that there was much to look at. The mine tunnel was as dusty and dark as it had been before I’d fallen asleep.
To my right, it curved downward, towards the twisting warren of secondary tunnels where I spent my days. To my left, it rose upwards in the direction of the guard house and the Shadow Caverns. In the center of the tunnel ran a narrow track, the rails the mine carts rode along. Shackled to them, in either direction, were at least a hundred sleeping prisoners.
I stretched my arms over my head as I tried to rid my mind of Galin’s sly smile.
A few minutes later, a light flickered, and a guard’s voice cut through the darkness. “Wake up!”
Around me, dark forms stirred, coughing and groaning. As the prisoners awoke, a pair of guards began to walk between the cart tracks. One guard pulled an empty cart behind him, while the other carried a long iron rod, which he used to prod a sleeping prisoner. “On your feet!”
When the prisoner didn’t move fast enough, he brought the rod down on the prone form. There was a yelp of pain.
“Time to get moving, mine-rats!” That was what they called us. Mine-rats, rock-slugs, ore-vermin. The condemned scum of Night Elf society.
The guards continued along the mine track. One of the prisoners didn’t move even after they’d been hit with the rod a few times, and the guard in charge of whacking shouted, “We got a dead one.”
My stomach clenched. With a practiced move, the pair of guards tossed the prisoner’s body into the formerly empty cart. By the time they’d reached me, they’d hoisted up four more bodies.
Every morning was a reminder that we were expendable, to be used until we died or went mad. No elf lasted more than a year or two in the Audr mines. Death in darkness was the fate Galin had consigned me to—or so he thought.
“Good morning, traitorous whore,” said one of the guards as they reached me. I recognized him and the bandage on his nose immediately. This was the elf who’d made the mistake of smacking my ass.
I smiled charmingly. “Morning. Oh, dear. Did you cut yourself shaving?” I asked.
“Bitch—” The guard started to lunge for me, but his companion held him back.
“Not now!”
The guard with the injured nose growled something at me under his breath, but he followed his partner down the line of prisoners.
When they reached the end, they turned around and began dragging the mine cart full of bodies back towards the guard house. This was unusual. Typically, when the guards reached the last prisoner, they would unlock our shackles so we could work.
“What’s going on?” called out a prisoner.
“Warden wants to see you vermin in the prison yard.”
Around me, whispers rose, echoing off the stone walls. Something was up.
The yard was the remains of an old vergr crystal deposit that had been emptied years ago, leaving a cavernous room that could easily fit a few thousand elves. We were supposed to visit the yard once every week for exercise like they do in most prisons, but they never took us. In fact, the only time I’d been to the yard was when I’d passed through on my first day in the mine.
When the guards reached the top of the tunnel, they finally released the magical bindings on our shackles. As I began to trudge up after them, Hulda appeared at my side.
“What’s going on?” she whispered. Apparently, whatever was happening was beyond her pay grade.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think they’re planning on punishing someone?” Hulda’s eyes gleamed with excitement.
“Maybe.”
Whatever they had planned, I was already envisioning how I might escape during it.
Chapter 5
Ali
The guards led us into the yard and lined us up in front of an old gallows. It was a massive wooden scaffold with enough room for five nooses. I shivered at the sight of it.
“Maybe they’re going to hang someone,” whispered Hulda excitedly.
“You are far too enthusiastic about that prospect.” I was trying to ignore her, but my stomach clenched anyway. I’d assaulted a guard. If anyone was going to be executed, it would likely be me.
The gallows were ancient. With no access to the sun, trees couldn’t grow in the Shadow Caverns. This meant that anything made of wood had to have been built before Ragnarok—a thousand years ago, when my people had lived free under the sun and the stars.
Around us, prisoners whispered, and eventually, a guard yelled, “Quiet!”
Silence descended as the warden ascended