The backpacks had been doled out to the CBers and AEs, who soon found that there was a pouch for CAPTCHAs to ride in! The CAPTCHAs had felt left out upon receiving no bag, and this feature cheered them up considerably.  Once everyone had attatched their backpacks to the side of their horses' saddles, given the CAPTCHAs' horses a treat since they weren't going, and decided which CAPTCHA was going with whom, they trotted down the driveway and down to the barn. Over the Rainbow, with Toto and his pink tonuge enjoying the ride in back, steered her horse over to Sydney C. and struck up a lively conversation. 

"I think we're going into a mine!" she said excitedly.

Sydney looked over at OtR worriedly. "Aren't mines dangerous?"

"Isn't drinking too much water dangerous? I'm sure it's no more dangerous than running around with a murderer."

Sydney's face blanched and she turned her eyes back to the road. OtR was waiting for Sydney to ask where she heard the mine rumor from, but she never did. So Over the Rainbow rode over to the back of the group, where The Dining Room girls had gathered, feeling left out and lonely. 

Puck looked especially unnerved, and for good reason. She appeared not to have seen Over the Rainbow approach, and she said to Shadow Dragon, "I can't play any pranks! If I do, people will just think I'm the murderer!"

"Where are your pranks...By the way?" Shadow asked, looking all over Puck for a telltale lump in her shirt or her pocket.

Puck looked close to tears, which was the worst anyone had seen her since Joan rolled down that hill. "They're gone," she whispered. "All of them. Every single one that I picked from Joan. All the extra bags and everything! I had firecrackers in them! Don't tell anybody; it could ruin my reputation."

Over the Rainbow was about to express her apologies to Puck when she realized she shouldn't have been eavesdropping, and she didn't have time anyway because the assistant opened her annoying mouth and started announcing something, which seemed to be an increasingly favorite pastime for her.

"I asked the farmer last night about this trip, and he said yes. I'm really excited! I am sure some of you would like to have some mourning time, but you really do not want to miss this trip! It's why I rushed you; I didn't want anybody staying behind."

Moonfrost heard this, and looked up sharply at the assistant in anger and sadness. Booksy patted her shoulder in sympathy. The assistant dismounted her zebra and knocked on the barn's wall. The door opened, and after ordering their horses to stay put, the CBers filed into the dank and dark barn.

For most of the AEs, this moment was like a birthday or a dream come true. The murders had subdued them, but they still allowed themselves to have fun. The hole in the darkest room of the barn, which was more of an entry to a sloped tunnel, was soon filled with people, who soon saw a flashlight that belonged to the assistant, who soon said 'shhh' and soon led them down a hallway.

Before they even saw the fiery lights, the CBers heard thundering echoes and scraping noises. As they rounded a bend, they were able to see a vast chamber, lit by fires on enormous torches that stretched nearly to the roof of the cavern. The walls showed claw marks, and on the well-worn stone floor, stained black with coal dust, were troughs of molten gold and iron being formed into ingots. Perhaps the most interesting features of the room were the hundreds of small black dragons busily scraping more of the wall away, melting iron and gold, rushing from the small tunnels in the back of the chamber to the ones on the left and right sides of the chamber, and toting buckets of diamonds and rubies out of minecarts.

"Wow," Moonfrost breathed, but her voice was drowned out by the commotion in the main chamber.

The assistant puffed her chest out proudly. "Isn't this cool?" She grinned when everyone agreed.

"It would have been better with Holly," Moonfrost whispered sadly. Nobody heard her, though, over the extreme noise.

"Hey, I'm kinda hot standing right here. Did anyone notice the fire?!" Princess Icicle complained very loudly.

"Yeah, let's get going. Everyone, put on your baackpacks and FOLLOW ME!" the assistant yelled as she walked down the seven or so steps leading into the fray. Curious dragons stopped their work for a second to observe the newcomers tresspassing in their home. The farmer's assistant kept her mouth closed, so the CBers did too. She took the tunnel on the right of the cave, passing by an enormous furnace that spewed hot, smelly gas onto her and the CBers. Despite the mess and heat, most had to admit that this secret mine was pretty amazing.

Almost instantly the noise was drowned out when the tour took a sharp turn in the torchlit mine. The beginning of the almost assuredly long tunnel was prehistoric-looking, what with the clawed roof and walls. Even the floor was a bit uneven. After a few moment's walking, it opened up into a wider, more developed mine shaft with smoother floors and walls. The lighting became more complete, and the assistant stopped to adress the crowd. "So, how do you like the mine?" she asked, and without waiting for an answer she switched into tour-guide mode and informed the CBers of every detail in the entire network of mines and caves. 

"This is our hidden mine. The black dragons you saw working in the main cavern are baby Nocte Fictiles, and they are natural-born miners. They mine diamonds, gold, iron, coal, and anything else that's mineable. We have five main mineshafts, which branch off into seventy smaller tunnels. I'm the one who runs the mine since the Farmer trusts me most, and I've made a schedule. They work in only two main mines a day, pairing up with a friend to keep track of, and each dragon signs in for duty each day. At the end of the day, when they exit the mines and the chamber, they sign out and make sure none are missing. They sleep in special quarters around an underground lake where they bathe and stuff. You may be wondering the real reason for the darkness of the barn. Well, the dragonets are attracted to light, so we keep the barn darkened in case one sees the light and crawls out. That's pretty much it for the basics, so let's get going." The farmer's assistant turned around and continued her tour.

The CBers trekked down, further and further into the earth. They whispered to each other in excitement while they took in the sights of a real-life dragon mine.

Mortif and Princess Icicle silently stared at the now-uniform and smooth walls of the main mine shaft. Considering the empty passage, Will and Booksy Owly guessed that this mine wasn't on the list for use today. Moonfrost asked the assistant about dragons and more details on them. The CAPTCHAs enjoyed whispering to each other in languages only their owners understood. At one point the shaft widened so much that there was room for a rail, on which sat an abandoned but worn minecart. Ahead, the group could make out the shape of a large, dim cave, where the assistant walked right into.

"Where are we...e...e...?" Elsa asked once all the way in the echoey space. A single torch illuminated the smallish black cavern. 

"This is our most profitable diamond mine...ine...ine...," the assistant murmured, her voice bouncing off the walls. 

"Diamonds...nds...nds...nds...!" Rufus cheered too loud, causing the visitors to flinch and wait for the chanting echo to be over. 

"Yep. Just a few things you should know: There's a cliff over on the far side of this cave, and it looks over the lake where the baby dragons sleep...sleep...sleep. And also, there are ear buds...earbuds...buds...ds... in your backpacks, along with other mining tools. Be very careful and don't hit anybody with anything. If you find a diamond, then good for you! We'll see how many karats they are when we get back up to the house...eouse...ouse..."

The miners-in-training unzipped their burlap bags and found pickaxes, drills, earbuds, gloves, shovels, masks, and helmets.

"Aww, no dynamite!" Spyro whined after dumping the contents of his bag on the stone floor.

After a bit more instruction from the assistant, the CBers released their CAPTCHAs from their packs, wandered off, and began hacking at the wall of the cave. This dusty, shadowy world was so different from the serene farmland above them, but after their eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, they were able to enjoy the beauty of the cliff above the lake.

Sydney and OtR decided to see the dragons' sleeping quarters, so they walked over to the edge. Not much to their surprise, there was a rusty wire fence separating the cliff from empty air. Unfortunately, they could not see into the pitch black moist, vast cave. They ambled over to where Spyro and Turgon were 'mining', but to them it looked more like, 'revenge'. Chunks of rock fell to the ground when suddenly Turgon squealed like a little girl.

"Diamondsitsadiamondithinkamirightorwhatspyroifoundarockisitadiamond????????!!!!!!!!!!"

"Uhhh, Turgon, are you feeling well?" Spyro asked, removing his earbuds.

"Itsadiamond!" he squealed again, voice still high. The assistant ran over, removing her earbuds as well.

"A diamond? Where?" she asked. Booksy, Dragonrider, Panda, looking troubled and lost in thought, and Will T. followed her to the hole Turgon and Spyro had dug. Turgon held out a pearly white ovaline stone about as large as an ostrich egg. The assistant inhaled sharply. "Turgon, um...Can I see that up close?" she asked quietly. When she had gotten a good look at the egg, Turgon asked,

"So, is it a diamond?" In all the excitement, the group had silently gathered around Turgon and the assistant to watch the spectacle. (The AEs just wanted to see Turgon squeal--they wish they'd had their phones.)

"Well, I'm not sure I should be saying this, but you found it, so it's yours, but that's a Pretiosum Gem egg...the egg of the rarest dragon in the world."

If the hall was quiet before, then this was mute. "You're kidding!" Turgon laughed, but the assistant's face said otherwise. "So, I'm like Eragon!" 

"Turgon, maybe I should hang on to that for you..." Dragonrider said breathlessly.

"No, I'll hang on to it myself," Turgon shot back. "I can't trust anybody until we catch the murderer. Not even you."

Dragonrider reeled back as if struck. She turned her head away and stalked back into the crowd, disappearing into it just in the way the murderer disappeared all the times she had claimed a victim. 

----------------------------------------------------

Turgon caressed his egg gently, cooing to it while the others mined. After two hours, three CBers found diamonds, and a CAPTCHA found a piece of opal that it decided to keep. They packed up, and stepped into the well-lit mineshaft to set course for home. About halfway through, around the place where the minecart stood all alone, Will T. dropped a geode he found. In its round form, it rolled down the railway and swerved into a branch mine. 

"I'll be right back, guys! I dropped my geode! It's right there, I can see it!" he called, dropping his backpack to the ground and speedwalking into the branch mine. Before the group could even walk five feet forwards, a massive explosion occured.

Boulders flew from the ceilings, crashing to the ground where frightened assistants and CBers flung themselves, hands over their necks. Many screamed, but most just waited and cowered and hoped Will was okay. When the thunder was gone, they hesitantly rose to survey the damage. 

The entire branch mine Will had entered was closed off, a hand sticking out of the pile of rocks. Will was dead. Curdled holes marred the walls, and bits of coal could be seen sticking out of them. Sheer horror coated the faces of everyone, CAPTCHAs, AEs, and CBers alike. The assistant and her paled face walked over to the wreckage. She picked up something red and burning. The shell of a firecracker.

The room looked at Puck, who covered her face. "I didn't do it!" she said. "My pranks were missing this morning!"

A few more moments of silence. "I think we should head back home," the assistant admonished quietly. "I'll send for the dragons to retrieve Will's body for a funeral."

Somberly, the group trudged back home.

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R.I.P. Will T--------Rest in a Pile

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Believe it or not, there is still one more part to this day!