Before the sun rose to its midpoint the next day the party were working their way down to the pithead of the Nashkel Iron Mine. The unpaved road sloped downward and they stepped carefully to avoid slipping on the flinty rocks. Soon though the road levelled out into a broad, flat area circled by cliffs of reddish stone. Here and there men and boys in rough clothes went about their business. Some women and girls worked as well, tired-looking and silent. The miners would look up as the party passed but none stopped their work. Anna thought their faces seemed empty, as if a kind of resigned despair had settled into their souls. A few Amnish guards stood sentry. They mostly looked bored.
A guard approached the group and seeing their papers directed them to the foreman Eric's office. It proved to be a crude wooden structure that probably hadn't looked much better when it was newly built. Entering they found its inhabitants well suited to the building. A heavy, crabby-looking man sat at a rough table that served as a desk. His dark red hair stuck out in all directions and his beard hung untrimmed. On a chest lay an equally insolent-looking cat with a patchwork coat. Its amber eyes regarded the party with casual contempt but it did not budge. The man glared at the newcomers.
"Wonderful. More walking tin-cans. What do ye want, strangers?"
He read the mayor's letter with a snort. "So you're the lot the mayor's brought in to clear the mine? I take it he didn't hire ye by sight then. Well, you can head down pit if ye like. Not my look-out if some tin-heads are feelin' the urge to say goodbye to the blessed earth. The men here are my responsibility. They're a hard-working, honest lot, not some dressed-up dandies who run around waving swords at windmills. Their job's gone a helluva lot harder these past few months n'all. Do you know how many kids are going hungry on account of this mess? 'Course not, yer only thinking of yer own pockets. Well, for what it's worth me tinnies, I hope you do find whatever's down there. These blasted soldiers don't give a toss, that's for damn sure."
After the party endured this speech the man rose up somewhat awkwardly. Anna saw his right leg was false from the knee down.
"You like me stump?" he said, noticing their glances. "I earned that fifteen year ago in tunnel collapse. I was lucky though, I just lost a leg. Three of me mates lost their lives. Still down there, they are. Shove off, Jasper."
Eric walked over to the chest and dislodged the cat from his perch with one light swish of his broad hand. The animal registered a meow of disapproval and strode with much dignity through a small hole in the door.
"Mayor told me to draw up some charts to keep you lot from going round in circles down there. I've got 'em here." He straightened up from the chest with a grunt and laid the maps on the table.
"Most of the men stick t' first two levels now on account of the troubles. There's four levels of the mine all told, but these hills are full of caves and some of the mineshafts connects into 'em. Nobody's sure where they go, or how far or deep." He shook his head. "I dunno. When granddad mined here the men stayed pretty close to the surface. But all this new-fangled kit means they've got us digging deeper than men was meant to, you ask me. Only a matter of time before we came across something unnatural."
"What do you think's killing the miners, Eric?" Finn asked after examining the maps.
"Hells, if I knew that, lad—" he began. "It's not human, whatever it is. The bodies they've pulled out've been covered with cuts and marks what looks like claws. A couple've even been shrivelled up like they'd been down there for months when they'd been seen just that morn. There's all kinds of wild stories about demons. The women don't go down shafts anymore, and most of the men are keeping their kids out of the mine n'all—one of 'em what was killed was a lad of only thirteen. Horrible, it were."
Armed with Eric's maps and speculations but somehow not feeling much the better for them the party set for the mine entrance. Anna thought it looked like a black mouth waiting to swallow them all. Her legs felt a bit wobbly. She never like caves, especially ones with demonic creatures running around in them. The guards at the entrance stared at them but let them pass into the darkness.
...
Near the surface the walls and roof stayed fairly high though even as the shaft sloped further down into the depths. Torches blazed along the walls, throwing their eerie light over the rocks. They passed a couple miners guiding a pony that struggled on the rocky floor with a cartful of ore. The miners stared at the party as if something alien had come into their world.
After a long walk they came finally to a low room where a series of shafts headed off into different directions. A crude lift stood at the opposite end. A team of ponies idled harnessed to a crankshaft. Two guards who looked as if they'd rather be anywhere else stood beside the lift. A bell rang and a miner whipped up the ponies. A platform with several miners and a trolley of ore appeared up through the ground and the ponies stopped. Another pair of miners backed a pony against the load and proceeded to haul it towards the surface.
"'Tis a shameful thing, how they use these creatures in these depths. It goes against nature," Jaheira commented with disgust.
"Is it worse than how they treat the men?" Anna asked.
She knew mining was a dirty business but seeing the ragged, thin men endlessly swinging their picks against the stone and the women and children hunched-backed, picking over the sharp rocks she felt thankful indeed to be a mage.
"Nay," Jaheira answered grimly. "Man and beast seem to be as one down here."
"Ho there," she called to the men on the lift. "Is this the way to the lower levels?"
"Aye, m'lady, it surely is," a miner answered with obvious surprise.
The miners departed and the party stepped onto the platform.
"I hope this thing holds," Finn muttered taking control of the guiding rope.
....
The lift creaked down the black shaft and arrived at the second level. The weight of the rocks overhead began to affect Anna and she could vividly imagine the tonnes of earth above their heads. She tried to shake it off though and focus on the matter at hand. Miners busily worked there and near the lift a trolley of ore stood ready to take to the surface. Finn picked up one of the red lumps of rock.
"Hard to believe all this trouble comes down to something like this," he said thoughtfully, examining the stone.
In the dim torchlight the webs of hematite glistened like liquid on the rock. He made a short noise and tossed it back into the pile.
A miner noticed their arrival and approached the party.
"Begging your pardon, but what are you folks doing down here?"
"We have been sent by the mayor to investigate the problems with the mine," Jaheira answered.
"Oh, aye? About time someone did. I'm the boss of these men here. This is far as we're willing to dig anymore, too many men've been lost on lower levels."
"Can you tell us anything about the men who were killed? Where were they found?"
The boss marked off the spots where dead miners were discovered. Although some men were killed on the third level most of the bodies had been found on the fourth.
"Lovely," Finn remarked. "Of course most of the caves connect through there, too."
"I'd stay out of them, I were you," the boss said. "there's something evil down there for sure."
"Unfortunately, that's what we're here for."
After some talk the party decided to head directly down to the fourth level. On the platform Anna's last sight of humanity was the mine boss, who was certainly not expecting to see them alive again.
...
The lift crept painfully slowly before finally hitting stone at the bottom of the shaft. Beyond the flickering lantern-light was a solid darkness that seemed almost like a physical barrier. It was blacker than any night, blacker than anything Anna could imagine. It felt like the world ended and the void began in that space where the brave little lights finally faltered.
"Be wary," Jaheira said. "Any number of traps or pitfalls might await us down here."
Imoen scouted near to the front as she dared, searching for traps. Anna wondered if her skills as a pickpocket would translate into an ability to find and disarm any that might block their way.
"Look," the girl whispered.
She carefully lifted from the dust a broken half of a small light arrow.
"Kobolds?" Khalid asked.
"Mmm," Jaheira replied, examining the dart. "They would fit the bill as our red-eyed monsters."
"Kobolds aren't much bigger than a dog, right?" Finn asked. "I don't see how they'd be much of a threat."
"They are small but travel in packs, and a single arrow can bring down the strongest warrior. It will not do to be overly confident with even the most apparently weak of enemies. But you are correct, I do not see how kobolds themselves could have killed so many men down here without revealing themselves."
"What then?" Anna said. "The foreman said some men had been…shrivelled. Kobolds couldn't do that."
"No. It is difficult to say without seeing their corpses. The foreman was not very specific in his descriptions."
"B-best to be p-p-prepared f-f-or"
"Anything?" Finn cut in dryly.
"Y-yes," Khalid said, looking at Finn. "Yes."
....
The party continued down a passage to where several of the men were found dead. The stillness of the shafts was overwhelming. The slight clinking of armour and shields and occasional whispers of the company were louder than thunderclaps in that dead place. Sounds bounced off the rock walls making them seem like they were coming from ahead and behind, making it difficult to listen for attackers.
Even the cool air had a staleness to it from the lack of growing green and every step she took made Anna want to scream and run. The dark and cold stillness was more frightening than any enemy could be, she was sure. She touched the amulet under her robes and made a small prayer to Chauntea in her mind. At least, she asked, let me see the sky and trees again.
"Here," Jaheira said finally.
They reached a spot where a passage forked off to the right. The air coming from the new passage was colder and a subtle breeze could be felt. Seeing no obvious clues at the scene they marked the wall and followed the new path where it would lead. The passage twisted in an arc but eventually ended in a natural crack in the wall too narrow for any of them to get through.
"Dead end," Finn said, putting his hand up to the puffs of air coming through the gap.
"Ugh, don't say that," said Imoen, clutching her shoulders.
"Where to now?" he asked Jaheira, ignoring Imoen.
"There are other sites to investigate."
The next two spots were equally void of evidence of the miners' murderers. They saw a few more signs of kobolds in the passages but so far the level seemed strangely empty.
"I don't like this," Jaheira said. "The kobolds were here recently, where have they gone? It isn't like them to allow intruders to enter their domain without a fight."
"Perhaps there's something else down here that's frightened them off," Anna suggested.
"That's p-possible," said Khalid.
"And I was beginning to hope there wasn't anything down here but some little lizards," Imoen said.
"Weren't we all," Finn replied.
....
As the party set off down the fourth passage Anna started to wonder how long they were going to wander around in that hole. Surely there was something there but was stumbling around till they found it, or it found them, the best option? She could come up with no better plan though so she followed along behind Finn. He was not in the best of humour either, especially as he had to stoop to walk through many of the passages. Occasionally she turned back to Khalid who brought up the rear. He gave her an encouraging smile but his grey eyes betrayed his nervousness.
They began to hear the sound of running water up ahead. They followed it along and soon the miners' passage opened into a large natural cave. The lanterns revealed a waterfall that flowed out of a flat crack in the rock wall and went splashing into a wide dark pool. Heavy stalactites hung from the ceiling and the lantern light set the minerals in the rocks glittering like hundreds of tiny underground stars. If not for their situation Anna would have considered it a beautiful sight. They picked their way around the pool and up to the mouth of another smaller cavern.
"Wait," Jaheira said, her eyes scanning the cave.
The walls of the cavern were sparkling too, but they had a softer, almost fabric-like look. The air had a sour odour and Anna noticed some odd bulges in the walls. Horror came over her when she discerned dangling from one, a shrivelled human hand.
"Go back," Jaheira said low.
Before they could make a step the walls of the cavern came alive. With a hiss large black shapes crawled quickly over wall and ceiling towards the party. Spiders, giant spiders.
They moved away from the entrance as fast as they could without turning their backs on the beasts, stumbing over rocks and slipping into the water. The spiders moved like liquid out of their den. How many were in there? In seconds they would be surrounded, their exit cut off by the venomous foes.
This time Anna did not hesitate. She threw back her arms and spoke magic words into the air. In front of her an orb of pulsing flame appeared from the ether. She felt its heat on her face and through force of will sent the ball flying into the spiders' den, turning away as the air exploded into flame. The spiders near the entrance were singed to a crisp.
The spiders that escaped the inferno began dropping down from the ceiling on silver ropes of web. Anna targeted a smaller one with a missile and it was dead before it hit the ground. The air seemed full of bulbous eyes and razor-tipped legs. The spiders must have sensed the destruction of their home and began to attack with the will of a cornered animal. Anna and Imoen stood back to back, the mage firing whatever spell she could think of and the thief her arrows. The spiders came swift and Anna feared running out of magic, so she took up her staff and began wildly pummelling any spider that came close.
"Cut off their legs!" Jaheira cried to the others while smashing her mace onto a spider's glowing eyes. Finn swung his sword low, crippling the arachnid he faced. It let out a scream that the other spiders echoed.
Anna suddenly felt a weight on her back. A spider jumped on her, but its target was Imoen. The girl let out a sharp cry as the beast's fangs bit into her skin. Almost immediately she went into a seizure, dropping to the ground and twitching in a grotesque manner. The beast turned to Anna. It sprung at her and knocked her off her feet. Anna grappled with its slashing legs, her attacker's weight too much for her. She needed both hands to keep the fangs away and could not cast a spell. Desperately she kicked and screamed but the beast was winning. In a final mad burst of strength she managed to reach the dagger on her belt and drove it into the creature's side. A gooey mass bubbled out and the spider struck at her harder. She pushed it off somehow and cried out a few words. Flames wreathed her hands and she placed them on the spider's body, cooking its soft insides within its leathery skin. It shuddered and moved no more.
In a daze Anna turned back to the battle. Quickly she went to Imoen laying unconscious from the poison flowing through her veins. From a small bag on her belt Anna took out a vial and carefully poured it down her throat. That should neutralize the poison's effects. She picked up her staff and moved in to help kill the remaining spiders. Finn saw her though and shouted at her to stay back. Anna stood guard over Imoen while Finn and the other warriors slew the last ones.
Once again the only sound to be heard was the falling water. The party took a moment to make sure that no more spiders remained alive while Jaheira saw to Imoen.
"You should take a healing potion," Finn said to Anna. Only then she noticed the cuts along her hands and arms where she spider's legs struck her.
"I'm all right, I don't want to waste one."
"Do it or Jaheira will fuss you to death."
"Good point."
She took another bottle from her pack and drank. A sudden warmth flowed through her and the sting of her wounds faded.
