Loyalty Built From Dust

Starting from where it all started... with two inconspicuous men laboring in the mines of Salachar

A duo with @RangerofIthilien

The Selfless Act in Hell

Thunk. Thunk. Lonán focused on the rhythm of the pickaxe hitting stone. It was a trick he learned from an older miner in the beginning. It didn't help him really, it made him angry. But that rage is what did help.
He wasn't always like this. He smiled once, and enjoyed the sun on his face. Everything went downhill when he tried to befriend a few other boys though. Funny what being condemned to work in the mines for the rest of your life could do the a man. He befriended no one, talked to no one, and not even a smile showed on his lugubrious face.
He moved his feet, shifting his weight off of one. He stepped back a little too much though, and his pickaxe scraped the side of the minecart behind him. He winced at the sound, which caught the attention of one of the supervisors.

"You!" He marched over until he was looming over Lonán, who cowered before him. The supervidor spoke loud enough that everyone else around could hear. That was how they made examples of people. "What do you think you're doing, damaging property?"

"It was an accident." Lonán managed to reply, averting his gaze.

"Look me in the eyes when I speak to you, rebel!" Reluctantly, he lifted his head and looked into his eyes. The supervisor stared for a second, clenching and unclenching his jaw for a few seconds as his anger boiled even more. He whacked Lonán across the face with his fist, sending him into the side of the minecart. He stayed on his feet, using the side of the cart for support. The supervisor looked at the other miners as he took the whip from his side, who had stopped working to watch. That was a good enough break for them. "This is what happens to the rebels who think they can get away with destroying royal property!"

There was a clatter that sounded like a pickaxe falling to the ground or being dropped as a tall boy not much older then Lonán himself shoved his way through the crowd of miners who had gathered to watch. He had blond hair that looked nearly brown from the dust of the mines and vibrant hazel eyes that seemed to accentuate the brown on the inside and green on the outside through their constrast. He whipped sweat from his brow and glared at the supervisor with a look none other then with fury and pure bitter hatred.

"Leave him alone. I'll take his punishment for him." He said confidently and loudly, there was almost a bit of pride to his voice, as if he refused to stoop low enough to growl at the supervisor and instead wanted everyone to hear him.

Lonán stared at him in utter shock. He'd seen the boy before a few times, but hadn't thought much of him before. Even the supervisor was swept off of his feet for a good second. His expression turned back to a sneer. "He needs to learn his lesson without interference."

The supervisor's attentioned turned back to Lonán, dismissing the taller boy. He expected him to simply just not interfere as he raised the whip to stike Lonán.

However, the taller boy furiously strode over, fists clenched, and placed himself between the two, glaring the supervisor down. "I said I will take his punishment for him." He commanded.

The supervisor's expression darkened as he was defied. He struck the boy across the face without a word, and kept on going with the lashes.

Surprisingly enough, while the boy winced from the lashes, he didn't cry out. instead, he clenched his jaw and quickly turned his back to take majority of the harm before looking at Lonán and breathing between the lashes. "Get to the bunks- before they can do- anything to you-"

Lonán did as he said to do, scrambling to his feet. He wriggled his way through the crowd and didn't stop until he had made it to the bunks. Then he sat in his bunk with his legs to his chest thinking about the selfless act he had just seen in hell.

The pain was excruciating, each lash feeling like a lick of fire that lingered and burned his back but Kaladin was used to it now. The first while in the mines, he had lost count of the days, had felt like torture. However, out of anger, he had also done whatever he could to rebel against any of the officials he could, whenever he could.

After a while of enduring the strikes on his feet, Kaladin fell to one knee, breathing hard. That was the thing about the lashes, they hurt even more on sore muscles. It taught people to behave. But Kaladin wouldn't back down as long as the hatred fueled fire for justice burned more then the fire of the lashes on his back.

Lash after lash fell but after what felt like eternity, they finally stopped and he was hauled to his feet by two other miners who dragged him back to the bunks. Anything before that that had been spoken or done between the end of the lashes and stumbling back to the bunk was lost to him as he just kept breathing through the pain of movement, trying to get back. He was going to either way with the help of the miners, but he wanted to do it himself.

As soon as they reached the long cavern room with a barred iron door and two iron barred windows for ventilation, the miners helped Kaladin to a bed and forced him to sit down before roughly bandaging his back with the meager medical supplies they had and went to get back to work. Kaladin didn't blame them though. They all had to earn their meals somehow, and Kaladin would be going hungry tonight, likely the other boy too. Wherever he was. It was hard to see with how he had been struck across the face.

There was some shuffling in the room, which stayed in one place for a minute before moving closer to Kaladin. He could probably guess that it was that boy that he had saved, based on the relative size and the mop of oily black hair on his head. He held something in his hands.

Kaladin wiped some of the blood from his brow and out of his eyes as he glanced up at the boy, mildly surprised. "...It's you."

"Hi." He shuffled nervously. "Uh, thank you, about back in the tunnels."

Kaladin nodded slowly. "You shouldn't have to pay for something like that... it was an accident and barely a scratch. The stupid thing gets scratched all the time from throwing ores in it." He said before looking up at him again. "And if it wasn't an accident, that was a bold move you tried to play out there-"

"It wasn't on purpose." He interrupted. "But you didn't have to pay either."

"Someone had to. I'm at least used to it by now." Kaladin responded as he slowly relaxed his shoulders and leaned against the cold stone wall. That was the odd thing about the mines, despite the blazing desert outside, the mines were always cool unless the lucky gust of wind brought hot air in. Although typically it brought sand in with it.

"I brought you some medical stuff." The boy got to the point as to why he was here, and held out the package in his hands. There was little, but it was something. There was also some of the bread that they gave out in their rations. They were in small chunks, as if he had torn off a piece and stored it away secretly each time he ate.

Kaladin squinted at it a moment before wiping more blood out of his eye. Carefully, he took the medical supplies but left the bread in the other boy's hands. "Thanks. You should keep that though. You're probably not going to get a meal tonight either."

"I know. I still have some more." He insistently kept his hand with the bread out to Kaladin.

Kaladin frowned then sighed and finally accepted it. "Thank you-"

"Don't. Please. This is nothing." The boy finally sat down on the ground right where he had stood in front of Kaladin.

Kaladin watched him and popped one of the pieces of bread in his mouth and ate it before replying. "This is some pretty good nothing then."

"I never expected that anyone would stand up for me at all, ever." The boy nibbled on his own piece of bread he pulled out from his pocket. "I just want to repay it somehow."

"What's your name?" Kaladin asked the other boy slowly. He had seen him around even before this but he never asked his name, or anyone's really since he was most often in his own mind and only remembered their faces.

"Lonán, yours?" Saying his own name felt almost foreign on his tongue. He hadn't told anyone it for over a year by his estimation.

"Kaladin." He said simply in return. "Dont worry about repaying me lonán, just watch out for yourself."

Lonán didn't reply, just ate his bread quietly as his brain ran.

Kaldin quietly watched him and worked of putting a bandage to keep the cut on his face intact. Lonán had proved to be interesting. Anyone else would have scurried off and he would have never seen them again.

"Watch out for myself and what? Work till I drop, dead before I do so?" He asked softly, looking down as he tore a piece into two smaller pieces.

Kaladin shook his head, his voice dropping to a whisper that he knew only Lonán would be able to hear. "No- watch out for yourself so you're fit and uninjured- to get out."

"Really?" He replied quietly, looking back up at Kaladin.

Kaladin nodded, finishing the bandaging. "Really. I'm going to get us out of here."

Lonán smiled up at him, a small light to his eyes, a glimmer of hope.

Seeing that gave Kaladin a little more energy himself which showed at the corner of his mouth twitching up in a small smile. "Tell you what. You can pay me back by not ratting me out."

"You kidding? I've already helped you enough for them to consider me an accomplice." Lonán had his own small smile.

"So, is that a yes or a no?" Kaladin asked, the tiny flicker of a smile still on his face.

"Yes."

"We don't betray each other. Not until we're both out of here. Even if it's a million years." Kaladin added, holding out his hand to lonán to seal the pact.

"What's the point of getting out just to stab the other guy in the back?" Lonán raised an eyebrow.

Kaladin shrugged then winced slightly however somehow managed to retain the nonchalant air to the gesture. "there is none."

Lonán took his hand, wrapping his thumb around Kaladin's. "No betrayals here."

The small flicker of a smile returned as Kaladin lightly squeezed Lonán's hand. "Even if it's a million years?"

"Even if it's a million years." He repeated, also smiling.

Lonán slunk into the bunks room, and went under his to wait for Kaladin to arrive. The two of them had started coming here when no one else was there, that way they could talk without being overheard.
Getting found scheming would be a very harsh punishment for the both of them, or worse, death. But the risk was worth it, as Lonán felt something he hadn't for awhile: hope.

Kaladin quetly slipped in a couple moments later and shuffled over, wiping sweat from his brow. Despite his injuries, he was still forced to work but did so without complaint even though it likely slowed the healing process.

"...Lonán?" He whispered, ensuring no one else could hear them.

Lonán poked his head out from underneath, and kept his voice low as well. "Yup."

Kaladin nodded a bit, glancing back to make sure their were no soldiers anywhere around.

Lonán crawled out and sat down on his bunk, brushing some of the dust off of his clothes and his beard. "So, what are we starting with first?"

Kaladin slowly sat down on the bunk across from him and laced his hands together. "There's no way we can get out of here alone. We're going to need help." He gave one more cautionary glance towards the door before continuing. "There's people that could probably help us... a couple girls i've seen in particular. One's rumored to have killed a soldier before and with the way i see the newer guards look at her, I think it's true. Then there's another. She seems to be the only one that holds the other back from ripping the soldiers to pieces. We're going to need both of them on our side."

Lonán nodded. "So which one of us are going to be the lucky one to talk to those two, totally innocuous girls?"

Kaladin furrowed his brow and thought "Maybe you could do it? They might take me as a threat or something and personally, I don't want a pickaxe thrown at me for bugging them."

"You better be in the distance watching, so when it happens to me you can laugh."

Kaladin shook his head "i'll be watching to make sure everything goes okay. Not to laugh. If they do get mad at you though, you run, alright? As long as you talk to the red haired one you should be okay though."

"At least have a good laugh about it after the incident's passed." He shrugged. "Red hair, got it."

Kaladin nodded. "I've seen a couple others too but we'll have to scope them out more. They're all like us though, young and looking for a way out. I can see it on their faces."

Lonán nodded. "Yeah. I haven't seen anyone particularly standing out to me yet. Anyone else?"

"Not yet but we'll know them when we see them." Kaladin responded.

"Alrighty. Then we'll figure out where to go from there?"

"Yeah. We just need to get them to be our friends and make sure they're trustworthy then we should be pretty safe from the guards for the most part with them."

"Sounds good," He nodded, and added an attempt to add some humor, with dramatic arm movements. "To have a head, or not to have a head."

Kaladin chuckled and nodded. "exactly"



The next day, Lonán found himself a place to work next to the girls that Kaladin had pointed out. The part he failed to mention was how tall one of them was.

The blonde haired girl didn't spare him a single glance, swinging her pickaxe at the stone wall with a certain ferocity that couldn't be matched by anyone else that seemed to be working in the tunnels.

"So, what did you get dragged here for?" Lonán asked as he swung his own pickaxe at the wall.

"What, like you don't know already?" The blonde girl asked with a bit of a sneer.

"Rumors change. I'd like to hear it from you yourself. Besides, it's something other than chipping away at this wall." He kept his eyes on the wall, at what he was doing.

"Well too bad, I don't want to talk about it." The girl growled threateningly. "And if you don't drop the subject, you're going to find out the answer yourself. Personally."

The other girl beside her with dark red hair shook her head. "What have I said about being nice, Bathildis? We're all just tryng to make it through. Don't scare him."

"It's a touchy subject, it's fine." He shrugged. "Never really talked about how I got here. It's not much of a story worth telling."

"Then why are you talking to us?" Bathildis snapped.

"Because not talking to someone will suck the soul out of a person faster than termites making themselves home in a stead."

"Pick someone else then." she grumbled.

the other girl sighed, rolling her eyes "Don't mind her. I'd be interested in talking."

"Alright." He turned his head to give her a small smile. "Where did you come from?"

She offered a smile back while the other girl got back to work "Fiodha Forest. You?"

"A small city in Aiteach."

"Hm, interesting... is it as bad there as it is in the forest?"

"If I'm assuming what you're talking about correctly, probably."

the girl seemed to nod, a little sadly. but whether it was sincere or not was hard to tell.

"I never did introduce myself. I'm Lonán."

She smiled a bit. "I'm Scylla and this is Bathildis."

Bathildis did not make any comment of show desire to be part of the conversation again.

"Nice to meet you." He smiled a little back, before remembering something he had heard once from a merchant passing through. "Is it true the forest has the largest variety of trees?"

"Of course! There's any kind you could imagine there. even ones with purple leaves"

"Purple?!" He stopped swinging the pickaxe for a second to process that.

Scylla grinned and nodded while Bathildis rolled her eyes.

"What kind of trees have purple leaves?"

"there's a kind of maple i think. Their leaves are a really dark purple that turn yellow in the fall."

He shook his head in amazement. "How common are they?"

"I mean, it's not like they're rare or anything."

"There's none in Aiteach."

"Hm, I guess that makes sense considering it's farmland."

"Yeah."

She shrugged and got back to work as a supervisor came down the tunnel

He stopped talking and looked as if he was focusing on his work while the supervisor walked past them.

She waited until the supervisor was gone again before turning to him once more. "So, what makes you want to talk to us?"

"You seem like people that are like-minded on certain subjects."

"certain subjects?" she asked curiously, almost excitedly.

"Yeah." He shrugged. "I mean still great if you've got a different opinion, doesn't mean two people can't talk, but it's nicer to talk with someone who agrees on the same things."

"Yeah, and what are those same things?" She inquired further, almost pushing for an answer.

"Well for one, being here kinda sucks."

She nodded slowly however her expression conveyed dissappointment "you don't say."

Ah, what the hell. He wasn't good with subtlety. "If there was a plan in progress to escape, would you help?"

She instantly perked up and grinned at him. "Oh, I don't know, are we in a tunnel, forced to mine against our will?"

"That's very well possible, or maybe we're all delusional." He replied with a small smirk.

Scylla's smile turned devious. "I'm in. Bathildis too."

His smirk grew. "Wonderful."

Kaladin had quickly torn his fingers through his dust coated hair more times then he could even count in the short span of time it took for Lonán to speak with the two girls. Hadn't he told him not to talk to the blonde one? And to see if the were trustworthy and not to drop the entire plan to them right off the bat? That had apparently gone right out the window of Lonáns mind as soon as he started talking to them which had caused Kaladin anxiety to no end in worrying about his still newfound friend.

With a heavy sigh, somewhere between relief and exasperation, he sunk onto his bunk, just glad the conversation was over now. As long as Lonán made it to the room soon, he would be able to finally stop worrying.

There were light footsteps as Lonán walked in, and made his way to sit on the bunk across from Kaladin.

Kaladin glanced over at him and fully relaxed once he saw he was okay. "You had me so worried."

"Worried that much about me already?"

"Yes! Yes I am." Kaladin grumbled slighty.

He lifted his arms partway and stood up just to spin in a circle before sitting back down. "I am completely intact."

This coaxed a small smile to form on Kaladin's face. "Good to know."

"So, this project's workforce has doubled a second time. What now?"

Kaladin blinked. "You already recruited them?"

"What?"

"...We were supposed to make sure we could trust them first-"

"Yes I know and I'm sure we can trust them! I'm good enough with people to tell."

"I hope you're right..."

"We can." He replied certainly.

Kaladin nodded slightly.

"...and we might need to find a better place to do this stuff. Meetings of two people can sometimes be suspicious. Four people will definitely be a red flag."

"Yeah... maybe there's an abandoned tunnel or something we can find."

He nodded slowly. "I think they'd keep an eye on those though.

"good point. If we can find one that is pretty much inaccessible and find a way in, we should be fine. Or find someplace they don't know about."

"Yeah." He nodded.

Kaladin nodded, thinking about all of the different areas in the mines. He had seen one area, a sort of crack in the wall that the guards seemednot to notice. Maybe it was big enough to shimmy through.

Lonán groaned after a few seconds. "This is making me realise how far from a perfect memory I have."

Kaladin glanced over at him, raising a brow as he gained a slightly sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach "what do you mean?"

"You ever hear about the people who can remember everything? Every little detail, even if they've seen a place once. To be fair, I hadn't looked around much over the past year. I know how to navigate through the tunnels, but I don't remember every detail of the walls. Makes me kind of jealous."

He blinked at him. That's what he had to say? "we'll have to pay more attention then i guess"

"I'll be looking around next shift."

"Me too. I think I spotted a place sometime ago though that i'll have to see if i can get closer to."

"Sounds good." He nodded.

Kaladin nodded as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Kaladin spent hours, scouring the nearby walls where he mined, looking for anything that could serve as a meeting place. somewhere inaccesible, somewhere hidden, some place they wouldn't get caught.

Lonán spent his time mining looking for a place as well. Turns out, there were cracks in the walls everywhere, but very few of them led to any hidden areas that they could use. They had agreed to split the tunnels in two, and each of them would cover those areas.

There had been a spot Kaladin had seen once, a spot that led deeper into the mines, int abandoned tunnels that no one ever went to, not even the guards themselves. If only he could remember where it was, much less get closer to it in order to see if it would work or not.

Trying to stay as mobile as he could, looking for new "veins" of ore in the wall, he tried to examine as much as he could to find the spot.

Lonán squirmed past some other miners, continuing to look for a place- any place. He muttered to himself about ore being hard to find as a cover.

Kaladin noticed him nearby and carefully made his way over. "Find anything yet?"

"No, not yet," He replied, looking around. Then he pointed at what could possibly be a crevice going through. "Maybe, actually."

Kaladin perked and instantly headed towards it, voice dropping to a whisper as he peered through. "There's a collapsed tunnel back there-"

Lonán perked up, and kept his voice low. "That's great! How far back can you see?"

"there's tons of space back there... and a collapsed enterance. we just have to get through it."

"Amazing. We've got our place- and the only one in the entire mining system so we better be careful with it."

"We have to be careful with it, if we want to ever get out of here." Kaladin whispered gravely.