“Mockers?” asked James, wondering if the fishermen might have run into the Guild of Thieves.
“No, not Mockers, Squire.” He lowered his voice. “They said it was that monster I was telling you about. Went over to the Temple of Dala and had to give the priests every copper they had just to keep their friends from bleeding to death.”
“The monster again?” William looked dubious. “Stop that nonsense.”
Simon shrugged. “Just telling what I heard, Lieutenant. Some sort of . . . thing, bigger than a man by half. One fisherman said it just showed up in the tunnel with them and started breaking bones and biting off fingers.”
“Great,” said James. “Just great.” Shaking his head, he led his companions into the back room and to a wall lined floor to ceiling with shelves full of dry food, extra crockery, and bottles of wine. He produced the key they had found in Knute’s room and moved aside a bag of dried beans. Behind it was a keyhole large enough to accommodate Knute’s key.
He inserted the key and turned it. A soft rumbling sound and a loud click followed, then James gripped the side of the shelves and pulled it to the right. It slid effortlessly to the side, revealing a half-height passage and steps leading down. “You’ve got to duck a bit to get down these steps,” he said. “William, go fetch us a light.”
William returned to the inn’s common room and reappeared a moment later with a lantern. James said, “We could enter at any one of a dozen places, but picking up Lucas’s trail might be easier here.”
He motioned for the lantern, took it from William’s outstretched hand, and led them into the darkness.
“‘Ware the drop,” James whispered, as he jumped three feet down from the tunnel from Lucas’s inn to the sewer floor. He turned and offered his hand to Jazhara, who took it, and using her staff for balance jumped nimbly down. William leapt after her and landed on something that squished under his boot.
“What a stench!” William complained as he scraped his boot on the stones rising above the inch-deep liquid.
James turned to Jazhara and said, “I’m afraid this isn’t exactly what I meant by a tour of the city. But duty calls . . .”
She asked, “Do you truly think your friend Lucas has fled down here?”
James peered around through the gloom. After a moment said, “He knows these sewers almost as well as the Mockers do.” He peered at the walls and floor as if seeking a sign of where to begin. “Back at the time of the Riftwar, Lucas worked with both the Mockers and Trevor Hull’s smugglers. He built up a lot of goodwill with the Mockers and so they leave him alone down here. Not many can claim that. This is where he’d go if he were in trouble.”
William said, “We’ve a lot of ground to cover, so we’d best get started. Which way first?”
James pointed. “That way, downstream.”
“Why?” asked Jazhara.
“There are some old smugglers’ hide-outs that Lucas knows. Not many, even in the Mockers, know exactly where they are anymore. I’m betting Lucas is holed up in one of those secret rooms.”
“You know where they are?” asked William.
James shrugged. “It’s been years, but I sort of know their general location.”
William let out his breath in an exasperated way. “Sort of?”
Jazhara laughed. “Better than no idea, it seems to me.”
They made their way through the sewers, the sound of their passage masked by the drips, splashes, and gurgles of the water echoing off the stones. Every so often, James would raise his hand to halt them, and listen.
After nearly a half-hour of careful movement, they entered a large tunnel. The sound of rushing water came from ahead. James said, “The center of the sewer system lies up there. A half-dozen large tunnels empty into it, and it leads out to the south end of the bay. From there we will take another tunnel to the old smugglers’ landing. The outflow is big enough for a boat to enter, which is why the smugglers had their landing at the opposite end, near the eastern wall of the city.”
William said, “Anyone using it these days?”
“Besides Lucas? I don’t know. There aren’t many alive today who have been down there who aren’t in the Prince’s service. Maybe the Mockers have discovered those storage rooms.”
They entered a larger conduit and the sound of rushing water grew louder. “Walk carefully here,” warned James.