by Derek Palmer
"Quickly, give me your hand."
Kara had looked at the cabinets in wonder, but she allowed me to pull her to the top of the cabinet and drop down the other side to the corner where the grate was.
"How did you know about this place? How come the cabinets..."
"Not now, Kara."
"But how..."
"NOT! NOW!"
The amount of magic I pushed to those words would probably made any tattletale lady mute and so Kara stopped talking. Maybe this wasn't smart, but this wasn't about being smart, but surviving. I took a good grip of the grate and pulled it off and then turned it diagonally and dropped it down into the sewer. Taking away the grate only seemed to increase the amount of air coming from there and that gave even more power to the fire. At the same time, more and more water forced its way past the cabinets and down the sewer.
"Come here, Kara, I'll hold you so the drop will not be that much. We must hurry, you don't want to be down there when the water hits the sewer with full force. Come now!"
Kara hesitated, but came, and with her lithe body she easily fit through the hole. I leaned down and released my grip and, from the little light what came through, it seemed that she landed okay on the hard floor. When I dropped my backpack after Kara I heard the cabinets complaining about the increasing pressure and there was a short moment of panic when it seemed that I couldn’t get through that hole. Most likely it lasted only a blink of an eye but it felt much, much longer. I scraped both hands on the sides of the hole but I fell through - and hit the dark floor hard, as I wasn't really in control of my fall.
Once I got up, it seemed that I hadn't broken any bones even though I felt pain in several places. I found my backpack in the dim light and winced while putting it on.
"What place is this? How..."
"Kara, please shut up; we must hurry. I made a promise to your granddad that I'd try to save you, and I intend to keep my promise!"
On the side of the tunnel, in a bit of higher ground, there was a lantern and some matches I had left there for just this moment. I managed to light the lantern and lifted it when there was a disturbing noise we could hear from above. However, instead of the flooding, the coming of water almost stopped. I guessed that something had fallen over the hole and that it was currently blocking it. I was afraid it wouldn't last.
It lasted just long enough that we were able to find our way down to the actual sewer. Then we heard something giving away behind us and I pulled Kara after me when we started running downwards as quickly as we could in the shallow sewer.
The sounds I heard behind my back were something I will never forget. First there was some rumbling noises that also shook the ground we were running on, and I guessed that the thinner part of ceiling close to the grate had given up under the pressure of the water. For a brief moment, I hoped that the debris would partly block the tunnel and prevent the water from running into the sewer. The second noise coming behind us told me that it didn't happen. Without really thinking, I sidestepped into one of the rough and even lower side tunnels and pulled Kara behind me just before the foamy wall of water and debris pushed past us. Some smaller debris hit my legs, but I was able to stay standing and gradually the amount of debris diminished. Unfortunately, the level of the water kept on rising.
"We must keep on going. Can you swim?"
I had turned my head so that I was able to see terrified Kara shake her head.
"Then just hold on tightly to me and breathe only when your head is above water."
Just to make sure that she really followed me I took a good grip on her hand and started going downwards with the water.
The first steps went fine even though the water was cold and moving fast. For a moment I considered going with the flow but there would have been no way to control our movement that way. If I bent myself deeply I was able to walk on the higher side of the sewer where it wasn't quite so bad and we could keep on going that way for some time. I started to think that we could actually make it. Until another wave came behind us and both of us fell into the stream.
I immediately let go of the lantern and used both hands to keep hold of Kara. Luckily I had managed to fill my lungs with some 'fresh' sewer air before the black stream swallowed us. I pulled Kara tightly against my body when the water pushed us down the sewer. I could feel how my sides and legs took occasional hits on the walls but luckily I got no serious ones to my head. It seemed that I had managed to tie my backpack so tightly that it kept us almost floating close to the top of the sewer and that probably protected us from hitting the walls too badly. Unfortunately it also kept me in such position that I couldn't get my face above water level.
That rolling and occasional collision seemed to go on forever. Finally, I was sure that I could not hold my breath anymore. My head and my whole body started to feel dark and heavy and I wanted to give up. Damn, I had tried, I had had a plan and then those fucking Magicians came in just today and this Kara here just didn't run away as she should have. Then I just might have had enough time... I was just preparing to release the air from my lungs when I got the feeling that I was flying and then I hit the ground and some bushes, which caused me to wince and let the breath out. Out! I quickly breathed in again. We were out and stuck in the thick bushes that were growing between the sewer and River Aston.
I forced myself to stand and pulled myself and an unmoving Kara to the side, away from the strong stream that was coming out of the sewer. We had made it and I wanted to cry out in joy, except that my joy died the moment I noticed that Kara was still lying there with her eyes closed. Not moving. Not breathing. I had made it, but she hadn't. Had I killed her immediately up there she wouldn't have had to go through the nightmare of the fire and then the sewer. I had made the promise, but I had not been able to keep it.
I had managed to do exactly what I had planned, even destroying all the evidence that might point towards me. Then why did I feel that I had failed?
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Next part: The Hidden Heritage Book Three:
The Merchants
Foreword
I looked at the girl on lying on the river bank in front of me. Kara's eyes were closed and she wasn't breathing. Just why had she stayed with me down there, why in the name of Mother Earth had she decided to stay in the Dark Floor even though I had ordered her not to! It wasn't that I liked her - shit, she had been a constant pain to me while I had been working there at Library, at last as bad - or even worse than her fellow Magical students. Still, she hadn't really known me like Rurik, or she hadn't been like Halvard; so there was no need for her to die. I was still gasping for breath, but I wanted to scream out of agony. Why did she stay with me, why?
Still, I couldn't help looking at her with my skill when she was lying there, her dark, wet robe showing her lithe body, her dark hair wet against her head, circling her round face that looked almost pretty without that more or less constant 'Magician snarl'. A few hairs were on her cheek, a cheek that seemed to be losing its color while I was watching. Moments like this I really hated my skill, when I couldn't help sensing the shimmer inside her beginning to die away, like embers dying in a light rain.
It wasn't really a conscious thought to use my magic and try to touch those dying embers while pumping her small chest continuously with my hands. Most likely I didn't say anything aloud, but internally I must have been shouting 'No! No more deaths!'. Even if had no plan, I sort of took those embers in my hand and started blowing fresh air into them. Even if I wasn't really using my hands for that but just pushing her chest, like forcing her to breathe. I tried to rationalize to myself what I was sensing.
Then suddenly, my stupid plan seemed to be working somewhat, since the shimmer inside her became slowly brighter and suddenly, without any real warning after one more push to her chest, she started shaking and coughing. Then she coughed a few more times more forcefully and some water came out of mouth and she also tried to gasp for air. Then her eyes opened and she looked straight into mine. However
, it wasn't the look in her eyes that caused me to shiver - it was the fact that to my senses, she now looked like a natural Mage. Instead of the dark hole of the Magicians, there now was the glow of the natural Mage inside her!
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