Kingdom of Magicians

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  A couple of days of traveling later—mostly through the wilderness, as they had to avoid the roads in order to make sure that no one saw them—the city of Capitika rose in the distance. It was early morning when Keo first saw the large city on the horizon, and at first, due to the distance and the lack of light, it looked like a collection of tall, vague objects, but as they drew closer to it and as the sun rose in the sky, he saw the city in much better detail.

  Capitika was enormous; not quite as large as Castarious, perhaps, but much prettier. The buildings, which had crystalline exteriors, reflected brilliantly the morning sun's rays off of their surfaces, while the huge metallic city walls gleamed brightly, like they were polished and scrubbed clean every single day. The Hanuf River flowed beside the city, shining brightly in the sun, and from the center of the city rose the largest Tower that Keo had ever seen. It looked just like the Towers from the smaller towns, except twice as tall and large. It, too, was clean and reflective, making it look almost like a giant icicle in the sun.

  The gates of Capitika were huge as well. They were the biggest city gates Keo had ever seen, and they appeared to be made out of gold and silver, although they had probably simply been painted that way. Strong-looking Enforcers, wearing beautiful crimson armor and carrying swords that looked brand new, stood before the massive gates with stern looks visible through their helmets, which were shaped like the head of a hawk for some reason. There was no way that anyone could ever hope to climb over the walls or the gates, even if the Enforcers were not there to prevent you from doing so, because their surfaces were too steep and slick to allow anyone to climb them.

  But Keo and the others were not going to be climbing the walls today, nor were they going to attempt to enter through the gates.

  Instead, Keo was following Dlaine along the banks of the Hanuf River. They were out of sight of the guards at the gates and walls, but still moved silently and stealthily to ensure that they would not be caught before they could enter the city. So far, no one had seen them, but that was primarily due to the low light of the morning, as well as the fog that rose from the River, though that would dissipate once the sun was high enough in the sky.

  As they sneaked along the Hanuf River, Keo recalled what Dlaine had told them about how they were going to get inside Capitika without being noticed. According to Dlaine, there was a secret underground passage near the River that connected Capitika to the outside. The passageway was unknown to the Magical Council and everyone else in Capitika, and its exact purpose and origin was a mystery even to Dlaine. But as Capitika had once been a major trading port during King Riuno's reign, Dlaine theorized that the secret passageway had been built to allow important leaders to escape the city in the event it was besieged by enemy forces.

  In any case, the secret passageway had been open and unprotected last time Dlaine had used it, so Dlaine assumed that it would still be open and unprotected now. He assured Keo and Maryal that the passageway would have no Enforcers guarding it, because no one in Capitika knew it was there. Even so, he advised them to be careful, because the secret passageway was old and in bad condition due to the fact that no one had bothered to take care of it since the fall of the Kingdom at least. That made Keo wonder if it would be safe to travel through, but because they had no other way to get into Capitika unseen, Keo did not object to traveling through it.

  As they walked along the riverbanks, Keo glanced at Maryal. The young Magician looked a lot rougher due to sleeping and traveling in the wilderness with them over the past few days. Her blonde hair was dirtier, though a lot cleaner than Keo's or Dlaine's, probably because Maryal had used her magic to keep her hair relatively clean. The sleeves of her tunic were rolled up to her elbows and she had some cuts on her hands from where she had tripped and fallen into a patch of stickers on their second day from Carrk. Yet she had not complained about the roughness of their journey, which made Keo sometimes think that she must have done something like this before in the past, even though she claimed that she was not much of an outdoors person.

  In any case, Keo was glad to have a Magician on their side. Maryal may have been a bit strange at times, especially whenever she talked about destiny, but she was obviously very magically adept and even knew a few basic healing spells, which had been handy for all of the little bumps, bruises, and cuts that they had gained during their travels. She even knew how to cook, though not as well as Dlaine, because she said that she was used to cooking in larger kitchens with a much wider variety of ingredients and better cooking tools than what they had with them. That she was a duelist was good as well, because it meant she could defend herself in a fight.

  But Maryal was not perfect. As Keo had noted, she had a very strange obsession with destiny and would often declare the oddest things to be part of her (or their) destiny. Once, when Dlaine had accidentally tripped and fell flat on his face, she had claimed that his fall was an important part of his destiny. That had seemed like kind of a cruel thing to say, even though Maryal had said that she had not meant anything offensive by it and was merely offering her opinion on it (which seemed to be true, but Dlaine had refused to speak with her for the rest of the day after that anyway).

  But overall, Keo trusted Maryal. Not quite as much as Dlaine or Jola, perhaps, because he hadn't known her as long as he had known those two, but well enough that he trusted her to help them. She reminded him somewhat of Nesma, except that Nesma had been far more justice-minded and less prone to apologizing than Maryal, and he was pretty sure that Nesma had been more powerful than Maryal, too, though he did not know that for sure.

  “We're here,” said Dlaine suddenly, his voice a whisper.

  The party of four stopped and Keo looked ahead to see that they had stopped in front of a large pile of branches and dried moss on the river banks. It was somewhat hidden by the tall grass that grew out of the Hanuf River, which meant that no one traveling on the River by boat would be able to see them, but Keo did not see any doors or entrances that would take them into the city.

  “I don't see anything,” said Maryal, tilting her head to the side. “Just moss and grass.”

  “The entrance to the secret passageway is hidden under all of that brush,” said Dlaine. Then he looked down to his right and said, “Jola, if you would be so kind.”

  A second later, the large pile of brush floated up and deposited to the left side of the entrance, revealing a rusted metal hatch built into the side of the riverbanks. The hatch had a huge handle and looked like it had not been opened in centuries, though if Dlaine was telling the truth, he had last opened it only a few years ago at most.

  Dlaine, smiling in satisfaction, walked over to the hatch, grasped its handle with both hands, and pulled. At first the hatch did not budge, but after some effort on Dlaine's part, it slowly but surely opened, until soon Keo was looking down a set of ancient stone steps, with tiny puddles of water on them, leading down into a dark and dank-smelling tunnel that stretched into the shadows.

  Dlaine stepped aside and gestured at the entrance. “Ladies first.”

  Maryal pinched her nose. “Do I have to go first?”

  Dlaine rolled his eyes. “Just being polite.”

  Nonetheless, Maryal climbed down the steps into the dark passageway, followed by Keo, and then Dlaine. Jola had probably followed at some point as well. At least, Keo assumed so, because Dlaine pulled the hatch shut behind them once they were all inside and he doubted that Dlaine would leave Jola outside by herself like that.

  When Dlaine closed the hatch shut, they were immediately plunged into deep darkness, but then a light shined in Maryal's hand. It didn't shine very brightly or extend too deeply into the dark tunnel, but it did allow Keo to see everyone else and where they were at least.

  “All right,” said Dlaine as he walked down the steps to join them. “This passageway is simple and straightforward. Just keep walking forward and eventually we should reach another set of steps leading up to anot
her hatch, which will take us into Capitika itself.”

  Maryal suddenly yelped and jumped behind Keo, causing Keo to grab Gildshine's hilt and say, “What is it? Did you see something?”

  Maryal gulped. She was now shivering in fear. “I just felt something slither by my feet.”

  “Probably a Hanuf snake,” said Dlaine. “Because this hatch is so close to the Hanuf River, sometimes creatures from the River make their home down here. The hatch isn't exactly airtight, so sometimes when the River overflows, water will come down here, though there are vents in the floor that allow the water to drain.”

  “You mean there might be more snakes down here?” said Maryal, her voice shaky.

  “Probably not very many, and they won't attack us, either, because Hanuf snakes fear humans more than we fear them,” said Dlaine. “Just make sure not to step on any and you should be fine.”

  Maryal looked hardly comforted by Dlaine's words, while Keo looked down at the floor. By Maryal's weak light, he saw the vents that Dlaine mentioned, glistening in the light.

  “Where do these vents empty out?” said Keo.

  “No idea,” said Dlaine, shaking his head. “I always assumed they just emptied out into the River somewhere. I don't know very much about who built this passageway or why, because I've never needed to in order to use it.”

  “All right,” said Keo, looking up and ahead into the shadows before them. “Then let's keep going. The longer we stay here, the longer we have to deal with the awful stench of the river water.”

  “Good point,” said Maryal. She hesitated. “Who's going to lead the way?”

  “I will,” said Dlaine, stepping past them. “But I need you by my side with your light so I can see where the hell I'm going. I don't expect to run into any real danger down here, but you never know and it's better to be safe than sorry in my experience.”

  Maryal looked reluctant to walk beside Dlaine, but she nonetheless joined him by his side as they walked. Dlaine walked with confidence, like he could take on anything that might be lurking in the shadows, while Maryal walked timidly beside him like she thought a monster was going to jump out of the darkness and get her at any moment. Keo followed behind them both, guarding the back, even though there was no one following them. He figured Jola was probably near him, but as usual, he could not see her, so he could not tell for certain where she was even in this narrow passageway.

  As they walked, Keo looked at the walls of the tunnel around them. They were mostly slimy and wet and Keo occasionally saw something crawl across the surface, though they always moved too fast for him to see what they were. He noticed what appeared to be strange writing and paintings on the walls, but they were so old and faded that he could not make out most of them, though they appeared to be arrows pointing in the direction opposite they were going, perhaps to give guidance to the people coming from the other end of the tunnel.

  As they walked, Keo wondered what Dlaine was thinking. Dlaine had said that he was coming to Capitika to save his daughter, who Keo still knew very little about (in fact, he didn't even know her name). Dlaine certainly seemed in a hurry to get there, but he hadn't spoken much about it. Then again, Dlaine was a naturally private person, so perhaps Keo should not have been that surprised that Dlaine had said so little about her so far.

  I'll probably get to meet her soon enough, Keo thought, wrinkling his nose at the terrible river water stench that filled his nostrils. If she's anything like her father, then she's probably a good person. It's more important that I see Nesma first, however.

  That was when Keo heard deep breathing behind him. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, but only saw darkness. Nor did he hear the deep breathing anymore. Yet Keo could have sworn that he had heard someone—no, something—breathing heavily behind him.

  That doesn't make any sense, though, Keo thought. There's nothing in here besides me, Dlaine, Jola, and Maryal. Well, maybe there are some river creatures, but that didn't sound like a snake to me.

  “Keo?” said Dlaine, causing Keo to look back at Maryal and him, who had stopped to look at him over their shoulders. “What are you doing? Did you hear something”

  Keo opened his mouth to tell them what he had heard, but then Dlaine's eyes widened and he said, “Keo, watch out!”

  Without hesitation, Keo dove forward, rolling across the damp stone floor just as something whipped through the air above him. Getting to his feet, Keo drew Gildshine out and held it before him as he turned to face whatever had tried to get him, but the shadows still hid it from view.

  “What was that?” said Maryal. Her voice sounded squeaky with fear now. “A … a tongue?”

  “No idea,” said Dlaine, shaking his head. “There shouldn't be anything in here except for us.”

  A deep, harsh snarl echoed from the shadows and then something stepped into the light.

  It was the most hideous creature that Keo had ever laid his eyes on. It vaguely resembled a humanoid frog, except with short, blunt horns and blood-red skin. It had a gigantic, sagging stomach, with spindly, clawed arms that clung to the walls on either side of the tunnel. Its eyes were bulging, yellow with red irises, and its body sweated some kind of ugly green slime.

  Maryal was now breathing so fast that she sounded close to fainting. “Guys … what … is … that?”

  “Trouble,” said Dlaine. “Run!”

  Before they could run, the frog monster opened its mouth and launched its tongue—black and spiked—at Keo. Keo immediately slashed it with Gildshine, causing the frog monster to yelp in pain, but when he saw Gildshine fail to cut through the frog monster's tongue, he said, “Demon!”

  “Demon?” said Maryal. She staggered backwards. “That's an actual, real life demon? Like the ones you guys fought?”

  “Looks like it,” said Dlaine. “Jola! Keep it from following us!”

  Without warning, a stone wall erupted from the floor in between them and the frog demon. Almost immediately, however, they heard the sounds of the frog demon beating violently against the stone wall, which was already starting to show cracks in its surface.

  “Come on, you two!” Dlaine shouted. “Run before that thing breaks through and follows us!”

  Dlaine immediately ran down the tunnel, with Maryal following closely behind, and Keo taking up the rear. Even as the stone wall sank into the shadows behind them, Keo could hear the sounds of the frog demon tearing it apart and he knew that it was only a matter of time before the demon broke through and caught up with them again.

  That thought gave Keo the motivation to keep running. Maryal's light was the only light that they had to see by, making it almost impossible to see more than a couple of feet ahead of them. Keo kept expecting another demon to be awaiting them somewhere ahead, but the tunnel ahead was silent.

  Then Keo felt something slimy and spiky wrap around his ankle and he fell on his face with a cry. He was immediately pulled backwards, while Maryal cried, “Keo!” and Dlaine shouted, “Kid, no!”

  Keo rolled over onto his back as he was dragged along and saw the frog demon pulling him toward its mouth. The frog demon's mouth was open widely enough that Keo was certain that it would swallow him whole if he allowed it, but Gildshine could not cut through the frog demon's tongue unless he activated its special ability, and he did not want to use that just yet.

  So when Keo got close enough, he jabbed Gildshine directly into the frog demon's mouth. The frog demon let out a wail of pain, its tongue immediately unraveling around Keo's ankle, which allowed Keo to scramble back to his feet. But rather than run, he slammed the flat of Gildshine into the frog demon's face, sending it staggering backwards, a dazed look on its face.

  Then Keo turned and ran as fast as he could back to Dlaine and Maryal and the party of four were running once more into the shadows. But now Keo heard the slapping of the frog demon's wet feet against the stone floor, could even somehow sense its anger at being denied its prey. That just made Keo run all the faster, although he was starting to
get winded from running so much and would likely soon collapse if they didn't escape the tunnel soon.

  “Dlaine, how much farther until we reach the exit?” said Maryal as they ran. Her voice was particularly high and squeaky, despite the breathlessness in her voice from all of the running they were doing.

  “Not sure,” Dlaine shouted back. “It's been so long that I can't remember exactly, but I think we're almost there. Just need to run a little bit farther and—”

  Dlaine skid to a stop, forcing Maryal, Keo, and Jola to stop behind him. Keo was about to ask why Dlaine stopped when he suddenly saw the reason why: The path ahead was completely blocked by rubble. There wasn't even a hole for them to crawl through. And behind them, the slapping of the demon's wet feet could still be heard, coming closer and closer with each passing second.

  “What happened here?” said Maryal. “Earthquakes don't happen around Capitika, so it can't be that.”

  “It's a trap,” said Dlaine in anger. “Someone knew we were coming, would come through this way, and they sent this demon to stop us. I bet that the demon itself blocked off our path and has been waiting here for us for who-knows-how-long.”

  “Does that mean we're going to die?” said Maryal, her voice so high now that it was almost impossible to hear.

  “Jola can clear it with her magic, but it will take her time,” said Dlaine. “And time is the one thing we don't have.”

  Keo looked over his shoulder, but the frog demon was still nowhere in sight. “I'll hold him off, then, at least until Jola can make a hole big enough for all of us to escape through.”

  “All right,” said Dlaine, though he hardly sounded happy about that. Then he looked down and said, “Jola, you know what to do.”

  Immediately, bits and pieces of rock began to remove themselves from the rubble, while Keo turned to face the darkness. The frog demon was still not in sight, but he could hear its every step as it drew nearer. Maryal was biting the nails of her other hand, but she kept the light on, at least.

  Then the frog demon appeared in the light. It seemed to literally melt from the shadows, as if it was one with the shadows. As soon as it saw what they were doing, it let out an unnatural snarl and launched its tongue at them again. This time, Keo batted it out of the way with Gildshine and then ran at the demon. He swung Gildshine at its face, but the frog demon blocked the blade with its left claw and tried to swipe him with its right claw, but Keo jumped backwards out of its reach.

  Stepping backwards, Keo slammed the flat of Gildshine in the demon's face. The blow hit home once again, only this time the demon recovered far more quickly than before. It lashed out with its tongue again, except this time it punched him in the gut rather than grabbing him. The tongue struck him with surprising force, almost enough to knock him off his feet.

  Then the frog demon reared back with its claws, but before it could go in for the kill, it suddenly started choking. It grabbed its throat and fell to its knees, coughing and gasping for air.

  Surprised, Keo looked over his shoulder and saw Maryal holding out her free hand. Though she looked absolutely terrified, she also looked determined to help Keo hold off the frog demon. Keo was glad about that, because he hadn't been sure he could beat the demon by himself.

  Then Keo looked at Jola's progress on the blockade. She had already cleared a good chunk of it by now, but there was still no room for any of them to escape through just yet.

  So Keo turned his attention back to the frog demon, which was still choking on its lack of air, and he swung Gildshine down on the frog demon as hard as he could, hoping to knock it out at least.

  But then the frog demon's body melted into shadow and slithered back into the darkness and Gildshine hit the floor of the passageway. Keo immediately raised it back up and stared into the darkness, trying to find the frog demon, but it was too dark to see it.

  “Did …” Maryal gulped. “Did that thing just turn into shadow and—”

  An earsplitting yell erupted from the shadows all around them, causing Dlaine to slam his hands over his ears and Keo and Maryal to cringe. Even Jola's removal of the rock blockade halted briefly, but only for a second before she resumed tossing the debris aside in order to create a path for them.

  But then the earsplitting yell faded and soon the entire passageway was silent once more. Keo's ears continued to ring, however, and he felt the frog demon's presence somewhere in the shadows, even though he could not see or hear it.

  “Is …” Maryal's voice was quieter now, almost like a whisper, yet somehow still high-pitched. “Is it gone?”

  Keo strained his ears to listen for any sign of the frog demon, but he heard nothing except for Dlaine and Maryal's breathing and the sounds of the rocks in the blockade being tossed aside by Jola.

  “I don't think so, but maybe … maybe it is,” said Keo. “But keep your guard up, because you never know if this is a trap.”

  Then Keo heard the splashing of water from somewhere within the darkness. Then it sounded like water was running, which made no sense, because Keo had seen Dlaine close the hatch behind them, so he wasn't sure where the sound of running water was coming from.

  “Uh oh,” said Dlaine, causing Keo and Maryal to look at him. “Do you hear that?”

  Maryal nodded shakily. “By 'that,' do you mean the water?”

  “Yes, that's what I meant,” said Dlaine. He immediately ran over to the blockade and started pulling it apart with his bare hands, tossing aside huge chunks. “Come on and help, you idiots!”

  “Why?” said Keo in bewilderment. “Doesn't Jola—”

  Keo stopped speaking. The sound of rushing water sounded much closer now and he immediately realized what the frog demon had done.

  “Oh no,” said Keo. “It's trying to flood the tunnel with the River's water, isn't it?”

  “Yes,” said Dlaine as he continued to pull apart the blockade. “Damn thing is trying to drown us. Come on and help!”

  Keo sheathed Gildshine and immediately started helping Dlaine and Jola tear down the blockade, while Maryal continued to light the passageway with her hand. But she was now looking up and down the tunnel, while the sound of rushing water grew louder and louder with each passing second.

  The rock was heavy and some of it was sharp, but Keo did not complain or slow down as he pulled the blockade apart. And then, finally, they created a hole large enough for them to slip through, causing Dlaine to shout, “Everyone through! Now!”

  Dlaine crawled through first, followed by Maryal, and then Keo. As soon as they were all on the other side of the blockade, they ran, but as they ran, the sounds of rushing water were so loud now that the water sounded like it was right behind them. Keo looked over his shoulder long enough to see the rushing water flowing down the tunnel toward them. It crashed into what remained of the blockade, which was fortunately strong enough to hold back most of the water, but some of the water exploded through the gap that Keo, Dlaine, and Jola had created, and caught up with them, wetting their boots and the floor.

  Yet they did not stop running. With their feet splashing in the now ankle deep water, Keo and the others ran as if their lives depended on it. Behind them, above the sound of the rushing water that was spilling through the gap in the blockade, the unnatural snarl of the frog demon could be heard, but Keo did not even look backwards to see if it was following them.

  Then Dlaine suddenly pointed and shouted, “Up ahead!”

  At the end of the passageway was a set of stairs, similar to the ones from the entrance, that led up to an identical metal hatch. That had to be the exit, and its sight renewed Keo's courage. It must have renewed Maryal and Dlaine's courage, as well, because the two of them suddenly looked a lot less tired.

  In seconds, all four of them were climbing up the stairs, while the passageway continued to fill with water behind them. The rapidly rising water followed them up and they just barely outran it, keeping about one or two steps ahead of it at all times.

  Dlaine reached the
hatch first and immediately started to turn its handle. Meanwhile, Keo and Maryal stood behind him, anxiously looking between Dlaine and the ever-rising water, which rose higher and higher every minute.

  Finally, Dlaine gave a yell of triumph and pushed the hatch open. He dashed out, followed by Maryal. Keo moved to follow, but then the frog demon's tongue suddenly wrapped around his chest and jerked him backwards. But Keo reacted quickly, drawing Gildshine and slamming it into the steps, its sharp blade embedding in the stone steps and keeping Keo from being drawn into the water.

  Keo looked over his shoulder and saw the frog demon standing in the water below. Its yellow eyes glowed with anger as it pulled him back with all of its might. Not only that, but it was squeezing him hard with its tongue, squeezing the air out of his lungs and making it harder to maintain his balance, especially with the river water reaching his boots.

  “Keo!” Dlaine shouted from beyond the hatch.

  Keo wanted to tell them to go on without him, but he was unable to speak due to how tightly the demon's tongue constricted around his body. He reached out toward Dlaine and Maryal, who grabbed his arm and tried to pull him in with them, but the frog demon was far stronger than either of them and he could feel that the frog demon was going to win this tug of war.

  “Don't … give up,” Dlaine said through gritted teeth. “Hang in there, kid, hang in there.”

  Keo tried to look brave, but deep down, he knew that there was no way that Dlaine and Maryal could pull him out. With the water rising rapidly and the frog demon resolutely holding him down, it was obvious that Keo was going to meet his end here, though Dlaine and Maryal might not if they let him go.

  But then, without warning, the demon's tongue caught fire and the frog demon let go, roaring in pain. Immediately, Keo felt air return to his lungs and he yanked Gildshine out of the stone steps. Then, with Dlaine and Maryal still pulling him, he crawled out of the passageway and onto the street outside.

  As soon as Keo had crawled out, Dlaine shut the hatch closed. He then grabbed a pipe lying on the street and jammed it through the hatch's handle, effectively locking it. Even as Dlaine did that, however, water leaked through the edges of the hatch and the sound of the frog demon's tongue beating against the hatch could be heard from outside of it, but the hatch must have been made out of very strong metal, because it did not even dent under the frog demon's blows.

  Eventually, the frog demon's banging against the hatch ceased and all was silent again, save for the slight dripping of the river water through the cracks. Nonetheless, Keo, Dlaine, Maryal, and Jola moved as far away from the hatch as they could in the street they had emerged on, just in case the frog demon somehow made it through anyway.

  “My … god,” said Keo, breathing hard as he lay on the street. His lungs and chest ached. “That … was … too … close.”

  “That's the understatement of the year,” said Dlaine, who was panting just as much as Keo and leaning on an empty garbage can. “By the way, it was Jola who set the frog demon's tongue on fire. Even though that obviously did not kill it, I guess the fire must have really hurt it or something.”

  Keo looked around, but as always, he did not see Jola anywhere, nor did he hear her in his mind. He just sat up, wincing at the pain in his chest and the cold wetness in his boots. He pulled off his boots and emptied the water from them into the street. He also took this moment to look around at where they had ended up exactly.

  They were in some kind of dirty back alley in Capitika, right up against the city walls, which towered high above them. Behind them were large buildings with grimy surfaces and boarded up windows, which told Keo that this was probably not a very affluent part of town. There was no one else in the back alley besides themselves, though a rat scurried past them into a drain pipe and vanished.

  “Well, at least we all made it out alive,” said Maryal. She did not sound quite as scared as she did back in the passageway, but her voice was still very high. She leaned against the exterior of one of the buildings opposite the hatch. “And we're in Capitika, too, so it should be smooth sailing from here on out, right?”

  Dlaine, however, was staring at the hatch. “No, I don't think it will.”

  “Why?” said Maryal. “The frog demon can't come after us, right?”

  “Maybe, but aren't either of you guys wondering why the frog demon was down there in the first place?” said Dlaine, looking at Keo and Maryal with a serious expression on his face. He stopped leaning against the garbage can and instead stood upright. “How could it have possibly known that we would attempt to enter the city through that passageway when we didn't tell anyone that we were?”

  “Um,” said Keo, scratching the back of his head as he pulled his damp boots back onto his feet, “I don't know. The demons are probably watching us and probably have guards at every possible entrance.”

  “But why wouldn't the Magicians know about it and have done something about it?” said Dlaine, folding his arms over his chest. “I know a thing or two about Magicians and there's no way that any of them would fail to notice a demon in their city, even if it tried to hide itself in an obscure part that no one knew about.”

  “But I didn't notice it and I'm a Magician,” said Maryal as she wrung water out of the hems of her robes. “It surprised me just as much as it surprised you guys.”

  “You mean you didn't feel anything at all before it showed itself?” said Dlaine.

  Maryal glanced at the hatch, frowned, and said, “Now that you mention it, I do remember feeling something was off down there, but I just dismissed it as my nerves. Now, though, I think I must have sensed the demon's own magic, but I just didn't recognize it because I've never sense demonic magic before.”

  “And there are probably loads of Magicians in Capitika, such as the Magical Council, who should not only have noticed the frog demon, but investigated its existence in case it was a threat to the city's safety,” said Dlaine. He gestured at the abandoned back alley they stood in. “But clearly, that is not the case, seeing as we're completely alone here.”

  “What are you suggesting, Dlaine?” said Keo, wiping off some of the sludge that had gotten on Gildshine from the river water in the tunnel. “Maybe the demons have a way of hiding their magical presence from Magicians.”

  “No,” said Dlaine, shaking his head. “But let me be blunt for a moment: Someone in the Magical Council put that demon down there to kill us before we could enter the city. And, if I'm correct, I have no doubt they will try to kill us again very soon.”

  ***