Beyond Birkun

Tostan went last. There were large groups of Toblar warriors clustered on both bridges, but they paid no attention to Tostan. They were each outlined by a large pool of light cast by several torches. Tostan guessed that the torches made them night blind. At the stone wall, Tostan vaulted up and over. He saw that his soft landing ground was a small plateau that quickly dropped down a long, grassy slope. The smell of sewage rose up from the darkness below him and he heard the sound of falling water. He made his way carefully down the slope. The light from the bridges helped a little. As he neared the bottom, whispered directions and encouragement from Etrus helped as well. At the bottom of the slope, he found the others standing on several large stone blocks that marked the edge of the channel into which the sewer discharged. The sound of falling water came from the sewer flow as it exited the sewer tunnel and spilled over a ledge. It splashed onto a rocky course that led directly to the edge of the river, just thirty or so paces away. The smell was almost overpowering. “Breathe through your mouth,” said Etrus, speaking close to Tostan’s ear. “It helps a little. Are you ready?” “Yes.” “Then follow me. Lena will follow you, and Esium will trail.” He headed for the mouth of the tunnel. Tostan looked at Lena, who had appeared out of the gloom. She reached out to touch his arm, smiled, and then pointed after Etrus. He turned and followed the older man. Inside the tunnel mouth, Etrus and Esium opened slides on the sides of the small lanterns each of them had brought along. The slides allowed thin slivers of light to escape, lighting just enough of their path to keep them from falling into the dark, sluggish flow that filled the center of the tunnel. Their path was a flat area built into the brickwork of the tunnel about one third of the way up the side of the tunnel. Etrus paused until they were all safely on the little ledge, and then proceeded at a slow, steady pace. The smell remained rank. The air was so putrid that it tasted bad. Water dripped down upon them repeatedly, and Tostan deliberately did not contemplate its source. Bats flew past periodically, and Tostan was certain he saw rats scurry out of Etrus’ path. Spider webs wrapped themselves around his face and body. Bugs squirmed and crawled on the bricks. He felt like a character in a campfire horror story. Etrus stopped when the tunnel suddenly split into three smaller tunnels. He opened the slide on his lantern a bit wider and lit markings on the bricks near the top of each tunnel. “It’s the left one,” said Esium from behind. “What are those marks?” asked Tostan. “Like street signs,” answered Etrus. His voice was muffled. He had wrapped a cloth about the lower half of his face. Tostan wished he had thought to do the same. Etrus led them into the left hand tunnel. It was a bit smaller than the main exit tunnel, but what Tostan noticed most was that the flow in the middle was much lower. It was likely his imagination, but he thought the smell was more tolerable as well. They walked along this smaller tunnel for a very long time. Periodically, they crossed over smaller side tunnels that fed into theirs. At a few places, water cascaded down from above them. At others, it seemed to pulse from holes in the wall. Tostan imagined them covering the same route underground that they had followed above their heads. At a slower pace, and with anticipation and nervousness expanding their sense of time, he knew it would seem like forever for them to get back to the Assassins’ compound. Finally, Etrus held up his hand and slid shut the slide on his lantern. Esium did the same. Darkness closed in around them. As their eyes adjusted, he could see that somewhere ahead of them was an extremely dim source of light. “Light from the dungeon,” whispered Etrus. A vivid flashback passed through Tostan’s mind. He saw again the dungeon he had been cast into beneath Mancina’s keep in Zalgar. He immediately shrugged off the memory, focusing instead on the barely visible outline of the tunnel and the path he must follow. Etrus moved cautiously ahead. The others followed. They paused again after rounding a curve in the tunnel. Ahead of them was a crack in the side of the tunnel. Light poured through it, illuminating this section of the tunnel. As they neared the crack, Tostan realized that he could see into it. His eyes scanned further down the tunnel and he saw additional openings high up the side of the tunnel, but they were not cracks. They were windows with bars. Esium moved up beside him. “That crack is just wide enough to squeeze through. On the other side is a cell. It leads into a corridor. That leads to the bottom of the keep.” “What if the cell is locked?” Esium shrugged. “It’s never been locked before.” “How often have you been here?” “Twice.” Tostan avoided showing his displeasure at this development. “How do we get over there?” asked Lena. Esium pointed up stream. A thick wooden plank lay across the stream. “Let’s do this,” Tostan said. He led the way past Etrus and on to the plank. He watched his feet, but he also kept an eye on the windows along the far wall. Tostan did not hesitate at the plank. He tried his weight upon it, found it sturdy, and walked across. The others followed without hesitation. They filed back down the opposite side, pausing beneath the crack. “What happens when the water rises?” “I guess it flows into the dungeon,” responded Esium. “Nasty,” said Lena. Tostan stood up and looked through the bottom of the crack. He could see the cell that Esium had related, a set of rusty bars, and … an open cell door! “It’s open. I’m going through.” He looked hard at the width of the crack, decided that his sword would pass through without removing it from his new harness, and reached up with both hands. He got a good grip on the bottom of the crack and pulled himself up and into the crack. He paused there, sticking his head further through and checking to his left and right. He could see no one. A torch directly in front of the cell flickered, flared, and hissed, but there were no other sounds. After checking that the ground beneath the crack was clear, he jumped down, doing his best to land like a cat. On all fours, he paused.