Asher stops his foot a few inches above a glob of ooze that has already been tread on by someone. He steps over the slippery growth and signals down the line to be careful. He frowns when Alanik continues on his way, the barbarian refusing to warn those behind him. Most of the party has passed the dangerous spot when one of the other mercenaries slips. The armored woman tries to balance herself, but the sudden movement makes her situation worse. With a scream, she plummets into the churning water and the last thing anyone sees of her is a flailing hand that is dragged into a tunnel. Asher is about to yell at Alanik when a hissing screech echoes throughout the large chamber.
“If you fall into the water, keep your mouth closed,” Delvin says as he draws his longsword and watches the shadows. “You can probably survive the fall and avoid drowning if you keep your head about you.”
A scaly hand snakes out from under the walkway, grabbing an Elven mercenary’s legs and yanking him off his feet. The swordsman can only yelp before he is silenced by the sound of something devouring him. Everyone watches the ground in fear of being the next one taken, so Ralgin and another mercenary are not ready for the Felcri’s attack from above. The young barbarian stumbles away with a deep cut on his shoulder, but the other target’s head is ripped clean off his neck. Before anyone can react, the monster pounces on Alanik and gets its claws stuck in the warrior’s chainmail. The green-scaled monkey is as tall as an ogre, but lean like an elf with a bony ridge down its back. Its powerful tail swings as Alanik turns around and the thick extremity knocks Kira off the walkway.
“I got her,” Sari says, taking control of a nearby waterfall. She catches the heiress with a watery hand, but the strain of controlling the sewage causes the gypsy to grow faint and tumble over the edge. Kira snags her with her kusari-gama and both women disappear into the churning pool.
“We’re helpless here!” Alanik shouts as he grabs the Felcri and hurls it at the wall. The creature flips in midair and lands with a slap, its body adhering to the stone like a spider. “Get to the tunnels, boys!”
The barbarians try to push their way back to the wider path, not caring if they have to knock their allies into the pool. One of the mercenaries that Ralgin throws out of his way is impaled through the chest by a lancing tongue. While the Felcri savors its newest meal, Alanik panics and accidentally shoves Delvin off the walkway. Luke and Asher sheath their weapons and dive after the armored warrior, grabbing his hands before they plunge into the water.
“What are you doing?” Timoran asks, lunging to grab the black-haired barbarian by the arm and spin him around. Seeing Alanik’s clenched fist, he punches the man in the face and draws the attention of the others. “All of you are putting our allies in danger. Help me to kill that creature and save my friends.”
“That monster is butchering us,” Alanik argues, gesturing for his friends to keep moving. “We need to regroup and lure that thing into a tight space. After that, we’ll handle our issues with you.”
“Now is not the time.”
“It’s the perfect time since you don’t have that woman guarding you.”
The Felcri lands on Alanik again and opens its mouth to sink its fangs into his neck, but Timoran punches the beast in the nose. Banton grabs the thrashing tail while Sentrent tries to find a way to strike with his broadsword. With a wild hoot, Ralgin makes a running jump over everyone and gets behind Timoran. He shoulder rushes the red-headed warrior, sending him crashing into the water below. The four barbarians continue wrestling with the Felcri, the beast shrieking at them and baring its poisonous fangs. With a violent twist of its flexible body, the creature forces everyone off the walkway and into the whirlpool.
*****
Kira gasps for air and violently spits out the foul water that drips from her hair into her mouth. She pulls herself onto the low walkway, dragging the unconscious gypsy behind her. The floor is covered in filth that smears on her leather armor as she crawls to the wall. She uncoils her weapon from her gloved hand and the bare arm of Sari, which is covered in bruises. Sitting against the cold stone, Kira stares down the tunnel in the hope that one of their friends or her brother will break the surface of the running water.
“What happened?” Sari asks as she wakes up. She tries to stand, but falls back down when a wave of nausea grips her stomach. “I think I swallowed some of the sewer water. Though I’m not sure how I fell in.”
“You tried to use your powers to save me,” Kira replies, running a hand through her ebony hair. She shudders at the touch of slimy garbage in her matted tresses. “Next thing I knew, you were falling, so I tried to save you and we both fell. All I could think of is to hold on, so we didn’t get separated.”
“Good idea,” the gypsy agrees, focusing her powers on the filth in her stomach. Her eyes bulge and she lurches to the side to vomit. “Thank you for saving me. I’m sorry for what you’re seeing here.”
“Honestly, after seeing a lot of bodies the last few weeks and being in this sewer, I’m not really phased by you puking,” the heiress admits with a half-hearted smile. She pulls a cord from her pocket and ties her hair back, shuddering at the sensation of thick liquid dripping down her neck. “Let’s get moving in case the Felcri shows up. I’d rather give it a moving target.”
Kira’s back audibly pops as she stands and stretches, a pathetic whimper escaping from her mouth. She helps Sari to her feet, but the gypsy gently pushes her away and tries to walk on her own. With a sigh of resignation, the heiress lets her companion use the wall to move down the tunnel. It is a slow, frustrating pace that grates on Kira’s nerves as they wander the sewers in search of a ladder. When they do find a way up, Sari takes so long to climb it that the other woman is tempted to leave her behind. The only reason she refuses to abandon the girl is because every shadow is a place for the Felcri to lurk.
The pair groan and curse when they reach a place where the walkway has fallen into the lower levels of the sewers. Sari kicks a rock into the pit and waits for it to hit water, but only the echo of stone being struck comes back. Kira is already coiling her chain around her arm and preparing to bind herself to the gypsy when she sees her companion hurry onto the narrow remnant of the ledge. Grumbling curses and focusing on the far wall, she follows Sari and holds her breath as she inches along. Her toes stick out over the edge and she presses against the slimy wall, the temptation to look down more powerful than she expected. She glowers at the gypsy moving swiftly ahead of her, the woman having a better sense of balance and more experience with perilous ledges.
Turning a corner, Kira is happy to see a ladder that Sari is already scaling. She gets excited and attempts to jump the last three feet, her arm stretching for a rung. The one she catches snaps in her hand and her foot slips on another that is covered in muck. Her chin strikes the ladder before she can hook it with the sickle end of her weapon. With a throbbing pain in her head, she climbs toward a dark square in the ceiling and stops when a dirty hand comes within view. She bats Sari’s offer away and finishes on her own, massaging her aching jaw.
“What’s wrong with you?” the gypsy asks, reaching out with ice on her fingertips. Again, her hand is smacked to the side. “I only want to help.”
“If you’re going to reject my offers then I’m going to do the same,” Kira says, cringing from the pain of talking. She can taste blood in her mouth and her tongue finds a cut on her inner cheek. “I’m not going to be treated like a delicate heiress. Luke might not be here, but I have my pride and I plan on being your equal.”
“I apologize for being stubborn earlier. I thought you helping me would make you an easier target for the Felcri,” Sari admits, walking to the edge of the walkway. The water appears cleaner than what she has seen so far, but it still reeks of sewage. “Let’s get out of here and we can talk about this. It’s obvious we have words to say to each other and we kept them hidden when Luke was around. So for the sake of our friendship-”
Kira cuts off the girl’s words by getting in her face, coming dangerously close t
o tackling her into the water. “We’re not friends! We’re rivals, Sari!”
“But your traditions.”
“Forget my damn traditions!” the heiress screams, spitting blood out of her mouth. She steps away and strikes the floor with the club end of her weapon. “I let you happen to Luke and now you get to spend more time with him. There’s no way I can compete with that and he’s not going to let me travel with him. The only time I have with him is now and we’re traipsing about a sewer after a monster that ate my brother. Let’s also mention that you’re hanging around my home moping like a wounded puppy. He sees you wallowing and it keeps him up at night. So even though he’s with me and promised that this is my time, he’s still thinking about you.”
“I’ll talk to him after we kill the Felcri and break things off,” Sari states, turning away to hide the pain and anger in her voice. “That way you get what you want and only I get hurt. I’m fine with that.”
Kira smacks Sari across the back of the head with enough force to send the gypsy stumbling away. She drops her weapon and darts in to deliver another strike, catching her rival’s ear. With a low growl, Sari kicks the heiress in the shin and throws a punch. Being more experienced at hand-to-hand combat, Kira deflects the attack and slams her fist in the blue-haired girl’s stomach. She holds onto Sari’s shoulders, preventing her from falling to the floor. A thrill runs through her body when she sees the anger in her rival’s emerald eyes.
“Never say that again,” Kira growls, shoving Sari toward the wall. “When I win Luke, I don’t want it to be because you took pity on me. Besides, he’ll never be happy with me unless he makes the choice on his own. Would you be happy if I quit, so you get to be with him by default? You’d always wonder about the truth.”
Sari grimaces at the tightness in her gut and takes in a coughing breath. “I live in the moment, so it wouldn’t bother me. So where do we stand with each other? I still don’t hate you, but I’m getting there.”
“We’re rivals who have to be civil when in public,” Kira replies, picking her weapon up and shaking the filth from the sickle. “As for the hate, I don’t know. You frustrate me and I’m trying really hard not to despise you. Luke and I were going to have a difficult relationship from the beginning. It’s made me question a lot about myself and it’s been hard to find answers without him by my side. Now that you’re more of a threat than I expected, I’m not sure what to say or do around him. I can only hope that he’s as uncomfortable with you as he is with me after he leaves Bor’daruk.”
“Oh, that isn’t petty.”
“I’m not denying that it is.”
“Like you said, you brought this on yourself.”
“To be perfectly blunt and honest, I thought you were only going to use him for sex and toss him aside,” Kira mentions with a shrug. She notices the twitch of Sari’s eye and cannot stop herself from pushing a little more. “After all, gypsies aren’t known for relationships outside of the clan. Loyalty to family and all outsiders are toys to be played with. So I was surprised you became so attached to my fiancée.”
“Luke is my family,” the gypsy states in a voice tinged with rage. She is surprised when Kira smiles and gently touches her on the cheek. “What’s so amusing?”
“And that is why I never believed you’d give him up so easily. May the best woman win.”
The tunnel rumbles and a rush of putrid wind rushes from upstream, making the pair cover their mouths. A dull roar rolls from the shadows and the distant sight of something moving toward them catches their attention. It is an undulating line of white against the darkness that Kira quickly realizes is an incoming flood of sewer water. She glances at Sari, who is backing away and blushing. Not waiting for an explanation, the heiress sprints downstream with her companion a few steps behind.
“What did you do, gypsy?”
“This is why you shouldn’t have made me mad, heiress.”
Glancing over her shoulder, Kira sees that the flood is gaining and will take them if they cannot find a ladder. “You’ve been having trouble with your powers this whole time. How was I supposed to know you’d make a flood?”
“I didn’t know either. It just kind of happened . . . so that’s where that flood came from back then,” Sari replies with a smirk. She darts forward to grab her companion’s hand and locks her fingers. “Hold onto me and you’ll be fine. I think. I’m really not sure what’s going to happen here.”
Kira opens her mouth to argue, but sees how close the flood is and takes a deep breath instead. The sewer water engulfs the two women and they hold each other tight as they are carried through the tunnels. Sari is able to stop them from getting dashed against the walls by using quick bursts of control over the current around them. This does not help when they hit a waterfall and burst out of the sewage. Spinning wildly toward an overhang, Kira takes the brunt of the impact and is barely aware of falling back into the racing flood. She manages to get another gulp of air before they are swirled in an eddy and sucked down a drain.
Fearing that the heiress will drown, Sari kicks her legs to strengthen the current, which launches them out of a small tunnel to where their flood meets another blast of water. The gypsy is surprised to see one of the mercenaries frantically trying to escape the river of sewage ahead of them. He no longer has his chainmail like she remembers, so he is able to break the surface to gasp for air and grasp at ladders. She tries to call out to the man when she sees him break the surface dangerously close to a hole in the ceiling. The filthy water chokes her throat, so she can only watch as his face is smashed into the solid stone. His head flops around on his broken neck as the current carries him along, his body moving in an eerie, unnatural way.
A hum can be heard within the roar of the water and Sari cranes her neck to see a barrier of white energy ahead of them. Sparks fly off the water that strikes the purification wall, which disintegrates all of the pollutants. The corpse of the mercenary evaporates as it hits the barrier, making Sari desperately try to control the flood. She manages to slow their advance, but it is not enough to avoid the spell and she closes her eyes as she feels the raw energy pull at her hair. A horrible pain burns through her veins and she sees Kira’s eyes fly open as the purification wall attacks all of the impurities in their bodies. Being still alive, the pair are not mistaken for refuse and destroyed like the dead warrior. Unconscious, but still breathing, the two women pass through the barrier and are launched out of the tunnel. They land next to the northern most pier with a loud splash, startling a trio of drowsy sailors who are suddenly wide awake.
*****
Timoran’s knuckles are white from clinging to his great axe, the weapon lodged within a narrow tunnel entrance. His legs and back ache from being braced against the wall to prevent him from getting sucked away by the unexpected flood. The water subsides and is left as a weak rivulet instead of the strong river it was before. Wringing the filthy liquid from his hair, the barbarian catches his breath and frees his axe. The stench of exposed muck is a nightmare to his senses, so he fumbles with a pouch of aromatic herbs. He sticks his nose inside to inhale deeply and relaxes for the first time all night.
“I guess your stomach gets weaker as you get older,” Alanik taunts as he walks into the tunnel. His friends are a few steps behind him, all of them drenched and covered in muck. “It must be fate that we found each other in this place. Alone to discuss our business. Kerr must be on my side.”
“More that Gabriel is bored,” Timoran mutters, putting his back to the wall. “I have no business with you. It would be best if we go our separate ways. Besides my disappearance will bring my friends on your head.”
“Your oath means we have the advantage, so you should listen,” Banton says from the back of the group. He waits for Alanik to nod his support and moves within a few feet of the redheaded champion. “We discussed our options if we found you again. Well, we actually agreed to hunt you down, but disagreed on what to do after.”
“I wanted to kill
your silver-haired friend and chop off your arms,” Ralgin claims with a proud grin. “I’m still missing teeth from that fight.”
“I voted for capturing you and your friends than selling them to pirates,” Sentrent admits with his hand raised. The heavily scarred warrior drops his arm when his companions growl at him. “That was actually Alanik’s idea. I wanted to go in the opposite direction and never see you again.”
Timoran keeps his eye on Banton, who is wiping filth off the head of his maul. “That would have been the best idea. So what is the decision that you four came to? I assume it is something that takes advantage of me not being able to truly fight back. I am not in the mood for a guessing game.”
Banton draws a scroll from under his bracer, the crushed parchment stained with sweat and sewage. He puts his maul on the ground and hands it to Timoran, who wrinkles his nose at the other barbarian’s stench. Ralgin grins and chuckles, earning him a smack to the face from Alanik. The exchange makes the champion more nervous and he eyes Banton with suspicion. The blonde man casually recovers his weapon and returns to his friends, patiently standing behind his leader.
“This is impossible,” Timoran states while he tries to read the scroll. He hears the growls from the others and flicks the parchment into the stream. “I meant that sweat and filth have made the scroll ineligible. All I could discern from the remaining words is that you want me to sign a contract of alliance.”
“That is the basic idea,” Alanik says, approaching his fellow kinsman and putting a meaty arm around his shoulder. “All five of us have been banned from ever returning home due to archaic laws. My friends and I didn’t leave the field of battle due to cowardice. We left because we didn’t believe in the fight. Killing ogres because they took an extra piece of land and our king got nervous about an attack? We refused to die for his paranoia.”
“The ogres took the land from our halfling allies. It was about honoring our treaties. If you did not abandon your post out of cowardice then you did it out of disrespect for our people. A barbarian never goes back on his or her word.”
Sleeper Of The Wildwood Fugue (Book 7) Page 20