6 LONNIE
THE SEWERS, INBETWIXT
Even knowing we’d be walking through the sewers, somehow I had not thought the smell would be quite so potent.
I tried to think of anything else as we trudged along, the stench of decay clawing at my senses, but the sewers were a suffocating maze; a foul miasma that threatened to overwhelm me. The scurrying of rats echoed off the walls, their tiny claws skittering in the darkness. Fortunately—or unfortunately, as it were—I had much to dwell on that was equally foul.
Glancing at Bael, I found him already looking at me. “What are you thinking about, little monster?”
Nothing good.
I kept my voice low, though, with the echoing tunnels and the closeness of our group, it hardly mattered. “Did you not want to go to Overcast? Even the slightest bit?”
He scoffed. “I take it you’ve never been to Overcast.”
Cross laughed a few paces ahead of us. “Dreadful place, lass.”
“I thought that was your northern outpost,”
I said, more of a statement than a question.
“It is. But simply in terms of the land itself, there are many reasons to avoid a visit.”
Bael gave an affected shudder. “It’s built almost on top of the Wanderlust, and it’s downwind from Aftermath. Trust me, little monster. We’d be happier in the center of the Source itself.”
I laughed, though I did not feel all that humorous. “I take it you’ve never been to the Source, itself?”
He rolled his eyes, seeming to assume I’d been joking. I hadn’t been.
We walked for nearly twenty minutes, the dark tunnels stretching endlessly like tangled yarn. A rat ran across my feet and I stifled a scream, if only to avoid breathing in any more of the putrid air.
Finally, when I was not sure I could take another minute of the stench, it seemed that the stone beneath our feet began to slant upwards. I nearly skipped with excitement. “Are we nearly there?”
“Almost,”
Cross replied.
“Where does this tunnel end?”
“It goes around the entire city, of course, but we’re going to be stopping off near the eastern gate.”
I pressed my lips together, and only nodded. I was not overly familiar with the geography of Inbetwixt, but it was easy enough to understand where each gate must lead by the name alone. Aftermath was in the North-west of the country, on the opposite side of the walled city from the eastern gate. That gate would lead to the shipping docks, and was the furthest from any road that might take us toward our destination. Still, complaining would do little good now.
To my immense relief, we finally came to a halt at the base of a simple, metal ladder, which ascended into a hatch in the ceiling.
Cross stopped in front of it, flanked by Siobhan and Arson, and I stood behind him, with Bael and Aine hanging back slightly. Again, as in the wine cellar, I could see what Bael had meant about the too large group. Hopefully Cross knew what he was doing, and there would be no problem with being overly conspicuous as we left the city.
“You’ll need to stay below ground for a moment while I check the area,”
Siobhan said. “The gate isn’t far from here, so as long as no one is waiting around for you it shouldn’t be difficult to leave.”
I swallowed and nodded, feeling a bit like her statement was a bad omen—almost inviting trouble the moment we moved above ground.
Siobhan received a leg up from Arson, and began to ascend the ladder. “I’ll shout when it’s safe.”
Reaching the top of the ladder, she opened a hatch and there was a small whoosh of a fresh breeze, a sliver of night sky, before she disappeared and we were plunged back into semi-darkness.
“I’m going with her,”
Arson said roughly, speaking for the first time all evening.
Cross nodded, and he too climbed out of sight. The passage immediately felt roomier, though I still wished for nothing more than to escape into the open air.
Bael squeezed my hand and I gave him a weak smile, unable to muster anything in the way of words. I should be ecstatic to be finally beginning our journey, but I couldn’t help but focus on what I was leaving behind.
The hatch opened once more, and Siobhan stuck her head back through the hole. “Safe.”
“Go,”
Cross said roughly. “Quickly.”
I swept my long, dark wool cloak out of the way, and stepped onto the first wrung of the metal ladder. It wasn’t very high to climb, but the scum on the bottoms of my boots made me move carefully, afraid I might slip as I ascended. Siobhan reached a gloved hand out, and I took it, allowing her to help me the rest of the way out into the clear night air.
The air smelled of salt and the sea, and even the faint odor of fish was a welcome change after so long below ground. Sucking in a breath, I practically laughed with relief as I looked around, taking everything in. We’d arrived behind what looked to be some sort of boat house, if the barrels and nets covering the ground were anything to go by. Behind Siobhan, I could see a sliver of a long dock, water lapping at its edge, and the masts of several tall ships.
I stepped out of the way of the ladder to allow Bael to climb out, and squinted into the darkness near the harbor. “I thought we were coming out near the wall.”
Siobhan didn’t respond to me directly, but shook her head as she shot a meaningful look at Cross. She addressed him the moment he pulled himself out of the hole in the ground. “The gate is down, like we expected, but there are only two guards.”
Cross frowned, then turned to me, finally addressing my question. “The wall is over there.”
He pointed to somewhere beyond my eye-line. “It surrounds the entire city, and the eastern gate is at the harbor. Usually, this gate remains open to the road, even at night, because traders come in at all hours, but the gate is down.”
“Why?”
I asked, thinking I already knew the answer.
“Because we’re in the city,”
Aine’s drawl answered.
I turned to see her climbing up the last rungs of the ladder. Arson stood beside the hole, his hand outstretched as if to help her, but she didn’t so much as glance at him.
“No one knows for sure that we’re here,” I argued.
Aine brushed dust from her knees and straightened. “Do try to be serious. Of course word has spread by now, and as I thought you knew, the lord and lady of this city are no supporters of ours.”
“They won’t be a problem much longer,”
Cross said with a shadow of darkness behind his usual smile.
Aine raised an eyebrow, looking interested. “Only time will tell if that’s an improvement or not.”
“Try not to make new enemies.”
Bael eyed his sister warily. “We can hardly afford any more.”
“Right,”
Cross straightened. “Let’s carry on then. There are two guards on the outside of the gate, but there shouldn’t be any trouble as long as…”
he trailed off, glancing at Bael.
“Just point them out,”
Bael said, without inflection.
I frowned, but said nothing. In the past, I might have argued over the necessity of Bael killing two random guards, but since the castle had fallen I’d had to get far more comfortable with the use of force.
Cross led, with Bael directly behind him, as we crept single file through the harbor. The wooden planks beneath my boots creaked softly as I paced back and forth, my thoughts drifting to the dangers lurking in the darkness around us. Every shadow seemed to hold a hidden threat, every rustle of the night breeze sending a shiver down my spine.
The wall came into sight, the huge wooden gate looming, casting long shadows over the already dark harbor.
Suddenly, a distant crashing noise echoed through the quiet night, followed by the sound of voices raised in alarm. We exchanged worried glances as the commotion drew nearer. Shadows flitted along the alleyways leading to the docks, and the unmistakable clatter of armored boots on cobblestones filled the air.
Cross’s gaze hardened, his eyes scanning our surroundings for any sign of danger before he positioned himself protectively in front of us, and drew his sword. “Rebels.”