Iron and Wood #Wattys2017

Chapter Seven

A rat skittered over the floor, and strange algae grew on the damp walls.  The rushing of a sewer could be heard nearby.  His fine black coat flowing behind him, Marius walked quickly with Felix  through a dark tunnel beneath the palace. The younger Templar was holding the lantern, and the two of them made quick progress through the twists and turns that seemed to go on forever.

"Templar Roda."

"Yes, Captain?"

"You and the rogue Templar were trained in the same cycle. I understand she was a close friend of yours."

Felix paled.  His knuckles whitened on the handle of the lantern.

"This is why we do not encourage making friends within the Templars, especially not of the opposite sex," Marius said delicately. "It leads too easily to treason."

"I swear, Captain," Felix spoke up quickly. "My relationship with Sung was entirely platonic."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely," The Templar nodded. "She wouldn't have been interested in me, anyway."

"Why not?" Marius asked curiously.

"She- she isn't inclined to... men..."

Marius looked at him sideways.

"I didn't think it mattered," Felix said quietly. "Since Templars are forbidden from pursuing any kind of romantic relationship."

"Such inclinations are not the way of the Empire." Marius cracked his knuckles, waving Felix after him down another hallway. "I told the Immortals that you were the one leading the humanguards on the chase after Sung when she kidnapped Lady Ella. They've been wondering if you let her get away on purpose."

"No!" Felix protested. "Absolutely not!"

He was about to continue, but they had come to the end of the tunnel, with a smooth iron door with a row of five locks. Marius withdrew a heavy key-ring and opened them. A disgusting, rotting smell filled the hallway.

The room was pitch-black. Marius clapped his hands, and the torches around the walls burst into flames.

The space was empty, the walls and dusty floors covered in paw prints and claw marks and broken up by tunnels too dark to see inside. There were bones on the floor, gnawed to pieces, and bits of skin and fur scattered about.  The top half of a dog's carcass festered nearby. The smell of blood and filth was overpowering.

"What is this?" a male voice growled from one hallway. "Don't tell me there's been a desertion."

"There has been." Marius covered his nose with a black silk handkerchief.

There was a high-pitched cackle from another tunnel.

"About time!" the woman laughed. "What took you so long?"

"We were unsure if the deserter had left the Fortress's grounds. The keepers of the collars have confirmed it. Come out."

There was a pause, and then both emerged from the tunnels.

They were twins, indistinguishable except for sex, both with the same wild, matted brown hair and yellowed skin. Both were nearly naked, wearing only a filthy dog skin as clothing. Their faces were animalistic, like a mixture of a hound's and a human's, and so was their gait- limping, creeping along the walls like strays. Their ribs protruded, hips and collarbones poking out, and their skin was darkened with dirt.  Their nails were so overgrown, they looked like claws.

"Adair and Riada," Marius greeted them politely.

"Tell us, Marius, while our target gets a nice head start," Riada spoke first, grinning to reveal uneven, broken and yellow teeth. "Who are we hunting this time?"