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But the first hours of night had already passed. If Imoen and her companions hoped to get inside Saradush before daybreak, she couldn't afford to waste time seeking out a less distasteful route. Knowing she had no other choice, she turned and made her way back toward the distant fires of the army camped outside the walls of Saradush.

* * * * *

"I am not crawling through that filth." Jaheira kept her voice to that of a whisper, but Abdel still recoiled from the adamant tone of her words.

"We don't have time to find another way in," Imoen whispered back. "I'll go first."

As the young woman's body disappeared into the foul-smelling stone pipe at the base of the wall, Jaheira turned away in revulsion. Abdel said nothing. Jaheira had already sacrificed so much for him, he couldn't bring himself to ask her this favor. Fortunately, he didn't have to.

The half-elf gave a weary sigh. "I suppose excrement is as much a part of nature as lilacs or roses." She dropped to her knees and crawled into the sewage drain.

The stone pipe had been large enough for Imoen to fit through without any difficulty, and Jaheira was also able to slip her muscular but slender body through the small opening.

"The main tunnels of the sewer system are just up ahead." Imoen's voice sounded deep and hollow, emanating from the mouth of the stone tube. "I'm only a few yards beyond the wall and I already have enough room to stand up."

Abdel tilted his head at Sarevok, and his half brother lowered himself to his hands and knees and crawled into the pipe without protest. There were two reasons Abdel wanted his half brother to go before him. Clad in his heavy plate armor, Sarevok's body was larger and bulkier than even Abdel's enormous frame. If Sarevok could fit, Abdel had no need to worry about becoming stuck himself.

And he still didn't trust Sarevok enough to expose his back to him.

The fit was tight for the armored man. He had to drop flat onto his stomach and pull himself forward with his mighty gauntlets. Even so, the razor edges protruding from Sarevok's shoulders and back grated harshly against the stone of the pipe as he inched his way along. Abdel cast a quick glance to see if there was any reaction to the sound, but he heard no cries of alarm, and no one materialized from the darkness.

"I am through, brother." The acoustics of the pipe made Sarevok's voice even more unnerving than usual.

Abdel removed his blade from the scabbard on his back and clenched it in his right fist as he clambered down into the pipe. The cold, oozing muck squeezed between his fingers and the knuckles of his fist as he crawled along. Like Sarevok, he had to lie almost flat, supporting his weight with his hands and knees so that his chest and face were mere inches above the foul sludge seeping slowly down the length of the drain.

The stench was all but unbearable, but Abdel steeled his stomach and forced himself to go forward. Within the pipe all was black, but ahead he could see a faint, familiar glow. Jaheira must have cast another spell of illumination.

Mercifully, the length of the pipe was less than a dozen feet, and soon Abdel found himself standing with the others in the main tunnels of the sewers beneath Saradush. The tip of Jaheira's staff shone with a magical light, and in the soft brightness Abdel could clearly see the disgusting damp stains that had soaked into both Imoen's and Jaheira's clothes. The entire front of Sarevok's body was covered in the brownish green slime from the pipe. It dripped from his armor with a steady plop, plop, plop. Abdel's own arms and legs were similarly foul, but there was little he could do about it here.

Mercifully, the urge to retch was slowly fading as Abdel's nose became accustomed to the stench of the sewers. There was now room to stand up-at least, room for Imoen and Jaheira to stand. Sarevok and Abdel had to hunch over to keep their heads from banging against the ceilings above them.

"Well done, young one," Jaheira said to Imoen. "Though I cannot say I would readily venture on such a journey again