Sixteen Tonnes

Chapter 2 - The Arcanretia Mines

The journey from Rosemary Village to Arcenretia was long and uncomfortable for the children. They were placed in a dimly lit wagon that only had one small window at the top of the wagon. There was no place to use the bathroom, and there were other children and some supplies for the mines. It was cramped, cold, and scary to the children. They were able to get to sleep, probably for the first time inside something rather than out on the streets, but it was still rather cold considering that it is late fall. On top of that, they are feeling hungry. They haven't had anything to eat in hours since they were locked in there with no food or water. They only snacked on what scraps they found in the trash earlier, not enough to satisfy their hunger. For hours they sat there, cold, hungry, sleeping. The wagon stopped, and the door opened slowly, waking up the children with the creaking of the doors.

"Alright, brats. Get up!" Shouts Mr. Theodore-Lloyd. "We have arrived". The children got up rubbing their eyes, and noticing how angry the gentleman was becoming, they had to be quick and get out of the wagon. They were all lined up in a row, and military guards were pointing muskets at the children. The children were confused and scared. Erza looks over at Simon, with Kagura embracing her older brother in fright. Before Erza can get a word to Simon, Buli Torran stood in front of the children, looking over the new laborers.

"Is this all of the brats?" he asked disappointedly. "I thought we had more than this?"

"This is indeed all the children we picked up, sir". Buli let out a giant sigh of anger. He wanted more children to work in the mines. He had to let that fact go now and face the children with a sinister smile.

"Now listen up!" He shouts. "You children will now be under our care! We will provide you lot with food and shelter, and all we ask in return is your labor in the mines. You will work down in the pits from dawn to dusk, with only one 30-minute break. You shall work every day and must work to bring us the allotted amount we ask for the daily quota. Otherwise, there will be severe consequences. If you try to escape our grasp, we will punish you severely. If you try to defy orders, we will punish you severely. If you do anything that displeases us, we will punish you severely. Our orders are absolute, don't forget that". The children, scared and trembling, were forced to agree. The gentlemen smirked at their dominance.

"Good". Mr. Torran points over to a small shed, with guards holding a few crates of what appears to be clothing. "The guards have your work clothes, so get in the shed and change. After which you will get on those mine carts and begin to work". The children didn't say anything and didn't do anything, as they were confused and scared, but they would do as they were told lest they want to find out what those men with the muskets would do. They all filed into the shed and after a few minutes were changed into clothes, if anyone would call them that. The boys had on a ragged tank top, full of holes. They were also given green tattered trousers. The girls were given a light blue dress that was also tattered. Neither were given shoes, which may be alarming to some since most of the children had shoes, or some form of footwear albeit on the cusp of being torn and worn out. A lot of children know the dangers of going barefoot in a place like this, but at the same time they didn't have a choice, and most of the children went barefoot their entire life without any care or worry.

After they changed into their new rags, they were forced onto the mine carts and the pullies began to bring them down into the mine. They are now plunged into eternal darkness only lit by the candles that are scattered throughout the pillars of the coal mine. The cart was cramped, filthy, and cold. The sobs of children made more audible the deeper they go down. Kagura holds on to her brother tightly, Erza wrapping her legs in between her arms. At the end of the tunnel, they see a very large enclosed pit, with miners working on multiple levels. Children are seen constantly pulling or pushing carts from one of the many different entrances to different parts of the mine. They see a few cells, where miners sit or lie down very much dead, but still alive. In one cell, there are miners stripped of their tops and whipped by guards possibly for insubordination. The cart stops in its tracks by the guards, jolting the children from their sorrow. The guards shout for the children to move from the carts and they did what they are told.