Lodestone Book 1: Of Flood & Wrath & Thorn

Lodestone Book 1: Of Flood & Wrath & Thorn Part 3

The miners watched as the Sergeant closed the lift door with an echoing crash, and with a screech and grind of chains and gears, the lift began its ascent.

The new employees of The Righteous Anglian Mining Company of Our Lady's Hallowed Earth were left alone on the cavern floor, holding their pickaxes, shovels and lamps. They watched as the lift rose up out of sight and left them in the heavy shadow of the cave. Other than the steady glow of their lamps, the only light was the weird bluish glow beyond the chapel that turned the dark into a twilit gloom.

One girl, at about the age of seventeen or eighteen years old, appeared to be one of the eldest of the group. She shut her eyes and muttered a prayer while she hugged a younger, smaller girl who wept into her shoulder.

The oldest looking boy struck a match and lit another lantern. He passed it to the girl who prayed and patted her shoulder.

'Here, take a light,' he said in a kind voice. The other three miners took up their lanterns and looked about with fearful expressions at the cavern about them.

'What did she mean about things that go bump in the night?' asked one miner as he looked about with apprehension.

They listened to the sound of water that trickled down the rock face, or pattered down like rain. There were scuttles and scratches of what they hoped were merely rodents, the occasional echo of loose pebbles falling, and the noise of an underground river that thundered somewhere.

The area in which they were left had a damp-rotted bridge that crossed an unfathomable, black chasm. There were derelict shacks that leaned-to or had collapsed and a well-trodden pathway marked out by whitewashed rails that could barely be seen in the shadow. There were heaps of discarded litter, scree and broken tools. Timber scaffolding on some cavern walls had become host to a range of plant and fungal life that fed on its remains.

'When we arrived at the Company we were in the same training, but as we weren't allowed to speak, I still don't know anyone's name,' the older looking boy said. 'I'm Dale, who are you?'

Dale held up his lamp to look around the rest of the group. He was the only one among them who could possibly be considered a young adult. He was old enough to have a developing moustache, and was the second tallest beside the girl next to him.

'Aisling,' the tall girl gave a curt, surly reply. She had a strong build, short, straw-coloured hair and freckles around her nose and cheeks.

'I'm Irene,' the older girl stopped praying to make her reply. She still comforted the younger girl, who wept into her shoulder. Irene's accent sounded strange to the others, and hard to place. She had lively, flowing hair that seemed to want to break free from the bun that reined it in. In her almond-shaped face, Irene had bright, almost wild looking eyes, which seemed to shine with each movement in the dark.

'This is Flora. We weren't supposed to talk before, but we worked around that,' Irene gestured to the girl she cradled.

The girl introduced as Flora nodded, sniffed and wiped a tear. She trembled as she hung on to Irene. Flora had a young, childlike appearance and long, bright blonde hair.

'My name's Zachary,' a short, slender boy said. It was hard to place his age, but the first wisps of facial hair were beginning to show on his upper lip and chin. 'I can't believe this is happening to us. How can this wicked company get away with it? This is criminal!' Zachary's voice was high, with a sing-song, theatrical tone.

'Percy. I-I'm Percy,' the next boy stammered as attention turned to him. Like Zachary, he too was small and skinny. Percy had a head of large, dark curls and intense, restless eyes that seemed to scan every detail around him without pause, but would not meet the others' gaze.