“What are you doing in here?”

The voice, coming without warning and very loud, made Eric flinch. He slammed his back into the stone of the tunnel wall and drew his sword, bringing the shield into position on his left arm. Then, glancing around, he realized that there wasn’t anyone right next to him, and the voice had come from further ahead. He turned his face in the direction of the voice, straining his ears to catch more.

Another voice, deep and gruff, replied. “I’m heading in to talk to the chief. Outta my way.”

The first voice, just as deep, but a little smoother, spoke in a stern voice. “You don’t give me orders, Anders, the chief does. He gives all the orders, and he told you to keep a watch in the Market. We don’t want no one sneaking down here to rescue the girl.”

“I was the one who grabbed her!” the second man, Anders, exclaimed. “I ain’t screwed up, so I ain’t doing no boring watch duty. I want a drink and some food!”

The second man had raised his voice so much that Eric didn’t even have to strain to hear it. But the first man wasn’t cowed in the slightest and shouted back even louder. Eric started looking around for a good hiding spot, in case one or both of the men came his way.

“I’m lieutenant, Anders! I told you to go back to the Market. Don’t argue with me, if you know what’s good for you!”

“We the same,” Anders replied stubbornly. “You ain’t better than me!”

There was the sound of steel against leather, the unmistakable sound of a blade being drawn. “You wanna find out just how much better I am, Anders?”

“Alright, alright!” Anders blustered, though he sounded fearful. “I’ll go back to the bloody market, then. But tell the chief I deserve better. I work harder than any of ye!”

Horrified, Eric heard the sound of the man trudging his way. The Hide skill was useful, but it had a limited range, and the tunnel wasn’t nearly wide enough to prevent him from being seen by Anders when he passed. He’d be spotted at once, and then he’d have a fight on his hands. But then he spotted, just before the room the men were arguing in, a small hole in the wall of the tunnel. Dashing for it, Eric threw himself in just as Anders was turning the corner.

Anders was a big and burly man, so tall that he had to stoop in the low tunnel. He had a snarl on his face from the conversation he’d just left, and a load of curly black hair covering his face. His armor was a stiff leather, with some metal studs here and there to reinforce it all. Most frightening of all, there was a massive double-headed ax hanging on his belt, just inches from his large hand.

Anders froze as Eric dived for cover as if he’d heard or seen something that made him suspicious. He narrowed his eyes as he peered in Eric’s direction, his brutish face twisted in concentration. He gave the air a quick sniff, almost making direct eye contact with Eric. Frozen in place, Eric waited what felt like an hour until Anders spat on the ground, seemed to think he’d imagined it, and lumbered past. He reeked of filth and stale alcohol.

Eric waited for Anders to go all the way down the tunnel and turn out of sight before he let out a sigh of relief. Moving slowly to avoid making too much noise, he crawled out of his hiding spot and stood up straight again. His shoulder and back ached from where he’d rammed them against the stone in his mad dash for cover. He stretched gingerly, making sure nothing was broken. Though if anything had been, he’d surely have taken some damage.

He continued down the hallway slowly, keeping his ears open for the sound of the first man. There was nothing, so he cautiously peeked into the room. It was mostly bare, save for a wooden chair on the far side, by a large wooden door. Someone must sit there to keep watch on the entrance, Eric thought. He retreated a few feet away, leaning his back against the tunnel wall, just in case someone came out while he was thinking of a plan.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Well, by all appearances, he’d achieved his first goal, that of finding the thief gang’s hideout. It’d taken him about half an hour, winding his ways through the tunnels under Milagre. There had been more turnoffs than he could count, each leading to a different section of the city. But he kept choosing the forks that looked like they’d been most recently used until he’d ended up here. There was no mistaking that the two men he’d heard had been part of the gang, so it stood to reason that this was their base in the tunnels. But how to get in?

He thought about it for a good while, before coming up with a plan. The hole in the wall he’d used as a hiding spot was about ten feet from the entry room with the chair. The room itself was about eight feet across. If he could lure someone out, then he’d only have about twenty feet to dash before he could slip in. Then he’d just have to stay hidden and find the girl, he thought. Easily done, he thought with a sarcastic laugh.

He returned to the door to the gang’s hideout, took a deep breath, and knocked sharply three times. Then he ran back as fast and quietly as he could to his hiding spot, cramming his body into the hole as he heard the door open. A new voice, more high-pitched, was speaking into the apparently empty room. Eric waited quietly for the sound of footsteps. When he heard the man moving, still muttering in confusion, across the room to the hallway, he threw the item he was holding in the direction Anders had taken.

The small piece of flint from the fire kit in his inventory made a surprisingly loud noise as it pinged off the tunnel wall and clattered to the floor. Immediately, there was the sound of a sword being drawn behind him, and the stranger picked up the pace a little. He jogged past where Eric was hiding, continuing down the tunnel for some distance, trying to find the source of the noise. Eric slipped out and ran, doubled over and holding his breath, back to the room.

He was across the room and through the open door in a flash, ducking behind the first cover he could find, a large pile of sacks. Two more men, noticing the open door and hearing the voice of their comrade, also moved out into the tunnels. Eric took the chance to pop his head up, and scan the room. There were only two other people he could see. One bandit, wearing a chainmail shirt and spurred boots, and a small girl with bright silver hair.

The girl was in the farthest corner of the room, on a thin blanket. It was clear even from here that she was shaking with cold. The man watching her was sitting in another wooden chair, his hand holding a short dagger. Unbelievably, he was asleep, his head bobbing slightly on his chest as it rose and fell. Eric got up and hurried across the room, taking a wide path to avoid waking the guard.

“Hey,” he said quietly, drawing right up next to the girl. “Hey, are you okay?”

The girl jerked at the sudden sound of his voice and recoiled slightly. Eric put his hands out to show he wasn’t going to hurt her. “It’s alright, I’m a good guy. Your father sent me.”

The girl didn’t reply, staring at him in obvious fear. Poor girl, he thought. She’d been down here for hours, surrounded by scare men who had taken her from her parents. Bandits were unpleasant company even for a sane, confident adult. For the little girl, it would be the height of terror. But Eric kept his voice calm and fixed a smile onto his face. It might have looked a little strained, but the girl seemed to regard him a little more trustingly.

“That’s a good girl,” he said quietly, sparing a glance for the guard. “Let’s get you out of here before the other men return. Come on, come on.”

Slowly, as if some magic were slowing her down, she reached out and grabbed Eric’s left hand. He quickly pulled her to him and picked her up, already rising into a crouch and moving along the sides of the room toward the door. He could hear voices approaching; the men had already returned from their brief search of the tunnel. One of them was criticizing the first man for being jumpy, and another was laughing.

“Too bad James missed that,” one of them said. “He’d love it.”

“That’s what he gets for sleeping on the job,” another said. “He’s lucky chief ain’t stopping by today.”

The three of them crossed the threshold and walked in right past Eric and the girl, their backs turned. Eric padded silently into the outer room and into the tunnel as quickly as he could. Once he was out of sight of the door, he abandoned the stealthy crouch and started running as fast as he could. Behind him, he could hear the men shouting at each other. Before they could work out what had happened and decide on a plan, he needed to be out of the sewers.