(Marcus POV- the man is a reference to last chapter)

“Um, I don’t know, it's kinda dark in here.” the child replied.

“No matter. Do you remember the direction of the mountain? Does the tunnel lead in that direction?” Marcus asked.

“Um, kind of? I don’t know…probably. Wait, can you hear this? '' the child replied as an echo sounded from within the tunnel. It carried itself towards the mountains and presumably the valley beyond. Quite an intelligent child that one.

Marcus smiled at that, they had just found their ticket to the valley.

“Did you hear that?” he asked the man, who had followed him there.

“It's a tunnel, yes, but it could stop midway, there could be-” the man began before he was interrupted by Marcus.

“And all of those options would be better than going back, Corrin.” Marcus stated.

“To that I must agree.” Eugene said as she approached the tunnel,bending, she softly said into the tunnel, “Tell me, how wide is this tunnel?”

“Not very wide mam. It's just a bit larger than that little door back in the hidden tavern.” the child said, politely. Nothing like the local babysitter to work with a child.

“Hidden Tavern?” Corrin muttered under his breath. Ah yes. Shoe sellers wouldn’t know what the hidden tavern was. It was a little rocky area where Eugene and some others took the children while their parents were away. A lot of the miners’ wives have to work in the noble houses and can’t be home. So the ones that don’t have to take care of the children.

Corrin’s eyebrows furrowed for a few seconds, his puzzlement apparent. Ignoring Corrin, Marcus stepped towards the hole.

“Perhaps it would be best if we had the rest of this conversation somewhere private and with the rest of the representatives present. Any further discussion could cause a panic rush.” Marcus whispered into Eugene’s ear as he bent down.

“Agreed, you disperse the crowd while I get the others to the glade we passed by on the way here, it should be a good enough meeting space. I'll ask everyone else to clear away. Oh, and those representatives include your wife, the cooks have been asking for a say and I can’t deny it to them after what she did for us.” Eugene whispered back to Marcus’ dismay.

It had been a while since he had talked to his wife, she had not been having a very good time with her pregnancy and she was barely showing. If Marcus had a choice he would have her back home on the bed with midwives looking after her. But that was not an option.

The count would never allow her to remain at home and they could not afford any midwives. Eugene was the only one that took care of her, and however much he respected Eugene and all she did, even her constantly doubting everything, she was not a real midwife. And she had even more stress to deal with.

At this point, he could only hope that the tunnel could lead them somewhere. Where someone would be willing to help them.

Marcus got up from his crouching position and yelled to the whispering crowd, “Calm down! The representatives are meeting, and we will decide the next course of action. If you have something to say then please meet with your representative to inform them of it. Remember, we are all in this together!”

The crowd shifted out of the way as he walked off. Apparently he was intimidating enough that people actually listened to him,or at least that was what they told him. But it worked and now he and the other representatives could argue about things without people panicking about it.

“Marcus! Oh, good you’re here too!” his wife called out as he walked to glade. The woman had to have a skill in finding him, he was sure she would find a way to him no matter where he was.

“Like you did not know. How’d you find me this time?” Marcus answered, smiling.

“I just heard you shout at those poor people. Like you can blame them for getting exited over a way in.” his wife replied.

“It literally happened not more than five minutes ago!” Marcus exclaimed in shock, this was getting ridiculous, these kinds of speeds were not supposed to be possible.

“And? There are over thousands of people in an enclosed space with nothing better to do than worry about how they are going to get through the mountains. That, and Eugene has been going around asking people to come for a meeting. That gets people curious, you know.” his wife replied in a matter of fact manner. “Now what is it that you plan to do about this tunnel?”

“That needs to be decided. Frankly, I wouldn’t risk it if there was another option. Corrin is an idiot, but he’s an idiot with a point. It could stop midway, have a block or a number of things, and we would be left to die. I suspect that maneuvering back would be a pain in that tunnel.” Marcus said.

“Are we sure that it is even an option for everyone?” his wife asked.

“No.” Marcus looked at her stomach, “It is definitely not an option for you or most of the people here. The only way I see it happening is that some of us go to the valley and ask for aid.”

“And I suppose you will be volunteering, oh brave leader of this gang of rebels?” his wife stated.

“Well…yes.” Marcus replied as they arrived at the glade. That wasn’t unoccupied at all. It was, in fact, packed with people.

“I really should have expected this.” Eugene said from somewhere in front of them “There was no other space for them. Maybe we should take it somewhere else?

“I do believe that is the only option.” Marcus said as he turned around on his heel just to find himself smelling a very foul odor far too close to his face. Even sadder was the fact that he recognized who the smell belonged to. Argus, the lumberjacks’ representative.

“Argus. Could you uh…move away a bit.” Marcus asked.

“Yes.” Argus replied as he stomped his way back. The poor kid was only nineteen and was already the leader of lumberjacks. Trying to cut tree in a Forest full of beasts and plants that could kill you would eventually get you killed.

Marcus walked away from the glade for an entire three minutes before opening his eyes. Before him was a seven-foot giant of a teenager that looked extremely nervous.

“Where should we have the meeting now sir. Ugh… Marcus.” Argus asked.

"In the glade Argus, we can ask them to move away. " Marcus replied.

"Oh." Argus replied as they waited, "Is it truly necessary to hold the meeting in the glade? It's not like we are some sort of government… and everyone will hear it either way. "

"Yes," Marcus looked around to make sure no one was paying a bit too much attention, but till now the crowd was at least being stealthy in their staring.

"The glade can be cleared and give us some privacy. What do you think will happen if say, part way through the meeting, we say that the tunnel is a possible way in? There will be people sneaking in immediately. And that would be bad since we know absolutely nothing about the tunnel. " Marcus replied.

"I disagree, people would wait. These are not fools, they're people that have experienced the dangers of the mines, the forest, or even the city. The nobles weren't any less lethal than monsters after all." Argus replied. Oh, the poor boy was in for a shock, one thing Marcus had found in his times in the mines was that someone would always do something stupid. It was up to the leader to account for that and make plans.

Argus merely humphed in reply. Marcus found his mind wandering as they waited. The rest of the representatives also trickled in.

"Exactly how long will this take? " One of them, Rolin, asked.

"Ten minutes, there are a lot of people. " Eugene said as she emerged from the glade.

"Why don't we start it now? There is no time to waste." Corrin interjected. “Besides, people will hear anyway.” This again. Why was it that so many people refused to believe that people could and would be stupid.

Marcus opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by a look from Eugene.

"Very well, what is it that the merchants have to say? " Eugene asked.

"I did a little checking after you rushed away. The tunnel is of rough make, likely with jagged walls and a narrowing width. It would be unwise to attempt to traverse it. " Corrin answered, visibly smug. Marcus was starting to get suspicious of the man's intentions.

"That is not the entirety of it, we did our own checking, the echo traveled a great distance. There is a good chance that the tunnel does truly lead through the mountains. " Rorin, one of the other mining supervisors replied.

And just like that the argument began. Lasting for half an hour, all it accomplished was producing a whole lot of probabilities about the tunnel.

"Ok fine. The tunnel can be whatever you wish to call it. Some man-made structure or even a natural fault. But that is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether we can traverse it. And there is only one way to confirm that, any objections to me taking a few people and checking it out? " Marcus asked.