Chapter 10: Confronting the Enemy

I stood on the roof of the Natural Philosophy Building holding Tulonan’s spyglass. I’m just following up on a hunch from last night, I told myself. I leaned over the stone railing and peered down into the courtyard below. It was a three story drop into a now fairly empty quadrangle.

 The pain in my chest had been too great for me to even bother trying to lecture Tulonan’s fourth class so I’d simply told them he was sick and that we’d pick up the lecture the next class day. I owed Tulonan an apology for not lecturing his final class. But I owed Nebiat an even bigger apology.

 “I can’t believe he’s dead,” Mala had told me when I ran into her by the sundial.

 “It’s my fault,” I said, trying to hold my tears in check.

 “No!” Mala placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “No, it’s not your fault. It’s that horrible Darvino boy and his wicked cousin, the Emperor.”

 “But I set this chain of events into motion.” I sighed. “I shouldn’t have gone back to return the wine cellar key. I shouldn’t have mentioned that poor old butler to Fodineo.”

 I sat down on the bench and Mala joined me.

 “I have plenty of blood on my hands,” I continued, “but I can never forgive myself when it’s the blood of the innocent.”

 So now I was standing on the roof of a building and staring down at the flagstones below.

 Who would see me if I were to fall?

 Hardly anyone now. Most people had left for the day.

 I shut my eyes.

 Think about the real reason you’re up here, said an inner voice.

 I opened my eyes and with shaking hands placed the spyglass to one eye. Now, point it at the well below the serpent. I guided the instrument till I was peering at the automaton of the Celestial Lord and Lady perched atop the Cosmic Serpent.

 They were pulled in for a kiss but soon disengaged. The afternoon sun’s golden rays illumined the Samartoph king at the bottom of the well.

 Let them lean in for another kiss…

 That’s when I noticed it. 

 Just above and to the left of the monarch’s head (for the briefest of moments) the shifting gold brought a small, faint circle to light. It was wedged between two horizontal pipes.

 The image was blotted out by the Divine Siblings.

 I let them pull apart and waited for my second chance to pinpoint the circle. They closed in again and…

 …yes, there.

 I quickly noted where the circle rested on the stones and then removed the spyglass from my eye.

 Mala met me at the embarkation point where she was awaiting the last water shuttle of the day. She smiled upon seeing me but realized the prospect of my sitting next to her on the galley was not a likely option. Hanging from a strap slung over one of my shoulders was my satchel, but covering my whole other side was my skiff, which I held like a tower shield. 

 “Are you going to paddle your boat home, Syndeeka?”

 “No, Mala, I’ll take the shuttle to get to our apartment sooner. But I’m coming back to the campus immediately after. I need that pipe we got off of the Sepulchral Giant’s people the night of the party.”

 “Why?” Mala sat forward on the bench.

 “I believe I’ve finally figured out its use. Unfortunately, I’ll have to climb those pipes beneath the serpent like you did.”

 Mala raised a finger. “Or…”

 “Yes?”

 “I can come along with you. I’m curious about what this is all leading up to.” She sighed. “Plus, I just need some kind of distraction right now. This whole business with Nebiat has upset me so.” 

 I felt responsible for Mala and didn’t want to get her further embroiled with the hazards of my mission, but we were both hurting so I relented. 

 “There is the little problem of there only being one skiff between us, Mala.”

 Mala grinned. “I’ll just stay here and meet you when you come back. It would be exciting to see if we can solve this mystery.”

 Just then the shuttle came into view. The would-be passengers began to file into line.

 I chuckled dryly. “I didn’t think you’d still want to help the Emperor.”

 “Who said anything about him? I’m doing this for myself.”

 I smiled at her and then got in line.

 When I got back to our apartment I quickly changed into my leathers and collected my sword, then packed the coil of rope with the metal hook, as well as the curious pronged pipe Mala and I had retrieved. I also took the cloak and mask we’d stripped off of our ill-fated hostage the night of Bardrakeu’s party. To ensure Mala had a disguise, I snatched up my winter cloak from my time in the northern kingdom of Lashikisha.

 I certainly didn’t want me and Mala to do strenuous work on half empty bellies, so I also grabbed what remained of a loaf of sesame bread from the cupboard.

 When the two of us finally returned to the campus grounds, they had locked the main gate and posted a guard. Fortunately, he recognized me as Tulonan’s assistant and I was able to convince him that Mala and I needed to pick up a few scrolls from the instructor’s office. 

 “I wonder if he’ll miss us when we don’t return in a timely manner?” Mala asked as we crossed the courtyard in the direction of the Natural Philosophy Building.

 “That’s a possibility,” I replied, handing Mala my old cloak. “But I’m sure we can come up with some excuse to explain our tardiness. Here, I want you to cover up; the Giant’s minions don’t need to recognize your face later on if we should encounter those charming subversives.”

 I used my key to let us into Tulonan’s office and set my skiff in a corner and took out the bread for us to eat. As we consumed our meager meal I removed from my bag a brass lantern I’d recently acquired from Demitos and sparked my flint to light its inner wick. I closed the slats on the lantern to give us the faintest of crimson light and then we buckled on our swords and crept from the Natural Philosophy Building. 

 Under the cover of dusk we quickly glided across the flagstoned quadrangle till we reached the reptilian base of the automaton. But for the distant chirping of crickets it was dead silent here. 

 I didn’t want to burn myself in my descent to the catacombs so I briefly blew out the lantern and replaced it in my bag. Then I took out the coiled rope.

 By now I’d lost my novice ways when it came to swinging the hooked rope skyward and making purchase on one of the deities above us. Soon Mala and I had scaled the animated statuary and then rapidly repelled down the stones of the well beneath the automaton. Mala had initially suggested that only she should go down and then just to the point in the pipe scaffolding where I’d marked in my mind the curious faint circle, but I made it clear that I’d need to alight on the flagstones below before I could determine where she should go. 

 Faint moonlight bathed the round chamber in spectral radiance. I relit my lantern and opened the slats just slightly to give us additional light to see by.

 “Go up those two pipes just to the left of the king’s head,” I said in a low voice, pointing to the area where I’d spotted the circle.

 Mala peered at that section of wall. “I’m afraid I can’t see anything. Just the Samarthoph monarch.”

 I pulled the pronged pipe out of my bag and handed it to her. “If you can make him out, my friend, then just climb to that area above the king and see if you can feel anything unusual on the stones.”

 Mala smiled nervously. “Wish me luck.”

 “All the luck in the world, my dear.”

 She tucked the metal cylinder under one arm and quickly stepped to the wall and began ascending the crisscrossing network of pipes. Soon she was sandwiched between the two pipes I’d noted, and she looked down at me with a quizzical expression.

 “A little to the left. Run your hand along the wall; I’m sure you’ll detect a difference in the texture of the stones shortly.”

 Mala did as I’d directed her and soon her hand stopped its fanning of the stones.

 “I think I feel something, Syndeeka!”

 Mala’s voice was uncomfortably loud.

 “Lower your voice,” I replied in a stage whisper, “and don’t mention my name.”

 “Oh. Right. I understand,” she whispered back. “There’s definitely something odd about this stone. Yes, I can trace a circular depression.”

 “See if you can place one end of the pipe in it.”

 Mala stared down at me. “Which end?”

 “Um, maybe try the end with the prongs sticking out.”

 Mala turned the pipe around and then tried to ease it onto the stone where she’d felt out the circular pattern. She twisted it back and forth a few times before turning to me.

 “It’s not doing anything,” she finally answered in a crestfallen voice.

 “Hmm…” I placed a hand over my mouth, letting the thumb cradle my cheekbone. “Maybe try feeling the circular outline again; only see if you notice any dimples in the stone.”

 Mala traced the rounded depression with her hand again. “Waite, this might be what you’re referring to.”

 She repositioned the pipe again and then pushed it into the stone. At first nothing. Then a faint click echoed in the chamber.

 Mala smiled at me. “I do believe we may be onto something!”

 “Good.” I raised the lantern higher above my head and opened its slats to give Mala more light. “Suhodetan must have intended this to be some sort of key and lock configuration. I suppose you might try to see if you can turn the pipe now that it’s slotted into place.”

 Mala tried rotating the bar in a left-to-right circular motion, but it didn’t seem to budge. She growled under her breath.

 “It doesn’t seem to be working.”

 “Try turning it the other way, then. Like the way the shadow moves across the face of the sundial. 

 Mala rotated the bar in the opposite direction.

 A loud metal grating sound issued from behind the stones as she successfully turned the bar in the stone depression.

 Mala gave me a nervous glance. “I don’t know if I like the sound of that.”

 “Neither do I. Maybe you should come down then.”

 Just then, a low, loud rumbling intoned throughout the chamber.

 Mala jerked the pipe from its slot and quickly worked her way down the scaffolding till she was at ground level.

 “What is it?” she asked, handing me the pipe.

 I replaced the pipe in my bag and stared around the vast room.

 “I really don’t know…” 

 I stared up at the starry roof of the sky. Part of the heavens was still cut off by the Celestial Lord and Lady, but the two siblings were now static. The rumbling grew more pronounced. Soon, the very pipes of the scaffolding seemed to be shaking violently, as if they were trying to jerk themselves free of their moorings. 

 Then the rumbling was cut short by a booming metallic clang from far above our heads. We both looked up at the sky and saw the black silhouettes of the deities falling back. The stars now shone above us in all their cold, naked glory.

 Steel banged deafeningly from the top of the well and echoed down into the chamber.

 Mala, staring up, started to pull her hood from her head to get a clearer view.

 I grabbed one of her hands.

 “No,” I said, “keep it on. They might be watching us.”

 “Syndeeka, the rope!”

 “Shhh… don’t say my name.”  

 “But look,” said Mala, pointing to the northernmost part of the chamber where we’d made our descent.

 The rope had somehow dragged up the chamber stones and its end was dangling at the very edge of the pipe scaffolding.

 I sighed. “The hook on the other end was anchored to the Celestial Lord’s thigh. The rope must have gotten pulled up when the god fell back.”

 “Do you think we should climb up to reach it?”

 I set the lantern on the flagstones. “What other choice do we have? Unless, that is, you’d like to be killed by Bardrakeu when you try to sneak into his wine cellar.”

 Mala stepped up to the scaffolding of pipes at the northern end of the chamber and started working her way up, but then stopped and looked to me. “Do you think you can do this?”

 I shrugged. “Is there another alternative?”

 I headed to the pipes, gripped the lowest one, and slowly and cautiously began my own ascent.

 Still climbing, Mala looked back to me and asked: “What about the lantern? Are you just going to leave it down there?”

 I shakily managed to pull myself up to another cluster of pipes. “We need light to work by-- certainly I do. I think I need to see what I’m doing so I don't slip and fall to my death.”

 In the next few minutes Mala was able to reach the serpentine base and grab hold of the dangling rope end. Sadly, I was still only halfway up. 

 “Do you want me to wait?” she asked.

 I chuckled under my breath as I tried to slide a boot sole over the rim of a thick pipe.

 “Please do. I’m not embarrassed to admit I’m a little frightened.”

 “But you’ve flown a glider before.”

 My hand almost slipped when I reached a thin pipe above me, so I quickly pulled my leather glove off with my teeth when I’d finally made purchase. It fell out of my mouth and glided to the stones below.

 “Yes,” I finally answered, “but I had wings then.”

 As I continued my climb I noticed that my bare hand was getting moist. I ran it across the stones and found that they were wet.

 “Is there water up where you are?”

 Mala, clinging to the rope with one hand and a thick pipe with the other, looked up at the scaly coils of the automaton base.

 “Yes,” she said. “There’s a steady stream running down the flanks of our reptilian friend. I think it’s starting to get worse.”

 She was right. I could definitely now hear a trickling. The stones before me were spilling over with ever-thickening rivulets of water.

 “At least I’m almost to you now. Maybe we can still get out of this in one piece.”

 “What’s causing it?”

 “The same thing that animated the kissing siblings-- water from the aqueduct. I think the whole catacombs might get flooded now.”
The increasing water stream made the pipes I was climbing a lot slicker, and several times I lost my footing as my boot soles failed to make adequate purchase. Always, though, I was able to cling to the pipes above me for dear life, although the leather of my remaining glove made that harder. Finally, I managed to wedge myself between two clusters of horizontal water pipes. There, I crouched down and removed the glove and dropped it down the shaft to join its sister on the now-flooded flagstones.

 It wasn’t much longer before I’d climbed to a space maybe five feet below where Mala was camped, and she reached a hand down to assist me. Holding a pipe with one hand, I stretched my free arm out to hers’ and our fingers intertwined. She gripped my hand firmly and tugged on me…

 …when the light below sputtered out.

 The flowing water on the chamber floor must have dowsed the wick of my lantern.

 “Don’t worry about that,” called Mala’s voice from the darkness. “You’re almost at my level.”

 “I can’t see what I’m doing,” I replied. “I’m afraid I’ll miss a pipe and plunge to my death.”

 “Put your other hand over my hand and grip tightly. I’m still holding the rope.”

 I reached my free hand up and clasped my fingers over the top of Mala’s hand.”

 “Okay,” Mala continued, “just hold tight and see if you can use your feet to climb up the wall. They should eventually make contact with the next set of pipes and then you can try to get atop them.”

 My eyes had yet to adjust to the moonlight, the trickling of the water was growing into a running cascade, and my heartbeat was pounding throughout my tense body. But Mala was experienced in climbing sheer heights and my only other choice was death.

 Mala gripped my hand firmly as I ran my boots up the streaming chamber stones and slowly climbed the wall. I was terrified my weight would cause her to lose her grip on the rope, ensuring both our deaths.

 My boots pressed against the wet stones, slowly inching upward, until their toes bumped into something long and solid. I looked up to Mala, who I could now vaguely make out as a silver-tinged silhouette immediately above me, and said: “I think I’ve found the next pipe up.”

 “Good,” she replied. “Here. Let me give you a link of the rope.

 Something brushed over the knuckles of my right hand (the one wrapped over Mala’s) and I let go Mala’s hand to grab it and briefly felt the weight of my body being pulled back. Nervously, I tightened my grip on the rope till it cut into my fingers.

 “Don’t worry,” said Mala, “I’ve got a good hold on you.”

 There was still the matter of my feet getting purchase on the pipe on which Mala stood.

 Quickly, I managed to scrabble up the last few inches of the wall and then fumblingly slide my boot soles over the water drenched pipe, the rope taut in my hand as I struggled up.

 The pipe was just thick enough for me to awkwardly turn my back to the wall before pressing my weight into the wet chamber stones for support.

 The back of my scalp and hair now drenched and cold, I looked across into the dim face of my friend. She regarded me with eyes that faintly reflected moonlight with an almost catlike glow, and smiled.

 “Better?” she asked, her left arm stretched up to hold her part of the rope.

 I gasped and then took in a deep lungful of air. “Yes. Much better.”

 “Very well, then. Let us start climbing up the coils of the snake.”

 She looked up the length of the rope and suddenly her features were illuminated from below with a flickering orange.

 I glanced down.

 My eyes were dazzled by the blazing light of torches. Hundreds of them. Staring up at us, their ankles lapped at by a river of water, were men and women in black masks and cloaks. And at the very center of this shadowy mob, towering over their upturned faces and leaning on a tall staff, was the Sepulchral Giant.

 He was masked and cloaked like his followers, but the exposed mouth and chin were a jagged mesh of red scars, cuts, and gaping holes where flesh should have been. He glared up at us, his mutilated mouth a pained rictus.

 “Is that…?” whispered Mala.

 “Of course,” I replied.

 “You cannot give us back my right-hand man, Nebiat,” said the Giant in a strangely sweet voice, “and you cannot give us back the agents you murdered. But it’s obvious you still have the key you stole from them.”

 Holding firmly the rope in one hand, I slowly unsheathed my sword with the other. I raised the blade up for the Giant to see.

 “The Deity Imperator wanted me to find you. Now I have. I’m sorry about your girlfriend. And I’m deeply sorry about poor Nebiat. But I can’t trust you with the future of the Empire.”

 “Syndeeka!” said Mala.

 I glanced to her. “Don’t say my name! What? You can’t possibly think that man below us is any saner than Fodineo?”

 “It doesn’t matter if I’m sane or mad,” the Giant said, shifting his massive form on his great staff. “I’ve no delusions of a benevolent Republic. Ask any one of the subjugated peoples of the world who pay tithes to the Deity Imperator if their ancestors ever had fond memories of a Republic. They will tell you that all they’ve ever known was the steel gauntlet of Empire.”

 “I too oppose the Equoci Empire,” shouted Mala.

 “What are you doing?” I asked her.

 “We should give him the key.” She reached her free hand to the bag at my hip.

 I used the blade of my sword to quickly shift the bag to the opposite hip. “Have you lost your mind?”

 “Syndeeka,” said the Giant in a matter-of-fact tone, “I am willing to forgive the bloodshed you have brought down on my people. But only if you return the key.”

 He raised a large hand and signaled and at least twenty loaded crossbows came out from under his minions’ cloaks and pointed straight up at Mala and me.

 “Why do you still need it?” I asked. “Haven’t we done what you wanted to do yourselves? The catacombs are flooding now.”

 “Do you know why they’re flooding, Syndeeka? Because now the water tanks are full. But you didn’t finish the job.”

 “What is your plan?”

 The Sepulchral Giant twisted his mangled mouth into what I could only assume was a grin. “You’ll know. In time.”

 “What options do we have left, Syndeeka?” asked Mala. “They can pierce us full of crossbow bolts and just lift that pipe off of your bloody corpse.”

 I sighed in exasperation. 

 “If the very seat of the Empire is destroyed, there’s bound to be upheaval. Chaos. You and I have both seen what that can lead to,” I replied.

 “Syndeeka,” called the Giant, “I’d only have my people kill you and your friend as a last resort. I’m going to have my best warriors meet you up top to take the key from you.”

 With that, several cloaked men took out rope coils with metal hooks, unwound them, and began swinging their ends.

 I looked back to Mala. “We need to get out of here. Now!”

 “No,” said Mala in a defiant tone. “If we go back to the Emperor, he’ll have us killed. If we try to resist the Sepulchral Giant, he’ll have us killed. Face it, Syndeeka. We’re licked.”

 I was cold, soaking wet, and at that moment angrier with my best friend than I’d ever been in the almost two decades I’d known her.

 Mala took her end of the rope, gripped it with both bands, and climbed halfway up the first serpent flank.

 Had she suddenly changed her mind?

 “You can’t climb out of here if I’m blocking your way,” she said.

 What could I do now? Climb the rope till I was level with Mala and struggle with her? I was a much more experienced fighter than she was. I could easily defeat her. But that might mean dislodging her from the rope and causing her to fall into the angry mob below.

 There suddenly echoed a series of metallic clangs.

 I looked around and saw several metal hooks locked onto a dozen clusters of pipes around us. The ropes tied to the hooks grew taut and I saw cloaked men trying to work their way up the water-drenched chamber stones.  

 I thought to myself, this has indeed been a very bad day, and felt like laughing. 

 The acrid smell of smoke tickled my nostrils and burnt my eyes. I blinked to stop the burning and then looked about the chamber. The Giant’s warriors had almost reached my level, and the people standing far below on the flooding floor still had crossbows trained on Mala and me. 

 I sheathed my sword.

 This just adds to my regrets, I thought, reaching a shaking hand into my bag. My fingers grazed cold metal and sank farther down. Then they touched something long and cylindrical. I grabbed hold of the object and pulled it from the bag and raised it above my head.

 “Is this what you want?” I asked, wet and miserable and beaten down.

 The hooded warriors, their cloaks dripping water, were crawling along clusters of pipes just below so that they might reach me.

 “Take it then.” I dropped Tulonan’s spyglass into the gapping stone well.

 It glided down through plumes of smoke. The crowd seemed to contract as the Giant’s minions raced to catch what they assumed was their long-awaited prize. 

 Disgusted with everything at that moment, I looked up to Mala, grabbed the rope with both hands, and climbed up to meet her.

 She smiled as I neared her. “You did the right thing, Syndeeka.”

 “Just climb, already,” I replied. “Things are about to turn ugly.”

 Looking past her, I noticed that, unlike the chamber, the serpent remained dry.

 Going hand over hand, Mala pulled herself up the rope, her feet running over the scaly flanks of the serpent. I quickly followed, occasionally glancing down to assess the actions of the Giant’s people.

 Each snake coil was about the height of the Giant himself, but Mala and I still managed to make good time.

 Then a crossbow bolt whizzed past me and grazed Mala. 

 “What was that?” she asked, looking to me.

 “Keep climbing.”

 We continued our trek up the interior of the automaton base, but suddenly I heard a collective roar echo throughout the stone chamber below.

 They were wise to my ruse now and I knew if just one arrow shaft hit me in the back then I’d surely plummet down into their clutches and they could just take the pipe. I at least had the benefit of a leather suit to take some of the brunt of the impact, but Mala only had a cloak.

 I glanced down, only to tear up as my eyes were assaulted with another thick cloud of torch smoke. Maybe that would afford us some cover from their crossbows? But they still knew which direction to point. 

 A volley of arrow shafts sailed past me, but one found its target in Mala’s shoulder. She screamed in agony.

 “Mala!” I exclaimed, forgetting my own admonishment about using our names.

 Mala winced in the torchlight and tears streamed down her cheeks. “Something hit me. It hurts.”

 She panted heavily.

 Her pain must have been overwhelming.
 

“You’re almost atop the serpent, Mala,” I called, fully realizing that our time might well be up.

 Blood trickling down the back of her cloak, Mala forced herself to continue her ascent.

 Finally, she threw her arms over the topmost flank and struggled to pull herself over the rim of the automaton base. 

 I reached her and put an arm above me to help push her up and out of harm’s way. The shaft protruded from the top of her cloak, which was now darkly stained. She managed to swing one leg over, then soon followed with the other.

 Good.

 I heard a thump and suddenly my left heel burned with pain. I looked to my boot and saw an arrow shaft lodged in it. I was hurting, but realized I had been lucky the arrow had penetrated the boot heel and not the sole; otherwise, I would have had a bloody arrow jutting out the top of my foot. The shock of being hit almost made me lose hold of the rope, but the muscles of my arms (possibly reflexively) continued dragging me upward.

 Within moments I had reached the summit of the reptilian base and Mala grabbed my arm and helped pull me onto the topmost flank of the serpent. On my hands and knees now, I scampered across the scaly rim. Mala and I moved away from the gaping entrance to the underground chamber and sat on the very edge, letting our feet hang over the rim.

 We spent a moment trying to catch our breaths.

 In front of us was the Celestial Lord, sprawled on his back. His bent knees rose up to the heavens, and the soles of his bare metal feet were riddled with exposed pipes that pointed at us like spears.

 I crossed my wounded leg over my other knee and assessed my injury. Most of the quarterstaff bolt was sticking out my boot heel. Maybe only the tip of the actual arrowhead was penetrating the heel of my foot?

 Removing the point from my heel would hurt, and there would definitely be more bleeding, but there was no way I could adequately walk with an arrow lodged in my foot.

 I briefly closed my eyes and took a deep, deep breath.

 Then I wrapped my fingers around the arrow shaft and slowly worked it out of my heel. There was another sharp burst of pain as I removed the arrow, and I moaned. Blood started trickling out the bottom of my boot.

 I tossed the arrow into the courtyard and it clattered on the flagstones.

 Mala placed a sweaty hand on my arm, gasping. “Syndeeka. Please. Could you pull the arrow out of my shoulder?”

 I could tell that Mala’s injury was a lot worse than my own. The best course of action would be to get her somewhere where somebody could better treat her. 

 And soon.

 “I don’t know if that’s a good idea right now. They’re probably going to come after us. And it’d be dangerous if I were to wrench the arrowhead out of your flesh. You’re already losing blood, Mala. Tearing that wound open would probably just make your situation worse.”

 She stared into my face with wide, dark eyes. “Please…”

 I didn’t want the Giant’s pursuing warriors to know our plans, so I switched to speaking in Ushe, knowing Mala would follow suit.

 “Mala, let’s get to the guardhouse first. I know from my time in the Emperor’s palace that they keep medical kits in those places.”

 In the moonlight I could tell her weary face was beaded with sweat. “All right. If…if you think it’s best.”   

 The rope stretched out from between us and over the courtyard to the now lifeless form of the Celestial Lord. It looked as if a tightrope walker should be crossing it with outstretched arms. I didn’t think poor Mala was in any condition to try to shimmy across it, plus the rope wasn’t anchored to anything in the chamber. 

 I looked down. The lower flanks of the serpent grew into ever-widening concentric rings like the terraced sections of a burial mound. It was conceivable that the two of us could slide down the topmost flank till our feet touched the next one down and then we could just continue this steady means of descent till we’d reached the ground.

 I pulled back my hood and removed my mask and tossed it on the flagstones below.

 I looked to Mala, who didn’t seem in any condition for traveling.

 “We should go, Mala.”

 Mala, sweating and gasping, glanced behind her. “I think we may have company soon.”

 I gazed back at the part of the rope trailing down into the chamber. It was jerking back and forth.

 Maybe that was why they’d stopped firing at us.

 “Stay where you are,” I said, standing and unsheathing my sword.

 A cloaked head bobbed to the surface and I lunged with my blade. The masked man didn’t even have time to climb to our level before I drove my steel into his eye. There was a wet sucking sound as my sword plunged deep into his skull. He let out a surprised yelp and then his blood spilled onto the blade.

 I kicked at his head with my bloody boot and he fell back, his masked face sliding off the steel that had impaled it. Then he plummeted down the shaft. There was a thudding sound as another man yelled. The second man’s voice trailed down as he too fell to the flooding chamber floor.

 I turned back to Mala, my blade stained and dripping. “We can’t stay here any longer. Let me carry you down to ground level.”

 I knew working my way down to the courtyard with Mala slung over my shoulder was going to be a challenge, but her weight was multiplied by the steel sword at her hip. I also found the stinging pain in my heel increasing over time, especially when I would make the mistake of putting pressure on it whenever we’d alight on a lower flank of the automaton base. 

 I’d had enough sense to use my sword to hack off the end of the rope which dipped down into the chamber (should the Sepulchral Giant’s people persist in pursuing us) but I was also fully aware they could probably just use their own ropes and hooks to reach the surface.

 Mala didn’t protest much during our clumsy descent, even when I’d occasionally slip and almost knock us into space– thus ensuring both our deaths. But her breathing was labored and she’d sometimes moan faintly. I wasn’t sure how much blood she’d lost. Regardless, I refused to give up on my friend.

 All the while I kept glancing above me to see if anyone else was crawling up from the chamber. Not a one, and the only sound was the chirping of crickets mingled with the rustling waters flooding the catacombs.