The Crystal Heart (14 page)

‘Clearly you don't believe that anymore,' I said, as he took a swig and handed me the bottle. The cordial tasted strongly of mint and was quite refreshing.

Amadey grinned. ‘You're right there. But I wouldn't mind if it turned me into a prince so I could lay the world at the feet of a beautiful girl someday. What about you?'

I shrugged off the unexpected pang that went through me at his words. ‘Magic or no magic, I've no one to impress.'

‘No – I mean, what would you like it to turn you into?'

‘A cave goblin,' I said, and couldn't help laughing at the expression on Amadey's face.

‘You're a real joker,' he said, shaking his head. ‘But it doesn't do to joke about them! Karel told me one of his work unit was bitten by one of those creatures. Did you know their teeth are poisonous? That poor man lost his leg because it went bad from the bite.'

‘I thought cave goblins hardly ever ventured into the mines. Aren't they only found in Night?'

‘No. Didn't you hear the overseer? He said to bring no meat, because it attracts –'

‘Yes, but then he also said there was a mons –' I stopped myself, thinking better of what I was about to say. ‘He also said there was a month in which you were paid twice.'

Amadey's eyes widened. ‘I didn't hear that. He really said that?'

I sighed. ‘No, he didn't. I was just making another joke. Sorry.'

‘No need to be sorry. It's good to be jolly,' Amadey remarked, handing me the bottle again. To please him,
I took another swig, and then he closed the cap of his flask again. ‘It'll make our work go much better. Hey, do you think we'll see any
feyin
?'

‘I have no idea.'

‘It's strange, isn't it?'

I sighed. ‘What is?'

‘How we were at war with them, and now we're not. My grandmother, who has met
feyin
, says they are changeable folk and not to be trusted. What do you think?'

‘I think your grandmother is a wise woman.'

Amadey beamed. ‘Oh, that is so! But you know, despite that, I really would like to see a
feyin
in the flesh. I have seen them in books and in the newspaper, of course, like when the Prince of Night visited with his daughter and –'

‘Look, Amadey,' I said, more sharply than I'd intended, ‘I couldn't care less about
feyin
, royal or not. And if you don't mind, I'm dog-tired. I need to sleep.'

‘Oh. But it's still early …' began Amadey, gesturing towards the other bunks, whose occupants were busily engaged in playing cards.

‘You join them if you want,' I said, climbing the ladder to my bunk. ‘I'm whacked. And we have an early start tomorrow.'

‘Oh.'

‘Goodnight,' I said firmly. Pulling the grey blankets over my head, I pretended to go to sleep. But pretence very soon turned to reality as exhaustion set in, and I slept without a break all night long.

It was just on dawn when we were woken the next morning. After a hurried wash and breakfast of porridge and strong tea, we were bustled out of the barracks, allocated picks and sent off to the mines on foot. The entrance was guarded by a couple of brawny giants who demanded to see our identification before giving us each a card that we had to punch into a machine at every section we entered and left. Beyond the entrance and the first machine was a long narrow passageway lit only by flickering lights, down which we were funnelled, emerging into a cavern dominated almost entirely by a metal lift that took up more than half of its walls.

‘Karel says it's used to ferry the carts that carry the salt to the surface. They would have been the first ones down this morning,' Amadey said in an awed whisper, as we entered the lift.

‘Good for them,' I said, but my irony was lost on Amadey, who seemed to delight in every small experience in the mines.

The lift crawled slowly down a long shaft, ejecting us finally into a huge chamber, well lit by gas lamps. It felt like another world, with no sense of night and day. There was a strange splendour to the place: the walls, ceiling and floor were made of black salt stone; bright white crystals of salt rambled on two giant rock pillars, and a large statue of the Prince of Night, carved in rock crystal, stood in a prominent niche against one wall.

This was the place where the work crews punched in at the beginning of a shift and checked in with over seers, and it also served as the loading dock for the mine ponies. Before we were sent off to our workstations, the head overseer gave us another little lecture on safety in the mines, and then as a demonstration, he had all the lights switched off in the main cavern, so that we'd know what it was like if we were ever tempted to wander. It was so dark you felt as though in some strange way you had ceased to exist, for you had become invisible to yourself, and even touch and sound seemed muffled.

After that, our section overseer immediately directed us to a long flight of slippery stone steps that led down to the place where we were to begin our tasks. This was a large cave, or even a chasm, which had clearly once been much more solid but had been terraced into sections. Here and there were lively carvings of strange creatures – goblins, gargoyles, long-haired wisps, mermaids.

‘Karel told me they were carved by miners centuries ago,' whispered Amadey. ‘Aren't they amazing?'

‘Yes,' I replied. I'd seen carvings a little similar to them on churches and cathedrals in Krainos, only not as many, and not quite of the same sort. Here, it was like the miners'
imagination had peopled the echoing salt-rock chamber with creatures of dream and nightmare. Did such creatures really live in the caves? It was such a strange world, anything seemed possible.

Amadey agreed with me. ‘It feels enchanted somehow,' he said, ‘like something that isn't quite real.'

But the rock was real enough, and the work. Stone tracks with footholds led between the sections, and on each terrace, several men were set to work cutting out small square salt blocks with their pickaxes. Everything was hand-cut, and to strict dimensions, according to
feyin
law. That was why so many men were needed.

Ours was one of two work crews in the section. Most of us cut, but some did other jobs, such as sending the blocks down to a lift on the bottom floor of the cave. From there, they were sent up to be loaded into the carts.

It wasn't difficult work to learn, and within a few hours I had the hang of it. After spending two years in prison, my muscles soon ached from the unaccustomed strain of wielding the pickaxe. But I was determined not to let it show. I forced myself past the pain to keep up the same steady rhythm as the others, including Amadey, who had proven to have a very good swing. When I asked him about it during our lunch break he grinned and confessed he'd been practising. ‘My uncle's a stonemason, so I worked for him for a few weeks to get used to it.'

‘Lucky you,' I said ruefully, massaging my sore shoulders.

‘Not sure I'd call it lucky,' answered Amadey. ‘My uncle's a right old grouch and never gives you a moment's rest. At least they let us have a proper break here. And the food's good, don't you think?'

‘It's fine,' I agreed. All the work crews shared lunch in the top chamber. Each man received a bowl of thick barley soup, two hard-boiled eggs and a big hunk of bread.

I kept a close eye on the daily routine of the mine, trying to learn as much as I could. For instance, they kept a keen eye on comings and goings. Before we left our work section for lunch, we had to punch our cards in the machine near the lift shaft, and again when we went back to work. That way, the whereabouts of every worker at any given time was known. The guards posted near the lift shaft on each level of the mine not only kept an eye on that, but also made sure the workers did not try to steal any of the valuable salt flowers that bloomed in certain areas.

These flowers are perfect salt crystals that need no refining, unlike the ordinary salt stone blocks. They are so pure they can be sold as is, to adorn the tables of the wealthy. Our section did not have any of these precious incrustations, and it was unlikely anyone would be tempted to steal the heavy salt stone blocks. But we still had a guard who sat by the shaft and made sure nothing had been chipped off the blocks before they were sent up: for Night salt is renowned throughout the world, and even offcuts would fetch a nice little sum.

It would clearly not be the work of a few hours to figure out how to avoid the checks and musters, not to speak of getting the hang of the geography of the place. From talking to Amadey and other miners, I'd already understood that the mine had another two working levels below ours, and below them was the closed lower depth, to which there was no apparent access in the normal way. But each working level also had a main section, and leading off it
was a network of smaller caves, some of which were used. Perhaps some of this network might lead in a roundabout way to the lower depth and from that to the Lake.

But how I was going to access a level lower than my own, let alone find the right way to the Lake, I had no idea. It would come to me. It would have to, for something told me that I must not wait too long to carry out my mission.

Days passed, then a week, then two. My muscles hardened as my body adapted to the work, and as my knowledge of the mines expanded, so did the outline of a plan. The best time for me to go would be at the lunch break; if I could persuade Amadey to punch my card for me, checking me in and out of lunch break, then it would not be till the evening check-out time that I'd be missed. And by then, hopefully, I'd have made my way to the Lake. I had built in my head a rough map of the caves through which I'd have to travel in order to reach the Lake. I also knew that, though in the mine-working levels there would be light, in the rest of the caves there would be none. I would have my torch, but I had no idea how long it would last or how long it would take me to reach the Lake. So, one evening I managed to snaffle another one.

Amadey and I had become quite good friends. We spent most of our evenings after dinner together, talking and playing cards with two or three others. We didn't play for money but for bits and pieces: matches, buttons, sweets – whatever came to hand – and I nearly always won. I had no idea how all those things I stored away might come in useful, until Amadey asked to trade some
glass buttons I'd won. When I looked at him in surprise, he flushed and revealed that he was making a bracelet for a girl back home. It was quite pretty, the clear little discs on the white thread, though I wondered what a girl would think of such a humble gift. But I said nothing about that for I didn't want to hurt his feelings and, more importantly, I knew just what I'd ask for a trade.

‘I want to sneak a look at the other working levels,' I said, ‘and I thought I'd go in the lunch break. Can you cover for me?'

‘How?' he asked, looking anxious.

‘I just need you to take my card and punch it in and out for me. I'll be back at work by the time you get back from lunch.'

‘But how will you get into the other levels? They keep everything locked.'

I produced a long thin pin I'd filched that afternoon. ‘This will do as a picklock.'

Amadey's eyes widened. ‘You don't want to take anything, do you? You know what they do to anyone who helps themselves.'

‘Of course not!' I said, pretending to sound offended. ‘I'm no thief! I just want to know more about the different kinds of work there is so I can get promoted.'

He looked surprised – I'd not exactly given the impression of being ambitious before – but he nodded. ‘All right, Vazily. But you promise you're not doing anything silly?'

‘I promise,' I said, and I meant it. What I was doing wasn't silly, it was plain dangerous.

Amadey accepted this, even saying that I might do the same for him one day, and took the buttons. ‘It would be
easy,' he added breezily, ‘and it would be funny to outwit the guard.'

But in the morning Amadey did not look quite as sure of himself. He'd clearly been thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

‘You might get lost,' he said nervously. ‘Or you could fall down a hole and never return.'

‘I'm pretty sure-footed,' I said. ‘Don't worry.'

‘But the guards – what if they catch you?'

‘They won't,' I sighed.

‘But they might. And then there'd be an investigation and they'd find out I helped you. I'll lose my job, too. We'll both be shipped home in disgrace.'

‘That won't happen,' I told him firmly. ‘It will be fine. I promise you.'

If he was anxious, I was feeling utterly calm. I worked through the first part of our shift hardly stopping for breath. Morning break came and went and still I worked steadily, while Amadey kept fumbling his pick and was told off by the foreman. Then it was time for lunch. We downed tools and moved towards the stamping machine. I could see Amadey was as jumpy as a hatful of crickets and I could only hope he'd play his part as we'd discussed. I'd planned it so we'd be last in line, so no other worker would see what we did, but it all depended on timing. If that was lost, so would the chance.

There were ten people in front of us, then five, then three. As I'd hoped, the guard was not paying attention as Amadey punched his card; and then, just as we'd planned, my friend fumbled and dropped his card. I bent down to help him pick it up and slid mine on top of his. He picked
it up and punched it, the guard only making exasperated tutting noises. Holding both our cards, Amadey walked up the steps towards the level above, with me following behind. But while he kept going, I hid quietly in the shadows, waiting for the guard to go to lunch.

As soon as he'd gone, I raced back down the steps. The way to the next level, through a lower door, would also be locked, but I had my pin for that. It took a good deal longer to unpick the lock than I'd predicted, though, and I was sweating by the time I'd finally got the door open. I slipped through, closing it carefully behind me. This level was different to ours, being a series of smaller caves. In and out of these I went, looking for the exit; and as I reached the last one, I had the uneasy feeling of being watched. Moving back into the shadows, I waited. But nothing happened.

I moved on and found the exit. I picked the lock, quicker this time, and emerged at the top of a steep, long flight of steps cut into the rock, leading into the darkness below. Down, down, down, down until I was at last on the final level. I entered a large cavern that reminded me of the crypt of a cathedral, with freestanding pillars of black salt stone dotted about. And on the floor was something strange – what looked like footprints frozen in the stone, some larger than any beast's I'd ever seen, while others were small and delicate.

But I did not waste time wondering about this strange sight. I had to find the Lake. The only exit I could see here, though, was the one that led to the level above. The cavern otherwise seemed completely sealed, as I discovered on my third frustrating circuit of the place. I was conscious that the workers would soon be back from lunch. I walked
round and round, desperately trying to think. I had to find a way.

But in my rush I wasn't looking where I was going. The toe of my boot snagged against one of the stone footprints and sent me sprawling. I heard a crack and thought it was a bone. But then, as I managed to scramble to my feet, I realised what had happened – the crystal, which I kept rolled up in the top of my sock, must have smashed! Panic-stricken, I pulled out the crystal. Holding it very carefully in my cupped palm, I examined the damage. As I'd feared, it was cracked all the way through. But it hadn't shattered.

At that moment, I felt a strange movement beneath my feet, like the ripples of a wave. All at once, a narrow shaft opened in the ground, and I was sucked into it so dizzyingly fast that I barely had time to draw breath. I hit the ground below with a sickening thud, and was so winded that it took me a moment to realise that I was in almost complete darkness, with only a dim illumination coming down the shaft from the level above.