Grant nodded thoughtfully. “Slaves are expensive. I would hope, given the value of my contribution to the empire, that I’ll be adequately compensated.”
“Of course, of course. We’ll discuss the particulars over lunch tomorrow. For now, this mine must be evacuated until we can determine if you have indeed found what we’ve been looking for.”
“I hate to idle my slaves for too long,” Grant said. “They get restless, and I lose money for every day they aren’t working.”
“We’ll discuss that as well,” the Babachenko said.
“I only bring it up because we aren’t talking about silver or gems,” Grant said. “I don’t know how to place a value on …”
The Babachenko held up his hand in stern warning. “Please, Lord Grant, have some discretion. We both know what may lie within that chamber, there’s no need to speak of it. Such words may fall on the wrong ears.”
“As you wish,” Grant said. “I look forward to our lunch tomorrow.”
“As do I,” the Babachenko said, motioning for the overseers to stand guard at the tunnel entrance before hurrying off.
“Let’s get these men back to the barracks, Doyle,” Grant said. “This mine is closed.”
“You heard the man,” Doyle said. “On your feet, leave your tools.”
While Alexander was grateful for the reprieve from the hard labor of swinging a pickaxe, he was far more anxious about the discovery his team had unearthed. The Babachenko seemed to believe that whatever was behind the wall they’d found could affect the outcome of the war. Naturally, Alexander’s curiosity was eating at him.
He considered having Chloe push his slave collar into the aether so he could use his clairvoyance and fully investigate, but he wasn’t ready to make his move yet. Once the collar came off, he would have to move quickly or risk revealing his true identity.
His work detail was locked in their barracks, and except for meals, the guards had left them alone. Most of the slaves saw it as an opportunity to catch up on their sleep, but a few were still awake, Miles and Hod among them.
“So what do you two think is going on in the mine?” Alexander asked.
Hod just shrugged, shaking his head.
Miles started to answer but stopped himself, looking around at the rest of the sleeping miners.
“You know something?” Alexander pressed.
He looked around again, leaning in close. “Not here,” he whispered, “the Acuna is watching.”
“What do you mean? Who is this Acuna?”
“The Acuna is the real power in Andalia,” Miles whispered, barely audibly. “Their spies are everywhere.”
“What else can you tell me about them?”
Miles shook his head, fear rippling through his colors. Alexander looked to Hod who just shrugged again.
“All right, what can you tell me about the Babachenko? That’s kind of a funny name.”
“It’s not his name, it’s his title,” Miles said. “The story says that the greatest mage in the history of Andalia saved the royal bloodline and rebuilt the country after the Reishi War. His name was Gerard Babachenko. He did a lot for the country, set up the government, started the guilds to protect workers, created the charter companies to ensure stable prices … he even rebuilt the Lancers after they’d been all but wiped out in the war. In honor of his memory, the leader of the Acuna takes his name as his title.”
“I hear he takes more than the name,” Hod said.
“That’s just superstitious nonsense,” Miles said, shaking his head.
“What?” Alexander said, holding his hands out, urging one of them to continue.
“The story says that the Babachenko doesn’t just inherit the name, he inherits the magic of the original Babachenko as well,” Hod said. “All the way back, they’ve been passing along their magic from one to the next.”
“That’s just a story,” Miles said. “Everyone knows that’s not possible.”
Alexander sat back, his mind alight with the ramifications-wizards passing on their connection to the firmament before they died, ensuring that the next generation would retain the power of the previous.
“Little One?”
“Yes, My Love?”
“I need you to do some more searching for me. I suspect there’s a crystal vein with two chambers cut into it somewhere beneath the city or the palace. I need you to find it for me.”
“I’ll start searching right away.”
“Be careful, some of the wards in this city might be able to hurt you.”
While Alexander sat against the wall, his eyes closed and mind racing, the ground began to rumble beneath him. All of the sleeping miners woke as the vibrations intensified.
“What’s happening?” Hod asked, his eyes wide with fear.
The shaking lasted for less than a minute, but it was strong enough to crack the walls in a number of places. They heard men running past their door. Then the dust settled and the room fell silent again, the other slaves holding their breath as if they were holding back the wrath of the ground beneath them.
Just before lunchtime, Doyle opened the door. “Looks like we’re going back to work,” he said. “The tunnel we were digging collapsed-killed a whole crew of deep-shaft miners. We’re going to dig that tunnel back out and shore it up with stone.”
Several of the miners looked to each other, confusion and worry plain on their faces.
“We aren’t allowed to work stone,” Miles said. “That’s mason work.”
Doyle gave the man a withering look. “I know that. Workers from the Andalian Masonry Company will be coming in to build the tunnel into a stone corridor as we cut it. The Babachenko ordered Lord Grant to make this tunnel his first priority … that’s just unheard of. They must want whatever’s in there real bad, and if I know Lord Grant, they’re going to pay dearly for it.”
“But the ground just shook,” one of the miners said. “How can we know it’ll be safe down there?”
“You want a guarantee?” Doyle said. “I guarantee you that someday you’re going to die. Other than that, I got nothing. Be ready to go to work after lunch.”
***
In the days that followed, Doyle worked them even harder, probably because of the six overseers standing behind him. Fortunately, the dirt and rocks were loose and easy to move compared to the packed earth they’d been digging through a few days before.
While the digging was easier, the forward progress was slower because the masons had to shore up the tunnel every five feet lest the unstable ceiling collapse again. None of the miners complained about the frequent breaks, instead using the time to nap or gossip about the rumors that seemed to materialize out of thin air in Mithel Dour.
Toward the end of the first day, Chloe returned from her scouting. “I couldn’t find the chamber you spoke of, but I did find another chamber of interest,” she said in his mind. “It looks just like the place where we found the heartstone of Blackstone Keep, but the crystal shattered long ago.”
“Where is this chamber?” Alexander asked.
“Directly under the forges,” Chloe said. “I believe it used to provide the magic to power them.”
“Interesting … and you said the forges don’t look like they’ve been used for some time. Does it look like they’ve been unused since the crystal failed?”
“No, My Love, the forges appear to have been active within the past few years.”
“So how are they powering them without the heartstone? And why aren’t they using them to build more lances right now?”
“I don’t know.”
“I know, Little One. Just thinking out loud, as it were.”
“Back to work,” Doyle shouted, more for the benefit of the overseers than for the men.
***
Alexander slept like the dead that night, his body sore and tired from exertion. The next day wasn’t any better.
He spent most of the work breaks watching the masons. He’d never worked with stone before, so he found the methods used to move and maneuver large blocks of granite fascinating. The masons were masters at using leverage and counterweights to manipulate carefully cut blocks of stone and set them into place. While they seemed to work slowly and very deliberately, Alexander was impressed with how quickly and efficiently they were able to transform the earthen tunnel into a stone corridor.