Lacuna

Chapter 12

"Here to fix the pipe?" she asked.

"Yup. What are you doing here?"

"Investigating," she said. "We think someone intentionally broke the pipe. You can see handprints on it." She stepped aside to show Kahli. "I can't imagine who would do this, though."

"Huss and Tuss?" Kahli offered.

Sam's lips twisted to the side. "Maybe," she started slowly. "But they always have a motive, no matter how stupid it turns out to be."

Kahli got on her knees and inspected the pipe. It was easy enough to fix, requiring only a few pieces to be welded onto the pipe, and after a few minutes, she had the hole patched and secured. She got to her feet and admired her work for a moment, but a rumbling sound came from the pipe above them. They looked up just as sewage burst out of the pipe, knocking them both backwards and into the hole in the floor behind them.

They landed on the ground hard, likely only dropping one story, but still, the wind was knocked out of Kahli's lungs upon impact. They took a moment to catch their breaths, then got to their feet, looking around at their surroundings.

"What the hell?" Kahli said. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Sam said slowly. "No one's been in this ruin before. Looks like it might be part of the sewage system." She hesitated. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

As if to confirm her gut feeling, the distinct, angry squeaks of bandirats echoed off the walls.

"Well," Sam started. "Looks like you're gonna be putting all that training to use." She grinned at Kahli. "Shall we?"

Kahli followed Sam through the tunnels until they came across the first hoard of backrats and redrats. Slightly more advanced than the bandirats Kahli was used to, they came at them quickly and violently. But with Sam at her side, they took them out easily, pressing forward until they encountered another hoard.

It took a while for them to navigate the tunnels of the sewage system, many of the passages ending in dead ends or with closed gates which forced them to backtrack to find another way around. But finally, and after several more hordes of rats, they reached a large, open room. Eight more of the rats stood in the center of the room, and among them, a much larger rat.

"Great," Kahli muttered. "Can't catch a break."

"Art thou the one that ended my son?" the giant rat's voice boomed.

"It talks?" Sam said in surprise.

"Are you behind the goo in the water?" Kahli asked.

"Oh, ye doth amaze me to figure that out! 'Tis true! Now prepare thyself."

At that moment, three of the rats lunged at them. Sam stepped forward in an attempt to stop them, but they were far stronger, and they pushed her violently backwards, separating her from Kahli.

Kahli didn't have a chance to check on Sam, however, as the remaining five rats had lunged toward her as well. She quickly drew her sword and used it to block the attack from the first rat. She pushed violently against the creature, throwing it to the side and swinging the blade across as the next two rats closed in. They both stumbled back, allowing the final two to jump forward, and with another swing of her blade, they stumbled back as well.

With them temporarily cleared from, Kahli had a moment to switch to the offensive, and she immediately turned her attention back to the first rat as it returned to its feet. It lunged at her, and she jabbed her blade forward, quickly ending its life. One down, four remaining.

She yanked the sword out as two more lunged toward her, one right after another, and she brought her blade across each one in two quick swipes in succession. They fell to the ground, severely wounded, but they had not quite lost their fight yet. Still, their hesitation to regain themselves gave Kahli another golden opportunity, spinning around to meet the other two attackers just in time. She quickly fended them off of her, then turned back to two injured rats. They were much slower, and with two more swift swings of her sword, their lives came to an end.