Chapter 3.

There were two things you could say about the tunnels. It was hot, and it was cramped. At end of the tunnels it was just large enough to allow at the very most three men — Lieutenant Greeves, the officer in charge; the private, James, who has forgone the use of his shovel in favor of scraping the walls slowly and more quietly with the use of a small knife; and Corporal Robin listening for sounds from enemy sappers burrowing their way towards the Valean Lines in a counter tunnel, the stethoscope he's listening on moving gently over the walls and ceiling. He glanced to Greeves from time to time with a shake of his head.

Still nothing

The silence was deafening.

Moments before they had started digging, a runner brought Greeves the news that the Atlesian prisoner had been interrogated and that there was a very real possibility that they were working on their own tunnel, and that it could in fact be parallel their own. If the enemy sappers were farther ahead, if they'd already packed their chargers in their forward chamber, similar to the one that Greeves and his men were still enlarging at their end, then the chances were that the enemy's would go off first, burying the three of them alive.

The Atlesians had already used tunneling to devastating effect. It was a simple concept: dig a tunnel that burrowed deep below the enemy lines that reach a spot beneath the enemy trenches, then pack the final chamber with high explosives, set off the charges, and finally flood the newly opened hole in the enemy defences with lots and lots of bodies whilst the enemy was still reeling. It was a variation of one of the most used ways of breaching castle walls, a tactics used by armies of ages passed. Only instead of blowing up a trench, you blew up massive fortifications to, same thing as now, allow your men to rush inside. Dangerous work then, dangerous work now.

Naturally, the Valean side had no choice but to use the same strategy as the Atlesians, and they were still learning. A team of coal miners from the outskirts of Vaile had been brought in because they were experienced men, capable of digging as well as shoring up the tunnel as if they were creeps.

The problem was that once these boys were close enough the the enemy lines to be heard, picks and shovels had to be replaced by the silent, but tedious scraping using smaller objects. Inch by inch they're moving closer; otherwise the enemy would hear them and take deadly and quick countermeasures.

Greeves had been sent down to relieve the previous officer in charge of the tunnel, standing in for his eight-hour watch with his own corporal Robert Robin, whose hearing was very sharp. And in place of the coal miners was Private James who had been given the task of carrying on as quickly as he could without making a was a slate miner from Mt. Glenn, and it was clear several of the coal miners from the South had resented the choice. He had been what was called a rock man, who drilled and set the explosives to bring down the great slabs of slate, and his touch was delicate.

The knife picked away gently at the surface, filling the pail with surprising speed without a sound. The larger the chamber at the end of the tunnel, the more explosives that could be packed into it.

Two feet still to go before the Royal Engineer overseeing the work would be satisfied.

All at once Robert Robin held up a hand. Greeves touched James' shoulder in the same instant. The private stopped, knife in midair, hardly breathing. Greeves waited.

Robin took out a bit of paper, scribbled something on it, and then handed it to Greeves.

Packing, it read stopped digging.

The Atlesians must be worried that the prisoner had talked, and taking no chances, they were preparing to blow up their own tunnel as soon as possible, which meant they were already under the Valean lines. What Robin had heard was the soft footfalls of men carrying charges forward to stow in the already completed chamber.

Greeves signaled to Robin and James to follow him back along the dark worm that was the Valean tunnel, and they carefully made their way to the main shaft.

Captain Marsh was standing there, a frown on his face. "Why have you stopped?"

"They're packing," Greeves said. "We've got to hurry if we're to set off our charges before they finish and set off theirs."

"Damn," Marsh said. "Are you quite sure? There's no time to send for the Royal Engineers to verify this."

Robin stood his ground, holding up the stethoscope. "I'm sure," he replied.

"I don't trust those things," Marsh snapped, considering the young corporal. "The old pan-and-water system was more reliable. When the water moved, you knew for certain."

"Nevertheless," Greeves said, "the runner warned us that the Atlesians were ahead of us." If Captain Marsh refused to believe Corporal Robin, or sent them back to the unfinished chamber while he consulted the Royal Engineers, then Greeves and his two men would be the first to die as they frantically worked at the walls. If the explosion didn't kill them outright, they would be buried alive and then slowly suffocate.

"Yes, all right." Marsh looked up the shaft, calling softly to the men waiting there.

It was a matter of minutes before the charges were being brought down. Five men followed, carrying them barefooted down the tunnel to the end. james, eyes narrowed, watched them go.

"I'll set the fuse," he offered, a little too casually.

Greeves' eyebrows shot up. He had the strongest feeling that this man didn't trust a coal miner to do the work properly. Why? The coal miners were chosen because they were experienced men. Why did this man not trust them? His time at the front had made him trust his feelings, his instincts. And something about the way Marsh spoke had caught his attention.

Marsh went back down the tunnel, overseeing the placing of the charges. It would be a full load, and by the time the space at the end was packed and the bags of chalk were piled against the charges to make sure the blast was contained and didn't blow back into the Valean lines, the Atlesians might well catch them all like rats in a hole. A risky business, but they all knew that.

Greeves stood to one side, cautioning the men passing the charges to mind what they were about and to be as quiet as possible. Twice he saw Marsh glare at James, but whatever the problem was, it would have to wait. When the last charge had been laid, the bags of chalk were taken down and packed tight, and then it was only a matter of setting off the blast. James collected his gear and prepared to connect the fuse to the blasting caps.

But Marsh didn't send for James.

Instead, it was another private who set the fuse. After lighting the fuse he came racing down the tunnel, grinning broadly as he passed James.

The three of them were confused when suddenly everyone scrambled up the shaft, out of harm's way. Greeves glanced at his watch, realising that they were only a minute or two to being buried alive alerted his two men to run. Before they could even start running the air seemed to be sucked out of the space around them.

The fuse was shorter than normal.

A/N:Third time's the charm. I uploaded the drafts instead of the finished one