“Why don’t you want to be your Sarkarnii?” Lydia asks me.
“I am saving it for later.” I keep looking ahead as we continue over the rough ground.
“Okay, I’ll rephrase.Canyou become a Sarkarnii?”
“Not all the time,” I admit. “I haven’t been in control of my shift for a while. You saw my first shift in…I’m not sure how long.” I give her a rather fang-y smile. “It would seem you control my shift instead, little ember.”
“You’re not putting that one on me,” Lydia grumbles.
There is a loud crack and the entire passage we are in is filled with smoke.
“What’s going on?” she asks, pressing closer to me.
“I don’t know,” I reply, pulling her into my scales and reaching for one of the warriors ahead.
He turns as I swat his tail, his eyes widening. I look down at my hand. It is my Sarkarnii form.
“Lord Deus,” the warrior says, with a brief bow I wasn’t expecting. But it warms my black heart a little. “We are blasting. Then we will be clearing the fuel. Your female can work on the next set of explosives.”
“As you wish,” I rumble.
“You were saying?” Lydia looks up at me from a long way down.
“I told you you’re in control.”
I want to scoop her up and place her on my back, but I do not because I’m not sure she would be pleased with me if I did, and in any event, as the passage curves to our left, we find where there has been a significant fall of rocks glistening with the gygament Dexx turns into star fuel.
Already, two Sarkarnii are digging through it, their heads buried in the shale, their back legs kicking out the rocks onto the conveyor brought in to help with the extraction.
“The explosive rigging area is over here,” the warrior says, pointing to a small pod which is set off to one side. “As you can see, my lord, your work area is ready.”
I give my Lydia one last look as she walks to the pod, and then I bury myself into the pile, shoving at it with my head and front feet, using my legs and tail to push the stuff back towards the conveyor.
It is hot, dusty, heavy work, but after a while, I find it clears my head in the best way possible, and the more I plough on, the more I mine the gygament, the better I feel. It is good to do something positive, something which is helpful.
I feel a pull on my tail and lift my head.
Dexx is glaring around at my workspace. I notice we have cleared nearly all of the fallen rocks, save for a few near my fellow miners.
“If I’d known you’d be this efficient, you nevver, I’d have got you back from the second continent myself,” he growls. “Itis time for a break. Your mate has prepared the next set of explosives, and I will send warriors in to place them.”
The rest of the nova-day continues as it started. There is an explosion, I help mine the gygament, my little ember prepares the explosives, we drink and eat, then it begins again until finally, I am pulled by my tail for a final time by Dexx who motions we are to ascend to the surface once more.
I take my mate onto my back, and along with the other warriors who have ended their day in the mines, we fly up in ascending circles through the shaft, where a new set of warriors are waiting to descend.
Landing, I shift back to my biped form and catch my Lydia in my arms. She pulls the mask from her face, a face which is filled with color, even if some of it is a smear of dust on one cheek.
“You did well, my Lydia.” I grin at her. “Your explosives were perfection.”
“I had a little help.” She laughs. “A Paralnyi called Fly helped me out.” She looks around at the other warriors. “You did so well too. I heard them talking about you.” She lifts herself up and presses her mouth to mine. “They were impressed.”
I look around at Dexx’s warriors. They are following my every move with Lydia. I nod my respect to them and get short bows in return.
Perhaps it won’t be so difficult to recruit warriors to my cause after all. Not with the access to every sector granted me by Dalox and with the ability to show what I can do.
I might still be able to effect my plan of revenge after all.
“Is it time to go home?” Lydia sighs. “I could do with a bath and a lie down.”
