Page 63 of Riv's Sanctuary
It was what everyone around them was doing. Males. Females. Chids. It didn't matter the age.
They all woke early and went to bed late, working tirelessly to mine the metal from the unforgiving rock.
His and Sohut’s bucket was almost full after a day of digging tirelessly, their small hands broken and chipped by the sharp rock.
"It's almost full, Sohut," he said. "We're almost done for today."
Sohut sniffled.
The dust in the mines irritated the soft lining in his nose, making it difficult to breathe.
Every time Sohut sniffled, it hardened Riv’s resolve to get them out of the mines one day.
Their mother had sent them there to die but they wouldn’t.
He wouldn’t let it happen.
“Just a few more, Sohut. Then our bucket will be full. Then we’ll be done. We’ll be done and they’ll let us rest.”
"Is that so?" the voice beside them had Riv turning quickly, his small hands closing around the adult-size mining chisel.
Sohut's eyes widened a little, his ears pricking from beneath his hair, as he saw who it was.
Traakni leered at them. He was a tall male; a merkannian by blood, but his golden skin was almost completely hidden by the dirt and the dust from the mines.
Traakni blinked at them with his one eye and Sohut moved a little out of his view.
It wasn't the first time that Traakni had come to steal their days' work. As a matter of fact, he'd done it before, many times, and gotten away with it. And Riv had been the one to take the whippings for not turning in any metal—whippings and working all night to fill the bucket, only to spend the following day working his normal shift, too.
Mining talik metal was hard and some degenerates in the mines preyed on chidren like him and Sohut, preferring to steal than to do an honest day’s work.
No one in the mines could be trusted.
He'd learned that early.
They all hated working for the horrible Tasqals, but being in the mines was better than being in the Tasqals’ beds.
At least, that’s what he’d heard some of the older miners say.
He didn’t understand what was so bad about being in a bed. A bed was better to sleep in than the hard floor of their cave down in the mines.
"Leave us alone, Traakni," Riv said, standing his ground in front of the adult male.
He didn’t care that Traakni was older than he was. Stronger.
He would fight him if he had to.
He had to be strong for Sohut.
They were all each other had.
"Oh shut it, you little shit." Traakni moved quickly, grabbing their bucket filled with metal and emptying it into his own.
Riv watched him do it, the world slowing down completely with Traakni moving in slow motion.
He didn't know what happened.
It was a fire within him that he didn't know had been there.