Chapter 92
The rescue continued long into the afternoon.
Smoke drifted from the collapsed mine.
Stretchers moved constantly between the entrance and Aurora's medical tents.
Every few minutes another miner emerged from the darkness.
Some walked.
Some had to be carried. Some...Never came out.
Silence would fall whenever another body was covered with a white sheet.
Aurora forced herself not to look. She couldn't. Not now.
Not while dozens of others still needed her.
A short distance away...
King Lucian stood beside Duke Owen, Turner, Brian Vale and Alistair.
No one spoke. Each man stared at the collapsed entrance.
Finally Brian broke the silence. "My Lord..."
He crouched beside one of the broken support beams. "May I?"
Owen nodded.
Brian removed one of his gloves before carefully running his fingers across the timber.
He frowned. "...Interesting."
Lucian folded his arms. "What have you found?"
Brian didn't answer immediately. Instead, he drew a small knife and scraped away soot from the wood. Fresh pale timber appeared beneath the black dust.
Then...Several narrow cuts.
Perfectly straight. Far too clean.
Brian slowly looked up. "This beam didn't fail naturally."
Turner's expression darkened.
"So Father was right." Brian said.
Lucian's voice became cold. "Explain."
Brian stood. "Old timber splits with the grain."
He pointed toward the beam. "This didn't. Someone weakened these supports."
Alistair leaned closer. "Could the miners have caused it?"
Brian shook his head. "No. These cuts were made weeks..."
He paused. "No..." He examined another beam. "Months before today."
Silence.
Owen clenched his jaw. "So someone planned this."
Brian nodded. "Very carefully."
Lucian looked toward the mountain. "Meaning today wasn't chosen at random."
"No." Brian slowly walked around the entrance. "The collapse happened exactly during working hours. When the greatest number of miners would be underground."
Theo's face paled. "My God..."
Brian looked back. "Whoever planned this wasn't trying to damage a mine. He was trying to kill people."
No one spoke.
The words settled over the group like a storm cloud.
Nearby...
Aurora carefully stitched another wound.
Emily quietly handed her fresh thread.
"My Lady..."
Aurora didn't look up. "Hm?"
Emily lowered her voice. "They've been standing over there for nearly half an hour."
Aurora glanced toward the men.
Lucian.
Owen.
Turner.
Brian.
All four wore expressions she had never seen before.
"They found something." Aurora whispered.
Emily followed her gaze.
"I think so."
Aurora wanted to walk over. She couldn't.
Another injured miner was already being carried toward her. Duty came first.
Back near the entrance...
Brian had moved deeper into the collapsed area.
His sharp eyes missed very little.
A broken lantern.
Boot prints.
Shattered tools.
Then...He stopped. "Interesting..."
Turner walked over. "What is it?"
Brian pointed toward the dirt. "These footprints."
Turner frowned. "They belong to miners."
"Most do." Brian pointed again. "But these.....don't."
Everyone leaned closer.
"The heel pattern is different. The boots are expensive."
Owen frowned. "A foreman?"
Brian slowly shook his head. "No. Too clean. Someone wasn't working."
Lucian narrowed his eyes. "Can you tell how many?"
Brian carefully studied the ground. "One."
He followed the trail several meters.
Then...The footprints disappeared completely beneath fallen rocks.
Brian sighed. "Either he escaped.....or he's buried."
Theo swallowed nervously. "I don't know which answer I prefer."
One of the surviving miners suddenly approached.
"My Lords..."
His hands trembled.
Brian smiled reassuringly, "We just need to ask a few questions."
The older miner nodded. "Anything."
Brian's voice remained calm.
"Did anything unusual happen recently?"
The miner hesitated, "...Maybe."
Owen immediately noticed the uncertainty, "Take your time."
The miner rubbed the back of his neck. "There was.... a new worker."
Lucian looked up. "A new worker?"
The miner nodded. "Never spoke much. Always wore gloves."
Turner frowned. "In summer?"
"Yes."
Brian exchanged a glance with Owen.
Interesting. "What was his name?"
The miner looked embarrassed. "We......never asked."
"He mostly worked nights...He left before sunrise."
Owen's stomach tightened. "How long?"
"About three months."
Brian quietly asked, "Did anyone know where he lived?"
"No."
"What about family?"
"No."
"Friends?"
The miner slowly shook his head. "He always kept to himself."
Brian looked toward Lucian. "I don't think he was a miner."
"No.", Lucian agreed, "I think he was waiting. Waiting for today."
The tension around the group thickened.
Theo finally voiced the question everyone was thinking. "If this was planned then who benefits?"
Silence.
Then...Owen answered quietly, "There is only one man cruel enough."
Lucian looked at him, "Bracken."
The name alone seemed to chill the air.
Brian folded his arms. "The problem is...We have no proof."
Lucian's eyes hardened. "Then find it."
Brian nodded once. "I'll need men."
"You'll have them."
"I'll need authority."
Lucian didn't hesitate. "You have mine."
"I'll need access to every mine in the kingdom."
"You'll have that too."
Brian smiled faintly. "I thought you'd say that."
A cry erupted from within the collapsed shaft.
"Captain!.."We've found them!"
Every head snapped toward the entrance.
A rescue knight came running, his face streaked with soot, "They're alive!"
Hope swept through the camp.
"But another collapse sealed the passage. We can't reach them."
Turner's expression hardened, "How many?"
"We don't know. "The tapping has stopped."
Silence settled over the group.
Turner looked toward the mine.
Then toward Owen.
"My Lord..."
He didn't need to finish.
Owen already knew, "You intend to go in."
Turner gave a single nod, "If we wait much longer..."
His eyes never left the darkness beyond the entrance, "...we'll be recovering bodies."
Lucian stepped forward immediately, "No."
Turner met his gaze, "If they're still alive, every minute matters."
"The supports are failing," Lucian replied sharply.
"So are the men trapped beneath them."
Another silence.
Heavy.
Uncomfortable.
Then...
"No." ,The voice was quiet. Barely above a whisper. Yet every man turned.
Aurora stood only a few steps away.
Blood stained the sleeves of her dress. Her hands were still crimson from treating the wounded.
She stared at Turner, "No."
Turner softened immediately, "My Lady..."
"You are not going down there.", Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
The kind of calm that only existed moments before someone broke.
Turner took a slow step toward her, "They need help."
"I know. So let someone else go."
"There isn't anyone else."
Another step.
She reached him before he reached her. Her fingers closed around his forearm. Not tightly.
As though she feared he might disappear if she let go, "Please..."
The word escaped before she could stop it.
Turner's heart clenched. He had heard Aurora plead for dying children. For wounded soldiers. For grieving mothers.
Never...
For him.
He gently covered her hand with his own, "If I don't go..."
He glanced toward the mine, "...they won't come home."
Aurora shook her head, "You don't know that."
"I do."
"You don't." , Her voice cracked.
"You don't know what will happen if that mountain moves again."
Neither of them noticed the others watching.
To Aurora...
The world had narrowed to one man.
Turner spoke quietly, "I've led men into battle. This is no different."
She looked straight into his eyes, "It is different."
There was no anger.
Only fear.
Raw.
Unhidden.
"I know what crushed lungs look like. I know what happens when people are trapped beneath stone. I know how quickly hope disappears."
Her grip tightened almost imperceptibly, "...I don't want to find you on one of my tables."
The words struck Turner harder than any blade ever had.
For a long moment...
Neither spoke.
He simply looked at her.
Dust covered her face.
Blood stained her hands.
Her eyes shimmered with tears she was desperately trying to hold back.
Not because she was frightened for herself. Because she was frightened...
For him.
Very carefully...
He lifted one hand and brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face.
A gesture so natural neither of them seemed aware of it.
"I'll come back."
Aurora gave the smallest shake of her head, "You can't promise me that."
"No." , His voice was gentle, "I can't."
His eyes drifted toward the families gathered behind her.
A little girl stood clinging to her mother's skirts.
Nearby, an elderly woman knelt in prayer.
Several wives stared at the mine entrance, refusing to look away.
Turner looked back at Aurora.
"If I stay......someone else will have to tell them their husband never came home."
Aurora followed his gaze.
The little girl.
The mothers.
The sons.
She understood.
She hated that she understood.
Turner slowly turned her shoulders toward the waiting families.
"They're looking at that mountain......the same way you're looking at me."
Aurora closed her eyes. A tear slipped free.
Turner caught it gently with his thumb.
His voice was almost a whisper, "You once told me......that courage isn't the absence of fear. "
"It's choosing to move despite it."
He smiled faintly, "I remembered."
Aurora let out a trembling breath, "...I wish you hadn't."
For the first time...
Turner laughed.
Quietly.
Softly.
Just enough to ease the weight between them.
"So do I."
Another cry echoed from inside the mountain.
This time...
Neither of them looked away.
Aurora slowly released his arm.
Her fingers lingered for the briefest moment before slipping free.
She couldn't bring herself to tell him to go.
But she could no longer ask him to stay.
Turner held her gaze for one last heartbeat.
Then he turned.
Without another word...He walked toward the darkness beneath the mountain.
Aurora remained where she stood.
Watching.
Until the shadows swallowed him whole.
Only then did she whisper, so quietly that no one but the wind could hear,
"...Come back."
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