Authors: Mackenzie Morgan
After Meachum introduced Alastar and Franco, Lamar stood up and shook hands with his visitors. “What can I do for you?”
“Could you tell me where I can find my brother?” Alastar asked. When Lamar didn’t immediately answer, Alastar said, “Mikos. Do you know where Mikos is? Or his aide?”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I haven’t seen either one of them since right after the new year. I thought they’d gone back to Hendon Port.”
Alastar shook his head.
“Maybe your mother knows. He reported to her on a regular basis.”
Franco spoke up. “Gwendolyn’s dead, Lamar. Has been for over a month now.”
“I’m so sorry, sir,” Lamar said. “I didn’t know. I don’t get much news out here.”
“You didn’t happen to find a pile of ashes in Mikos’s office, did you?” Alastar asked.
Lamar frowned. “A pile of ashes? Not that I know of, but I haven’t been to his office since sometime last year. When he wanted to see me, he came out here.”
“Would you mind taking me there?” Alastar asked.
“It’s right this way, sir.” Lamar motioned towards one of the tunnels.
As they walked through the tunnels, Meachum asked, “Has something happened? A cave-in or something?”
Lamar shook his head. “No. Why?”
“Everything’s shut down.”
“After all the guards and slaves left there wasn’t anyone to work the mines. I’m sorting and storing the tools and getting a final inventory ready to send to Varnel now.”
“Varnel’s not there anymore,” Franco said.
Lamar raised his eyebrows. “Who’s the business manager then?”
“Franco handles all of that now,” Alastar said. “When your inventory is done, send it to him. But I’d like to back up a minute. What do you mean when all the guards and slaves left? Where did they go?”
Lamar shook his head. “I don’t know. One day we were in full operation, and the next day all the guards packed up and left. I didn’t see the slaves leave, but since they were gone, I figured Gwendolyn sent them somewhere else.”
“When did this happen?”
“Right at the end of January. I’ve spent the last two months packing things up and making an inventory of what’s here and where it’s stored. I started down in the mine and I’ve been working my way out. I should be done in another week or so, and then unless you’ve got something else you want me to do, I figured I’d head out and see if I can find work somewhere else.”
For a moment Alastar didn’t say anything. “I had no idea this mine had shut down. I want to get it back in operation as soon as possible. Do you know where the guards went?”
Lamar shook his head. “Most just left. The few I talked to said they were heading home, but I don’t know where they were from.”
Alastar thought for a minute. “So I’ll need to find new guards as well as some men to work the mines. It’ll take me some time to get things going again, but would you be willing to stay on as foreman here?”
“Of course, sir,” Lamar said. “Just let me know when to expect the men.”
They walked on a little farther, and then Lamar stopped at the doorway of a cave room with a big desk sitting on the far side. “This is Mikos’s office, sir.”
Alastar walked in and looked around. When he couldn’t find any sign of ashes, he started going through the desk drawers. He found notes about slave arrivals, assignments, food orders, and various other details of the slave business. From what he could tell, Mikos expected to return the last time he left his office. After a few more minutes, he shrugged and joined the others at the doorway.
“If you hear anything from my brother, tell him to contact me.” Alastar took out his key. “We’ll let you know when to expect to reopen the mines. And thank you for taking care of things here. I won’t forget it.”
After they got back to Hendon Port, Alastar asked Meachum if he was willing to go back to the mines to work.
“I serve where you need me, sir,” Meachum answered.
“Good. Then I’m appointing you captain over the mine guards. Can you find the guards you need here at the castle or do we need to recruit some new ones?”
“I could take enough castle guards to staff the mines, but it would cut into the number of guards available here. I’d like to have a few seasoned guards, but if we can recruit some new ones, I’ll take some with me and leave some here to replace the guards I take.”
Alastar nodded his approval. “And how many slaves will you need to operate the mines?”
“I’m not sure. It depends on the shape of the men. Young, strong men can do more work than older or sick ones, but I’d say fifty to start, and we can add more after the first fifty learn what to do.”
Alastar nodded again. “We’ll take care of those.”
After Meachum left, Franco asked, “What are you thinking?”
“That willing miners might work better than forced miners.”
“And where are you going to get willing miners?”
“From the ranks of slaves who’ve grown up here,” Alastar said. “What do you think a young man who’s been raised as a slave would say if I offered him his freedom in exchange for five years of hard labor? Would he go for it?”
“Knowing you could order him to work there without giving him anything in return? I’d say there’s a good chance he’d say yes.”
Alastar sat down at his desk. “See if you can find ten strong young men who’ve been slaves for at least half their lives. Set up a meeting with them for tomorrow morning and we’ll see what their reaction is.”
“All right, but why are you doing this?”
“I think it’s entirely possible the slaves revolted and the guards couldn’t do a thing about it. They were outnumbered, and if the slaves had been working in the mines, they were probably in better shape than the men guarding them. I’d like to avoid a revolt.”
“What makes you think they revolted?”
“It’s the only thing that explains why none of the guards contacted my mother to let her know what had happened. She would probably have killed them for letting the slaves escape.”
“But if that’s what happened, why didn’t Lamar tell us?”
“He might not have known. There was a house back in the woods near the mine entrance. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where he lives. After all, he’s in charge of the mining operation, not the slaves or the guards. He could have slept right through the whole thing if it happened overnight.”
“I guess that makes sense. What do you want to do about supplies? If we’re treating them like workers, should we provide beds?”
Alastar nodded. “And good food, but I imagine Lamar knows who delivered the food before and can take care of getting it started again. We’ll need cooks though. Maybe we can make similar arrangements with some of the single women.”
Franco made a few notes and said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
“And we need to find Mikos.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Camden
While Alastar was dealing with the mines, Mikos was floating down the West River with a small load of goods on his boat wondering how to turn this short-term hauling stint into a long-term operation. He and Devron had lucked into this one. They’d been in the right place at the right time for once. The man who had the hauling contract for the whole northern end of the West River had broken his leg and needed someone to take over his route for a while, but he’d be back to work by the middle of May, and Mikos and Devron would be back to looking for odd jobs.
Mikos wanted more than that. He wanted the security of knowing where his next meal was coming from. He’d never lived hand to mouth before, and he didn’t like it. Devron, on the other hand, had adapted to their new life with ease. He knew how to handle a boat, how to fish, and how to cook what he caught. If it hadn’t been for him, Mikos might have starved to death, but no man could live off fish forever, or at least Mikos didn’t want to. He wanted bread, nice and warm from the oven. Every time he thought about the meals they’d had at the tavern in Bridgeport his mouth watered. He wanted to be able to eat like that at least several times a week if not every day. They had to find a regular route.
“Any idea what we’re going to do when this job runs out?” Mikos asked for the hundredth time.
“Maybe we can set up some runs from Bridgeport south to the coast.”
Mikos sighed. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be seen around there, especially not on a regular basis.”
“Why? It’s not like you’ll run into that guy. He works for Myron, in Milhaven.”
“But he has family in Bridgeport.”
“What makes you think he’d recognize you anyway?” Devron asked. “From the way you described the whole thing, he couldn’t have gotten a good look at you, and it was a long time ago.”
“Two months is not all that long. It feels longer because of everything that’s happened to us in between.”
“It’s been over two months now. And it’ll be at least another six weeks or so before we’re back in that area. You’ve got a beard now, your hair’s longer, and you’ve got more muscle on you. You don’t look anything like you did back at the mines. And the townspeople can vouch for us. Remember the blacksmith? From what he said, he’s friends with the sorcerer. If he told that sorcerer he’d seen us around before, hauling things up and down the river, the sorcerer would figure you just resemble the man he wrestled with.”
“I don’t know,” Mikos said. “It seems risky to me. Maybe we should leave this area all together.”
Devron frowned. “If we do that, we’ll have to take this boat out to sea and head down the coast. I’m not sure we could handle it in open water.”
“Maybe we could trade the boat for a wagon and a couple of horses and do overland hauling.”
Devron paused. “That’s a possibility, but not during the winter, at least not around here.”
“Well, with horses and a wagon we could head south where the winters aren’t so bad and we could work all year long.”
Devron nodded. “We’ve got time to think about it. Let’s see how we feel in six weeks. In the meantime, I’ll ask around and see if anyone’s interested in owning a boat. We might be able to set up a trade.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Trendon
Tuesday morning Rolan was at his desk earlier than usual. Monday night he’d tossed and turned wondering why he hadn’t heard anything from any of the men he’d sent out looking for Landis. Not one word had come from North Amden or Milhaven. He needed to find that girl before she learned how to throw an energy bolt, and that was an easy skill to master.
Rolan drummed his fingertips on his desk. He had no idea where else to search. He didn’t think Myron would be stupid enough to let Landis show her face in Milhaven again, and he wasn’t at all sure she was in North Amden, but those were the only two leads he had. He couldn’t send men out with orders to search all of Terah, although it was a tempting idea.
After a bit, Rolan got up and walked around his office, fingering different objects, picking some up, putting them down somewhere else, picking up something else, and so on, not paying any attention to what he was doing. He had to find a new clue, some new information, a new place to look, something. He couldn’t just sit around and wait until she was trained. She’d come for him. He knew that as well as he knew his own name, and he wasn’t at all sure he could defeat her in a fair fight, and if Myron was around, it would have to be a fair fight. Rolan shook his head. He had no choice. He had to get rid of her before she was trained, before she could come after him. But how could he do it if he couldn’t find her?
Rolan slammed the object in his hand down on his desk without noticing it was a full cup of cold tea.
“Page!” he roared through his closed office door.
The door cracked opened and a timid young man stood in the doorway. “Sir?” he squeaked as Rolan stormed towards him.
“I’m going to Cpt. Yardner’s office. Get this mess cleaned up, and get me a fresh cup of tea!” Rolan growled as he shoved the page out of the way.
When he got to Cpt. Yardner’s office he threw the door open so hard it slammed against the wall and bounced back, nearly smacking him in the face.
Cpt. Yardner swallowed a burst of laughter as Rolan dodged the door. “Can I help you?” he asked as he stood up.
“I want to know what the men in North Amden are doing, where they’ve been, who they’ve talked to, and what they’ve discovered. I didn’t send them there for a holiday. They’re supposed to be working and I want to know what they’ve done!”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get messages out to them right away. Anything else?”
“Send a message to Milhaven. We haven’t heard anything from them lately and I want to know why. I want a full report by the end of the week!”
“I’ll tell them to rush it. Anything else?”
“That’s all. You’re dismissed.”
“Sir, you’re in my office,” Cpt. Yardner said quietly.
Rolan glared at him, opened his mouth as if to say something, then turned and stalked out the door.
Cpt. Yardner gently closed his door and allowed himself a quick chuckle before he sat down to write the letters.
~ ~ ~ ~
Wildcat Mountain
Rhianna hadn’t wanted to talk Monday night, so it was a good thing Landis was already asleep when she got to Ashni’s, and the giants didn’t ask any questions. Ashni just offered her some refreshments and left her alone. But once she was in her room, the jumble of anger, embarrassment, and disappointment flooded over her. Her tears were a mix of sorrow and anger and she’d have been hard pressed to say which was worse.
Tuesday morning, after Landis left for Willow Canyon, Rhianna got up, dressed, and went in search of tea. When she got to the kitchen, an older human lady was sitting at the table chatting with Ashni.
“Rhianna, this is Torrey, Warren’s wife. They will be staying in Rainbow Valley for a while.”
Rhianna held her hand out to Torrey. “It’s nice to meet you.” After they shook hands, Rhianna got a cup out of the cabinet. “Isn’t Warren the sorcerer who’s working with Landis?”
Torrey nodded. “She sees Glendymere in the mornings and Warren in the afternoons. Makes a full day for her.”
“She’s used to it.” Rhianna poured herself a cup of tea.
“Come. Sit with us,” Ashni said, patting the place beside her. “I was not expecting you to return so soon.”