We spent the rest of that afternoon cleaning out the other rooms.  There were three of them, all somehow worse than the ones before them.  We found one more dead rat in room 8.  

Then we started in on cleaning out the stable.  It wasn't near as bad as the rooms, because it was used more, but there were still some nasty corners.  Meanwhile, Redwar climbed up a ladder that looked a little shaky to me and set to work repairing a hole in the tavern's roof. 

I realized later that the look of indifference on the tavern owner's face wasn't that at all.  It was tiredness.  He was haggard, and the fatigue made him sharp in tone.  

This confirmed the strangeness of the tavern to us, because surely, in a town this size, a boy not old enough to work in the mines, or at least one woman, could be paid to help out.  But it appeared that the tavern keeper earned just enough to keep it running and not much else.  Furthermore, I had the vague impression that no one wanted to help out. 

We sat down to dinner just as the evening crowd started to come in.  I expected the tavern to become full of jolly, good-natured fellows, as the Finnleys' had always been, with a card game or two and lots of conversation.  

But again, that was not the case.  Most of men ordered their dinner, a beer, and sat in huddles of two or three.  Some of them even sat alone.  

This caught all of our group's attention.  All of us were constantly looking around, trying to find a clue for the reason for this strange scene.  

This was repaid by the guests, who also looked at us with curiosity, but mostly suspicion.  I caught more than one man staring at Bound, or Valeria's sword Bane, or one of Daxton's throwing knives.  

One man I caught looking at Bound I managed to look him in the eye.  He was taken aback and glanced away, out of embarrassment but also, it appeared, out of a bit of fear.  

This caused my interest to multiply a hundredfold.  When I brought my gaze back to the table, Redwar caught me eye.  He'd seen the whole exchange, and the glint in his eyes with the twist of his lips told me he was cooking something up.  

I smiled slightly and took another bite of my buttered bread.  Now this was going to be fun. 

But as it turned out, we never had a chance to use whatever it was Redwar was planning.  Just as we finished our supper and started to move our chairs back to stand and leave, three men rose and came for our table.

They had a hostile, bolder look in their eye that set me and everyone else on edge.  I stood up from my chair and stepped out into the open, next to Valeria, where I had room to move.  

The air in the tavern changed to one of tension.  They stopped a few feet from us.  The leader of the three, a man with red hair streaked with gray and well muscled, spoke first.  "Who is your leader?"  

The question seemed odd to me but Redwar stepped forward.  "I am.  And who are you?  What do you want with us?"   

"We want to know what is your business here in Time's Tale."  

"We're passing through, we're on our way to Klada, the capital city."  

The leader narrowed his eyes.  "So you're not Mayor Tale's men?" 

Valeria and I exchanged surprised glances as Redwar said, "No, we don't even know Mayor Tale."  

The strained lines of the leader's face relaxed.  "Then you're not here to-" here he cut himself off, seeming to think about his next sentence.  "You're not going to do anything for him?"

Redwar wrinkled his brow.  "No.  We haven't even met him."  

They relaxed completely at this.  "I'm sorry," apologized the leader.  "We... have differences with Mayor Tale.  And with you wearing swords so boldly, we couldn't help but wonder..."

Redwar smiled slightly.  "Alright.  But if you don't mind, what are these differences you have with the Mayor?  We'd like to know." 

The three glanced at each other.  Finally, the one on the right spoke.  "It couldn't hurt to tell 'em.  They're just passin' through."  

The red-haired leader nodded tiredly.  "I suppose not."  

Redwar stepped back and pulled out his chair.  "Please, sit with us."  

Valeria and Derrek offered their chairs to the two other men, while I fetched three more from nearby tables.  As we did this, it seemed the atmosphere changed from suspicious to welcoming.  There was something about these three accepting us that made us less threatening.  

After a lot of shuffling, we were settled in and ready to hear the story.  The owner brought beers for the men without even being asked.  

"Thanks, Mr. Time," said the red-haired leader to him.  

My eyebrows shot up and Valeria and I exchanged questioning glances.  The owner's last name was Mr. Time, and the Mayor's, apparently, was Tale.  Surely there was a connection the name of the town, and I wondered if we were going to hear about it from the Red-Haired man.  

"It really started about 5 years back.  See, that was when Ol' Mayor Tale died.  As customary, his son became Mayor in his place.  Things were pretty good till he started making all these changes to how the miner's did things."  

"For example, the miner's used to get a day and a half off per week.  We'd get off at noon, then have the next day off.  But see, the Mayor told us that from now on we'd only get one day off, and have to work a full extra day."

"Please, I'm sorry to interrupt, but- Well, see, Mayors don't usually have that type of power, but Mayor Tale does?"  Valeria piped up.  

Red-Haired thought about this.  "Well, when Time's Tale was first founded, we made an agreement with the Mayor's family.  We mine up the stuff, and they ship it to be sold.  We get our cut and they get theirs.  But they could not ship it, or they'll sell it but not give us anything."  

"Ooooh."  Valeria nodded in understanding.

Red-Haired shrugged.  "This cut on our time wasn't too bad.  But then he told us to produce a third more per week than we used to.  Now, maybe that doesn't sound like a lot to you, 'cause you ain't miners, but it is." 

He took a long sip of his beer.  "We woulda protested right then and there, and stopped mining until he realized he couldn't push us so hard, but we'd gotten snuck up on.  He threatened to take all the money, and let us starve to death, if we didn't meet the quota." 

I sat up at this.  "He would do that?" 

He shrugged.  "Don't know if he would or wouldn't, but we can't take any chances, not with our families, and he knows that." 

"So, this has been goin' on for six months.  All of the miners are tired and worked to the bone, workin' from dawn into darkness like we are.  That's why you don't see a whole lot of us here," he said with gesture to the tavern.  "We're all too tired to even grab a drink with friends."

It was then that I noticed the hunched over weariness of those that were there, and how there'd not been any laughter or loud jokes.  

"Plus, we're gettin' cheated out of our profits.  The Mayor claims its because the stuff isn't selling as well, but coal and the like is always in demand, so we know that ain't true.  He's siphoning off some of it for hisself."  

"Is there nothing you can do about it?"  Redwar's eyes had narrowed, I could tell he was not happy.  At all.  And I had a feeling in my gut that he wasn't going to just ride out of this town and leave the miners to their troubles. 

Red-Haired grinned.  "Well, not right off.  But see-"  Here he lowered his voice and glanced around a moment before going on.  "Tomorrow, we ain't gonna be working for the mayor anymore."  

"But won't he...  Well, starve you?"  Asked Derrek.  

Red-Haired shook his head, a grin on his face.  "Nah, cause these past six months we've been storin' up all kinds of food.  Our houses are about to burst!  We've got enough to last three or even four months.  Perhaps five, if we ration it out right."

"So we're just gonna stop work, and when we do, Mayor Tale's gonna come out, he's gonna call a meetin' and threaten us.  He's gonna bluster, but we ain't budging.  And we're gonna go on picnics with our families, and have fun, and take the rest we all sorely need.  In about a month the Mayor will really start to feel the loss of his miners.  And he can't get new ones, not without hiring out, and even then they won't be as good, 'cause they don't know the mines or the hills like we do."  

"Eventually, he'll give in, things will go back to the way they were, and we'll go on."  Red-Haired grinned even wider and took a long drink of his beer.  

Redwar steepled his fingers, his forehead creased in thinking.  "All well and good, but have you thought about your water supply?"