Page 95 of Earthbound

‘I am here to see Sahar.’ He couldn’t bear to say ‘grandfather’ any more.

‘We will send someone down there to retrieve him for you.’

Rayan shook his head. ‘No, I will go, no need to put someone else in danger.’

Perhaps it was foolish, but Rayan wanted to see the aqueducts with his own eyes. He wanted to see what Sahar had to suffer.

The guard nodded and let him past.

The stairway smelled of wet earth and moss. It was slippery and he was careful to hold the handrail as he descended.

At the bottom of the stairs, another faeguard directed him towards the west of the canal system.

The tunnels were lit up with fraedia crystal; no fire was allowed down here–it was too dangerous given the small spaces the cleaners occupied. Stone archways linked the underground channels of water on either side of a singular pathway. The walkway gently sloped so that any water that flooded the path trickled downwards towards the gutters. The curved ceiling got lower the further Rayan walked, making him feel trapped with no way out.

Find Sahar, find a cure, then leave, he coached himself. Simple words, but they required more complex actions.

‘Help me pull out this body,’ someone called to him up ahead. It was another soldier, who hadn’t realised who she was talking to. She looked shocked as he drew nearer, the fraedia light revealing his face.

‘Your majesty, I did not realise it was you,’ she said. Her cheeks were streaked with grime and sweat.

‘I’m happy to help.’

The soldier wanted to say no, but Rayan had already waded into the water. The body was just visible beneath the stone arch.

‘How did they die?’

‘Surge of water, it’s quick,’ she said.

‘Shall I grab the legs?’

It was grim work, but Rayan had moved many dead bodies in his life. Rigor mortis had already begun to seize the muscles, making it harder to move the limbs as he pulled.

Finally, the body eased free of the pipework. In a panic Rayan closed his eyes to avoid seeing its face: What if this is Sahar?

‘King? I can take it from here. Her family is waiting to collect her.’

Rayan opened his eyes in relief. Then he got annoyed with himself for his depth of feeling. He wanted to hate Sahar for trying to kill Lettle, and part of him did, but there was still a kernel in his heart that loved the grandfather that he’d become.

‘Send my condolences to her family,’ Rayan said, before continuing on down the tunnel.

It was easy enough to pick Sahar out from the other cleaners. How he had mistaken the other body for him, Rayan wasn’t sure. He was tall, like Rayan, and lean too. His nose stood proudly on a gaunt face–made thinner from his time down here.

He was talking to another cleaner and Rayan listened in.

‘If you twist your shoulder like this, you don’t need to extend quite as far. It’s safer this way, you see. You can then keep your head above water.’

The other cleaner nodded and said quietly, ‘Thank you.’

‘Sahar,’ Rayan called.

His grandfather was startled, as though he hadn’t heard that name in a long time.

‘Rayan?’ he exclaimed. ‘What are you doing here? It’s not safe. There might be a surge.’

Rayan smiled and shook his head. Sahar’s concern was for Rayan first–that was the reason he was in this position in the first place.

Trying to kill Lettle to stop a prophecy was a foolish endeavour, one Rayan couldn’t understand. But prophecy does strange things to intelligent people: they begin to think they have control of the Fates, just because the Fates speak to them.