Jeremy told yesterday's story again.
Then came Rabbit. His miserable ordeal made quite a few miners laugh. They meant no harm; they just couldn't believe anyone could be that stupid.
Their stories made everyone else want to talk, too. For a little while, the miners escaped the endless digging and remembered lives that hadn't been good, but had been a hundred times better than what they endured now.
Most of the miners were from Ize Bay. Some had been sold here, others captured. Some were lying, but everyone joined in loudly and eagerly. Not a single snore was heard.
At last, they turned to the only one who hadn't spoken: Little Smo.
"What about you?"
Little Smo had prepared for this. He began with the Blade of Freedom, Free City, and the Rikaner Kingdom. But those places were too distant for the miners in the tunnel, so he switched to stories about Free City.
The miners roared with laughter. They joked that the Free City People were kind to the point of stupidity, that a place like this could fill its tunnels with them. They mocked virtue as the most useless thing in the world. Then, when no one was looking, one of them wiped away his tears.
"I came to help you," Little Smo said.
A voice rang out in the dark. "You got caught and thrown in here too!"
"Because I came here for you."
There was no light, so no one could see how slight Little Smo was. His words carried more weight than ever. "I can get you out. Join the Blade of Freedom and return to the sunlight."
"Count me in!"
"Me too!"
Those were Rabbit and Jeremy.
A few scattered voices answered from the darkness.
Of the fifty-odd miners, only nine made their choice.