ICE

83. The Creature

THE WORLD AROUND them passed by in a murky red blur. It was hard for Ravenna to see anything around her, despite the glow that emanated from their bubble, and the lack of visibility made her nervous. It was hard to imagine what awaited them at the end of the tunnel.

A pearl of anxiety had buried itself within her chest, slowly expanding and pressing against her ribs. Her hands curled into tight fists at her side. She glanced toward Vyses. His expression was calm, somewhat stoic, and bathed in a red hue. It was an eerie sight that made her jaw clench. She forced her gaze down, toward Lyth. The small boy seemed completely disinterested. His arms were folded across his chest and his eyes stared, half-closed, out into the expanse of darkness in front of them.

"What should we be looking for exactly?" Ravenna asked quietly. "If we are to be caught, that is. Will they attack us here in the tunnels?"

Vyses hummed. "I'm not really sure, lass," he said. "I've never traveled through the sewage system before, so I'm not quite sure where we will wind up."

Ravenna pursed her lips. "I heard stories of criminals sneaking through the tunnels when I traveled around, back before I met Caelan. The tunnels supposedly are connected to the local wells within the city walls. We need to pick one that is more obscured, with less traffic, and climb out through that if we can. The issue will just be if we are detected."

"And how are we to know which tunnel to choose?" Vyses asked, his eyebrow arched upward.

She flashed him a crafty smile. "Easy. Your map shows the landscape around us, correct?"

He frowned. "It doesn't show buildings or anything, however. It's more for geological structures. We won't be able to tell what exactly is around the well."

"Just activate the map for a moment," she ordered.

He immediately opened his hand. It glowed red, displaying the map across his skin. The small dot that marked their location was moving fast, following a thin line of solid red, of water. Ravenna pulled his hand closer to her, examining the thin paths of solid red that spiderwebbed across his hand. In certain spots, the line would branch into several different paths, and certain ones would abruptly stop.

"These are the wells," Ravenna told him. "Can you stop our bubble?"

Vyses quietly waved his free hand. The sphere slowed to a gentle stop. The water continued to rush around them, pushing and rolling against the sides of their sphere in small waves. "We won't be able to stay completely still for a very long period," he warned her. "The current is too strong right now."

Ravenna returned her attention to Vyses's hand. She examined the areas where the tunnels seemed located, focused mostly on the way the terrain seemed to shift around them. One side of the city seemed to be constructed atop flat, treeless ground, and was filled with wells. The other side seemed to be built closer to the side of a mountain. There were fewer wells on this side of the city, and some seemed to be located near various patches of trees.

"This one," Ravenna said. She pointed to a well that seemed surrounded by a larger cluster of trees, closer to the mountainside.

Vyses nodded. "As you wish, lass," he said.

The sphere started to move again. This time, Vyses kept the map open, adjusting the sphere when needed in order to keep it on the correct path. Ravenna watched their location move across his palm from the corners of her eyes. Her stomach twisted with nerves. From what she could see of the map, their chosen well was engulfed within a wooded area and far away from the urban areas that constituted the entrance of the city. Yet, she still feared that they would be discovered –either within the well or while climbing out of it. She half-expected that an army of highly trained guards would be waiting for them when they climbed out.

As the mark that indicated their location turned down the final, dead-ended path, Ravenna's heartbeat spiked. The sphere slowed to a stop as it reached the end. She squinted into the red-hued darkness. It was still hard to see through the water and red glow of their sphere. But if she concentrated hard enough, she could see the outlines of a stone wall in front of them.

"Lyth, why don't you go up first and scope it out?" Vyses asked.

Lyth nodded. He moved forward, toward the edge of the sphere, and reached out. His hands pressed against the red magic and pushed hard, forcing through it. The magic crawled across the skin of his arms, his shoulders and stomach, and over his head. Then Lyth was completely outside of the sphere, swimming calmly within the water.

The current didn't seem as strong now, as the water didn't seem to rush him toward the surface. As soon as Lyth vanished from sight, Ravenna turned her gaze toward Vyses.

"Is Lyth human?" she asked him.

Vyses blinked at her. A moment of silence passed between them, as his eyes examined her expression. "No, he's not." he answered honestly.

She had suspected as much. Lyth appeared to be around nine or ten years old. He rarely seemed to show emotions, though, which was abnormal for children around that age. She frowned at Vyses. "What is Lyth exactly?" she asked. "And why does he act like your servant?"

"That would be because he is my servant," Vyses explained. "I essentially created him, so to speak. I turned him into the creature that he is today, and his servitude is how he shows his gratitude."

Ravenna's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, creature? What kind of creature?"

Vyses shot her a small smile. Before anything else could be said, however, Lyth returned. He forced his way back into the sphere, water clinging to his skin, his hair, his clothes. He stood before them, his gaze focused intently on Vyses.

"There is no one immediately around the well and it is well hidden within a cluster of trees," he announced. "However, I do believe that this well is on privately owned land, as there is a small castle located just north of here. We will have to be cautious when travelling through the woods."

Vyses reached out and gently patted Lyth's head. "Great work," he said. Then he turned to Ravenna, his eyes glimmering with excitement. "Another invisibility spell should get us through the grounds safely. We need to get to the main part of the city, where the market is. There will be several inns there. We can also scope out the local gossip and see if any advancements have been made by the king."

"Let's get to the surface then," Ravenna said.