The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (e book reading free TXT) 📕

“I don’t think it’s in your best interest to get caught up in a battle with the peacekeepers and lords. Even if you’re not a member of the cult, you’re still a foreigner here and that’s just as certainly a death sentence. Besides, Lady White is higher up than Marius. This isn’t a decision he should be making on his own.”

Otto weighed his options. Jet had a point, but he didn’t plan to join in the actual battle. Marius, on the other hand, might be planning to use him to bolster his meager forces. That didn’t appeal to Otto in the least.

“Tell you what. I’ll help you send your message and afterwards, you show me the Forbidden Garden.”

Jet nodded. “Deal.”

Jet seemed to think it wise to make their move while Marius’s spirit was out of his body, so they set out immediately from the safe house. Otto would have preferred to wait until dark, but as they made their way through streets crowded with the debris of humanity, he realized Jet had been right. Draped in ragged cloaks she provided, they blended right in with the other beggars. The only downside was that he had to carry his sword to keep it hidden.

The handful of men they passed gave Jet hungry looks, but Otto’s angry glare quickly turned them away. Like any other predator, they were looking for weak targets. A quick show of strength was enough to convince them to look elsewhere.

“Where, exactly, are we going?” Otto asked when it seemed like they’d been meandering for too long.

“The entrance to the aerie is underground. I’ve been looking for an access point. Usually Marius goes through the tunnels to a sewer connection.”

Judging from the stream of foul-smelling water running down the center of pretty much every street, Otto doubted the sewer extended to this part of the city. He was about to say so when Jet hurried across the street to a half-collapsed building.

“What is this place?” Otto asked.

“Nothing special, but sometimes when a building collapses, it breaks into the tunnels below. The city has been built up throughout the centuries over many levels. You’d be amazed what you can find if you’re not afraid to look.”

“And you’re not afraid to look? Given your position, I would have assumed you grew up far away from places like this.”

“Oh, I did, but that didn’t stop me from being curious. I regularly snuck off the grounds and made my way to some of the rougher neighborhoods. Astaroth must have been watching over me even then as I could have ended up in some serious situations.”

Jet looked around but no one seemed to be paying them much attention. She led Otto around to the rear of the building. A gap had formed where the roof met the ground.

Otto conjured a light and sent it in ahead of them. Not far beyond the entrance a pile of rubble formed a ramp that descended into an even darker hole. Otto sensed no corruption, but then again, they probably had a ways to go to reach the shadow birds.

Once again Jet took the lead, squeezing her shoulders through the gap and starting down the ramp. Otto had to work a bit harder to force his broader shoulders through, but he managed it without dislocating anything. Together they descended into the underworld.

At the bottom of the ramp, they found a tunnel made from two collapsed and crushed buildings. Fascinating, like a second city below the first.

“Do you know where you’re going?” he asked.

“I know which direction we need to go, the trick is finding a tunnel that follows the same path.”

Not filled with confidence, Otto trailed her through the darkness. Above them, the ceiling seemed solid and thankfully none of the vile water leaked through. The trip was nasty enough without having anything dripping on them.

They traveled in silence with only the occasional rat for company. After a few minutes Jet stopped and whispered, “Douse your light.”

Otto frowned but obliged. As soon as he did, a glow became visible ahead of them. “Is that it?”

“No. Where we’re going, there’s no light.”

“Then what is it?”

“Trouble.” Eight figures stepped out of the shadows all around them. The ragged, dirty men all had weapons of the poorest quality. Though they certainly looked sharp enough.

Otto reached for his sword and the ether at the same time.

One of the men grabbed Jet and put his homemade knife to her throat. “I wouldn’t do that, not unless you want your pretty friend dead.”

Otto looked long and hard at Jet and she stared back with pleading eyes. Did he really need her? She would certainly make his task easier. For now he’d play along.

“Very well.” Otto released his grip on his sword and one of the others yanked it out of the baldric. Fine as it was, the blade was the least of his weapons. “Now what?”

“Now we take you to the boss. He’ll decide if we kill you, ransom you, or…” The man holding Jet licked her cheek, drawing evil chuckles from his companions. “Something else.”

When Otto killed these fools, he’d reserve something especially unpleasant for that one. The marauders forced them along the tunnel toward the light Jet had pointed out earlier. Only fifty or so yards further on they emerged into a chamber that looked like it had once been an inn’s common room. There were even four crude tables and a bar made of a board across two barrels. Ten men and three women, their bodies all missing at least a finger and sometimes far more, crowded the area.

In the center of the room, a grotesquely fat bald man covered with tattoos and piercings, his left ear missing, sat on a throne made of what looked like human bones. Corruption swirled around him, similar to Marius, but also different. That had to be the leader. Otto had never imagined a human so horrific looking.

“What have you brought me?” the leader asked. “One’s a tasty