Bells tolled out with a cacophonous clanging in the night, their tones as loud as screams.

  Huddled behind a pile of rubble, Kael covered her ears desperately. She closed her eyes and whispered to herself the mantra her Fa had taught her. “Brittle bones, ancient tomes, pages made of gold. Walk beneath the willow wood and find your way back home.”

Wagon wheels careened over cobblestone, throwing filthy sprays of water in their wake.  The sound of horse’s hooves hurdled through the quiet, and despite her best efforts Kael couldn’t block her ears from hearing them. The sharp report of a whip made Kael lurch with surprise.

Then the cart was there, hurdling past the opening at the end of the alley. She couldn’t see them. She dared not to look, but she heard them. She could visualize them in her mind's eye, as clear as if they stood before her. Looming figures, faces obscured by plague masks manned the helm of every Domination cart. There were bound to be more than just this one out tonight. They drove the horses with a righteous fury, searching the night for those whom they called, The Pestilence. 

Kael held her breath until she heard the creatures pass. She waited until she was utterly sure the cart had flown away and on into the night, then scrambled out from behind the rubble.

Run.

 She took off, dodging through the shadows as if she were one of them. She scrambled down darkened alleys and through underbrush until she came to a storm drain at the edge of the north lane. The entrance to the sewers was fairly large, covered in filth and the metal was rusting away, Though, she wasn’t looking at the grate. 

Kael’s eyes were fixed on a solitary cobblestone, set into the earth just above the storm drain. She dropped to her knees, the muck of the street coating her trousers. She placed her face but an inch from the ground and with a hot gust, she breathed over the surface of the brick.

     There! A familiar insignia appeared on the face of the brick, the image of a weeping willow tree. It glowed an eerie green in the dark, and suddenly the rusted-out storm drain gate simply phased away. It disappeared into nothing and left a gaping hole that was just large enough for Kael to drop down through. Feet first, she clambered through the drain and into the mouth of one of the many tunnels that ran beneath the city.

Her feet hit the floor with a wet thud. She gazed up at the entrance above her. The grate had reappeared, looking as rusty and disgusting as usual. Now Kael could breathe. She exhaled loudly in the cavern as adrenaline rushed about in her veins and she felt as if her heart was on the verge of bursting. She stood for a moment to catch her breath and gather her wits, to let her breathing slow to a regular pace and her head clear of all fear. 

 She pulled something free of her pocket. In the halflight which trickled down from the opening above, it glittered. A stopwatch, its face inlaid with intricate engravings and in the center, a plump, shimmering ruby. She tossed it dexterously in one hand, flipping it in the air a bit like a coin. 

“This will fetch a pretty pretty price,” she whispered to herself. 

She tucked the trinket away, smirking. A wave of heat rushed down her spine as she rolled her neck and it cracked delightfully. Kael took a breath, shrugged her shoulders and stepped forward into the darkness of the tunnel before her. A long walk lay ahead, and she would have plenty of time to think of how she would explain to the council of Elders, once again, why she’d ventured out into the UpperWorld at night. 

Foolish, they’d say.  Yes, she could hear them now, dry crusty old voices warbling with passion and piety. You mustn't tempt The Domination! You mustn’t draw their eye. This was likely when one of the men would let fly a bit of spittle in a valiant protest of Kael’s rash actions. They have no reason to show us mercy, and we have no right to encroach. Better to stay beneath, where we are safe, they’d say, better to only go out during the allotted hours. 

Kael rolled her eyes. She realised that her efforts towards assembling a pleasant speech to cover her own backside were going nowhere. She was instead just building upon her frustration with the Council, growing more agitated the closer she got to the ferry. 

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Lloyd will have a time  with me if I show up yammering on again. 

 Kael did her best to stop complaining to herself about the Council, instead she focused on keeping pace. She didn’t light a torch to see by, that would draw attention. Besides, her feet knew this path by heart and she would have no troubles walking it in the dark. Better yet, all Underlings could see further in darkness than their surface dwelling counterparts. That, Kael supposed, was at least one benefit of living below. 

  Beside her the acrid waters of the sewers floated past. Bits of unrecognizable refuse occasionally surfaced, only to be pulled under again. Sometimes she would hear a few  bubbles burst through the surface of the water and catch her breath. Animals could grow to unholy sizes down here, feeding off the filth that the UpperWorld sent sloshing away down their copper pipes. Some even said they mutated into creatures the Underlings called “sewer swimmers”. Suddenly a loud splashing sounded sonorously in the dark; Kael sped up. 

Probably just a rat, she told herself. She gulped dryly. 

Kael wore men’s trousers, pulled tight at the waist, a button down vest and a trench coat with many hidden pockets sewn in. Her hair, naturally curly, contorted even more dramatically with sweat from the scrambling dash she’d made above, and muck still clung to her knees and elbows. She grew aware of the crust forming on her clothes, and half heartedly brushed herself off.  

After a while, she could just make out the  outline of the ferry boat in the distance. Within a few minutes, she stood before  the familiar shadow of the ship. Coated in panels of mismatched metal, it resembled the fancy steamboats of the Upper World as best it could while retaining the particular flavor of Underling culture. Kael smirked to herself, and by flavor she meant that of absolute rubbish. Lloyd, the boatman, had assembled the entire ship out of what he'd found and forged together below. The metal paneling of the ship was mismatched and covered with chunky welds, protruding bolts and soot stains. On the smaller side, the boat was only about a third as large as the ones above, yet a massive plume stack, coughing out pungent  smoke, served as it’s shining feature. 

Speak of the devil, Kael muttered. 

Lloyd must’ve noticed her presence at the dock. She could hear him hobbling out from his captain's cabin.  He’d lost his leg to a sewer swimmer years ago, and now he walked with a metal leg that jerked and jolted when he stepped, held together by a belt that was wearing away all too quickly. Kael could hear him approaching before she saw him. When he did emerge, he chuckled knowingly in the dark. 

“It’s nigh to three’o clock in the AM, you’re aware?” 

Kael smiled apologetically, “I am.” 

The old man hobbled down the docks to stand before Kael. He smelt strongly of soot, fish, and...something Kael couldn’t name, none of which were agreeable. She fought back the urge to gag. 

“Heh, heh, heh….hmph,” Lloyd coughed on his own laughter. “What’s your haul this time, eh?”

 Keal’s fake smile morphed into a wicked grin and she shrugged her slender shoulders arrogantly. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” She slipped a hand into a pocket of her trench coat and dug her coin purse free. She plucked two large bronze coins from it and plopped them into Lloyds upwards facing palm. She hesitated before walking past the man, then added another coin to the pile. She heard him grunt in questioning. 

 Her tone softened. “A little extra for your troubles, Lloyd, as you said it is late. Now,”  she strode confidently onto the deck of the steamboat, “take me home, old man.” 

Lloyd huffed,  creaking and cranking, and followed after her. 

“You can sleep there in the corner. ” he said.

Kael looked where he pointed, and sure enough, in one corner of the small deck a canvass cloth had been set up to resemble a tent, and beneath it lay a bed roll, an old blanket, and a simple lantern. 

“Catch!” 

Kael whipped about just in time to see a cloth wrapped bundle flying through the air towards her head. With quick reflexes, she grappled it, then opened it. Her nose crinkled. It was a loaf of stale bread and some pickled fish. 

“Dinner’s on me tonight,” Lloyd chortled once more, “You better settle in, RatBag...it’s a long trip.” 

RatBag, Kael huffed in annoyance at the derogatory term. It meant nothing coming from Lloyd, of course, he was an old Hornswaggler himself. However, it reminded her that she still hadn’t come up with a good excuse to feed the Council. Kael sat herself down in the makeshift bed, covered half up with the old blanket. In a few hours, she’d be home again.

 Plugging her nose in an attempt to drown out the taste, Kael munched rather discontentedly on the pickled fish and loaf. She racked her brain for one of her most eloquent lies she’d staved off for such an occasion as waited for her on the marrow. When she’d found the perfect deception and finished her dinner, she turned over on her side, pulled the blanket up over her shoulder and the steady chugging of the oldman’s steamboat lulled her to sleep. 

Keal closed her eyes...and she dreamt the most horrid nightmare her twisted Underling brain could conceive.