Chapter 29 — Haverin City Sewers

Xyn and Klode watched the tunnel ahead as Alennil finished his divination.

“She’s still alive,” the diviner announced. “And a fair distance in that direction.”

Xyn glanced back to see Alennil pointing ahead at an angle slightly upward to the right with one of Jessi’s practice knives, which was a relief since it meant they were searching on the correct side of the river. Also, considering this was where the wastewater flowed out into the river, they were likely at the sewer’s lowest level.

“What can you tell us about the sewers in that direction, Klode?” Yillian quietly asked as the gem dangling from his wrist provided an eerie swaying light in the tunnel, making Klode look as if shadows were relentlessly trying to devour him.

The reply from their senior Society member was likewise carefully subdued. “The tunnels generally follow the ground contour as they slope upward away from the river, but there are a few places with large water-reservoir halls or multiple levels of burial catacombs above the sewer tunnels. I think there might be a catacomb that way.”

“Great. So, we’re going to burial tunnels where vampires might live,” Alennil complained.

“What sort of creatures can we expect to encounter?” Yillian further prompted.

“Main things we’ll encounter down here are rats, bats, and slimes,” Klode answered. “Mostly, they’ll leave us alone. Spider and giant buzzer larva infestations also happen from time to time, and the duke usually sends fire mages to take care of such problems.”

“Spiders…,” Alennil breathed out in dismay.

Yillian didn’t look much happier to hear that either. “Alright. Let’s get moving and hopefully finish the rescue before nightfall. Xyn and Klode, you take the lead. I’ll follow. Then Alennil. Hoss will watch the rear to make sure nothing sneaks up on us from behind.”

There was no objection from their two new companions to Yillian’s directing even though he was the more junior member, and they began traversing the algae-stained and moss-draped tunnels that followed the paths carved out by the roads and buildings above. Occasional channels were recessed into the cut-stone walls where grates let in water and wastes from above. Through the grates, the sounds of the city above could be heard, and a faint evening light still fought against the tunnel gloom.

Slimes could be heard blooping in water that lazily flowed through the tunnels and tended to collect around where waste came down from the grates above. Whether walking in the water would be better than stepping along the slippery ledges on either side, Xyn didn’t want to know.

Even the trickle of sewer air that Xyn let through his aura was enough for him to continually scrunch up his now small, human-shaped nose in displeasure. He was surprised that the sewers, and the city itself, still managed to smell so foul even with the significant presence of waste-disposal slimes. Just how unsanitary were humans?

Klode was right, and the slimes and vermin didn’t bother their group as they advanced with Alennil renewing his divination periodically to confirm they were still progressing in the right direction through the interconnected maze of tunnels. Eventually, night settled in, and Alennil added a dim light of his own to that provided by Yillian’s gem.

Xyn continued to sample the air from time-to-time just to be safe, and as they drew near where Alennil was predicting the branch master’s daughter to be, a faint smell tickled his nose. He couldn’t help pulling in a deeper sampling, letting in more of the sewer foulness but also more of that musk that made his heart pound and blood pulse. The source of that heady scent... if he could get closer, he’d nip at her neck and shoulders and-

“Xyn, you seem kind of stiff all of a sudden,” Yillian whispered. “Notice something?”

(!)

Not sure he could restrain himself if he looked Yillian’s way, Xyn kept his gaze fixed on the passage ahead, and desperately circulated Order essence while trying to calm his suddenly inflamed passions. “...fine. I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

Had he noticed? Human parts were so inconvenient! So embarrassing!

“...why would I worry? You’re sure acting strange. What is it?”

“I’d rather not be vampire food if you two don’t mind,” Alennil grumbled.

“Little late for that,” came a cocky voice from behind.

Xyn was already Petal-stepping before the vampire could sink its teeth or anything else into Alennil, and while the vampire’s severed head was still falling to the ground, Xyn swirled up a sound and aura dampening mist to block its death screams.

Alennil leapt back from the still outstretched clawed hand and what he expected to be a fountain of blood, but instead of spurting, the blood evaporated to black mist, leaving behind only a dry powder as the collapsing body desiccated before their eyes.

“I’ll never get used to seeing that,” Alennil muttered, with a hand pressed against his chest and taking slow breaths to ease his fright.

Yillian rushed over to Hoss, who was slumped against the slimy wall, checking for breathing and, presumably, bite marks. After casting some sort of diagnostic spell, Yillian apprised them, “I think he’s fine. Might have been a sleep spell.”

Aura-sensing didn’t reveal anything more threatening than slimes in the immediate vicinity. “Did they hear the fight?” Xyn asked in Klode’s expected direction.

“I’ll check ahead,” Klode offered and his faint presence slipped away into the darkness.

The close call had cleared Xyn’s head, and he quickly used his aura to block out all traces of Master Rethan’s daughter’s scent. Ugh. Maintaining his honor would be more of a trial than expected. Were cat-kin males normally that strongly affected? Was it because of his Human ring? His human companions and Yillian didn’t seem noticeably bothered or had much better control than he expected.

“We were lucky that vampire was overconfident,” Yillian stated as he formed another mandala then uncorked a vial and held it under Hoss’ nose. “And that he was looking to capture at least some of us alive.”

“I don’t recognize him,” Alennil said after finishing his search of the vampire’s possessions. “It’s possible that he’s not a Tower member or was an unremarkable commoner that graduated before I attended.”

“If the vampire infestation has spread outside the Tower, it will be much harder to resolve,” Yillian worried. “We’ll need to update Master Arienos.”

Hoss stirred and groggily pushed the vial away, grumbling, “What the shit stinks so bad?!” before his eyes shot open and darted side-to-side as he verified his situation.

“Good to see you’re back with us, Hoss,” Klode greeted as he stepped back into the light.

“W-what got me?” Hoss worried.

“Vampire magic,” Klode stated. “At least the elf thinks so.”

Hoss nervously felt his neck for bite marks.

Xyn still didn’t understand how the magic went unnoticed. Had the scent been that distracting?

“How is it?” Yillian motioned to the tunnel ahead.

“There’s a rest area for the tunnel maintenance crews. Two guards that I saw. Likely human and don’t seem particularly strong,” Klode reported. “Doesn’t seem that they’ve noticed us yet.”

“It’s already night. Maybe we should hurry before more vampires come along?” Alennil suggested.

The rest seemed in agreement.

“Xyn, we’ll be counting on you to mask our approach. You and Klode will lead the assault,” Yillian instructed. “See if you can take one of them alive but incapacitated.”

“If I can get close enough, my Breath of Sleep might be enough,” Xyn suggested.

Yillian nodded, and they continued along the tunnel.

“Yillian,” Klode whispered back and motioned at mildly glowing etched metal plates set into the tunnel wall on either side of an arched opening.

“Vermin repelling enchantments,” Yillian informed.

Klode motioned for Xyn to follow and the rest to stand by.

Xyn wrapped both Klode and himself in illusionary mist as they approached the archway, a glimpse of an occupied table and chairs could barely be seen inside from the angle they were at.

“Wish we could put up a door to keep the stink out,” one of the guards complained and tossed down his cards causing a small stack of coins to spill over.

“You say that every night,” the other guard reminded and slid his winnings to his side. “And I tell you each time that if we did that, the air would go bad.”

“Bad? Worse than this?” the first scoffed.

“If you mind passing out or dying, yeah.”

Xyn was close enough to see the man stretch his arms above his head, and while the second guard’s view was temporarily blocked, Klode silently slipped into the room that seemed to be lit by only a single torch. The guards didn’t seem to notice, so Xyn continued to listen in as he formed the weave for the technique, hoping to get some useful information.

“No matter how you look at it this job sucks. Even if we can take turns with the women, they’re gross. Nothing like the pretty girls at any of the flower houses.”

“You damn well know a decent girl like that would cost more than you could afford.” The second guard finished reshuffling the cards and began to deal a new hand. “The mages may be creepy as all hells, but the pay is decent and being safe down here beats providing muscle for Kurst or collecting bounties-”

A blade suddenly sprouted from the second guard’s throat. Xyn took that as his cue to activate his Breath of Sleep. The human knocked his chair back as he stood in shock, and he tried to resist the effects of the weave, but the man was nowhere near as strong as Nicolas Arden and soon slumped to the ground unconscious.

Xyn extended his sound-dampening to the whole room as he petal-stepped inside and scanned for threats while the rest of his companions quickly filed into the room.

A cramped cage, sized for a beast or large animal, seized his attention, and at the sight of the cat-kin girl rubbing her ears on the bars with her tail flopped over suggestively, Xyn almost lost control to his primal instincts but stopped himself from drawing the mind-bendingly seductive scent through his aura again.

“Is she... in heat?” Alennil blurted out incredulously as he also noticed the cage’s occupant. “Is that really a thing for cat-kin? She’s sure in a bad way. Got to say, if it didn’t stink so bad down here, I wouldn’t mind helping her out. Heh.”

As useful as the human diviner was, he was definitely an insensitive and honorless scoundrel.

“The boss cat wouldn’t take too kindly to that,” Hoss warned and motioned to the cage. “Besides, there’s a reason Jessi’s in a cage by herself and not the back room.”

Jessi’s ears flicked up at the mentioning of her name. “Hoss! You found me!” The dark-haired cat-kin’s amethyst eyes caught the faint light as they flitted from the large journeyman to Xyn and the others before returning again to Xyn as she rolled to her feet and gripped the cage’s bars. “Is dad not here?”

Hoss shook his head and started to reply but was cut off by the frantic pleading of the other captives.

“Please save us!”

“Let us out!”

“Get us out of here!”

“Help… I need help.”

Xyn’s attention had been focused on Jessi, but he became aghast when he noticed the state of the others.

In a larger cage, one woman’s grotesquely elongated arms reached out through the bars. Several in the cage with her had large lumpy growths and strange deformities.

Others, a mix of adults and children were sitting in two groups, shackled, with some trying to pull the rest to their feet at the realization that they might be rescued. Unlike the caged group, those groups looked to be in better condition, with only a few showing outward animorphic or plant traits. Though, many of the children’s eyes caught the light strangely and some seemed to glow faintly.

Beastkin? Or…

That all of them felt of Chaos essence suggested the more likely and terrible answer. Xyn’s stomach clenched, and his tail whipped against the floor.

“Hoss, is this all of the missing?” Yillian asked over the continuing pleading.

“No, maybe a third of the missing,” Hoss answered with a tightness to his voice. “Unless there’s a similar number in the other room or… this is all that’s left.”

“I’m only sensing two shackled women there,” Xyn reported motioning toward the door.

“More locations would better explain the light security,” Klode added.

Alennil groaned. “It’s going to be a long night.”