Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
G wil woke up to find a hand-drawn map had been stuck to his fridge.
He blinked several times, trying to focus before realising it was meant to be a drawing of beneath Dante’s and the access point to get underground.
He turned it over and found a series of sketches which looked to be pictorial directions of what to do once at a certain level, but they were difficult to decipher out of context.
Hyax padded into the kitchen. Gwil loved to see this rumpled side, his hair out of place and completely at ease. “What you got there?”
“I think they’re the directions I asked for from Copperpipe. He’s marked an entrance hatch from the lower basement. They only go so far, so I guess that’s when the anti-goblin charms kicked in.”
Hyax took the piece of paper. “Hopefully, they make more sense once we’re there. He should try becoming an abstract artist; he’s got a certain flair for random design.”
Gwil laughed. “Not sure the world’s ready for that.”
“We should get down there as soon as we can. I’ll get ready and we’ll head out.”
Hyax was not one to be rushed, and Gwil took his time to have a bag of blood for breakfast and a cup of tea.
He was nearing the end of his stock of pouches, and once he was done, he’d decided it was time to transition to bottles.
He’d download the app of the vendor he’d finally chosen once they got back and select his options.
He’d showered and changed in the time it took Hyax to be happy with his hair, and he had no idea how putting hair into a ponytail could take so long. Almost an hour after finding the drawing, Hyax emerged, and Gwil considered it a swift turnaround based on previous experience.
“Ready to go?”
“Not quite. If we are dealing with a dragon, and a Rex at that, we’re going to need to be prepared to protect ourselves.” Hyax grabbed one of the books from the library. “There is a specialised shield spell in here that will give us an element of stealth, but it’s a two-step procedure.”
Dragons weren’t something he was prepared for. They were fucking scary bastards when on the attack, and here they were contemplating sneaking into a den hoping that if the creature was there, they wouldn’t wake it and send it into a paddy.
“You’re a master at shields,” Gwil said. “I’m sure you’ll be able to protect us.”
“This is a little different. Although the link we have will help, as I know you so well, I can already tune it to both of us without having to worry. I’ll cast the first part now, and once we get down there, I’ll do the second step as it’s time-limited and we’ll want to be as close as we can for the maximum protection. ”
“I thought the aim was to confirm we had a dragon. I wasn’t thinking of getting up close and personal.”
“We need to get enough information in order to figure out how to deal with getting rid of it. I don’t know about you, but moving a dragon is not something I’m familiar with, so anything we can learn will be valuable.”
Hyax could be a pissy bastard, but he did have a point. “Fair enough. But this is reconnaissance, right? No poking sleeping dragons.”
“We’re going to need more than my magic to deal with this, but before I can ask someone to help, I’ll need to ascertain the amount of strength required or if a certain flavour of magic might be useful.
I am thinking of asking Simon, but the more I know, the more productive that conversation will be.
Otherwise, any strategy we design will be flawed from the outset. ”
This was Hyax’s area of expertise. He wasn’t in a position to argue and stood still while he cast a spell that tingled around his ears, but didn’t do much else. “That it?”
“For now. It’s more of a dampener, so when I do the second part, we’ll be a bit like background noise, which should stop anything nasty from happening.”
Because of the additional layer of magic, Hyax opted not to take a portal but refused the Tube, so they headed over to Dante’s in a black cab.
Unlike previous visits, they had the driver drop them off at the back of the store, where there was no shiny alabaster and instead red brick and metal roller shutters were the order of the day.
They’d been given full access, and the main doors of the warehouse were open, making Gwil suspect a delivery was imminent.
A security guard waved them through and directed them towards the back of the warehouse.
The wards hadn’t gone off, and there didn’t seem to be any issue with them wandering around as needed.
“Is your extra layer already working?” Gwil asked, because even though they did have clearance, someone would have popped up sooner or later to double-check what they were doing.
“Possibly. It’s not designed to work on the general population, but considering it is meant to be effective against what we’re thinking could be the issue, there is a chance that there’s some residual benefits.”
Gwil thought they shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and sped up, guiding Hyax towards a stairwell in the corner. “Based on Copperpipe’s drawing, we need to go as far down as we can, and there should be a hatch. I’m guessing a ventilation shaft or maintenance conduit of some sort.”
“Hopefully it’s not a waste chute. Copperpipe is used to navigating the sewers; he wouldn’t have thought to have warned us of anything less disgusting.”
Knowing Copperpipe, he’d have left a picture of a pile of shit if they were heading into the sewers. He’d have thought it fucking hilarious that someone like Hyax would be wading through excrement.
The stairwell was an enclosed concrete structure that had an ex-Soviet missile base vibe with its grey oppressive walls and artificial strip lighting.
They continued downwards, Gwil estimating they’d travelled at least four stories until they reached a dead end.
On the wall was a large hatch with a wheel-locking mechanism.
“That doesn’t look at all dubious,” Hyax said, rolling his eyes. “You might have just written bad things behind here, go home now.”
“You’re being overdramatic. It’s just in the wrong setting. It’d look great on a submarine.”
He span the wheel, expecting more resistance, but it was well-oiled and swung open, without a hint of a creaky hinge. He peered into the opening and saw it was a metal chute with rungs to climb down and intermittent lights making it an easy task. This was no creepy entrance to a villain’s lair.
“Come on,” Gwil called, climbing down.
“Is it safe?”
“You’ve been in more dangerous situations in some of the clubs you used to go to.”
They passed various hatches as they climbed down, and Gwil guessed this was an access tunnel, although what might be behind the other doors he didn’t know, but was probably the mundane stuff that kept a department store running.
He might ask Howard as he was sure they hadn’t been part of any plans he’d seen.
At the bottom of the shaft was another hatch and, from the last of Copperpipe’s instructions, this should be the way to access underneath the store. A distinct waft told him they were in the vicinity of the sewers.
Hyax gagged as they clambered through the opening.
Compared to where Gwil usually found Copperpipe, this place was a perfume counter and Hyax was being a prima donna.
Stepping into a tunnel, they were now in darkness, and Hyax conjured a light while Gwil retrieved the head torch he used whenever he was messing about underneath the city and pulled it into place and turned on the light.
“We don’t have any further directions, so this must have been as far as he got,” Gwil said.
“I think it’s this way,” Hyax said, walking away before Gwil could argue. Between them, Gwil had the better sense of direction, but he suspected that Hyax was being guided by something else.
“Can you feel anything?”
“Not exactly. But I’m more than merely guessing.”
A sense of unease settled upon him as they continued, the shadows playing tricks on them.
Hyax took his hand, and he was grateful for the reassurance.
Gwil would have held his breath if he’d had any, so instead, he contented himself by squeezing Hyax’s hand as they made their way through the tunnel.
He’d crawled around sewers and travelled along underground passageways, but this was different.
Maybe it was Hyax’s influence, or the shield magic, but he felt a sense of dread he’d never encountered before, as if an invisible force was trying to push him back, to head to the surface for safety.
“This place is giving me vibes to turn back,” he said.
“Yes, something is trying to keep us away, but I don’t think it’s malevolent, more off-putting.”
The temperature was dropping and the floor was sloping downwards, and it reminded him of a crypt and, since he wasn’t one of the vampires of that persuasion, it was fucking weird. The passageway narrowed to a point where they needed to shuffle along with their back against the stone.
“Copperpipe wouldn’t have had this issue, pity he couldn’t have got this far,” he said as the rock face dug into his arse.
Just as he was about to suggest they try to find another way, the aperture widened and they were in a cavern.
He had no idea there were caves under the city, but then he hadn’t thought there might be a dragon either.
The ground beneath him rumbled. Hyax stopped, and he almost walked into him.
The rumbles subsided. A few seconds later, they began again.
“Did you feel that?” he asked Hyax.
“Yes. I think I’d better cast the second half of the shield spell. And quickly.”
Hyax muttered words Gwil couldn’t make out, but seconds later, it was as if a sheer piece of fabric had floated down over him.
“What’s the plan?”
“We follow the rumbles.”
He wished he hadn’t asked, but they’d come this far, and he knew Hyax wouldn’t turn back. They crossed the cavern, loose shale crunching underfoot, but no sign of life. Gwil spotted another opening.