The Golden Throne

Chapter 29: The man with the iron claw

"We're going... in there?" Hilda grimaced. Her nose twitched as she picked up the sharp smell of excrement.

"We have to," Hilbert replied her. "The book's with you right?"

"Right here," Hilda patted her pink sling-bag.

"What are we waiting for?" Kye said and walked in.

It was dusk, and Hilbert, Hilda and Kye were in the biggest and most modern city in all of Odara: Philoria City. Philoria City was six times the size of Adaru City, which itself was also considered an urban metropolis. And now, the three of them were about to enter a tunnel leading into its sewers.

"This place stinks,"

"I think I stepped on crap,"

"W-What was that that slid between my feet?"

"Focus, guys," Hilbert hushed them.

The trio fumbled around in the dimly lit sewer tunnels. The tunnels were lit by lights fixed on the arching walls. They were walking on a narrow walkway by the side of a sewage canal. Hilda walked as close to the wall as possible, afraid that she might fall down into the sewage. Kye's heart was beating nervously, he wondered what would happen when they meet the Zaff. Hilbert was deep in thought, thinking of the consequences if the Zaff were to locate Ris'dra. They reached a section that broke off into many separate tunnels. Hilbert made a rough guess and walked into one. For the next two hours, they continued wandering the sewers, deeper and deeper.

"Hilbert, we're lost aren't we?" Hilda said. The stench of human waste was unbearable in this part of the sewers. She just threw up a few minutes ago, and now she was feeling another puke coming.

"No, I feel like we're getting close," Hilbert said to her.

"Ughh... you said that an hour ago," Hilda grumbled.

"Guys, look!" Kye pointed at an archway leading into a chamber. It was quite some distance away, but from where they were standing, they could see light coming out of it.

"What did I tell you?" Hilbert smirked. With haste, Hilbert rushed towards the chamber. He stepped into a large open space with a high ceiling, lit by torches on the walls.

"Hilbert, wait up!" Hilda called out as she and Kye ran after him.

Hilbert stopped running and froze all of  sudden. At first she thought it was because she told him to slow down, but when she joined up with him, she found out the real reason why.

Inside the chamber were several men. Some were seated on chairs while others were sitting on the floor or leaning against the walls- their eyes locked onto Hilbert and his friends.

"You've kept us waiting," a rough, low-pitched voice spoke from the shadows at the back of the chamber. The owner of the voice stepped out of the darkness and into the light where Hilbert, Hilda and Kye could see his face in all its deformity. Hilda let out a startled gasp and stepped behind Hilbert- she recognized him!

The man was short and dressed in a dark robe. He was bald and had unnaturally tiny eyes with no eyebrows. Even his mouth seemed wider than a normal human's. But his most striking feature of all was a prosthetic, metal-clawed hand where his left hand should be. His claws were long and incredibly sharp. In his other hand, he was holding Zeno whose mouth was taped and hands were bound behind her back. She also had her Pokebelt hung around her neck. Zeno's eyes were wide open in fear.

Oh my god, Hilbert grimaced and took a step back. He had never seen a man as hideous as this before.

"What? Is it my face?" the man's eyes grew wide in horror as if he would never have believed someone would think of him as ugly. Then, he made the widest and most disgusting Glasgow smile and let out a shrill giggle. "Do you want to know how I became this way, Hilbert?" the man said. "After all, you seem to have taken a special interest in me," he muttered in a lewd, seductive voice.