Heir to a Bloody Throne

Chapter Thirteen

Notch slid a glass of ale across the table to Valor, who was leaning his head into his hand. The lad lifted his head to give him a questioning look.

"Hair of the dog." The foreman explained. "A bit of alcohol will help your headache."

"Oh." Val sipped at the glass as Notch pulled a kettle from over the fire, pouring some of the boiling water into a cup to steep the tea leaves inside. Notch had found the boy about ten minutes prior, stumbling through the mining town and trying to get back to work before dawn. He was clearly very hungover, and had yet to offer any explanation or excuse. He had doubtless taken his pay straight to the tavern.

"I thought I told you not to spend it all in one place." Notch let a bit of his disappointment show.

"I didn't. I only bought one drink." Valor protested, pushing away the rest of the glass. "The uh..." He trailed off, as if searching for words. "Men... the miners bought me drinks. Heard I killed a creeper."

"And you drank all of them?"

"Yes." Val lifted his chin, gaze a bit bewildered as he met Notch's own. "I didn't want to offend." The foreman exhaled harshly.

"You're lucky you weren't robbed or hurt, boy." He set the tea in front of him. "Drink."

"Mm." Valor tipped back the cup without a second thought, and Notch was forced to give pause. That tea was steaming hot, and he hadn't even flinched! "It won't happen again, sir."

"It had better not." Notch gave him a harsh look before turning away again. "I'll expect you at breakfast."

"Yes sir." The foreman left him be, exiting his chambers and stepping out into the main hall to check on the progress of the morning meal.

As he walked through the cavernous room, he mused over his latest apprentice. It wasn't often that a worker caught his attention like this. He wasn't the youngest Notch had ever met- he had men as young as sixteen under his command. However, Valor was very well trained in combat, something most young miners had little to no experience in. And his eyes... told a story that the rest of his demeanor didn't. Valor was more than simply a clever boy.

Perhaps he would make a valuable asset as well.

*

Valor collapsed into his bunk, eyes closing immediately, and he had to force them open again to avoid falling asleep within moments. Nether, what an exhausting day.

Notch had left shortly after breakfast to run an errand, so Val was placed with a team of other miners. His task for the day had been to help them dig an alternate tunnel from a main passage, so that those inside would be able to escape if the regular access was blocked. Not only was he forced to work faster to keep up with them, but a portion of his energy had to go towards keeping up small talk with them as they worked. He was thoroughly exhausted.

And now he had to go check out the smeltery.

Valor felt his eyelids droop again, and he let out a whispered sigh. His bunkmates seemed to be already asleep, and it had been dark for more than an hour now, but he wanted to let the activity in the community drop as low as possible before trying to slip out. He didn't need Notch growing suspicious of him. On the other hand, if he waited much longer, he was going to fall asleep.

After a moment of internal debate, Valor dragged himself up and quietly left the room. He could sit in the dining hall until it grew quiet enough. Hopefully that would keep him from passing out.

Valor amused himself as he sat at one of the long, banquet-hall-style tables by tracing the patterns in the wood with his fingernail. From what he could tell so far, this was a perfectly reputable mining establishment. At least, on the mining side of things. The men he worked with seemed well trained and competent, he had no reason to suspect any of them to be the mastermind in this scheme. Then again, a lowest-level worker likely would not be. Also, the barrel with the mark would have come from the smeltery. If it was a grunt worker, it would likely be one in there.