The day the group was told the leader of the Wolves would be inside of the sewers arrives. Xander decides to head to the tavern earlier than the other three to confront Sharn, hoping he will tell him why he was down in the sewers last night murdering a man Xander assumes is from the Cult of Chaos. When he arrives he finds the entire city guard squad inside at their usual table.
“Oh, hey Xander, you’re a bit early, but come sit with us”. Sarge invites him over cheerily.
Xander sits down and gets straight to the point, directly addressing Sharn, “Sharn, I need to discuss something with you”.
“That’s a laugh, the quiet guy wants to talk to the mute,” Gorl points out, starting to chuckle, eventually breaking out into full-on laughter. Sharn makes eye contact with Xander signaling he can go ahead.
“The other night, did you kill a member of the Cult of Chaos in the sewers?” Xander asks, maintaining eye contact with Sharn the entire time, trying to determine by his reaction if he will lie. Sharn nods, his face even more stern than usual.
“You were in the sewers Sharn?” Sarge asks, surprised to learn that unsettling location is where Sharn goes on his days off. Sharn once again nods.
“Well, we do need an entry point... do you know where the place you entered the sewers is on this map?” Sarge pulls out the map the others got from the Cult of Chaos priest at the Wolves’ warehouse. Sharn points to a part of the map and nods.
“Since you’re familiar with that area, why don’t we enter through there today then,” Sarge suggests, already preparing for their mission today.
Half an hour later, the other three show up and meet with Xander and the city guards outside of O’Malley’s.
“Good morning lads, you ready to hunt some Wolves today?” Sarge asks with a grin.
Before anyone can give a general affirmation to Sarge’s question, four men, wearing beat-up leather armor and holding crude weapons, approach them. Based on their appearance it isn’t hard to conclude that they are the Snakes that pledged to help them.
“We heard you were heading to kill some Wolves,” one of the Snakes almost sneers.
Kayde, not intimidated by their tone, responds, “Yeah, I take it you guys are a part of the Snakes. Nice to have you along”.
“We are,” the Snake confirms, his tone almost standoffish as if they are not enthusiastic about being a part of this.
“Now that all of us are here, Sharn, could you guide us to the entry point?” Sarge asks, getting things underway.
The group follows behind Sharn, the Snakes walking just behind him towards the front of the group. Sarge hangs at the back with Lydia, wanting to keep her as far away from the Snakes as possible. Drakthar recognizes the alleyways they are walking through as the ones Xander led him down last night, confirming for him that Sharn was the one Xander saw down in the sewers.
They reach the manhole and Sharn pulls the cover aside with ease. Gorl is the first to descend, climbing down with one arm, the other holding a lit torch. The others follow behind him, one by one heading down the ladder.
“Ew, this stuff is gross!” Eric exclaims as he reaches the bottom.
“I don’t know what you were expecting, it’s a sewer,” Gorl points out.
Once everyone is down, Sarge, hoping Sharn is intimately familiar with the sewers, asks him, “Do you know the best way to proceed?” Sharn shakes his head.
“There is only one way to go right now anyway,” Gorl points out from the front.
They quickly reach the same arrow trap that Xander and Drakthar experienced before. The arrows are floating in the sewage, some broken, but most still intact.
“There was a trap here,” Drakthar warns the others, pointing to the arrows on the ground. They head forward carefully not sure if it is still active. Gorl takes a step forward hesitantly, once his foot reaches the ground he breathes a sigh of relief, as the trap does not activate.
After getting over the stench and feel of the sewage up to their ankles, the group comes to a fork.
“I’m not sure which way we should go. Anyone got any ideas?” Gorl asks the others from upfront. He looks down both paths briefly, but can’t really see that far ahead.
“Just pick one. You guys are so indecisive,” one of the Snakes impatiently pushes past Gorl and goes to the right.
“Right it is... I guess,” Gorl lets all four Snakes by if they are so confident.
Along this hallway, Drakthar and Xander spot more mosaics of Gwyn on the walls like in the first room.
“Why are these things even down here? Isn’t Melusarej supposed to be a free city? Didn’t think they’d have pictures of the desert’s God down here,” Alcaeus questions, finding it odd if Melusarej was indeed a free city.
“Hold on, last time we saw these there was a trap. We should be careful,” Xander tells the others to avoid any unnecessary injuries.
“There is nothing to be afraid of, stop being a pussy”. Just as the Snake says this he is already forced to eat his words. The four Snakes who are now in the front have tripped a wire that was hidden just above the sewage. The ceiling opens up above them and acid rains down them. The others watch in horror as their skin slowly begins to melt off their bodies, leaving nothing but a pile of bones to mix in with the sewage and newly fallen acid.
“Maybe we should just go back the other way?” Gorl suggests, terrified from witnessing the Snakes’ deaths up close. The others wordlessly agree still in shock from what they just saw. They let Gorl move through them and continue on lighting the way in the front.
Drakthar who is now in the back with Xander asks him, “Can’t you turn back time? Why didn’t you save them?”
“I can, but it’s not like I can just do so whenever I want. It only works every few hours or so. We are in a dangerous situation right now and I didn’t think saving a few gang members is worth it,” Xander tries to explain his reasoning, having to pick and choose his moments.
“I understand, they did seem quite weak. I’m sure we will not miss them much,” Drakthar notes, agreeing with his decision.
At the end of this hallway are small steps leading out of the sewage up to an iron door with the handle on the left-hand side. Gorl grabs the cold handle and slowly pushes it open. The door isn’t particularly heavy despite the material it was made from.
As they take their first steps through the door they hear distant voices and the sounds of other distant doors being closed.
“The Wolves?” Kayde calls out from the back.
“Probably,” Sarge agrees, not knowing anyone else who could be down here.
They slowly spill into the room, Gorl’s torch illuminating their surroundings. A wooden desk sits in the corner and three cots are lined up on the opposite wall. There are also three doors aside from the one they entered through in the room, one on each wall.
“We heard them. It was the Wolves, right? We shouldn’t waste time here, let’s go after them,” Alcaeus suggests what he thinks is obviously the correct decision.
“But there are three doors. How are we supposed to know which the Wolves headed down?” Gorl points out the catch.
“Let’s just pick one and hope we get lucky,” Alcaeus walks over to the door on the left wall, this idea a reflection of him as a person. He grabs the handle on the right-hand side of the iron door and an axe begins to fall on a collision course towards his head. Noticing just in time, he is just barely able to roll to the side, getting out of the way, the axe colliding with the ground with a harsh clang.
“You need to be more careful,” Xander warns him, not wanting his comrade to get injured.
Alcaeus rebounds quickly, “Yeah, whatever, the door is open, now let’s go”.
“You go ahead, Xander, Drakthar, and I are going to search the room,” Kayde tells Alcaeus, more curious about what clues they can find in this interesting room.
Alcaeus and the rest of the city guards move through the door leaving Kayde, Xander, and Drakthar behind. Kayde lights a torch now that Gorl is no longer with them. Kayde walks over to one of the doors, “May as well check the other doors to see if they are trapped as well”.
“You guys do that, I want to take a look at whatever is inside this desk. It could give us some clue to the gang leader’s whereabouts,” Xander tells them while eyeing the desk in the corner. He begins to look over the papers on top of the desk as Kayde and Drakthar examine the door on the right. It is iron with its handle on the left-hand side. Kayde opens it carefully making sure to jump to the side just in case an axe falls from it as it did from the other door. Nothing happens.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Through the door, they find two chests, one of them is open and the other is tied up in chains. Kayde walks up to them and sees that the open one has pillows and blankets in them.
“Must be for the cots,” Drakthar points out.
Kayde grabs a pillow, “This is great, now I can take a nap wherever”.
Drakthar finds it weird that Kayde is so happy about a mere pillow, “Sure…” Drakthar notes before going to the other one, starting to try and remove the chains.
Back in the room, Xander is looking over the papers on top of the desk. They look like designs for different machines, specifically weapons. He puts them down and opens the single drawer. When he does something clicks and the entire desk catches fire, burning anything that could have been in there.
Whatever it was must have been important, so Xander decides to rewind time. He is once again standing before the desk before it caught fire. He crouches down and looks underneath the desk to see if there is any mechanism that will allow the drawer to open without triggering the trap that ignites the desk. He sees a hole at the back of the underside of the drawer. He checks in his bag, trying to find something small enough to fit the hole. He finds a nail file and sticks the pointy end up into it. He hears a click and the drawer shoots open. Inside is a single book. Upon closer examination, he discovers it is someone’s journal. He doesn’t hesitate at all, beginning to read.
I am growing tired of working as a scientist for the Sacrosanct Empire. I thought they could help me, but I was mistaken. For a while, I have worked for them, but now I know the truth about who is really running things. The church and the king’s brother have covered up the king’s death, he was the only decent one among them, without him things have gotten out of hand. They told the people the king is still alive but is too ill to have visitors. The king’s brother, a power-hungry megalomaniac, sought control for himself, even if it meant he wouldn’t be known as king to the people. Realizing this situation, I took my greatest creation, an android built to be a perfect assassin, and shipped him out of the Sacrosanct Empire. Soon the church, having discovered my subterfuge and wanting my creation for themselves, confronted me. They told me they had my wife and three daughters and that they would kill them if I did not cooperate. As much as it pains me I had no choice but to continue. I continued to build technology for them for the next three years. One night I finally did it, I built up the courage to sneak out to see my family but I discovered they had been murdered years ago. I needed to find a way to escape across the sea, but there was nothing I could do. Finally, I had an idea. I developed a new technology that manipulates time over short periods and gave it to a promising young priest. I framed the kid and told the church it was stolen. In the commotion of the church trying to find the poor kid, I made my way to a port and fled to Melusarej. Once there I joined with the Cult of Chaos, who promised me they would help me get revenge against the Sacrosanct Empire for what they did to my family. I am now working for them and hopefully, through their activities in Melusarej, they will grow stronger and combat the Sacrosanct. Even if I have a bad feeling about them.
Xander puts the journal in his bag, having found blank pages past what he has read. So many things suddenly make sense to Xander; both the reason the Cult of Chaos had Sacrosanct technology and why he had to flee for his life all those years ago. The more he ponders it the more furious he gets with the scientist for ruining his plans. They have the same goal. They both want the corruption within the Sacrosanct to end. They both want revenge for their families. If the scientist had only confided in him they could have worked together, but now neither of them is in any position to do anything about the Sacrosanct Empire or the Purity.
Xander’s thoughts are interrupted as Alcaeus and the city guards noisily enter into the room. Drakthar and Kayde hear the racket as well. They give up on opening the locked chest and rejoin the others.
“You guys find them?” Kayde asks, surprised to see them back so soon.
“No, they must have gone a different way. Anything interesting here?” Sarge inquires, wondering if they were able to find something that could help them.
“I found this pillow”. The others roll their eyes as Kayde holds the pillow up into the air.
Xander speaks up, trying to get the group to keep moving, “We need to find the man who was in this room at all costs”.
They all look towards Xander, wondering where all this newly found gusto came from. He walks over to the door and opens it carefully due to it possibly being trapped. Just as they suspected an axe swings down from the top of the door, hitting the floor just as it did before.
“Man we really need to be careful in this place. It’s so annoying, I mean who puts a bunch of traps in a sewer?” Kayde comments in exasperation, tired of all of these hoops they need to jump through just to survive down here.
“A gang using it as their base,” Drakthar points out the obvious.
“Come on, we are wasting time. We need to catch up to them,” Xander hurries them forward. They walk through the door, never noticing that the handle had been on the right-hand side.
The door once again leads into a hallway filled with sewage. Xander starts running in the front. He doesn’t have a torch like the others, so he doesn’t notice the mosaics lining the walls to either side. As he passes the mosaics, the ceiling opens up and drops rubble on those behind him.
Most of the group can easily shield themselves, but Lydia takes a large piece of stone straight to her head.
“Lydia, are you okay?” Sarge leans down next to her in concern, looking at the blood from the wound she is clutching.
“Yeah, I think so. My head just hurts,” Lydia keeps holding her head where the rubble hit, feeling some blood mix in with her hair.
“I know you want to find this person, but you need to calm down lad,” Sarge tells Xander because of Lydia’s injury.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. I just lost my cool. I’m sorry Lydia, can you keep going?” He apologizes but clearly moving forward is still his top priority.
“Yeah,” she stands back up trying to convince the others she is fine.
They reach the end of the hall and find another iron door, this time with the handle on the left-hand side. Xander opens it carefully as with the doors before, but no axe drops. Instead, they hear a bunch of voices yell out to each other.
The room is illuminated and full of broken columns and gang members, they must belong to the Wolves. The group runs to cover behind some of the rubble scattered around the room, the sound of gunshots ringing all over the room as the Wolves try to gun down the outsiders invading their area. As the group runs, they notice some sort of machine stuck into the ground near the center of the room, a circular turret that is beginning to aim towards them.
Everyone makes it to a large piece of rubble that must have been a column, except for Lydia. She is slowed down by her head injury from before. Sarge watches as a bullet bursts through her skull, scattering brain matter to the winds. Her body stops running and immediately goes limp in front of them, crashing into the ground.
The city guards become enraged having seen their comrades of so many years die right in front of them. Kayde lays down covering fire as Sarge, Gorl, and Sharn charge towards the group of Wolves to their left.
Xander scans the room and notices that, other than the group of eight or so Wolves to their left, there are only one or two near the turret, along with the one inside it.
“That thing is going to be a problem,” he shouts at the others.
“I’ll take care of it, for Lydia!” Eric screams out, uncharacteristic confidence present in his voice. He appears from behind the rubble and runs directly towards it. No sooner it is that he leaves cover that his body is ripped apart by the flurry of bullets that is unleashed by the turret. Those behind the column watching as flesh and blood fall into a heap on the ground beside them.
Meanwhile, Kayde swiftly takes out one of the two Wolves to the right, proving himself able with that rifle of his once again.
“We aren’t going to be able to approach that thing,” Xander mumbles to himself trying to figure out how they can win.
“Kayde can you take care of the last guy over here?” He finally asks, having figured it out.
“I’ve got it handled,” Kayde assures him, preparing to fire off another shot in his direction.
“Alcaeus, Drakthar follow me to the others,” Xander orders, having figured out what he plans to do about that turret.
“Why should I listen to a kid like you?” Alcaeus responds, not believing in Xander’s decision no matter what it is.
“Do it now,” Xander demands sternly. Alcaeus listens, intimidated by Xander’s tone. They make their way to Sarge, Sharn, and Gorl, who have all but finished off the Wolves around them.
“I am going to bring that thing over here, once I do everyone focus on killing whoever is in it,” Xander lets them in on the plan.
Everyone is stunned when, suddenly, where a piece of rubble used to be, there now stands the turret from the center of the room. Sharn immediately smashes the screen that concealed the operator of the turret. Unfortunately, the man inside of it keeps his hand on the trigger, dismembering Gorl directly in front of them.
Alcaeus, who was in a position to the side of the turret with a free shot at its operator, decides to run instead, having witnessed what happened to Gorl. Drakthar quickly moves forward to do the job Alcaeus was meant to, swinging his axe inside the turret. The man doesn’t notice Drakthar’s incoming attack and focuses on Sarge shooting the last bullets he ever will through Sarge’s head.
Only one Wolf remains and Sharn easily separates his torso from his legs in blind anger. Once it is over Drakthar finds Alcaeus hiding behind some rubble and picks him up by the collar.
He shoves Alcaeus against the nearest wall leaving an indent in the stone, “You coward! You had the shot. I saw it! Sarge wouldn’t have died if not for you”.
“Are you crazy man? Did you see how Eric and Gorl got ripped apart? I had to get out of there. I don’t want to die in some scummy sewer. The kid never should have brought that thing next to us!” Alcaeus shouts, desperately attempting to shift the blame onto Xander.
“You idiot, if he didn’t put that thing next to us it would have gunned us all down the second we tried to approach it. That was our only option,” replies Drakthar, not accepting this coward’s excuse. Disgusted, he drops Alcaeus to the ground and turns away, not wanting to even look at him.
Sharn sees all of his fellow members of the city guard dead around the room, some of their bodies more intact than others. He walks over to the wall where Alcaeus is sitting and spits in his face. They watch as Sharn leaves through the door they entered from.
Alcaeus gets up and goes around looting all of the bodies like usual.
“He has no shame,” Drakthar states as he takes a seat next to Xander.
“I did this didn’t I?” Xander asks, looking around at the aftermath of the battle, the smell of blood and gunpowder still in the air.
“What?” Drakthar asks, baffled by what would make Xander say that.
“I was the one that insisted we all move forward, all of their deaths are my fault,” Xander goes on, pinning everything on his decisions.
“We all came down here with a mission to carry out. You didn’t cause any of them to die. If anything Alcaeus is the only one with blood on his hands. If we didn’t have you, none of us would have walked out of here. I can promise you that,” Drakthar gives Xander his honest opinion on the matter, not necessarily trying to cheer him up.
Kayde makes his way to the other two, “So, are we continuing on? I mean the Wolves’ leader is still down here right? Would be kind of a waste if they died for nothing”.
“We’ve come this far. I say we see it through,” Drakthar notes, not wanting to give up halfway.
“Yeah, I still have someone I need to confront,” Xander agrees, thinking the Scientist might be down here too.
“What about you Alcaeus?” Kayde calls out to the man looting the bodies.
“Yeah, sure, there is still a bounty right?” Alcaeus responds, always thinking about his number one priority.
“Well then it’s settled, let’s keep going,” Kayde decides, his tone meant to fill the others with determination.