Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 254

Chapter 254: Diggy Diggy tunnel
Ford salvaged what he could of Gary’s work over the next few days, and pushed the tunnel deeper into the cliff.

There wasn’t an abundance of timber in this desert area, and certainly nothing strong enough to hold up the roof of the deep cave being dug.

Thankfully, after a certain point, it did become clearing out debris rather than digging anew, though Gary had certainly tried to do the latter.

The main problem lay in the fact that the original tunnel was incredibly narrow. The original people down here had likely been reduced to turning sideways and squeezing through parts of it, which was fine for spelunkers, but difficult for diggers.

After all, every shovelful and rock that was loosened had to be brought back out again.

Instead of painstakingly breaking the rocks into pieces small enough to fit, Gary had elected to widen the gap.

A sound strategy, when you have the materials to make sure the area stays as stable as it should.

Even so, with fresh eyes this morning, Ford assessed what needed to be done to get deepest in the quickest way.

Gary was certain that the passage led into the main part of the cave, and Ford had no reason to doubt him. Hadn’t Mia’s magic confirmed this was the best way into the cave?

Maybe he should bring her inside and see if her magic would give further insight as to whether they were headed in precisely the right direction… but no.

He’d promised her he wouldn’t bring her in here until it was absolutely safe. Not that his promises meant a lot to him. Hadn’t he initially intended to manipulate Mia into helping him this far?

No. He would keep this promise, at least. Her face, and the fear in it, had prompted the rather reckless declaration.

If he tried to bring her in again prematurely, he was certain the same look would prevent him from carrying through on anything but the safest course.

The desire to protect her was growing stronger day by day. That first night in the camp, the way she’d cried out in her sleep had woken him.

In a panic, he’d thought she was hurt, or that Gary had come out to attack them, or that some desert animal had come.

His heart pounding as he searched around wildly for the threat, he calmed when she whimpered again. The threat was nothing outward, but must be bad dreams.

“Shh,” He’d tried to calm her, but it was no use.

Not wanting Gary to be awakened and come investigate in the middle of the night, Ford had worked quickly to try and quiet the girl. Crawling towards her out of his bedroll, a hand on her shoulder failed to wake her, but did make the crying subside.

With a sigh he moved to go back to sleep, but soon the whimpering began again. Though he was tempted to hold her again, he didn’t want to imagine her waking up in his arms with surprise.

Mia might hit him, and if her father found them, Ford would certainly be in far deeper trouble than he was already.

In the end, he’d figured out the way to touch her least—staying furthest away from her–while also keeping her calm and quiet, was to bring his bedroll close enough to reach out and hold her hand.

He’d had to do so each night since.

Mia no longer seemed surprised and ashamed when she woke to discover the nocturnal contact. Nor did she seem put off by how rough his hands were.

The pickaxe he worked with made for deeply calloused hands. Hers, by contrast, were soft despite the strength with which she went through her days.

Though she had not, as yet, entered the tunnel, she wasn’t idle by any stretch. Even Ford, who didn’t normally pay a lot of attention to such things, noticed how meals were ready promptly, things were washed, horses cared for and taken to graze and drink, firewood was gathered.

Ford had vastly underestimated the quality of life improvement in having someone around to care for other tasks while he labored. It was borderline miraculous to come out of the darkness of the tunnel and be met with her smiling welcome.

She’d even taken to laying out his bedroll at night while he went to wash off the daily grime of toiling in the cave.

After the second night of him moving closer to hold her hand, she’d begun setting them up closely enough to save him the trouble.

Gary had somehow found the self control to refrain from comment, but that didn’t stop his raised eyebrows from getting under Ford’s skin.

The man was good at that. Once he’d caught a glimpse of the wooden ring in Ford’s pack that had belonged to his mother, and the man burst out laughing. He’d apologized afterwards, but his keen amusement was palpable that Ford possessed such a token of his mother’s poverty.

By the end of the fourth day of digging, their joint supplies were beginning to run low. Mia hadn’t packed for an extended trip, and Gary hadn’t gotten enough food on his last run to feed anyone except himself.

Ford supposed he should be grateful the enigmatic man was willing to share at all, but then, the miner was making far more progress these past days than Gary had made independently in ages.

The elder man was mainly in charge of hauling stone out of the tunnel after Ford safely removed it from its place. With hard work came large appetites, especially when Ford set aside his crutch in order to be more productive. As long as he wasn’t walking long distances, he found it tolerable to put weight on his leg, and finally began feeling like a man.

It was alien to him. He was doing similar work as he’d once done in the mines, excavating rock, but no longer was he a soulless slave for a miserable wage for a man he rarely saw.

He was largely independent, respected for his expertise, and even taken care of. He went to sleep each night hopefuly that the next day would be the day he broke through, and yet was rather content even if it wasn’t.

Except for the fact that eventually Mia’s family would catch up with them, and he still didn’t trust Gary, there was not much for him to worry about.

Until the next rock he was working on gave way, and his hair ruffled with a draft of wind.