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Chapter 6

I was alive. I don't know how and I wouldn't call it a blessing. It would have been so much better to have died when I was unconscious. To feel nothing. To not have ever woken up again.

I hurt everywhere and I could just feel the caked dirt and mud on my body well before I opened my eyes.

There wasn't much light coming from the single, dying incandescent bulb that hung above me. Even if there was, there wasn't much to look at either. I was laying on the ground of a dirt room. It could barely be called a room. More like a hole with a dirt roof.

I sat up despite the pain and the numerous weeping scratches across my body. I was a wreck. My clothes barely hung off of me, stained brown and red. I was missing one of my shoes several of my nails on my hands were missing as well. Probably torn off when I hate fruitless tried to dig those final frantic moments before the earth swallowed me.

The air was damp and smelled of rotting vegetation and mold. A hint of something sickly and sweet also lingered there as well. Surprisingly better smelling than what I would have thought for a place that was no doubt infested with Emthirians.

On the far side of room was a poorly made door with several pieces of rebar across it, which seemed to hold the entire frame together. Only fear of what laid on the other side kept me from easily bashing it down.

I couldn't hear them, their chittering and scampering, but I knew. Despite their near feral behavior and grotesqueness, the rats weren't stupid as a whole. I could just imagine them waiting patiently for me to try and escape so they could rip me apart.

Then again, why hadn't they? I had never seen them the rats wait before eating. Their diet was insatiable, going as far as eating themselves to death, gorging on whatever dead they could dig their teeth into.

I didn't have an answer. I didn't even have anything resembling an idea and so I gathered what I did know.

I had been dragged down into what was undoubtedly a massive tunnel network. As impossible as it seemed, it would have to stretch all the way back to the Emthiron border or atleast most of the way since if there was a known incursion, the Cainus never would have let Rob and him go out here. The mountains would have been teeming with soldiers and engineers with the intent to collapse all the tunnels.

The tunnels that I was in would no doubt be incredibly complex as to provide the rats with everything they needed without having to surface. There would be living quarters, food and weapons stores and if the incursion was large enough, even spawning pits to grow more soldiers.

The thought made me shudder. Inhad never seen a spawning pit, but inheard tales from those few who were fortunate to go into a tunnel to collapse it and survive.

The spoke of a vast open space that smelled of vinegar and rot pock marked with pools of viscous fluid. None had ever seen one that was occupied, the inhabitants having long abandoned the compromised tunnels, but theorists speculated that brood mothers would be here. Most likely massive rats, engorged and barely mobile that would give birth at a nearly constant rate. That was what most agreed upon and I couldn't say that I could really think of any other way the Emthiron could send endless waves to their deaths constantly.

But beyond those terrible thoughts laid a faint hope. The tunnel couldn't be completely sealed. The noxious fumes that built up had to go somewhere and that meant holes to the surface with some sort of ventilation fans of sort.

I bet the air outside my little cell moved ever so slightly. Even if I currently thought it impossible, that would be my ticket to freedom.

Even before that, I had to find Rob. Escape alone was nigh impossible. With two, it was a little better of a chance.

First, I had to wait. Play along and hope they didn't plan to kill me too fast.

The wait wasn't long.

The door opened suddenly and violently, smashing against the wall hard enough that the door splintered enough that I had to shield my face.

Behind the door came a swarm of bodies. How I hadn't heard so many on the other side of the door to begin with, I wouldn't know. Black bodies surged into the room, all screaming incoherently as they converged on me. A dozen beady red eyes looking at me with obvious hate and alarming hunger. One was even kicking its thin lips uncontrollably.

Their hands grasped me and I resisted to urge to punch and kick. I hadn't been torn apart, but I felt that they would use any excuse to change that. So, I let them drag me to my feet and push and shove me out the door, understanding their verbal ques rather than the shrieking that may or may not have been language.

Out the door, I was herded to the left which was a tunnel so long and poorly that the end wasn't in sight, it just faded to black in the far distance.

From there, I walked. The rats had stopped manhandling me once I showed them I got the idea. One, a mangy thing, completely naked and with a few broken front fangs, would occasionally shove me and growl, but I was confident that my fate wasn't coming to an end just yet.

We walked and walked. There were very few side shoots to the tunnel and each time I tried to glance down them, I would get a warning growl from nearly all the rats, so I kept my eyes forward.

This went on for some time. It was impossible to tell how long, but I knew that we were coming up on our destination when the stair started to smell... cleaner, but not by much. Also, I began to feel that unmistakable draft that had been too hard to notice way back at my cell. It was at my back, so I was heading closer to some sort of exit. I kept that in mind.

With the tunnel still endlessly going on, I was finally pushed and pulled into an off shoot, getting a few new scratches in the process. The draft was more faint here. I would have to get back to the endless tunnel to get out.

I worried a bit about infection from whatever grew under those hideous claws. Now that I thought about it, I could see that several of the rats had open sores or festering scratches that were constantly itched and picked at. If Emthiron had medicine, none of it made its way to these rats.

The tunnel opened up into a cavern. Not too large across or that tall. A half sphere twenty meters across and half that high. The walls were lined with junk that were stacked on rickety looking tables or just on the the center was much cleaner with a work table that had potted plants surprisingly and a massive tome that was open. On the other side of the table was the older Emthirian. He looked up from the massive book and did what appeared to be a grin, though all I saw was two sets of sharp teeth.

"Still alive? Yes. Good," It cackled and slowly closed the book, taking care to not let his claws touch the pages. It then waved a dismissive hand towards the dozen rats which still surrounded me.

They looked confused for a moment, but a hiss from the old one made them scurry away quickly, stepping on each other in their rush.

"No ears to listen but our own," It said as if that explained something to me.

"I assume you're the reason I'm not dead?" I asked, not moving from my spot. "Last I checked, people pulled down never come back up."

It nodded and picked up its staff that leaned against the work table. "No. Not when there is the Hunger gnawing at our minds. But when food is good and underlings eat, the Hunger is controlled."

I frowned. "Hunger?"

It nodded. "When survival is all that matters. Shrunken guts. The need to feed takes over. It is like this for most all the time." It then flicked a claw, beckoning me to approach.

I hesitated for a moment, but figured that if I was going to keep living, I had to play along.

Stepping closer, I could see the rat better and see just how old it was. One eye was milky, a wispy cloud of a thing. There were numerous scars running up and down its body, tracing paths through its graying fur.

"Names are important? Yes?" "It places one of its hands on its chest and gave the slightest of bows. "Names are not so important when life is so short, but mine has not been. I am Nequeek of Clan Yark."

Nequeek then looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

I thought about giving a fake name, but figured that fake or real, it wouldn't matter much.

"I'm James Caldwell of Lutria."

"Yes. Excellent," Nequeek nodded and scratched his chin. "Have heard of Lutria before. Yes. A gone nation. People of refuge in Cainus. Story not many of mine have heard."

Nequeek slowly sauntered around his table and placed a hand on the book. He looked sad for a moment.

"What do you want from me?" I finally asked.

Nequeek didn't answer immediately. Instead, he went from the book to the potted plants. His claws delicately traced the stem of one up to its tallest leaf.

"My clan is dying," he said and with a smooth swipe of his finger, sliced away the top leaf. "Cast out and hunted by the other clans."

I felt uncomfortable. Nequeek, despite what he was, took on a very human appearance.

He looked over to me, his normally red eyes dimming slightly. "You will listen?"

Despite the tone, it was not a question.

"Many times ago, we were Vermin. United and strong. I had come from a bloodline from one called Eeskit, who had paved many ways to cooperation with other nations. So long ago. Now all has changed. Old hates rose. Old rivalries and soon all fought. The Under Empire fell to ruin, leaving just Emthiron, the last of our holds. There, we fight each other for the little left. Now not enough."

I listened. Little of it making actual sense to me. I didn't know about any Eeskit or an Under Empire. In fact, most history didn't go back for more than a thousand years. I had been taught that there had been a dark age, but not much beyond that.

"I had tried to talk. Peace. Trade. Was laughed out and marked. My clan fled and now we hide under mountains where we wither away." He sighed and sat down at his desk, looking exhausted.

"I've never heard of an Emthirian talk of peace," I said.

"No," he replied. "For the rest, peace was never an option. Peace is weakness and the weak are eaten. What has war brought my people but weakness?"

I didn't answer that. Instead I looked a bit harder at the rest of the room. The junk around the edges were parts from farming tools. I could see a part of a tractor, several tillers and innumerable hoes.

Nequeek followed my gaze. "There is little to hunt here and we cannot hung people. Killing will draw your Cainus here and that cannot happen. We grow instead. Steal from others and bring equipment here. We grow some. Not enough."

"I'm guessing that this is related to why I'm here?"

Nequeek nodded. "You go to Pelitan. Yes? Travel with the spy. Yes?"

I paused for a moment. How could he know?

Nequeek laughed, a gravely sounding noise. "We are small, but I have my own spies too. Ears all over. From ears, I hear of Pelitan and their own secrets. They make poison and load to their ships. Great and terrible war to come."

Fuck. Somehow it seemed everything was going to go full loop and I was getting entangled in all of it. I could feel it and it set my heart racing.

"You will take this poison and bring to me," Nequeek said and looked me knowingly in the eyes. "You do this and you, your people will live."

This Emthirian knew everything. Somehow he knew why I was going to Pelitan. He had been watching from the very beginning of it all.

"I will let you go," he continued without waiting for my uneeded answer and waved me away like he had done with his minions just a little bit ago.

With no option that I could think of, i turned and as I approached the exit, Nequeek called out to me.

"Follow the wind. It will guide you out and to the Pelitan spy and beware those around you."

I stepped out and into the dimly lit tunnel.

The dozen rats were there and they whispered amongst each other. Some growled too, but none stopped me.

I walked and walked thinking about this new task I had unwillingly been set on. Find the poison and bring it to Nequeek for whatever reason. What would he do with it? All possibilities were equally nefarious. Despite the civility that Nequeek showed when compared to the rest of his race, he was still a rat.

Eventually I got back to the main tunnel where the draft was. Just as I was told, I followed it.