Salveran Tides Ch. 04

"What do we do?" Leona asked, sounding out of breath from having to move under the weight of her disguise.

Scarlet and Yesseil shared a glance. "Rooftops," they said at the same time.

"They might have guards posted," Yesseil pointed out.

"Still worth a check."

The three of them ducked into a side alley, looking for a ladder or anything that could be moved into a position to let them up onto the rooftops. They went all the way through to the next avenue with no luck, then went up a block and tried to work their way back across.. However, the thick crowd of people waiting to watch the execution formed a wall at the other end of the alley, and past them Scarlet saw more and more people cramming in to watch.

"Up top," Yesseil said, without making a conspicuous pointing motion. Scarlet's eyes flicked up to the rooftop across the main avenue to see a soldier in Navy blue and green posted up there, long rifle in hand.

"Better and better," Scarlet muttered.

"Can we cause a scene?" Yesseil asked. "Clear the crowd out, make a break for the mount?"

"They might just shoot him and be done with it as soon as something happens," Scarlet said.

"What about the cathedral?" Yesseil asked.

"I still don't think..." Scarlet trailed off, then turned around, her head snapping back and forth. "Where did Leona go?"

Yesseil inhaled. "Did she fall behind?"

Scarlet hurried back through the alley to the other street, looking up and down the length of it. A moment later, she spotted the patchwork ensemble of Leona's outfit further up the way, and sprinted up behind her. She grabbed the mermaid's shoulder, earning a yelp of surprise from her. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Scarlet hissed.

"I'm sorry!" Leona squeaked. She gestured to the round granite flagstone laid into the street by her feet. "I just heard water nearby and thought it was strange to hear it from underground."

"Underground?" Scarlet asked. Realization washed over her at what the mermaid meant. Along with no small amount of revulsion. But if it would save Lexaeus, well, it was a price worth paying. "Princess, you're a genius."

"I am?"

Scarlet turned to Yesseil. "Get everyone's attention around here. We're taking the sewers to the main square, I know for a fact there's an outlet there. Once we're down, give everyone the slip and see about getting up on the rooftops. You'll probably have an easier go of it on your own."

Yesseil made a face, then moved away from them. "So long as I don't have to go down there," she muttered.

"What's down there exactly?" Leona asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," Scarlet said. She shifted her weight, leaning down a little near the stone disk. "Now be ready."

Both of them watched Yesseil walk down the street a ways. The elf looked back and forth at the buildings around her, trying to pick her target. She needed to do something that would cause a ruckus but not be too disruptive that it would spook the executioners.

After a long moment, the elf chose the simplest, most effective option. She stomped down on the road with all her strength, dislodging a chunk of a flagstone. The loud crack turned a few heads, but what really got everyone's attention was Yesseil taking the chunk and hurling it through the plate glass window of a nearby storefront. A cacophony of crashes came from inside the shop, the sound of brass and metals ringing like a band out of tune. Yesseil sprinted up to the storefront and jumped into the store, making more noise as a crowd started to mob the storefront.

At the same time, Scarlet reached down and lifted up the circular flagstone. "Now, Princess, get down!"

Leona ducked down and dropped into the hole, and Scarlet followed close behind. Blackness swallowed the both of them up, and Scarlet fumbled for the iron handholds that had been driven into the side of the circular drop. Below her, she heard a grunt and a splash. "Scarlet?" Leona called. "I'm not all that fond of the smell of oh by the Tides that cannot be what I think it is."

Despite everything, Scarlet laughed to herself as she descended into the stinky darkness below. "If I'd warned you what was down here you would've argued against this idea."

"I most certainly would have!" Leona shrieked. "Oh, Tides, this is foul. How do humans live like this?"

Scarlet avoided making the same mistake Leona had, setting her boots on the stone pathway that had been hewn into the sewer tunnel alongside the channel where the refuse flowed. Leona stood up to her shins in the melange of water and waste, looking thoroughly disgusted with her life and everything that had led her to that point. "Believe it or not, it used to be worse," Scarlet said.

"I do not want to hear about it."

"There used to be buckets-"

"I said I don't want to hear about it!" Leona took a deep breath, lapsed into a fit of coughing, then glared up at Scarlet. "Let's just get a move on."

Scarlet took a moment to reorient herself, then set off at a brisk walk, careful not to slip on the stone lest she join Leona in being miserable. It would hardly be the worst sort of thing she'd had to endure in her life. Hells, this wasn't even the first time she'd used a sewer system to sneak about. The life of a pirate had its moments of glamour, but this was decidedly not one of them.

They reached a point where the path went one of four ways like a plus sign. Scarlet cut to the left, using a mental map of the town above to determine the direction they needed to be going. Though some light filtered through the tunnels from the open drains on street level, much of it was cut off due to their being a whole mass of people in front of the drains. Voices filtered down from above, those of ordinary people gossiping as they waited for the execution to begin. Would they get right to the point, they wondered, or would they start right with the main event?

Scarlet took a deep breath through her nose, fighting the urge to gag at the horrid stench. There was something else underneath it all, an undercurrent of acrid spice. Incense. Gunpowder. Both important components of Flame Church rituals. She trotted down the passage a ways and inhaled again. The smell was weaker. Leona looked at her curiously as she doubled back and took another whiff, finding the smell stronger. "This way," Scarlet said. "Watch your step."

"You do not need to tell me twice."

Using her nose as a guide, Scarlet followed the smell of the incense/gunpowder mixture that she knew intimately well. It brought back a lot of memories, most of them she now curled her lip at. Though if she was being honest with herself, all that playing with explosives had translated well to the pirate chapter of her life. It was what had convinced Captain Morgan to take her on as first mate.

When the smell was almost powerful enough to blot out the smell of human waste, Scarlet stopped and looked around for a manhole above them. She spotted it after a moment, a thin corona of light visible around the rim of the metal plate. A series of metal handles driven into the wall led up to it. "There we go."

"Do you have a plan for what we're going to do when we get up there?" Leona asked, a hint of nervousness in her words.

"I'll figure it out once we're up there, Princess, don't get your tail in a twist."

"I don't have a-" Leona bit off her protest with a frustrated grunt.

Scarlet drew her knife from beneath her disguise and clamped her teeth around it, then climbed up the ladder set into the side of the tunnel. As she drew near the surface, the air became fresher, but still full of that pungent powder aroma. Flame Churches used so much of both substances it always hung around their buildings like a heavy cloud, the scent of the smoke becoming almost a permanent part of the marble and stone.

She set her palm against the manhole cover and pushed up slowly, raising her head to peek through the gap. Ahead of her was a thin horizontal shaft of sunlight, above which was the underside of the makeshift execution mount. Further out beyond the wood, she could see the crowd of onlookers from the knees down.

A heavy thunk above her made her heart lurch. A cheer went up from the crowd. A moment later, a human head landed on the cobblestones in front of her with a heavy thud like a dropped melon. Thankfully the face was turned away from her, so she didn't have to see the poor sap's lights go out. Scarlet sighed. "Oof, sorry mate."

"What's going on?" Leona asked from the tunnel beneath her.

A pair of boots hopped off the execution mount to land in her field of view. A meaty hand reached down to pick up the head by the hair, earning a smattering of applause from the crowd as it was lifted away. "Well, a big fucking headsman just executed a man so hard his head almost flew into the crowd," Scarlet said. "So that's a thing."

Leona made a gagging noise beneath her. "Barbaric."

Scarlet slowly pulled herself the rest of the way out of the hole, keeping low and moving carefully as to not make a sound. "Come up, Princess, be careful."

As Leona emerged from the sewers, Scarlet shimmied backwards, towards the rear edge of the execution platform facing the town cathedral. She dipped her head and peeked out as far as she dared. There was a single guard at the steps leading up to the platform, guarding a lone prisoner.

Lexaeus looked like shit. His normally glossy pelt was dirty and matted, the fur clumping into thick mats that would need to be shaved off and regrown to ever look normal again. The tufts of fur on the back of his neck had been ripped out at the root, leaving patches of skin that looked infected. Open cuts and lesions marked his fur, the filthy pelt matted with dried blood. Yet his eyes were still clear and focused, glancing at the distant horizon with a calm, detached serenity.

Catching the faintest hint of her motion underneath the mount, those green orbs flicked down at her. Lexaeus blinked once, saying all he needed to with the simple motion. I will follow your lead.

Scarlet scooted back under the mount to Leona. "Lexaeus is next. They'll read his crimes, then take his head off with an axe."

As if on cue, a warble-voiced town crier began to speak on the platform above them. "Our last prisoner needs no introduction. The vile savage Lexaeus from the far north, the murderer of Lady Corrin's beloved son Denwin!"

Lexaeus's shackles clanked as he was hauled up the steps to the platform. Scarlet dropped to her belly and looked around, taking stock of everything she could see. She counted ten pairs of boots facing outward from the platform, each likely belonging to a guard or Church knight of some kind. There was another guard on the platform, along with the massive headsman, plus the snipers on the rooftops. The odds were very much not in their favor. But that didn't discourage her at all. She would just need something to even the score.

The mermaid's blue eyes also took stock of their opposition. "Trying to fight our way out is suicide."

"My thoughts exactly," Scarlet said. She tapped her fingers on the stone in front of her, acutely aware that they were running out of time. The metal manhole cover made a pinging noise as her nail rapped against it. Scarlet's gaze grew unfocused as she stared at the forest of legs surrounding the platform. Through them, for a brief moment, she saw another manhole cover.

A plan coalesced in her mind.

"I knew I brought you along for a good reason, Princess," she said, a wicked grin turning up her mouth.

"I very much don't like the way you said that," Leona said from behind her.

"That new toy of yours can control ocean currents, right?"

Leona made a face. "Yes. What of it?"

Scarlet pointed down beneath them. "Guess where those sewer tunnels drain out to?"

Leona stared for a moment, until comprehension dawned on her face. "You mean..."

"Use that new trick of yours to flood the tunnels," Scarlet said, shimmying backwards towards the back of the execution platform. "If you pump enough water in you'll send the manhole covers flying and cause enough havoc for us to get out of here."

"Are you sure that will-"
Scarlet cut her off. "Time is of the essence, Princess, get to it!" she hissed.

Leona made an exasperated noise, drawing the Tidecaller lance from beneath her cloak. The weapon telescoped out to its full length with a series of clicks. Leona's webbed hands splayed on the lance haft, and the small jewels inlaid into the wave-shaped blade began to glow with a soft blue light. Scarlet turned her head and cocked an ear, listening to what the town crier was saying.

"...delivered to us as he was by the valiant efforts of the loyal men and women of the Royal Navy and the Church of Holy Fire, we here now pass judgement upon your heathen soul. You, Lexaeus, have been sentenced to have your head hewn from your shoulders to atone for your crimes. Have you any last words?"

Scarlet thumped the underside of the platform with her knife hilt as soft as she dared, hoping Lexaeus's ears would pick it up over the jeering of the crowd. Leona would need time to fill the tunnels, and he needed to stall.

"What do you wish me to say?" Lexaeus said, his strong baritone audible over the din of the mob. Scarlet heard a few people make surprised sounds as they realized the savage bipedal wolf could speak their language clearly - and in many cases, probably better than they could. "I offer no excuses for my actions. Denwin Corrin was a lecherous drunkard and a murderous bastard who took the two people I loved the most away from me." A snarl entered his voice. "I would do what I did a thousand times over, just for the pleasure of it."

"Enough!" the town crier cut him off. "Headsman, if you would?"

A series of thumps sounded above them. "Leona?" Scarlet hissed.

"I need a little more time!" the mermaid answered.

Scarlet made a snap decision. She darted out from underneath the execution platform, knife in hand. The lone guard behind the platform noticed her, his mouth opening to shout a warning. Scarlet stabbed upward, sinking her knife into his mouth up to the hilt, her knuckles scraping against the man's teeth. His voice became a strangled gurgle, blood bubbling against her fingers. Scarlet grabbed his belt and hauled him to the ground, ripping her knife free of his mouth and driving it deep into his throat. Her hand closed around his rifle before it clattered to the ground from his spasming fingers.

With the guard silenced for good, Scarlet yanked the knife free to let him bleed out. She took his rifle and stomped up the steps to the execution platform. The hammer on the rifle clicked as she pulled it back and took aim at the massive headsman, his axe mid-lift. "Oy!" she yelled.

The headsman lost his concentration and looked over at her, beady eyes gazing out from under a black hood. Scarlet fired. At that short a range and with that big a target, she couldn't have missed if she tried. The impact of the shot jerked his massive head to the side, making him stagger. As he did, he dropped the axe. Lexaeus pivoted so the ropes that bound his wrists were in the path of the falling weapon's blade. The sharp edge parted the rope fibers easily, freeing the Otter.

However, the headsman didn't fall over dead. He found his footing, righting himself with an incoherent cry of rage. Scarlet realized that though she hadn't technically missed, the shot had gone through the massive man's jaw and out his other cheek rather than through his brain like she'd intended. "Oh, bollocks."

"Guards!" the town crier shrieked as he scrambled away towards the shocked crowd. "Kill them!"

"Not your best rescue ever, Scarlet," Lexaeus rumbled.

Scarlet heard a sloshing sound from beneath them, along with a low rumble. "Wait for it, Lex," she said.

The headsman charged them like a raging bull. Just before he reached them, the cover of the manhole beneath the execution platform blasted through the wood like a massive bullet. It struck the headsman on his broad chin, the force of the impact snapping his head back with an ugly crunch. Scarlet and Lexaeus took a step to the side as his momentum carried him between them, his head hanging limp from his neck as he fell to the ground. At the same time, cries of panic came from the crowd as other manhole covers began to pop out of the ground like corks, followed by geysers of ocean water.

Lexaeus inclined his head. "Mind telling me how you managed this?"

Scarlet took his rough paw. "Made a new friend, you'll meet her later. Let's get a move on!"

The Otter didn't budge as she began to move. "Scarlet wait. Liblac has my hammer, I need to get it back."

She stared back into his luminous eyes. "Lex, it's just me, Yesseil, and our other new friend right now. We couldn't get it back if we tried. Right now, we have to leave. But we'll get it back soon, I promise."

Lexaeus looked up towards the fort in the distance, then let out a low growl as his ears went back. "Very well."

The pair of them jumped off the execution platform and barreled down the main road. The whole crowd was in a bedlam, running to and fro as a mixture of seawater and refuse from the sewers bubbled up underfoot. Scarlet and Lexaeus zig-zagged through the crowd, both of them keeping abreast of one another as they went. Several of the men in the crowd had the foresight to try to grab hold of Scarlet as she passed. All who tried earned kicks or knife slashes for their trouble.

Several Navy soldiers spilled out of an alley, and spared only the time to shout "Down!" among the clamor before taking aim with their rifles. Scarlet ducked as the volley of shots whizzed over her head. As she rose, a plan to get past them forming in her mind, Lexaeus was already among them. He ripped the rifle out of the hands of the lead soldier with his raw power, spinning and using the stock as a club. He drilled the freshly disarmed man in the jaw with the heavy wood, then belted the next on the crown of his head. Scarlet caught up, her knife slashing across the hand of a third man still clinging to his gun. When he cried out and let go of the weapon, Scarlet stabbed him in the neck with a quick motion. She stopped only to yank the knife free and slice the man's belt in two, grabbing his sheathed saber and taking it for herself. It wasn't either of her beloved personal blades, but she was getting tired of only having the knife to work with.

Scarlet and Lexaeus pressed on, cutting into a side alley as an entire squad of Navy soldiers attempted to cut them off. As they neared the end of the alley, a man in captain's fatigues moved to block their path. "Halt!" he commanded. "In the name of-"

His proclamation was cut off by a loud bang. The captain fell to the side, landing heavily. As Scarlet and Lexaeus rounded the corner, she glanced up for a moment to see the lithe form of Yesseil jump from her perch on the nearby rooftop down onto the top of a market stall in the road. She held a smoking Navy rifle in her hand, reloading it on the move with more finesse than any Navyman could ever manage.

"Where did she come from?" Lexaeus asked.

"I convinced her to come back to the sea," Scarlet said. "She missed us, don't worry."

The Wolf grunted but said nothing more, saving his breath for the act of escaping. The pair of them continued running down the road as more and more water burbled forth from underground. Now the entire town was in a state, not just the main road leading to the cathedral. Water and waste spilled up out of the underground in a heavy flow, like a storm in reverse. Citizens scurried for the safety of buildings that had a bit of clearance above the street, as many of them weren't wearing shoes that would protect from the saturation.

They crested a rise in the road, and the harbor came into view below them. Yesseil caught up to them, running with the rifle over her shoulder. "Where's Leona?" she asked.