Constant banging was a reminder that it was time to get up. Todd slid out of bed and marched his way to the gloomy mines. His usual routine ended as he entered the cave. Todd and Gale went their separate ways, Todd to research and Gale to hammer away at the rock.

Todd greeted the old man behind the desk. A substantial amount of time had passed since they had last met. He had only seen him when he needed a pickaxe on his first day. Todd was too stubborn to waste money on a new pick. Even Gale’s constant badgering wasn’t enough to make him to relent. 

Todd thought back to his old world and how they blasted tunnels through solid granite. He had come to the conclusion he might be able to do the same, if, of course, explosives weren’t extremely expensive. Todd didn’t think the old man would have any on him, but he might be able to convince the old man to start stocking them.

“Hey, Do you do you by any chance ever take requests for items,” Todd asked.

“Not really,” chuckled the old man. “You’d have to do a lot of convincing to have me go out of my way to get you something I don’t have.”

“Well, I was wondering if you could get me some cheap explosives. Is there anything I could help you with?”

“Hmmm. I have been having trouble lately with some of the miners who rent gear and stop paying for it. The guards don’t care if the workers are bringing the ore, so could you go around collecting pickaxes stolen from me?”

“Yeah, that sounds fair.”  

The old shopkeeper handed Todd a list with names of miners on it. Some were crossed off while others had check marks by their names.

“This is my list of people who aren’t paying me for the equipment they rented. I’ve already dealt with all the names that are crossed off. I’ll go get your first shipment when you bring back at least three people’s gear."

Todd left to go find Gale. Todd hadn’t been the most outgoing person since coming to the mines, he mostly left the social dealings to Gale. He didn’t have any extra time to invest into getting to know people. He had promises he needed to keep.

“Gale, I need your help,” stated Todd. 

“With what? Did you find what you were looking for?” asked a curious Gale.

“The shopkeeper said he could get us explosives, but we need to return some gear that people stopped paying for. I don’t know anyone on this list.”

“Hmmm. I can help you, but I don’t want screw anyone over if they can’t afford to pay back their debt.”

“Ok, I agree.” Todd handed Gale the list who quickly scanned down the names of the people on the list.

Gale pointed at the name Riley Twilin. “He’s been a problem for the village. He’s got a group of thugs that bully miners into giving them their ore. I think he should be our first target.”

“Ok” said Todd who had grown to trust Gale’s judgement over the last several months.

Both Todd and Gale decided their best chance of obtaining Riley’s stolen pickaxe would be to do it at night while he was asleep. They would have to evade the night guards, but that would be easier than fighting there way through Riley’s thugs.

Todd joined Gale mining for remainder of the day. When they went in to weigh the ore they had collected, they had only managed to bring in a total of 1.4 pounds of iron. Todd took .8 pounds worth of vouchers out of his pocket and handed it to the inspector.

Both Gale and Todd knew it would be tough sneaking out of the tents once let alone twice in one night. They had devised a plan to minimize the likelihood of getting caught. As long as they stayed within Vlad’s confinement area they shouldn’t get caught.

As seas of villagers were slowly flowing to their nightly outposts, Todd and Gale decided not to go back to their claimed bunks. Gale led Todd to the tent where Riley supposedly lived. They found random bunks in the corners of the tent and crawled underneath them. Extra blankets were stolen from a couple of the beds to cover themselves up. Hopefully people would just assume the owner of the beds were just storing their gear under them.

They weighted for an eternity. Todd’s legs were starting to go numb from the uncomfortable position he had twist himself into. If this was how pretzels felt, Todd never wanted to become a pretzel.

Todd slowly rolled his way to into the open. He crawled on the floor like a slug slowly working his way towards Riley’s bed. Gale had yet to leave his spot so Todd gave him a nudge as he slid past him.

A problem emerged. Riley’s pick was tucked under the covers and held like a small child would hold a Teddy Bear. 

Gale got ready to pin Riley to the ground. Todd yanked the pickaxe from the bed which woke the now startled Riley.

POP* Riley was knocked unconscious. It was clear a bruise was going to form where Todd had whacked him with the stolen pickaxe.

They peaked out of the tent, ready to make their getaway. The glow of two guards slowly marching back and forth was their next obstacle. Sprinting as fast as they could, the duo hurried over to where they slept.

The panicked guards saw the dark silhouettes sprinting across the lawn.

“HEY, STOP RIGHT THERE,” the guards shouted in pursuit.

The guards were too slow. Todd and Gale made it to their tent and were in the process of getting in their bunks.

When the guards peaked inside the tent everyone was sound asleep. They didn’t bother searching for the night runners because it would be impossible to figure out who had just been awake. They weren’t paid enough to be investigators.