Chapter 70: LOVER'S LUCK

Encountering a tall grate along the lefthand wall, Risens knew he had reached his destination. The thin metal bars were spaced wide though the openings were still too thin to allow his to slip through. A narrow iron door was set into a tick metal frame in the center. He wrinkled his nose, thinking of anything beyond what he touched as he picked the lock that held it shut. The rusted metal grated screamed as it granted his passage.

Risens heart raced as the noise reverberated through the tunnels. For several minutes he remained frozen in place, like a statue guarding the hidden entrance to some vile smelling dungeon waiting to see if there was ny response to the unintended noise. Only the muffled sloshing of liquid returned his call.

Chiding himself for the error, he slipped through the narrow opening following he darkness of the fetid path onward. He tread carefully as he moved. A few dozen meters in he reached the first of the traps set among the gloom of the sewers. There was little light save for the faint refections of a dim source in the distance, hut to his trained eyes, the shimmering thread pulled taut across the tunnel was clear.

Ducking carefully under the thin tripwire, he noted the devious spike set into what appeared to be natural divots in the wall staggered in both height an positioning and spread across several meters, it would be nearly impossible to avoid all of the barbs. He expected that each was poisoned to some degree. He had a mind to set off the trap, to frustrate the will of whomever had set it, though he expected its response would not be with spike alone. No doubt the warning would be heard throughout Excelsior, forcing his task to another time.

With a frustrated shake of his head he continued on through the sewer. Over the next few hundred paces he stepped over, ducked under and dodged all manner of traps. He honored the charred sacrifices of the rats that had given away the fiery pressure plate that would have scalded his skin at best. He left their crispy, ashen corpses as a warning for his possible return.

It was the pale blue glow of the night filtering into the tunnel ahead that alerted him to the next change. The awful stench that had assaulted his senses had noticeably changed as the light increased. At first only hints of the floral aroma left a lingering note in the stench, though it swelled with every step. Risens slowed his pace as the darkened silhouettes of another gate rose in his path. The slight squishing of his feet on the grimy stone was disguised beneath the gurgling and slapping of the vile solution that sloshed along the pit. Peering through the gate he noted the glow of the moon and stars were diffused as they entered through a pair of tall windows. The engineers of Excelsior, in a never-ending quest to keep their pampered nobility from being forced to deal with the foul realities of lie had hidden the entrance in a small, conspicuous building along the center of the rear wall. The floral scent here was almost as sickening as the sewage, overpowering his nose to point that he could taste it on the back of his mouth with every cautious breath.

That the sewers weren’t trapped was of little surprise to him, though he anticipated he wouldn’t make it through the small building without encountering at least one. The lock that prevented his egress here was on the opposite side of the bars, though that in itself presented little difficulty. It was only moments before he hefted the heavy steel lock from the catch.

Risens was surprised that bars and lock itself were as clean as they were, though the more he thought about it the more it made sense. To the best of their ability, every facet of this chamber had been cleaned, likely with regularity, the aroma of flowers, clearly mage augmented by some means utilized to prevent the chance encounter of unsettling aromas reaching the noses of the nobility. The hinges of the gate here were free from rust, looking almost as if they’d been greased in the recent past.

Slipping into the chamber, Risens found himself in a pit roughly a few meters wide and perhaps a head taller than himself. The ladder built into the wall was astonishingly clean for which he was incredibly thankful. Ascending carefully, the room above was not much larger than the pit. A walkway of a meter or so stretched out around three sides of the opening. Set against the wall of the grounds, one side was made of polished stone, while the others were simple carefully laid brick with a pair of tall windows on either side. A few levers, likely to control the flow into the tunnel sat beside the single exit but beyond that the small room contained nothing of note.

Moving quickly to the door, he reached out for the handle, drawing it back quickly as the tingle of magic registered in his fingers. He’d knew in a heartbeat that he’d found one of the interior wards at last. That the alarm came from the outside of the door, he expected that it was not lethal. The traps set in the tunnel were clearly designed to kill ir at least main, this would likely be purely auditory in response.

Forgoing the expected exit, he turned to the windows that dominated much of the wall on either side of the chamber. Looking through their lightly frosted panes, he could see neither tripwires nor feel the expected residual buzz of magic that stained the air. The lock was a simple metal twist, though it showed clear signs of age. One look at the rusted hinges convinced him that it hadn’t been opened in ages.

Making a quick circuit of the windows revealed the similar level of corrosion over the hinges. It seemed that it would be a natural alarm that threatened to give away his presence here. Smashing the window would be far too loud and far too easy to note, even in the darkness. Perhaps he could cut out the entire panel. Risens reached for one of his steel blades, forgoing the inevitable insults if he dared use the talons for such a menial, bloodless task when the thought stopped his hand.

He shifted his hand instead to his hidden breast pocket removing a vial of the healing salve he’d collected before leaving Tawny’s clinic. The conversations continued to prove informative and if this worked, invaluable. 

Risens had used lard and grease to silence the protest of hinges in the past, though he’d never contemplated using the excruciating salve. He gritted his teeth as the potent concoction alerted him to the presence of small scratches on his finger though the trivial wounds healed rapidly and the pain ebbed. Rubbing the salve on the hinges produced a reaction that was equally surprising.

Where the healing salve touched the rust, it hissed softly producing a tiny tendril of steam. The rough bubbles of dried corrosion cracked as flaked off, leaving only the metal, tarnished with age below. Dripping a small measure on both hinges and the latch, he watched as the corrosion that had built up from years of disuse and exposure to the damp fetid air of the sewer released its hold.

“Tawny, you’re a genius,” he whispered to himself as he gently tested the lock. Beyond the slight jingle of the loose metal as it rapped softly against the glass, it moved silently.

Risens held his breath as he tested the window. Free from the rust the hinges moved as if they’d been freshly made and greased. Unflavored by the overpowering floral aroma mixing with the vile odor of the sewers ,the fresh night air was a relief as if rushed into the small building. Hidden in the shadows of the night, he slipped out of the open window, dropping gently into the bushes that disguised the outbuilding.

The progress of the patrols that circled the walls was simple to follow. With a mageLight in hand, each shined like a beacon as they followed their established track. The cone of light that stretched out in front of them served as easy marker for their vision. He shook his head at the relative absurdity of the behavior. For one’s tasked with protecting the charges within during the darkness of the night, destroying one’s own night vision was like breaking your own blade before stepping into a sword fight. It might work to quell the adventurous noble bend on some sort of nighttime debauchery, yet was laughable to any seasoned denizen of the night.

The rear of the main building was a few hundred meter was. It was partially illuminated by the various lights burning on its elaborate facade and from the lights within, though there were more than enough shadowed gaps in the light for him to find easy access. The attention to detail on the exterior of the wall, the smoothed stone, the vicious traps, all had seemingly been abandoned within the walls for the sake of opulence. Even from afar, he knew the decorative columns and wall would provide ready handholds for him to access the upper levels.

There was no straight path from where he’d exited to the main building. The tent was likely a temporary addition, erected for some event in the coming days. With the moonlight bathing the open grounds between his position and the structure, it would be too risky making the trek in the open. He was skilled, though his distraction and overconfidence had led him to fall into far too many pitfalls over the past several days. With the advent of his Brands, the discovery of the Roost and the attempts on his life the distractions had almost cost him his life.

There were time when he felt less of the King’s Rightmaker and more of the amateur, beaten, molded into the killer he was today.

A few hundred meters to his right an unexpectedly large group of guards patrolled the interior of the grounds, the wide lances of their mageLights combing the surrounding gardens. Remaining here in the shadows was an option though it would leave him exposed if any ventured toward the concealed entrance to the sewer. He’d watched their lazy patrol from the rooftop, yet their numbers had grown since the last time he’d noted their circuit. The trees in would likely be the most secure location.

Risens was in no rush to complete his task as there were still days left before his expected report, or perhaps new of his demise would reach the King. He would finish his quest this night, though this was a mission of stealth, not destruction. Finesse was needed over the blade.

A narrow track ran along the edge of the wall, snaking gently along the sloping edge of the pond. Tall, thick sections of reeds lined the edge closest to the wall, while beyond them, several benches were spaced evenly between low rows of flowering hedges. Following the shadowed path, Risens slowed as he entered the grove nestled in the corner of the wall.

 Easing under the cover of the trees he paused behind the wide, knotted trunk of an oak. He was lost from the view of the guards patrolling above, yet there was no telling if any lurked inside the stand. The paved stone pathway curved into the darkness as it followed the waving edge of the water. The guards trailing his progress across the grounds passed the sewer entrance without raising any alarm. Their path carried them around the interior of pond, opposite where he’d slipped into the woods.

Risens noted the sound, the low, yet sporadic moaning that pulled through the trees. At first he thought it was the distorted whispering of the wind, yet the night around him was still. Easing into the woods, the noises became clear. Peaking around the edge of a tree, he located the source.

A pair of wine bottles lay empty on their sides, their accompanying glassed drained too of their liquid. Likely entwined in forbidden carnal pleasure, a young couple had foregone their inhibitions. He was reclined on a bench, his pants around his ankles while she hovered over him, her dress covering most of his body. Risens was about to sneak by, to leave the lovers their escapades when an erratic passionate spasm of his leg sent one of the empty goblets flying through the air. The sound of the glass shattering on the stone ripped like thunder across the grounds.

The lights of the patrolling guards shifted directly toward the trees.