Into the Mine

“There weren’t always dragons in the valley,” once there were ogres, giants, and one-eyed demons that lived on the surface. When the dragons came, they started eating many of them, forcing most to leave the valley. Some, out of desperation, went into caves and found passageways into deep underground crevices. They built houses, bridges, lighting rock lanterns, and a civilization. The dragons do not know about these cities.

“Are the cities really under our feet, Grandpa?” asked Aiden. Oh yes, they live down there even today out of the light. I’m sure they have built numerous tunnels and networks of untold length. Why do the dragons allow us to live in the Valley? They allow us to remain here because of our tribute of gold each year. It’s why your great grandfather was a miner, I’m a miner, your father is a miner, and you will be a miner one day. We must find the gold, or we will be a meal to the Dragons. There is no end to our work.

Aiden remembered these words he had with his grandfather when he was still a boy. As the crew chief in the mines, he holds the right to wield the enchanted great pickaxe. His crew of seven worked together in the eastern branch of the mines, following the veins of gold through the metamorphic rock. As Aiden struck the hard rock, great chucks would break loose, falling to the floor. Lost in the musings of his mind, he only peripherally was aware of his assistant shoveling away the rock. The enchanted pickaxe made the work so much easier, but they were few enchanted items in the valley. The next strike exposed a glowing, sparkling amber stone, something unexpected and looked out of place in the otherwise grey amorphous rock. It was enough to snap Aiden out of his working daydream.

Examining the stone, he scanned his memories and all experiences for anything that matched this oddity in the rock. Before he could finish his analysis, his attention broke as the percussion of a blast echoed through the caverns.

“Who is using TNT?” Aiden asked his assistant. I don’t know, but they’re not supposed to be blasting today, said Heidegger. “We had better go and investigate,” said Aiden as he rose and led the way down the cavern to the other diggers. On the way, he picks up the boom microphone and announces a meeting in the connecting chamber. The boom mic is rigged through metal tubes to make announcements throughout each branch. As they walked, the smell of the blasting powder became more robust, and soon, he met his crew in the connecting chamber.

“Who is using TNT?” asked Aiden. Unanimously the crew all shrugged their shoulders. “We are all using our hand tools in the other tunnels; no one was out of place,” said Ruiz. The crew agreed to Ruiz’s words. Aiden was sure his team was telling the truth, but he had to follow the protocols set forth by his ancestors. He had to lock the crew together in the holding pit until the truth was known. The team knew this, and even though they did not like the prospect of the pit, the rules were final. They have all been in the mines since they were boys.

The team moved to the room called the pit. There was one created in each quadrant of the mine in case someone needed to be locked up. After ensuring they had food and water, Aiden latched the heavy iron door. He made his way up the inclining floor of the mine, staying to the right of the railroad tracks. It took half an hour to reach the upper connecting chamber. Aiden saw his immediate supervisor Graff with a clipboard in hand, constantly checking the crew schedule.

“Did you hear the explosion come from the eastern branch of the mine?” asked Aiden. Graff looked up from his clipboard; no, I didn’t hear that, “Do you know who set off TNT?” No, said Aiden. I was hoping you knew something. Did you see anyone go in the mine during Labot? Labot is when everyone sits around the campfire and looks at everyone else. No one speaks during Labot, but miners finish their food and drink. Graff checks through his clipboard, “No, but I see Leonardo is in the eastern branch. “Leo!” says Aiden. “He’s on Henry’s western crew; what’s he doing in my neck of the woods?” He’s supposed to collect samples for the science office down tunnel 2BE. “I wish I were informed of this, “said Aiden as he stormed off down the mine tunnel. If he had known, he would have already been looking for him.

What took a half an hour to walk up took fifteen minutes to walk down. Aiden stopped at the pit door. “Who’s responsible for the explosion” interrogated Aiden. Everyone in the pit responded with the same chorus, “it wasn’t us.” “Will, if no one steps forward, you will all be in the pit overnight.” Aiden was confident in his crew, and he felt he was talking to innocent men. Aiden said in a calmer voice, “Leonardo is missing and may have been the cause of the explosion. I need Heidegger, Carmen, and Quincy to come with me.

With his crew assembled, Aiden led the way down the tunnel 2BE. “Ok, we should be getting close….” Aiden’s words trailed off as the team came upon a blockage. Roof debris covered the tunnel’s floor, and the smell of the TNT still hung in the air despite the constant supply of oxygen pumped into the mines from the surface. Someone had exploded the TNT to bring down the roof.

"Well, there is only one way to get through this", said Aiden, as he reached for his pickaxe. But Carmen grabbed at the pickaxe before he could get it. Aiden spun around and said, “Hey, that’s mine,” For the first time, Aiden observed Carmen closely and thought how strange he looked. Carmen said, “I’m the one that exploded the cavern, and I’m going to take the gold for myself!” Aiden could have kicked himself for missing the wild wide eye look on Carmen. “You’ve gone gold crazy!” shouted Aiden.

Carmen turned around and whispered “Lakas” to the pickaxe, and the enchantment took away great chunks of the rock as he started making a new tunnel. When someone goes gold crazy, they lose all logic and reason. Aiden tells Heidegger and Quincy to go after Leonard and see if he is still alive; I will stop Carmen.

Aiden sees a drill buggy and digs an interception tunnel to Carmen. The drill buggy and pickaxe are fast at digging, but the pickaxe leaves behind the gold where the drill buggy makes a huge mess that must be sifted. Soon Aiden breaks into Carmen’s tunnel, and he sees him. Aiden steps on the rocket button, and it zips off right at Carmen. Slamming the breaks, Aiden tries to disable Carmen by knocking him over, but the drill buggy doesn’t slow down. Swerving to the left, Aiden goes into the wall and makes a new tunnel. Aiden makes a sharp turn through rock to come out in front of Carmen. Aiden slows the drill buggy and says, “You’re coming with me,” as he bumps the buggy into Carmen, who falls over the hood with a hard thud. Aiden comes to a stop and, jumping out, quickly reclaims his great pickaxe. Carmen is still alive but in no condition to try and run. While tying his hands down, Aiden says, “don’t worry, the gold crazy counselors will be able to help you.”