The Windcaster [Fantasy/Adventure | Featured | Complete ]

Chapter 23: Senior

They met Master Mami not at the Caster's home, unlike with Master Enki, but rather on the outskirts of the city where a training hall had been erected for disciples of the Wind. Tia sweated waterfalls during their walk from the centre of the city to the outside. They had barely spent three hours in Hume and already she was missing the cool sea wind and the gentle sound of the waves in Mooncliffe.

To her relief, the peripherals of the busy industrial city had much fewer people. Most of the occupants were slaves, pushing large trolleys of coal. Buildings became sparser, giving way to sporadic vegetation: small dry green bushes and thin twigs sticking upright in the ground. The stone slabs paving the ground became cobble, which then became loose, small stones. The grains made the ground uneven and Tia wobbled with every step. All around her was dry, layered areas of broken stone and dirt. The sections were carefully carved out of the ground, spanning almost as far as the eye could see and many storeys deep. Dirt tracks curved around the outside of it. At the very bottom were small pools of water.

"Are these coal mines?" Tia said, kicking a stone down the slope and watching it bounce downhill before disappearing amongst its brothers.

"I think so." Mommu sounded uncertain. "Coal is one of the main energy sources in Hume, is it not? It makes sense that there are so many coal mines here."

"I did not think the mines would be so big," Tia whistled, her eyebrows disappearing under her fringe.

"Even though Hume supplies at least seventy per cent of Dernexes' energy?"

Tia had never thought of it that way before.

"But look at them, Mommu."

The boy followed her gaze. There was a steady stream of slaves, muscular with tanned skin and shaved heads, heaving huge sacks of coal from the pile onto the trolleys.

"They genuinely do not look that miserable. They seem no different to the harbour men in Mooncliffe."

"They do look very different to Enlil when he had first arrived," he agreed, his eyes lingering on the group of people. "They look well-fed and -clothed, not starved and abused."

"Do you think Enlil was wrong?"

Mommu bit his lip. "I do not doubt what he believes in... perhaps Hume is a better place to live in, for slaves?"

"I cannot quite compare." Tia was doubtful. "I have never really seen slaves in Mooncliffe."

"It is the same for me too, remember? But I do not doubt Enlil's experience or his views."

"Do you think the king hides the slaves' existence just like he hid the news about the war?"

Mommu shook his head. "Do not be silly. Hume is full of slaves!"

"I cannot believe there are slaves in Mooncliffe. I cannot believe there is a whole city of slaves – it seems so absurd!"

"The cities are very different, Tia. We are just not used to it."

"Master Anu told me to keep an eye on Enlil. He knew about Enlil wanting to bring the slaves up to be equals to other citizens."

"He is justified in wanting that; is he not?"

"I have a bad feeling about this though." Tia stopped. "How did Master Anu know about Enlil's thoughts anyhow?"

"I... I told him." Mommu looked guilty. He gestured for her to carry on. Master Anu and Enlil had marched ahead. "I felt it was out of our control. He would not listen to persuasion as he had shown us last evening. I did not want him to come to harm."