Talf moved his hands in the practiced way he’d come to know over the last few months. He spoke along with the movements, giving Alafaya plenty of ways to figure out what he was saying. She was more than happy to oblige him, her own hands flying off with a speed that Talf could hardly even hope to match.

  It was useful to be able to communicate this way, especially in combat. As long as only your allies knew the signs, you could get a surprising amount of strategy in without even having to speak a word. The only downside was that it didn’t work on Taenseva, who had been the first to let Alafaya teach her how to speak with hands.

  “There’s a mine over here, I’ve been wanting to go forever.”

  Alafaya gave him a curious look, “and why have you not gone then?”

  He liked that about her, she didn’t seem to think any last minute plan or experience was stupid. She was quiet but it was the kind of quiet he could get behind. “No one would let me go on my own. Taenseva watches me like a dragon every time we pass the mine. This is the third time we’re passing it and I want to make it count!”

  Alafaya nodded to herself, thinking, “Well, I suppose I wouldn’t object to an adventure. It’s been a bit stressful, I hate Thundercrossing, I wish we’d passed it by entirely.” They’d just gotten out of that place last week. Talf wasn’t entirely sure where they were heading next, but after dealing with the coast and deciding it wasn’t profitable to go to Teli-teli at the moment… well they’d likely be going back to Starlight. He wasn’t sure he cared what happened after that.

  “Yeah? You want to go with me then?” he felt his hopes rise noticeably, thinking about what riches and experiences he might find in that mine. Truthfully he’d been… building up the experience in his head after that first pass, but stars, he hated missing something he’d set his heart on.

  Alafaya thought again and then nodded, “It seems fun.”

  By the stars he sure hoped it would be fun. Otherwise that was a whole two years of buildup for nothing! He watched Alafaya for a moment before frowning, “Taenseva seemed pretty sure that it was bound to collapse on me, just a warning.”

  Alafaya snorted lightly, a rare noise from her. She didn’t like speaking or anything like that, she said that it made people look at her strangely, which in turn made her feel like she was doing it wrong somehow. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

  Talf felt himself relaxing marginally as Alafaya’s tail flicked in annoyance. She seemed to adore Taenseva, but it was clear to everyone who watched that Alafaya preferred greatly to make her own opinions. It was an odd combination to be sure. Talf often found himself shackled by what other people saw. “Thank you.” He responded, and Talf found that he meant it.

  --

  When Taenseva saw the two of them leaving camp, she didn’t come over to object, even though she likely knew what they had planned. Taenseva had a very good memory, and as such she would remember that she’d promised Talf he could go there if he brought someone who was reasonable. As far as Taenseva was concerned, Alafaya was the most reasonable person in the entire Leftbites Wings. Besides herself of course.

  And so it was that the two mercenaries made their way to the famous abandoned mine, one bent on exploration and the other driven with curiosity.

  As they descended into the depths, the first cave littered with minecarts toppled and pickaxes abandoned, it wasn’t long before the nature of such a place began to get to them. “Can you feel that?” Alafaya asked, “that sense of wrongness?”

  Talf shook his head, but he was pretty sure he knew what she might be referring to. “A little bit? Do you think this place is cursed?” He picked up a fallen lantern, examining the empty compartment for oil.

  “Maybe…” Her gesture was noncommittal, and it was hard to pinpoint her actual thoughts through it.

  Talf nodded and kept walking. It was much harder to speak with hands while doing so, especially since he kept the lantern and started fiddling with his tinderbox. He thought he had some extra oil in here somewhere… not much, but it should last for at least an hour if he set it up right.

  Alafaya’s yelp had him looking up though, by the stars it was hard to remember she could make noise sometimes. His eyes found her, and then followed her gaze to the pit she’d almost fallen into. She took a long step back, staring at it. “Sorry, that was… surprising. I didn’t even see it.” She bent down after making sure he wasn’t going to respond immediately. “This thing is deep I think. I can hardly see two lengths down.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Talf peered into it, deciding she was right. He turned toward the path deeper into the mine, and then into the thin pit that probably led straight to a lower level of the mine. Hmm… one of these seemed far more interesting than the other. He finally lit the lantern, now full of oil, and lowered it to the ground, peering into the pit. Alafaya was right, it was fairly deep.

  “Let’s go this way then, great find!”

  Alafaya regarded him for a moment before smiling slightly, “I’m starting to understand why Taenseva was convinced that you’d die down here.”

  Talf laughed out loud, kneeling down beside the pit and tying his rope to the top of the lamp before lowering it into the pit until he could set it down at the bottom. It was in a really good spot too, it opened up into a wider area after only a length of rope and one of the walls was perfect for climbing. “This is almost too convenient.” He marked the wall of the hole with his chalk before lowering himself into the pit.

  Alafaya watched him, unconcerned. Once he was out of the way she hopped down herself, landing lightly. “Not as deep as I thought, actually.”

  No one would be able to jump out through there though. Talf shook his head and marked the wall under the pit, looking up and down the tunnel before choosing the direction that sloped downward.

  They continued down into the depths.

  --

  Talf paused as Alafaya knelt in front of a pile of rocks, picking one up with a frown. She turned it over in her hand for several minutes and finally stood up, handing him the object, “I think that used to be Arkorite. It’s not glowing though, that makes it harder to tell.”

  He tilted his head at it, looking into the dull grey rock. If he held it just right, it did seem to have some opacity to it. He handed it back and Alafaya pocketed it, “How can you be sure? I’ve only seen that stuff in the storm between worlds.”

  She frowned slightly, “They started growing around Thundercrossing. No one’s really sure why. But when you try to move them or mine them, they turn into that.”

  Talf looked at the pile of dead crystals again, “That’s a bit sad to think about.” He put his hands on his hips, and then picked up the lantern again, which he’d set down when Alafaya handed him the rock. He peered down the tunnel, which didn’t seem as interesting at the moment, even though the drive to discover, to experience, still wanted him to find the bottom. Or at least some treasure. He paused, “Is Arkorite worth anything?”

  Alafaya shook her head. “It has strange properties when it’s still glowing, things like translating the languages of whoever’s nearby. It’s not reliable though, and it does even less when it’s dead.”

  Talf nodded, a bit dissapointed.

  His companion frowned slightly, she was staring at a wall.

  “What is it?” Talf followed her gaze, but didn’t see anything of note.

  “It’s… I don’t know. Something seems off right there.” She tilted her head at it, glanced at Talf again, and then approached the wall.

  It looked like a cave wall to Talf, and he found his mind almost desperately yelling at him to just move on already. But… Well, Alafaya found something about that wall interesting. She watched it for a moment longer before pulling out the large piece of crystal again and pressing it against a section of wall.

  There was a click.

  The two of them stared as the wall collapsed in on itself, cleaving in half where Alafaya had pressed the rock and pulling itself back as some long forgotten mechanism opened up a hidden door. Talf peered inside with his lantern, eyes shining and bright, excited, “I knew it was a good idea to bring you! Thank you, Alafaya! Come on!”

  She smiled, and the two of them stepped inside the new tunnel. Or rather… corridor. The walls behind it were inlaid with brick, giving it the air of a fortress. The two of them walked onward, examining the walls and sturdy floor with wide eyes. Talf had never found a secret tunnel like this before, he didn’t have the patterns in his mind for what this could even mean.

  He shook his head in bewilderment at the patterns along the wall, watching them pass by. It was probably odd that this corridor was so long now that he thought about it. He could see the end, but before that there were no doors or branches in the path, the way didn’t even curve to accommodate any rock that might have been in the way of construction.

  After a time, the two stepped into the room at the end of the hall, and both of them halted in their tracks at what they found inside.

  “That’s… unexpected.” Talf muttered under his breath, his eyes wide and fixated on the enormous crystal that sat on a table covered with dust.

  Alafaya brought a hand to her mouth, her eyes filled with awe, “What is that doing here?”

  Talf shook his head in bewilderment, “A thunder crystal. That’s a thunder crystal?!”

  “Most definitely. See the shape? It comes from when lightning strikes sand, its aura prevents aremolots from tunneling nearby.”

  “Stars, this would be worth a lot of money, right?” He could easily picture Taenseva’s face when she saw it. He could easily see her apologizing about never letting him come here before.

  “It would be. Definitely.”

  Talf found himself grinning as he approached the strangely spider-like crystal. It seemed almost like a monster in disguise. “Alright, you take one end, I’ll take the other, we can use my wings to get it up out of the pit.”

  “We’re taking it?”

  “Uh… yes.”

  “Alright, hook your lamp onto this section of the crystal here.”