One of her assistants pointed.
"There's a mining operation over that ridge. Been there for years, apparently. Some kind of very rare ore extraction."
Sofia felt her stomach drop.
"What kind of operation?"
"Industrial scale. Employs a few hundred workers. Why?"
Sofia didn't answer. She grabbed Dane, and together they climbed the ridge to get a better look.
What they saw made Sofia's blood run cold.
The mining operation sprawled across a broad depression in the valley floor.
Open pit excavations. Processing facilities. Housing barracks. And everywhere, men. Hundreds of them, working in the pits with primitive tools, hauling ore in baskets, their bodies covered in dust and sweat.
They were naked to the waist despite the cool temperature. Many showed signs of injury. Sofia could see scars, fresh wounds, and the telltale signs of malnutrition.
