by Tony Johnson
After thinking about each of them and processing the events of the siege, Steve halted his progress by stopping in the middle of the river and said, “My torch is almost burned out. I think we’re nearing the edge of the city.”
“And the end of the sewers,” said Ty. “The pipes seem to be growing larger again, as all the tributaries are converging together.”
“There hasn’t been a single sconce next to any ladder since we got off the walkway,” Kari mentioned. She motioned to the torch. “It’s going to be pitch black in here without that light.”
“Do you think we should try going up then?” Steve asked, looking for the input of his companions, to which they both answered with a resounding, “Yes!”
“Alright, once we get to the next ladder, we’ll get back on ground level and see if we can’t figure out where we are.”
Before they began walking forward again, Ty, at the back of the group said, “Wait! Do you hear that?”
Steve and Kari listened, trying to make out what the Elf had heard. Steve’s hearing was the worst out of the three because of a damaged eardrum he had suffered early in the siege after being violently thrown off Clyx. It had improved throughout the day, but it still wasn’t close to being 100%. Shrugging his shoulders, the warrior said, “Sorry, I don’t hear anything.”
Kari shook her head, “Me neither.”
Ty digressed, “Maybe it was nothing, but I thought I heard something.”
“Wait,” Kari said, seeing groups of rats scurrying together down the pipe. Some were bottlenecking into tiny holes in the wall of the sewer that only small rats could fit into. “It looks like they’re all running away from something.”
“Um, guys, is it just me or is the water flowing faster?” Steve asked nervously, looking down at the river he stood in.
“It’s not you,” Ty said. “The river’s not only picking up speed, it’s quickly rising.”
In the few seconds they took observing the river, the water had already risen from their knees to their waists.
“We need to get to a ladder and get out!” Kari said in a panic, hoping one would be further down the pipe they were in.
“I’m with her. Let’s move!” Steve agreed, beginning to wade forward.
The heroes knew something bad was happening behind them. They had barely gone far at all and already the river was getting choppier. It was hard for any of them to keep their footing as they treaded as fast as they could through the rapidly rising water.
Just before their heads were submerged, their pipe ended, emptying into a much larger pipe. The three dropped down into it and the water was back at waist level, but continued to rapidly rise. At the end of the pipe was a stone wall that had the shape of a half-moon cut into the bottom of it. Five vertical, metal bars covered the exit.
“This pipe is the one all the smaller ones converge to. It’s one of the three pipes in this quadrant of the sewers that empties into a cesspool. We’re at the end of the sewers!” Steve emphasized, pointing towards the moonlit opening with his torch, which had been reduced to a bunch of glowing embers.
“There’s a ladder!” Kari announced excitedly, seeing one rise out of the river and to a hole in the ceiling above.
As the heroes ran to the ladder, they heard a booming, crashing noise behind them, as loud as roaring thunder. They each stopped running and looked back, only to observe a massive, ceiling-high wave of water barreling down the pipe towards them.
“Run!” Ty yelled. “They’re flushing this tunnel!”
Chapter 34
Steve’s feet were swept out from under him because of the force of the propelled waves. The chillingly cold water quickly extinguished what little embers remained at the end of his faintly glowing torch. The only visible light was at the far end of the sewer pipe. Faint moonlight shone through the bars that led into the cesspool runoff.
Since the sash around his waist held Brightflame, and he had discarded his fireless torch, Steve’s hands were free. As the river swept him past the ladder, he managed to reach out and grab ahold of it. Immediately, he turned back and tried to grab Kari, who was right behind him. For a moment their hands joined, but his injured shoulder prevented him from pulling her to himself. The power of the surging river broke their grasp and carried her away. Steve felt helpless as he watched her viciously tossed back and forth by the relentless waves. Ahead of Kari, the shadowed figure of Ty’s body could be seen bobbing up and down in the water.
With the waves pounding against him, Steve pulled himself towards the ladder and managed to climb up a few rungs, but was immediately hit by a huge wave of water. The force ripped him off and threw him into the river. Fully submerged in the cold water, he tumbled head over heels, losing all sense of direction.
When he resurfaced, he found himself flowing at incredible speed along with the diverted Fluorite, only to be forced down under again by the current. Steve thought the same thing he had thought many times already, as he uselessly reached out and tried to grab onto anything to slow him down, There’s no way I’m going to survive this. The bars ahead are designed to keep people and monsters from entering the sewers, which means they are too close together for us to squeeze through. There’s no way out.
Propelled past the Elf and the Halfling, Steve’s left shoulder, the one Silas and the orc had severely damaged, was the first part of his body to violently slam into one of the bars. Instinctively, Steve screamed out in pain causing water to pour down his throat. He closed his mouth, but involuntarily opened it again when Ty painfully crashed into him followed by Kari a second later.
They were all trapped underwater, pinned against the metal bars by the rushing river. They held their breath as the force of the current pushed them down, making it difficult to resurface. Not only were they drowning, every couple seconds the powerful surge of another wave would painfully throw their bodies against the bars. The Fluorite seemed determined to push them through the barred opening, even if that meant it had to break them into pieces to fit through.
Frantically trying to find an escape, Steve grabbed the metal bars and used all his muscles trying to pull them loose, but they didn’t budge in the slightest.
How are we supposed to get out? He wanted to scream in frustration. All he wanted was to have colossal strength for just a moment so he could rip the bars right out of the wall and they could escape through the opening.
Ty took the scimitar out of the sheath behind his back and started forcefully jabbing the tip into a large crack in between some stones on the wall’s left side to weaken the structure.
The other side of this wall must’ve been hit by a boulder and damaged during the attack! Maybe I can loosen a couple of these stones and we can squeeze out.
Meanwhile, Kari was against the wall on Steve’s right side, feeling around for anything that might help. When she reached above her head, her fingers grasped an archway of stone above the outflow opening that slightly protruded from the wall.
With only enough room for the tips of her fingers, she somehow managed to find the strength to pull herself up so her head was just above the raging river. She swallowed a deep breath of air and went back under to inform the warriors of her finding.
After gaining Steve’s attention by tugging on the tunic under his armor, Kari pointed upwards, signaling the source for oxygen she had found. She could tell he was close to drowning with the way the veins were sticking out of his neck and forehead. Once Ty saw Steve reach upwards and pull himself up, he sheathed his scimitar and followed.
Steve surfaced and instantly coughed out as much water as he could. The three soaked heroes clung to the tiny archway ledge gasping for air. Submerged up to their necks, they held their bodies up in what Steve and Ty knew from Warrior Training as a pull-up.
With arms shaking from fatigue, Steve yelled over the raging river, “What do we do now?”
Ty, not taking the time to voice an idea that came to mind, took in a deep brea
th and dove down to the metal bars.
With one hand holding on a bar to keep himself steady, he used the other to reach behind his back and pull out his scimitar. He gripped the handle tightly, afraid it would be torn from his grasp by the river and sent down into the quickly filling cesspool.
This time, instead of jabbing the pointed tip of his weapon into the large crack in the wall, he stuck the flat part of the blade between two bars. He leaned forward and pulled the handle of his scimitar towards himself. The blade bent slightly under the stress of the two bars it was stuck between.
Ty released the pressure and tried pulling again, harder now than before. He noticed the stones around the crack to his left were beginning to loosen more and more. It helped that the rushing river added weight against the wall, especially against the loose stones.
I’ll use the same method Kari and I used to separate the post from McGregor’s Stable: rocking back and forth, adding pressure, releasing, and slowly loosening the stones.
Knowing time was limited, he pushed hard, but the stress of the bars against the metal blade of the scimitar was too much for the weapon to take. The sword snapped in half and was carried down into the cesspool.
“Give me Brightflame!” Ty yelled to Steve, after using the ledge to pull himself above water. He knew Steve had forged his blade with some of the strongest metal purchasable. Brightflame won’t break under the stress of the bars. Plus, the blade is longer. It will give me more leverage.
Kari looked at Steve when the warrior didn’t respond. He can’t reach down to give Ty Brightflame because he’s using all his strength to hold himself up, she noticed, seeing how much he was struggling to keep his grip on the ledge. If he lets go with one hand, he’ll fall and be carried back under only to be smashed into the bars again.
Kari reached down to Steve’s waist, grabbed the hilt of his sword, and pulled it out of the warrior’s sash. She handed it to Ty who filled his lungs with air and dove down.
“I’m not going to make it,” Steve said after Ty went under. My arms feel like wet noodles. I don’t have the strength to pull myself up if I fall. If I let go, I’m going to drown.
Seeing Steve about to fall, Kari moved her body closer to his and found a way to prop her shoulder under his armpit. She took on some of his weight and made it easier for him to hold on with his injured shoulder. The water is rising and it’ll only be a minute before we’re fully submerged, Kari thought, choking on some of the river she unwillingly swallowed. Whatever Ty’s doing he better be quick.
Underneath the Human and the Halfling, Ty slid Brightflame between the same two bars and started pushing as hard as he could. The difference was noticeable from the start. The stones around the crack in the wall began wiggling like a child’s baby tooth ready to be pulled out. The more and more he pushed and released, the more the stones loosened.
Finally, like with the wooden post in the plaza, the object Ty was trying to separate began to pull apart. The section of the wall next to the barred opening began collapsing. Water pushed and squeezed its way through the spaces where the loose stones had been, which opened the holes even wider. In an instant, the entire section of the wall crumbled down.
Steve and Kari let go of the ledge they were holding when it began to break apart. Along with all the debris, they and Ty were swept out of the sewers in a waterfall drop into the cesspool. They fell into the deep pit, and the endless river piled on top of their heads, pushing them down into the collected water.
Once again, Steve was lost in the confusion of the cold, pounding river as it spun him around in darkness. He moved away from the cascading waterfall and felt around until he touched the stone side of the cesspool. Straightening himself out, he looked up and saw the moonlight’s glare off the surface of the dirty water.
He didn’t see Ty or Kari, so he kicked his legs and swam to the surface. With his lungs screaming for air, he closed his eyes and continued kicking, propelling himself as hard as he could. Every time his body called for him to take a breath, he told himself to count five more seconds. With his heart racing and his head starting to feel fuzzy from the lack of oxygen, Steve talked to himself, trying to stay positive. Just keep going upwards. Keep holding your breath. Only a little bit longer. I can do this.
Even though he tried to stay positive, his optimism was fading as fast as the air in his lungs. All he could think about was the pain he felt all over his body. He felt sore, weak, slow, tired, and the armor he wore on his upper body felt heavier than ever.
Negative thoughts overpowered his positive ones. For every inch closer to the surface I get, it seems like my armor pulls me down twice as far. It’s too far away. I feel like I’m moving in slow motion. There’s no way I can make it to the top.
Before Steve succumbed to the temptation of giving up, Ty, who had already exited the cesspool, dove back down in to help drag Steve up.
“Six to four!” the Elf exasperated after he and Steve broke the surface of the water and were helped by Kari up over the edge of the overflowing pit. “We’ve finally escaped Celestial!” he smiled gleefully, having taken a two-point lead in the ongoing game he and Steve had of keeping track of how many times they were saving each other’s life.
“Are you okay?” Kari asked Steve.
“Fine,” Steve attempted to sound nonchalant as he gasped. As he caught his breath, a noise from the top of the inner wall, high above them, drew the heroes’ attention.
“Patrol monsters are coming to check out the sound the collapsing wall made. If the archers see us, we’re dead!”
Luckily, standing before the three was Celestial’s farmlands; acres and acres of fields filled with crops. Almost every crop imaginable grew in these luscious fields during one season or another. Oliver Zoran had decided to build the Celestial City in some of the world’s most fertile soil, which was irrigated by the Fluorite River.
“Did we make it without them seeing us?” Kari whispered, after she, Ty, and Steve ran into a cornfield a mere thirty feet away from the cesspool. With thick cornstalks standing ten feet high, they were now invisible to the two monsters who peered over the edge of the wall.
“Yes, we got to cover in time. All they’re going to see is debris from the wall and the flooded cesspool.”
“Let’s hope they think the wall was just weak in that spot from being hit by a catapulted boulder and the power of the river was what broke it,” Ty said quietly.
“Yeah, but they’ll be questioning why the Fluorite was flushed. They’ll find out it was Silas’s doing. He knew which section of the quadrant we were in so he diverted the entire river into the sewers to drown us. Silas may send monsters to search this area for us.”
Looking down at their boots and the imprints their feet were leaving in the muddy soil, Kari mentioned, “We need to get to dry ground so they can’t track us. They’re going to find these prints.”
“Alright, let’s go,” said Steve, heading into the darker shadows of the eerie cornfield.
Despite how far they had come and how much energy they had exerted, it was not yet time to relax. With their clothing soaked and reeking of the sewers, innumerable scrapes and bruises from fighting, and little hope that any of them would survive, the heroes of the siege pressed on.
Chapter 35
“Air has never tasted so good!” Ty exclaimed as he brushed cornhusks away from his face while he walked. Now out of the sewers, the nighttime breeze and open air dramatically cut down on the awful stench.
Next to him was Kari, and next to her was Steve, who was grimacing in pain with every step he took. The three of them traveled side-by-side, separated only by a row of cornstalks between each of them. The corn was planted in rows, so they walked in straight lines down the aisles without interference.
“It’s going to rain,” Kari proclaimed, her voice piercing through the night air, which had been exclusive to the sound of crickets’ chirps for a while now.
“You can smel
l that it’s about to,” Ty agreed, as a cool breeze picked up and whipped down the corridors of cornstalks, rustling their heavy leaves and adding to the stillness of the night.
As they continued, Kari kept looking back over her shoulder, making sure monsters weren’t chasing them. At one point, she saw a looming figure the size of a monster, drew her bow, and fired an arrow, only to realize it was a scarecrow afterwards.
Steve tried to calm the on-edge Halfling. “Don’t worry. They’re not going to be able to track us. The cesspool didn’t overflow that much.” He stomped his feet down in the soil to explain himself further. “See, we’re barely leaving footprints anymore.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Kari explained. “I just don’t like this.” She motioned to the ten-foot-tall cornstalks on either side of her. “I feel confined in here. We can barely see what’s ahead of us because of the dark and forget about hearing anything the way the wind is whipping down these aisles. I feel vulnerable. I prefer quietness and openness.”
“Ah, quietness and openness, my two greatest weaknesses,” Ty chimed in from a couple rows over. “So many women have ended relationships with me, saying I lacked those two things. Apparently, I was too ‘loud and obnoxious’ or not willing to ‘share my feelings.’” Ty used his pointer and middle fingers on both hands to put air-quotations around the words as he spoke them, adding to his emphasis.
As Steve smiled to himself, thinking back to how he had been present many of the times when a frustrated girl broke up with Ty, Kari said, “Those girls should have given you more of a chance. You don’t seem that way to me.”
“Just give it time,” Steve said jokingly, before suddenly doubling over in a terrible fit of coughing. It was so raspy and strong that it was impossible for him to catch his breath for a minute.