Ignition

A bright flash shone between the treeline. Alya let go, her new bow trembled in her left hand. Along with hers, a dozen of arrows flew onto the wooden wall. The lightly armored soldiers turned into pincushions from one second to another. They screamed in pain, when the dull sound of footsteps filled the grassy field before them.

Small wooden ladders were leaned against the wooden stakes. Revolutionaries climbed on top, a few of them rushed to the wooden door and unlocked it. Behind the door stood two people wearing red capes. A thin, tall man and a women on a wheeled chair, both with black hair. They looked around.

The camp had multiple tents surrounding campfires, they were half-circled opposite of the small mountain. A pair of rails layed in the middle, a single cart filled with coal stood on them. The two lockpicks Cal and Alya looked down the mine's entrance, into which the rails led.

"There can't be anything dangerous down there, right?" Cal looked towards the young woman beside him.

"Let's just go." She rolled forwards.

Throughout their journey throughout the differently coloured layers of stone they found boxes and barrels filled with different lumps of ore and tools. Alya ordered Cal's men to carry them outside as the two ventured deeper inside.

The sound of steel hitting rock echoed through the cave system. So far, they had not encountered a single person, but Alya knew that would change soon enough.

Cal stopped when he walked around the corner. Alya opened her palm to see him look at a wooden door. The mine continued into the other direction, this must have been a kind of resting place. Cal turned to look at Alya.

"Someones inside." Alya said, she trusted Cal to either not think about how she knew, or that he would not tell anyone. To her, he seemed like the type of person she could entrust her secrets to.

"Alright." Cal whispered as he turned back to the door. He opened it an jumped to the side. A fireball came flying through the doorway and into the wall next to Alya.

Cal held his hand through the entrance, a bright flash filled the room. He ran inside, unsheathing his long dagger.

A long, high-pitched scream filled the mine, after a long moment it died along with the person inside. Alya rolled inside, a man in brown pants and a white shirt layed on the floor in front of a table. Shelves stood on all walls, they were filled with books. A few written letters were scattered throughout the room and across the desktop.

Cal grabbed a few books to check their contents. Alya rolled up to the desk. Two small drawers were build beneath the wooden tabletop. She opened the first one to find letters and a thin book. She ignored them and opened the second drawer. Inside layed a single book, its light blue cover was embellished with a few embedded twirling lines.

Cal stepped over to Alya and looked over her shoulder, "What're ya gonna do with that?"

Alya looked at him, "Bring it back, of course."

"Are you gonna keep it? For yourself, I mean."

"I don't need a personal tome." Alya turned and start moving out of the room.

"I got you. I've got my own as well." Cal followed her, while he shouted orders at his men to clean the room out.

At this point, the miners had stopped working. They came running up the shaft towards Cal and Alya, who still travelled up front.

Cal gripped the handle of his dagger, but the miners payed no attention. They all stopped. "What is goin' on?" One of them asked.

"Oh." Cal let go of his weapon, "Can you show these guys where they can find the ore?" He pointed towards his followers. "We need to get it out of here as quick as possible."

"Sure can." One of the bearded miners said.

"Then we don't even need to walk any further, unless you want to." Cal lightly hit Alya's shoulder with the back of his hand.

"No, I'm fine."

Half an hour later, the last of the boxes were brought out of the mines. Almost everything had been loaded onto the carriage waiting outside of the walls.

Cal sat on a chair, his legs on the table and looked as the miners came outside. The dirt on their skin was more noticable than before.

The miners looked around at the walls, dead soldiers layed on top, some were tied up in the corner. Cal could only watch them silently panic, "Oops, I forgot. Sorry."

The miners turned to run back into the cave, the revolutionaries following them closely.

"It should be done now." Alya commented.

Cal groaned as he stood up, his age was starting to get to him. He picked a metal pot up from the stand above the campfire. He filled the hot liquid into the two wooden cups on the table.

Alya picked up the steaming cup with both of her hands, "I don't know what kind of squad I want to create." She opened up.

"When you fight with or against people, there will be that one person at some point. If you enjoy a certain fight, you should keep fighting like that." Cal answered as he sat back down.

"I don't even know if I want to fight." Alya took a sip of her tea.

Cal laughed, "I don't think ya can around that nowadays, especially in your position."

Alya went quiet to ponder. She thought back on her past, but she could not remember a moment were she ever wanted to seriously fight someone. Then, a single image got stuck in her head. It was her, grabbing a man's neck as he held her in his arms.

"When did that happen?" She thought to herself.