Black wizards - Douglas Niles [127]
Pawldo took her arm firmly, and Fiona stopped in her tracks. From above they heard snarls, and Devin's voice raised in anger. Then there was a sharp cry of pain, followed by low ogre chortles.
Fiona turned to the halfling with deep, wracking sobs. Pawldo held her in an awkward embrace, inwardly cursing the brutality of the king's mercenaries. He couldn't think of anything to say, so he simply stood and let her cry. Finally, she dried her eyes and raised her head. Her chin was set and determined, but her eyes were shot with pain.
"This way," she said softly.
She led him to the back of the underground hiding place, to a wooden wall made of rough-hewn knotty pine. Reaching her hand into one of the knotholes, she twisted something and the door slid away to reveal a narrow passage.
"Our secret escape route," she explained. A torch, flint, and steel lay just inside the door. As the portal closed softly behind them, she struck a spark, and soon the torch was blazing brightly.
The lass led the way, and Canthus brought up the rear. For several minutes they walked silently through a low tunnel. Then Fiona abruptly slowed her pace. Handing the torch back to Pawldo, she advanced forward at a crawl, heedless of the mud that splattered her frock.
Pawldo heard her grunting from exertion, and then he felt a waft of cold, moist air against his face. She had opened a door into some connecting passage.
"It's the city's storm sewer" she explained as he extended the torch. She had lifted a hatch in the floor of their tunnel that led into a larger pipe below.
The pipe was round, perhaps ten feet in diameter. Water lay in pools along the bottom, a foot or more deep in places. He felt cool, humid air flowing past the opening.
Fiona swung through the hatch first, hanging by her hands before dropping to land easily at the bottom of the pipe. There was a slurping sound as she landed in muck. Pawldo and Canthus followed.
Fiona reclaimed the torch, and led the way at a brisk march. Finally, they saw an end to the tunnel, where early twilight glimmered over the bay. Fiona extinguished the torch, and they carefully advanced to the end of the pipe.
Green waves rolled against the shore, about twenty feet below them. The pipe ended in the face of a high seawall. Looking up, the halfling couldn't tell how high it stretched. Smooth, water-worn stone had been built into this barrier, which was now covered with seaweed and moss. Only by jumping far out into the air could they hope to avoid the jagged rocks at the foot of the wall.
"Can you swim?" asked Pawldo.
"I know how. The question is, will we freeze to death before we reach the shore?" answered the girl.
"Only one way to find out," shrugged the halfling. He sprang from the pipe and dropped into the gently rolling sea. The water struck him like a cold shock, and as he rose to the surface he heard Fiona and Canthus join him.
Fiona started to swim along the shore with strong strokes. Pawldo couldn't see much in the twilight, hut he sensed that they were moving away from the harbor. His body was already growing numb.
* * * * *
"They brought her in this evening" Evan explained over the mug of ale Kryphon had just bought him. "Cassidy saw something fall and swears it was an eagle. Attacked by crows, you know how they do?
"But then he goes over to get the feathers, and there's no eagle! Instead, some woman's lying there, banged up and bleeding." Evan was certain his remarks would provoke interest.
The mage leaned back in his chair and regarded Evan with an expression of vague amusement. "Fairy tales," smiled the mage, concealing his curiosity. "Surely the man had been drinking?"
"No fairy tale! And it's been done before; druids do it all the time, turn into birds and such."
"You don't say? Then this… woman is a druid?" Kryphon's mind whirled with curiosity. A druid in Alaron?
The bandit shrugged. "Who knows? But Cassidy's got the best eyes I know – the best ears, too." Evan lowered his voice. "He told me that someone killed Annuwynn!"
"The magic-user?