Page 41 of Witch’s Ruin

“Marvin is going to be scandalized when he learns what happened to this thing,” I muttered. A tiny snort meant Rixon had heard me. I peered inside. The mouth of the hole was dark, ominous.

“It’s part of the city’s drainage, Lady Witch.”

I took a step forward, eager to investigate. Rixon’s hand landed on my shoulder, stopping me. “Not so fast. If you’re dead set on venturing in there, we will need light. And I go first. Wait here for me.”

He waded through the mud and disappeared into one of the dockside warehouses. I waited, but only barely, eager to sniff out whatever the demons had been about to show me. A flap of wings had me glancing over my shoulder. Chills spread across my skin. Had the sound come from the mouth of the drainage?

“With blood we shed, with blood we keep…”

“Stop that,” I hissed, sick of the voice. Sick of the taunting ring of it in my head. I’d had enough blood for one night, and certainly didn’t need some demon-thing chanting about it.

Rixon reappeared, torch in hand. I squared my shoulders, steeling my nerves. There was no telling what we’d find in this tunnel, and I needed to be ready for it. He stepped past me, and I followed him into the darkness.

Chapter 14

Rixon

Rixon entered first, holding the torch aloft, leading the way. His boots sank in the mud, squelching with each step. The smell of muck and decay made his nose crinkle.

“A lot of the sewer tunnels and water runoff goes straight to the river, out to the sea,” he explained. Hence, the stench.

Mina kept quiet, one step behind him. “If those stupid guards hadn’t come,” she grumbled, “we could have used the Trongs to lead us.”

He held his tongue, refraining from telling her how chilling it had been to watch her command those demons. He’d seen it before, once, and it had been just as unsettling. It left him on edge.

The tunnel was a mere handspan taller, and just wide enough that if he stretched his arms outward, his fingertips would brush the walls. It was made from a mixture of brick, rock, and earth. There were places that had crumbled with time, where piles of debris littered the ground. Places where water trickled down the walls.

The torch cast dancing shadows as they went. Sometimes there was a flare of moonlight, offered up by a grate overhead. These were just large enough for a body to squeeze through.

They came upon their first junction. Rixon’s shoulders tightened. They could continue straight, go left, or right. He studied both directions, lifting the torch high. In those directions, the tunnels were smaller, more ominous.

“Where do you suppose those lead?” Mina mused.

“Probably to different parts of the city. This way should take us further into the heart, towards the palace.”

They continued straight.

More branches appeared. Some had a foot or more of water, while others were just mud. And then the main tunnel split; they were forced to pick a direction.

Rixon’s muscles coiled tight, ready to spring at the first sight of movement. “Which way, Lady Witch?”

Mina bit her bottom lift, then nodded left. They took the fork, walking along for several tense minutes. It broke in a ninety degree right turn. They followed it, eyes peeled for anything that might give answers.

But…there was nothing.

Besides being the second most unwelcoming place in the city, these tunnels appeared exactly as they ought. There were no summoning stars etched into the mud. No evidence of demons. Nothing.

Rixon slowed to a stop. “I am afraid, Lady Witch, that if we continue any further, we will be lost.”

There were the sporadic, overhead grates, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to wrestle with them.

Mina sighed, worrying her bottom lip. “The demons led us here.”

As if that were enough guarantee to continue. She glanced back the way they’d come. He took a step closer to her.

“Maybe we’re off course. Maybe they came from beyond the city. If these tunnels lead to the city’s center, surely they spread outward too, past the walls? Beneath them?”

“I suppose it’s possible, though improbable.”