As she turned toward the door it swung open. Stepping out into the corridor, she breathed the cleaner air outside with relief. Then her mood darkened again.
Cery isn’t going to like this. But I think he trusts... no, it’s more that he respects Kallen than trusts him... enough to wait and see if these other plans work. That wasn’t the main problem, though. How am I going to keep them fed and undiscovered for weeks – perhaps even months? Someone’s bound to notice something eventually.
She could only hope that, with Jonna’s help, they could prevent that, or for Kallen’s “other avenue” to succeed.
Chapter 12
Spies
“Do you think we should wait until Lilia is with us?” Anyi said as she eyed the roof of the tunnel. Cery lifted his lamp. “It doesn’t look like it’s about to cave in this very moment.” The tunnel was long and Anyi had set a brisk pace. Too brisk. He’d taken advantage of the sagging roof to pause and catch his breath, hoping the others would think he was being cautious. “But then, how do you tell?”
“I don’t know,” Anyi admitted. “I figure it won’t collapse so long as we don’t touch anything. But we shouldn’t hang about.”
Gol made a low noise that suggested they were both crazy. He was regarding the tree roots hanging from the ceiling and matted over the sides of the tunnel with a frown. As he took a step toward it, Cery realised it wasn’t a frown of disapproval but of interest.
Then he saw what Gol had noticed. Light didn’t penetrate beyond some of the roots as it should have. Behind lurked a stubborn darkness. He moved closer then hooked his fingers in the cascade of white roots and pulled gently. They swung forward with no resistance.
They’re not attached to anything. There’s a hole behind here.
“Remember what I said about not touching any...” Anyi began as he pulled the roots aside. “Oh.”
The entrance to another tunnel opened before them. The same deteriorated brickwork held back the earth and supported the roof. He glanced at her and smiled as she came closer and peered inside, eyes bright.
“Now that’s a bit of luck,” she remarked. “If we have to make a run for it, we can slip through here. So long as whoever was chasing us didn’t see us do it they’d never know where we’d gone.”
“Want to explore?” Cery asked.
“Of course.”
Cery looked back at Gol. “Stay here. You hear anything like a cave-in, go get Lilia.”
Gol looked like he was about to argue, but then heaved a heavy sigh and nodded. Cery held back the roots so that Anyi could slip through. She moved slowly, lifting her lamp to examine the walls, roof and floor. The passage was in no worse condition than the one they had been following. Parts had deteriorated, but most still looked solid.
As they made their way along it, Cery wondered how Lilia’s conversation with Kallen had gone. They wouldn’t hear from her until the morning. Cery had decided that they should spend the night exploring the passages and considering where they might set their trap for Skellin. Anyi believed they should lure Skellin to the underground rooms near the University, so they could escape to the building. The rooms were the ones Cery had found Anyi and Lilia in. He felt his face warm as he remembered. In the whorehouse he’d grown up in, he’d known women who sought other women’s affections, some forming bonds that lasted many years. It had been one more of many ways that he’d seen people seek pleasure, companionship and love. Yet he also came to realise that he was living in a particularly tolerant world. Outside it were people who did not approve of anything different from their own experience and tastes. And not just people from the higher classes. The underworld was no better or worse.
I wonder if her mother knows. Vesta always enjoyed feeling that she was better than others. She was always looking for something to disapprove of in other people. Sometimes I think the only reason she wanted me was because I was a Thief. It made her feel more important than most other people. Well, it did for a while.
The last thing he wanted Anyi to feel was disapproved of. He certainly didn’t mind her being with Lilia but... He felt a small pang of envy. I once loved a Guild magician, but the only kind of love I got in return was friendship. He shook his head. That sounds peevish. Sonea’s friendship is no small thing, and I did find love elsewhere.
He wondered if Anyi had had many previous lovers, then remembered her story of the one who had betrayed her. Aha. That must be why I never found him. It wasn’t a “him”, it was a “her”.
Anyi gave a little gasp. “Look!” she whispered.
The tunnel ended at a brick wall, but it was no ordinary wall. A familiar mechanism had been attached to the brickwork – the workings of a hidden door. Cery located a brass spy hole cover. It was stiff and green with age, but he was able to force it open. Looking through, he saw only darkness.
“Can’t see anything,” he said.
“Do you want to try opening it?” Anyi asked.
Cery considered. If he let his imagination go where it pleased, it conjured up dangerous prisoners or incarcerated monsters waiting for the chance to be free – killing anything that stood in their path.
More likely it’s another old storeroom. Besides, there’s no lock preventing anyone opening the door from the other side, as far as I can see.
He nodded.
Anyi took the lever and hauled on it, but the door did not budge. Looking closely at the mechanism, Cery saw that it wasn’t rusted. There were black lumps around the joins. He poked at them. They were soft. Probably old oil or grease grown thick with time and dust. Cery took a turn pulling the lever, then they both put their strength into it, but with no effect.
“Go fetch Gol,” Cery said.
He peered through the spy hole again – even tried holding up the lamp and looking through at the same time, but saw nothing but darkness beyond the door. It occurred to him then that maybe the hole was blocked. Digging a pick out of his coat, he poked it through and confirmed there was a void on the other side.
Maybe it’s a trap, set up by Akkarin or someone else long ago. Perhaps for the same reason we want to set traps: to fool and stop pursuers. Who knows what reasons the Guild had, in the past, to dig these tunnels.
The sound of two sets of footsteps approached behind him and he turned. Gol rolled his eyes as he saw the door.
“Can’t leave a mystery unsolved, can you?” he rumbled.
Cery shrugged. With a roll of his eyes, Gol moved to the door and grasped the handle. He pulled once, paused to examine the mechanism, then took the handle again.
“Be carefuclass="underline" you don’t want to pull that wound open,” Anyi said.
Gol stepped back from the lever, then cast about. He moved back down the passage for a short distance and picked something up. As he returned, Cery saw that it was a brick.
“That’ll make a lot of—”
The clang that filled the passage as Gol struck the mechanism was painfully loud.
“—noise,” Anyi finished.
But the shock appeared to have done what Gol intended: break the seal of the old oil. The lever now flexed under his hand. Cery felt his heart beat a little faster as the door swung open. It was heavy: the other side was covered with thin bricks and mortar. The door formed the back of an alcove.
As the light of the lamps penetrated the darkness it illuminated old wooden cupboards and tables. Cery felt his heart sink with disappointment. He wasn’t sure what he had been hoping to see. Hidden treasure, maybe? A better place to hide?