“Do not try to justify your misdeeds by trying to compare my sword practice to your petty thievery,” Blakstar replied. “Taking another person’s goods without his permission is a crime that must be punished.”
Thal snorted. “You are a good one to be talking about crimes and punishment!” he exclaimed. “You who couldn’t keep your mouth closed, and so we all ended up in a cell under condemnation of death as traitors!”
Blakstar looked at the maghi before replying. “I did the right thing in order to save another from an unjust accusation,” he hissed through clenched teeth.
“The right thing?” Thal said, standing taller and letting his sleeve drop, but before he could go on, the stench of the sewers forced him to bend over and wretch noisily.
Delgart stepped between them and removed Blakstar’s clenched hands from Tevvy’s shoulders. “This is not the time or place for accusations or arguing.” He took and held each eye for a moment before speaking again. “We are in very difficult circumstances; the worst thing we can do is argue among ourselves, giving our enemies time to discover we are missing and begin to search for us. Considering the noise that we were a part of in the dungeon above, I’d be very surprised if they have not discovered us missing, and it will not take them long to figure out where we went. We have to band together in order to get out of here alive.” He turned to Marilee, one hand still on each shoulder of Tevvy and Blakstar. Thal was wiping his mouth and putting sleeve over mouth and nose. “How far away are they?”
Marilee looked down the passage before answering. “Hard to say. We are in the main tunnel under the school, which is in the southeast part of town. We need to move closer to the center to be more sure, but it sounds like they are still somewhere to the north, although with the way things echo down here, it is hard to be sure.”
Delgart nodded, then turned to Tevvy. “Lead us out. Blakstar, you and Klaybear follow, in case we stumble into any strays. Klare, you follow with Thal, and Marilee and I will guard the rear.” He stopped, realizing they were all staring at him. “What’s wrong?”
Klaybear smiled and clasped his brother’s shoulder. “Father always said you were a natural born leader, and you have taken command of us without a second thought.”
“I’m sorry,” Delgart said, “have I done wrong?”
“Someone has to keep us together,” Thal said, smiling weakly and wiping his mouth with one sleeve, “and you seem like the one who can do it.”
The company re-ordered itself, with Tevvy in the lead. The awemi turned to Klaybear and Blakstar. “Stay a bit behind me, so I can scout silently ahead.”
“How far?” Klaybear asked.
“The light here is dim,” Tevvy replied, “so about thirty feet, as long as you can still see me. There are places where the magluku are farther apart, so you may have to move closer to keep me in sight.” He looked to the others. “If I wave like this and flatten myself against the wall, you do the same. I’ll sneak forward to get a better look, then return before we move again.”
“We should also keep a small distance between us,” Marilee added, “so that if we have to stop and hide suddenly, there will be plenty of space.”
They nodded and Tevvy moved off silently. Klaybear took his wife’s hand and squeezed it, then patted his brother on the shoulder. He followed the kortexi, keeping the awemi in sight. The others followed in turn.
Tevvy waved and suddenly flattened against the wall. The others mimicked his movements where they were. Klaybear could just see Tevvy creeping forward, slowly approaching a passage branching to the north, just short of what looked like the main sewer tunnel. The awemi crossed to the north side of the passage, flattened himself on the floor, then inched forward to peer around the corner; he stayed still for a moment before inching back and standing, then returning to where the others waited. He nodded and pointed back, so they all moved east in the passage, away from the other passage.
“What is it?” the kortexi whispered, voicing Klaybear’s question.
“There is a guard just around the corner,” he whispered back, “and the noise we heard was another guard moving north. The Headmaster never mentioned patrols in the sewers; this could complicate things.”
“There aren’t usually guards down here,” Klaybear noted softly.
“Maybe they already know we have escaped,” Blakstar put in.
Delgart shook his head. “Given what they know about each of us, if they knew we had escaped, they would send more soldiers in all directions, in order to trap us.”
Klaybear heard squealing hinges and the metallic clanking of a door closing. Tevvy flattened against the north wall of the passage, waving furiously to the others; Klaybear and the others imitated his action. Klaybear waited motionless, fearing the worst, but he only heard the sounds of footsteps moving away and growing softer. The awemi held up his hand and moved quickly and quietly forward to peer around the corner again. After a moment he waved them forward then flitted to the other side of the passage going north. He continued to stare down the north passage, still waving them frantically forward. Klaybear and the others quickly passed the opening and flattened themselves against the north wall just past Tevvy. The awemi signaled them to wait, and he slipped quietly around the corner moving up the north passage. Klaybear waited for a short time before Tevvy glided silently back around the corner.
“There is an iron gate,” he whispered, “just around the corner, blocking a stairway going up. The gate closing is what we heard, but he did not lock the gate. That makes me think that the two guards are not supposed to be here.”
“Which means,” Thal whispered past his sleeve, “that they are probably not looking for us, and that they are up to no good, as the saying goes.”
“I wonder where the stairway goes?” Tevvy mused to himself.
“The only thing on this side of the school is the guard barracks,” Klaybear noted.
Tevvy nodded. “It makes sense,” he said, “that they would have direct access to the sewers.”
“What do we do now?” the kortexi asked.
“Get out of here as quickly as possible,” Delgart said. “The guards would forget their ‘shady business’ if they saw us, and raise the alarm.”
Tevvy nodded, then moved slowly forward toward the main sewer. He squatted at the edge of a wall, looking slowly around. He moved back to where they waited.
“It is the main sewer,” he said on returning, “and as the air seems less foul, it must be where the river travels beneath the city.”
“See anyone?” Delgart asked.
Tevvy shook his head. “No, and it looks like the way out is about thirty feet to the south.”
“Let’s go, then,” Delgart said.
Tevvy moved back to the opening ahead, crouching down and moving to the middle of what must have been a bridge over the underground river. He squatted next to the low wall on the bridge’s north side, gazing in that direction. His head turned west, then south. He waved them forward, turning to watch the north, then the west, while they moved onto the bridge, turning to the south and following another bridge running the same direction as the water beneath. Klaybear stopped at a locked, iron gate, turning to look north. He could just see another bridge crossing the river to the north, and a brighter glow beyond the second bridge that must have been the center section of the sewers; muffled voices and the sounds of people came from that direction. Tevvy left the north wall of the bridge, moving swiftly to the gate. He pulled out the key Myron had given him and unlocked the gate, carefully opening it, so that its rusty squeaking was not too noisy. He opened it just enough for them to slip through, slowly closed and locked it after they had passed.
“I’ll have to have words with the Headmaster about this,” Tevvy mumbled to himself, “the state of these locks and hinges is deplorable.” He looked at his companions. “You should hide yourselves here and wait while I scout ahead.”
They nodded, sinking to the stones next to the bridge’s low wall. Tevv
y moved off.
“What happened, dear?” Klaybear whispered to his wife. “How did they capture you?”
Klare shuddered. “I went to check the log, as the Headmaster requested. After speaking with the healers on duty, when they assured me they would examine the record and inform your master, I went home to check on Tevvy. He had just awakened, so I fed him breakfast, then there was a knock at the door; it was Ghelvon’s apprentice, Malkonik,” Klaybear growled at the mention of his rival; Klare smiled before going on. “He informed me that there was a newly discovered case of the disease I’m studying, and he led me to the guard tower, west of the school. I thought this was strange, and mentioned my suspicion to him. He shrugged and said there was a guard who appeared to have contracted one of the diseases I have been studying, and that I should go and see.”
“And you went with him?” Klaybear asked, surprised.
“I thought the same, and told him so,” Klare continued. “The guard tower seemed a strange place for someone who was sick, so I asked why he had not been taken to the infirmary. He told me his master did not tell him, only that we should meet him there. I turned to head back to the school, telling him that I would look at the sick guard after he had been moved to the infirmary. Malkonik said that it was in the early stage, which was why I should see it right away, and that it wouldn’t take much time to stop and check, so I finally agreed.”
Klaybear growled again.
Klare smiled and touched his arm lightly. “I’m flattered; you’re jealous!”
“I don’t trust him,” Klaybear hissed. “He has not given up hope, although we are happily married.”
Klare shrugged, her mood darkening. “You don’t have to worry now, since he’s . . . ,” she broke off.
“Dead?” Klaybear supplied. “It is no more than he deserved for what he had done, helping that kwalu. I knew there was something wrong with Ghelvon! He was never that vindictive, nor that smart. And the way he kept touching my forehead, disrupting my thinking, disrupting Thal’s thinking,” he nodded to the maghi, “I have heard of your logical prowess: there is no way Ghelvon was your equal, let alone your superior.”
Thal shook his head. “I don’t know what happened; I don’t know why I made such an obvious mistake. My mind went blank when he pointed to my error, almost as if someone had switched it off.” He frowned.
Delgart’s eyes widened. “That is precisely what he did; he was in control of the trial from the very beginning: nothing went the way the Headmaster had planned.”
“It would have been better,” Marilee said, “if none of us had been there.”
“Maybe,” Delgart said, “but I doubt it would have made any difference.”
“No,” Thal said, “he played on the fears of the council and the mekala so well that had we not been there, we would have been free only a short time before he would have had us arrested, and the awemi, too, leaving us with no way to escape the dungeon.”
“What happened?” Klare looked puzzled. “You keep mentioning the trial without sharing any details.”
Klaybear sighed. “You have not finished telling us what happened to you.”
Klare shrugged. “I followed him into the guard tower, and he led me to a room in the lowest cellar. Ghelvon was waiting there with a sleep orthek; I woke up in the room where you found me, with no light, no doors, and no idea where I was. When the wall opened, soon after I woke up, I heard your fight, and then you came rushing in to rescue me.” She smiled at her husband. “So tell me what happened while I was gone.”
Klaybear looked at her a moment before speaking. “You want me to start when you left us?”
“Of course,” she replied.
Klaybear shifted where he sat and started to relate what had happened to them after she left, what they talked about, what happened when Blakstar tried to heal Delgart and Marilee. He had just gotten to his arrest, when Tevvy returned, a troubled look on his face.
“What is wrong?” Delgart asked.
“We cannot get out that way,” he said. “The passage comes out next to a waterfall; the path went to the east along the face of the cliff, but has long since fallen away. So unless you want to leap from the waterfall, we’re trapped in the sewers.”
Delgart’s brow furrowed. “How did you get in?”
“The Headmaster led me to a grate near Klaybear’s house,” Tevvy replied, “but he locked it after I got in, assuming we could get out this way.”
“But he mentioned something about the teleport house,” Klare said, “maybe there is a way into it from the sewers.”
“Where is this house?” Delgart asked.
“In the northwest section of the city,” Klaybear replied.
“Let’s go that way,” Delgart said, “and see what we can find.”
“Even if we can get in,” Klaybear said, “we’ll have trouble getting past the guard.”
“One problem at a time,” Delgart noted.
Tevvy unlocked the gate and carefully opened it; they all passed through, and the awemi closed and locked it behind them. They moved north to the connecting bridge, then turned to the west; Klaybear could still hear sounds coming from the north. Tevvy looked that way and shook his head. At the west edge of the bridge, Tevvy halted them so that he could check the passage going north. After a moment of careful peering, he moved forward, continuing down the west passage. Again, he stopped them a little further on, when they came to another passage branching off to the north. Once he saw it was clear, he waved the others forward and pointed west.
“That’s the way I came in,” he whispered, then turned to go north. About thirty feet down the passage he stopped, looking intently at the floor, then the wall on either side. “There is an odd shape or symbol here,” he whispered, “different from what we have already seen.”
“Odd?” Delgart whispered, coming from the back of the group forward.
Tevvy’s brow wrinkled. “Yes, odd. Up to this point, the stones have been random shapes, set together as they were brought here by the stone mason. But here, and on the walls, it looks like there is a deliberate pattern. However, the light is dim here, so it is hard to tell.”
“Can we risk more light?” Delgart asked.
Tevvy looked north. “This passage runs straight, probably to the northern edge of the city,” he said after a moment, “and as far as my eyes can see, the passage is empty. Can one of you make a small light, while the others stand over there,” he pointed beyond the spot he examined, “to block any stray light?”
“I can make the end of my rod glow faintly,” Thal said, “but I don’t know if that would be enough light to see.”
“We’ll try it,” Tevvy said. “The rest of you stand together over here.” He made an arc with his arm over the area he wanted them to stand. “Stand close together, to prevent any glow from escaping.”
Klaybear and the others did as instructed; Thal took out his rod, squatted, then whispered a word while passing his left hand over the end of the rod. Tevvy pointed to the area, and Thal moved his rod slowly over it; his breath caught.
“Blakstar,” Thal whispered, “can you see it?”
The kortexi had been looking over his shoulder to the north, watching for signs of movement in the dim light. He looked down at where Thal squatted, watching closely as the maghi passed his rod over the section of floor. Then Thal pointed his rod to the west wall.
“It is even easier to see,” Thal noted, “here on the wall.”
“The Waters of Life!” Blakstar exclaimed. “Douse the light,” he said after a moment, pulling his sword out with a steely hiss.
“Is something wrong?” Delgart asked, turning toward them; he was also looking to the north.
Blakstar shook his head, then slid the blade of his sword into a slot just above the symbol in the wall. When the hilt touched the wall, the stone in the pommel flashed and Klaybear heard a click; a door-sized section of wall started to swing slowly open. The kortexi removed his sword and slid it back int
o its sheath; Klaybear saw a short passage behind the door, with stairs descending. The others stared open-mouthed at the kortexi.
“How did you know it was a door?” Tevvy asked, probably more shocked than all the others, since part of his profession was locating concealed doors. “I’ve never heard of any door like this one!”
“I didn’t know it was a door,” Blakstar admitted with a shrug. “In the chamber within the Mountain of Vision, where there is a fountain of the Waters of Life, there is a cabinet that held Sir Karble’s equipment: it is opened by placing his sword into a slot like this one. When I saw it there,” he pointed, “at the top of the symbol, I had the sudden thought that I should insert my sword.”
“So no one,” Thal said, “has opened this door since the days of the beginning, since the time of Sir Karble, sedra Melbarth, and Headmaster Shigmar.” His eyes lit up. “I wonder what we’ll find inside?”
“Only one way to find out,” Marilee said.
“Yes,” Delgart said, “and let’s get inside and close the door before whoever is down in the sewers notices.”
Tevvy went forward first, followed by Klaybear and the others in the same order as before. Delgart pushed the door shut behind them, and Klaybear heard the click as it closed and locked. Magluku on the walls flared to life, brightly illuminating the short passageway; Klaybear could see lights down the stairs.
“There is something here,” Delgart said, “written on the back of the door, but I do not recognize the language.”
Thal, Klaybear, and Klare moved to look at what was written on the door; Klaybear felt the blood drain from his face as he read what was written and turned to see that Klare and Thal had also turned white when each had read the message.
“What is it?” Delgart asked.
They looked at each other for a moment, then Klaybear nodded to Thal. “You are probably better at this than we are,” he said.
Thal sighed. “It is written in the ancient language,” he said, “the same language that we use to work ortheks.” He swallowed before going on. “It says, loosely: Welcome Chosen! Each of you place your right hand into the hand-shape above, so that this door recognizes you. Then you will not need the sword of Karble to open these doors. We prepared the space below as a refuge for you. It is signed, Karble, Melbarth, and Shigmar. It seems they knew what would happen to us. That is why I, at least, went pale.”
The Redemption, Volume 1 Page 26
