It had been almost three hours since they had left Arron behind when Lewis suddenly pulled Emily down behind a large pile of wood in a dark alleyway. With one hand over her mouth, he pointed upward. Looking up, they watched as two archers walked across one of the wooden bridges between the houses on either side of the alleyway.

When he was sure that they were gone, he took his hand away from her mouth. ‘Are you okay?’ he whispered.

‘Fine,’ she replied. ‘Just surprised.’

‘That was too close,’ Lewis said as he pulled out the small map of the city from his pocket. It had been given to him when he first started his patrol for the guard. On it was a copy of all the routes that the groups of archers would take during their six-hour patrol. Working on the basis that the patrol routes were the same for every shift, Lewis had been able to guide them through the city without being seen by any of the archers.

Even without having to deal with the archers, it had been difficult enough to find a way through the streets without being spotted by any of the guards patrolling on the ground. On several occasions, one of them pulled the other aside when a guard seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

It had been slow progress, which often ended in them having to double back a couple of streets to avoid a pair of archers. At last, though they were close enough to the edge of the city that they could see the huge wall that surrounded three-quarters of the city, the remaining part of the city was blocked in by the mountain range that the castle had been built into.

‘How much further do we have to go?’ Emily asked as Lewis helped her up again.

‘Not far,’ Lewis replied as he checked the map one more time before starting off in the direction they had come from. ‘The closer we get to the wall, the more patrols there are. That’s why we had to double back a couple of times.’

Opening his pocket watch, he checked the time against the map again. He had been doing the same thing so often for the last three hours that his thumb was beginning to ache from the repetitive motion of flicking the lid open.

‘Where are we heading exactly?’ Emily asked as she looked at the map over his shoulder, trying to make sense of the streets that were covered in the red lines that marked the patrol routes.

‘About five streets from here, there are a series of large pipes that let water flow from the reservoir outside the walls into the pump building,’ Lewis explained as he pointed out the large square box on the map.

‘Why are we going there, though?’ Emily said. ‘How are we supposed to get out of the city if the pipes are filled with water?’

‘Alongside one of the pipes is a service tunnel that runs from the pump building under the wall,’ Lewis said as he directed her back into the main street. ‘When I first started my patrol, I was on the route that the two archers above us are on. It runs right across the roof of the pump building, and I remember seeing the entrance to the service tunnel.’

‘How do we get into the service tunnel without being seen, though?’ Emily asked.

‘Very, very quietly,’ Lewis whispered, nudging her behind a pair of women and ducking his head as a pair of guards wandered past looking the other way. ‘This way.’

Waiting until the two women had moved a couple of paces ahead of them, Lewis and Emily slipped into a deserted side alley. When they were halfway down the alley, a large horn sounded.

‘What was that?’ Emily asked quickly.

‘The shift change for the pump house workers,’ Lewis replied, pulling Emily into a small alcove between two buildings. ‘As soon as the workers have passed us, we need to run, okay?’ Silently, she nodded as the sound of chatter and footsteps filled the alleyway.

Holding his breath, Lewis watched as what seemed to be a never-ending group of workers passed their hiding spot. Looking at his pocket watch one last time, he waited a few extra seconds after the sound of the workers had disappeared. Poking his head out, he watched as a couple of stragglers hurried to catch up. As soon as they had passed, he slipped out of the alcove, pulling Emily out behind him.

‘This way,’ he whispered quickly as he darted up the alleyway, ushering Emily into a narrow gap between the huge pump building and the house beside it before slipping in sideways himself.

They had barely gotten into the gap when the sound of more voices came from the far end of the alley. Just as the second group of workers drew level with the gap, Lewis turned and ducked his head, hoping that his black clothes would hide him in the darkness.

Hardly daring to breathe, he heard a couple of the workers stop close by. ‘What is it?’ one asked loudly.

‘I thought I saw something move down there,’ another replied quietly.

‘Don’t move,’ Lewis breathed.

‘What are you talking about?’ the first worker asked again.

‘I thought I saw someone,’ the second said adamantly. ‘Should we check it out?’

‘It’s been a long shift; you’re probably just tired and think you’re seeing things,’ the first said reassuringly.

Stolen novel; please report.

As the two workers began complaining about their long shift, they moved away. Breathing a sigh of relief, Lewis nudged Emily in the side. ‘Let’s go.’

In silence, they shuffled down the gap between the two buildings, trying not to cough, sneeze, or do anything that might make any noise to attract someone’s attention. As they reached the end of the gap, Lewis nudged Emily again to stop her.

‘Can you see anyone out there?’ Lewis whispered.

‘I don’t think so,’ she replied, leaning forward to check.

‘Do you see those bushes next to that tree?’ Lewis asked. ‘When I say, I want you to run over to them and crouch between the tree and the bush, On the other side of the tree, you’ll see a line of big pipes. All of them, apart from one, run straight into the pump house. When you see me coming towards you, run to the open pipe and get inside.’

‘What do I do when I get to the pipe?’ Emily asked quietly.

‘Wait for me there,’ Lewis explained as he slipped out his pocket watch. ‘The pump house patrols this area every few minutes, so we have to move between patrols so we don’t get caught.’

‘Okay, just say when,’ Emily replied.

Angling the watch so that he could get the little light in the gap to land on the face of it, he watched as two guards walked past on the far side of the tree. As soon as they disappeared out of sight, he nudged Emily. ‘Go!’ he whispered as he began counting in his head.

Without waiting another second, she slipped out of the gap. Keeping low to the ground, she moved as quickly as she could towards the tree, disappearing inside the bush. Shuffling forward slightly, he saw a branch of the bush twitch downward as Emily’s blue eyes appeared.

Tucking the pocket watch away, Lewis closed his eyes as he counted. Fifty five...fifty six...fifty seven. The guards should have reached the last pipe by now and turned to come back.

Eighty-nine...ninety...ninety-one. Opening his eyes, Lewis saw the guards coming back. One hundred and three, one hundred and four, and one hundred and five With a nod to where he knew Emily was watching, he slipped out of the gap, scurrying towards the bushes just as she had done. As he crouched down in the bushes, he saw her disappear into the pipe, becoming almost invisible in the shadows.

Trying to stay still as the thorns on the bush pricked at his skin, he began counting again. With a smile, he watched as the guards passed him at the same point as they had last time.

Just as the guards were coming back, a voice called out to them. Through the leaves on the bush, Lewis saw a third guard approaching.

‘One of the workers who just ended his shift said he thought he saw something in the gap between the two buildings; have you seen anything?’ He asked, stopping just short of the tree.

‘Nothing so far,’ one of the guards replied, the other nodding beside him.

‘Keep an eye out. They think that girl who murdered King Vandemark might be trying to get out of the city,’ the man insisted. ‘Apparently four guards turned up dead last night as well.’

‘Great Precursors,’ one of the guards muttered. ‘They think that was her as well?’

‘Seems that way,’ the other man muttered. ‘Keep an eye out and let me know if you see anything.’

‘We will,’ the guard replied.

As the other man strode away, the two guards turned to each other. ‘I hope she doesn’t turn up on our shift.’

‘You and me both, brother,’ replied the other. ‘I don’t fancy going the same way as those guards.’

As the guards slowly moved off again, Lewis breathed a sigh of relief as he resumed counting. When he reached one hundred and five again, he slipped out of the bush, sprinting towards the pipe. Ducking inside, he found Emily crouched down with her back pressed up against an iron grate.

‘What happened?’ she whispered.

‘Not now,’ Lewis replied quietly as he pulled one of the lockpicks out of his pocket.

Pushing Emily to the side slightly, he felt around for the lock on the grate, carefully inserting the lock pick into the keyhole when he found it. In the dark, he tried to manipulate the lock into opening.

During training for the guard, it had always been one of the skills he struggled with the most. That had been doing it in the light as well. There was a soft crack as the lockpick snapped in the keyhole. Tucking the broken lockpick into his pocket, he pulled out the other one.

Muttering a prayer to The Great Precursors, he inserted it into the lock, gently manipulating it until he found the right spot. Turning it slowly, he felt the pressure in the locking mechanism as he forced it to open.

With a soft click, the small door in the grate swung open, with Emily reaching through the bars to stop it from hitting the side of the pipe.

‘Good catch,’ Lewis whispered as he tucked the lockpick away again, crouching awkwardly through the door.

‘Thanks,’ she replied as she followed him through the door. Pausing, Lewis pushed the door back shut again so that it would still look like it was locked. Outside the pipe, he saw the legs of the pair of guards pass by slowly. When they had gone, he turned to Emily.

‘Pass me that lamp,’ he whispered, pointing to the lamp that sat on a small ledge behind her. Taking the lamp from her, he began to shuffle further into the pipe. ‘I’ll light it when we’re further inside,’ he explained when she didn’t move. ‘We don’t want anyone to see the light.’

‘Okay,’ she replied, shuffling after him.

After a good five minutes of awkward shuffling, Lewis stopped, pulling the matches out of his pocket. Setting the lamp down carefully, he felt around for the small hatch, opening it as widely as he could. Striking one of the long matches quickly, he watched as the flame flared up, casting a weak glow around them. Carefully, he pushed the match through the hatch, holding it to the wick until it caught alight.

Blowing the match out and tossing it aside, he carefully shut the hatch, picking up the lamp again. As he held it up, he heard Emily sigh with relief.

‘I can’t believe it,’ she whispered. ‘This time yesterday I was having lunch in the castle, and now I’m crawling around in a dark pipe.’

‘I wasn’t expecting to be here either,’ Lewis replied as he began to move forward again.

Falling back into silence, they continued moving. Lewis stopped twice to inspect a new pipe when they reached a junction before returning to their original pipe. It wasn’t until they reached the third junction that Lewis came back to direct Emily into the new pipe.

‘It looks like there’s light at the end of the tunnel,’ Lewis said when she hesitated slightly.

‘Do you know where this comes out?’ she asked, falling down to step beside him.

‘It should come out somewhere near the reservoir,’ he replied as the light drew closer by the second. ‘Hopefully there won’t be anyone around." Once we get somewhere safer, we can stop for something to eat.’

‘I’m starving,’ Emily agreed.

With only the sound of their footsteps echoing around them, Lewis looked at the exit to the pipe. He could just make out what looked like a pile of snow, sparkling in the weak sunlight.

He noted that it was now early afternoon as he checked his pocket watch for the first time since they had entered the pipe. Between almost getting caught by the guards at the pump house and the long, silent walk, it had taken them nearly an hour to get to the other side of the wall.

With a sigh of relief, he saw the metal gate at the end of the tunnel. They were almost free.