The Dragon's Basement

Clara slipped a torch from a sconce on the wall and motioned toward her chosen tunnel. The tunnel floor was flat and declined in a shallow grade. The tunnel curved toward the left. Two shallow ruts cut into the floor. The tunnel was dark. Clara's torch burned low, and smoked. Astra back at Fred. His eyes were glazed, and his left hand brushed against the interior wall while the right held the basket. At least she was not the only one going forward unsteadily. Astra then looked forward and walked in a double time to catch up with Clara. Thank the Great Goddess that the floor had been polished, without any stalagmites or stalactites or whatever people like Clara called the pointy things that one found on cave floors! This was almost palatial quality masonry - which was fitting, since she was in a way, in the Dragon's palace. Darkening, darkening, but her eyes were adjusting. In fact, after a few minutes, there was a change in the light ahead. It was now an orange, like that of a campfire. The grade became much shallower, and the tunnel ceased to turn.

As the tunnel opened up, she saw that Clara's torch no longer smoked, and was burning more brightly. Clara was beckoning Astra to come to her. The light was playing tricks. The shadows under her eyes and under her chin made her face resemble a skull. Astra froze. Then she looked at Clara's eyes - light brown irises, large pupils, no blood in the whites, and she relaxed and joined Clara.

Clara nodded slightly and Astra thought that she detected a half-smile at her before she turned to the tunnel. "Get moving, Fred. I have some things to show you!"

Fred's shadow lurched out of the tunnel. He stumbled over one of the shallow ruts, but righted himself and trotted toward Clara. As Fred joined them, Clara held out a something that looked like a large metal bowl.

"OK, you two. This is a cave helmet. Useful when you have bits of rock flying around, and this will help protect your head in the low passages. These two grommets on the helmet hold your light. This allows miners to keep both hands free when working the mines. We are going to take both candle stubs and fatwood rounds. The stubs smoke, stink, and aren't very bright, but they should be enough while we are moving. If we need brighter and larger light, use the fatwood. They only last for a quarter hour, maybe a little more with luck."

Clara lit a fatwood round, and Astra could now see denim cloth, pickaxes, sledges, boots and some other mining supplies. She could also make out some large open boxy carts. Astra thought, That's where the ruts came from! This was once a working mine, and these carts were heavy with metal. And she also saw something that reminded her of a well. There was a large crank, and something that looked like one of the boxy carts over the well's mouth. So that might be a mine shaft.

Clara handed Fred the fatwood round, and slipped on a pair of soft demin pants and then a pair of shoes. "We really need shoes to help make time, so we are not bruising our feet on rocks. It won't be as smooth as where we have been. Also it would be good to have some pants - at least knee-length if you can find some, as we will be crawling around in parts. At least one pickax might be helpful, and two would be good if we could swing it. No pun intended."

Astra said, "Do we have time for all this?"

As she fastened a strap the depended from her helmet around her chin, she said, "We do not have time not to. If we get unlucky and they find us here, grab a tool and hide."

Clara had finished dressing - helmet, pants, shoes, and pickax. At 5' 3" and 120 pounds, she was slightly above the average Dragazon height and weight.

Astra and Fred, through generations of breeding, and years of good nourishment and exercise, were considerably larger.

1. Fortunately, they quickly found items in an appropriate size.
2. They made do with some alternatives that were available.
3. Well, at least the helmets fit.

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