Lynette spat on the ground. “Don’t you dare compare me to one of your demon whores.”
Koradan sighed, his posture slumping a little. “Really? You’re going to resort to name-calling because you can’t control your son the way you’d like? We rescued five men from the mine, by the way.” He dropped the news so casually that Lynette almost missed it. “One of them has a broken arm, so he’s going to need you to treat him. The other four seem okay, just a little hungry and dehydrated.”
As quickly as that, Lynette’s anger evaporated. “You got them out?”
“Just five of them. There are sixteen more still trapped inside, but it’s a start. I need to talk to the rest of the village about what we do next, and also take some more supplies up the mountain for the men who are free.”
“Oh. Well, uh…”
“Paul was a great help in introducing me to the miners. They were a bit apprehensive to begin with, but we reached an understanding.”
Lynette brought the poker up again. “This is not over,” she said, pointing the end at Koradan. “I am not forgiving you for this. But right now, we have more urgent problems to deal with. And I still hate you.” She turned and marched back towards the centre of the village, calling for everyone to come and hear the news as she went.
Once everyone had gathered, Koradan relayed his news to the crowd, with Paul adding an extra detail here and there along the way. There were gasps of both relief and dismay as Paul listed the names of the men who had been rescued, with their families relieved, while the wives and mothers of those still trapped were offered no reprieve from their ongoing fears.
“I’m sure all of you know more about mining than I do,” Koradan said, “so if you could begin drafting a plan for how to get the men out of the main tunnel, it would be greatly appreciated. I told the men up there that as soon as the road is clear, we’ll head up to start work on accessing the tunnel.”
“One of your dragons got the first boulder off the road,” Hazel called out, the young woman who’d made them breakfast. Some of her earlier apprehension had apparently worn off. “It was quite exciting watching it tumble all down the mountain. I think they’re working on the second one now.”
“Good to hear,” Koradan said. Something about his calm approval niggled at Lynette. The smug bastard needed taking down a peg or two. “That’s all the news for now,” Koradan finished. “I should get back up the mountain. The men need more supplies.”
“I’ll take them,” a voice from the back of the crowd said, and Lynette looked around to see another of the demons loitering near the road. Aside from Koradan, though, she hadn’t yet learned to tell them apart. “Mergh’s getting restless,” the demon went on, “and you’ll need to take Ashd to get something to eat.”
“Thank you. You should be fine to go alone, since they know we’re here now, but be cautious. The miners haven’t met you, and they still have a few suspicions about us.”
“I’ll go and get started on packing some food,” Hetti volunteered immediately. “But… Did they… Did they say anything about where Markon is?”
Lynette winced at the question. Five men alive and well was more than she’d honestly expected. If they were lucky, they might get a few more out safely, but the chances of saving everyone were slim. Having lived in Varismont for nine years, she’d picked up a fair bit of knowledge about the mines, even without ever having worked in one, and an earthquake was one of the worst things that could happen for the men inside.
But Hetti’s question was followed by a flood more, and half the women began demanding to know where their husbands and sons were. Koradan held up his hands for silence. “I know that Rex was in the main tunnel, and Mitch is optimistic that some of the men there might have survived. As I said earlier, that will be the focus of our efforts for the next stage of the rescue. Hetti, I was told that Markon was down in one of the deepest chambers. No one has heard from any of the men down there, but that could be because they’re simply too deep to hear us. That’s all I know. I can’t tell any of you anything more than that.”
“Right.” From the expression on her face, Hetti was well aware of the implications of Markon’s location. “Well, I’ll… I’ll go get those supplies ready for you, then.” She hurried away, discreetly wiping her eyes as she went.
“I think it’s time we upheld more of our end of the deal,” Morgan said, after an awkward silence. “We promised to treat your dragon’s wound. Sorry, I can’t remember what you called him.”
“His name is Bnaa,” Koradan said. “He’s a vreki.”
“A vreki. That’s it. So perhaps Lynette could go over and stitch up that wound now?” Morgan looked Lynette’s way, obviously unaware of the way she’d just attacked Koradan a few minutes ago. If she’d seen Lynette’s display of anger, she wouldn’t have dared look at her with that pouty, hopeful expression.
But before Lynette could issue a scathing retort, Ann spoke up instead. “Is that really fair?” the older woman asked. “Most of our men are still trapped. And the road’s not even clear. Moving one boulder is a long way from allowing us all to get up to the mine. I don’t think we owe them anything yet.”
“They’ve freed five men and cleared half the road,” Peter pointed out, leaning on his walking stick. “From what Hazel said earlier, we could probably squeeze past the rest of the rubble, if we really had to. I think that’s fair payment for a few herbs and a row of stitches.”
“They haven’t finished the job,” Ann insisted.
“We should treat Bnaa,” Paul said, looking sharply at Lynette. “I saw the effort Ashd went to when he was moving that boulder up at the mine. These guys aren’t fucking around. And without them, we’ve got no chance of getting the rest of the men out. So how about we just do the decent thing and help them treat Bnaa’s wound?”
“There is no decent thing when we’re dealing with demons,” Ann replied.
“Maybe we should ask Sue about that, since Alti’s now free,” someone suggested. “I don’t hear her complaining about getting her husband back.”
“My son’s been rescued,” someone else said. “And I think that’s worth a few stitches in the dragon’s wing. Sorry, the… vrekti… thing.”
“You don’t know he’s been rescued,” another voice said. “You’re just taking a demon’s word for it.”
“Enough,” Lynette snapped, growing suddenly and profoundly tired of the conversation. “Since I’m the one who’s supposed to be treating the bloody dragon, I’m just going to go and do it. According to Paul, we’ve got five men alive and well, and that’s good enough for me. And if the rest of you want to sit and quibble about it, then you go ahead. I don’t give a damn.” Without another word, she strode off towards her house, intent on fetching the medical kit she’d prepared earlier this morning in anticipation of having to go back and finish treating Bnaa’s wound.
The vreki were still loitering in a paddock to the east of the village, and when Lynette met Koradan at the end of the road some minutes later, she saw that Ashd and Bnaa were there, but the third one – Mergh, was it? – had disappeared.
