SOMD Ch36: Expedition 1 (Patreon)

That night, Alice decided to leave Fixie behind at the store. Frankly, she would be useless on their expedition.

Prim was a shoo-in to go with her, and so was Iggy as her protector. Though Alice waffled back and forth on whether to take Numi or not, in the end decided it would be best if she came along too. Numi would be able to appraise anything that they found, and it was easy to imagine her lock-picking skills coming in handy.

Inside, her stomach fluttered with fear. She refused to give into it, or the doubt nagging at the corners of her mind. She was determined to find out more about this mining camp, the wood dragons… and Dolly.

These mining folk may be many things, but they were not secretive. There was a road cut out that led straight out of town, and Alice followed it for a good way, sending Iggy and Spark ahead to scout out in case any guards were left behind to keep watch.

The moon was high in the sky, casting a silvery light down on the road. All was quiet except for the sound of night birds. It reminded her of one of the first days after Prim had hatched, and their nightly expeditions to the kitchens. Back then, that had all seemed so daring and dangerous. It was nothing compared to what she was going to attempt now.

Her first fright came by the sound of crashing through the foliage just ahead. Prim, who sat on Alice’s shoulder, tensed. Numi, who scuttled by her ankles, let out a high-pitched sort of growl that Alice had never heard from her before. Before Alice could do more than stop in place and stare in the direction of the noise, she saw Iggy swoop toward her.

"It is only a deer," he said. "There is a family of them. Should I kill one for you, Alice? That way we could have a deer dinner."

"I don't know how to process a deer carcass, love," Alice said. "I was a General Laborer, not a Cook, and I didn't spend much time in the butchery." But then she paused to really think about it. She had been purchasing her food from the saloon—a large amount of food that would quickly become suspicious if it had not started raising questions already. "Let me know if you see the deer on the way back. There must be a butcher or someone in this village who can help process the meat."

"Very good," Iggy said, then swooped off again to look for more danger.

The road ran about a mile outside of town, cut straight through the thick forest before it split off into a Y. One fork was a lower road, narrower, and visibly less traveled that turned to drive through the forest. At night, all looked dark and ominous in that direction, and there was no sign of civilization.

The upper road, however, had fresh wheel ruts cut in. While Alice was no tracker, she easily spotted the imprints of hooves in the soft soil. It could not be clearer that the mining company had turned this way up the hill.

Alice crept forward slowly. Her hesitation was well warranted. Iggy soon swooped back and reported that there was a guard standing duty out of sight over the next bend.

"But he is half asleep," Iggy said, “clutching a bottle in his lap.”
    

Numi bobbed her head in a nod. "He must be drunk.”

"Even a drunk man can yell," Alice said grimly.

"But there is more," Iggy said. "He has an assistant with him. “Another child."

That stopped Alice short. “Come again?”

She hoped she had heard incorrectly, but he repeated. "It is a child, and I don't think it is drunk. There are no bottles nearby. It is outside the hut and asleep, from the way it is positioned. I think it is meant to keep watch as well, but ducked out of sight when the guard was not paying attention to it."

It only took a moment for Alice to come to a conclusion. "I can't imagine that children would be very useful in the mines, and from what you all described, many are too young to reach their first class. I was sent around as a messenger for nobles as a child—they called me a page and my parents were paid for it." Likely, this child had similar duties… though she could not imagine that the poor thing’s parents knew where they were now, and had not been paid.

"Which means," Iggy said ruthlessly, "if the guard were to be alerted, we would have to deal with both him and the child to keep the silence."

Alice's blood ran cold and she looked sternly at Iggy. "Never suggest anything like that again.”

Iggy quailed, though he did mutter, "It is the truth."

"I don't care if it is the truth. That may be a solution to our problems, but one we will never use. Do you understand?" 

She glared at her dragon until she received an answering nod. Letting out a breath, Alice looked away. "We should see if there is a pathway through the forest to go around. If there were a family of deer, it means that there is likely a pathway for deer to walk."

Iggy sent out Spark to help him scout the immediate forest. 

Sure enough, there was a thin trail that cut through the woods, though as it had been made by deer and other wildlife, it was not exactly a straight line. Traveling it would add at least another half-hour to their journey.

"That's fine," Alice said. 

She tried not to worry too much about Iggy's instant bloodthirstiness, but at the same time, he had listened to her order. That was why, she reminded herself, she had to be strong to curb his worst instincts. Sometimes she let herself forget that her dragons were indeed dragons. 

Speaking of...

"Do any of you sense or smell the wood dragons around?" She had been carefully monitoring her own feelings through this whole journey, that odd feeling of like calling to like that lodged in her heart. All had been silent, though her dragons might have more insight. 

One by one, her dragons reported they hadn’t. Though as they were surrounded by the forest which shielded the wood dragons… that did not mean much. 

They traveled the deer trail Spark had found, which took them in a wide crescent shape around the guard. The foliage was so thick that Alice had no chance of stepping off the path without making a lot of noise. Even then, she had to be careful not to crack any branches or step on dead leaves. 

In the end, they returned back to the road well above the guard station and continued on. There were several more checkpoints along the way, but none of the guards were concerned about receiving visitors tonight. All were either talking among themselves, gaming with dice, or asleep. The children Alice saw wearing golden sashes across their chests, were asleep and ignored by the adults.

Alice continued, and finally, she came within sight of the mining camp. Or, she realized as she took a good look at it, the prison camp.

The entire encampment was surrounded by high trees that grew much too straight and close together. They made up a sort of impenetrable fence. The only way that Alice was able to see inside was because the road was on a slight rise, and the mining camp was in a small cleft valley. There were several long, basically built buildings that did not look too different from standard General Laborer barracks, as well as a scattering of others, clearly more well-appointed, with windows. Several open areas looked like outdoor kitchens, and perhaps metal processing facilities. There were carts on rails and piles of black rock of the type she used to help the Maids shove into the fire pits. And beyond all of that, up against the mountain itself, sat the yawning mouth of the open mining entrance. 

It was a working camp, and at the same time, it was clear that no one would be allowed to freely leave. 

"Numi," she said, "I need you to find me a way in there. Prim, search the longer buildings. Dolly must be in one of them. Don't wake her up, or alert her that we're here. I only want to know where she is, so I can go straight there once Numi finds me a way in. Iggy—"

"I will stay with you," he said, "as protection."

The tone in his voice stated there would be no argument. That was fine by her. "Yes, but do send Spark out to keep watch over the other two. Also… I don't know where those wood dragons are." She looked around anxiously. “We'll have to move off the road, but they could be lurking anywhere.”

“Hiding in the bushes around wood dragons makes us a perfect target for ambush," Iggy said, grimly. "I do not like this, Alice."

"Neither do I, but it must be done.”

Does it? A little thought of doubt asked in her mind. But she had come this far and she was not going to turn back now. 

Iggy turned to Spark to give his orders. Spark cheeped in acknowledgement, which was a little unusual for him—the sub-aspects usually remained silent -- then, with a bob of his head, he flew off. His scales had a lingering glow from his lightning element, and they blended within the star-strewn sky. 

Alice moved off the side of the road and into a place hidden by bushes. Then she sat down and waited and tried not to worry.