137 The Infiltrators (1/2)

Despite our efforts to stay in stealth, the sound of our footsteps racing across the flagstones resounded and echoed around us.

We were even deeper underground now, in the catacombs beneath the Undercroft, running through narrow passageways which were a series of interconnected tunnels that was like one giant maze underneath the city.

Lucky for us that Qwipps and Pike found the map that helped to navigate it fairly easily.

It had been thirty minutes since we'd separated from Thom and his second group of infiltrators. They'd taken a different route than the one we were speeding across.

\”You don't think there are alligators down here do you?\” Luca asked as he ran beside me.

\”This isn't Mudgard, Luca…\” I reminded him.

\”Still feels like I'm jogging through sewage,\” he countered. Then he sniffed. \”Smells like it too.\”

I couldn't disagree. The smell was definitely overpowering. Like rotten eggs left to dry out in the sun for days and then thrown into a pile of shit to fester in a dark pit.

We turned left at the corner, our feet taking us right to a dilapidated iron gate that blocked the way to the rest of the passage beyond.

Qwipps was the first to reach it. He placed a finger gingerly over one of the iron bars and quickly pulled his hand away after a spark of pain flashed across his face.

\”Muddamit… it's iron alright,\” Qwipps said, looking over his shoulder to me. \”One of you humans should deal with it.\”

\”Luca,\” I said quickly.

Watching my brother pull out his broadsword from its sheath behind his back and then begin to hack away at the weakening iron bars of the gate, my mind flashed back to the previous night when we were planning our little rescue operation.

It was after Zephyra and I had come to an agreement and she'd been nice enough to explain who exactly we were up against.

\”The Under Ring is the largest of the slave cartels in the city. They're well connected with both the city guard and the underground syndicate, and rule with impunity over the slave trade here in the central region,\” Zephyra explained. \”All the big slave trades happening in the Undercroft go through their fortress in the Wailing House.\”

She pointed a wispy finger at the map that showed the house's schematics.

\”Make no mistake, this is a fortress protected by the Under Ring's own private army… it'll be very difficult to infiltrate,\” she continued.

\”But not impossible,\” I guessed.

She nodded in agreement. \”No, not impossible at all.\”

Zephyra set aside the Wailing House's plans so we could all see the maps of the city's catacombs. She traced a line across the catacombs until her finger was directly underneath our target. Then I pointed to two spots in the map that seemed to lead up to the Wailing House itself.

\”These are our way in,\” I said.

\”Point A is right underneath the cellar,\” I explained. \”Point B leads to a drainage opening by a Cliffside that leads up to the courtyard.\”

\”Two infiltration points means two teams,\” Luca guessed.

\”Three,\” I corrected. \”We'll need a third team above ground to cause a distraction.\”

\”I glanced over at Ashley and patted her shoulder.

\”Think you can keep the enemy distracted while we go rescue Ty?\” I asked.

She nodded. \”My squad and whoever you can spare should be enough.\”

I spent another few seconds thinking about the composition of the other two teams. But I realized that there was only one other person I could ask to lead the second team.

\”Thom, pick six guys from your squad,\” I said. \”You'll take point B and you'll clear us a path leading to it. That's our escape route.\”

\”We're not coming out the way we come in?\” Aura asked, already assuming I was going to bring her along.

I shook my head. \”In case we're caught while on the mission, better to leave the escape route undetectable.\”

\”So who's in this first team then? Who's in your suicide squad?\” Luca asked.

The sound of metal cascading down to the ground sent my mind back to the present, and I was just in time to watch Luca cut through the last of the iron bars.

I glanced back at my chosen team members; the people Luca had dubbed the suicide squad. There was Aura, of course. Never leave home without your fire-starting elven warrior princess I always say. Next were Qwipps and Varda, the latter for her ability to shape stone and the former for his ability to mess with locks. Our group was rounded out by Pike and Enna who would be useful for this particular stealth mission.

\”Alright, let's keep going,\” I said.

We continued on through the maze of passages that led forward until we'd finally reached a square room that I'd marked last night on our map to be right underneath the Wailing House's cellar.