The ironclads leading them pointed at a patch of the stone ground where they were to lie. Finn and the others trudged across, the last few paces almost too much. They fell to the floor, sitting or lying, utterly spent. Finn just hoped they weren't expected to work without sleeping and eating first. He knew he wouldn't be able to.
From his position on the ground he gazed up at their reason for being there. The line of six wheels filled the upper end of the great cavern. Their immense creaking and groaning had been audible for miles, slowly drowning out the normal background noise of the mines: the clink, clink of axe on stone, the scuffling of feet, the squeak of trolley wheels, the cries. The cavern was lower there, floor and ceiling sloping together. Even so, only a part of each wheel wa
