《Copperscale》 Chapter 1- The Deep Mines ¡°What!? That¡¯s worth way more than that!¡± ¡°Take it or leave it, lizard.¡± Grumbling, she took up the meagre offered portions for her haul, looking over her shoulder to give the disgusting orc a particularly nasty case of stink-eye. The pig didn¡¯t even bat an eye as he continued to serve the next lizardman in line; thin, emaciated and desperate for a decent evaluation. Not that she was any different, or for that matter, any one of the hundreds of her other brethren. Life down in the mines was harsh. Not a day would go by that one had to work their hardest just so they could procure enough food to fill their starving mouths. Age wasn¡¯t a factor either. You either got good or got dead. One way or the other, you would cease being a burden on society. And that¡¯s how things went down here. She eyed her minute portion of sustenance with a grimace, a look that was something between coveting and contempt. This was all she had earned today despite hours of working the rocks to draw forth their meagre yield. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for some to go days at a time without a meal simply due to being unable to find anything of value. A cry of sorrow was issued over her shoulder, no doubt from a haul getting far less than what was expected, or worse, rejected. Curiosity got the better of her and she peaked back over her shoulder just in time to see two of those hog-backed, tusk-faced tubs of lard and muscle drag away the latest in victims from having a rejected haul. The sorry state of her brethren mirrored that of her own. Ribs poking out from their scaled hide, dull and dusty from the time spent excavating the depths, all peppered with lashes and wounds from previous beatings. He probably wouldn¡¯t survive the following punishment. The repercussions for presenting a worthless haul were harsh. Sighing, she returned her attention back to her own rations, finding a wall out of the way for her to enjoy her meal, about as much as one can enjoy mouldy, maggoty bread. Picking apart her undersized portion, she started to examine the state of her own body. Though one might not be able to tell from first glance, all the lizardmen working down in the mines had come from different clans originally. One¡¯s scales denoted your heritage and often placed a hierarchy on the importance of some individuals over others, or so it was said. In reality, the dirt and the dust covered so much that they may as well have had scales made from mud. Her own scales were the same, however, she always managed to avoid the grievous injuries that so often befell her brothers. Good fortune, perhaps? Mind wandering, it wasn¡¯t until a shout from one of those ugly, wrinkled, pig-headed foreman, that she realised that she¡¯d eaten all her rations. Damn! That was meant to last until tonight. She got up and hefted the nearest pickaxe onto her shoulder. Time to get to work. ~~~ A lot could be said of the Deep Magicite Mines, none of it flattering, but a lot regardless. Twisting miles and miles into the rocky basin, it had become something more than your average excavation shaft and had blown up into one of the biggest large-scale mining operations on the Southern Continent. All on the broken backs of countless slaves. There wasn¡¯t a day that went by without at least a half dozen cave-ins, sprinkled with a handful of casualties. The wounded were expected to get better on their own time as profit far exceeded the wellbeing of the miners. Tunnels criss-crossed between each other, a labyrinthine connection of passage ways filled with the smell of burning oil, musty petrichor and the odd stench of rotting bodies overlooked from collapsing tunnels. A sinister, somewhat foreboding feeling consistently permeated the atmosphere, one never realising when the next moment could be their last. It was a generally accepted feeling. In particular branches of the mine, miners toiled ever-so-carefully at excavating huge chunks of crystal. These chunks, the aforementioned deep magicite that the mines were named for, were famed for their unparalleled energy output when refined, and their volatility and likelihood to kill you when not. Only the greedy, desperate and hungry would find themselves working these tunnels. So, naturally, there was a line. It wasn¡¯t altogether uncommon to find new veins of the stuff, however, those who did rarely survived their explosive discovery to reap the benefits. This day, for lack of a better perception of time within the mines, was no exception. An explosion sounded out from one of the many side tunnels, the following shockwave knocking unprepared miners further up the tunnel off their feet. ¡°Tunnel 319¡¯s blocked again¡±, stated one of the nearby orc foremen, ¡°That¡¯s gotta be the third vein this month alone. Must be a small bounty o¡¯ magicite down this one.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know whatcha mean,¡± replied one of his colleagues, ¡°but it¡¯s useless if we¡¯re losing miners faster than they can dig the damn ore out. Hang on- OY! GET BACK TO WORK. IF I DON¡¯T FIND THOSE CARTS FILLED WITH DEBRIS BY THE NEXT SHIFT, YOU¡¯LL ALL BE GETTING NO RATIONS!¡± The lizardmen who were just starting to recover from the concussive blast scrambled to their feet and set to work dragging the not-so-light metal carts to the source of the explosion; perhaps they¡¯d find something worth salvaging and hopefully not too many bodies. Once they were gone, the Orcs returned to their discussion. ¡°Didja hear about Tunnel 47 in Section 14?¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s one o¡¯ the older tunnels innit?¡± ¡°Yeah, way back before my time. I heard they found some old human remains the other day; trinkets and rags mostly but there were one or two powerful artefacts found among all the skeletons.¡± His companion gave a low whistle, tapping the end of his shortsword against his left tusk. ¡°Them¡¯s worth a small fortune themselves, ain¡¯t they?¡± The first foreman nodded his head. ¡°Mmm. Worth more than ten o¡¯ these new veins, apparently. Rare, and powerful to boot. Heard the foreman up there got a promotion for jus¡¯ bein¡¯ in charge o¡¯ the tunnel.¡± ¡°That¡¯s hardly fair. Not only does he have the better veins, but loot as well?¡± ¡°Aye. Like it¡¯s our fault that the quality o¡¯ the magicite from down here seems harder to refine than the original veins? Something about the stability o¡¯ the stuff, is what I heard.¡± ¡°Yeah well, why are they so happy about a bunch o¡¯ old artefacts, anyways?¡± The first foreman leaned on the hilt of his scabbarded sword, attempting to recall the rumours he¡¯d picked up in the guard common room. ¡°From what I heard; the old stuff doesn¡¯t work like our regular artefacts, made completely differently. Unlike ours, where you replace the crystal when it runs out, the Ancients figured a way that the things absorb the mana floatin¡¯ in the air!¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Suuuuure. Next, you¡¯ll be tellin¡¯ me y¡¯ave eaten dragon meat before!¡± ¡°I have! And the thing about these artefacts is they can drain the deep magicite before them mages find a way to extract the mana. It could kill an entire vein if undiscovered, and if they figure it out, they can refine the already absorbed mana into stable magicite.¡± The second foreman stared blankly at his Orc counterpart, a look of sheer and utter stupefaction imparted on his face that would make a brain-dead sack of potatoes proud. The first Orc foreman, clearly the smarter of the two, reiterated for his companion, ¡°Basically, findin¡¯ them artefacts can make our no-good magicite like the stuff up top or, at least, stop suckin¡¯ the mana outta magicite before we mine it.¡± ¡°Oh, that sounds good.¡± ¡°Too right, it is.¡± stated the first foreman, ¡°We¡¯d be lucky if¡¯n we ever found somethin¡¯ like that this deep. Now come on; those lizards seem to be takin¡¯ their sweet time bringin¡¯ up the first load o¡¯ rock.¡± ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s see what those lazy arses are doin¡¯ now.¡± ~~~ Working in the dark was difficult but, oft times, a necessity in the lower layers of the mines. Air didn¡¯t circulate to the off-shoot branches from the main shaft so one would suffocate from the fumes given off by burning the awful smelling oil used for light. In fact, the only occurrence of natural light generally came from two things; crystals and ambient mana. These, generally, walked hand in hand with one another and for the deep miners it was somewhat of a minor blessing to work the new, dark tunnels. If one were to hit a new vein of magicite, the ambient mana exuded from the cracks in the wall would have been barely perceptible in a lit environment. ¡°You¡¯ll be workin¡¯ this new off-shoot today lizard. Don¡¯t disappoint!¡± The lizardwoman rolled her eyes in the dark. After what seemed like ages, her pudgy, lard-ball of a guide had finally managed to direct his torch to one of the many tunnels adorning the side of the shaft. It was obvious to see that he was wheezing hard from his prolonged exposure to some form of light exercise. She had kept pace behind him, close enough to see the sweat trickling down the back of his neck from the ambient lighting. Over the years she had come to the conclusion that her eyesight must have been a bit better than her brethren, as she had found no difficulty finding her footing in areas of a similar degree of lighting. Her guide, and a few of her kind around her, were still feeling along the wall and even stumbling every so often. She shook her head. The ambient mana down this far was quite enough to see, though the foremen weren¡¯t ever seen without a torch in hand or some sort of concentrated light artefact to light the way. Moving her way past her superior, she hefted the heavy pickaxe on her shoulder to steady her grip and proceeded to duck into the carved-out corridor. Down here she could smell the fresh dust kicked up by the digging, the swirling mana in the air highlighting dust particles as the tunnel moved away from the entrance. Working here had a fifty-fifty chance of working the rock for days and starving or finding a vein a bit too suddenly, and explosively, for one¡¯s wellbeing. There must have been eye witnesses from the last time she¡¯d been caught in the aftermath of a cave-in. It would have been a few weeks ago that a vein was suddenly struck and caused a chain reaction, up in the higher tunnels. It hadn¡¯t gone further than the branch it collapsed but there had been casualties. She knew; she had been the one who hit the vein. Yet despite that, out of all those crushed by the debris, she had managed to survive. Battered and beaten but alive. It took several days to tunnel out but even then, she had to suffer the lashings of her failure combined with the hunger that had accumulated during that time. Perhaps someone noticed her resilience would be put to better use in the deepest parts of the mine? Pausing somewhat to let one of her brethren move past with a barrow of rock, she took note of her surroundings as the ceiling of the tunnel began to suddenly heighten. Judging by the mana in the air and the smattering of rocky debris on the floor, this place hadn¡¯t gone too long without a cave-in of its own. Looking further up, her head craned to see a sudden sheer tunnel of rock that seemed to stretch into nothingness, lighted sporadically by a few crystals too dangerous or too troublesome to get. It wasn¡¯t uncommon to see lower shafts connected to higher ones but this seemed to stretch on into eternity. Probably something fell from a great height with great enough force to cause a chain reaction in the magicite. Setting aside her wandering mind, she took the pickaxe from her shoulder and chose a spot next to the wall to get started. However, just as she was set to lay into the wall she was promptly assaulted with a loud noise, or what would pass for one in the echoing tunnel. ¡°Hey, get your own spot! This place is mine!¡± Slowly, she turned her head, pickaxe poised to strike, only to find a short, diminutive, stunted, dwarf of a lizardman face her with a creased forehead, hands on hips boring his gaze directly into her eyes. Her mind struggled to process the scene before her. Did she mention he was short? ¡°Huh?¡±, she replied with all the elegance of a seasoned debater. ¡°Mine. My place, my digsite, mine! Go find another patch of wall. I¡¯ve worked this wall for two days and I won¡¯t have you sweeping this big load from underneath me.¡± Ah. Now she understood. The only people sent as fodder into the new tunnels were only classified as two things; those who could be trouble and those who were trouble. Clearly, this guy fell into the latter group. Though, despite processing all this in her mind, two questions still bugged her. ¡°Why is your voice so high and why are you so short?¡± The small lizardman squirmed under her scrutiny and blushed through the light coating of stone dust, which she only just now noticed had a darkish blood colour unlike most who had worked the tunnels for any significant period of time. ¡°Because I¡¯m just a kid, you fat fatty!¡± Oh? Oh, no. Nonono. Her eye twitched and she placed her pickaxe down head first into the ground with just the slightest amount of extreme force, causing the tiny lizardma- no, lizardboy to jump at the sudden action. Before he could react, she reached over and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, lifting him up until his eyes were level with hers. ¡°Look, runt. I don¡¯t know what you did to be put down here. I don¡¯t really care. If you¡¯re working the wall then don¡¯t leave it. You¡¯ve got nobody but yourself to blame.¡± And with that, she dropped him on his arse. Stunned, the lizardboy blinked a few times before his eyes began to water. ¡®Ah, great. Just what I needed; tears.¡± Before she could say anything though, the boy picked up his pickaxe and ran off further down the tunnel. ~~~ After some time, she breathed deeply and let out a big sigh. Ones that young didn¡¯t normally last that long if they didn¡¯t wise up, and fast. She wiggled her pickaxe out of the rock and proceeded to chip away at the wall were the kid declared he had previously worked for two days prior. Might as well not let his work go to waste. Though said work, simply put, was just shoddy. Small chips, barely pebbles, were all that had been dislodged. The chances of anything that close to the surface were slim and at the rate the kid was going, it would have taken him weeks to find anything of value. It¡¯s not that she didn¡¯t understand. Swinging gung-ho could have caused a rupture in any nearby magicite, causing delays and punishment for those responsible. Results here were achieved though caution tempered with experience, as the other way around often led to too many frequently dying. Working this deep, the kid had the right idea but didn¡¯t have enough real experience to back it up. The only other method to survive was simplicity itself. Get lucky. Get stupid lucky. That and mine like a madman, hoping the next pickaxe blow won¡¯t be your last. It seemed that the kid had luck in spades. Just before her 50th hit from her pickaxe, the cracks in the pulverised rock began emitting a fluorescent mist-like substance that shifted between a vibrant bile green and a vivid orange. It twirled and danced through the air as it seeped from the cracks in the rock. Thankfully, it seemed, she had stopped just short of a major vein. If she had gone any deeper any quicker, she might not have seen the slight ethereal wisps emerge. The mana seemed to be flooding forth from the rockface now. Carefully working around the vein, she removed a decent sized chunk of ore containing the magicite and deposited it into her satchel; all miners had one as it was proof of what one mined during that day. It was slow going, however. This close to this much magicite would¡¯ve been far too much for the kid, assuming he didn¡¯t blow him self up by initially finding the vein. She¡¯d seen many go down in a blaze of glory, some quite literally, as the greed and desire to pry the rock from the earth¡¯s bosom had fractured the crystal and set off the stone. Patience, provided by many years of careful excavation, had allowed her to survive this long and she wasn¡¯t about to let all that go to waste. A few eyes moving behind her caught a glimpse of the vein she was working, as loads of rock and other miners passed through the tunnel behind her. Many of them would pounce on this vein the moment she left to stake a claim on its bounty. Well, all she needed to make sure of is that when she was done, satchel full and pickaxe in hand, that she promptly rushed out of the tunnel with the mined ore, her hands protecting it to discourage would-be thieves from stealing her bounty. Things though, were rarely so cut and dry. She was bound to lose a few pieces from roaming hands. She proceeded to pack up her mining tools just as a clamour was starting to build behind her about a new vein being discovered. Soon it would be too packed to move anywhere, so she promptly squeezed through the building crowd in the tight tunnel and headed back up to the upper levels for her most recent evaluation. Chapter 2- Tapping the Veins Turning in her haul to the evaluation station, she was surprised to find that the small amount she brought in had netted her nearly three times what her previous load had. She was shocked. ¡°Um, excuse me. Has there been some sort of mistake?¡± The orc gave here a sidelong glance as he stopped cataloguing what she had given him. ¡°What? Not enough for you, greedy lizard? That¡¯s all you get for discovering a new vein. Now scram!¡± She was a bit taken aback by this development but quickly scooped up her reward, lest some ravenous vultures swoop in to claim it before her. While she had worked new veins before, she had never been the first to discover one. Fortune had never really smiled upon her poor, empty stomach. As she ate her fill on the provided rations, the rest of the miners seemed to flood in after her, no doubt the same ones who were clamouring to get a piece of the new ore. It was honestly a bit surprising that there hadn¡¯t been an explosion from all the commotion down there. She noted that her fellow miners seemed to be given far less than herself despite the similarity in quality and size of the hauls, perhaps even less than her prior load. Must have been the difference between discovering a new vein and simply mining it apparently. Among the throng of scales and magicite though, she kept her eyes peeled for a familiar sight. Towards the back of the mass, slowly weaving between the crowd that was moving towards the front, she glimpsed the occasional flash of blood coloured scales. Runt. She waited for him to get to the front of the line before she repositioned herself to get a better look. Normally, she would have no interest in a boy like him, much less the men around her, but there was a single factor that had piqued her interest and set him apart from the common masses. He had been right. Given, it would have taken him ages to tap the new vein, however that did not change the fact that he had been dead-on precise in the location of the magicite. Focusing her attention back on the boy, she examined what he had provided for evaluation. And immediately grimaced. What he had presented was small, even considering his stature, and looked to be made of more rock than ore. He mustn¡¯t have had the chance to gather a sufficient amount before the foremen regulated the miner¡¯s actions again. The orc examining the ore sneered at the presented goods and proceeded to clear away all but one chunk of rock which had an ample stripe of magicite through it. The boy¡¯s face had paled to an all but white colouration as the chances of possible punishment had suddenly sky-rocketed. ¡°Passable, but only just. Take this and stop wastin¡¯ my time,¡± the orc declared, throwing scant few bites of rations on the table. Tears in his eyes, the boy snatched up his paltry reward and quickly scampered away from the line. Apparently, he was so distraught that he didn¡¯t even seem to register that he was running straight towards his former acquaintance. THUD. Falling backwards, careful not to spill his reward, the lizardboy glanced up at his would-be obstacle. What followed was a series of conflicted emotions that flitted across his face; shock, fear, confusion and then finally, anger. ¡°HEY! YOU¡¯RE THE ONE THAT-mmf¡± Shoving a chunk of leftover rations in the lizardboy¡¯s mouth, she then proceeded to pick him up and drape him over her shoulder. A few eyes turned to the commotion but quickly lost sight of their target as the two of them disappeared down an off-shoot tunnel. ~~~ She examined her surroundings for any nearby onlookers, satisfied that they were far enough away, before dumping the body of her unwilling and currently perplexed captive on the ground. Looking up at her were a large set of eyes, mouth filled with her remaining rations. While she could have saved them, she had to admit that she wouldn¡¯t have had nearly that much if she hadn¡¯t discovered a new vein. That, and she could barely stomach her current rations, let alone day-old ones. Frankly, they seemed to quickly become inedible to the point of being able to chip a tooth and yet rotten enough to entice the surrounding insect populous. ¡°Okay runt, listen up. I don¡¯t know if it was a coincidence or not, so right now I¡¯m thinking about whether it¡¯s in my best interest or not in keeping you around. Got it?¡± His eyes seemed to get even bigger at the insinuation, widening in fear at the sudden change in tone of his current situation. Trying to scramble up off the floor, he found himself promptly pinned beneath the foot of his captor, her weigh pushing his chest firmly against the wall. Her brow furrowed at his reaction. ¡°I think you¡¯ve got the wrong idea here, runt. I¡¯m trying to give you a chance to survive this hellhole.¡± Swallowing the food in his mouth, the lizardboy responded. ¡°Oh yeah? From where I¡¯m sitting, it looks like you¡¯re just trying to keep everything for yourself!¡± A faint smile touched her lips as a memory echoed through her head. Similar words, however this time there would be no beating, no subsequent subservient catering to a bunch of bullies, no days of hunger watching your spoils stolen from you. No. None of that. ¡°Tell me. Do you know how deep that vein was in the wall?¡± Presented with the sudden question the boy¡¯s eyes started darting back and forth, seemingly trying to remember something, before fixing his eyes back on hers with a determined gaze. ¡°2 and a half feet.¡± She seemed to remember it being around that much based on the number of swings it took to reach the vein. ¡°Hmm. Not bad. Now would you be able to tell me when you would have had to account for the fragility of the magicite to make sure it didn¡¯t explode?¡± Less sure of himself, this time he answered in a hesitant voice, ¡°S-six inches?¡± CLAP! She suddenly brought her hands together in front of his face, causing him to jump in the process. ¡°Boom. And with that, you would have been dead.¡± ¡°Huh, why!?¡± It was almost cute how clueless he was, however it ended up as being more annoying more than anything else. Complete novice. ¡°Up top in the earlier tunnels, yeah, that might have been what was considered safe,¡± she paused as she lifted her foot off his chest slowly and leaned in, ¡°but in the new tunnels, magicite can go off at the slightest incorrect tap. Correct answer: There is no safe distance. You just need to be able to tell when the magicite starts leaking mana.¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. She stood back up to her full height and gazed down at the boy, ¡°With the size of that uncovered vein, I¡¯ve seen similar miners been blown apart by not being too careful. On the other hand, I¡¯ve seen others starve to death for using too much caution. Both gruesome and messy ways to die. You wouldn¡¯t have uncovered that vein either way.¡± Realisation struck the boy like a sledgehammer and he utterly wilted before her. He clutched his undersized pickaxe in his hand and curled into a ball, his arm and tail wrapped around his legs. Tears began to bead in his eyes as the hopelessness of the whole ordeal smashed into him like a runaway minecart full of rock. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna die. I just wanna go home¡­¡± She didn¡¯t hear the barely whispered objection but regardless, her heart twinged with pity; it wasn¡¯t so long ago that she herself was in a similar situation. Sighing, she sauntered up to the space adjacent the lizardboy and sat down beside him. ¡°You know, it¡¯s near impossible to tell where to find new veins. There no markings or cracking in the rock to let you know where you¡¯re able to find ore.¡± She took her time to pause and found that she had a rapt audience, eyes still wet and glistening. ¡°You though, even though you¡¯d lack the experience digging out the ore, you can still somehow find it, right?¡± She was careful with her words. It had been more of a question but came off as being taken as a statement. She didn¡¯t want this opportunity to slip through her fingers. It took him a while to process the words but finally he acknowledged what she had said with a nod. ¡°Here¡¯s what I propose: 40%. That¡¯s what you would get from my spoils if you¡¯re able to keep leading us to new veins. In return, you tell no one else. Got it?¡± The lizardboy looked back down at his feet, tail twitching back and forth contemplatively before coming to a conclusion. Wiping away his tears, his eyes met hers again with a fire of resolve burning within them. ¡°Got it.¡± Smiling she stood and walked towards the tunnel entrance. ¡°Good. Now we have to get back to work before they think I¡¯m satisfying some other kind of hunger.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Chuckling, she watched as the lizardboy suddenly comprehended the meaning of her words and turned a few shades redder, before hefting his own tool in both hands and joining her on the trip down to the new tunnels. Hah, complete novice. ~~~ It took a while for the lizard boy to fall in step with his new companion but eventually he was managing to keep up with her stride despite being several feet shorter than her. Looking around it was his first time noticing that everyone seemed to avoid this particular person. On any other day, he would have been pushed and bumped and, on the odd occasion, trampled while moving through the traffic down to the new tunnels. However, he distinctly noticed that both of them had been unbothered by the comings and goings of the other miners. He supposed he understood. The person before him, which he now realised was a lady, stood well over a foot above her fellow brethren. A veritable amazon considering the circumstances. He realised that, even for a lizardman his age, he was by far shorter than most of his peers. He hoped one day that he would be as tall as his father. A tear started to accumulate in his eye. No, stop thinking about that. Think about something else. His attention turned back to his new, hmm, friend? Accomplice? Associate? Partner. His new partner, he decided. Walking along, his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to ask her a question. ¡°Hey, um, lady?¡± ¡°Ha, lady. Yeah, what is it runt?¡± Runt!? He sighed lightly in acceptance of his appointed nickname. ¡°Why is everyone avoiding you?¡± She took a moment to pause, nearly causing him to run right into her butt. It was lucky enough that he had completely missed stepping on her tail. She tapped a clawed finger on the end of her chin, considering the question, before she began walking again. He fell back into pace beside his partner. ¡°Hmm. I suppose¡­it¡¯s because they don¡¯t like me, I guess.¡± His blank face could not do justice to the sheer exasperation he felt from that half-arsed answer. Swallowing his contempt, he reiterated his question. ¡°I mean, why would they hate you?¡± Her response was almost immediate. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy. I killed their big boss.¡± His blood froze in his veins at her casual and dark response. Just what had he gotten himself involved with here? ¡°Uh, what do you mean?¡±, his voice gave away his uncertainty about the answer he was given. She took a turn down a left-hand tunnel and he followed behind her. There were considerably less miners down this way. Keeping her voice low, she responded. ¡°Do you notice any other females doing mining down here, or for that matter, any mining at all?¡± He took his time to go through his memory, checking for a sign, any sign, that indicated that there were other female miners. And yet, the realisation suddenly dawned on him that the only female he had encountered in all his time here was the one who was standing before him. She grinned as his epiphany showed on his face, no doubt a mixture of surprise and confusion. ¡°It¡¯s because all the lizardwomen go somewhere else, a breeding den designed to churn out more workers for the mines once they¡¯re old enough.¡± He couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. Going back over everything he knew, he supposed it made sense. Miners were a commodity, and an easily expirable commodity at that when coupled with the volatile nature of what they mined. ¡°But that still doesn¡¯t explain why they don¡¯t like you.¡± ¡°Well, it all comes down to a few powerful lizardmen.¡± she stated, ¡°If you¡¯re strong enough and productive enough, certain perks come with that. Including, breeding rights.¡± Her words crawled with disgust. Hearing that, his jaw dropped open. He had never really wanted anything like that; just wanting to survive was enough. But for it to actually be considered a potential reward; his scales grew a few shades redder. His partner¡¯s reaction to that however, was anything but kind. ¡°Don¡¯t go getting any ideas, runt. Only absolute bastards become those breeding machines and they don¡¯t have a lick of mercy for anybody that threatens their position.¡± She took a sudden right-hand turn and he quickly adjusted himself before she continued. ¡°Let¡¯s just say that I took one of their greatest heroes down a peg and ever since, they¡¯ve never let me forget it.¡±, her gaze was cold as she described years of solitude and injustice in a single sentence. ¡°If you want more, then forget it. I¡¯m not comfortable enough with you to share that yet.¡± ~~~ Finally coming to the end of the tunnel, far from the nearest miners, she felt the chipped and rugged stone for any decent cracks. Many didn¡¯t want to work the frontier of the new tunnels, as the likelihood of getting killed was an almost certainty. There was no telling when you¡¯d find a new magicite vein and the result was often a violent expansion of the tunnel by the resulting explosion, turning everything and everyone around it into itty bitty chunks. However, they didn¡¯t have their very own magicite detector. At least, that was what she hoped. A few of the foremen they both passed by had probably already discounted their chances of survival and were filling out the paperwork for their new replacements. All said, she would either wind up very well-off or very dead. ¡°Hey runt,¡± she called over her shoulder, ¡°we¡¯re here. Do your thing and I¡¯ll do the mining.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that simple lady!¡±, he huffed. Being over 3 feet shorter than her, arms crossed, it was a pretty comical sight. She, though, was in no mood for a joke. ¡°Explain. Quickly.¡± Her hand tightened on the shaft of her pickaxe, making an audible creak. Hearing the distress from the tool and the edge to her voice, her blood-scaled companion decided an expeditious explanation was necessary. ¡°I-It¡¯s not like I can just know where the magicite is!¡± Creeeak. ¡°I have to detect the mana behind the rock!¡± Her expression changed from serious to satisfied. ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°You make it sound like it¡¯s easy.¡± He placed his hand on the wall, taking a moment to breathe in, and started walking towards her. His eyes were closed but a sheen of perspiration and a look of extreme concentration were plastered all over his face. Stopping suddenly, about 2 feet from where she stood, his eyes reopened and he pointed to the spot on the rock level with his head. ¡°Here, a small amount about 4 feet deep,¡± he said out of breath. ¡°I¡¯ll be the judge of that.¡± Taking here pickaxe in hand she walked up beside the boy and struck into the rock at a rapid pace. ~~~ Initially surprised at the sudden speed of her work, he suddenly began to worry as he realised that she had cleared well over half the estimated amount of rock in under ten minutes. Taking a step back, he waited for the inevitable boom. But it never came. Frozen, with her pickaxe about to strike the rock, she had halted her momentum mid-swing as soon as an orangey-green mist had sprung forth from the crevice. Over the next few minutes, he marvelled at her self-control, as the previous berserk miner began fastidiously chipping away chunks of rock in a method honed from years of practice. She had been right. Either way, he wouldn¡¯t have uncovered that ore. A few minutes more and the magicite was laid bare. ¡°See, runt? All in the wrist.¡± Yeah right, there¡¯s no way any average miner would be able to do what she just did. ¡°Come on runt, get over here and start filling our pouches, or do I have to wait all day for you to do that too?¡± Blushing slightly, he made his way over and started carefully filling their satchels with the crystals and ore that she offered him. He was anxious about being discovered; discovery would mean that the chances of having ore stolen and being targeted by the shadier elements of the mines that much more prevalent. However, his partner eased his worries slightly with a short explanation. One of the few reasons she chose one of the more twisted passageways was so as to obscure any discovered veins in the new tunnels from any other miners who were brave enough to tempt their luck with the uncertainty of digging so low. Given that nothing went awry, they could both secure a steady supply of magicite before others caught on and they would be well-fed before moving on to the next place. There were plenty of tunnels after all. Packing the last of the spoils from the nearly tapped-out magicite vein, their satchels bulging, they made their way up to the evaluation station on the upper levels for their reward. No doubt, their current haul might raise a few eyebrows among the foremen but when all was said and done, they just cared about the job getting accomplished. Hopefully, they could continue on like this for some time to come. Chapter 3- Orcish Suspicions Life was mostly good for orcs that worked the Deep Magicite Mines. As foremen, it was their duty to keep the rabble in line, and those who did, admittedly, lived quite generously. However, those who failed to meet expectations, otherwise known as the daily quota of beatings and bashings to be doled out to the miners, were soon assigned to less than desirable jobs. Latrine duty, guard duty in the lower tunnels and even the dreaded evaluation station¡¯s examination desk. These weren¡¯t seen as punishments from their higher-ups per-se, more like an opportunity to increase their enthusiasm to do better; what better way to encourage aggressive action than a ¡°better-them-than-me¡± mind set? The mines didn¡¯t just weed out the weak amongst the miners. ~~~ ¡°Next.¡± The lizardman shambled forth in line; his look of tired weariness was reflected by his countless colleagues and seemed to be the general consensus among them. Tattooed on his face was an etched grimace of apprehension, as he hefted his rock-laden satchel onto the desk for inspection. Lizards. Vile, dirty, scaly cretins, the lot of them. The orc in charge of the current inspection shift was none other than the 2634th in line for succession to the throne of the Orc King Booraaz, Boroboro Boro Boroboros. After a night of indulgence in his favourite pickled wine, he had been remiss in his duties to report in for the early morning shift and subsequently shackled with his current loathsome and tedious job. Boroboro examined the hunk of dirt laid out on the table before him. Pathetic. ¡°This damn thing¡¯s more soil than anything of value. Take him to be reprimanded.¡± The lizardman standing before him paled, an impressive feat to be noticeable since there was thick layer of muck coating his scales. ¡°No, please. I jus-¡± THWAK. That was going to leave a mark. A pair of guards quickly moved to shift the unconscious form over to the side for further ¡°reprimanding¡±. These greedy lizards didn¡¯t deserve their charity if they didn¡¯t provide the bare minimum to cover the cost of food. Sighing, he turned back to the line. ¡°Next.¡± Looking at the approaching miners, Boroboro¡¯s eyes lit up with a spark of recognition, a rarity considering how many of these damned lizards looked the same. Approaching his desk were the forms of two unusually distinct lizards. The first was short and had scales the colour of blood. It was the same sort of colour one might see staring into a pool of the stuff, deep and rich. The second, towered over its companion, which Boroboro had recently discovered was apparently a female. A very tall and very pissy-looking female, but female nonetheless. These two again. Figures. He had seen them around somewhat during his regular shift work and couldn¡¯t help but notice their unusually increasing alacrity in mining the deeper tunnels. After all, nobody willingly worked the new tunnels of the Deep Magicite Mines. ¡°So, it¡¯s you two. What have you brought this time?¡± Each one looked at the other with a look of unspoken communication and presented both their satchels simultaneously. They were both full to bursting with fragments of ore and crystals of raw magicite. A trickle of sweat slowly ran down Boroboro¡¯s temple as he stared at the highly explosive materials that had been haphazardly spilt across his desk. ¡°R-right. Here¡¯s what you two get.¡± Pulling out an ample serving of rations, Boroboro carefully moved the mined goods off to the side. How in the world were these two pulling in so much quality magicite? They should have been dead by this point! However, against all odds they seemed to consistently come back with more and more each time. It wasn¡¯t as though this had gone unnoticed either. Many fellow miners had tried to follow the pair to the place where they were digging but to no avail. And even if they finally pinned down the tunnel, they would just show up elsewhere! It was infuriating! Boroboro scratched his chin hairs absentmindedly as he pulled out a chunk of food of less-than-stellar quality. These two had to have been pulling some sort of trick. No way they were deserving of anything more than this. Coming back to the desk, he re-examined the faces of the two currently waiting lizards. The red lizard, partially hidden by his companion, seemed to be squirming on the spot under his baleful gaze, a natural reaction to someone as superior as himself. The female, however, seemed¡­confident. Boroboro frowned. That was never a good sign. Placing the chunk of food dead centre on the table, the female¡¯s assured mug metamorphosed into one of immense dissatisfaction. ¡°Hey, are you pulling a joke? ¡®Cause it¡¯s not funny. Where¡¯s the rest of it?¡±, she accused. Her raised voice caught the attention of the guards but a subtle head gesture from Boroboro stopped them from coming over. The little lizard seemed to shrink in on himself from the potential prospect of confrontation with the guards, but the tall one seemed completely uncowed by their presence, perhaps oblivious to her current danger? While he could let them do their job and beat the living daylights out of the scaly scum, they were still by and far the most efficient miners currently working the lowest tunnels of the Deep Mines to date. A more refined approach was needed. Boroboro carefully scooped up a crystal from the pile that had been deposited by them. ¡°You¡¯re already gettin¡¯ plenty from those hauls, based off what you brought in today,¡± he mentioned, pausing to see if his statement had any effect. It did not. ¡°Ya see, we only have so much food ta go ¡®round. Added on to that, the fact these crystals are so dangerously unstable means we¡¯d be lucky to refine them at all. So, their worth drops to considerably less.¡± The female¡¯s face betrayed a flicker of surprise before reverting back to a less-stern and more-dour countenance. That took the wind outta her sails. The same, however, couldn¡¯t be said for the scarlet lizard behind her. His face had gone from a shy, fearful composure to a slightly confused and choleric one. He was definitely trouble. If he knew the true value of what they presented and told the female, he might end up with a few dead guards and get blamed for the whole fiasco. Thankfully, the little squirt appeared to be wiser than his apparent age suggested and kept his toothy yap shut. Time to get them out of here. ¡°You¡¯re holdin¡¯ up the line. Take it or get lost, lizard.¡± Suddenly brought out of their individual reflective reveries, the tall one swiped the food from the counter and began walking away with her shorter companion in tow, breaking off a piece of the food and handing it back to him.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°This shift promised to be a long one,¡± he thought watching them both probably trudge off to find some nearby cesspool to nest in. ¡°Next.¡± ~~~ She was pacing back and forth slightly while trying to digest just what the runt had told her. Stopping suddenly, she threw her hands up in the air. ¡°What a pile of orc shit!¡± she exclaimed, her self-righteous fury finding a not-too-willing but still captive audience in the lizardboy. ¡°That stuck-up, wart-faced, troll turd of an orc not only gave some weak excuse as to the half portion he gave, but you¡¯re saying that that magicite was worth almost double that again?¡± The lizardboy shied away from his irate companion¡¯s sudden outburst before gathering enough courage to speak up again. Her tail tapped rhythmically on the ground in rapt attention, awaiting his explanation. ¡°W-well, the last lot that we brought up seemed to get a lot more. Going off that, I thought that maybe we¡¯d get twice as much as before. It doesn¡¯t make sense¡­¡± It did to her. Sighing, she leaned back against the wall and stared across the cavern at the upper echelons on the mine, watching the ant-like figures of countless other lizardmen scurrying back and forth. Honestly, she wasn¡¯t mad at the runt, just using him to vent her pent-up aggression. It was by far the healthier option, considering the alternative was smashing her fist against the solid stone walls as a more painful method of release. She was still pissed but had accepted the situation for what it was. After all, it wasn¡¯t the first time she had been cheated out of her rightful rewards by an entitled orc higher up in the food chain, who thought the sight of a devastated lizardman was the height of jocularity. One thing was for sure, she wasn¡¯t laughing. ¡°Hey runt,¡± her abrupt call bringing the young lizardman out of deep thought, ¡°for what it¡¯s worth, don¡¯t get too hung up on it. The orcs are pretty big jerks about rationing so it makes sense that this sort of thing would happen every so often, especially if they think you fluked a big haul.¡± The boy before her scrunched up his face in distaste at her suggestion before pouting and averting his gaze from the older lizardperson. Heh. Cute. This runt kept on reminding her of a younger version of herself. ¡°Oi, you two! Quit slacking. I can see you¡¯re not eating so get back to mining!¡± The sudden orders from one of the foremen caught the attention of both miners and the taller lifted the shorter to his feet, but not before whispering something in his ear. ¡°Say, if they think this was a fluke, why don¡¯t we show them how wrong they are.¡± ~~~ Boroboro sat hunched over the table situated in the guard room. Pure Greygrove ash. A thing of beauty really, wholly unsuited for its current purpose of holding the leftovers of the morning slop. His mind though, was currently ruminating on another complicated and highly delicate situation. After those two lizards with the ridiculous haul came and dumped their load on his desk at the evaluation station, there had been a minor uproar at the quantity of pure crystals gathered in one load. Administration was frothing itself into a frenzy. No one had really paid the miners a second glance. Except Boroboro, that is. Coming from the esteemed line of succession to the Orc King¡¯s throne, a lofty position attained through countless hours of toadying and no small amount of bloodshed, Boroboro had made a habit of identifying any interesting, or troublesome, individuals that caught his eye. These two definitely qualified as both. He had taken it upon himself to schedule his next shift to coincide with the new tunnels, the place where those two lizards had last been seen heading. With any luck, he would find the massive vein these two had been hiding and subsequently promoted for reporting their treacherous behaviour. After all, only the mine was allowed to have a monopoly on resources. Unfortunately for Boroboro, he was successful in tracking the two through the numerous twisting and winding tunnels, though it had taken the better part of a dozen attempts and countless redirections of other miners. Tracking through the dark with minimal light was difficult as the tunnels beared no glow from any apparent magicite. Even his rare and valuable ancient magicite artefact, coveted and reserved for emergencies only, could barely squeak out the dimmest of lights from the ambient mana. A dead tunnel. That was until he heard voices and saw an unusual glow coming from up ahead. Sneaking very unorcishly, he crept closer to the source of the light and noise. ¡°¡­are you sure we weren¡¯t followed here? I thought I heard a noise,¡± came the voice a young boy, probably the shorter one. ¡°Hey, focus on the task at hand, runt. Keep looking for that vein.¡± The second definitely belonged to the female. Peering around the corner, careful not to draw any attention, Boroboro observed the two lizards before him. And his face promptly blanched in horror. The source of the light hadn¡¯t been one of the oil lamps found normally adorning busy mine tunnels; it hadn¡¯t even been a stolen artefact he could have reported. The light was coming from the short lizard¡¯s hands! This was bad. This was very very bad. ¡°Magic.¡± Boroboro started sweating profusely; his mind shifted into overdrive thinking of ways to escape the situation but remained stock-still lest his movements give away his position. The reason for his panic was simple. The last time there was a recorded incident of a magic-user, the miners had eventually gotten it into their heads that their power was sufficient to overthrow the chain of command and subsequently caused a riot. The number of dead miners was not insubstantial and ultimately set the mine back months. But this wasn¡¯t what frightened Boroboro. Most importantly, the overseer in charge at the time had went to the effort of executing the foreman in charge of the tunnels in order to make an example of any who neglected to report said events. And Boroboro was the foreman currently in charge of these tunnels. Even if he reported the situation to his higher-ups, they would still investigate him and his activities. Given his very small and very illegal stash of artefacts they would eventually uncover, they probably wouldn¡¯t believe that he¡¯d only just discovered the information and kill him for treachery anyways. Backing away, he began slowly retreating back into the darkness, clutching his trump card in his left hand. These two were trouble¡­these two¡­these¡­two¡­ Boroboro had only just realised that in his panic, his attention had been solely focused on the magic user and he had lost sight of the currently missing female. Was she a magic user too? Did she spot him? Where was she? His instincts were screaming at him and without a moment¡¯s hesitation, activated his trump card; an invisibility device. Unlike the light artefact, the invisibility device recharged from one¡¯s own mana and not the surrounding mana in the air. Due to his small pool of mana, this meant the time between available uses was considerable. A ripple spread out from the centre of his left hand, erasing his presence. The field had barely just covered the entirety of his body when a familiar head peeked around the corner. Not ten inches away, staring directly into his eyes, was the piercing, almost luminescent gaze of that damned female lizard. ¡°Hey lady, what¡¯s happening over there? I thought you said we¡¯ve got to focus!¡± Her gaze lingered on him for a few moments before she turned back and responded to the short one. ¡°Just hurry up runt. I had the feeling we were being watched. We¡¯ll finish up mining and abandon this tunnel. It reeks of orc in here.¡± Looking over her shoulder, she returned to her companion¡¯s side. Boroboro could swear that she knew exactly where he had been. Staying still and barely breathing, he waited until they had finished mining, packed their ore and left the tunnel for several minutes before he dared attempting to undo the invisibility cloaking. It was an experience that had left him shaken. Sitting back in the guard room, having relived the horrid experience in his head, he would have to think of a way to make them stop continuing to be his problem, without showing his hand to the overseer as to the true reason. For now, he would watch them as closely as he dared. Over the next several days, he observed that both miners were working hard detecting, excavating and delivering magicite for his fellow foremen with unusually increasing frequency. He was unaware that as this time went by, the elder lizardperson had also started allowing her junior to mine the veins under her supervision, lest he blow themselves both up. Working together, they soon began efficiently collecting more and more rations. Too efficiently. It wasn¡¯t long before their work was starting to be noticed by the other foremen. Damn. He could see this devolving into an investigation far too quickly. However, an idea formed just as rapidly as he was contemplating the situation. If these two were so good at mining magicite, perhaps the overseer would see fit to reassign them to even deeper than the new tunnels. And if his recommendation just so happened to be the perfect opportunity to advance his status in the mine, who was he to complain?. Yes. That¡¯d be perfect. ~~~ The wind howled down the old and twisted tunnel, wailing like a banshee. Both lizardmen had been given the death sentence by being sent to work in these corridors, and while their entrances were farther up, their depths were near abyssal. There were places in the mines that branched out far farther from the main shaft than any other area, like the ever-growing roots of a vast oak tree. It was these places which dove so dangerously deep, that their overall depth surpassed that of the new tunnels in both their distance from the mine¡¯s entrance and the overwhelming risk to those who worked in them. The deepest tunnels of the Deep Magicite Mines ran thick with the presence of the mist-like mana, so much so that a veritably sickly haze obscured everything in sight. Due to barely being able to see one¡¯s way no more than several feet away, these places were aptly called the Devil¡¯s Cataracts. This was the first day working their newly allocated area and they had already run into a snag. ¡°I¡­I can¡¯t find a vein.¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± ¡°The mana¡¯s too thick here. Everything is blending into one another.¡± Damn. This was going to be a problem. It was too dangerous to just start mining blindly in these parts of the caverns; anywhere could trigger a chain reaction and cause a cave-in. A thought suddenly occurred to her; they were far enough up to possibly search for those. Grinning she turned towards the boy. ¡°Alright then, simple; let¡¯s just try to find another area where the mana¡¯s less thick.¡± Seeing through the fog, she could barely make out the boy¡¯s unimpressed face and rolling eyes. He gestured around him. ¡°You see somewhere that fits that description, lady? Because I sure don¡¯t! Maybe your giant butt will simply absorb all the mana in the air, huh? How ¡®bout tha-¡± Her eye twitched and she approached the little runt. Before he could react, her fist had already slammed his head into the ground. Cheeky bastard. Letting him lie on the cold stone ground for a bit, she then knelt down and picked the short lizardboy up by his tail. Dangling like some sort of novelty prize, he was still somewhat dazed from the impact. ¡°Oi runt, keep talking like that if you¡¯d like to experience what it¡¯s like to wind up mute. I meant, do what you do but in reverse. Try to find an area with a lack of mana.¡± There was now a considerable lump on the lizardboy¡¯s head, probably due to her prompt head-up-ass removal technique. With teary eyes, the sulking lad flexed his hands in front of him and attempted the colossal task of tuning out all the mana around him. ¡°Don¡¯t expect this to work, you know. We¡¯ll be really lucky if we can even find that sort of place around here.¡± That¡¯s what she was counting on. This boy had ungodly amounts of luck. It took less than five minutes before the boy¡¯s eye flew open again. The surprise was evident in his face and voice as he declared his findings in a near incredulous tone. ¡°I¡­I can¡¯t believe it. I-I found it.¡± Excellent. Time to get digging.