“Am Oi right or not?” said Flo, and there was iron in her voice this time, unbending, willing a response.

“Yas!” said one of the Rootshooters. “Yas!” said another, and within seconds the whole crowd was shouting, then cheering.

Joe pointed a bony finger at the ceiling of the cavern high above and, one by one, his fellow miners fell silent. “Moi daughter is right. Old Joe ’ere has been a fuddy-buddy. What goes up” — and he lifted his eyes in the direction of his finger — “must come down. I still think yow were sent. Yowr Diana ain’t known for makin’ mistakes. Now, young Mucum, what do yow want from us?”

Mucum couldn’t believe it. “I need to find him, quick, and then, we have to get to the King. The Harvest Festival is only a few days away and that’s when the squit’s gonna hit the fan, unless we do somefin’ about it.”

“Fine. First things first, let’s trace him out. Jacko, George, be off with yow!” Two of the taller Rootshooters sprinted away, their huge strides eating up distance as they vanished into the gloom. Not a minute later they came back, barely out of breath.

“He be going out with the ore, Maister Joe!” said Jacko.

“Straight through the trapdoor, Oi reckon!” said George.

“Warghh! Yowr boy be clever!” Joe answered with an approving nod. He thought for a second. “It be a good way to go, but slow. If yow want to catch up, best take the lift.”

Mucum found his bag plonked in his lap and Flo pulling on his hand and leading him toward one of the Xylem in the center of the cavern. Unlike the other hollow roots, this one went straight up to the roof like an arrow. Two double doors lay wide open and blackness beckoned beyond. Flo let go of his hand and worked a pulley at the side of the doorway. Slowly, a small open-sided compartment slid up into the space from below.

Joe was all business now, consulting his watch and some numbers carved into the wood frame. “A couple of minutes, yow got.”

Mucum didn’t like the look of the enclosed space. “You want me to get in that?”

“Yas!”

“But what is it?”

“The lift, dear one!” said Flo sadly. “Mighty quick it is, too. Yow don’t think we use the ladder all the time?”

“Coulda told us that this morning. It took us hours to get down ’ere. My legs are still achin’!”

“Oi love it when yow complain! ’Tis mighty sweet, Oi think!”

Mucum squirmed. Any more niceness and he would explode.

“Now, see that belt?” She pointed to a seat inside the compartment with some kind of leather harness strewn across it. “That needs be strapped up tight. Come arn!” She gently led him into the compartment, sat him down, and began to tie him in.