City of Delusions (The Dying World Book 2)

by John Triptych

  Korbius barely felt his arms. Sitting up, he drew out his dagger slowly and thrust its point at the champion’s hand that was choking the life out of Miri. The point of the blade tore into the interosseous membrane of the middle three fingers. Demalion yelled out as he withdrew his hand from Miri’s throat. The Colossus twisted his torso and swung his sword at Korbius, the edge of the blade tearing through the rusty spaulders that protected Korbius’s shoulders. The attack made a slight wound on Korbius’s right scapula and fractured his collarbone. Korbius yelped in pain as he fell back sideways.

  Miri could scarcely concentrate as the looming threat of Demalion hovered above her. The Colossus was still on one knee when he brought down the pommel of his sword at her face, shattering her mask. Miri moaned while pulling out the dagger from her side and she stabbed him in the armpit, the blade ripping through the leather covering and into the lower triceps muscle. Demalion cursed out loud as he dropped the sword and fell sideways. Miri tore off the broken mask and rolled the other way, blood dripping from her nose, trying desperately to blink away the flashes of light from her eyes.

  The crowd had stopped roaring and were instead making countless gasps whenever someone was attacked. Still somewhat off balance from her ordeal, Miri stumbled towards the spot where her spear lay when she noticed that a nearby side door had suddenly opened, thirty yards away from her position. That was the signal for her to escape. Grabbing the spear, Miri started to move towards the tunnel. She gave a cursory glance at her opponent, and she realized that Demalion had made his way over to Korbius, and the champion’s other hand was at his throat, crushing the life out of him.

  Miri bit her lip. Korbius had saved her life—she couldn’t just leave him there to die. There was still time so Miri decided to help him. She turned and ran towards Demalion. Just as the champion twisted his head to notice her, Miri thrust her spear with both hands through the gap in his visor, the point of her weapon went past his right eye and into his brain. The Colossus stiffened, then fell backwards into the ground, his body convulsing in its death throes. Miri knelt down beside Korbius to check and see if he was still alive.

  Korbius opened his eyes. “You traitorous whore,” he hissed while plunging his dagger at the gap in her side. The point of the blade went through the leather bindings just below her armpit, but was stopped by her ribcage. Miri cried out as she fell to the ground. Korbius winced as he slowly got up, his left hand groping for his sword lying nearby.

  “No!” Rion said as he stood up and started to make his way down to the lower stands.

  Matriarch Cirine had been watching the boy intently. She had him under suspicion for quite some time and she used her mindsense to probe his mind during the match. Her doubts were now confirmed. She tapped her first husband on his shoulder. “Restrain him.”

  With a sudden quickness, Corym was out of his chair and leapt past several people in the audience before catching up with Rion. He grabbed the boy by the collar of his tunic with one hand and began dragging him back to the upper stands. Rion struggled to get away, but the well-built, muscular man was too much for him to handle. Just as the boy was about to use his mindforce to push his captor away, a sudden, intense series of headaches nearly blinded him. Rion groaned as the cascading flashes of pain was too much for him to handle, and he quickly began to lose consciousness.

  Cirine stood up as her bodyguards drew their weapons and kept her away from any potential danger. She had used her Vis to stun the boy since his thought defenses had not been active. Ignoring the shocked faces from the rest of the audience and her own family, she waited until Corym carried the now unconscious boy back over to her. “Let us return to the manse.”

  Acro was aghast as he stood up and looked around. “But, what has happened?”

  “What do you think?” Cirine said. “The boy is not loyal to us, and he shall be taught a lesson.”

  Zeren was crouching down at the edge of the open tunnel, waiting for Miri to get over to him so they could make their escape. He gritted his teeth when she turned around and helped her ally in the arena, only to be brutally stabbed after she had saved his life. Now that she was writhing on the ground, he saw Korbius pick up his sword with which to finish her, he needed to make a choice.

  Damn the gods, Zeren thought as he ran out into the open arena, the lead helmet strapped firmly at the top of his head. He gestured with his left hand, just as Korbius was about to stab Miri with his sword. Zeren’s mindforce threw him back, and Korbius fell head first into the sand after tumbling rearward a number of times. The crowd shrieked with shock and dismay as they all saw him dash out in the open. Cries of outrage and alarm were shouted about as portions of the audience began to alternately panic and riot in the stands above.

  Zeren made his way over to Miri. He could sense some sort of mind attacks directed at him from the house matriarchs in the audience, but the metal helmet he wore combined with his thought defenses was able to protect him from their haphazard mental assaults. Crouching down beside her, he saw that Miri was badly hurt and they needed to escape right now. After removing her cuirass, Zeren used both hands to carry her limp body as he stood up and draped her over his shoulder.

  Miri’s voice was barely a whisper. She had lost a lot of blood and was starting to drift in and out of consciousness. “Who … are you?”

  Zeren grinned. Even though she was wounded, he could see how beautiful her features were. Judging from the way she fought, he was already attracted to her. Miri reminded him a lot of Ylira, only she seemed even more capable than his dead partner could ever have been. “A … very interested admirer,” he said softly.

  Korbius had managed to get up and lunged at Zeren’s back with his blade. Zeren turned around and gestured with his right hand, throwing a small cloud of dust into Korbuis’s face. The pit fighter cursed as he staggered backwards, trying to wipe the grit away from his half-blinded eyes. Zeren saw that Demalion’s longsword was still on the ground so he gestured once again, bringing the sword up in the air and used his Vis to fling it at Korbius. The pit fighter had just managed to clear the dust from his eyes when the point of the longsword dug deep into his groin, tearing through his genitals. Korbius wailed as he clutched his blood soaked crotch and fell to his knees.

  “You are now an honorary Magus,” Zeren said, while backing away from him.

  The crowd howled with derision. The tunnel was waiting for him, but the opportunity could not be missed. Zeren stood fully upright, turned around and waved his hands in the air, mimicking the crier. “Accursed citizens of Lethe, it is I, the notorious brigand Grimgrin. I am pleased to say that your beloved champion has finally undergone his ritual of emasculation. How fitting that this happened, and how I only wish to do the same to the rest of you, for you are but a nest of corrupt sewer worms! I blame all of you for this sad state of affairs! You and all your lies have made this city into a hell worse than any dark afterlife I could ever imagine. Goodbye, and may the gods curse you all!”

  Zeren sprinted towards the mouth of the open tunnel, just as the other nearby gates opened up and dozens of guards streamed into the arena. Using his mindforce, he threw up a massive cloud of dust into the air to distract them. Zeren ducked down as he made it through the entryway before gesturing at the bronze door to slam shut behind him. Keeping his head low, he rushed through the narrow corridor, the sounds of commotion all around him. The moment he got around the corner, he saw Adaste struggling with a guard, who was trying to stab the old healer. Zeren used his mindforce to turn the guard’s blade back to his own neck, and the mortally wounded sentry fell backwards, blood gushing from a torn throat that he had opened up himself.

  Zeren paused for a bit while he looked to make sure that the old woman was alright. When he had emerged from an adjoining tunnel, she had served as his guide for the rescue. “Did he hurt you?”

  Adaste shook her head rapidly while gesturing at him to follow her. “This way.”

  Zeren shifted Miri to his other shoul
der as he followed closely behind the old healer. They both came upon a fork in a corridor before Adaste pulled a hidden lever partly hidden along the dusty wall. There was a slight reverberation, and the grinding of stones could be heard. The wall beside them parted, revealing a previously unknown doorway. Taking the lead, Zeren could only see faint traces of illumination as the new tunnel sloped downwards, and a rotting smell emanated from underneath them. After nearly slipping a few times, Zeren slowed his pace a bit so that he could get better footing. Strange growths of glowing lichen were all over the walls, giving the passageway an eerie neon light, but it also made it slippery for them.

  The sloping tunnel ultimately bottomed out into one of the major sluice-ways of the city, a gigantic drainpipe with fetid, trash-filled water along its base. There was a narrow walkway that they both stood in, and a small boat made of bone and leather lay at the side with Bawk and two of his men.

  “It is about time you had gotten over here, we were just about to leave you behind,” Bawk said.

  Zeren gently placed the unconscious Miri into the floor of the rowboat. “Where is the boy?”

  Bawk shook his head. “None of my comrades was able to get to him. It seems his mother the matriarch took him away the moment the Red Gorgon attempted her escape. I am sorry.”

  Zeren grimaced. “We cannot leave without him!”

  “We must go now,” Bawk said, just as sounds of shouting began to emanate from the corridor that they had just come from. “Judging from all that yelling, you must have alerted everyone.”

  Adaste gasped as an arrow embedded itself on her back. Zeren shouted in alarm as he grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her from falling into the water. Bawk’s men started to row using oars made of leather and bone. The boat began to lurch forward while Zeren still stood at the edge of the landing. Seeing that a number of guards were making their way through the tunnel, Zeren hurled an invisible wave of force at them which cascaded along the narrow walls of the passage, knocking back more than a dozen of them senseless. He held Adaste in his arms, trying to sense the extent of her injuries.

  The old healer’s breath came in sudden gulps. “Leave … me.”

  “We can still save you,” Zeren whispered.

  The boat was already ten yards away. “Grimgrin, come on!” Bawk said while beckoning at him to make a jump for it.

  Adaste exhaled one more time before finally closing her eyes. Zeren placed her lifeless body gently on the dusty ground. Glancing into the mouth of the tunnel, he could see that the men he had stunned were slowly getting up. With a hiss of frustration, Zeren turned and made a short sprint before activating his Vis to increase the power of his jump. He landed on the edge of the boat and nearly overturned it. The two men on either side had to compensate for the sudden shift in weight, but they were ultimately able to steady the craft as he it continued onwards along the watery muck.

  Zeren nearly fell over to the side before Bawk grabbed him by the elbow and steadied his balance. “Easy there, Grimgrin,” the leader of the league said. “You could put all of us into the sewer.”

  A few of the guards that pursued them had made it to the landing and let loose a few arrows, but Zeren’s mindforce easily deflected the projectiles away. They had failed to rescue the boy and it didn’t sit well with him. The boat kept going until it disappeared from view along the length of the tunnel.

  Chapter 16

  Miri was half awake, the pain in her chest preventing her from completely falling asleep. She could remember being carried by a tall, strong man with solid arms. The recollections of having been examined by a healer came in brief flashes of memory, before the aches and the dizziness brought her into a dormant mental state of tired confusion. At times, when her muddled thoughts were about to shift her consciousness into a state of lucid dreaming, she could hear a voice calling out to her. It sounded so distant, yet familiar. When Miri’s mind began to coalesce her insights into something more manageable, she realized it was Rion crying out to her. His pleas for help weren’t recollections from her garden of memories, it seemed as if he was somehow transmitting his mental state directly over to her, and she could sense the woes of his vicious ordeal.

  “Rion,” she said softy. With eyes half open, she noticed that she was lying on a bed. The glowing embers of a small lamp sat on a stone table beside her. She had a shortness of breath, and it hurt every time she breathed in. Miri desperately wanted more air, but it felt like she couldn’t get enough no matter how much she inhaled.

  Zeren stood over her. They were able to get the bleeding stopped, but she still seemed to be in a precarious situation. “Rest,” he told her, before turning to his right. “Why is she wheezing like that?”

  Lasli the old harlot squeezed the blood soaked water from the rag she was holding, before placing it on Miri’s forehead. “The attack on her side must have pierced the lung. I have kept part of the bandage open without any poultice, so that the air may come out of it.”

  Zeren held Miri’s right hand. It was cold and clammy, but still had signs of life. “Will she die?”

  Lasli shrugged while using another rag to clean her instruments on the table. “That is up to the gods to decide her fate. If her wounds do not fester, then she will have a chance. Looking at all the scars in her body, she seems to be a resilient one.”

  Zeren looked closer at the wound on the side of her ribcage. “What is to be done now?”

  Lasli stood beside him. “Give it some time. The wound seems small. Her own lungs could close over the hole and heal on their own. If that happens, then she will fully recover in time.”

  “Rion,” Miri whispered a second time.

  “She has been saying that name for hours,” Lasli said. “Who is she referring to?”

  “The name of the boy who hired me to rescue her,” Zeren said. “He is apparently being held in the Kentis compound, up in the noble’s quarter. I will need to strike another bargain with Bawk and his league before this night is over.”

  “You may have a hard time in finding him,” Lasli said. “It seems he has gathered all his men to prepare an attack.”

  Zeren gave her a surprised look. He had been by Miri’s side for hours, and had not been told of any recent news. “What? Now?”

  Lasli nodded. “The entire city is on edge. There have been riots and quite a number of fires raging across the many districts.”

  The old harlot’s son came into the room, carrying a jug of used water. “Mother, the slave pits are in open revolt. Dozens of slavers have been killed, and they are parading their corpses in the streets. Those slaves from the league have strange new weapons.”

  Zeren frowned. They were situated near the end of the sewers, so much of the noises in the main parts of Lethe were too distant to be perceived. “What of the other districts?”

  The youth gave him a sheepish look. “The noble’s quarter is secure, but I do not know how long they will last. The mercenaries are keeping order in the freemen quarter, since the slaves have not come forth from the pits yet. The central district is mostly deserted.”

  Zeren bit his lip. Everything was going faster than he had anticipated. Why would Bawk commit his league to revolt now? He had yet to receive the rest of the metal balls and powder that were needed for his guns. “And the City Watch?”

  “I heard that the nobles were pleading with them to act, but they have stayed put in their fortress at the central district,” the youth said. “The contingents manning the walls have been withdrawn too, I heard.”

  “And the Magi?”

  “Like the City Watch, they have remained holed up in their temple.”

  Zeren looked away, deep in thought. Bawk must have sensed that the time was right for the League of the Sewer to make its bid for power, but both the Magi and the Watchers would easily crush the revolt if they joined forces. Since the leader of the City Watch was killed, Bawk must be counting on the confusion which would hopefully keep the Watchers in check until a dominant faction within
the organization could rally them to finally do something. Nevertheless, there seemed to be a missing element in all of it. “Are the mercenaries united?”

  The youth shrugged. “I do not know. News travels only as fast as the word of mouth which passes between lips.”

  Zeren nodded. “My thanks. Please let me know the moment more events pass through your ears.”

  “I shall,” the youth said before he left the room.

  Miri sat up and started coughing. She was finally able to breathe properly, and the pain in her chest largely subsided.

  A great sense of relief came over Zeren. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

  “I will see if I can gather some food,” Lasli said before she too left the room.

  Miri looked around. “Where am I?”

  “You are at the back end of the city,” Zeren said while crossing his arms over his chest. “Where the sewers run off. It is here that fertilizer is gathered for the gardens both above and below the ground.”

  Miri eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”

  Zeren stood in a way so that she could see his full profile while letting out a wicked smile. Then he bowed slightly. “My name is Zeren, though I am popularly known as Grimgrin.”

  “I have heard of you,” Miri said softly. “Why did you save me?”

  “A debt I owe to this strange boy,” Zeren said. “You see, when I lay wounded in some dank dungeon, he allowed me to drink a little of his blood. I had thought he was mad child at first, but since I had—”

  Miri gasped. “Rion!”

  Zeren pursed his lips. “Yes, it is the name you have been saying in your sleep for the past few hours.”