With that plan in mind, they signalled to the humans that they were ready to go, and they all traipsed back down the mountain. It was less than a half hour walk back to Varismont, and on the other side of the landslide, it was about the same again to get to the mine.
Back at the village, Koradan shared the plan with Lynette. She’d been busy while they were away, organising a small committee that was tasked with overseeing the rescue efforts and making decisions about the day-to-day details of having five demons and their dragons staying in the village. Morgan was among the people gathered, along with a woman named Hetti, who was introduced as the wife of Markon, the village’s unofficial leader. There was also a young woman named Hazel, who smiled too broadly, trying hard to hide her fear, and an ageing man named Best, with grey hair and a wrinkled face.
“And this is my son, Paul,” Lynette introduced the final member of the group, putting a hand on Paul’s shoulder. Paul looked Koradan up and down, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. But in contrast to many of the other villagers, he looked more impressed than scared.
“Once we have the situation at the mine a little more under control, he would be very interested to see one of your vreki,” Lynette finished the introduction. Her voice was tight as she said it, and Koradan got the impression that the last thing in the world she wanted was for her son to be anywhere near the vreki.
“I’d be happy to introduce you,” Koradan said. “After we resolve things at the mine, of course.” It was as careful a middle ground as he was able to walk, agreeing to the request while at the same time delaying it indefinitely. “For today, though, two of my men and two of the vreki will be heading up to the landslide as soon as we’re organised here. What else do we need to do before they head off?”
“Well, uh… one of the questions I needed to ask,” Lynette said, sounding uncomfortable, “is what do you eat? I thought perhaps we should arrange some breakfast for you, but I wasn’t sure what you’d like.”
Koradan felt an instant relief that Lynette had brought up the issue, rather than having to broach it himself later. But he didn’t know how to answer her question. He wasn’t familiar with any human foods, nor did he know what sorts of plants might grow in this temperate environment. He decided to go with the easiest option and deal with any potential fallout later. “Until or unless we find out otherwise, I would assume that my men and I can eat the same things that humans eat.” Whether or not that food would be at all palatable was another question, but Koradan wasn’t going to make a fuss at this point. “As far as the vreki are concerned, they’ll need a good supply of fresh vegetation. I wanted to ask if it’s okay for them to go and forage in the forest later today. That way we won’t be disturbing any of your farmland.”
Lynette looked relieved by the suggestion. No doubt she’d been having visions of feeding mountains of cabbages to the vreki. “That would be a great idea,” she said happily. “Please go ahead.”
“And while we’re on that topic,” Koradan added, “we accidentally ploughed up one of your grass paddocks yesterday when we had to make an emergency landing. I fully intend to repair the damage, but for now, I assume that rescuing your men is a higher priority?”
“Indeed,” Lynette agreed. “Yes, um… Whenever you can get around to it would be fine.” Her tone of voice implied a strong subtext of ‘Please stop giving me more problems to worry about’. “Right, then. Hazel and Best are all set to make some breakfast for you, and then you and your vreki can start clearing the road.”
“There is one other issue I wanted to ask you about,” Koradan said, as the two volunteers headed off into one of the nearby houses. “The men at the mine. What do you know about their condition so far?”
“We were able to have a shouted conversation with a few of them over the landslide,” Lynette said. “Three men were outside the mine at the time of the earthquake. As far as we know, they haven’t been injured. They can’t get back to the village, but otherwise, they’re fine. There are another twenty-one men inside the mine, but we don’t know anything about where exactly they are or what condition they would be in.”
“And these three that are outside the mine. How much food and water do they have?”
“They would only have taken a day’s worth,” Morgan said. From the looks of it, she’d appointed herself Lynette’s second in command. “They normally come home again at the end of each day.”
“Is there any source of water up near the mine? A well, maybe, or a river?”
“No, nothing,” Morgan said.
“What of the condition of the mine itself?”
“The front entrance has collapsed,” Lynette said. “Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.” She paused, pressing her lips together in the first real sign of distress Koradan had seen on her. When she spoke again, her voice held a slight waver. “There’s a high chance that sections of the tunnels are still intact. Some sections of rock are more stable than others, and if the men were in a stable section, they may well have survived. But we can’t get them out until we get more of us over there to start clearing the rubble and try to assess exactly how much damage there’s been.”
Koradan nodded. “So one of the priorities should be taking more food and water to the men stuck outside, and perhaps finding out what they know about the condition of the rest of the mine.”
“We’d love to,” Lynette said. “But until we can get past the landslide-”
“I could fly over on Ashd. He’s my mount,” Koradan added, realising he hadn’t yet introduced Ashd to any of the humans. “I could take some supplies and see if there’s any immediate help we can give them. Or at least bring back a clearer report about what the situation is.”
“But you don’t know where you’re going,” Lynette said.
“I assume all I have to do is follow the road.”
“But… the mine is up a narrow gorge. How would you fly a vreki up there?”
“They can land on the side of cliffs. We’d just land outside the gorge then walk the rest of the way.”
“But… um…”
“That wouldn’t work well,” Morgan said, when Lynette failed to come up with a reason to stop him. She didn’t want him to go, that much was clear, but he couldn’t quite work out why. “The men wouldn’t be expecting you. If you just show up with a dragon in tow, they would assume that demons have ransacked Varismont and are coming to kill them next. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s what they would think.”
“Ah.” Koradan considered what she’d said for a moment. “You’re right, the men would have good reason to be scared. But at the same time, there’s a lot to be gained by going before the road is clear. It could take most of the day before it’s safe for humans to travel.” Sigmore’s boasting aside, the cliff face would need to be assessed before they could start using the road again, even if the boulders were moved by then.
Surprisingly, it was Paul who came up with the solution. “So what you need is someone to go with you and tell the men that hey, we’ve got some ‘demons’ who are going to dig open the mine, so please don’t kill them because they’re on our side.” He made air quotes with his fingers as he said the word demons, and Koradan was intrigued that the young man had already moved past the point of thinking of them as such.
“We are salases,” he told Paul. “Not demons. For what it’s worth.”
