The Deepcombers

Chapter Thirty Five

"Do you know what a numismatist is?"

"No."

"An expert in coins," Melcart said. "But I'm more than that."

"Oh?"

"Do you know what it means to have hot hands?" That one he knew.

"Like Clyde's hands?" Lon also recalled how the Calbian steamer operator had metallic digits and how he literally had a hot hand.

"Oh? Could be. That would explain..." Melcart took in the new information about Clyde. "Yes well. I'm not like that. I can sense the silver and gold amounts in alloys, especially in coins."

"Huh. Is this proved?"

"You're so suspicious," the rogue chuckled. He clanked his stolen blade against the stone side of the corridor. "This little blade I nicked is chrome-steel and has a silver hilt and pommel."

Lon wanted to look back, but he didn't doubt it was true. "So, you can somehow divine metallurgy?"

"The City of Alda had two regents in the last four years and they both issued a mystery-metal coinage. I could sense the true values. We accepted some at one rate and others less and this caused problems everywhere you understand from the bridge toll to the ferry. Market days would see folks' line up to get my validations."

"You got sent here?"

"That's another story."

"You came on the Havista ferry?"

"I had no choice. Banished. My... My father killed my uncle." Melcart said, "Accidentally."

"Ohh." Lon resolved to leave it alone in the face of such tragedy, but the dark-haired lad continued.

"They were both True Pattern. Twins. They worked it like symbiots but got too close. The Break. It happened."

Interesting. Maybe that's why the rogue was so firm on them not sharing glyphs? He'd seen the ill effects firsthand.

They traipsed back through the smelly snail farm until finally, with his feet in that same ankle-deep puddle they were at the next hole-up. This was the point from which they'd first embarked on this mad caper into the catacombs. The old wooden ladder didn't seem so lightweight anymore and had become progressively heavier and even more unwieldy in the dark. Perforated with millions of tiny insect holes it creaked and complained with every use, but it had never failed the two deepcombers in their ascent from the underworld. Both lads groaned as they raised it up against the last ledge and Melcart applied the pike, same as before. Lon held it firm for his companion's climb.

After he'd emerged up top, Lon rubbed his shoulder and watched Melcart hide the ladder.

Lon grinned at his counterpart; now they were back in the civilized section of the monastery's basement. They were safe.

The lads covered the hole in the floor with the wooden riser. So far so good, but they were not home yet.

Escaping from here back across the river could be the hardest part as the monastery crawled with devout parishioners who prayed to Kluth all evening.

The young masters crept up the creaky wooden staircase and traipsed back through the same dimly lit hall they'd explored earlier when they'd first entered the old section. But things were different now. Up ahead, in a previously empty cloister there were now a dozen monks who chanted at the new moon in a mystical nighttime ceremony.

Melcart chose another corridor which t-boned an unfamiliar hall in the newer part of the complex. The marble was black around fish oil wall sconces. The empty passage was austere and there were precious few places to hide. They sprinted ahead only to discover another T- intersection and both off-shoots curled around and led back down into the cellars. Lon groaned. One doorway led to private quarters and so they shifted to the other aisle. Both lads were annoyed because they had no choice but to infiltrate what appeared to be another food storage area. They crept through this sunken pantry even though they both knew the path would lead them deeper into the undercroft. The two explorers crept through a prodigious basement filled with wooden barrels and stoneware and racks of cheese wheels. In the center of this room Lon found a circular stone staircase that led upwards to a square hole in the ceiling. It was a trap door.