Dawn came up raw and colorless over the snow, and by the time it cleared the ridge the willing had already gathered at the mouth of the mine.
Gerhardt had brought a dozen of them, hard highland men with picks and boar-spears and not one weapon among them worth a damn against what waited below, and Trafalgar was glad none of them pretended otherwise. He set them well back from the black mouth, behind a shoulder of rock that might take a charge if by some miracle a charge came this far, and gave them the one instruction that counted.
"Nobody sets foot inside. You wait for me or the captain to walk out and tell you it's finished." His gaze traveled the nervous line of them. "When it's done there'll be carcasses to strip and materials worth good coin. That's your work today. The killing's ours."
