Six Will Stand (First Draft)

Chapter 27

Clink!

Josh stood up, wiping beads of sweat off his forehead with his rolled up sleeve. He had been working in the mines all day and he was getting a little sore. Sighing, he dropped his pick axe, picked up a huge chunk of the wiftor, and dumped it into the bucket. Giving the rope that hauled the bucket up to the surface a sharp tug, he leaned against the wall and took a break for a little bit.

The in-ground cave was beautiful. Wiftor, one of the most gorgeous, sharpest, and rarest metals out there, glittered as it lined the walls of the small cave. Not many even knew of the existence of this cave; therefore, Josh was the only worker at the moment. Josh was one of six, himself, Caleb, Riv, Myst, Erin, and Cerin, who even knew of the existence of the cave, much less the location. Josh was one of the few people whom Cerin trusted to mine in this cave and not try to steal any of the wiftor. "What am I going to do with it? I'm a traveler, not a salesman," Josh had said when Cerin had prompted him about stealing it. Cerin had to admit he didn't have an argument for that one.

"Do we need to pull it up?!" A voice shouted from above. Squinting, Josh turned his head to the entrance of the cave. The only light in the cave being a small torch, even a little bit of daylight hurt Josh's eyes after being in the mines all day. As his vision cleared, Josh saw Erin, standing at the entrance of the cave holding the rope.

"Yep! After this, how much more do you need?!" Josh called up as he maneuvered the now rising bucket to not hit the cave walls.

Erin pulled the rope as she shouted down, "A lot! Myst needs a lot of it for each clockwork animals!"

"Okay," Josh blinked metallic dust from his eyes. "Can you send a flask of water down, though?!"

Erin didn't speak, but a minute later, the bucket was lowered once again, this time carrying a small flask. Grinning, Josh opened it and took a sip. It was sweeter than normal water, and it took Josh a minute to remember what the taste was. Ginger water. Erin really did know him well.

Putting down the flask, Josh picked up the pick axe and was about to continue mining when Cerin called down from the mouth of the cave, "Joshua, you wouldn't happen to be hungry as well, would you? A little bit of extra bread for the worker never hurt anyone," he chuckled softly. "But, I believe that one or two more buckets will be enough for today. You're probably exhausted, and I'd like Myst to get to work as soon as possible with the best equipment..."

The silverette immediately was able to be heard, "Oh, yeah, I could start tonight. If I wanted. Yeah, I'm gonna start tonight... But I will need my best equipment. What I was able to bring here isn't exactly cutting it... Well, it's cutting it, but--you know what, whatever, I'm feeling kinda hungry too..." She started murmuring to herself, then she went too quiet for Josh to hear.

"Let me finish down here first, Cerin! I'll eat later!" He brought down the pickaxe hard against the wiftor, trying to dislodge another piece. Some smaller pieces of the ore flew through the air, and a small one clipped the skin on Josh's left cheek. Wincing only slightly, he swung the pickaxe again, sending more rubble flying, but he worked persistently until he had enough of the mineral to send up three more buckets. After that, he put the pickaxe on his belt and climbed the side of the cave. Scraping his hands and legs and slipping only once or twice, he got to the top and grabbed an outstretched hand to boost himself out of the cave. He stood on the ground and faced the owner of the hand, exhausted and bleeding. He put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"...Did you know that your shoulder kinda twists and goes up a bit as it pushes out at the bottom of the shoulder blade?" Myst gasped. "Maybe that's why when the monkey stands up it keeps holding its arms strangely!" She hummed, turning to the side slightly as she placed her hands on her hips and moved them around a bit. "Then...why does it not have any balance, then...? I'm pretty sure I got the monkey hips right... Maybe I was using a human as a reference for too many animals, too... No wonder the snake kept trying to 'stand'..." She snickered softly to herself, then glanced back over at Josh. "...You alright there...?"