Chapter 8

Tremor

The donkeys were loaded off the truck and put in a row before Bothmaron. Bothmaron paid Honest John, who was relieved to find out that they had made it just in time. Before long, he and Gideon were in the truck and out of there. Lampwick and Alexander watched as the truck disappeared in the distance. Bothmaron was inspecting the donkeys. He stopped at Lampwick and Alexander.

"Hmm… they seem healthy looking. Put them with Tremor," he called to a worker.

Lampwick and Alexander were led to a corral with a dirty field shelter at the end of it. The worker locked them and walked off.

"What's gonna happen to us?" asked Alexander.

"You go the same way as any donkey in these mines," came a deep rumbling voice from inside the field shelter. Out of the darkness came a huge muscular donkey. He had a huge horrific scar over his right eye and he had a huge chunk missing from his right ear.

"Are you Tremor?" asked Lampwick.

"Not a bad guess," the old donkey snarled.

"I'm Lampwick, this is Alexander."

"Names mean nothing around here," growled Tremor. "You're new here so I'd better make this crystal clear." He moved towards them. "These are no donkey rides. If those wimps on the beaches think carting around some 16 stone fat boy is Hell, they should come here more often. Here, the only time we mean anything to those humans is when we have to cart salt back to the surface. Otherwise, we're simply the dirt beneath their feet. The message is written all over my body." He turned his side towards the two donkeys. His sides and back were completely covered in scars more horrific than the one on his face.

"Stop it," cried Lampwick. "You're scaring Alexander."

Alexander was indeed cowering in the corner of the corral. Tremor looked up at Lampwick, snorted threateningly and moved towards him.

"Now look here Candlewick," he snarled.

"Lampwick!"

"Whatever! You're not a human anymore, you're a donkey. In these parts, dignity belongs to a human, not a donkey." He began to calm down. "Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm proud of telling the kid this, but he might as well go in there prepared for what's coming." He backed away. "You've been lucky enough to miss today's shift but tomorrow the real work begins."

He went back to the shelter. Lampwick called after him "Were you a human once?"

Tremor stopped at the entrance and said "I don't talk about what I used to have and what I'm never gonna bet back."

It was almost as if some unknown evil made tomorrow come quicker than it should, because almost before Lampwick and Alexander realised it, they were waking up next morning. The smell inside the field shelter had been horrible. As they waited to be collected, Tremor came up to them.

"Kids," he said quietly. "I notice we've got off on the wrong hoof. It's just been so long since I've shared my corral, I guess I'm a little rusty at greeting newcomers."

"Don't sweat it," said Lampwick.

"It's okay," said Alexander timidly. It was not that he hadn't forgiven Tremor, but his appearance was still intimidating.

"Now, according to the humans we're taking that cart into shaft B. You two should be okay, so long as you stick with me."

A few seconds later, the workers came and led the donkeys to their cart. It was not so bad out in the open, having the fresh air all around them, but when they were underground and the entrance was out of sight, the heat was horrible. The lanterns lit the way for the donkeys, but as far as the heat went it did nothing to help. The three donkeys were sweating almost immediately. Alexander could not help but look up at the ceiling. At that instant a stone fell from the ceiling and hit him between the eyes.

"You're lucky that was only a stone." rumbled Tremor. "Never look up when you're underground."

Lampwick and Alexander were struggling now, but they had to keep going as there was a huge fat man behind them with a whip and they were quite keen to avoid it.

"We stop when we reach the end of the track," said Tremor.

It seemed like an eternity before they reached the end of the track. The man had already whipped the donkeys quite a few times. The feeling was horrible. The rest that they got was no the rest they had in mind… they were not allowed to sit down. They had to wait fifteen hours for the cart to be filled with salt. Men chiselled away at the wall with picks, while others laid down more tracks.

"Keep flexing your muscles," instructed Tremor. "It'll make going back a little bit easier."

Lampwick and Alexander flexed the muscles in their legs.

"How long have you been here?" asked Lampwick.

"Nearly 50 years," grumbled Tremor.

"50?!" gasped Lampwick. "But I thought donkeys…"

"It's amazing how much of your humanity stays with you when you turn into a donkey."

"So you were a human," said Alexander excitedly.

"I suppose I can't hide that from you," grumbled Tremor in a tone that could almost be described as a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "Yeah, I was a human."

"What was your name?" asked Alexander.

"Look kids, keep flexing, you're slowing down."