Jack Hawkins and the Faery Prophecies

Sewer Rats - Part 1

- Sewer Rats - Part 1

Ebra's heart was pounding so fast, that he could hardly hear himself think, never mind hear the loud splashing his heavy footsteps were making, as they thread both fast and carelessly on the wet ground below him. While of course thinking of a plan on what to do next, would be very important if he indeed had any chance or hope of escaping, in this moment it was basic fear that was getting the better of him and all it was telling him to do was to run and to run as fast as he could, which perhaps was both a wise and unwise thing to do alike.

He had managed to go unnoticed from the secret wall tunnels in his lord's keep, down into the sewer that ran right under and throughout the city. The sewer was a place that he definitely did not want to be but under the circumstances, the ghastly and terrifying position he now unfortunately found himself in, gave him little choice.

The air around him stank, for the sewer expectantly and understandably was the worst place to be in the city. A most revolting and repellent place and it wasn't just the smell, everything about it was repulsive, the darkness, the dirt and grime, the rats and of course, the excrement of the whole city! The worst part though, was the sewer dwellers, the lowest of the low they were, beggars, thieves, rapists, murderers and worse. They were exclusively human, outcasts and underclass in an Elf city and the sewer was crawling with them.

Although Ebra too was human, the type of humans that lived in the sewer had become a breed apart from him and the other humans above and so they were definitely not to be trusted. Ebra knew this though, for he himself used to be one of them, having spent some time here in his younger days. He had got lucky and had managed to climb the strict social order of the Elf city, a social of order of which put humans at the very bottom of its scale.

But down in the sewer Ebra was now an outsider and so could be certain to find no friends here. His best chance was to pass through unseen, unheard and so, unnoticed. This however would be nearly impossible, if even possible at all, for there was neither night nor day in the sewers and so there were people and other 'creatures' that had evolved so much in eternal darkness, that they now did not even sleep.

He best slow down thought Ebra to himself as he grounded his feet to halt, with the intention of finally catching his breath for a moment. He knew that he was making too much noise and that soon he would be in a part of the sewer were noise like that would be punished most unforgivably. He was however slightly feeling better in that he was now confident that he was definitely not being followed by any of Kraktinn's men. If he was lucky, perhaps they didn't even know he existed or that if they did, then hopefully maybe they had forgotten about him, nor thought that he was at all a threat. A human in an Elf City, has little power or influence.

It was a risk he was willing to take. The concern that worried him more greatly though, was the path that lay ahead. Miles of tunnels, caves and caverns each controlled by different gang lords and patrolled by the scum that served them. He had little with him to offer them or bribe them with and even if he did most of them probably would just kill him and take what he had anyway. No he needed to thread softly and if that meant slowing to a snail's pace, than that is how he would have to travel.

If he remembered correctly, he needed to take a right ahead and then after that, a further right and then a left, which would bring him under the city square, where the King's yearly commemorations were held. From there was or well there used to be, a tunnel that led straight to the south gate by the river. If he could just get to that tunnel he thought, then he would have a fighting chance of getting out of the city before dawn, which was a must for it would be much harder to travel to by day. The King's men patrolled up and down the country side and so he would easily be spotted at sunrise and they surely would take him back to the city. He would be quickly identified as a runaway and the punishment for that was more than he was prepared to stomach. He had a task to do and he had promised his word to Lord Lanndar that he would do it. There was no turning back, his old life in the city was surely gone anyway and he would never find another Elf like Lanndar to serve.