NOVEL NEXT Chapter 29: Sewage
The city of Adelbern was always planned to be the capital city of Denning. As such, it was built with a sewage system meant to support a large population. The maze of tunnels and drainage pipes led to the ocean. People rarely went down into the sewers, only city workers or city officials.
No sane person would have dared to enter that maze.
Thrig stayed close enough to me to be a threat, but far enough away that there was always hope. If I ran, he ran. If I walked, he walked. When I swam through the sewage water, he swam after me. I had no idea if he wanted to kill me or capture me. It was that uncertainty that drove me forward.
Since he had no intention of reaching me before I fainted, I meandered through the empty sewers. I tried to wrack my brain for a way to get away, but nothing came to mind. No matter where I went, he would follow me. All I could do was bide time for the others to either find me or find a way to escape.
Thank the gods, I wasn't without hope. My mandolin—Godgiven? No, it needs a better name than that—seemed immune from the sewage around me. No matter how wet it got, it dried within seconds. Was it a sign that Panacea and Heliotrope were watching over me?
"Maybe an illusion…" I muttered to myself.
I shook my head. Thrig had seen me use illusion magic during our match. Not only that, but he would be able to hear and see me casting any spells. If I hid under the water… The smell repelled me back. It felt like it was seeping into my skin, permanently staining me. Ah well, I still had time to think of a solution.
The walls of the sewer alternated between natural caves and bricks. I saw a few ladders leading up to the surface, but Thrig seemed to speed up whenever I came close. Though I never tested it to be sure, I guessed he would catch me if I tried to climb them. Those brief glimpses of freedom were also the only sources of light I had.
How did I get to this point? What wrong turn had I taken that forced me into a dark, damp sewer? Should I have ignored Zadona's letter calling me to Adelbern? Should I have distanced myself from Valna? Should I have left at the first sign of trouble like Tamara asked? I thought of Arienne and Charlie, waiting for me back in Xalir. Hopefully they were being good for Ma and Pop. Was Henry worried?
"Are you enjoying this?" I asked, calling out to Thrig. He ignored me. "Is this fun for you?"
What time was it? How long have I been down here? My stomach growled. The fight outside the cathedral hadn't taken that long, so it was unlikely I had been here for long. Still, it felt like I had been wandering around forever. What if I just… stopped?
I reached the end of a long corridor I had been walking down. Before I turned the corner, I looked at Thrig and stopped. He paused, hesitating as he readied himself for whatever trick I threw his way. When he realized that I was just watching him, he continued toward me. Part of me wanted to let him catch me and get it over with.
The other part kept me moving.
The endless pace of my march and the unchanging sewer system almost made me bored. Not fully, because I was still being chased by a madman who could kill me at any second. Just enough that my mind began to wander. Maybe it was an early sign of the exhaustion I was beginning to feel. My body couldn't keep moving forever with no goal, it was going to give out.
I wondered if Tom, Zadona's brother, thought about Zadona at all. We had never talked about her. Sometimes he mentioned his other siblings, now off and starting families in other towns, but never Zadona. The Meyer family was always a bit strange, but we got along well. Maybe he wasn't worried about her.
Should I buy goats? My family had always raised cows, but I'd heard that goats were easier to make a profit off of. Selling Ol' Bessy and buying some goats didn't sit right with me, yet I wasn't fully against it either. Wait, where I was again?
The path I was on started to descend deeper into the earth. Memories of the tunnels under the Sapphire Mountains flashed in my head. I was sure I was out of the city limits by now. The lack of any exits for the past few turns told me that. I was worried I would run out of light, but to my surprise, Thrig's axe glowed. It was just enough to see a bit ahead of me.
I wish I had a magic weapon. Oh wait, was my mandolin magical? Duh, of course it was, but I couldn't get it to light up. I wondered if there was a spell for that. Piopus would know.
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I journeyed further into the dark. Thrig followed like a predator hunting his prey. By this point, I had got used to his persistence and was curious to see how far he would follow me. Perhaps he was curious how far I could go. After all, there was little reason for him to follow me for so long. All Trafford had asked him to do was 'take out' my friends. He hadn't told him what to do with me.
Maybe that was it, perhaps he didn't know what to do with me. Thrig was a fighter, a champion of the arena. Magicians weren't uncommon in arena fights, but most only ever fought one or two. My fight against Thrig may have been the first time he ever fought a magician. As such, it made sense he would show some caution.
Or the foul smell was making me crazy. There was no way to know without asking Thrig. Since he had no intention of answering my questions, I was left to my own thoughts. My own stinky thoughts. Man, it smelled so bad. The fact that I was almost getting used to it made me feel even worse.
The walls began to narrow the deeper I went down the path. I was getting worried I would reach a dead end. There were no indications I was getting closer to the ocean. Even if there were, there was no guarantee there would be an exit.
All I could do was keep moving forward. The deeper I went, the more time the others had to recover and make a new plan. And the more time I had to come up with my own plan. Or that's what I would have done, had I been able to think clearly. Smelling sewage for the past hour had turned my brain to mush.
Thrig seemed to be doing well. I wondered if his healing abilities helped him in this scenario. Unlike me, he didn't seem to be getting tired. To pass the time, I played a few songs on my mandolin. Nothing too fancy—Thrig wasn't a paying customer—just enough to keep my mind working.
"Any requests?" I asked Thrig.
He stared back at me. Silent as ever.
"Maybe we'll find a slime monster down here. You ever hear the story of Lars Handler?"
Again, no answer.
"He and his friends were in a sewer much like this one. They stumbled upon the creature and tried to fight it. In the end, Lars lost his life. Is the story true? Eh, I suppose it's a cautionary tale to keep people out of sewage drains. Thoughts?"
The deeper we went, the hotter it became. Water collected on the ceiling and dripped down onto the sewage below. As it heated up, it became steam and rose to the ceiling to start the process over. I felt sweat pool on my body, but I ignored it. As long as I kept going, I would be fine.
"Why do you persist?" asked Thrig, finally breaking his silence.
I was so surprised I almost tripped on a loose stone. "So you can speak. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten how."
He didn't reply.
To be honest, I didn't have a good answer for his question. Sure, the further I got away from the city the safer my friends and family became. But they had already run from Thrig before I came down here. I wanted to go home and see my children, but I could have done that at any time. Beyond Zadona, there was little reason to stay in Adelbern.
Zadona's voice echoed throughout the sewers. "Norman… Come… We're waiting for you…"
I rushed toward the sound with Thrig following close behind. Her voice seemed to come from all sides, but I was sure it was coming from deeper within. There were no more turns, no signs of an exit, only one straight path to follow. The sewage water rose to my knees, making it difficult to move forward.
"Norman…"
"Why do you persist?"
Taking a deep breath, I began playing the song of strength so I could rush to Zadona. My fingers cut themselves on the strings I was playing so fast. Even though my mandolin stayed dry, my fingers were still damp. They slipped off the strings, making me start over several times.
My breath was heavy, my heart racing in my chest. Even with the song of strength, I didn't seem to move any faster. Thrig stayed the same distance, completely stoic except for repeating himself several times. Whenever I looked back, I didn't see his mouth move but I could still hear his voice loud and clear.
Zadona needed my help.
Right?
My legs gave out underneath me. The glow from Thrig's axe swirled around me in a sea of colors. I fell backward into the water, drifting with the current. No matter how hard I tried, my body could no longer move. No clean air, the draining after-effect of the song of strength, and exhaustion hit me all at once.
Thrig grabbed me by my collar and lifted me out of the water. Even in the dim light, I could see his eyes. There was no hatred, no anger, no joy. He wasn't a hunter who had finally caught his prey. No. It reminded me of a parent who had caught their runaway child. A tired look.
As he dragged me out of the sewer, I went in and out of consciousness. Sometimes I was at home with my family, other times I was still running through the sewers. The occasional bump as he dragged me over a step or through shallow water brought me back, but only for a moment. I muttered to myself, begging to be let go and returned to my family.
Before I finally fell unconscious for the final time, he brought me out of the sewers. Sunlight blinded me, but the fresh air gave me a tiny bit of energy. Enough to see where I was going. As it turned out, I hadn't gotten far at all. We were still within the city walls.
Thrig dragged me through the streets until he led me to the castle. Instead of heading inside, he led me around the back to the entrance of the royal dungeons. The same entrance Zadona, Beth, and I had ventured into.
The same dungeons where Gunner was wasting away.
The same place where Trafford was waiting for me.