Chapter 26

The rain softened into a mist of scattered drops as they entered the Stacks. A slum of wretched hovels built one atop the next, a heaping mound that choked out all light from above. Through the cracks and crumbling rooftops, thin veins of water streamed. Pooling in the darkness, the quiet splashing of their drops an unsettling patter echoing through the streets.

Arios hardly noticed it at all. He was consumed with his father’s final words.

Your mother is alive.

But Father was wrong. He had been there, when they took her. They had been delirious. Overjoyed. As if they had been searching for her for an age. But their joy had quickly soured. She was not who they thought she was. He could still see her, clothes ripped, beaten bloody. He had screamed and screamed but all that came out was a whisper. His legs would not work, he stood frozen clawing at his throat, praying, begging for help. But none came. He watched as his mother sank into the Kallidra tears in her eyes as she gazed back at him. Just before her head dipped below the waters he saw her mouth move, silently calling to him.

Come home.

“This way,” called Erykos softly. He was anxious. It was a labyrinth of winding roads and endless corridors down in the Stacks. Too dark to see but too damp for torches. They needn’t worry about any soldiers here. Even after the curfew, when soldiers patrolled the streets, the rookery was left to fend for itself. But there were far worse than soldiers down here. A wrong turn might be the last mistake you ever made.

Take your sister to the Fountainhead.

He had never known his father to lie and yet he could not accept his words. His mother was dead. Why did Father want them to go north? Had he told Ilaria of this? She had seemed so sure that Mother was alive. Had he filled her head with these thoughts?

“We are here.”

Arios looked up. In the darkness he saw nothing but as he reached out, he felt mossy stone.

“Where are we?” asked Ilaria.

“It’s the wall,” he whispered.

Arios heard a long creak and scratching as wood scraped upon stone. A door opening and a light inside. He felt Erykos grab him by the arm and pull him through the doorway.

Erykos shut the door, on the wall hung a lamp. He took out a torch and lit it on the flame. In the flickering light Arios saw a staircase. Erykos beckoned for them to follow him down.

At the bottom Arios saw a channel. Flowing water, rushing towards them.

“An aqueduct?”

“Yes,” replied Erykos, “We will follow it out of the city.” He stepped into the water. “Come.”

The water was knee high and cold. They struggled against its current, each step a battle.

“We are bringing in water from outside the city?” Ilaria’s face was concerned. “Is the Kallidra not enough?”

“Indeed, it is.” Erykos responded, “However, Daidal… Your father once told me that many years ago the river’s waters became unsafe to drink. To drink to deeply from it caused a sickness, a madness in men. This aqueduct was built in desperation to bring safe water from a spring many miles from Kenosia and far removed from the river. Today it is only drunk from by the Great Houses.”

“Father always seems to have the answers…”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“He is a wise man; we are all lucky to learn at his feet.”

“Do you know why he did not join us?”

Erykos stopped and turned back to them, “I do not.” The torchlight danced across his face and his fear hid in its shadow. “He would not have stayed behind unless he thought his task to be of utmost importance. He will not be long; your father cannot bear to be away from the two of you. He loves you both dearly.”

They continued their march. A long dark hallway. Flooded. It was cold and dark; Arios felt his legs begin to stiffen. But ahead Erykos and his torch guided them on. It was a faint light but warm and beckoning, the light of the sun. How long they walked he could not say. Time seemed to stand still, the only sound the soft splashing of their steps and a quiet scuttling, a scratching of tiny nails on stone.

The torch burned low and ahead a new sound broke the silence. It was a murmuring that rose with each passing step. Voices.

“Stop,” breathed Erykos. “This is not right. No one should be here.”

“Perhaps Father sent others.”

“No Arios, I do not think he would.” Erykos frowned and then extinguished his torch. “Wait here. I will go ahead and discover what I can.”

With Erykos gone and surrounded by darkness the cold began to creep in. Ilaria slipped her hand into his and gripped it tightly. She was shaking. He pulled her close and they stood freezing in the waters, alone, waiting.

They could not wait for long. Ilaria’s grip was already beginning to fade. They must press on, before it was too late. He would carry her if he had to, he would—

—Out the darkness a hand grabbed him!

He stifled a shout as Ilaria covered his mouth with her free hand.

It was Erykos.

“We must go back. The Kyrithon are here.”

“How is that possible?”

“There is not time to puzzle over this Arios. They must be using the aqueduct to send their spies into the city. They will surely be right behind me.”

But as they turned to flee. Arios saw a light approaching from behind.

“Father is coming! He will know what to do!” He felt warm again. All would be well.

“No Arios, that cannot be your father. No Arios, wait!”

But he was already splashing towards the light. He had not believed that Father was really coming. If they were leaving the city behind then there was nothing left for him to do here. So why stay behind? But he had been wrong! They would leave together. All would be well!

And then he saw them. Two large men. Dark beards and curls. They wore light leather and held short swords. On their chests a fiery ball dripping with crimson blood. The Bleeding Sun.

They stared back at him in shock.

Then one of them cried out, his shout echoing down the hall, “He is here!”

Before he could speak again, Erykos was there. Spear in hand, charging. He ran him through. Driving his spear through the sun and into his heart.

The other man screamed in rage and swung his sword. But Ilaria was there as well. She caught his sword on her hilt twisting and lunging. He brought up his other arm to block but her blade passed straight though it and his second scream was his last.

Behind them the shouts of soldiers grew loud. Their torches grew brighter and the shine of their steel cut through the darkness.

“Run!”

And they ran.

“Do not run from us Arios!”

They knew his name.

“Come with us! Your family will be safe! We will take you home!”

“Keep running Arios!”

Erykos led them through the darkness. They came around a bend in the channel and suddenly they were at the staircase.

“Hide in the shadows,” Erykos hissed and pushed them beneath the water.

“Go on he shouted! I will hold them off!” Then he ran up the steps.

Beneath the surface they waited. The soldiers were close behind but when they saw the staircase they did not hesitate, following Erykos’s shouts up into the darkness.

They did not dare move. Even when the sounds faded into nothing they waited in the water. Keeping their heads just above the surface ready to dip below should the soldiers return. But the soldiers did not return and they grew cold again.

“We should go,” said Arios.

“Do you think Erykos is safe?”

“They would not catch him in the Stacks,” he replied, “He knows that maze too well.”

“And how will we find our way?”

“We will do the best we can, but we cannot stay here.”

Ilaria nodded.

Cautiously, they climbed the stairs. At the top the door was torn off its hinges and just outside of it lay a man.

It was Erykos. Ilaria choked back a sob.

They had hacked away at him. It was rushed, sloppy. They did not want to waste any time, they hadn’t even taken his eyes.

Ilaria wrapped her arms around him and wept. But it was clear the man had been dead for some time now.

Arios fell to his knees. Rage filling him. He stared at Erykos. His mentor, his friend. He had been so brave… The torchlight revealed his face, untouched. He was so much younger than he had seemed. His face looked almost relieved. He had borne such a heavy weight, protecting them until the end. And now he was gone and Arios’s tears fell freely.

“Arios they may return. We must—”

—A thundering boom rocked the city! The very stones beneath their feet seemed to rise in its wake! The piled towers of the Stacks began to shake, groaning under their massive weight.

“What is happening!?” Ilaria cried.

Then the ground beneath them began to sink.