The Old Mine

10: Doorway

                    Cal entered the mine first, Recke was right behind her keeping a very close eye on her. "We just need to get all the clothing gathered." For some reason he felt he needed to remind her again "You're not alone, we're here."

                    "Thank you," she looked around "We need gloves."

                     "Crap, forgot that." Tahk winced "Sorry Recke."

                      "I'll go get them, stay here with her and don't touch anything." He turned to head out of the mine mumbling "Can't trust him to do anything."

                     "Is there something I need to be aware of, why is Recke being so nice, I mean I did talk to Ocea about it but..."

                     "Because he cares about you" Midnight winked at her.

                     "And because he knows how being abandoned back in time feels." Tahk was matter of fact, like he was reading a textbook "That's why he and Easton don't get along. Easton got the opportunity to choose between take the win and bring back the prize minus one Recke or stick to the plan..."

                   Midnight hit him "Shut it already."

                  "He knows the panic and..." Cal took a deep breath "Now I think I was too easy on Easton."

                    Recke came back into the mine walking slowly, his posture tense. He slammed a pair of gloves into Tahks chest and tossed another pair to Midnight "Here," he turned to hand Cal hers "Oh and you idiots left your mics on."

                      "Fuck." Tahk frowned

                     He turned to Cal with a weak smile "Zen, saved me..." Recke put on his gloves and started sorting through the items scattered around the floor of the mine. It was slow going, but by noonday they had made great progress.

                     "Recke, take a look at this." Midnight held up a chain with a pendant on it. "Fancy necklace, huh."

                    Recke came over and looked at it, followed by Cal who watched from beside him. "Interesting symbol on it..." Recke noted with furrowed brow.

                     "That is the symbol for the Doorway Mine." Cal took the pendant and turned it over in her hand "Who made this, nobody around here wants to remember this it's embarrassing for the white man."

                    "Question" Tahk raised his hand like he was a five-year-old in school.

                    Cal rolled her eyes and gave him an annoyed look "Let me guess; what is the Doorway Mine?" Tahk nodded and put his hand down.

                    "The Doorway mine is a smaller mine on the other side of town. Located in the mountains on the north side of this valley. The legend of the mine is an interesting one... it starts with four Native American brothers that originally owned this mine. They had owned the smaller mine north of town known as the Doorway Mine first, but that was stolen from them by the white men. The brothers had been mining it, and he noticed how much they made from it. To make it seem like they were so gracious for stealing from the brothers the white man handed them this whole mountain and the forest around it. Something that they believed to be useless, joke was on him because the brothers had already emptied Doorway mine. In the end, this mine" She laughed "Gambler's mine turned out to be more profitable than Doorway mine ever was."

                    "That's an oh shit moment." Recke laughed.

                    Cal laughed "Try as the white man did, he couldn't get it back away from the brothers, the townspeople defended the brothers. So one white man decided to just shoot his way through town and kill the brothers to get the mine all for himself. The brothers were warned by the great spirit and killed the white man before he could harm the townspeople. They buried his body in the useless mine he stole. They had caught up to him just as he had entered the town to shoot it up, so some people saw" She laughed "Of course you know gossip spreads fast; the betrayal of the man hit the townspeople hard, so they broke his shotgun and used it to mark his grave. Thus, the symbol of the broken shotgun used as a cross," she looked at the pendant again "But I don't recognize this metal."