Page 73 of The Iron Dagger
He leaned his head back against the rock wall. “Fortune favors us at last.”
She tried cleaning the wound with some rags and packed a generous amount of her infection-halting powder into the cut. With how filthy the wound looked, she did not want to close theskin and trap an infection within. She wrapped it in bandages and gave the rest of the powder to Selda. “Apply it once a day, and it will heal without a scar in a week.”
“You are a blessing. I was just telling Henry what you told me, about the children. What is your name again, Mistress?”
Hara told them, and after many assurances that their children were well, she said, “But why are you here? I thought the Lenwen army had taken you both prisoner, or had you killed.”
“They walked us for many miles,” said Henry. “It seemed we were always walking from one bare field or patch of woods to the next. Then our handlers changed, and we were taken into Montag,”
“Most of us were sent to work here in the mines, but I’ve heard others are doing factory work,” said Selda.
“And are you paid at all?”
“No. We are prisoners of war. The only way we can be let go is if the Steward pays Lenwen a ransom.”
“Has anyone had their ransom paid?” asked Hara.
They shook their heads with grim expressions.
“Not down here,” said Henry.
So, the Lenwen crown was giving prisoners to Montag to be used for labor. Hara felt sick and heartsore. At least she could give them some comfort, knowing that their children were being well cared for.
“Hara, we must go,” said Sarai gently by her side.
Hara took one last look at the Widderstones, and clasped their hands.
“I will do whatever I can to get you out of here,” she whispered.
She and Sarai used the wooden boards to crawl back through the narrow crack and took the lift to the top of the mine shaft. Sarai stopped briefly to tell that guard that he needed tosend a recovery team below, and his eyes widened when he took in the state of them. He ran to a waiting mobile outside of the tunnel, and they followed him.
When they stepped out into the sunlight, Hara removed her mask and took a deep lungful of sulfurous air. Both of them were coated in rusty brown dust, and the blood on Sarai’s mask matched it.
She and Sarai did not speak as they climbed into their waiting autocar and left the crater and the waste fields behind them.
“Now you know why I am trying to find an alternative to mining,” Sarai said as they entered her laboratory. She closed the door behind them and went to a store cupboard to take out two white cloths. After wetting them at the battered work sink, she gave one to Hara.
“I can’t believe people spend hours a day down there,” said Hara. She could still taste the dust at the back of her throat, and tears hadn’t stopped streaming from her eyes, trying to blink away the sting of grit.
“Most of the workers spend their entire lives in or near the mines. There is a worker camp near the waste fields, but many sicken if they spend too much time there. It’s poison. The waste gets into the water and the soil and it kills everything.”
“So where else do they go?”
“They stay in the mines. Though I’ve heard stories of some never waking up again since they do not ventilate the unused pockets.”
Hara put her face in her hands. She felt as though she was going to vomit. “The foreman who was trapped . . . you seemed to be friends with him.”
“I told you that none of the mine owners like me because I am trying to put them out of business. So, I found the wayaround that was to become friendly with a foreman. Gormun was the one most willing to give me scraps to work with.”
Sarai pulled out the small purse she wore around her waist and reached inside to extract the bits he had given her. She placed them on the table with a sigh.
The image of a dusty arm breaking through the sand and rock, the horrifying sound as the top of the cavern cracked and collapsed, Selda’s tears—they all roared in Hara’s mind so she could think of nothing else.
Hara picked up one of the lumps of metal. By its soft feel, she thought it was lead.
“Sarai, can I trust you?”
Sarai had been staring at the metal pieces blankly, but she looked up at Hara’s soft tone. “Of course, Hara. I think a near-death experience builds trust the way nothing else can.”
