“This is it… Behind that door is the place where the priest is.” They had made their way down into the sewers using a secret exit under the mansion. After crawling through a tunnel for a while they had emerged out into the city sewers. The still water smelled particularly putrid and even Ferran had to pinch her nose a little, and breathe with her mouth. Even so the sheer awfulness stuck to her tounge, causing her to gag.

Rein, who sat at the head of their little line began to check his equipment. “Quiet… Now as I said on the way in… Ferran will knock, be let in and jam the door. Once inside we’ll take care of any guards and find this so-called priest.”

She stood up, and walked over to the door, knocking it in a special sequence with the blunt end of her new, shiny dagger. A short silence followed before a small metal grate was warily opened from the inside.

“Who’s there eh?” She remembered his voice as the guard who had pushed her outside to pull the sewage grate open.

“I’m back…”

“Huh? You? By the jester’s hairy arse, where have’ya been?”

His question was expected, she explained what had happened.”

Without any further words, the grate was slammed shut and the door remained closed. She waited a little while before returning to the others. To her surprise, Rein appeared amused rather than angry. With a wave of his hand, Tilia’s eyes flared up.

“Ohh, it’s my turn now?”

“Send it to another district.”

“Ohohoh… You always give me the best jobs big bro!” Tilia swung her backpack around and recovered a big lump of some strange material Ferran had never seen before. With a happy bounce, she went over to the door and while singing a merry tune full of love and gentleness, began to apply the lump onto the door. A short time later she came back dragging a piece of string behind her.

“Hey big sis! Do you want to try it? I promise! It’ll be fantastic! And really loud too!” She offered her the piece of string.

“Um, what do I do with it?”

“Oh, that’s easy, give it a really rough tug, and then cover your ears!”

Rein raised a brow “Uh, Tili are you sure you didn’t use too much? We’d like to be able to walk here afterwards… And not bring the ceiling down on top of ourselves?”

“Don’t worry big bro! It’ll be fine, I’m sure!”

She gave the string a rough tug, and nothing happened.

“Harder!”

She pulled it again, applying all her force and meagre weight into the tug. Immediately, a deafening explosion rocked the tunnel. A huge cloud of mortar and brick dust covered the tunnel, and a spray of brick splinters began pouring into the opposite wall. The biggest shower went straight past their small corner, but the dust soon caught the corner and covered them in a layer of brick dust. Her ears were ringing, and it felt like her whole world had slowed down. All she could hear was a distant whining noise as she tried to make out what the others were saying to her. After a short time, the sound came back to her as if it was somehow speeding towards her.

Carys coughed and pulled her mask up over her nose and mouth. “Tili… You used way too much…”

“Hahaha! But it was so much fun! Let’s go look at how big the hole is!”

The older two exchanged charmed glances and nodded.

Moving forward, it became clear that the explosion had been massive. The door had been blown in, taking a huge chunk of adjacent wall along with it. The opposite wall was a crumbling slope of bricks, rocks and dirt, sprayed with a thick layer of until recently undisturbed, concentrated sewage. The lumps of forlorn hope were sliding down the crumbling wall while the dust slowly began to settle and they rushed inside.

With an excited tone, Tilia counted at least five different limbs sticking out from underneath the slightly bent door. Many of the people around were still in shock. Some scrambled for loved ones, while others were curled up, praying fervently. With a series of quick stabs, Carys finished off the remaining guard who was trying to scramble to his feet.

“So? Where’s the man?”

“That way…” She pointed them towards the back rooms and she, along with Rein and Carys headed for it, leaving Tilia and Indas behind to guard the doorway.

“Hey Indas… Let’s play sit on it!”

“Huh? You don’t want to? But I do!”

“Tilia… Don’t kill them all just yet, we still have work to do…” Carys sighed.

“Alright!” Came the reply. As they crossed the dusty room, people began scrambling away from them. From behind, she could hear Tilia’s laughter, then a series of panicked screams, followed by the sound of flesh being torn apart by small explosions. A wet splatter sound followed by a collective shriek of fear. She decided to not look back.

The back door was firmly closed, but with one solid kick, Rein sent the rusty hinges, together with the door itself, crashing to the floor. Within was even darker, and he lit a nearby torch to provide them some basic light. In the corner, huddled together with the holy icon, was the priest.