There were many things fauns were known for. They were unmatched in endurance, speed, and cunning. The one characteristic Oralia had never expected to find on such a list, however, was digging. Dwarfs were excellent diggers, goblins too, but Oralia had never thought to lump a cloven-footed species into the same category. As it turned out, the fauns of Lonebrook had not only mastered the art of underground tunneling, they’d managed to do it without anyone from the outside catching on.
Briony’s cottage was the epitome of quaint homespun living, with its stacked stone walls, straw thatch roof, and picturesque gardens. All part of the guise, Oralia concluded. On first glance, no one would have suspected they were standing over the secret underbelly of Lonebrook’s smuggling operation. The entrance to the tunnel system was located in the root cellar, hidden behind several shelves of preserved goods and crate upon crate of vegetables. Hers was but one of many tunnel exits scattered throughout the village, Briony had explained. The passage she intended to lead Oralia and Rali through would deposit them in the wooded lot along the outskirts of Belfast Manor.
“Under our feet this whole time,” Oralia said as she stood at the mouth of the tunnel, reluctant to follow Briony all the way inside. The size of the shaft had been built with a faun’s height in mind, not a seven foot tall orc. The stooping didn’t bother her so much. Unlike the crawling, which Briony warned was definitely going to happen as several sections of the tunnel were narrower than others.
“How many witches came through here?” Oralia asked.
“Anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred every year,” Briony replied. She stood several paces within the tunnel, lantern in hand, waiting for Oralia and Rali to follow. “Couldn’t give you an exact number. That wasn’t something we ever dared write down. Now, are you going to insist on a breakdown of its construction too, or can we mosey along?”
Rali lingered outside of the entrance near Oralia, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “I would, actually. For comfort reasons.”
Briony rolled her eyes with a snort and started off into the dim tunnel system without them. “We’re burning candlelight, let’s go.”
Oralia noted the way the dwarf wrung her hands, causing the tips of her fingers to turn pink. “I could task you with guarding the entrance if it would make you feel better.”
“Excuse me?” Rali dropped the hand wringing and adopted a withering glare instead. “Remind me again, what’s our rule?”
“No more lone martyr shit,” Oralia sighed.
“That’s right, missy! And just because I have to follow you into a dark, dingy tunnel of questionable stability doesn’t mean you get to go at it alone!” To prove her point, Rali swung her arms dramatically at her sides and marched in after Briony. “Your fuckmate and I have a new arrangement that one of us must accompany you at all times. Seeing as he’s more liable to get stuck down here, the honor fell to me.”
Oralia ducked inside, forced to bend at the knees in order to avoid scraping the top of her bent head against the low ceiling. Thanks to bedrest and Sascha’s insatiable need to shove soup in her face, she wasn’t as miserably weak as she’d been only a few days before. Still, there was no doubt in Oralia’s mind that her lower back would be screaming in agony by the night’s end. “I am forever in your debt, Ralizak.”
“Oh believe me, I am aware!”
“Not so loud,” Briony hissed from her position at the front of the procession.
“It’s because the tunnel is going to come crumbling down on us, isn’t it?” Rali whispered to Briony. “I knew I should have demanded some blueprints before stepping foot in this place.”
The light of the lantern bobbed on ahead, obscured slightly by Briony’s and Rali’s respective shapes as they walked single file. Unlike Oralia, the pair could stand at their full height without banging their heads on the ceiling. “The tunnel is perfectly stable,” Briony insisted. “It’s your volume I’m worried about. The last thing we want is to alert the local forces that we’ve got an escape route right under their noses.”
“Yeah, about that. How come the Belfasts aren’t utilizing it? Kind of defeats the purpose of having an emergency escape tunnel, doesn’t it?” While the questions were genuine, Rali was most definitely using talking as a way to alleviate her mounting anxiety. Oralia could tell by the rigidity of the dwarf’s shoulders that she was a few panicked thoughts from slipping into an episode.
Maybe they should have brought Sascha instead, after all.
Even at a whisper, the cavernous shaft amplified Briony’s voice, allowing Oralia to catch the majority of her response without having to strain to listen. “Too suspicious. Our occupiers would know something was up the moment either Trant or Novera went missing. The Belfasts insisted we move the most vulnerable out first: the old, the young, folks nobody would notice. Progress was slow and the soldiers were starting to get suspicious. They’ve tightened their stronghold on the place since. We haven’t been able to spring anybody in weeks.”
The smell of stale air and damp soil grew thicker as the trio traveled further into the maze of tunnels. Eventually even Rali stopped talking, allowing the rest of the walk to pass in silence. Relative silence, at least. The few times Oralia had to crawl in order to squeeze through a narrow passage involved a plethora of muttered snarls and cursing. The instances were few and far between, thankfully, and after a half an hour their underground journey came to an end at the bottom of a ladder.
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“You didn’t mention there’d be any climbing involved.” Rali crossed her arms over her chest and glared suspiciously up at the ladder.
“I thought it’d be best to wait to tell you. You know, limit the complaining to the least amount possible. Now, do me a favor and hold the lantern. I’ve got to go check for Novera’s signal.” Briony pressed the lantern into Rali’s hands before scuttling up the wooden ladder with practiced ease. Although the worn wood appeared rather old and somewhat rickety, it held strong against the faun’s weight. Oralia only hoped it would extend her the same courtesy.
Metal hinges opened and closed above them with a soft creak, sending down a small cascade of loose dirt. Dingy light from the outside filtered down for a few seconds before Briony snapped the secret door shut behind her. Oralia was content to wait in silence. The same could not be said for her dwarf companion.
“Alright, now that she’s gone, I’m gonna say it.” Rali twisted around to look at Oralia with disbelief dancing in her dark eyes. “How the fuck did we miss this? An entire tunnel system for moving witches in and out of the realm and we never noticed?”
“How would we have known?”
“Just look at the place, Oralia! It’s not your small-time operation. This thing’s elaborate.”
Oralia could not help but smirk at Rali. “Are you upset they did not invite you into their secret tunnel system sooner?”
“I’m just saying we spent a whole lot of time around Faris. I thought we’d achieved the status of friends by the end there, actually. And not once did the little bugger mention any of this!”
“I suspect there is a lot about the Belfast family we do not yet know.” Including whether they would offer information on Faris’s whereabouts. Traitor to the realm or not, there was still the sticky issue that Trant and Novera held Oralia personally responsible for the death of their daughters. It would be nice if Faris had cleared up that misconception prior to fleeing the territory, but she wouldn’t hold her breath on the matter.
The squeak of rusted hinges sounded once more. “It’s clear,” Briony whispered from above. “Leave the lantern behind.”
Rali’s uneasy gaze shifted from the ladder to Oralia and back again. She stepped dutifully aside. “Bosses first.”
“To be clear, you want me to climb ahead of you? So that if the ladder gives out you cushion my fall? Am I understanding that correctly, Ralizak?”
“Oh no, no, no,” Rali clucked with a simple shake of her head. “You see, I’m going to be standing back a ways. That way if the unthinkable were to happen, help will be administered immediately and, most importantly, not flattened in the process.”
“I feel so much better about this already.” Oralia tested her weight against the first rung. So far so good. The rest of the climb was pleasantly uneventful except for the step that snapped in half about midway up. Oralia had caught herself on the rung below it and, after a few steadying breaths, continued all the way to the open hatchway. The little wooden door was open, allowing a glimpse of the dark, star speckled sky between the treetops above.
Oralia heaved herself free of the hatch door, grateful that her wide shoulders and hips managed to pass through without a whole lot of undignified wriggling. Briony sat in the tall grass beside the entrance, waiting for her.
“The loud one?” the faun asked, quirking an eyebrow at Oralia.
A tentative glance back down the shaft confirmed Oralia’s suspicions. “It might be a few minutes.” Had it not been for the ‘no lone martyr shit’ rule, she would have considered telling Rali to stay behind and await their return. Knowing doing so would only result in more shouting, Oralia settled into the cool grass alongside Briony and waited for the dwarf’s eventual arrival.
Rali emerged several minutes later, muttering unintelligible curses under her breath as she fought to pull herself free of the hatch. “Should…have…been… Sascha,” was the only part Oralia was able to make out. The dwarf pulled herself all the way over the lip and slumped face-first onto the ground with a whimpered groan.
“Are we finished with the dramatics yet?” Briony asked. “Novera can only stay out so long before someone notices she’s missing.”
“We could go and you can catch up,” Oralia offered.
“Over my dead body!”
“To be clear, I’m not hauling anyone’s dead body anywhere,” Briony said. “The best you can hope for is a shallow grave and a nice bed of moss over the top to decompose you quicker.”
A toothy smile split across Rali’s dirtied face as her gaze shifted from Briony back to Oralia. “Now hear me out, boss. I know you keep saying we’re out of the game and no more faithful followers, and yada, yada, yada, but this one’s got real potential. She just talked about dumping my body without even batting an eye.”
“Most people would be concerned by that notion, Ralizak.”
“Come on. At least let me swap her for the two dingleberries. Briony’s worth twice what they are put together.”
“I don’t know who or what the ‘dingleberries’ are, but I’m good, thank you. Now let’s get a move on.”
Briony led them through the new patch of dark forest at a fast walk. She would stop from time to time, her large ears moving up and down as she listened for sounds too soft for Oralia to hear. After several starts and stops, she delivered them into a thicket. From a distance, the large patches of gnarled, twisted branches appeared impenetrable. Briony proved this was nothing more than a cleverly arranged illusion the moment she turned and slipped in through a hidden entrance.
The faun weaved her way through the tangled maze with the sort of confidence that came from having done so many times before. Each time Oralia thought they’d hit a dead end, Briony would duck to the side, revealing yet another hidden passage. At last, they reached the center where a cloaked figure stood awaiting them.
A subtle hand gesture from Novera signaled for Briony to scurry off again, likely to keep watch. At least that’s what Oralia hoped it meant. She tilted her head for Rali to do the same.
“What? Got a crick in your neck, boss? Trekking underground bent in half will do that to you, I suppose.”
“Go keep Briony company, please.” Oralia looked to the dark canopy above with an exasperated groan. To her surprise, she saw something unexpected hidden away amongst the gnarled branches.
“Oh, you mean recruit her,” Rali said with a wink so blatant it was practically audible. “Say no more. I’m on it.”