We arrived at the white tower just as the purple sky of day was beginning to fade, giving way to the inky black of night. The snow came steadily now, still in gentle flurries, for now at least. A team of four guards stood in a line before the doors. Others, marked by their silver breast plates, encircled it. An inner ring of them stood at attention, hands on their blades, while an outer ring walked around the perimeter, never more than five paces between each other. Their eyes peered out of their moon crested helms, watching for evil doers, unaware that one such evil doer watched them from the corner of a nearby building.
"Damn it." Finn cursed, pressing himself so close to my back to peer over my head that I could feel his heart beating through his clothing. "The tower rarely boasts more than two guards. I've never seen their defenses so thick before." He shook his head. His curls bounced and waved around his head. "Forget it. There's no way we're getting in." I could hear Finn's fear in his every strangled breath. "We'll talk to my mother. Maybe there's another way to get you out of the city." He grabbed my shoulder, tried to pry me from the building's stones.
I shrugged out of his hold, shooting him down with a glare. "Oh ye of so little faith," I sneered. "I got very close to killing your Lord Kieran and there were more soldiers than this at his camp."
"This is suicide." He breathed raspily. He raked his hands through his curly hair. "Lady Matilda, I'm sorry I should have said before. I should have warned you, but I truly didn't think there would be so many..."
"What?" I asked. I turned to face him, pointing my back at the building wall. Hidden beneath my cloak, nervous fingers wrapped around the handle of my dagger.
"The City Guards are the only residents of the city whose power is not completely siphoned off by the thorns. Many of the guards are especially powerful. Boys with a greater affinity for magic are chosen for the guard at birth and serve from the age of eight until they can no longer. They may not be able to see you in your magic cloak, but they'll sense you."
I clenched my jaw, swallowing bitter tasting spit. At Finn's warning, for just a moment, I was there in the treeline overlooking Kieran's camp again. I was draped in darkness, hidden beneath a shroud of Knut's protective magic and the shadows of night, but a pair of green eyes found me all the same, eyes that churned with the terrifying violence of a turbulent sea, that promised death if I so much as flinched.
"I did not come all this way and nearly die just to balk at a few guards. Evading the authorities is practically my career at this point." I said proudly.
"They're not going to let you just waltz in through the front door." He huffed.
I smiled prettily at him. "That's why I have you, dear boy." I cooed, patting a blushing cheek.
"You're seriously still going to try? I'm telling you, it is impossible."
"There's never just one way into a building. I've broken into enough houses in my lifetime to know that much. There are unlocked back doors, larders with flimsy latches, open windows." My lips twitched at a sudden realization. "Finn, your people do enjoy your baths, don't you?" I asked. I remembered the large bathing chamber in Lir's house and the bathhouse where we'd formulated our plan that morning. "All that water. Where does it go? Is there a way to empty the pools for cleaning?"
"Yes," he said. "It drains out through a series of pipes into the aqueducts beneath the streets and buildings where it flows out of the city."
"And how wide are the pipes usually?" I prodded.
"You're plotting to crawl up the drainage pipes, aren't you?" He paled at the sight of the grin on my face. "Seriously? You're willing to climb through sewage like a rat?"
"I'm the vermin queen, aren't I?" I gave a small cackle. "Now, answer, boy, do you think I could fit through them or not?"
He shrugged. "I don't know for sure without seeing the bath myself, but most are only wide enough for a rat. There are two options though. The main drain at the center of the pool or..." Despite or perhaps because of his nerves, he had to stifle a fit of laughter. "The latrines."
"I may be willing to slough through the sewer, but I am not popping out of the shitter, as hilarious as it might be to shove my knife up some fat Unseelie lord's arse. I hope you know the difference in which pipe connects to which."
"Me?" He shuffled back, away from me. "Oh no, I've done my part. I'm not going in there."
"Do you see any gates open?"
"No," He sighed, knowing his fate.
"Then you are not finished. Now, how do we reach the sewers?"
"There," He pointed towards the back of the tower where a grate replaced the silvery stones of the road. A small pipe stuck out of the tower, pouring water down through the grate to the realm below their feet.
"Good lad, come along walk with me." Throwing up the hood and speaking the words, the cloak hid me from all but him. I took him by the hand, leading him out onto the street. "Walk close. Don't let go of my hand. Your presence should mask my...aura or whatever it is you people can sense." He walked stiffly beside me, throwing the guards wary looks. "Stop looking so guilty," I whispered irritably. "Act natural. You're only out for a stroll." I could not help but cringe as I recalled Jasper speaking those exact words to a much smaller version of myself.
"I'm trying." His throat bobbed. He turned sheepish eyes towards the ground. "How are you so calm?"
"I've had a lot of practice. Just keep it together. We're almost there." The grate was just feet away. I picked up my pace, forcing him to speed up as well.
"Hey, you!" I nearly threw up at the sound of the guard's harsh tone. A guard making his round around the tower made his way directly towards us.
Finn froze beside me. Every once of color he ever had draining out of him completely. "Y-yes sir?" Finn stuttered, turning his large, childish eyes on the guardsman, hopeful for sympathy.
"What business do you have here?" The guard asked. Silver eyes flitted up and down Finn's lanky frame.
"I-I was just taking a walk, sir. I'm headed home. This is a nice short cut." Finn lied. He smiled at the guard in a friendly manner, masking his unease. Good lad. Perhaps there was hope for him yet.
The guard considered his explanation with a heaping spoonful of skepticism. "The tower's under lock down. It isn't safe. You should hurry on home and stay there until you hear otherwise."
"It's not safe?" Finn's brows knitted together. The fake smile crumbled. "What do you mean? What's happened?"
"I cannot tell you any details, but there's been a murder. The council's tower is on high alert until the matter can be resolved and the people's safety assured."
"That's what that fire was about this morning?" Finn sounded almost breathless. His fingers bit into my hand.
"No more lollygagging, get going." The guard gave Finn a shove away from the tower before heading back to continue his round.
"You killed someone." Finn spat. He wouldn't look at me, but he wouldn't let go of my hand either.
"It was necessary, sadly."
"You killed someone." He repeated with more emphasis on the word as if I didn't understand its meaning.
"Are you honestly surprised? I am not a kindly, gentle woman like your mother, Finn. I'm greedy, hateful and violent and that's fine. I make no apologies for what I do or who I am," I said, watching the guards, timing their movements in my head. "You are eager to become a killer yourself." I reminded him. "Don't be such a hypocrite."
He looked away in shame. "Who was it? Who did you kill?"
"It doesn't matter. This is war. People die."
He pressed his lips together and didn't say a word. I doubted he could think of anything good to say.
We came to a stop above the grate. "Make yourself useful and pretend to be scraping shit from your shoe while I get the grate open, will you?"
There was a fair distance between the stationary guards around the grate. The aroma wafting off of it and growing stronger with each step I took kept them naturally at a distance. The rotating guards always kept five paces between them, which meant I had about five seconds between when a guard would round the corner of the tower.
Crouching behind Finn as he scraped his foot back and forth on the silver stones of the road, I watched the guards walking our way, waited until one rounded the corner and the others' backs were to me, then began to work at the grate, wiggling it back and forth.
Finally, just as the third guard was approaching the tower's corner, the grate shifted. I dragged the heavy thing aside, gritting my teeth at the faint scraping sound it made.
Finn glanced around nervously, worried too that the sound might draw attention. He moved his foot harder, covering the scraping sound of the grate with that of his shoe against the stones. The guard rounded the corner. He looked at Finn with a glare of annoyance but continued on.
As soon as the grate was moved over enough, I leaped down into the hole. My cloak of magic night fluttered around me as I fell. I gasped, sucking in a shocked breath when I hit the water below. It was icy from the steadily dropping temperature. It sent stabbing pain up my bones and instantly threw me into a fit of shivers. I dragged myself up onto a pathway of old stones, out of the water, and stood there, shivering in complete misery, trying my best not to wretch at the horrid stench wafting up my nose. Peering up towards the one point of light in the dark, foul smelling aqueducts, I could see the moon of Finn's face, his dark hair framing it. "W-when the next guard rounds the corner, jump down," I called up to Finn.
After a minute or so, he followed me into the hole. He caught himself with his wings, slowing his fall and setting him nice and dry beside me on the walkway. "Close the grate behind us," I ordered the minute his feet touched the stones.
"What if we need to escape the way we came?" He asked worriedly as he did as he was told.
"I'm not leaving this tower any other way than the front door." Turning on my heel, I strode down the narrow walkway framing the streams of foul sewage, following the sound of rushing water.
The tunnel we were in opened up to a larger room with a huge pool of horror in the middle. Across from us, a large pipe protruded from the wall's stones, spewing steaming water down into the pool below. On the other walls were similar pipes, but what came out of them did not incite fantasies of romantic waterfalls.
"The big one's the one you want. It should lead up to the bathing pool." Finn said.
"No shit." I rolled my eyes at him. "I would hope that you Unseelie can control your bowels a little better than your smaller counterparts." I held out my hand towards him with a cheery smile. "Care to give me a lift?"
Finn lifted me up with ease, holding me in his arms like a blushing bride. The boy's whole head turned nearly purple. With a few beats of his wings, we took to the air. He tilted his wings, catching the cold breeze filtering through the sewer. He glided most of the way to the large pipe and sat me down just inside.
"That's the closest you've come to touching a woman's backside wasn't it, Finn?" I teased as I hopped out of his arms and fluffed out my still damp clothing. Because it was wet, you could see the pinkness of my skin through the pale colored shirt where it clung to me. No wonder the boy was blushing so. Thankfully, the cloak was already nearly dry. I pulled it in close around me to fend off the chill of the air and to let Finn calm down lest his heart stop cold.
Finn stood stiffly, his face still discolored, his eyes still lingering at my chest even though it was covered now.
"Finn?" I called to him. "Are you still with me or have you gone on to glory from shock?" I wet my hand in the water flowing past my feet and flicked droplets at his face.
He jerked his head at the feel of the water, coming back to his senses. "Oh, uh, it looks like we're in luck." He stuttered, still very much flustered. "Seems to be cleaning day. They're letting the water out of the pool."
"Good. Lead the way then," I smirked. I waved my hand towards the darker insides of the pipe, letting my cloak fall away from my chest.
His face immediately darkened. He hurried his step, striding quickly ahead of me, while his feathers ruffled with distress.
We followed the pipe down to the end where it curved upward towards another grate. Standing on his tiptoes, Finn peered through the slots. "Looks empty." He glanced towards me with huge, wide eyes, his cheeks still flushed with color. "Ready?" He asked.
I nodded, flashing a toothy grin. "More than you can imagine." Reaching up, I helped him pushed the grate away. He climbed up first, then pulled me up after him.
The bathing pool was the size of my our entire bedchamber. It was tiled with emerald green glass that shimmered wet in the dim light of small flames burning from woman shaped sconces lining the walls. Above us, painted the same color of the tiles, was a huge open eye. The painting was so detailed, I could count the staring eye's lashes and see a reflection of a dismal, snowy sky in the black pupil. "Well, that is just delightfully creepy." If Knut could see this, I knew he'd be taking notes for future renovations to the palace, if for nothing else but to annoy me to tears.
"It's called The Hollow's Eye," Finn explained. He craned his neck to meet the eye's penetrating stare. "Unseelie paint it in their homes, hide them in the patterns of the fabric they weave, wear its likeness as jewelry. It is said that if you do, The Hollow will watch over you. It's supposed to bring you luck and protection." His gaze shifted towards me. His throat bobbed. "I don't think it works."
Of course, it didn't. It was just an image. Whatever meaning it had in their culture had been given by their ancestors. The Hollow had never been with the Unseelie, never looked favorably upon them. To it, their creator, they were no better than the treacherous humans they so loved to torment with their tricks. In the Hollow's eyes, they were nothing but vermin pecking at its bark with sharp beaks.
The Hollow's favor was shown only to goblin kind. The proof of it burned within my husband's belly. Its power fueled each soldier's birth, gave rise to my growing army, and drew me back from the brink of death time and time again. My purpose had yet to be fulfilled and so it stayed close. I felt it all around me, embracing me silently, its watchful gaze following my every move. The Hollow was not with the Unseelie or the Seelie or the elves. It hated them and they didn't even know it.
The Hollow was with the goblins, both born and adopted, who grinned in the face of being called vermin, bearing the moniker with pride.
Exiting the bath, we crept through the tower's winding passages until we caught the sound of muffled voices. We pressed ourselves against a wall and peeked around the corner. There was a hall lined with doors. Around one, two guards were posted. They held sharp silver spears in their hands, the points crafted into the shape of a star. They leaned against them heavily. One of them actually yawned. "The guards are half asleep." I whispered. "Do you have a weapon?"
Finn nodded as he reached into his pocket and retrieved knife so small I wasn't entirely certain it could even pierce a baby's skin. Whatever. It would have to do.
"We have to take out the guards. I'll get the left, you take the right. One quick slice to the throat should do it. Do not let him scream." I ordered.
"Y-you want me to kill him?" He stared down at the knife. His hand trembled.
I clasped his shoulder. "Where's all your bravado gone, Finn? You want revenge, right? You want Mab dead? You can't achieve that without getting your hands a little dirty. Those men are in our way. We have to remove them to move forward."
Finn nodded. He pressed his lips together, holding in a mountain of words. He was obviously conflicted, but he raised his knife all the same.
"Good boy," I grinned. I pulled the cloak around us both and we moved in for the kill.
The guards' eyes drooped heavily as they fought sleep. The one on the left stifled another yawn. As he did so, his gaze drifted towards us. He squinted his eyes as if trying to see something off in the distance, but I was already behind him. I already had my knife's point beneath his jaw.
Finn jumped out of the cloak just as I jerked my iron tainted knife upward. I buried the knife deep into the man's flesh. The blade cut through the fleshy part of his jaw and buried itself in the roof of his mouth. He fell to the floor gargling silver. I spun around to help Finn as he fell. Finn had moved to quickly, shown himself before he was in place. The guard blocked his wild slashes and had him pinned against the wall with the staff of the spear pressed to his throat. "What have you done?" The guard demanded. Finn opened his mouth. Garbled sylables slipped out, but I couldn't make it out. I crept up behind, readied to draw my knife across his throat.
The guard whirled. I felt heat wash over me. The dagger heated in my grip as the pendant wrapped around it reacted. Red and yellow flames spilled over me and dissipated to smoke at me my feet. The man stared towards me with wide eyes then looked down to find a blade sticking through the opening around his arm. It skewered through his ribs and punctured his lung. Silver spilled from his lips. He staggered backward, falling off my knife and crumbled at my feet. His spear landed on the floor with a clatter.
Finn sat on the floor trying to catch his breath while I dispatched the still garbling first guard. "Thank you." He said, rubbing at his throat as if still in disbelief that his head was still attached.
"That was stupid. He could have stuck that spear through your chest. He chose to let you live. He showed you mercy because he could see that you are a child. That is the only reason you're still alive." I tossed him his tiny knife. It fell without sound on his lap. "Count your lucky stars."
"I'm sorry. I'll do better." He said. Fingers wrapped around the small blade.
"This is where we part ways." I wiped the blood from my knife onto the knee of his father's trousers, leaving stains on the fabric of smoke.
"No, I can help. I really can. I just...I just need to catch my breath."
"You'll only get in the way from here on, but I do have one more task for you," Taking a torch from one of the sconces by the door, I handed it to him. "Listen at the door. When you hear the word 'vermin', I want you to set the tower ablaze. Block all the exits. I'm not going to give the council any other choice but to listen to me."
"What about you?" He asked, looking into the flames as if they held all the answers to the world's many questions.
"Don't worry about me. I'll find my own way out. There's always more than one."