Page 44 of The Piper's Pursuit

They both went to the wall. Would they be given one of the little pickaxes? They were small but could certainly be used as weapons. But when they reached the spot Hennek indicated, the guards gave them each a small chisel with a dull, flat end.

The poor children seemed to know their own stations and were already standing or kneeling at them, hacking away at the hard rock. Even in the relatively dark mine, Katerina could see the veins of ore running through the rock walls.

Heat and fury welled up from Kat’s gut.

“Get to work,” one of the guards ordered. Something pressed her side and she looked down to see the guard was jabbing her with a stick.

She glared at him, but he glared right back. When she turned back to the rock in front of her, Steffan was watching the guard from the corner of his eye. The guard backed away a foot or two and Steffan whispered, “We will escape. Soon.”

Yes, Hennek would regret not killing them. He was so greedy and loved to puff himself up, and that would be his demise.

Fourteen

Finally, after many hours of work, Steffan and the rest of the workers were allowed to lie down and sleep. Katerina lay her one blanket near his. He waited, holding his breath. Would the guards separate them?

Steffan lay down quickly, his head near hers. The floor was hard and uneven, but he had slept on the ground many nights. He imagined Katerina, even though she was used to a soft bed, was probably too tired to notice. Her eyelids had been drooping for hours, and she stumbled when she moved.

So far he had made note of every bit of the mine that was within his view. He wasn’t sure how, but they would escape. It was only a matter of time. And when his father found out what Hennek had been doing, he would be outraged and would bring swift justice.

A slight pang nipped Steffan’s chest to think he had once accused his father of being unjust, to think of how he had defied his father and disobeyed him. For the past year, the truth had slowly dawned on him more and more. His pride had taken a beating, admitting to his brother Wolfgang that he had been wrong. When he began to think that his anger had been foolish and unnecessary, all these last many months, he’d felt adrift.

He had to change the way he thought about many things. His father was a good man, just and fair. Steffan had been foolish to distrust him. His faults were very hard to admit, even to himself, but he’d experienced what happened when a man deceived himself into thinking his actions were righteous when they were not.

He’d been wandering a circuitous path from Poland toward home for the past year, seeking adventure and fortune, looking for a way to redeem himself. Pride. That was what was keeping him from going straight home. Joining the Teutonic Knights, seeing how warped their leader’s motives were, and having to fight against his own brother, whom he loved, perhaps more than any other person in the world, had begun to open his eyes. And remembering the men he had killed in battle, men who were only defending themselves and their land and their families... That was certainly the worst part.

Why was he thinking about this now? He had to stay alert to an opportunity to escape and get Katerina and these children out of here.

Poor Katerina. She was probably already asleep. His own eyes were burning, and so was the cut on his chest.

The guards were gathering at one side of the room. Finally, Rugen joined them.

“Did you see those children? I wish the guards would let us talk to them.”

Katerina was speaking to him. He rolled over and found himself face-to-face with her. Even though her eyes were red from exhaustion, they gleamed in the torchlight as she spoke.

“Which children?”

“The two older ones, the boy and the girl. I think they will help us.”

What could two children do to help? But he didn’t want to discourage her. They had to keep their hope alive.

“They may know things we don’t about the mine to help us,” she said, her teeth starting to chatter.

“That is true. Are you cold?”

“Not very much.” Her voice sounded groggy. She wasn’t accustomed to going two days and nights without sleep.

“Go to sleep now.” He sat up and said loudly in the direction of the guards, “Hennek’s daughter needs another blanket. Hennek wouldn’t like one of his best workers dying because of the cold.”

“It’s not cold in here,” one of the guards barked back.

“How do you know what Hennek wouldn’t like?” said another.

A third guard muttered something as he fetched a blanket from the pile on the floor. He took a step toward Steffan, then tossed it to him.

“Thank you,” Steffan said.

He laid it over Katerina, who, even as tired as she obviously was, lay in a defensive position, on her side with her hands in loose fists resting on her chest. Her eyes were open a slit as she watched him.