Like Veins of Red Rubies (Most Precious Book 1)

"Be safe honey," Emily said.

  Stanley leaned in and kissed her. "I’ll see you tonight," he said.

  Stanley walked past the row of domiciles, through the streets to the town square. The crowd was larger that day, and Stanley had trouble pushing through them. He received sad looks from the men and women in the crowd and sometimes, the occasional pat on the back, a cheer, or a word of encouragement. One woman even said, "Oh please, do be careful in there."

  Stanley went into the cave and walked across the lake. He was met by Mr. Roberts.

  "I got a lot of worried looks from the crowd," Stanley said. "I suppose word of Victor’s incident has gotten out."

  "It has spread to every ear in that short time," said Mr. Roberts. "I’ve received countless appeals to end this project and countless more praising my efforts."

  Victor emerged from the lake and said, "Do you have thoughts of ending this?"

  "It is only our third day and we are bound to run into a few accidents," said Mr. Roberts.

  Stanley nodded. He went over to the base of his tunnel and equipped his gear. Victor was already there with his gear on, having his pill.

  Victor grabbed the drill and fastened it to his back. He climbed into the tunnel and made his way up, followed by Stanley. The distance up was long, but Victor had learned to climb faster, by sort of propelling his feet from each ledge. But when they reached the top, Victor was drained of energy. He sat down and panted.

  "Let me rest a while," said Victor. "I am tired by the time I get up here. Now I have to hold the drill up for hours."

  "Well you won't trust me with it, so bear that in mind," said Stanley, who was also panting. "It’s kind of hard to get air in this place, isn't it?"

  Victor ceased his panting and looked up. "Tell me," he said. "What was your real intention? When you voted to dig up, were you really hoping to reach the surface? Or was it for the rubies?"

  "It was the rubies," said Stanley.

  Victor raised his hands and smacked them on his legs. "I knew it," he said.

  "It is fine," said Stanley. "Other council members have voted to dig as well."

  "It’s not fine," said Victor. "You had the power to prevent this project from ever happening. Haven’t you seen the things we dug up? They’ve all been weapons. You and I have both been injured by them. It won’t be long until the same happens to the others."

  "I do worry about that," Stanley said. "But we are undertaking a bold task. It would be abnormal if we ran into nothing."

  Victor did not reply. He grabbed his drill, aimed at the tunnel, and dug. Stanley stayed behind and diligently pushed the mounds of brown dirt down. They continued for a good long time. They had climbed about fifty ledges when the dirt seemed different, as in having a slightly reflective tinge to them. They ran through Stanley’s hands and fingers, and at one point, large chunks of silvery dirt ran down.

  "Wait," Stanley said. "Wait, Victor stop."

  Victor stopped his drill and looked down. "What?" he said.

  Stanley pointed at the dirt and said, "Have a look at this."

  Victor glanced at the dirt, but didn’t react. He set his visor aside and focused his eyes and his mouth drew open. "What is this?" he said. He dug his hand into the dirt and grabbed a fistful of it. Specks of silvery metal glistened under his helmet light.

  Stanley looked past Victor and pointed. "Look."

  Victor turned and faced the wall where he had previously dug. Scattered along the dirt were silver sticks that were either cut by the drill or pushed in.

  Victor shuffled up and ran his finger along one of them. It was embedded deep within the dirt, so he dug his finger in and picked it out. It fell, along with the dirt around it. Victor picked it up and held it before him and glanced at it. His eyes zoomed in and widened as he carefully looked at all sides of it.

  "Show me," said Stanley.

  Victor slowly turned and brought it before Stanley. Stanley poked his head closely in, but Victor shook it and said, "No, just take it."

  Stanley took it with both hands and observed it. It was an old metal stick, silver in color, and smooth in texture. It was flat and thin, and it curved at the tip and divided into three separate points.

  Victor raised his drill and kept it off. With it, he stabbed the dirt, and chunks fell off, along with the silver sticks. Stanley collected them before they could slide down.

  "Careful," Victor said. He set his drill down and picked up some of the sticks. "Look at this one." He handed another one to Stanley.

  It was similar to the one Stanley saw before, but about three quarters up, it menacingly curved outward. There were multiple sharply cut ridges in the curved part. Stanley scratched it against the tip of his gauntlet and left a cut mark. He looked up. "What are these?"

  Victor continued scanning his handful of sticks. "I don’t know," he said. "But it’s a miracle that we found them now."

  "How is that so?"

  "It is better that experienced people ran into this," Victor said. "We’ve dug enough today. We should return below and show the others."

  Stanley nodded and took the drill. "Collect the sticks, as many as you can," he said.

  Victor gathered a bundle of the metal sticks and said, "I have enough."

  Stanley slid down, and Victor followed him. Ailey met them.

  "Where’s Mr. Roberts?" Victor said.

  "Outside," said Ailey.

  Stanley and Victor made their way through the lake. They exited the cave and ran to the town square. Mr. Roberts was there, talking to the crowd.

  "Mr. Roberts," called Victor. "Mr. Roberts, take a look at this." He laid the sticks out on a bench.

  Mr. Roberts took one and glanced at it. "What is this?"

  "We don’t know," Victor said. "We ran into them just recently."

  Ailey and some of the other council members emerged from the cave. Ailey said, "What’s going on?"

  "We’ve discovered something," said Victor. "Things I believe to be weapons."

  A collective gasp ran along the crowd and they shuffled and poked their necks out for a look.

  Ailey held up a stick and said, "What do you suppose this was used for?"

  Victor took the stick from Ailey and held it up against the streetlight. "The tip is concave, but it seems rigid around the edges. It’s probably used to remove the eye or maybe some other organs."

  A woman wailed and some children cried. Husbands held their families and shot glares at Victor.

  "Do not scare the women and children," said Mr. Roberts. He set the stick down. "Whatever the purpose of these tools may be, they did not harm any of us. Let us keep it that way."

  "Yes," said Victor. "We should destroy them now."

  A grumble of agreement ran through the crowd. Even most of the council members nodded. Stanley stood quietly.

  "Return them to the cave," said Mr. Roberts "They can be dealt with there."

  Victor gathered the sticks and dashed over to the cave. "Grab the rest," he said.

  Stanley and Ailey gathered the remaining sticks and followed Victor. Mr. Roberts and the other council members followed.

  Victor tossed the sticks to the stone floor and grabbed a drill that was set against the wall. Stanley and Ailey entered with their sticks.

  "Okay good, place them there," Victor said.

  Stanley and Ailey tossed their sticks into the pile and stepped away.

  Victor activated the drill and aimed it at the sticks. He lunged and shredded the sticks to bits and forced them deep into the ground below until they became nothing but silver dust. He set the drill aside and nodded at the council members.

  "We did a good job this day," he said. The council members cheered at him.

  Victor emerged from the cave as the council members followed.

  "Did you destroy them?" said a young man.

  "Yes," said Victor. "We destroyed all of them. You need not worry any longer."

  The crowd cheered and clapped at Victor. Shouts of, "Good man!" and
"A wise decision!" were heard with the countless other words of joyous praise. Victor walked to the crowd, where he was met by pats on the back and hugs and even kisses.

  Stanley walked away from the crowd and made his way past the streets, to the row of domiciles. All the way, he kept his hand in his pocket as he ran his finger between three metal sticks within.

  Emily answered the door.

  "Welcome," she said. She leaned in for a kiss and Stanley gave her a peck and walked in.

  Stanley went straight to the shower and washed. He changed into his nightwear then sat at the table.

  Emily walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Stanley, join me in bed. We haven’t had a proper talk in a long while."

  Stanley kissed her arms and said, "I have to do some work tonight. You go ahead, I’ll join you shortly."

  But he never did. Emily fell asleep alone, for Stanley stayed at the table and studied his three metal sticks. Late into the early morning, he went over to his bed. He slipped the sticks under his mattress and stared at them for a while before falling asleep.

  SEVEN