“We may need those explosives...,” Daegal began to say, when all light behind them suddenly went out and the fox on the wall became so bright the group could hardly bare to look upon it.
With a click and precise flick a small door of rock slid suddenly open exactly in the centre of the fox's circular body.
The group winced, trying to look at the pinprick of light amongst the pitch black.
“I was right. It actually is here,” Mercia said. “Quickly, Roe. The key.”
“Mercia, you found it, you should open it,” Roe said, offering her the small piece of silver.
“Um, thanks Roe but I'm not going near that thing. We have no idea what is going to happen when that key is turned.”
“Would one of you just do something?” Scarlett screamed. “The keyhole is already beginning to shut.”
Roe quickly tossed the key into his mouth and placed it into the hole in the wall giving it a careful turn. It wouldn't shift a whisker-width. He twisted harder but the key would not budge.
Nothing,” he said.
He tried again, turning the key one hundred eighty degrees before placing it in the hole but still with no effect.
“Ahead...I mean a...head!” Daegal yelled. “The last part of the riddle...'A thirty second home...the way...a head.' Not ahead of the well...it is a head! The handle of the key...the fox head of the key!”
Roe quickly turned the key around, and seated it neatly in the keyhole. Just as he was about to turn it, a yell and light appeared from around the corner further down the tunnel.
“If you move or turn that key we will tear you apart.”
Tilian crept around the corner, flanked by dozens of large canines and as many Shadow Foxes. There were so many that they needed to crawl over each other in order make their way through the narrow tunnel. Tilian was dressed in a tunic of white leather, the garment attached to a skull cap and a harsh looking breathing apparatus.
“It's Tilian,” Daegal said. “One of Gremian's horrible children. He is a nasty piece of work. A master of poisons.”
“The important thing is that you get through that door,” Scarlett said. “Mercia, go with him, keep him safe as you've always done.”
Scarlett looked at the dark fox with the white fringe and gave her a smile.
“Roe, turn the key!” Mercia yelled, taking a charge in her jaw.
Turning the key smoothly in the hole, Roe felt a click. The light hitting the wall started to grow and swirl and, as the small circular fox began to grow larger, a circular stone rolled away releasing a cold belch of air, revealing a dark tunnel beyond.
“Kill them!” Tilian yelled, pulling out a polished copper nozzle attached to a rubber tube and thick canvas rucksack. “Bring me the body of the Sky Fighter!” He gave the spigot a quick twist and a heavy white smoke began to billow out. As the Shadow Foxes charged from behind him, they passed through the gathering cloud and instantly fell to the ground unconscious.
“He's fumigating the tunnel! Everyone through the door!” Roe screamed, pushing the others behind him.
Just as the door slid fully open it immediately began to close and, as the horde descended, Mercia and Daegal passed a glance between them.
With a mighty and sudden heave Daegal pushed Scarlett and Roe into the dark tunnel and Mercia tossed her pack in after them. They collapsed onto the floor sending up a cloud of ancient dust. Roe hopped to his paws and ran back to the opening, thrusting his head out the gap just in time to see Daegal running towards the oncoming Shadow Foxes. His head met with Mercia's, an explosive dangling from the side of her mouth.
“He'll need you for that library more than me!” she yelled through the gap at Scarlett beyond. “Take care of yourself, Sky,” she whispered in his ear giving him a quick lick on his cheek, then she turned and followed Daegal into the fray.
“Mercia!” Was all Roe could manage to say before he was forced to retreat his head from the guillotine of stone.
He struggled in the dark, feeling along the inner wall trying to find a mechanism that would open the door from their side, but stopped when a shudder reverberated through the stone, evidence of an explosion on the other side. Then all that could be heard was the silent drone of the tunnel.
“There isn't a way back,” Roe said.
“Roe, they are strong, those two. Even though it took some time for me to realize it. They'll be all right.”
She struck a match, lit a slow burning candle and placed it neatly in a holder set into the pack on the flat of her back.
“You're right,” he said, rising up from the ground. “They've faced worse in close quarters. They might yet survive.”
“We could light a charge and blow our way back through,” she offered graciously. “What do you want to do?”
“No, Scarlett. The way was never back, it was always forward into the dark.”
“After you, then,” she said offering him the way, not wanting to blind him by following the light.
*
They had only travelled a hundred tail-lengths, their footfalls muffled by layers of dust, when they began to notice the piles of dead.
Nestled along the walls were clinging groups of desiccated corpses, preserved in the deathly shapes of their last moments of life.
“They were trapped in here,” Roe said, lowering his head to examine a group of three pups still upright leaning in to each other, “and burnt alive.”
The way gradually opened up, from a tile lined tunnel to a natural one, and the numbers of dead increased in the widening space.
They came to a river which formed a layered cavern before them. It flowed slowly and gave evidence that its ability to cut rock was over a period of time so great, the time of the foxes and the Hantsa seemed a youthful blink of an eye. It had created a rainbow canyon before them. At a bend, where the river formed a sandy beach, were the remnants of a burnt out encampment. A metal pot still floated above a dead fire from a tripod of hammered steel. Foxes were dead here as well, some lying in bed, some further away but always in groups and never alone.
“Something came through here quickly, taking them by surprise,” Scarlett said, opening the first in a mouldy pile of books. “The Art of Cookery Whilst in the Field, by Arlum Tate. It must be a Hantsa book. The author has a double name.”
Roe crossed to a pair of foxes huddled behind a large outcrop of rock. They were covered in a blanket which turned to dust when he touched it with his paw.
“They are still wearing their jewellery and this one is armed with a sword still in his mouth.”
“So many dead,” she said facing away from him.
“We should keep moving. Whatever happened, it was a long time ago. So long that I'm not even sure these rocks would remember. The water is fresh. We should both have a drink and fill our flasks.”
They found a spot in the river where the shore was sandy and sank their snouts into the cold water, huddling close together. Scarlett looked at Roe, thinking that the two of them were the first living foxes the cave had seen in centuries.
They continued and occasionally came to a fork, but would soon find the way blocked when it proved the wrong direction. A fox had prepared a clear route by destroying all other possibilities.
One such misdirected tunnel led to a stately home, carved ornately within the rock wall at its end. Passing through the front door, their voices echoed like the chatter of the dead returning home to haunt.
“There are no bodies here,” Scarlett said, rejoining Roe after exploring the upper floors. “There is so much else here though. Kitchens full of pots and pans, baths with brittle towels still hanging from rungs on the walls, even a library with more books than I've ever seen in my lifetime.”
“Do you think it is the library we are looking for?” Roe asked, as he gazed at the face of a noble looking vixen painted onto a large framed canvas in the centre of the entry hall.
“No, it is small compared to what the Great Library would be. It is merely the collection
of a single family. Amazing, all this time, all these centuries, our lost way of life has been preserved behind a well foxes have visited day after day for a millennium.”
“I saw a small train outside with tracks leading into a tunnel next to the house,” Roe added. “A train which must out date those of the Hantsa by five hundred years.”
“We've lost so much Roe.”
“That's why we've come, Scarlett. That's why Daegal and Mercia pushed us this way. So we could come here to find it again. Let's keep moving.”
The pair left the house feeling as though it was watching them go, longing for them to stay after so many centuries of standing empty and alone.
The river made another long and lazy curve, then plunged sharply down another tunnel next to a set of steps descending out of sight.
They stood at the tunnel entrance, arched in bricks, looking at the gaping hole below them. Roe shifted to the side, sniffed the fast flowing water, and took another refreshing gulp.
“This is strange,” he said taking a lungful of air. “Not just the fact that any of this is here, but I have the oddest feeling that I've been here before.”
Scarlett thought for a second, and looked around her. Stalactites stuck to the ceiling far above, pointing at the pair below like threatening incisors.
“I know what you mean. Ever since we entered, I've been getting the same feeling.”
“To be honest, I had a similar feeling during our visit to the graveyard. I ignored it at the time, along with Eorl's comments.”
“I know you did and so did I. Actually, I think we all had the same feeling.”
“I'm looking down here, at the water rushing beside these steps, and I have a distinct image of a great thoroughfare passing through, with pup after pup jumping in and riding the water to the bottom.”
“Roe, look at the top of the arch. Something was written there, but looks as if it has been chiselled away.”
They looked at each other and spoke simultaneously.
“The Great City Burrow of London”
“How can we possibly know that?” Scarlett asked with a slight shiver.
“I don't know, but I'm sure it is correct, with every hair on my body.”
“As am I,” she said, starting to descend the steps.
“Aren't you coming, Roe?” she yelled as she took the stairs four at a time. A great bark answered her question, followed quickly by the red streak of Roe flowing swiftly past, taken by the river current.
“Sorry! How could you resist?” he yelled, his voice echoing and vanishing down the tunnel.
“How could I indeed,” she said to herself before jumping into the current after him.
The plunge was steep but the riverbed flat, smooth, and clearly engineered to keep pups safe on the ride down. Suddenly, the river separated from the steps which continued down at a steep angle and Scarlett found herself in a much smaller trough of water. All at once, the tunnel, the river and the ground disappeared and she found herself sailing through the air with the briefest flash of the most incredible view she had ever seen in her entire life. Even more beautiful than the 'Stars of a Thousand Stares' for this view contained what they were so desperately looking for. Knowledge. A great city with towers, temples, parks and a spaghetti-like maze of endless streets stretched before her, beyond the ability of her sight to take in it all.
Her drop was short and followed by a soft splash into a pool adorned with colourful mosaics. The design looked alive with with the chip-formed animals of many species. Elephants riding tigers, squirrels playing snake-flutes and a lion with a crown of blue sapphires were but a few.
Roe had just reached the pool's edge and was pulling himself out as Scarlett hit the water. She swam by his side breathing heavily and unable to contain her excitement.
“Did you see that?” she said, twisting her body and spraying the bulk of the water onto the ground.
“Yes. What a nightmare,” Roe answered.
“What! A nightmare? We've just discovered a completely intact suburb of the Greater Burrow of London and you call it a nightmare.”
“Of course you're right. It is amazing, Scarlett, but I can't help but think there is an entire city before us and we have no clue as to where the Library is hidden, let alone how to find what we are looking for within it.”
Scarlett was on the verge of replying, then stopped mid-breath.
“Well, I suppose you're right. Look. Deman...the Inari guard was so thorough up to this point there must be something, some sort of clue we've over looked.”
“Here is the key. It's all we have to go on but I've been looking at it for weeks and haven't found anything new.” Roe said, holding it between his jaws.
She took the key and examined it more closely. Roe relit her candle which had gone out from their brief swim and tried to look with her.
“It is still a bit tarnished,” she said, dividing the two halves. “Here, take this cloth and see if you can give this side a bit of a polish.” Digging in the pack she brought out a square of fabric.
Sharing the cloth between them, they huffed a hot breath on their divided keys and rubbed along the inner edge where the tarnish was darkest. After much heavy breathing, and considerable awkward work both pieces began to shine more clearly.
Grabbing the pair, Scarlett was about to join them, when Roe abruptly stopped her with his foreleg.
“Wait. Look, there is something along the inner edge where the two halves meet.”
They leaned in close, nearly touching snouts.
“Yes,” Scarlett murmured. “It's a pair of wavy lines running along the length of the key. Wavy lines...the River! Its been with us ever since we entered! The river is the path!”
She was so excited she grabbed hold of Roe with her front legs and nuzzled his neck in celebration, then stopped abruptly. They continued to breath heavily, holding each other and just as Scarlett was on the verge of giving him a lick on the end of his nose Roe pulled away and turned his back on her.
“I'm sorry, Roe, it is all so overwhelming. I know you have Mercia.”
“Yes!” he said spinning on her and taking her aback by his vehemence. “No. It is more than that. I don't know what happened to Mercia, or if she is alive. More than that, though, I don't know what my fate is.”
“Your fate? Roe, your fate is your own.”
“No, it isn't. Not any more. I am part of something much bigger than me now, Scarlett, and I'm not sure there is space for anything else, including friendship...or love. Too many have already died because of me.”
An unbidden image of Mayda invaded his mind, dying beneath the stars in the distant tall summer grass.
“Roe, we are all dying, with or without you, but with your help perhaps we have a chance to really live. If your path leads you to death then I, and many others, will follow you to it.”
“Yes,” he said, half to himself. He began to trot down the smoothly cobbled path running along the deep and broad canal flowing out of the slide pool and heading towards the heart of the city, then he turned. “I do not fear death but I do fear my destiny.”
Scarlett caught her breath, sure that Roe was not familiar with the famous quote attributed to the cult of Able.
She trotted beside him and smiled.
“That is one of the most sensible things I've ever heard you say, Roe. Do you know what we call that?”
“No,” he said sharply, not facing her.
“We call that bravery, Roe, bravery.”
She ran ahead of him and Roe couldn't help but give a small smile before following after her dusty trail.
Lines of terraced town houses crowded heavily next to the canal. All had shallow channels emerging from their foundations, leading to the flowing water. Some still had their covering stones in place, but most were cracked and shifted, revealing the evidence of waste water beneath.
After crossing a steep and stubby bridge, they entered a park with a long grove of overgrown trees, long dead and mummified. The
path changed to neatly brushed gravel, and floating in the canal was a line of grandly decorated narrow boats, still tied to their moorings.
“These boats look like they could depart of their own accord at any moment,” Roe said. “Look at all the dead lounging in the park. Families. These boats have been waiting for them to finish their lunch for a long time.”
“It doesn't make sense that everything is so well preserved. I suppose we have no idea how long this place has been closed off.”
“Another mystery,” Roe responded.
“We should probably have some lunch as well. Let's see what Mercia put in her pack.”
“I'd rather risk a lunch on deck than joining the dead. It seems a bit macabre.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Scarlett said looking at the grave park before her. “Is the whole city dead? Did anyone manage to get out.”
“Only one, I think. Our Deman, Captain of the Inari Guard,” Roe answered as he carefully tested the boards of a extravagantly painted boat. “It seems solid enough.”
Scarlett joined him, and they opened Mercia's pack, discovering a pouch of dried and spiced rat meat.
“These are delicious,” Scarlett said, savouring the tough, tangy taste.
“Mercia loved, I mean loves cooking, as much as blowing things up,” Roe said through a smile. “We don't have a lot, so we should ration ourselves.”
The return of passengers seemed to bring the boat back to life and as they ate, the vessel rocked slightly in its moorings.
“If we weren't on a mission to save everything we hold dear,” Roe began, “I could easily fall asleep in this...”
“Help!....please, help me!”
Roe and Scarlett jumped to their paws at the shout, the sudden movement causing the wood to crack beneath them and collapse. Twisting in the air with their gear they managed to fall with a crash onto solid ground.
“Over there,” Roe yelled, running further down the canal.
“Roe wait! It could be a trap!” But it was too late. He was already nearly out of sight in the dark.
Leaving the supplies on the shore, she ran after him and followed his trail over a rusty bridge built from ornately welded interlocking iron ovals.
The Progeny of Able (The Burrow of London Series Book 1) Page 29