From the Ruins

Chapter Four: "You Poor Bastard"

Atric Mines: (Place) A-trick mines

Artilof: (Kingdom) Art-ill-off

Notric Mines: NO-trick mines

Kob Noshe: Cob Nah-sh

NovaMana: NO-va Man-a

Chapter Four:

Laekonus did not have trees to climb in nor the cover of darkness to use as her advantage as she crept over the hill looking over the Atric Mines as she had arrived in the late afternoon. Just a thin layer of fog over the deathly cold snow she crouched in to remain hidden. Her signature dark clothing was a disadvantage here so she had her hood down hoping that the white of her hair was a close enough match to the snow to offer any form of stealth.

The Atric Mines were split into three smaller camps following the model of almost all of the others. The three camps were all identical rectangles with tall towers connected by cobblestone walkways that allowed the guards to watch over the captives like a predatory bird would watch over it's prey. The center of each camp were the entrances to the actual mines and near those were the "sleeping blocks". Sleeping blocks were nothing more than a designated area of small prison like cells that the guards like to overcrowd with too many people. In the frozen environment of Artilof, it was actually a good thing since it kept a majority of the people from freezing to death or suffocating from the outrageous amount of snow that fell into the roofless cells while they slept.

She could see the workers moving around the camp and the overseers thriving over any given amount of power over the once powerful magic users. The difference in the amount of people who got dragged in in the morning and the amount that were able to walk out at the end of the day was sickening.

The assassin was stuck waiting until complete darkness to sneak in and meet with the rebel leader that had given himself over to the authorities to be the inside man in this uprising. She would have respected the bold and dangerous decision if she did not already know that all the man actually desired was his name in a book and a high social standing amongst the rebel groups.

He is an idiot for taking part in one of the most undisclosed expeditions of the entire syndicate to try to make a name for himself. With his intelligence, it is very likely that this will not end well for him.

There were a dozen guards on each tower but they were split up into pairs or groups of threes on each level. As she waited she listened in on the guards in the tower closest to her to see if the rebels had already disappointed her.

"I got my orders on the raid of Esor Islands," the younger of the two said, not taking his eyes off the men carrying large bags of coal out of the mine beneath them. Laekonus's ears twitched and she focused in to hear clearly over the dry winds.

The one next to him shot his head up, "You poor bastard. Commander Wulfsiege will work you 'til you're the one wishing for mercy. King's order is to take as few prisoners as possible so you'll either be sharpening your blade or using it. Not to mention how tense things will be on those islands anyways. Barely north of The Fallen Kingdom and a clear path away from that festering pile of pirate scum, I say the place should be left alone. It's just the remnants of whores and old slave traders at this point".

Laekonus felt a spike go threw her head at the mention of the kingdom she used to know, more painful then the last one.

"What actually happened there anyways? I had to inspect a merchant coming from there and he said there was some kind of great fire and then the capital city just kind of fell down on itself? I didn't believe him of course, i just assumed they burned the place down to cover their tracks when it got to over crowded and they had to more operations to NovaMana." The first one finally looked up from the workers and gave his fellow guard questioning look. Another spike in her head but this time it was accompanied by a feeling of intense heat that traveled through her runes.