The sun was not yet past the horizon when they arrived at the location the Jöln had warned them of.
The sewer entrance itself was a stone-enclosed hole in the cliffside wall. A gap large enough for a dozen men to enter, with thick sewage slopping out into a wide lake of brown sludge that flowed into a channel that would most likely lead off to the Mudport. It had been a few days since it had rained, and it seemed that was enough for these places to grow stagnant and fetid. In the day’s mid spring heat it took Celeste great control to not to become sick.
A few squat buildings cobbled together from scrap squared in the space, places only occupied because tax collectors were unlikely to come to such a place. Worse though were the shanty tents that lined the edge of the lake. It nearly broke her heart to see the dozens of them arrayed before her, but from their decrepit status she had to hope they had been long abandoned.
“No guards out here?” Vallerian asked, pulling a small vial of smelling salts from his coat pocket and nearly thrusting them up his nose.
“Aye, I noticed that as well.” Gardinal responded with a foreboding air. He seemed not to notice the stench. That or he didn’t care, she was never sure with her dear guardian. “I don’t like it.” Gardinal ground his teeth, letting his free hand rest on the hammer at his side.
“A trap?” Vallerian asked, sniffing and rubbing his nose. Celeste swallowed hard, then regretted it as the putrid air filled her lungs.
“Likely.” Gardinal answered. Then they both looked to Celeste, and she squared her shoulders, trying her best to look like Gardinal. The stench contorted her face oddly, but she thought for the circumstances she did a good job.
“We continue.” She stated, trying hard to force confidence into her voice. If there were people down there, souls in need, she would not stop now. Especially if the Summoner awaited her. She had to help that man most of all. Gardinal and Vallerian eyed her for a moment, before Gardinal grunted and nodded.
“Kriss.” Gardinal began, turning to the man beside her. “No matter what happens in there, I want you beside her the whole way. If it gets bad, and if Vallerian or I don’t look like we’re going to make it. You get her out.”
“Gardinal no you can not…” Celeste started to protest but was cut off as Kriss let go of her hand.
“I swear it Brother Gardinal. On my life I do.” Kriss pressed his fist to his heart, and Gardinal nodded with a grunt.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Let’s get on then.” Gardinal said, and they followed him down to the edge of the lake of waste.
Reaching the edge, Gardinal showed them a criss-crossing path of wooden planks that floated atop the sewage. Slowly, they began to cross the narrow beams carefully.
“You would think the master masons who built this outlet would have set an elevated path to it as well.” Vallerian complained as some sewage seeped up onto his boots.
“They did.” Kriss responded, helping Celeste along the path. “But the Crown didn’t see much use in keeping it up over the years so long as the sewage flowed.”
A silence spread over them at that. How often must Vallerian and Gardinal have benefited from this very sewage system themselves over the years? Yet it all flowed down to Southshore, to where Kriss had grown up alone. To where a vast majority of Terminia’s people lived.
Eventually the path led to a staircase carved out of the stone wall that disappeared at the bottom into the sewage. They quickly climbed the stairs up onto a stone walkway that led into the cavernous hole that made up the sewage outlet. They all stood there a moment, staring into the dark abyss before them. The walkway was wide enough for two men abreast, or one in Gardinal’s case, and it ran along the side of the channel of sewage that slowly crawled its way out. The putrid stench seemed somehow worse in the relatively tight space that lay before them.
Kriss quickly pulled out flint rock and a torch, setting a light with one of Vallerian’s side knives. Somehow the count always had another knife on him, she had noticed, no matter how many he gave out. Something to discuss with the man in the future, she decided.
“Careful with that lad.” Gardinal whispered to Kriss. The taller man raised a brow back. “These sewers have a penchant for exploding.”
Kriss chuckled. “You’d need something stronger than a torch to do that.” Kriss responded. Gardinal shrugged, then lead the way, that new shield of his held at the ready in front of him.
Crossing the threshold into the sewer, Celeste stopped. A… presence struck her as she stepped into the dark, humid air of the sewer. It was as though she felt small hands clawing at her soul. It was… a beast, or the mind of one. Mindless and all consuming, an insatiably ravenous feeling to its awful essence. That same twisted darkness she had felt on the Korek infant’s soul. A darkness she would never forget. Chaos. But it was intense here, far more intense than she had ever felt it before.
Celeste felt faint at the sensation. Her world began to spin rapidly, and Celeste saw the hard stone walkway rushing up to meet her. So… wrong. She thought with pain, wind rushing past her. So terribly wrong.
A hand grabbed her before she hit the stone, grasping her by the arm and pulling her up gently. Languidly, Celeste rolled her head to look at Kriss who held her.
“Radiance.” Gardinal gasped from ahead, twisting back to stare at her with concern. “Perhaps you shouldn’t…”
“I will be fine. I assure you.” Celeste quickly responded, recovering and trying to stand on her own. She couldn’t give them even a moment to doubt her. If she did, they’d likely ship her off back to the temple before she could blink. “I just… I felt….”
“The Chaos.” Gardinal finished for her, meeting her gaze. “I feel it as well.”