Norbert went down, making sure that he wasn’t too far from Vivienne above him. He looked up every now and then and saw her boots nearly hitting his face. The wind was blowing against Norbert harder and harder the lower he went, knowing they still had a long way to go before making it to the lower Colosseum.
Making down another rung, Norbert wiped the sweat from his brow, looking up as he spoke so the wind would take what he was shouting: “Is it getting hotter down here?”
“Yes, it's an exhaust vent for the runes. The exit should be just a bit further down!” Vivienne shouted back, and Norbert needed to strain his ears to hear even that much. The witch continued her explanation, but she was talking too quietly for Norbert to hear properly.
Continuing down, Norbert feels the stone start to get hot to the touch of his hands. Looking up at Vivienne, Norbert shouts again, “How much further?”
Hearing a muffled reply before the woman fell. Slamming into Norbert, he held onto the ladder, pushing his body against the wall on the other side to not let the woman fall. Pulling her over his shoulder and under his arm, holding the sack of tools, Norbert quickly made his way down, Obsius cooing on his other shoulder about the heat.
His back fell away as he found the tunnel's exit. Norbert quickly stood up as he looked around, confirming that they weren’t in a super-heated tunnel. Seeing it cool down further away from the chute they had just exited, Obsius was already flying over to escape the heat, so Norbert pulled Vivienne onto his back and quickly made his way over.
Turning to Vivienne, he placed his hand under her neck, feeling for a pulse. Norbersawone of the snakes came up from her shoulder, the tattoo slithering around to where Norbert was touching her as he slowly moved his finger away. The snake hissed him before returning the way it had come.
Leaving her there, Norbert lowers her head onto the sack so that it won’t be on the hard ground. Obsius lands on the woman, and Norbert looks around the room they are currently in.
Seeing the runes on the wall, Norbert quickly changed his vision for a moment to magic, only to confirm that the room was as functional as the last one, the runes shining back at him, all in use. Turning back to Vivienne, he saw the woman’s cheeks no longer flushed, a shaky breath coming over her body.
Norbert stood over her as he gently shook against her shoulder, the witch opening her eyes, hands coming up ready as the snakes started to strike out towards him. Moving backwards, Norbert, seeing it, comes right where his nose was before.
“Are you feeling better?” Norbert asked her, and she saw the worry go out of her eyes as she saw Norbert leaning over her.
“Least I’m awake now? How long was I out?”
Norbert looked up at the ceiling, thinking about how long it had been, converting the time in his head. “About a rotation,” he said.
Vivienne nodded her head, slowly getting to her feet, holding her hands out in front of her to stop herself from feeling as dizzy. Norbert leaned over, grabbing.
“What happened to you?” Norbert asked her.
“Trying to multitask to many things” Vivienne explained in exasperation “Didn’t realise the heat was that bad until I passed out.”
Norbert shook his head, something so simple as not realising it was too hot in the chute. Having felt it long before the heat, Obsius is still operational.
“Is this the room you wanted to find?” Norbert asked her, wanting to distract himself from any more derailing thoughts of the operation at hand.
“Close enough; I don’t want to go further down there, so a change of plans is needed.” Vivienne walked away from Norbert, heading further down the hallway away from the heat of the runes below.
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Following her, Norbert looked to each side, seeing the runes slowly die around them until they were in a standard tunnel. Norbert seeing Vivienne stop as she looked down once more, Norbert feeling cool air sucking at him from below.
The hole led downwards. Norbert placed a foot over it, standing in the middle of the air as a barrier formed under his feet, stopping him from falling down. His boots started to freeze over. He stepped off the barrier, wriggling his toes to get the blood circulating down there again. The frost started to disappear, leaving a slight wet patch on the ground.
Vivienne was waling around the hole in the ground, and a plume of her breath was visible. Obsius lands on Norbert, pecking at him. Opening up his shirt, the bird climbed down so it was inside, the little creature chattering away as it tried to warm up from Norbert’s body heat.
Norbert followed her across, finding her kneeling and placing her hand on the next pipe for a moment. Reaching over to Norbert, he gave the sack to her, watching as she brought out the saw and started going into the metal. Punishing her hand against it, a barrier came up, stopping her from entering. One of the snakes slithered over to the barrier, passing through it before going around the hole and returning to Vivienne.
The witch placed her hand into the pipe, watching as it started to go blue from the freezing temperatures it was subjected to. She was moving her hand away, moving it around as it quickly became red from the intense temperature change.
Breathing out, Norbert saw her hold her hands in front of herself for a moment, the discolouration from the cold disappearing as the flesh returned to its usual pasty colour. Vivienne turned to Norbert, “We need to go all the way down to the bottom. Once there, follow through the opening I make and don’t dawdle.”
Before Norbert could even say something in retort, the witch jumped down the pipe, disappearing from his view. Breathing to get himself ready, Norbert quickly looked about, seeing that no alarms had dinged off. The one that was meant to be hiding him from surveillance was now plummeting down a freezing pipe.
Ice started to form on the ground around the pipe, making its way out of the opening Vivienne had created for them to use. Picking up the cutters she left there, the metal was already cold as Norbert threw them in the sack and jumped down into the pipe.
Holding his shirt down, stopping the bird from escaping, Norbert began counting. Holding the sack above his head so it wouldn’t get caught, Norbert bent his knees to take the fall, energy shooting out as he waited to see if his legs would break on impact.
CRACK
Norbert slammed into the ground, hearing the stone crack underneath him. One hand was still clutched over the bird, the one previously holding the sack now underneath him, holding his body up.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
Norbert was pushed up as his legs healed underneath him. He saw the next hole in the pipe, breathed out, and saw crystals drop out of the air from his breath. He remembered what Vivienne had told him as he leapt out of the opening in the pipe, sprinting down the hallway as pipes appeared in the ceiling, the air being blown upwards further away as some type of cooling.
He heard his boots clunk on the stone floor, looking down instead. Looking he saw two ice rectan, he sawttling against the ground, sheering off with each step as he looked behind himself, a path with every st. She took as the ice formed, growing more green.
Scrunching down on Obsius under his clothes, Norbert runs ahead, seeing Vivienne standing on the other side of a doorway, the shadow of her head barely visible through the frosted glass.
Just as Norbert started reaching for the handle, the door opened up, a blast of warm air assaulting him. Norbert stepped through as the door was slammed behind him. Feeling Obsius start to move about underneath his hand, Norbert let the bird go as he moved his hands about, stepping out of the puddle of water he formed on the ground.
“Do we have to go down any deeper?” Norbert asked her.
Vivienne shook her head as Norbert looked about. On the other side of the small square room, another door was visible. Someone was walking past, thankful that they hadn’t heard the doorway. Norbert looked on the other side of the glass and saw two guards standing on the other side of the door.
“We're just out there, around a couple of busy walkways, and then we should be outside the entrance,” Vivienne told him.
Norbert nodded, jumping from foot to foot to warm himself up. “Is there a plan or idea you have that doesn’t mean me running around trying to grab as much attention as possible?” Norbert asked her.
Vivienne shook her head as she tapped her hand against the wall, a slot opening up as she pushed against a rune, a locker visible and a set of clothes inside. Going to the next one across, she opened it with a splash of magic.
Looking down at his clothes, Norbert asked, “Are we going to get changed anyway?” The question hanging in the air for a moment.
“To get you in the sneaky mood, you need all the help you can get,” Vivienne told Norbert as she reached for the hem of her top. Norbert jumped into his locker, turning around so his back was to the woman, and started getting changed.