Gustin scanned the darkening sky. A distant howl made him start and remind Sophraea, "We should get moving."
"We need to get out of here," said Sophraea to Feeler. "Stunk's men are following us."
"Stunk! Some messenger came from him earlier, demanding that your father give up the family ledger. Astute sent him right back to Stunk with some hard words, but the fellow made all sorts of threats."
Feeler continued, "Then Leaplow caught some of his men trying to climb over the graveyard wall and a pack of your brothers and cousins went after them."
"We saw Leaplow, he's safe enough in the Thief s Knot," Sophraea told them.
The shouts and sounds of armored men echoed behind them.
Feeler turned back to the open tomb door. "We'd do better underground. We can lose them in the tunnels."
"Go through a tomb?" Gustin asked.
"With the gate closed, I think we should."
Sophraea and Gustin followed Feeler. The round tomb's floor was mostly circular staircase, leading down under the earth. A few glowing lights provided a dim illumination.
"Who is buried here?" whispered Gustin.
"It feels empty," said Sophraea.
Above them, Fish pulled the door firmly shut with a clang and then ratded down the stairs behind him, his shovels and other tools clicking in their shoulder straps.
"Nobody's in here. Belongs to a family buried outside," said Feeler. He took the lead down the stairs. "There's a portal at the bottom and a door into the long tunnels running toward the wall."
"Maybe we could take the portal," said Sophraea as they reached the tiny room at the bottom of the stairs. A polished dais of amber marked the magical exit.
Feeler shook his head. Fish nodded in agreement.
"Why not?" asked the confused Sophraea.
"Only one way out and one way back. There's a wolf with them, right?"
"Yes, big gray thing," said Gustin.
"Lycanthrope," said Feeler with conviction.
"A werewolf?" Sophraea suddenly thought she knew who it was.
"That doorjack, the one with the all-body beard," said Gustin echoing her thoughts.
"Stunk's been employing some strange ones," said the man with tentacles and no irony. "There's been talk in some of the taverns where we go:"
Fish nodded and grinned to reveal his double row of sharp pointy teeth.
"We had a couple of offers," Feeler added. "High pay too. But we told them we were loyal to the Carvers."
Fish pulled up the heavy wooden door on the other side of the little room. Just outside it, one of the gravediggers lanterns swung from an iron hook. Fish fetched it down and lighted it with his tinder.
"If we go this way, we may lose them," Feeler said, gesturing them through the door.
"Or lead them back to Dead End House," Sophraea protested. "I know the basement door is guarded, but will it be strong enough to resist a full assault?"
"There's another portal along here," said Feeler, hurrying them down the long tunnel. "It comes and goes with the tide."
Fish made a gulping sound, a glugging deep in his throat.
"Tide's on the turn," said Feeler. "We should be able to slide past, but if Stunk's bullies follow, they won't like it."
"They'll be sucked in?" said Gustin with a lively tone of interest.
"It's not real obvious," said Feeler. "When it comes up, it just looks like a mud puddle stretching across the tunnel floor."
Sophraea stared uneasily at the damp mud under her feet. "Are we close to it?"
"Almost there." Feeler stopped and signaled Fish to go forward. "If the tide is in, better that he steps into it than us. He can breathe underwater."
"Where does this portal go?" asked Sophraea, who disliked Stunk's guards intensely but didn't necessarily want to murder them.
"Most turn up outside the city walls, on the beach," said Feeler. "I've known some halflings to jump in to escape the City Watch, but they say it isn't pleasant, you're usually up to your knees in muck and seaweed from the drop. And there's been talk that one or two landed far out in the water and had to swim in."
Sophraea took a deep breath. "I can swim if I have to."
"I haven't ever been through a portal," Gustin murmured. His eyes were wide and shining in the lantern's light. He stirred the mud with his foot. "It's just the sort of adventure that the guidebook promised that you'd find in Waterdeep."
"There are pleasanter portals," Sophraea told him. "And I'd rather not end up in the bay."
"We have a little time," Feeler assured her. Fish had cleared the perilous part of the passage and waved them forward down the long tunnel, signaling that it was still safe. Sophraea could barely see his lantern bobbing far ahead of them.
As they ran toward the scaly gravedigger, the ground began to hum and shiver under their feet. The wet earth sucked at their feet, as if reluctant to let them proceed. The air reeked with the smell of salt water.
"Faster," said Feeler, stretching out his legs. "Tide's coming in."
Gustin snapped off some rattling words, grabbing at Sophraea with one hand and Feeler with the other. Their magical speed created a breeze that made Sophraea's skirts and curls stream out behind her.
She heard a loud shout and then a howl echoed down the passageway.
"Stunk's bullies are in the tunnel!" she warned the others.
As abrupdy as it began, Gustin's burst of speed ran out. Sophraea felt the power drop off immediately. Suddenly her feet seemed incredibly slow, as if she struggled through glue. Each step took enormous effort. Each time she lifted a foot, she heard the mud beneath her soles give a popping sound.
"Come oh, come on," Feeler cried, lunging toward Fish.
The other gravedigger stretched out his arms, ready to snatch them to safety.
With a leap, Gustin cleared the steps leading up to the solid rock floor. He hauled on Sophraea's arm and Fish caught her other hand. She felt her toes touch mud, sticky and thick, holding her back. Fish and Gustin yanked. Pain shot through her shoulder joints. And then between them, the two swung her to safety.
Sophraea sank to her knees with a gasp.
Behind them, the tunnel began to glow with aquamarine phosphorescence. Stunk's startled men could be clearly seen. Already the floor beneath their feet was shining wet and the tang of rotting seaweed filled the tunnel.
The mud stirred and then parted, and something huge and white and scaled swam momentarily both across the floor and in the floor. Then the salty scent of the open sea filled the air.
Stunk's men tried to turn and run, but the mud caught them. The air shimmered around them. With an awfulgioop, fighter after fighter was sucked down into the open portal.
The surface rippled with their passing and then was smooth and still, gleaming wetly under the luminescent glow ofthe tunnel walls.
Only the werewolf escaped being pulled under. Faster than the armored men, the beast raced through the tunnel and launched himself into the air at Sophraea.
From where she kneeled on the solid stone step, still gasping for breath, Sophraea saw a mouthful of huge teeth bearing down on her. The gigantic paws reached for her. Behind her, she heard Gustin and the others shout. Light flashed on the outstretched claws.
Her heart pounded. Her breath stuck in her throat. She sat back on her heels and tried to stand but her legs felt too numb. She'd never make it, never get to her feet in time to run. Her damp fingers dug into the wicker handle of her basket. For an endless moment, she stared, horrified. And then she reacted.
With her own yell bouncing off the walls, Sophraea swung the basket loaded with bricks. It smacked into the terrible beast's nose.
The werewolf tumbled back onto the quicksand floor of the tunnel.
Another gioop and he was gone.
Absolutely breathless, Sophraea turned to face her friends. They stared back with an expression akin to awe or maybe it was surprise.