Chương 192: 189. Tiranat's Coal Mines

Hudan nodded and ordered the guards to tie their horses to a nearby tree. Once that was done, they started trudging towards the entrance of the closest mine shaft. Reaching the entrance, Kivamus stopped for a moment, waiting for someone to bring a light source. Tesyb and another guard didn't take long to light a candle using a flint and an iron knife. Seeing that it was ready, Kivamus began to walk inside but his arm was held back by Tesyb.

"You can't go inside yet, milord!" the young guard cautioned.

"What?" Kivamus frowned.

"Why?"

"We need to check for fire-damp first," Tesyb explained.

"Oh..." Kivamus muttered. How could he have forgotten about how dangerous coal mining used to be in the past - or rather, how dangerous it still was in this place. If they had walked inside with that burning candle, and if there was firedamp - or flammable gases - present inside, it could very easily have led to an explosion depending on the concentration of the dangerous gases inside the shaft, possibly killing all of them on the spot.

Taking a deep breath to calm his heart which had started beating rapidly, he gave a nod to Tesyb, who lay down on the ground, before he was handed that burning candle from another guard. It was only now that Kivamus noticed that it was a very thin candle, as if all the excess tallow had been removed from it. He watched carefully as Tesyb crawled a little further on the floor, doing his best to shield the flame. Once he had reached a little inside, he stopped and carefully started raising the tip of the candle.

However, the flame kept burning as it was without any change. Tesyb stood up, and used the thin candle to light a normal one in the hands of another guard, before extinguishing the thin one and keeping it in a satchel he had. Looking at Kivamus, he explained, "The air inside is safe today, so we can enter. We might still have to check it again a few times where needed."

"Right..." Kivamus nodded.

"How would you have found out if there was firedamp inside?"

"The flame tells us, milord," Tesyb explained.

"It is rare enough here, but If the tip of the flame had started turning blue, while extending in height, that would have meant that firedamp was present there. I have only seen it happen once though. Then we would need to ventilate the area with a few handheld fans, although that isn't possible if it happens deeper in the shafts."

"I don't see such a fan with any of you," Kivamus commented.

"Oh, it's made of wooden strips, and it can be folded, so it takes much less space when it isn't needed," another guard gave the explanation. He might also have been a miner in the past. He added, "I have it in my bag, but I didn't bring it out because if there was firedamp present, then on Hudan's orders, we simply couldn't risk letting you inside this shaft anyway." The guard captain explained, "I have no experience in coal mining, but I have told the guards that your safety is more important than anything else."

Kivamus nodded in understanding.

"What if you couldn't ventilate the area?"

"Then we would have to trigger a small explosion," Tesyb replied with a shrug.

"That would burn up the firedamp, then it would be safe for the day." Kivamus shook his head in exasperation. It just kept getting more and more dangerous! With a morbid curiosity, he asked, "And how would you make that explosion?"

"That's the tricky part," Tesyb explained, "but I have seen it done once. To do that, a miner would crawl on the floor of the mine shaft, with a candle lit and raised on the edge of a stick, until it exploded. The explosion passes over our heads, so it's not that dangerous."

"It's not that dangerous?" Kivamus echoed with his eyebrows raised high.

"Well..." Tesyb hesitated.

"That one time, the miner who was triggering the explosion had gotten caught in that blast and had gotten really bad burns. But that's still better than not detecting the firedamp until the miners are already far inside the shafts, because that can cause a much bigger explosion in a closed place with their burning candles. That's the main reason for the high-level of injuries in coal mining in our village.

Around a decade ago, a few miners had even died because of that, so triggering a small explosion ourselves is still less dangerous than taking the risk of the firedamp exploding outright inside the shafts." This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Kivamus didn't know what to say for a moment. Making a deliberate explosion right in front of you, that wasn't dangerous?

It sounded like the definition of what counted as dangerous was completely different in this world. But then he thought about where he was and sighed. This was a medieval world after all. It's not like they had access to any modern instruments to make it safer. But this just couldn't be allowed to continue. He had to do something about this! He thought hard about it, but without access to portable batteries and an electric bulb, it was never going to be safe enough.

Thinking hard about what could be done from their current resources, he suddenly remembered something which was used on earth in the 19th century, called the Davy lamp. That should make it a lot more safer, although even that had its limitations.

"Is there a strong draft inside any of the mineshafts?" he asked. Tesyb didn't take long to reply.

"Not really, milord. I mean, there is usually a draft everywhere, but it's not strong enough here. Why though?"

"I have an idea of a safety lamp in my mind, which would make it hell of a lot safer than using an open candle inside the shafts." Kivamus continued, "Its only major limitation is that if there is a strong enough draft, then it can still cause an explosion, just like a candle would. But if there isn't a strong draft here, then it should be safe enough. I will get the blacksmith to start working on it immediately, since he has already finished up our earlier orders a while ago anyway."

Taking a deep breath to rid his mind of the imagery of an explosion passing right over their heads, and done deliberately to boot, he gestured everyone to enter the coal mines.

"There is quite a bit of water gathered here, that's for sure," Kivamus commented while seeing what seemed like a small pond inside one of the mineshafts in the light of a tallow candle. The water wasn't frozen either, just like Duvas had estimated. It was quite warm inside as well, at least when compared to the freezing temperature outside.

He was thinking about the possible solutions which could work, when one of the guards they had sent to swim through the small pond and see how far the flooding went returned back.

"This is the only place where the water is gathered in a large quantity," the guard reported, "and it's mostly dry further inside. At least inside this shaft." Before long, another guard who had gone to check a different mineshaft returned, and reported something similar. Kivamus nodded. The good news was that water had gathered in the first large dip in the mine floor it had found, and in most places it hadn't gone any further.

The bad news was that most of these water deposits were big and deep enough that clearing them manually bucket by bucket would take too long. It also meant that it wouldn't be feasible for workers to haul coal through it while swimming to the other side, which was why they had stopped coal mining, so the water had to be removed first before they could start mining again.

However, once a particular mineshaft was cleared of any standing water, they could begin mining coal in that shaft, without waiting for the other shafts to get cleared, even if that meant their coal output would be much smaller than what it could be with all the shafts active. They walked around and visited a few different shafts and he made mental estimates of the inner dimensions of them to keep in mind for the future. Once he believed he had a good idea of what would be needed, he looked at the guard captain.

"Let's return now." Hudan nodded, and called up the other guards before they started walking towards the exit of the shafts. Tesyb looked at him curiously.

"Milord, can you really do something about this, or do we have to bring the workers here to clear up the water manually?"

"I think I have a good idea of what would work here," Kivamus replied.

"I'll still need to talk to the carpenter Darora to be sure, but I think he should be able to make it in a week."

"That's really good to hear," Tesyb said with a relieved smile.

Once they had reached outside, they made a small fire for the soaked men to dry themselves properly, while the others took the opportunity to warm up their bodies as well. Once that was done, and everyone had mounted their horses, Kivamus said, "I think it's a good idea to visit the stream as well, so we wouldn't have to make another trip here in this cold."

"I agree," Hudan commented.

"Tesyb, we are going to the stream in the east now. Lead the way." Tesyb nodded, and their group of six horses and their riders began moving further east on the narrow path between two nearby hills. This journey wasn't too long, and soon, Kivamus heard the babbling of moving water from nearby. They circled around a hill covered with snow, and he got the first glimpse of the only stream near Tiranat.

It was small, and certainly couldn't be called a river, but it was still big enough to not freeze even in this weather. He even saw a few fish swimming in that nearly freezing water. However, Hudan was looking at the stream in surprise.

"I thought any stream would be frozen in this weather! How is it still flowing?"