Yennefer turns around the corner. And freezes. She cannot see much in the near darkness of the sewer but there is some kind of huge, black shadow squatting right in the middle of the tunnel. Another monster. Fuck! As if that tentacle thing a few hours ago was not enough. And now they do not even have a torch. Why on the continent did the Nilfgaardian throw away their only source of light and means to defend themselves? Right, to grab and save her, she cannot really blame him for that, can she now. But still, a torch would have made their journey through the ancient elven aqueduct so much easier. And especially so if the monster from earlier that killed Dermain and almost her too, is not the only one lurking in these godforsaken tunnels.

Standing still as a statue, Yennefer stares at the creature. In the dim light of the air shaft illuminating it from behind, it reminds her of a gigantic toad. The toad-like beast opens its mouth and a fleshy, long tongue emerges. It looks greyish in the twilight, but she is sure it must have some disgustingly slimy, brown-red colour. It is probably sticky as hell, too, and several metres long. The creature moves its tongue from side to side while protruding and retracting it repeatedly with some kind of smacking sound.

"What is it?" Cahir whispers, stopping in his tracks right behind her, so close she can feel his warm breath on her wet skin. Her disgustingly dirty and stinking skin. Good thing he is no less dirty and wet than her.

"Quiet. I think it hasn't noticed us yet," Yennefer breathes, taking a cautious step backward.

Unfortunately, her assessment is overly optimistic. With its sensitive tongue the toad has tasted the air, smelled the scent of delicious prey. It is hungry, too. Not many animals of a size bigger than rats stray into the tunnel system that has been its home for many hundred years. And these weird, two-legged beings are the creature's favourite. Sweet, juicy meat, and lots of it. It has had only a few of them during its very long life, but recently more of these delicacies seem to traverse the main tunnels than ever before. That's why it has left its usual, darker hunting grounds and come to this place. Here it has sat on watch waiting for many hours. Patiently. As it has been its habit, its nature for all its very long life. But now the time to feast has finally come. With a loud splash, the ancient amphibian starts to move through the foul water. It moves straight toward them, and a lot faster than Yennefer would have imagined possible with its enormous bulk.

"Run!" she exclaims, whipping round.

Cahir does not need to be told twice. Grabbing his companion by the hand and dragging her along with him through the luckily no more than ankle-deep sewage, he takes to his heels back the way they have come. There was a much narrower side tunnel, he remembers, surely too narrow for the huge creature. If they can reach it before the monster gets to them, they might be able to save themselves. If not - death by being swallowed by a dramatically overgrown toad in a stinking sewer is certainly even less the end he has hoped for than what the Brotherhood of Sorcerers had in mind for him.

They do not need to turn their heads and look behind to know that the monster is coming closer and closer. The increasingly loud splashes of water are telling enough. Damn, where the fuck is that tunnel? If they don't find it within the next minute or two, they will be done for. The monster is almost upon them and gaining on them with every leap it makes.

They sprint around another corner. There, some fifty metres ahead, they can see it. Finally. A dark opening on the left side of the main aqueduct, right beneath another light shaft. Their only chance to escape. Panting heavily, Yennefer and Cahir run on as fast as they can on the slippery ground. They run for their lives.

And they make it. Just in time, too. They dash into the dark side tunnel seconds before the monster catches up with them. And run into a wall. Fuck, a blind end. And not a very deep one, either. In the darkness, they press their backs against the far wall, their hearts pounding like mad from physical exertion and fear, hardly daring to breathe. Hopefully, the toad will just hop by and not notice them.

Of course, this is not what happens. No such luck for Yennefer and Cahir. It would have been too easy. Instead of hopping past them, the monster stops right in front of the entrance to their refuge. With pale, almost yellowish eyes the size of big plates it peers down the side tunnel. They can see it clearly now as it stares at them, the pupils horizontal black slits, its brown-greenish, warty skin glistening with slime and dirty waste water. Hideous like hell. Once again, the ancient abomination opens its mouth. Slowly. The tongue is indeed red, Yennefer registers just a split second before it is suddenly catapulted forward with incredible speed. It hits the floor hardly more than a metre away from their feet.

"Shit!"

"Fuck!"

Cahir and Yennefer stare at the monstrous tongue that is retracted almost as quickly as it was ejected. Only to be flung at them again, with force. This time it hits its mark, or rather Yennefer, right in the stomach. She loses her footing, crying out in pain and shock. Grabbing a big metal ring in the wall and holding fast to it, Cahir just so manages to pull her back by her arm as the monster starts to drag its human prey toward its wide open maw. Thanks to Melitele, the pull in the opposite direction is enough to free Yennefer from the beast's sticky hold on her. Without its intended haul the tongue disappears inside the fearsome, gaping maw.

Gods, that was close. And it is not over yet. The monster might try again any second. Panting and trembling with rising panic, Yennefer scrambles to her feet with Cahir's help and presses herself as tightly against him as possible. Still clutching at the metal ring with one hand, he puts his arm around her waist to be prepared for another attack as well as possible under the - very dire - circumstances. If they only had a weapon of sorts, but they do not. Too bad that Ba'lian's knife got lost in the sewage. A few stabs with it might have deterred the monster toad from further attempts at catching them.

The absurd amphibian does not let them wait for long. Yennefer has barely recovered from the first shock when the tongue is once more hurled toward them. This time it hits Cahir in the leg, slings itself around it and pulls with all its strength. With a splash, he falls. The pull of the tongue is dastardly strong. He holds onto the metal ring, grunting with the effort.

"Fuck! Do something!" he shouts at Yennefer who seems paralysed with fear. It startles her into action. With her bare fingers, she tries to peel the disgustingly sticky tongue off Cahir's leg. However, without a weapon or tool of sorts it does not work. The slimy muscle is too strong. So strong Cahir feels like it is going to rip his leg off any minute. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

As if this was not bad enough, they can suddenly hear an ominous creak. The metal ring is starting to come loose from the wall. Damn, just their shit luck again! Cahir's eyes grow wide with fright. Frantically he looks around in the almost darkness for something, anything else to hold on to, but there is nothing. If only Yennefer would use her magic. However, as she did not even do so when she herself was a hair's breadth from being drowned and swallowed by the tentacle beast just a few hours ago, it seems like she really cannot, for whatever unknown reason.

Cahir groans from the pain in his leg. The ring creaks again and he can feel it move another half centimetre. He swears in Nilfgaardian, knowing it is only a matter of seconds before it will come loose entirely. Then, the inevitable will happen and there is nothing he, nothing they could do.

"Fuckety fuck!" Yennefer cries and drives the metal hairpin she has pulled out of her intricate coiffure into the monster's tongue. It does not do much harm but the toad lessens the pull a little. Then, to their utter surprise and relief, the tongue lets go of Cahir and is quickly retracted into the creature's mouth. Emitting something that sounds like a throaty growl, it turns around, away from them.

It has sensed something approaching through the waters behind it. An ancient memory stirs in its primitive mind. A memory that lets it forget everything else.

Having collapsed against the wall, Yennefer and Cahir can hear the splashing of water from further down the main tunnel. Is it what has distracted the toad? More elven refugees on the way to Oxenfurt to find the mysterious Sandpiper? Just to find death by a nightmarish monster instead?

The giant toad removes itself from the entrance to the side tunnel with a hop. They hear another loud splash and a strange gurgling sound. Then they can see what has diverted the amphibian's attention. A whitish arm emerging from the water. And another one. A whole coil of strong tentacles trying to envelop the amphibian's curved legs. The monster that ate the elven boy. Has it been following them the whole time? The toad ogles the tentacles and swats at them with its webbed front paw. Then it snaps at one of the slithering things with its toothless, beaklike mouth intending to rip a piece off and swallow it. The tentacle whips out of the water and hits the toad in the face. It growls once again, deep and menacingly. Then it attacks.

A fierce fight ensues between the two ancient creatures. The water starts roiling with their angry movements as these rivals of old try to kill and eat each other. Soon it darkens with spilled blood. Yennefer and Cahir hold their breaths as they stare at the spectacle, the monster battle almost directly in front of their eyes. It is both exciting and terrifying at the very same time. And so weird it feels like taken straight from a nightmare, or a different sphere. Will anybody ever believe them? Probably not.

Luckily, both monsters are so busy fighting each other that they seem to have forgotten about the two humans huddled together on the soggy stone floor of the side tunnel. As the monstrous battle proceeds, the creatures disappear from sight further and further down the main tunnel. Soon, Yennefer and Cahir can only hear the toad's deep rumbling growls, the tentacle beast's angry gurgles and the splashes of water in the distance. Cahir wonders briefly which of the beasts will win. Hopefully, it will not matter in the end. He gets up gingerly. His leg still hurts but he can stand. He takes a tentative step toward the bigger tunnel. And almost falls when his leg gives way. But Yennefer is already by his side, catching him as his knee buckles. Cahir groans but grits his teeth and, leaning onto the sorceress, limps forward. They have to get out of here before one of the monsters comes back for them.

"I like the ending where the monsters kill each other and the innocent humans get away with just a scare," he mutters as they start walking down the main aqueduct in the opposite direction of the beasts, holding onto each other tightly.

"Innocent? You?" Yennefer asks with a giggle, raising her eyebrows. "Last I remember you invaded my country. Or rather tried to invade it."

"Had I known what you are capable of doing, I'd have waited for the general," Cahir says drily. "I'm pretty sure you killed a lot more people than I ever have, just by waving your little finger."

"To be precise, I was waving both my hands, not just my little finger. To defend my country from you, Nilfgaardian. Don't forget, you attacked us first, not the other way around. I only did my duty for my country."

"And I was only following my Emperor's orders, doing my duty for my country."

"Right. And look what good it has done the both of us," Yennefer says. "We're stuck in a stinking sewer with all kinds of man-eating monsters. Guess we were both fucking bloody idiots."

Cahir does not comment. They are both deep in the shit, no doubt about that, literally and metaphorically. Gods, how he wishes he were back in Cintra already - together with his purple-eyed saviour. Funny how much he hated and admired her all at once that fateful day at Sodden when she burned down his army and stole his victory. And look at them now. Saving each other's lives repeatedly, they have become allies, comrades on the run, perhaps even friends. He can hardly imagine travelling on without her. The mere thought of it makes him feel incomplete. What a good thing she agreed to come with him after all.

"What if it's the lesser of two evils?" he asks after some time of trudging along the main tunnel in silence. They have left the sounds of the fighting monsters behind a while ago. "What if the White Flame can save the world?"

"And from what? From himself?" Yennefer asks mockingly. "Forget it, Cahir. Don't delude yourself. I won't buy any of that White Flame nonsense of yours, no matter what. Not even if he'd appear right here and now with a picnic basket full of delicious food and wine, a dry and clean dress, the promise of a hot bath and a soft bed …"

"We'll see. Only time will tell, I suspect," he says, not giving up just yet. Maybe he will be able to sway her once they are in Cintra?

"You suspect wrong then. Only I will tell. And I have," Yennefer says with conviction. Then her voice softens. "How's that leg of yours? You're still limping. Do you need a break?"

"No, it's alright. We should try to get out of here as fast as possible. You never know, there might be more monsters lurking in the dark tunnels."

"More monsters? Gods, you aren't serious, are you?" Yennefer groans. "Those two were more than enough already."

"I agree, enough for a whole lifetime, if you ask me," Cahir says. "What about you?" he then inquires. "That tongue hit you pretty bad."

"Just a bruise, it could have been much worse," she says lightly. And it is true. They both could have died easily today, and not only once. All in all, they have been quite lucky under the circumstances. "How far is it still?" Yennefer then wants to know. "You said that you read maps before invading another country. We've been here for hours. How long are those fucking tunnels?"

"Sorry, the sewers weren't in the maps," Cahir says. "Too old and forgotten. Too elvish, perhaps. If they led straight from Gors Velen to Oxenfurt under the sea," he adds with a frown, "I'd estimate it to be something like thirty kilometres. But we're still close to the surface. The moonlight's filtering in through the air shafts. Which means the tunnels must go all the way around the bay, which is far longer."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning we'll probably have to trudge through that sludge for quite a few more hours. The rest of the night and most of tomorrow, I suspect."

"What? Fuck, can't you suspect something less dreadful for a change, Nilfgaardian?"

"If you stop calling me a Nilfgaardian. I told you I am not."

"Melitele have mercy, that again." Yennefer rolls her eyes. "Had I known you're so fucking annoying, I might have thought twice about saving your bacon back on Thanedd."

"Hm," Cahir snorts, amused. He knows she does not really mean it. Right in the beginning their bickering was of a rather serious nature, however, it has long since become some kind of a game, a fun game that you play among friends. Good friends. And she is right, the prospect of spending so many more hours down here is dreadful indeed. But, at least, they are not alone. Together they have a chance to make it to Oxenfurt and all the way to Cintra. And then they will see what destiny has in store for them. Hopefully nothing involving more monsters …