THE RELIC GUILD (and other stories) Updated regularly.

THE CATHEDRAL OF KNOWN THINGS (part 7)

At the end of the tunnel, he led the twins across a bridge that spanned the river, down another tunnel, and then along the walkway on the other side.

Samuel wore a pair of goggles that Hamir had given him. They were heavy,  stifling. The faceted, green glass lenses looked like the eyes of an insect, and were imbued with magic. They had turned Samuel's world to shades of grey – not that there was much colour to see down in the sewers. Hamir had designed the goggles to see through illusions, to penetrate the spell of invisibility that had been cast upon the automaton spider; but Samuel had to marvel at how the lenses also gave his pencil-etched world such depth and detail.

The mortar between brickwork, the glow lamps fixed to the walls, the rough texture of the walkway, the mammoth stone rafters high above – everything came to Samuel in its own unique shade of grey. But the goggles made the way through the sewers clear and stark, all dimness and shadow banished. Clear though the route was, the trek was pushing Samuel to the limits of his endurance.

After an hour of hard running, the spirit compass became confused, its needle spinning undecidedly around its face, and it was with immense relief that Samuel drew the group to a halt. He bent double – one hand clutching the compass, the other on his knee – and gulped down breaths of bitter air.

Macy walked up to him. Tall and broad, her blonde, shoulder-length hair pulled back into a tail, there was a frown on her not-quite masculine face. Bryant stood next to her. His hair was the same colour as his sister's, but close-cropped; his face was almost identical – apart from a scar that slashed down his cheek from the corner of his left eye.

There was not one bead of sweat on the brow of either siblings, and they were barely out of breath. At that moment, Samuel considered their magical gift of strength and fitness much preferable to his prescient awareness.

'Why have we stopped?' Macy asked.

'The Spider,' Samuel said between breaths. 'We must be ... standing directly ... below it.'

She looked up at the sewer ceiling, high above. 'It's found Moor?'

'Likely ... but its path ... might be blocked.'

'How can we tell?'

'Give it a minute.' Samuel took a huge breath, and showed Macy the spinning needle on the compass. 'Let's see ... if it starts moving again.'

'We must be well into the eastern district by now,' Bryant said. He looked around. 'I'll go and find a way out, just in case.' And he set off along the walkway.

Samuel stood upright, shifted the goggles onto his forehead, and wiped sweat from his eyes. The gloom of the sewers returned. He thought about removing his coat, but he didn't suppose the humid atmosphere would be any more forgiving on his damp skin.

Macy raised an eyebrow at him. 'Are you all right?'

Samuel nodded and steadied his breathing.

Like her brother, Macy wore a thick cloak over her clothes, the hood of which was made from charmed material that would steep her identity in shadows. She also wore gauntlets and a gorget made of black leather stuffed with chain mail. When Fabian Moor's hiding place was discovered, the three agents would likely be facing victims of the Genii's virus – a virus that drove a person mad with a savage thirst for blood before eventually converting all their organic matter into animated stone, and creating a simple-minded golem. The twins had taken every precaution against getting bitten and infected, but only on Samuel's insistence.

'I've found the way out,' Bryant called from a little way down the walkway.

Samuel checked the spirit compass – the needle still spun around the face. He nodded to Macy.