As soon as it was dark and the lights in the house were out, Dirk made a beeline for the home. Thirty minutes later, he was next to us with three hearts in a pouch.

"They are dead, and in another half hour, the house will be on fire."

"You sure?" I asked. We could not afford for it not to catch on fire.

"Yup!" Dirk exclaimed. "I have the kitchen burning now and once the fire reaches a certain point, it will drop a massive pan of grease all over the floor and the grease-soaked cloths I put around the kitchen. It should go up like a firework soon."

Turk groaned and shook his head.

"We need to move now then if he did that. I doubt it will be half an hour and once that fire is going people will start waking up and it will be a lot brighter."

Turk was right. His ability to lead and make decisions had gotten better as Vreek, and I gave them the reigns. We needed to be gone now if we had any hope of success.

"Let's go, and everyone stay low. Turk, you are in front, Vreek you and I will take the rear. Dirk, I'll count on you to handle anything that comes from the front."

Everyone nodded and took off after Turk. I knew Dirk wanted to stay and watch the masterpiece he felt he had made, but I had a feeling we would be able to see it soon enough.

Turk had been right. After what was maybe twenty minutes of running, the fire at the house Dirk had prepared was roaring like a massive bonfire. In the dark night, it was like a beacon, and I was glad Turk was leading us.

As we ran, we had to dodge fences, holes, ditches, animals, and houses. A few times, Turk stopped us and moved us in a different direction when people were nearby. We almost once had a fight on our hands but right before we stumbled upon a few lovebirds in a field we were running through, the fire was going and they both jumped up cursing and throwing their clothes on.

"Which one was the girl?" Dirk asked after the two dwarves had ran off.

"I think the one with the nicer beard," Turk whispered back.

"Shhh," Vreek muttered back.

I chuckled to myself. Never in a million years would I have imagined trying to figure out which dwarf was a girl or a boy based on their beard.

The hours had flown by, and the lights from the wall of the capital would soon be within reach. The farmland was starting to get less and less more houses were popping up. The town outside of the capital was dense, and Turk had to slow down and stop a lot more than we had anticipated.

Homes were made out of stone now, and there were still lights in the city and some dwarves were still on the streets. The occasional pair of dwarves or even sometimes a foursome could be heard singing as they walked drunkenly down a street at night.

Occasionally a pair of guards were seen at an inner section by a fire, but it looked like they were usually asleep unless woken up. A weird lizard-like creature at one place had started barking until someone inside shouted at it to be quiet. I was wondering if we had bitten off more than we could chew.

Turk had a spot in the capital he felt would be our best chance to get inside and was leading us to it. He and Dirk had talked about it, and they both felt a section of the wall would have the sewer gates they were looking for.

As Turk led us to a corner, the four of us tried hiding in the shadows, he had stopped in. Right as we started to move, a dwarf popped open the door of the house across the street and dropped his drawers and drenched the steps to his place with piss.

Each of us froze and I saw Dirk holding a pair of daggers ready to throw at the dwarf. The man kept his head up towards the sky and moaned. For what seemed like an eternity and at least a gallon of piss the dwarf continued to wizz on the steps before he finally started to shake his manhood and turned around. He pulled up his pants and he kicked his door shut.

I heard the collective escape of air as we all let out the breath we had been holding.

"Almost there," Turk whispered.

I could hear the anxiousness in his voice. He was doing his best but he knew that one mistake could lead to our doom and our only chance of this being gone.

With less than a mile to go to the wall, I knew the stakes got higher and higher. Space between buildings was less and less. Houses pressed against each other and two and three-story buildings towered over us. Vreek and I were doing our best to keep our weapons from making noise as we ran, all while staying bent over, trying to appear as small as possible.

As we ran through an alley, Turk held up his hand and slowly motioned us forward.

He pointed to Dirk and then pointed down the alley to a building on the other side of the street. Cloaks were hanging on a line in the front of the building. He held up four fingers, and I saw Dirk nod.

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Dirk skirted the shadows of the open street. There were lanterns occasionally along the street as well as the random firepit someone had going. Shadows were everywhere, but the street was at least twenty feet wide, and there was enough of a moon to not be completely dark. I lost sight of him and suddenly saw him dash across the street to the other side. Once he hit the shadows over there, I lost him again.

I watched the line with the cloaks. They were all in the light of a lantern. I saw Dirk reach out and carefully snatch one off of the line.

Some creature howled and barked from inside, and Dirk moved back into the shadows with only one cloak. The beast yelped for around a minute, and I saw a window on the second floor open and what I assumed was a woman looking out at the street. Seeing nothing she shut the window and I heard the whimper of an animal that had been struck.

"That isn't a dog?" I asked Turk quietly.

He shook his head no.

"Like a lizard of some sort. It's weird, I know."

We waited, and after another few minutes, Dirk appeared in the light and took down another cloak. He paused, and no noise came from inside. Turk looked at me and Vreek and motioned to the alley entrance.

"When he gets all four cloaks, we go to the other side and wait for him."

Vreek and I nodded and watched as Dirk took a third cloak from the line. As he reached up for the fourth one and gave it a tug, something fell from the line and a bell rattled down the steps.

I saw Dirk pull harder, and the cloak went free, another metal thing fell and gave a bell sound as it hit the stone steps. The lizard or whatever inside started barking again, and the window unit flung open.

"Who the hell be messing with my stuff!" shouted the woman from the window. "I'll shove me foot so far up your arse you'll taste the goblin nuts I got stuck between my toes!"

The woman stayed there looking at the street, and we could hear sounds from the other buildings near us.

"Quick! Go now!" Turk exclaimed.

I saw a green light suddenly roar to life before the woman's eyes, and we darted across the street as she shrieked and covered her eyes.

"FARIES! FARIES BE STEALING MY GOODS!" she shouted from the window.

We dashed into the alleyway, and Turk's light faded out as we got to it.

I heard a few windows on the other side open up and people start shouting.

"Grudunla der be no fairies and you be drunk! Stop your shouting and go to bed or I'll reach down your throat so deep you'll taste your husband's limp pecker when I pull my hand out!"

Laughter echoed, and the dwarf we assumed was Grudunla shouted back a few ugly comments that involved orc tits and goblin shite before someone we guessed was her husband pulled her back inside.

"They be real! They blinded me with magic!" I heard over the now shut window. I chuckled, glad that Turk was quick to think of that.

Dirk appeared next to us and handed each of us a cloak.

"Sorry, I didn't see the pins had little bells attached," he whispered. "Who the hell puts bells on a clothespin?"

"Someone who believes in fairies," I responded as we all covered up with a cloak.

Turk shushed us and took us deeper into the alley.

"We have probably just a few streets left. If things go bad, follow my lead."

I nodded and motioned for him to lead.

The last few blocks were no better than the rest, but we managed to make it without any significant issues or feeling the need to have fairies help us. All that stood between us now was a gate two streets over and a very long open road to it.

Turk pointed to the guard who was out in front of the gate. He looked like he was standing guard, but Turk put his hands together and laid his head against them. The guard, he could somehow tell, was asleep.

We followed the wall and the shadow of it along the street. We were exposed and creeping as best we could. Vreek and I made the most noise. Or at least I felt like Vreek, and I were making as much noise as a pack of animals might running across dried leaves in a forest.

We were about fifteen yards from the gate entrance, and I saw that Turk was right. The dwarf had his hands on his chest and his chin was rising and falling with his breathing. His massive beard was tucked into his belt. I wondered how long that had taken him to grow it.

Turk held up two fingers on each hand and stacked them behind and in front of each other. He then made walking motions. He pointed at Dirk and him and then at Vreek and me.

I understood and put Vreek on my left so that I would be the closest one to the guard when we got there.

We started to walk the same pace slowly Turk set as we came into the light of the torches near the gate. I tried to watch for rocks or other things I might step on as we walked closer to the guard. I could feel my heart pounding through my chest. I smelled something and realized I could see the inner city sewer exit down the wall past the guard. This must have been why Turk picked this spot.

We were balls deep here, and there was no way to pull out. We would be pinched between a rock and a wall if things went wrong. Literally.

I felt like I forgot to breathe as Turk and Dirk moved into the tunnel and started walking past the guard. He did not stir, and I felt like if I breathed it would sound like a tornado and kept it in. We took step by step past him. Each step felt like it was going to echo through the entry tunnel and wake up the sleeping guard. I could see lights ahead along the walls of the capital past the tunnel. We had gone fifteen feet through the tunnel and only had about ten more feet to go. Who the hell felt the need to build a twenty-five-foot wide wall anyways I thought as I glanced back at the guard who had still not stirred.

Three feet from the exit Turk held up his hand, and we stopped walking and almost bumped into the two of them. I could feel the sweat trickling down my face. I must be making puddles of sweat for anyone to follow. Every doubt I had was coming to light. These were my boys, and why was I risking their lives over a stupid labyrinth I had no idea about? I must be a fool!

Turk suddenly motioned for us, and we started moving forward again. Off to the right, I heard what had caused him to stop. On the other side of the exit was another dwarf guard. His breathing matched his partner we had just passed. He was snoring every few breaths.

The same fear and frustration of the snail's pace I felt we were moving at started all over again as we crept past him and into the capital.

Turk started leading us to the right as we got inside the walls and I quietly let out the breath I think I had been holding for the last hour. We were almost twenty yards down the street when Turk froze, and I heard what was coming towards us on the street ahead.

A group of dwarves.