Warden (13 page)

Chapter 24

The rest of the day passed by in something of a blur. With nothing to really occupy their time, Errol and Jaden basically wandered the city for a few hours, with the latter showing the former all of his favorite spots.

Errol had to admit that – once he got past the filth, the poverty, and the stench – Apolos actually had a lot to offer. The city’s market was like nothing he’d ever seen before, with a startling variety of everything from food to art to clothing.

He also saw street performers displaying their skills: sword swallowers, fire-eaters, jugglers, and more. He even got dragged into one of the acts, allowing himself to be lifted above a strongman’s head.

All in all, it was great fun, despite the fact that Errol was once again the target of pickpockets. (This time however, he was more vigilant, and the two cutpurses who tried their luck with him were left with sprained wrists and broken fingers.) Towards the end of the day, he remembered his promise to bring back something nice for Gale. With that in mind, he stopped by a shop that specialized in making miniature glass figurines. He was on the verge of making a purchase when Jaden stopped him.

“This is one of the more expensive shops,” his friend said. “I can show you where to get better quality at a cheaper price.”

The shopkeeper disagreed vigorously, and before long he and Jaden were involved in some very serious haggling. The negotiations were unlike anything Errol had witnessed before, with allegations of “cheat,” “licensed robbery,” and the like being tossed around. In the end, Jaden got the price down to half of what Errol had originally been quoted.

As they were leaving the shop, Errol thanked Jaden for his help.

“No problem,” Jaden said. “One of the tips to abide by in Apolos is to never accept the first price you’re quoted.” It sounded like sound advice to Errol.

The two young Wardens then headed back to Wellkeep. Once there, they ate a solid dinner and then retired to the guest barracks.

For Errol, it had been a long day, although it had been more mentally draining than physically exhausting. Still, he felt drowsiness coming on, and he was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Moments later, it seemed to Errol, rough hands were shaking him awake. He opened his eyes to find Bander standing over him. One look at the elder man’s face, and Errol knew that there was a problem.

“What is it?” Errol asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Till’s dead,” Bander said emotionlessly.

Chapter 25

As it turned out, Till wasn’t just dead; he had been killed. And not just killed, but viciously and cruelly murdered.

It had taken Errol less than a minute to chase away all traces of sleep and make himself ready to go. Likewise with Jaden, who had also been awakened. By Errol’s estimation, they had been asleep no more than a few hours; it probably wasn’t even midnight yet.

“What about Prap?” Errol had asked as they had walked double-time to Ad Astra.

“It’s still early by his standards, so he’s somewhere out in the city carousing,” Bander had replied. “Besides, you two should be enough.”

Enough?
Errol wasn’t sure he liked what that implied.

Shortly thereafter, they had arrived at Ad Astra and been led to where they now stood looking at Till’s body (which had been unceremoniously thrown into a corner) along with the shaken young scribe who had found it. Based on the amount of blood present, poor Till had clearly met his end at his present location.

Errol looked around. They were in the room where the selkie had been confined. Although her cage was now empty, the other animals were still present and screaming loudly, apparently whipped into various frenzies of fright, bloodlust, and everything in between by the gruesome events that had taken place in the room.

As for Till himself, his robe was soaked with blood and his body displayed an assortment of grievous injuries – wicked claw marks, devastating bites, and more. However, the
coup de grace
was inarguably his right leg: it had been completely ripped off.

“I was the one who discovered the body,” the young scribe was saying shakily. “I came to give Brother Till some additional medicine for his condition and found him like this.”

“What happened to him?” Jaden asked.

“It looks like he may have accidentally gotten too close to the selkie’s cage,” Bander said. “And it seems that he had the keys on him at the time” – he pointed at a keyring on the floor near the cage – “so she snatched those, let herself out, then did what monsters do best.”

Errol involuntarily drew his wand, scanning the room warily. “So where is she now?”

Bander pointed at the floor near the selkie cage. For the first time since entering the room, Errol noticed that there was a grate in the floor near the cage that appeared to be open – the same grate he’d noticed earlier when the selkie had transformed.

“Would it have been normal for Till to have the keys on him?” Bander asked the scribe.

“Not really,” came the reply. “We usually kept them on a peg on the wall and only got them down to lock or unlock something, like a door or a cage.”

Something about the grate seemed odd to Errol. Walking over to get a closer look, he realized that the grate wasn’t just open; it had been ripped up from the stone floor.

“After killing Till, we think she went down here,” said Bander, who had come over to the grate behind Errol, followed by Jaden. “To the sewers.”

Errol hadn’t really needed Bander to explain where it led, because – even if he hadn’t guessed it before – the faint odor wafting up from below provided a very distinctive clue.

He stared at the hole the grate had so recently covered. It was in the shape of a square, about three feet by three feet. There was more than ample room for the selkie to have gone down there. In fact, there was enough room for a grown man to…

Errol suddenly turned to Bander, and could tell from his eyes what the older Warden was thinking.

“No way,” Errol said, to which Bander didn’t reply.

“What?” asked Jaden after a moment of silence.

Errol pointed at the hole. “I hope that’s an old uniform you’re wearing.”

It took a moment for Jaden to process what Errol was saying, at which point he just shook his head, muttering, “Great. That’s just great.”

*****

A closer inspection of the hole leading to the sewers revealed metal grips that had been pounded into one of the sides. Thus, the three Wardens were presented with a quick and easy method of descent. A few moments later, they were in the bowels of the city, so to speak.

Using their wands for light, Errol saw that they stood upon a narrow walkway. Next to them, a river of offal and wastewater flowed, about seven feet wide and who knew how deep. The cesspool issued into the current area through an arched opening that was covered with steel bars. The stench was awful, but Errol did his best to ignore it.

Upon reaching the bottom of the grate-hole, they examined the ground, which was covered with slime (and more than a little blood), and saw numerous tracks running back and forth through it.

“There,” Bander said, pointing at one of the larger prints.

“Hmmm,” Jaden intoned. “They seem to lead straight to the cesspool.”

“Of course,” Bander said. “It’s a swimmer.”

While the others had been talking, Errol, continuing to look at the floor, had noticed something disturbing.

“What’s this?” he asked, indicating an even bigger track than that of the selkie. It had obviously been left by some large predator, as indicated by the lengthy claws on the prints. Even worse, the track appeared to be fresh.

“I don’t know,” Bander said, staring at the new animal print, “but it wouldn’t be the first monster to find a home in the sewers. Be sure to stay on your toes.”

Errol was more than surprised. He’d always had the impression that the cities were free of the types of monsters he faced in the Badlands. Now though, he couldn’t rid himself of the thought of mysterious creatures popping up randomly from the sewers and running off with children, pets, etc.

After a few seconds of discussion, they reached a consensus that, with the bars across the opening near them, the selkie had probably been forced to swim downstream. Therefore, they headed in that direction.

“So,” Jaden began after they started walking. “This is why we’re here. There’s a monster on the loose.”

“Actually, I volunteered to lead the investigation,” Bander said. “I traveled with Till for six months. He had his flaws, but wasn’t really a bad person and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he was my friend.”

Errol understood; it was hard losing people you knew to monsters. Even when it came to obnoxious idiots like Prap, you didn’t want to see them become a carving post for some creature from the Badlands.

“I brought along you and Errol not just because you knew him,” Bander continued, “but also because you two have nothing to do at the moment, and there’s no need to have you sitting idle.”

They walked in silence for the next few minutes. After about one hundred feet, the sewer line forked. Bander stated that he would take the right fork, leaving his companions to take the left. (This required Errol and Jaden to cross over the flowing sewage via a narrow stone walkway that was slick with various types of waste.) Another hundred feet down, the sewer tunnel split again. This time, Errol went right and Jaden went left.

Now on his own, Errol moved a bit more slowly, more cautiously. He found himself straining mightily, trying to bring the skills he had honed in wooded areas to bear in his current environment. After a few minutes, his instincts began to assert themselves, helping him identify and distinguish the natural sounds of the sewer: the sound of the waste flowing next to him; the steady drip of water; the squeaks and cries of vermin who lived down here.

He had gone maybe fifty feet when he heard a scream. Not a cry of pain or fright, but rather one of frustration. He raced ahead to the source of the sound.

It was the selkie, in her hideous hag form and tugging in mad frustration against a set of vertical steel bars separating the current area from the next region of the sewer. So single-minded was her desire that, despite the light from his wand, she didn’t realize that anyone was behind her until Errol was less than ten feet away.

Apparently sensing danger, she turned just as Errol was pointing his wand at her.

“Wait!” she pleaded. “Please, wait!”

Unexpectedly, Errol hesitated. He wasn’t used to having monsters plead for their lives. Something about it just seemed…incongruent with his expectations concerning them.

The selkie, sensing a window of opportunity, continued talking.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “But it wasn’t me.”

“You didn’t kill Till?” Errol asked.

“Till?” the selkie repeated. “The scribe?”

“Yes, the scribe.”

“No!” the selkie said adamantly. “It wasn’t me! It was the–”

As the selkie was speaking, Errol heard a noise behind him, the echo of a footfall. Instinctively, he turned his head and saw Bander and Jaden behind him.

Attempting to take advantage of Errol’s distraction, the selkie screamed and charged. Using her tail, she propelled herself out of the water and straight at him, clawed hands outstretched.

Errol jerked his head back around and fired a powerful spark from his wand. It struck the selkie in the center of her chest, the force of it knocking her back into the water and submerging her.

His friends reached him just as the selkie rose to the surface again, face up. There was a gory, red hole in her chest where Errol’s spark had struck, and it seemed to go all the way through her body. One of her eyes twitched slightly, and then the body sank below the surface, this time for good.