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Just then, the front door opens and Illan comes out. “Let’s take the horses around back to the stables,” he announces. “I arranged for two days, which should give us ample time to get James.”

Taking the horses to the stables, Miko is surprised to find they’re in better condition than the inn. Suppose the horses are more important than the guests themselves.

Finding stalls for each, Illan then tips the stableboy a silver to give them extra care and some feed. The boy begins filling feed pouches with grain as they leave the stable. Illan sees an unused lantern hanging on a peg and asks the boy if he can borrow it.

“My master would be most displeased if he were to find it missing,” he replies.

Reaching into his pouch, he pulls out two silvers and hands them to the boy. “If we don’t return, buy a new one,” he says.

Snatching the coins, the boy nods his head and resumes feeding the horses.

Illan checks the lantern and finds it has a wick and can hear oil in the base when he shakes it. Turning back to the others, he looks to Miko and says, “Lead on.”

Miko nods his head and moves out of the stables and toward the street the inn borders on.

Once out of the inn’s courtyard, Miko takes the lead as he passes through the familiar streets. They don’t seem quite as imposing as they once did, back before James came along. Smiling, he wonders what that gang would do now if they found him. Would they even recognize him?

At the gate, they’re questioned briefly by the guards before being allowed to pass through. Miko sees the spot where he first met James that day he arrived. What stroke of fortune had made James pick him out of all those boys who were clamoring for his attention? Despite all that’s happened to him, he’s glad that he did.

Working through the streets they make it back to the dead end alley the boys had chased them into. The door where James had held them at bay is broken off its hinges and lies inside on the floor.

They can smell the sewers as they pass through the room to the smaller one in the back. The trapdoor covering the entrance is closed and before Miko opens it, he pauses. “There’s a gang down there that doesn’t take too kindly to intruders,” he warns. “If they should discover us down there, it could get bad.”

“Then we’ll just have to be careful,” Scar says.

“Don’t worry,” Shorty tells him, “we’re probably more than they’ve ever encountered down there before.”

“I hope so,” Miko says as he bends over and pulls up the trapdoor. The smell from below hits them like a wall. Moving to the entrance, he begins to make his way down the rungs into the sewer below. Illan follows him next and finally Scar brings up the rear, closing the trapdoor after him.

Snik! Snik!

Miko sees sparks as Illan uses a flint stone to light the lantern. A glow begins to fill the tunnel as the wick catches fire. A shutter on the lamp allows him to adjust the amount of light it emits. He closes it until only a small amount escapes so as not to announce their presence to whoever may be down here.

“Which way?” he asks Miko.

“Follow me,” Miko says as he takes the lead and moves down the sewer tunnel.

Chapter Six

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Miko’s able to remember the way fairly well, the light from Illan’s lantern giving out just enough light for them to be able to see their way. He continues leading them through the sewers of Bearn until he comes to a spot where he pauses a moment.

“What?” asks Illan as he comes up to him.

“I may have gotten turned around,” he admits.

“Why do you say that?” he asks.

Gesturing to the area of the sewer they’re in, he replies, “There should be a body here blocking the flow, but there isn’t.”

“Maybe it was pushed further along during a storm, or was removed,” he offers.

“Maybe,” says Miko. “If you’re right, then it isn’t far.” He continues on and sure enough, they come across a decomposing body lying up against the side of the tunnel. He glances at Illan and says, “I guess you were right.”

A little further down, they arrive at a small passage leading off to the right and he continues