She stood, "I must get back to patrol and you must keep watch of the spinning. I realize that it will take 300 days of the spinning for it to be done." As she spoke she began gathering supplies, "but one day over..." she laughed..."just a minute over and we will all go up in a bang! Now, we can't have that can we?" She placed the radar scanner locator into her hip belt pouch and whistled for the wolf that always had patrol duty with her to come.
Before she left the tent she pulled her goggles down over her eyes. These goggles gave the security squad an advantage. They had been enhanced by the great magic users of the kingdom with the ability to see in the darkness. Whenever any group was sent to attend the spinning everyone on the patrol side of the expedition was given a pair. When they returned all had to be accounted for. Everyone guarded the pair they were given with their lives, because if they returned without the pair assigned to them they would pay with their lives!
He watched her footmarks in the snow as she moved away. He'd often wished he'd been assigned guard duty. However, it was well known that only the women were assigned such luxury. Men were always given the dullest jobs to do. He moved back toward the entrance to the cavern leading to the spinning process. He couldn't get anyone to believe him. He knew it was true. It wasn't the 300 days of spinning that mattered; it was how fast the spinning was that counted. In the first days the spinning had been 20 turns in one day. Now, it had increased. It was spinning 30 turns. This extra spinning had to make a difference. Why wouldn't they listen to him? Who knew what would come out of that harden rock once the spinning stopped. He was sure it wouldn't be the ale the king so desired and it was very possible it would all blow-up. Then he wouldn't have to worry about the process any longer; he'd be dead.
As he approached the spinning well the temperature rose. He stopped to put on the specialized suit one had to wear beyond this point near the well. The closer one got the warmer it became. The first visitor to this cavern had died from heat exposure, but they had also been the first to carry out one of the special stones which contained the specialized drink. It had taken years of spinning experiments to perfect the process. Many had died. Why the spinning process had increased was beyond his knowledge. Could it be that the well was going to produce something more? Could it be that the well was going to explode? He pulled the hood up over his head and stepped into the next level of the cave. He could see sweat running down the walls. He knew in the next level he would encounter a dryness that surface dwellers had never seen before. This is where many slaves, who committed crimes against the kingdom, were sent to do time. Most never came out of the cavern alive. He had served many years working with the spinning process. Why wasn't his knowledge of the cycle better respected than it was?
He passed into the next level and watched as slaves dressed in only shawls gathered salt crystals from the floor and walls of the cavern. He felt for their discomfort; yet, they'd committed the crime and knew the punishment. It was well known that these salt crystals were the best in the land and on occasion they could cure deadly illnesses. Still, that was one in a thousand; so, it was very rare.
He stepped into the last level and approached the spinning well. The process was more than half way completed. The counter he'd placed on the side of the well connected to the bag of special stones he'd placed in it days ago told him that the spinning per-day was now up to 50 turns and he had another 5 days left in the spinning process to equal 300 spinning days. What would happen in those last 5 days?
Outside the temperature had dropped another 5 degrees. She checked her counter. It had begun dropping a few nights earlier, but in recorded history it'd never dropped this low before. Bigger flakes of snow were also dropping and this had begun at about the same time. What could this mean?
Carefully she dipped her bucket into the snow and captured some of the new flakes. She'd show it to Logan once she got back to the tents and see if he had any ideas about why the temperature was dropping so low and why there was more snow. It didn't make sense. The colder it got the less it should snow.
Wolf barked at her and stood in attention towards the woods to her left. Quickly she pulled out her locator and pointed it in the direction he indicated. There was a bright light, a very bright light shining in the distance. What could it be?
"Come wolf," she smacked her leg and began the walk towards the light. Wolf fell into a trot beside her. He had been well trained and knew his place beside his master as she knew her place beside her master. Everything was right in her world in that order.
The darkness surrounded them. The closer they walked towards the light the darker it seemed to become around them. The sounds of wild life vanished and the snow seemed to thin out as if it were melting...
