The Starfall Knight Read Online Free Page B

man’s over there.”
    “Thanks,” Devan said.
    The vast cavern lay underneath Centara city and served as the main base of operations for andonite mining and pipe systems maintenance.  Lamps marked the edges of the subterranean community, roughly the same size as a small lower tier block of housing.  Workers lounged outside makeshift taverns while a modest market sold fresh fruit and meat.  Unlike the rangers and soldiers, the miners were not required to live on-site but some chose to, becoming more accustomed to the gloom and stone ceilings than the outside.
    Although precious material was produced by these mines, they were not the primary purpose.  As more andonite veins were uncovered, the miners installed pipes and the harvesting systems that manipulated the andonite and heated air and water for the city above.  Devan didn’t quite understand it but it involved hammering the andonite to produce a reaction in the mineral.  Andonite rifles used the same principle in projecting bullets.
    Devan approached another soot-encrusted miner sitting on the edge of a cot and jotting notes in a leather-bound book.  “Evening,” Devan said.
    “You’re in me light.”
    “Sorry.”  Devan sidestepped although he noticed that his shadow had been lying in another direction.  “Are you Poel?”
    “Who’re you?”
    “I’m Devan.  Ranger.”
    “Ranger?”  Poel looked up, nose crinkling as he squinted at Devan.  “Youse too scrawny to be a ranger.”
    “That may be so,” Devan said.  “Romaine has asked me to check on the status of our systems, pipes and whatnot.”
    “What?”
    “The Marshal of Rangers has asked me – ”
    “A’heard you the first time,” Poel said.  He set down the journal.  “Wha’ you come down for?  Read my reports, that’s all you need.”
    “I suppose it has something to do with the storm.”
    “What storm?”  Poel stood up and much to Devan’s surprise, the miner stood a few fingers taller.  He stank of virid and the foul moonshine that was brewed in the mining camps.  “How’d I know you ain’t a spy?”
    At this a few heads turned towards Devan.  The fiddler at the tavern continued playing.
    Devan puffed his chest out and rested his fists on his hips.  “How do I know you’re Poel the foreman?”
    “Everybody knows who I am, runt.  Nobody knows you!”
    A figure strode out from the tavern.  “Hey, Poel.”
    The miner craned his neck around.  “What?”
    “Leave off.  I know him.”
    Devan relaxed as Tayu approached.  The rest of the miners in the vicinity turned back to their own affairs.
    “Who know ‘im?”
    “Yes, he’s Devan,” Tayu said.  “Captain Benton’s brother.”
    “Benton, eh?”  Poel looked Devan up and down, nose scrunched up again.  “Too scrawny.”
    Tayu guided Devan away from Poel.  “Aye, too scrawny.”
    Out of earshot from Poel, Devan said, “Is he always like that?”
    “Poel?  Yes.”  Tayu shrugged.  “Part of his job.”
    As they meandered between the modest stalls, Tayu crackled the tendons in his neck.  Working in the mines had its own physical challenges which Devan did not envy.
    “Romaine asked me to check on everything down here,” Devan said.  “We’re heading through a big lightning storm.”
    Tayu nodded.  “Everything’s fine.  Usual maintenance is going ahead.  Haven’t heard anything out of the ordinary.  Crawlers are settled.”
    “That’s good,” Devan said.  Terepids – better known as crawlers – appeared like gangly grasshoppers with spindly legs and thrived on any exposed andonite veins.  Their interactions with andonite were fabled to be the inspiration for the transfer systems that the city employed throughout the mines.
    “Did you see it?” Tayu asked.
    “See what?”
    “Are you trying to be funny?”
    “All right, all right,” Devan said.  “We marched out today and brought it back.”
    “It was at Tinuker’s, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes.”  As a Saruwan