Page 27 of The Barbarian King's Assassin (Magic and Kings 1)
He chose to give me directions.
Turned out I could have probably found the station on my own. The tunnels carried markings. They were old but mostly still legible, showing direction and—in the case of branches—the next station.
Two, as indicated by my sources, loomed empty. Unlike other inhabited platforms, the edge lacked docks or even anything to moor the boat. It meant coasting alongside, leaping off, and then grabbing the rim of the skiff to stop it from wandering off.
The helmsman glanced at the water while I secured my ride back. I tethered the rope in the front around a shattered column.
“You can’t leave me here.”
“I shouldn’t be more than a few hours.” If all went well.
He shook his head, his eyes wide with fear. “Untie me. I must protect myself.”
“From what? Just be quiet and no one will even know you’re here.” A finger to my lips accompanied my suggestion.
He huffed in agitation. I walked away from the tethered boat toward the tunnel, my path lit by the glowing moss, which brightened when I neared. Something about the exhalation of people excited it. It helped and hindered all at once. On the one hand, I didn’t want to wander around in the dark. On the other, it put a spotlight on my movements.
Unlike other stations, the canal dead-ended because a portcullis blocked the only tunnel onwards. It went from the ceiling to the bottom of the carved channel. The bars were too tight for me to squeeze through. Too thick to easily cut. It made me wish I’d kept that damnable sword I’d sold to the king. Elekium would have sliced through this easily.
Alas, I’d given it away and now would have to resort to the less pleasant choice. My informant—the same diminutive male I’d caught before—had claimed someone cut a hole through the bars under the water so the guards who patrolled wouldn’t notice. He’d insisted it was the truth, even when I dangled him from a window over the courtyard.
A hole through this gate would give me the access to where I needed to go. The problem being the cesspool I’d have to swim in. Sewer water, even diluted, remained piss and shit.
If I wanted into the castle, I had little other choice. The baroness had put heavy protection at the gates and walls, which were too smooth to even climb.
The water swirled ominously. The task ahead wouldn’t get any easier from waiting. I slipped into the cool fluid, hoped I didn’t bump into an actual turd, and dove.
Knowing you can hold your breath and knowing you have to are two different things. With my acute awareness I swam in wastewater, my lungs wanted to burst the moment I dived. Panic drew me to the surface gasping.
It took a good mental chastising before my second attempt resulted in my being able to find the opening in the gate and pass through it. I emerged on the other side, grateful I didn’t swallow anything, and clambered to the ledge.
I dripped and shivered with cold. My waterproof satchel held a spare set of clothes but no point in changing yet in case I needed to go back in.
The narrow ledge I stood on ran the length of the canal. I plodded as quietly as I could, knowing the First Station, the one directly under the castle, loomed ahead.
I had plenty of warning before I found it. A distant glow showed I neared, and the noise of people gambling and conversing had me hugging the tunnel wall tight.
As I reached the edge, I saw four soldiers sitting at a table, playing dice.
How unfortunate. Could I bribe them? I didn’t have enough coin to tempt. I could try showing a bit of flesh and see if one of them would avoid the smell to have a turn. Ideally, they’d all want a go and I’d take them out one by one.
Before I could do anything, the water in the channel surged as something rose from it. A bulbous monster, its skin a mossy gray-green, set with suckers that flexed.
I swallowed. I’d been in that water. With it.
It slopped over the edge of the channel, startling the guards. The table tipped over, sending their dice rolling. They drew their weapons but didn’t seem surprised.
While three rushed the impossible beast, another pulled a rope and set a bell clanging. I remained flat to the wall as four more soldiers clattered down the steps. They each grabbed a pair of spears kept in a barrel, handing one off to the soldiers with swords too short to do anything.
They formed a wall of pointy iron and began jabbing and pushing back the massive monster. How could such a creature exist, and how did it get in here? The hole I’d swum through was much too small to accommodate it.
Not my problem or my mission. Of more interest, the soldiers faced away from the stairs. I took advantage rather than watch to see who would win. I also hoped none of those things ate my skiff. Lucky for its owner, I’d not made the ropes that tight. If he couldn’t slip out of them within the next hour, he wasn’t the survivor I thought him to be.
I moved quickly up the steps, still in my damp things, now wishing I’d changed. Especially since I smelled. No time. It wouldn’t be long before the soldiers either killed the thing and dispersed or the monster rallied and at least one screaming soldier tried to run away.
At the top of the steps, I slowed and flattened to the wall. The stairs emerged into a room holding another table with four chairs, a bin of spears, and two doors. If my information proved correct, then the door lacking a bar across it was for the interior of the castle. The other door, currently with a bar across, gave access to the courtyard.
If I moved the bar, the soldiers would know someone had been in their room. I needed to divert their attention, or at the very least split their search.