Chapter 1

A red-black line wider than his thumb appeared on his patterned thigh between one blink and the next. Cold, then hot followed the first instant of numbness as Selati’s dark scales peeled away in the same way he had seen an overseer split the skin of an orange apart. Pain lanced through his hip when the first dollop of blood overran the jagged edge in his hide. The gasp was corked with his sharp teeth.

Whispers of concern swept the tunnel. Frightened eyes met Selati when he glanced up. Injury, large or small, was a potential death sentence down in the bowels of Ilmare. Selati slapped a hand over the gouge in his scales and beckoned the closest construct to him, an albino named Lausai. “Get me the glue,” Selati asked, trying to keep his voice no louder than the wind whistling past the mine opening. The overseers would be vicious if they heard Selati speak.

Lausai crept across the floor, his creamy yellow hide hushed over the dirt and little stones, over to one of three baskets where their few tools were kept. There wasn’t much light to see the tube well, but Selati knew by the size of it, slim and no bigger than his index finger, the glue Lausai had clenched in his hand was the same one his crew used to seal splits in the wooden beams holding up the shaft. Selati’s skin tightened and a cold sweat beaded along his forehead.

His friend, and from what little he understood of friends Lausai was one, handed over the hateful substance without a word. A faint tension around the slitted gold eyes gave away Lausai’s trepidation. It was an expression Selati probably mirrored.

One of the others, a construct even bigger than Selati named Bunici, slung both arms around Selati’s chest and upper arms from behind. Fingers shook as he twisted the stubborn cap off the tube. The rancid, pungent fumes seemed to spin into a lazy thread aimed right for the nose. Selati’s jaw started to ache with the need to gag on the odor.

Cool gel spread across his fingers when he gathered some of the glue up on his free hand. He didn’t let himself think about it. Selati pressed his fingers to his palm, spreading the nasty gel across the whole of his hand.

Selati swiped his hand across the gouge in his hip, pressed hard over the center, like he was trying to remove a foul bit of mud from his hide. The numbness persisted for a moment, maybe two.

Fiery pain shot out in all directions through his scales and all the way up to his ribs. Selati’s breath hitched behind his teeth. Muscles seized under his skin, corded and bulging in Bunici’s impossible grip. His tail whipped through the black dust of the floor and collided with something. Scales and flesh slid around his limb. The fire spread until it burned in his eyes, a haze of dark red streaks and charcoal fog.

A voice whispered into the hair at the back of Selati’s neck. Messy long vowels and soft consonants, unintelligible. Words lost in the smoke filling his ears. Time stretched in the dark as the fire guttered out in his blood.

“…I need to pull you farther into the tunnel, Selati.” Bunici’s arm bunched and loosened around his chest as the dirt scraped the thick subcaudal scales of his tail. When had Bunici covered his mouth?

Selati nodded into the big construct’s chest. Breath rushed past the top of his head and Bunici eased his hand away from Selati’s face. The ground settled as his work mate rocked back onto his bright green speckled hide. Whatever had his tail released it, the thump of it hitting the dust sending a spiteful shock through his body. Selati managed to hold in a shout. He was panting too hard for any other sound.

Bunici withdrew his arm and rested it on Selati’s shoulders instead. Selati darted a glance up at his friend, caught those pale eyes assessing him. He turned his gaze to the big gash in his body. Such a mess.

The glue was already set. Blood had mixed into the clear liquid and made a shell of warped redness, bubbles trapped in the glue. His blood must have frothed with the substance when he smeared it over. The wound would stay that way for weeks.

Despair outlined the pain of his body. They were all going to die down in this disgusting hole, forever digging at the rocks in search of precious cobalt for the humans who created them. Live their whole lives in darkness and misery. No warmth. No sunlight.

“You need rest, Selati.” Bunici tried to herd him along toward the least ravaged wall where a shallow depression had been worn into the hard dirt floor. Their whole crew, ten in all, huddled together for sleep, trying to stay warm in the cold nights. So many heavy, big bodies in a tight space eked out the curve. It was better than nothing, and still leagues above the sterile factory where he was made.