William entered the mines for the first time the day after he'd ended things with Sebastian.
It had been a long walk, especially since he'd avoided Robin's, and therefore Sebastian's house, on the way. He stepped into the darkness of the cave that was held open by old supports. Warnings of danger were printed on rusted signs. An old, busted mine cart lay on its side near the entrance, rubble and dust on its wooden frame. A broken lever was sticking out of a mangle gearbox. William passed it on, and squinted into the dimness. Then froze because he wasn't alone.
Standing in the middle of the large cave was a man with only one eye. He was tall and had the scars that indicated some old fight. He wore an old red commander's cloak over one shoulder, his thumbs tucked into his belt. He was peering down at some hole in the cave and William could make out the glint of nails. It was a ladder attached to the hole.
"Hmmmmm. That wizard up yonder said I might see you down here today, son. Didn't expect you so early in the morn'." His accent was from the northern country, deep from the mountains. William had heard it before on some new recruits that had joined from the high peaks of the Ferngill hills. He associated it with intelligent men who had good and instinctive woodcraft, unlike the city-slickers, like him, who didn't know his ass from his elbow when he'd first joined up.
"I'm William," he said, remembered the Wizard's entire spiel about manners and whatnot. The man nodded at him then looked down at the hole.
"Marlon. Leader of the Adventure's guild. You wanna come take a looksee down here?"
William looked around then stepped closer towards the dark, yawning hole.
"Used to be a time when this mine was active," the greyhaired man said, rubbing a silver streaked goatee. "But no more. The mines dried up and with them, the shipping died.
"Shipping?"
"Course. You think we got all those docks up at the coast for our health? You could crank out the ore, then float it down the river to the ocean. But the mines dried up. Nothing left now but a few pockets here and there. Nothing a big company wants to deal with."
A strange sound echoed up the ladder and it set William's hair up.
"What the fuck was that?"
"Well," Marlon said, eyes narrowed, squinting down at the hole, "nature hates a vacuum son. The humans moved out. And other…things…moved in."
William shivered as there was another faded screech.
"I keep them from making their way out of the front door."
William narrowed his eyes. "These…things. They dangerous?"
"Dangerous enough. Pests on the higher levels. They get a little more cantankerous the farther down you get."
William rolled his head on his neck then adjusted his rucksack before reaching for the ladder.
Marlon raised a brow. "What you doing, son?"
"Well." William said. "Way I figure it, there are some things that need killing. And I haven't gotten to kill something that needed killing in a long time."
Marlon stared at him with his good eye before unbuckling something on his chest then passing it over. The lump under his red cloak revealed a long, rust-speckled sword.
"I'd found this in the rubble. Thought I'd go clean it up and resell it. But you look like you could use it if you're going down there. You manage to kill 10 of the varmints, you come over to my lodge house and come see me."
William looked down at the sword and weighed it in his hand.
He knew fuck all about sword fighting, but he had some close combat training. Couldn't be too hard to figure out.
"Thanks Marlon. I'll come see you by the end of the day."
Marlon clapped him on the back then turned, leaving him to his task.
William took a breath, and then narrowed his eyes, ready to make whatever creepy crawly that was down in the darkness his bitch.
It was near sunset and Sebastian was sitting out on the banks of the lake when he saw Will emerge from the mines near the top of the mountain. Instinctively he slipped behind a tree, his heart pounding. He'd been waiting outside to catch Maru before she got home from the clinic, nervously pacing and smoking a cigarette from his fresh pack that he'd gotten that day at the Joja.
Will was dirty and not wearing his shirt. He had a sword hilt sticking out of his rucksack and was hauling a bag of rocks from the old, abandoned mines. Sebastian wasn't sure if he should roll his eyes at the ridiculous picture he made or be concerned about the spreading blood on his arm. His missing shirt was wrapped tightly around his bicep, red from blood. Sebastian's heart pounded in sudden concern and a burst of indecision. The asshole had some nerve to walk around like that after chewing him out for a damned sprained ankle. Didn't he know a dirty t-shirt was no replacement for a bandage? If he kept up like that it wasn't going to get infected and—
"Oh my gosh, Farmer Bill!"
Sebastian started at the shout and turned his head. Maru was still wearing her clinic scrubs, her hair pulled back under her cap. She was crossing the meadow and evidently hadn't noticed him hiding underneath the tree.
"Oh," Will said, nodding over at his half-sister. "Hey, Nurse."
"Bill, you're bleeding! You have to let me get you to Doc Harvey."
"Nah." Will kept walking. Sebastian bit his lip. Was he really that pigheaded?
"Are you really that pigheaded?" Maru said, exasperated. "You could get an infection! If it gets too bad, you'll lose the whole arm."
"Nurse," they were passing in front of his tree now, "you seem swell and all, but I'm going home. I've got some stuff. I'll stitch it up. No big deal."
She huffed out a breath that blew her bangs up and stomped a foot. "Well, you've given me no choice."
"No choice about what?"
"No choice about following you home."
Sebastian froze.
He was supposed to come out to her today, damn it. HOW in the hell was William screwing up his opportunities AGAIN?
"Suit yourself, nursey."
He watched helplessly as Maru followed William up the path to his farm, and then, narrowing his eyes, followed at a discreet distance.
Even if Will had broken his heart, he didn't want him to bleed out. If he lost consciousness from blood loss, the big bastard would be too heavy for Maru to haul to Harvey's.
He couldn't hear anything they were saying until he slipped onto William's property and crouched behind his house. Then frowned. No wonder it got so drafty in there so easily; the walls near the floor were practically paper thin, the heat from the chimney radiating out.
He shifted until he could sit, then started when Ingrid languidly emerged from under the house and climbed into his lap, purring.
He swallowed, his heart racing. Could they hear her? But no. They didn't seem to hear anything. He leaned against the wall, listening.
"—And you have to sterilize these things first! You can't just start stitching."
"Untwist your panties, Maru," Will said. "It's all sterile. Second box." Sebastian strained and heard movement, then scraping, then a lid snapped open.
"Oh my god, William, what did you think you were going to need this for? It's practically a crash cart."
"Army motto. Be prepared."
"I thought the Army motto was, 'This I will defend.'" Sebastian could hear the bed creak and Maru was snapping on gloves. He adjusted his head and found a crack he could peer into. He could only see feet. William's bare toes and Maru's sensible nursing shoes.
"Hard to defend something if you're not prepared for your enemies, ma'am."
"This is going to sting," she said primly as she stepped closer to him.
"No offense, but getting bit by one of those damned bug things stung a lot worse than whatever that- SHIT lady, what'd you do, dip it in fire first?"
"Hold still you big baby," she snapped, shoes shuffling.
"Not if you're going to freaking take off my arm with whatever that shit was."
"It's alcohol, you infantile pansy. Now be still or I'm marching you to Doc Harvey and letting HIM do this."
William grumbled and Sebastian could imagine his face, grumpy and frowning as Maru tended him with a no-nonsense, no-bullshit demeanor.
"Are all nurses so mean?"
"I'm not a nurse," she said. "And this is going to need stitches."
"I can do it."
"You are crazy. This room? Not sterile."
"Sterile is for weaklings."
"Sterile is for people who don't want their limbs rotting off because they took toxic masculinity to the Darwin level of stupid."
Silence. Then, "What if you did it?"
"I don't stitch people! I told you, I'm not a nurse. Doc Harvey is going to have to do the surgery."
William groaned. "Then for the love of god, just stick a bandage on it and wrap it up and I'll deal with it later."
"Bill—"
"Maruuuuu," he drug out the last syllable of her name as if to mock her. "Patient is non-compliant, capisce? I'm not going to see Doc Harvey over this wimpy little scratch. And no one asked you to come over here and OW, FUCK! That was on purpose!"
"If you only needed a bandage, that wouldn't have hurt. C'mon, Bill, it's deep."
"No."
"Ugh. Fine. You're impossible."
"It's my middle name, sweetheart," he grumbled.
"Now. What the heck stung you? I've never seen a bug that could do that before."
Sebastian winced as Ingrid dug her claws into his leg and bit back a noise that might alert them that he was there. He almost missed what Will said next.
"It was in the caves. Turns out the things that go bump live down there."
Sebastian's heart hammered, eyes wide. William had gone into the mines? Not just wandered around the first floor the way any sane person would.
"Inside the mines? And there was a monster bug?"
"Yes ma'am. Big as my arm."
"Sounds like you need to be more careful, Farmer Bill."
"You can wrap it tighter."
"You don't need to lose circulation."
"Eh. I can take it."
Maru snorted and Sebastian felt similarly inclined.
"You really are the macho meathead that Haley said you were."
"That's not very nice, Nurse Maru. You keep talking like that and my poor feelings are gonna get all hurt."
"Oh please. If you had feelings you'd have gone to Doc Harvey. But not you, Bill. You're all testosterone. There. That should hold up. When it inevitably starts to swell up and hurt, just come by the clinic and we'll try and save your arm."
"And get more of your tender mercies? Why, thank you for the invite, but I think I'll pass."
Maru started bustling around and Sebastian shifted, starting to wonder how he was going to manage to get off Will's property without either of them seeing him.
"Listen," Will said, "you're Sebastian's little sister, yeah?"
"Half-sister," she said absently. "Same mom, different dads."
"A sibling is a sibling," Will said, "doesn't matter how they got that way."
She gave a soft chuckle. "You think so, huh? Well. Yeah then. Sebastian's my big brother. What of it."
"How's he been doing? You know. Over the past few days?"
Sebastian's heart began to do a double time rhythm. Will was asking about him? Why would he care? He'd been the one to call it off. He froze in stroking Ingrid, listening even harder for Maru's answer.
"Seb? Fine I guess. He's been spending all his time with his new girlfriend now. Mom is over the moon."
Silence. Sebastian wished he could see Will's face. Wished he knew what he was thinking.
"It's real important to your parents that he have a girlfriend, huh?"
Sebastian didn't think that Maru picked up on the bitterness in William's voice, but it cut him like a knife. He looked down at Ingrid and felt immediately guilty. He shook his head. He'd have a better chance of getting out of here unseen if he left now. He carefully moved the ginger cat, who gave a trill of annoyance before stalking off to go somewhere else and began to slip his way out.
He'd meet Maru on the way home.
And maybe then he'd have the courage to say what he'd been trying to figure out how to say all day.