Council of the Heir

Chapter Eight - becoming increasingly suspicious to authority figures

Lydia wrung out the shirt she had been scrubbing, staggered upright, and pinned it onto the clothesline that hung over the shore. She pressed her hands to the small of her back and leaned back until her spine popped, groaning. No matter what world she was in, her posture really sucked.

It was the second day since they had arrived at the mining town. Being hired had gone smoothly, and she and Valor had been shuffled off to do their respective tasks, mining for him and general womens' work for her, as she had anticipated. What she had not anticipated was how flustered she had gotten when Notch appeared. He was just as big as Steven, but being evil (or at least working for Null) made him... more intimidating. Valor had ended up doing most of the talking for that interaction.

Since then she had seen neither hide nor hair of her 'cousin', as she (and presumably he) had been completely exhausted at the end of the day and gone straight to bed. Today, though, the sun was nearing the horizon and she was still fairly coherent. She had loose plans to try and snoop around after dark. Not to find clues - obviously she already knew what was going on - but just... out of curiosity. Valor had had a fairly one-track mind while working here in the book, and she wanted to see what else she could find out about this place. Stuff that she didn't decide.

Lydia glanced at her basket of dirty clothes, and, finding it empty, picked it up and headed back to the laundry building. The other ladies were already packing up for the end of the day, chattering with one another as they headed for the communal house for dinner. Lydia wondered how Grace was doing.

She only dropped by the building briefly to snatch a roll before slipping away, into the mining building that was built into the side of the mountain. The miners had already returned for the day, some of whom were inside eating dinner, but a quick glance around revealed no sign of Valor. He'd probably already gone to bed. So, Lydia tucked herself into a corner to eat and wait for the room to empty out.

She ended up dozing off before long. The slam of the door startled her awake, and she jerked her head up, blinking around to find the room empty. Huh, maybe she was more tired than she thought. Still, the allure of exploration kept her from her bed, and she got to her feet, heading for the access point to the mines on the other side of the room.

It wasn't until she'd started down the tunnel that it occurred to her - shouldn't there be guards? She was sure that Null had hired guards. Some of them had caught Valor, after all, when he was lured into the meeting between him and the captain from Hadleigh. Or... maybe not everything was the same. Or maybe they were elsewhere. Either way, if she was caught, she could claim she was looking for Valor. They might think she was an idiot, but at least they probably wouldn't kill her. She continued on.

The deeper she went underground, the more quiet it became. The ambient noises on the surface, of the breeze blowing and insects chirping, grew muffled and silent by the time the lanterns turned into torches. The silence was oppressive, broken only by her breaths, and her heartbeat that grew louder and louder in her ears. Maybe she shouldn't be down here.

Footsteps echoed up the tunnel.

Jolting with fright, Lydia dashed behind a short wall, cramming herself into the corner. The footsteps grew steadily closer, the clashing of iron-shod boots against the stone echoing off every wall, until eventually a pair of guards passed her by. Ah. So there were guards. And now they were blocking her exit. Whatever, she could claim she was lost or something. Getting up and dusting off her skirt, Lydia continued down the tunnel.

Before long, the tunnel split into three passages, marked accordingly with the number of the mineshaft they lead to. How deep did these go? Was there any danger of her being approached by a mob? Goodness, that would be an awful way to die.