Chapter 2

Lees pulled her new coat tight around her body as she climbed down the metal staircase leading from Teeg’s shop out onto the next tier of the town.

Last Light was situated deep within a tall, narrow cavern. Unlike the Quarters where she had grown up, which was flat and wide, the entirety of Last Light was clustered around the sizable mine containing large nodes of Hyper and Rapidite. 

There was a common saying that “the deeper you go, more riches await,” but this was the deepest underground establishment Lees was aware of. If that belief in buried wealth held any truth, Last Light must have been the exception. The town’s popularity had soared as more and more Hyper was pulled from the mine, but none of that resulted in better accommodations or living conditions. 

It wasn’t like fancy people were coming down from on high to grace Last Light with their fortunes – at least, that’s what Teeg would say on the rare occasion he overindulged in vinium. No, he’d say in that low, slurred way, that so-called population boom was from those wealthy benefactors sending their workforce here to nab some Hyper. They shipped ‘em here to live in the dirt and grime with the rest of us while they hauled away our resources. He’d go on and on like this until Lees gently helped him into bed to sleep it off. 

What that influx of workers meant for Last Light was that people needed to build up instead of out. Maybe one day they’d scrape the rocky ceiling and have nowhere left to grow. Lees pondered this as she ran her gloved fingers against the cold stone railing on the edge of the third terrace. Each of the six terraces was inset from the one below it, making the whole town feel squeezed at the bottom. In theory, this allowed for larger walkways located on the front of each level, with homes and businesses tucked back further in. In practice, it meant that the more ostentatious builders could press the next building out further onto the edge. That annoying construction trend resulted in Lees needing to duck and dodge dense traffic, boxes, people, and shops every morning as she made her way down from Teeg’s place.

There was talk at one point about building a tram system that would travel between the terraces so people could reach the center faster. Most of Last Light’s inhabitants vetoed the idea, exclaiming nothing beats the ol’ reliable carved stone stairs that their ancestors poured their sweat and tears into. The town begrudgingly settled on metal catwalks that stretched across the cavern to connect the two sides of the cave.

After two years, Lees had plotted what she believed to be the most efficient route from the fourth tier down to the ground: Right at Teeg’s, down the catwalk stairs to tier three, left at the stone railing, through the food stalls, up over the stone railing and down onto the staircase below. She’d timed it in her head. Hopping over the railing shaved off twenty seconds, which was great for speed but hell on her knees. From tier two, she’d race back to the center and find the next catwalk, clattering down like a frenzied mouse, rarely paying attention to anyone unlucky enough to be walking the same path. Finally she’d reach the first tier where a descending zip-crate inched its way down to the ground level. She and Teeg had fixed the zip-line enough times for free that the workers would just smile and look the other way whenever she hopped onto the moving crate.

Today, Lees reached the ground in record time. She paused to catch her breath, slightly regretting having basically sprinted the whole way. But the exertion felt good. The crisp air down at the lower levels chilled her lungs and made her feel stronger.

Her eyes drifted up towards the ceiling of the cave as she flexed her shoulders back. Supposedly, the Oppri’s largest intact node of Rapidite was hanging from the top of this cave. The glowing stone bathed the entire town in a constant yellow light that Lees thought made everybody look a little sick. The Rapidite that hung in the quarters was smaller but more clear, giving off a cool white light. 

Lees’ grandmother once told her that talented shapers had processed that stone in the Quarters. Intense, dedicated polishing revealed the true bright sheen underneath the dingy yellow.

Something to be learned from that, she’d said, pursing her lips knowingly at the spot just above Lees’ head. The spot her grandmother always stared at when addressing her. 

When Lees first arrived in Last Light, after she confirmed her eyesight wasn’t failing, the stone felt like a source of some unknown infection. She’d glare up at the enormous Rapidite and wish for it to break loose and crash down on her, crushing her and the entire miserable town she’d be stuck in for the rest of her life. 

On this night, however, she found the stone to be kind of beautiful. A soft, pale-yellow presence watching over Last Light and its residents. Maybe she was just feeling warm in her new coat. Lees skittered across the cluster of train track lines that bisected the town instead of walking down to the intended crossing. She wasn’t the only one to take this route – someone had stacked bloom wood crates beside the elevated landing to act as steps despite the signs prohibiting the practice.

A warning bell rang out in rapid succession as the evening funicular rolled into the station. Lees hopped up onto the landing and performed an exaggerated bow toward the frustrated operator.

She straightened up and locked eyes with a passenger close to her age. He stood directly in front of the door with a scowl on his face. Even through the cable car’s dirty glass windows, Lees could see that his curly blond hair was freshly washed and styled. He wore an expensive-looking vest and gripped a ritzy duffel bag tightly with both hands. This boy looked like he was from the Oppri, or at the very least the Quarters, dressed in his holiday best. 

He raised an eyebrow at her before turning his attention to someone else inside the car. His lip curled at the person’s dust-caked jacket and he angled his body away from them as much as he could in the crowded car. Lees’ stomach turned. If this boy was a freshly-of-age Mite arriving in town, she wanted nothing to do with it. She quickly hopped the railing of the station and dropped out of sight before the train doors opened.

Lees started forward but hesitated. The presence of an Oppri member was a rare sight in any mining town, let alone all the way down here. Jez was waiting for her, but Lees’ curiosity got the best of her. She considered her options, but there was just no glamorous way to do this. Lees nestled herself between an overflowing trash bin and a discarded box on the backside of the station. She strained to hear through the clamor of passengers and workers spilling out on the platform, until two unusual voices cut through the chatter. 

“She was looking right at me,” A soft voice said. Their syllables were elongated slightly with an accent Lees hadn’t heard in two years. “She must know something.”

“I dunno, maybe she thought you were cute,” A deeper voice responded, this one without a trace of the others’ accent. “Let’s get some food’n set a plan to meet with the mine chief.”

“Alright,” The softer voice agreed. “But keep an eye out for that girl anyway.”

Woman, Lees corrected automatically. She pulled the rank-smelling bin further in front of her, mulling over the words. Know something? What would an upper crestie want with me?

The boy was much shorter than his companion, and considerably younger. Was this a bodyguard? Family member? Unlikely lover? It was hard for Lees to discern the relationship from her vantage point in the garbage. The hulking man beside the boy walked with an unusually straight back and wore a dirty tan cloak that ended around his shins, exposing sturdy black boots that inspired no small amount of envy in Lees. His hair looked unkempt beneath a thick knit cap, the black-and-gray coloring matching his bushy mustache. The man’s overall appearance was purposefully dingy and unassuming, but Lees could see the short blade tucked into his waistband and embossed silver ring on his right hand that gave him away. 

But what was a soldier of the crown doing in Last Light? Lees groaned. Whatever the upper crest boy and his cutlass escort were doing here, it couldn’t mean anything good. 

Lees watched the duo step down off the platform and inspect the bulletin board. Front and center was a large flashy poster inviting all visitors to stop by The Eye of Mite, Last Light’s best bar and only Hyper-automated restaurant.

“Well, wouldya look at that,” The larger man said jovially, pulling at Jez’s flyer. “A Hyper bar. Wasn’t expecting that. Hard to believe they have a spinwheel working down here.”

“The fact that they see this as their establishment’s selling point and not the bare minimum is appalling,” The boy sneered. His lip seemed to be permanently curled in disgust. 

Wow, that kid sucks, Lees thought.

“This entire town is covered in garbage,” He whined, using his free hand to hike up his pants to keep them from touching the ground. 

“No it isn’t,” Lees muttered to herself.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the people living here lounge about in all this filth.”

“No, we don’t!” Lees grumbled before conceding that her squatting in trash did nothing to combat the accusation. 

The duo headed into town and, to Lees’ dismay, toward Jez’s place. While she waited, she mentally mapped out the back alley path she could take to avoid them altogether. In just a moment, they’d round the corner and she’d be in the clear. 

That is, until a miner spilled out from the bar on the opposite side of the road and crashed straight into the boy and his bodyguard.  

“Eeeeh, we got a wee fancy boy here!” He jested as he swayed on the spot. “A little upp-errrrrr crustie.” His words slurred together and he leaned forward to poke at the boy’s vest.

“Don’t touch me, you filthy grub,” The boy growled. His bodyguard was already stepping between them before he finished the insult. 

Lees winced, ready for the inevitable beatdown, but it never came. The cutlass man shifted the boy behind him smoothly and leaned his head down to speak with the drunk miner. Lees couldn’t hear what he said, but the miner’s face relaxed and he flapped his hands calmly toward the duo. The drunk miner turned and began teetering away from the pair. Lees tensed again. There was no honor among the cutlass. A turned back was no different than a direct confrontation. Every cutlass she’d had the misfortune of meeting never hesitated to use force if the situation needed it – and every situation seemed to fit that bill. 

But again, nothing happened. No right hooks, no knife in the gut, no hammer over the head. The two parties parted ways peacefully. 

“That was weird,” Lees mumbled. She half stood, half crawled from her hiding place with relative grace. An unidentifiable rotten peel was stuck to her forearm, and she whipped her arm around harder than necessary to fling it off. It connected with the platform railing with a soft splat. An older woman sitting on a platform bench turned her head and gave Lees the stink eye.   

The drunk miner reappeared from the other side of the funicular station, this time flanked by two other equally drunk men. Lees froze, and the woman behind her snorted. 

“Hey, I had nothing to do with this,” Lees snapped. The woman wrinkled her nose and made a show of turning away from her. “What?!” 

One of the three men eyed her, but continued after the others down the street toward Jez’s bar presumably following the boy and his cutlass. 

Lees bolted down the series of alleyways she knew would connect her to the bar in the most direct route. Roads in Last Light tended to meander and abruptly end, but the narrow alleys between buildings followed a grid system. 

The backdoor to The Eye of Mite swung against the wall with a bang as Lees dashed through the kitchen and the swinging doors behind the bar. Midge glanced at her while arranging glassware behind the bar, grunting, “Mech’s busted,” before returning to the task. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s why I’m here,” Lees said. She scanned the saloon. Good, I beat them. I better warn – Her face split into a wide smile and her train of thought vanished as her eyes landed on Jez. 

The Eye of Mite’s owner had been shockingly young when she bought the saloon. The folks at Last Light were skeptical when the establishment passed over to Jez, a newcomer barely 25 at the time, but within weeks it became a hive of post-shift activity. The drinks were strong, the food was hearty, and the young proprietor was as charming as she was business-savvy. Drunks looking to brawl tended to frequent the spots closer to the train station and stay away from this spot, especially after the first night The Eye of Mite opened. Several broken fingers and a handful of concussions later, and Jez had proven herself as a force to be reckoned with when it came to handling rough customers. Teeg had told the story to Lees countless times, and she always smiled at his description of Jez wiping blood from her hands and announcing the next round was on the house if a few volunteers could help her carry some people out. 

Jez hadn’t noticed her yet, so Lees permitted herself a few moments to not-so-subtly admire the way she interacted with her patrons. Lees could scarcely remember a time when Jez actually stood behind the bar rather than sitting out with her customers. Today, a couple at the bar were laughing loudly at a joke she’d told after she triumphantly threw her cards down on the table. Jez tucked a few loose strands of long red hair back into her messy bun before collecting her winnings. Lees noted at least one gold ring in the pile.

Jez threw her head back to drain her glass. Lees’ eyes widened as the woman chugged the full glass of amber liquid and felt her ears redden. The doors to the saloon opened, and Lees reluctantly pulled her eyes away from the beautiful woman. As expected, the strange pair entered the saloon with the three stooges from near the station following close behind.

Shit.

Lees reached for the closest thing at the bar – a shallow bowl of pickled tanglebug – and chucked one at Jez. It squelched loudly as it made contact with her arm. Unfazed, Jez wiped it away and locked eyes with her. 

“Get. Over. Here!” Lees mouthed, motioning frantically toward her. Jez slowly, painfully slowly, stood from the table and sauntered over. She tried to maintain eye contact with the saloon owner and not let her gaze linger on the woman’s rolling hips as she walked. 

Stop it! Lees admonished herself. This is serious! 

The moment Jez stepped behind the bar, Lees grabbed her and pulled her down. Jez kneeled next to her amongst the bottles on the bottom shelf and smiled at Lees, whose stomach flipped at the look. 

“Lees?” Jez said, sending goosebumps down Lees’ spine. “What are we doing here?”

“Uh…well, they and..um…sorry,” Lees stuttered. She couldn’t look at Jez’s face, so she pretended to read labels on the bottles.

Jez placed a soft hand under Lees’ chin and lifted it. She let her fingers linger there for a few seconds as she spoke. 

“Is this about the Mite and his cutlass henchman who just walked in here?” She asked. 

“You… you know?”

“It’s my job to know,” Jez brushed some hair out of Lees’ face. “Should we talk about this topside?” She grabbed Lees’ hand to lift her up, but Lees jerked her back down.

“Did you see the drunks following them?” Lees asked, wide eyed. “They were looking for a fight outside.” Jez nodded.

“Yah, kinda hard to miss, especially this time of day,” Jez said, nodding. She stood up again and pulled Lees up with surprising strength. “It’s nothing I can’t handle. You go fix my burger bot, and I’ll take care of the situation.” 

Lees opened her mouth to recount the conversation she’d overheard, but stopped herself. It probably didn’t matter. Whatever their intentions, Jez would snuff it out and send them packing one way or another. She shrugged awkwardly and headed toward the kitchen. 

As the kitchen doors swung closed with Lees on the other side, Jez pulled a bottle from behind the bar and brandished it in her hand. 

“Ah, there it is! Erish, you still want some peppermint? Go on – it’s on me and the powers above.” 

Erish, a near-permanent fixture at the end of Jez’s bar, hiccuped and accepted this gift bestowed from the heavens without question. 

Focus up, Lees. Hungry people want food, and Jez is counting on you, Lees thought fiercely, pushing her concerns into the back of her mind. She needed to dedicate her full attention to the broken machine. Working with Hyper-run machines required complete concentration or things could go very wrong, very fast.