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Chapter 31. Downwards Bound

by Rekkua

"Almost through." Zula spoke as quietly as she could, voice hardly carrying at all. The knife in her bound paws sawed up and down, slowly but surely cutting through the ropes that bound Brull. She was proving to be very helpful.

From her spot huddled next to the others, Rekkua watched the hare standing outside, outlined by the lightening sky. It had been a long night, with only snatches of sleep here and there. The hare stirred, and Rekkua hissed a low warning. All movement stopped for a long minute, and then Zula slowly began again.

"Got it, Mr. Sheriff, sir."

Brull slowly pulled the useless ropes off himself and took the knife from Zula. A moment later, everybeast was rubbing limbs to get blood flowing. "Like we planned," he whispered. The group rose and quietly moved towards the open door.

Blood sluggish in her veins, Rekkua stumbled into the sleeping Greenclaw. The ferret yelped, and that was it. Sleeping bundles leapt up, transforming into dangerous hares.

"Run!" Displaying a surprising amount of ferocity, Pearl knocked aside the startled hare outside. "Over the side!" Over the railing they leapt. Rekkua's heart struggled to break free of her chest as she fell, landing an instant later on the roof below.

Zula recovered first and took off running – in the wrong direction.

"Other way!" Brull bellowed, sprinting across the rooftop. Zula pulled an about face and ran after. Rekkua helped Pearl to her feet, and the two set off, shouts and cries at their heels.

It didn't take long to find a dilapidated section of the roof that led into the mansion. Dropping through landed them at the top of a staircase winding downwards in tight curls. A moment's pause, and again they set off, skipping steps on the way.

Shouts and pounding feet filled the stairs above them, echoing along the bare walls. The hares were coming, and right quick, too.

"Hurry!" Choosing the first turnout he could find, Brull bolted down the hall. Zula stumbled and tripped, slamming into the ground. Without thinking, Rekkua scooped up the fox as she whisked by. They found themselves in a hallway, ruinous walls covered with ripped and broken works of art. Rekkua's eyes darted back and forth, to and fro, trying to figure out a means of escape. She couldn't fight in here, the path was too narrow.

The furry mass in her arms began struggling, squirming to get down. "'M okay, Rekkua! You can put me down!"

A slingstone whizzed past Rekkua's head. "No time. Juzt wait."

"In here! In here!" Brull darted – something surprising for a beast of his size – through a door that was undamaged. Pearl followed. Rekkua put on a burst of speed and dove into the room. Brull slammed the door shut, and he and Pearl leaned against it. An instant later, something heavy slammed into the door. It shuddered, but held.

"Quick, get something to barricade the door!"

Rekkua set Zula down and looked around the room. It was a study of some kind, built-in shelves lining the walls. "Wit' what?"

Thud.

"Anything!"

"How 'bout this?" Zula swung her footpaws back and forth, smiling from her position on the edge of a large, oaken desk.

Thud.

"Off!" Rekkua vaulted over the desk. Planting her feet, she leaned against the desk and pushed as hard as she could. A horrible grinding sound rose up as the massive, wooden bulk started to move, inch by slow inch. Rekkua's muscles rippled and rolled beneath her scales as she labored forwards, deep gouges appearing in the floor. Teeth gritting and grinding, she roared and gave one, final push. Brull and Pearl leapt clear as the desk banged against the door, settling into place with a satisfying thunk. Panting ragged breaths, the four waited.

"We know you're in there!" It was that hare – Regaworth. Probably her paw that was pounding on the door, too. "Come out now, an' we won't hurt you."

"Go boil yor head, longears!" Brull glared at the rest of the group, speaking in a breathy whisper. "Bloody rabbits."

"Have it your way, then." The battering stopped and a tense silence fell.

After a lengthy pause, Pearl whispered hopefully, "Maybe they've gone."

Rekkua shook her head. "No, it'z good tactic, pretend you're gone, then wait outside. T'at iz what t'ey doing."

"It don't much matter what they're doing." Brull sighed and leaned against the edge of the desk, arms folded. "They're out there, an' we're in here. All they have to do is keep us in, an' we're as good as tied up."

"We can go out the window!" Zula pointed, a pleased grin plastered on her maw. "I've done it afore!"

Rekkua jerked her head to look, taking in the glass window, smudged and dirty, nearly opaque with filth. A slow smile crept across her features. She was beginning to have a great deal of respect for this little fox. "Yez, perfect!"

Pearl shook her head. "Won't work. We're on one of the top floors of the governor's mansion."

"And just how many floors does this place have, anyways?" Sheriff Brull asked. He didn't sound all that interested.

"Twenty."

Some creatures had no faith in themselves. "T'at iz no problem." Rekkua marched to the window, cleaned away a circle with her paw, and peered out. Down, down sat the ground, just beginning to glisten in the morning light. Much too far to jump, yes, but those jutting roofs dotting the descent looked plenty big. She whirled to face the others. "We can zimply climb down."

Brull snorted. "Rekkua, that'd be near impossible for a squirrel." He emphasized that last word, making it clear it would be doubly impossible for anybeast else.

"I iz no zquirrel. I iz Varan!"

"Yes, but we're not." Pearl shrugged and moseyed to a bookcase, eyeing the dusty tomes. "Since we're here, we might as well see if we can find anything useful – some clue to where a large group of beasts could hide in the city without being discovered. Who knows? We might even find a way out."

"Like a secret passage?" Zula asked, eyes wide behind her glasses. "Places like this always have a secret passage!"

Pearl rolled her eyes. "Yes, maybe we'll even find a secret passage."

Very quickly, Pearl, Brull, and Zula began combing through the books, pulling them off the shelves as they went. Feeling useless as a pebble in a pond, Rekkua prowled around the edges of the room, tongue flicking in irritation. It tasted awful in here – all oiled wood and parchment and must. So unnatural. It made her uneasy. Finally unable to stand it, she stopped at the window and wrenched it open, bits of dirt and wood trickling down. A cool breeze flowed through the opening. Sticking her head outside, she breathed deeply. The rising sun sent its warming rays scudding across the sky, pink fingers that hugged the city in its embrace. Rekkua basked in the growing warmth, heaven after the long night. It was going to be a nice day.

She eyed the mansion below her. It would be such a simple matter to climb down and away. Go back to the tribe and ask for their help. Just leave these furbeasts to fend for themselves…

Pearl gave an excited shout, and Rekkua looked over her shoulder.

"Lookit this! A history of the colonization of the island! Maybe we can find something in it that'll show us a way out. Here." Pearl slammed the book onto the desk. "Look through this, Sheriff. See if there might be anything useful." She whirled back to the bookcases.

Heaving a sigh of massive proportions, Brull picked up the book and began perusing it. One particular page gave him page, and he reread it several times before lowering the book in disbelief. "I can't believe it." His head wagged side to side, a leaf in the breeze. "They were bribed with spirits."

Pearl looked up from the book she had been thumbing through. "What are you babbling about?"

"There were lizards – Varan – livin' here before the city was built. Right feisty buggers, it says."

Rekkua stepped away from the window and the sun, blood already cooling. She knew this story. She knew it very well. "Clan Gezara. T'ey live here long ago. Good warriorz. Friendz of Clan Jahk. Zattaka come and kill t'em all. Build city."

"Yeah, well according to this, your friends sold their land."

"What? Varan never sell land! T'at iz ztupid!" Snarling, Rekkua stormed up to the rat, towering over him.

Brull held up the book defensively. "Look for yourself! Here's the contract they signed!"

Rekkua plucked the book from Sheriff Brull. The words were little more than scratches, but she did recognize the symbol at the bottom of the page. It was the mark of Clan Gezara, a starburst very similar to Clan Jahk's. She touched the tattoo on her scaled chest, sadness welling up within. Clan Gezara – what could compel them to sell their land to Zattaka?

She handed the book back to Brull, gaze unfocused. "What did t'ey zell it for?"

"Ten kegs of grog."

Rekkua's eyes flared. "Grog? T'ey zold t'eir home for t'at dizguzting drink? Clan Gezara…why would t'ey do t'at?"

"Says here they were very enamored by it. Traded anything they could think of for it. Couldn't get enough of it."

Rekkua slumped to the floor. "But…grog?" She started to imagine an entire clan of Varan sick off the drink, acting the way she had, but hurriedly pushed the image away. It didn't bear thinking about. "Zo what doez t'at book zay happened to t'em?"

"I don't think you want to…"

"Tell me."

Brull hesitated a moment. "They…when they were drunk, the founders of the city – they killed them."

Rekkua moaned and dropped her head to the floorboards. So that part of the story was true. She was just glad her clan didn't know the rest of the story. Imagine, an entire tribe wiped out because of a single drink. At that moment, she renewed her resolve to never again let a drop of grog pass her lips.

The awkward silence was broken by Pearl. "This is what we're looking for." Her voice was subdued, but still carried an undercurrent of excitement. Rekkua looked up. The matronly vixen waved a bundle of parchments. "Blueprints." Unrolling them onto the desk, she smoothed them out.

Deciding now was not the time to mourn, Rekkua gathered around the desk with the others.

Zula immediately voiced her disappointment. "It's just a bunch o' lines! How're they s'pposed to help us?"

Rekkua, eyeing the blueprints, frowned and decided the fluffball had a point. How was this useful?

"They represent rooms. This is the blueprint for this floor of the mansion." Pearl pointed a manicured claw to a particular spot. "See? Here's the room where we are now."

Ah! That made a sort of sense! Much easier to understand than lines that were supposed to represent speech. Rekkua leaned closer to the plans. Now curious despite herself, she traced the lines with a claw.

Zula scratched her head and stuck out her tongue. "That don't make no sense, Miss Pearl! It don't look nothin' like this room!"

Before Pearl could form any reply, Rekkua voiced a question. "What do t'eze broken linez mean?" Her claw had stopped where one of the lines disappeared, only to continue on a pebble's distance later.

"The gaps indicate doors."

Of course. Doors were holes; nothing was there. What better way to show that then with nothing? Rekkua continued running her claws along the parchment, only half listening to the conversation. There was something wrong with the drawings…

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Brull pulled a sheet from the bottom of the stack and held it up to the light.

Pearl threw up her paws in exasperation. "Look, I don't know! We're trying to find Nevyeer. He supposedly has a big group of Marties, and they haven't been discovered, so it has to be some place with plenty of room to hide. Like, like…"

"Like an underground city, maybe?"

"Exactly, an underground city."

"With tunnels connecting it to the surface?"

"With tunnels connecting it to the surface." Pearl flopped down into am armchair, had a thought, and looked at Brull. "Out of curiosity, why do you ask?"

The rat was still examining the blueprint, tail slowly tapping the wood floor. "I think I may have found just that."

"What?" Pearl exploded from the chair, bounding over to take a look.

Brull flattened the parchment back onto the desk, right on top of the others. Rekkua hissed and flicked her tongue in irritation. "Oh, come off it, Rekkua. This is important."

"Zo iz what I iz looking at! I t'ink I foun–"

"Fine, here." Bent over the desk, Brull pulled out the blueprint of the mansion and held it out to Rekkua.

Scowling, Rekkua snatched it and stalked to the window. It was nicer here, anyways. Gently laying the precious thing on the floor, she tried to reorient herself.

"Whatcha looking fer?" It was Zula, curious as ever.

"I t'ink I find way out."

"What? Really?" Rekkua cringed as Zula's voice squeaked upwards. Her excitement almost palpable, she spun towards Pearl and Brull, paused, and slowly turned back around. "I'm not s'possed t' interrupt," she whispered, indicating the two deep in conversation.

Rekkua smiled, teeth glistening. "Iz okay. I zhow you." She brought a claw down in the middle of a square. "T'iz iz room Pearl zay we iz in, yez?"

Zula nodded. "I still don't think they looks the same."

"You iz right. How many doors does t'iz room have?"

The young fox glanced around the room, apparently giving it a lot of thought. Finally, "I just see the one behind the desk."

"Yez. On here, t'ough," she jabbed the paper for emphasis. "It zay t'ere iz two doorz. What do you t'ink?"

Rekkua could actually see Zula slowly puzzle it out. Her face wrinkled in concentration, brows lowering until Rekkua could hardly see her eyes. Several seconds later, they bulged wide open. "A secret passage!"

Hissing laughter slithered from Rekkua, and she placed an approving paw on Zula's head. "Exactly." She looked over at Brull and Pearl, still muttering at each other. "What do you t'ink? zhould we interrupt t'em?"

A little unsure of herself, Zula nodded. Rekkua grabbed the blueprint, rose to her feet, and the pair stepped the short distance to the other two. "We found t'e way out."

"…seems there's an entrance here, and over here." Pearl placed a claw at two separate points.

Rekkua tried again. "We iz getting out of here now."

"If you ask me, this here seems the likeliest place t' have a hideout." Brull circled a section.

"Right."

Not used to being ignored, Rekkua growled and slammed her fist into the desk.

"By the fur!" Brull started and stared at Rekkua. "What was that for?"

"We found a zecret pazzage out of here!" Were all furballs this dense?

"What? Where?"

Rekkua spread out the blueprint and stabbed a claw at the spot. "Right here. Zee? It zayz t'ere iz two doors in t'is room. One here." She motioned to the blockaded door. "And one t'ere." She indicated the wall to the right, its shelves emptied of books.

Brull peered closely at the plans. "She's right. There's two doors on the blueprints."

Pearl stared at the shelves. "What if it's just an error?"

"Only one way to find out." Rekkua snatched a broken piece of wood, hefting it between her paws. She took one, good swing, and in the shelf splintered, a sizeable hole appearing. She grinned. "It iz zecret pazzage."

Brull chuckled. "Well, that's one way to do it. Now let's see if we can find the switch." He felt along the shelves, paws searching. "Ah, think I found it." Something clinked, clicked, and the bookcase swung open on well-greased hinges. He whistled. "There's some fine worksmanship for you."

"Zhall we go?" Feeling immensely pleased with herself, Rekkua strode into the dark passageway, Zula bobbing after. A smile hovered on Pearl's lips as she followed. After rolling up the blueprints of the tunnels and tucking it into a pocket, Brull brought up the rear, closing the bookcase behind them. Downwards they wound, a flight of stairs lost in shadow. The hole in the shelf, a single spot of day, was quickly left behind.

"I don't suppose anyone thought to grab a torch? Pearl asked at one point. No one had, but it wasn't long after that the stairs ended and Rekkua stepped down into something splashy.

"I think we found the tunnels," Brull said.

Gagging, Pearl clapped a pawkerchief to her nose. "Eugh! What a horrid stench!"

Rekkua was inclined to agree, taking care to keep her tongue inside her muzzle. She looked around with suspicion. Any place that tasted like a waste pit and didn't have the sun shining could not be safe. There was light coming from somewhere, but it wasn't enough to see anything but the knee-deep water she was standing in.

Brull shrugged, sighed, and stepped down into the water. If the smell bothered him, he wasn't making a fuss about it. "Yeah, well, what'd you expect? Flowers and perfume? Come on. This is the only way to go."

Closing her eyes, Pearl slowly lowered herself off the last step, wincing as her paws disappeared into the murky water.

Zula didn't move from her spot. "I'm not walkin' in that! Me mam says I have to stay clean." After several minutes of arguing, the group finally continued, Rekkua wondering how she ended up with the fox on her back.

As they trekked, Rekkua kept a paw along one wall, using it for extra balance. Every now and then, a pinprick of light from high above them filtered downwards, lending the tunnels a gloomy twilight. The scent was always worst right below those slender beams, and she did her best not to imagine what she slogged through.

Still breathing as lightly as she could, Pearl skirted a pile of refuse. "If Nevyeer's not down here…"

"Would you rather have stayed cooped up in that study?" Brull asked.

"I think this is fun!" From her position on Rekkua's back, Zula bounced a little.

"Fun? This is hardly the pastime I would…"

"Hsst, quiet!" Rekkua hardly noticed all three of her companions instantly fell silent, concentrating as she was on a pinprick of flame down a side tunnel.

Whiskers tickled the side of her head, and Zula whispered, "What is it, Rekkua?"

"Zomet'ing down t'at tunnel. T'ere'z light."

Everybeast turned to look.

It was Pearl's turn to whisper. "Do you suppose it's the Marties?"

"Maybe. I doubt anybeast in their right mind would be hiding down here." Brull sucked his teeth for a moment. "Only one way to find out." And with that, he struck out towards the light, the others following in his wake. As they drew closer, they saw two haggard creatures sitting on crates, their fur missing in patches.

"Pardon me," Brull began. "We're looking for Nevyeer."