Adventure 2016

Chapter 13: the sewer.

James didn't feel tired at all any more. He looked around him. Nobody in the park was paying any attention to him or the clock tower. Why not check inside and make sure that the stairs really did lead down to the sewers?

The door itself was only three feet high. He knelt down to get a better look. The last light of the day was just enough for him to see a few metres down. He pulled out a tiny torch on his keyring and shone it down the stairs. It looked like there was something on the wall just a few steps down -- another Squidducken, or a clue to what was below.

He crawled through the doorway on his hands and knees and found there was enough room on the other side to stand up. Taking care, he tried one step, then another. Six steps down he found that the other Squidducken was an iron lamp-holder. It was empty, but he thought he could see another one further down. The steps must lead to somewhere, and with the creature from the key showing up on the walls, he was confident that this was where the King Under the Fort meant them to go.

While he was thinking about going a few steps further, just to see, he heard a sound from behind. It was the sound of a door closing. The door to the stairs. Then he remembered that the key was still stuck in the Squidducken's eye on the outside.

He quickly, and carefully, backtracked to the top step. Where the door had been was just a blank brick wall. Damp and cobwebby, and not door-like in any way. Just like the outside with the graffiti. He pushed. It felt like pushing a wall. Futile.

Where was the key hole? He felt around the wall roughly where he figured the keyhole would be. There was nothing there but bricks and a woodlouse. After five more minutes of slow, methodical searching he came to the conclusion that he was well and truly in trouble.

There were two options. Either he could stay near the door and shout for help and hope that someone would be able to hear him. Or he could see what was at the bottom of the stairs. The words of the King Under the Fort sprang to mind. There's a nasty creature down there.

Still, the badger wouldn't have suggested finding Lord Ratzenberg if it meant certain death, would he? James didn't feel totally sure that he knew the answer to that.

By now the sun would be down and the park would be emptying. Without even attempting to shout for help, he started to descend into the depths of the tower.

Considering he was trapped in a dark staircase that probably led to an evil creature living in the sewers, he didn't feel too bad. He counted 64 stairs. They turned 90 degrees every 8th step. Then he was at the bottom.

An old wrought iron gate was open in front of him. It had the same Squidducken pattern, this time it was welded or forged or bent into the ironwork of the gate. He went through and found himself in a large brick tunnel. It was a little like the tube in London. Only instead of a platform, he was on a narrow wooden walkway. And instead of a train track there was a shallow stream of water a few feet below him.

He couldn't tell the colour of the water, but it didn't smell too bad. It was more like being in a launderette than a sewer. The wooden walkway stretched both ways as far as his little light would reveal. He decided to go downstream, hopefully towards the centre of town.

To begin with the walk was almost pleasant. It reminded him of an Easter holiday when his family had visited an uncle near Birmingham and walked along a canal towpath. The tunnel was quite straight to start with and only had only a few gentle bends. Every so often there was another iron gate leading off to the side. He pushed each one, they were all locked. They all had Squidduckens of one kind or another.

There were stretches where the wooden walkway on his side of the tunnel stopped abruptly. When it did, it continued on the far side. He found that it was easy enough to jump down to the edge of the water and step over, then climb up to the walkway on the other side. If the water was much higher it would have been a struggle.

After a short while the tunnel began to split and change. There were side tunnels, usually smaller, but also forks and chambers where multiple tunnels went in different directions. At first it was fun, a game, and he always followed the main stream. Then one of the tunnels he took ended with an iron fence across it, and when he backtracked he found that it wasn't easy to tell where he'd come from.

He'd been walking for ages now, and there hadn't been a single gate open, nor any way out. He had just turned down a side tunnel that he thought would take him back toward the clock tower. But after a tight bend to the right it finished with a locked gate.

He was about to step back to the main tunnel when he heard voices. Could it be Lord Ratzenberg? Or perhaps there were other animals down here. Whoever it might was, they might not be friendly

He turned off his torch and crept up to where his side tunnel met the main one. It was completely dark, then there was another light in the main tunnel, growing brighter.

"Why do we always have to do the boring jobs? If the boss thinks these tunnel's need checking, he should do it himself. Just because there's trouble above ground don't mean there's trouble down here. If I find anything down here that doesn't belong, I'll stick it with my sword. And I tell your, I'll not be carrying any prisoners around tonight. The water can wash their bodies back to his Lordship."

James backed away from the main tunnel and hid around the bend in the side tunnel. There were sounds of footsteps, and a rattling sound as well. The footsteps reached the wooden walkway in front of his side tunnel. He held his breath.

"Do we really have to go all the way up to the park? I've heard there's other--" the voice cut off. "You smell that? That ain't sewer born. That's something else. Get your sword ready, I'm going to enjoy this."

There was a sound like a sword being drawn from a scabbard. Then another.

"Whatever it is, it's just around here. And there's only dead ends in this neck of the woods."

James felt around for a weapon, or something to defend himself with. He had nothing of any use at all. He pushed back against the gate desperately hoping that it wasn't locked after all. It creaked under his weight.

"Oh no," came the voice. "Don't run away. I need to introduce you to my friend, he's got a bite on him and--" the voice cut off suddenly, then said, "You hear that? It's coming from down there, and there's nothing down there but trouble. It's raiders, it's them Hollingbury Raiders! Put your sword away, let's run for it!"

James heard the clattering of his would-be attackers running away. Then the sound of different voices. Maybe he should try and run for it himself. If the creatures with the swords were afraid, then he needed to get out there too. He made a dash for the other tunnel and saw a light to the right, he turned left and started to run as fast as he could.

"James," said a voice. "Wait!"

He stopped and turned and saw only light from two torches.

"Who's that?" he called, and he took his little torch out and pointed it at three familiar faces Jenny, Elf and Notail.