view. “Into the mine!” James hollers as he kicks his horse in motion and rides into the lead miner, knocking him out of the way.
The others follow him as they ride through the rest of the miners who are attempting to stop them by striking out with their picks and shovels. But their attacks are easily deflected by the seasoned fighters and are soon left behind.
Upon reaching the mine entrance, they quickly dismount and are faced with more miners coming out of the mine. Jiron takes the lead and moves to intercept them. One of the miners swings his pick at Jiron who grabs the handle and kicks out with his foot, connecting with the man’s chest. The miner falls backward into his fellows, knocking them off balance.
Fifer joins him and quickly engages a miner with a shovel. Striking with his sword, he lops off the head of the man’s shovel. The miners quickly realize they’re hopelessly outclassed and break away, running down the road away from the mine, toward the approaching riders.
“Move!” cries James as they race into the mine entrance. Upon gaining the safety of the mine, he turns to look back at the riders coming up the road. They’re slowing down and finally stop when they reach the miners. The cavalry officer bends over and asks a question and one of the miners replies, pointing toward them.
The officer barks out an order and the miners move further away from the mine as the riders move closer.
From behind him, he can hear Jiron and Fifer as they scuffle with more miners who were still within the mine. Looking back, he sees the last of three miners fall to the ground as Fifer pulls his sword out from the man’s chest. Giving Miko a nudge, they move further back into the mine until its darkness completely hides them from those outside.
When the riders reach the mine entrance, the officer stares into the mine and shouts something, most likely ordering them to come out.
In reply, a rock flies out of the mine and strikes the lead rider in the chest, exploding out the back. As the officer falls off his horse, total pandemonium erupts among the riders. One of them charges the mine entrance only to fall as another rock flies out and takes him through the chest. The rest of the riders turn their horses and move a hundred feet down the road away from the mine where they huddle together as they talk among themselves.
James glances at the others and says, “They’ll probably wait until that mage shows up before doing anything else.”
“I think so too,” responds Jiron. Then he glances at James and asks, “There’s no way we’re going to make it out of here, is there?”
James shakes his head and says, “Doesn’t look that way.”
“Maybe not,” says Miko.
They all turn to him as he continues, “Back when I was in the mines, I saw shafts that they’d dug up to the surface periodically to allow fresh air in for us. If this mine has those too, then we could maybe use one to get out.”
“Anyone have a candle or torch?” James asks, suddenly remembering a scene from the movie Rambo.
“What do you want that for?” questions Jiron.
When they all shake their head no, he looks around and finds a narrow piece of broken wood about two and half feet long. He goes back and removes a shirt from one of the dead miners and wraps it around the wood. Motioning for everyone to move back away from the entrance, he concentrates and the cloth bursts into flame.
From outside the mine, they hear the talking increase as they see the makeshift torch come to life. Some move forward and James throws another stone out, this time trying not to kill. The stone strikes a man who’s knocked backward and the rest who were moving forward come to a stop.
Seeing that they’re not in any immediate threat of being rushed, James holds the torch steady and watches as the flame is fanned by a breeze moving toward the rear of the mine. Looking to Miko, he says, “You may be right.”
Miko breaks into a smile, relieved to both have helped him and that they might be able to get out.
Holding the torch out in front of him, James moves further back into the mine. They don’t get far before the mine branches to the left or right. He steps down each branch and pauses a moment to watch the flame of the torch. When he’s down the left branch the flame flickers the most.
“It’s down this way,” he tells them. Walking quickly, he moves further into the left tunnel.
Jiron looks back to the entrance and sees the soldiers are tentatively moving closer. There appear to be more out there, most likely both of the forces have met up. That means somewhere out there is a mage as well.
He hurries to follow James as he attempts to locate an air vent. “I think they’re starting to move toward the entrance,” he tells James when he catches up with him.
“If they don’t move fast, we should be able to get out of here,” he says, glancing back.
Jiron thinks this whole thing is doubtful, but trusts in James. In the short time they’ve been together, he’s managed to do some pretty impressive things.
The mine begins to get narrower and they find tools and other implements scattered about. In one spot, they come across a half filled ore wagon sitting to one side. They look at the ore within but are unable to determine just what the miners had been mining.
“It’s not iron ore,” Miko says when he gets close enough to the wagon to see its contents.
“Are you sure?” Fifer asks.
Grimly, he replies, “Very.”
They move on, the torch still indicating a breeze moving toward the back of the mine. Suddenly, a crossbow bolt strikes the wall right next to James. He whirls around, points the torch behind them and lets the magic flow.
A cone of fire shoots from the end of the torch like a flame thrower, Jiron has to dive out of the way as the flame sizzles past. It expands as it goes until it’s wide enough to touch the sides of the mine. Screams can be heard from the soldiers who’re caught in the fire as their hair and clothes burst into flame. As quickly as the cone of fire started, it stops.
Back down the tunnel, they can see several men running away, their clothes and hair aflame. As an added concern, some of the support beams used to keep the ceiling from caving in have caught fire as well.
Turning back, James says, “We better hurry.”
Fifer gazes at James, awe in his eyes as well as a little bit of fear. “How did you do that?” he asks.
“Oxygen will burn, but it needs to be in a purer form than what we breathe,” he explains. “I just changed it.”
“Oh,” he says, not really understanding, “right.”
James grins at him and continues down the tunnel. He glances back occasionally and finds that the soldiers have made no attempts to put out the fires consuming the old timbers shoring up the mine.
Another branching and he determines the breeze is continuing down the right, they turn to follow it. Shortly after taking it, the unmistakable sounds of men chipping stone away from the walls can be heard from up ahead.
A torch begins to be seen and soon three men are visible in the light as they use pickaxes to remove the stone from the wall. When they approach the miners, the men take notice of them and at first take them for their fellows, but soon realize their mistake.
“We don’t want to hurt you,” James says to them, holding up his hands. “Do you understand?”
They begin talking in the Empire’s tongue, not responding to what he just said.
“I guess they don’t,” says Jiron. He draws his knives and advances upon them, Fifer joins him with his longsword. Miko moves to join them but James stops him by grabbing him by the arm. When he looks at him, James just shakes his head, no.
As Jiron and Fifer approach the miners with their weapons held in a threatening manner, they make sure to leave open an avenue of retreat for them.
The miners stare in fright at them as they approach. When they realize there’s a way to flee, they don’t even hesitate as they throw down their picks and race past them to the front of the mine.
After they’ve disappeared down the mine, Jiron moves to the wall where they were mining and closely examines the stone. He takes the torch from the wall and holds it close. “Silver,” he announces, pointing to a silver vein. “They’re mining silver.”
