” He glances around at the new arrivals and says, “We will meet it or you’ll wish to whatever gods you worship we had.”
One by one he takes the new arrivals and assigns them to work beside a slave who has been there