ladders and down slides, over wooden footbridges suspended high above the central canyon of the mine.
At one point, t hey had to stop and wait while a line of carts buzzed by carrying its load. They felt the breeze of it whizzing past, then Emrys showed them the one of the many ventilation shafts. “Keeping the oxygen flowing down here through twenty miles of tunnels can be tricky.”
“Twenty miles of tunnels!” Dani said.
“ Ah, we’ve had a lot of time to dig them out, considering this mine was started away back when, in medieval days. You have heard the story of how the Everton Mine first came to be, haven’t you, young lady?”
Before Dani could respond, Emrys launched into the tal e, obviously a favorite of his. “Long ago, in medieval times, a humble farm boy called Reginald was sent off by his father to serve as page to a great warrior lord, who had promised to train the lad as a knight.
“Well, it happened that the baron and his men were called up to join the king in some battle. So they came here to Wales from England, and Reginald had no choice but to follow his master to the war.
“But one evening, the baron sent him out to gather kindling for their campfire, and that was when Reginald discovered it— a large, mysterious egg. This big.” Emrys held up his hands over a foot apart, then trudged on, leading the way down the dark tunnel. “It was just sitting there, wedged between some rocks in the hillside.
“He’d ne ver seen anything like it. The shell was gold and glittered in the sunset. He knew that if he showed it to his master, the baron would think it was a dragon egg and have it destroyed. But the boy wasn’t so sure. So, he picked it up and carried it around the woods, trying to find where it had come from.
“He brought it all the way up to the top of the mountain, where he found the huge nest it had rolled out of.” Emrys glanced over his shoulder. “It was a gryphons’ nest, and t he egg turned out to belong to a mother gryphon, and you know who was inside that, waiting to be born?”
“Red!” Dani cried.
“That’s right: Crafanc-y-Gwrool.”
“Claw the Courageous,” Isabelle said with a smile.
“It seems that while the mother gryphon was off catching food, the egg had rolled right out of the nest and down the mountain,” Emrys said. “Our dear Crafanc would have been lost forever if it weren’t for Reginald’s kindness.” He shrugged. “Perhaps, being just a boy, he did not realize the priceless value of the treasure he had found. So he simply gave it back.
“ I can assure you, if any of the knights or warriors would have found it, they’d have kept it, or given it as a present to the king in exchange for royal favors. The poor mother gryphon would have never seen her cub once he hatched.
“Well, she was so grateful that Reginald had returned her prize—and so pleased to find a human who had proved he could be trusted—that she led the boy to a cave hidden in the mountain. There he saw the vein of gold sparkling in the rocks.
“Y oung Reginald gave his master some excuse and rushed right home to the family farm to tell his father what had happened. Fortunately, his father believed him and made the journeyed back to the mountain with him to see it for himself. Once he had confirmed his son’s tale with his own eyes, he sold the family farm and used the proceeds to buy this land instead. I understand he got it cheap.
“ No one could fathom why a sane man would trade a nice, fertile farm for a wild mountain, but the Everton family got to work chipping the gold out of the cave walls with their own hands, and that’s how it all began.” Emrys held up his lantern and beckoned them on. “This way, now. Come along, and watch your step down here by the water.”
With his tale completed, he led them down to the tunnel’s end at the edge of an underground waterway, where they all got into a boat.
The dwarves and the boys took up the oars . The dwarves
At one point, t hey had to stop and wait while a line of carts buzzed by carrying its load. They felt the breeze of it whizzing past, then Emrys showed them the one of the many ventilation shafts. “Keeping the oxygen flowing down here through twenty miles of tunnels can be tricky.”
“Twenty miles of tunnels!” Dani said.
“ Ah, we’ve had a lot of time to dig them out, considering this mine was started away back when, in medieval days. You have heard the story of how the Everton Mine first came to be, haven’t you, young lady?”
Before Dani could respond, Emrys launched into the tal e, obviously a favorite of his. “Long ago, in medieval times, a humble farm boy called Reginald was sent off by his father to serve as page to a great warrior lord, who had promised to train the lad as a knight.
“Well, it happened that the baron and his men were called up to join the king in some battle. So they came here to Wales from England, and Reginald had no choice but to follow his master to the war.
“But one evening, the baron sent him out to gather kindling for their campfire, and that was when Reginald discovered it— a large, mysterious egg. This big.” Emrys held up his hands over a foot apart, then trudged on, leading the way down the dark tunnel. “It was just sitting there, wedged between some rocks in the hillside.
“He’d ne ver seen anything like it. The shell was gold and glittered in the sunset. He knew that if he showed it to his master, the baron would think it was a dragon egg and have it destroyed. But the boy wasn’t so sure. So, he picked it up and carried it around the woods, trying to find where it had come from.
“He brought it all the way up to the top of the mountain, where he found the huge nest it had rolled out of.” Emrys glanced over his shoulder. “It was a gryphons’ nest, and t he egg turned out to belong to a mother gryphon, and you know who was inside that, waiting to be born?”
“Red!” Dani cried.
“That’s right: Crafanc-y-Gwrool.”
“Claw the Courageous,” Isabelle said with a smile.
“It seems that while the mother gryphon was off catching food, the egg had rolled right out of the nest and down the mountain,” Emrys said. “Our dear Crafanc would have been lost forever if it weren’t for Reginald’s kindness.” He shrugged. “Perhaps, being just a boy, he did not realize the priceless value of the treasure he had found. So he simply gave it back.
“ I can assure you, if any of the knights or warriors would have found it, they’d have kept it, or given it as a present to the king in exchange for royal favors. The poor mother gryphon would have never seen her cub once he hatched.
“Well, she was so grateful that Reginald had returned her prize—and so pleased to find a human who had proved he could be trusted—that she led the boy to a cave hidden in the mountain. There he saw the vein of gold sparkling in the rocks.
“Y oung Reginald gave his master some excuse and rushed right home to the family farm to tell his father what had happened. Fortunately, his father believed him and made the journeyed back to the mountain with him to see it for himself. Once he had confirmed his son’s tale with his own eyes, he sold the family farm and used the proceeds to buy this land instead. I understand he got it cheap.
“ No one could fathom why a sane man would trade a nice, fertile farm for a wild mountain, but the Everton family got to work chipping the gold out of the cave walls with their own hands, and that’s how it all began.” Emrys held up his lantern and beckoned them on. “This way, now. Come along, and watch your step down here by the water.”
With his tale completed, he led them down to the tunnel’s end at the edge of an underground waterway, where they all got into a boat.
The dwarves and the boys took up the oars . The dwarves
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