AERIN

The 48th day of the moon of Harvest's End. Year 1458 of the Age of Stagnation.

The evening was closing fast. The sun hanging close to the horizon, and the shadows were creeping in. Aerin had stopped at an overlook to rest. The city was all she had known her entire life. A mismatched patchwork of domes, spires, buildings from all Ages. Some already reduced to ruins and plots of overgrown greenery in the city. All of this lie in the river valley below her.

In the lower city, all over Ironcourt, small rainbows flickered to life and slowly turned into bright white lights. Aerin's gaze followed the trails of soul gem lanterns snaking throughout the city. The lamplighters had started their rounds.

And an icy wind had arrived from the highlands to the north behind her. But she barely noticed it, as her mind lingered on tonight's task and Will. Aerin was not sure which vexed her more.

There were ways into the estate, but no options that offered cover. There were too many ways to get caught. The upper city had been built on a series of hills and there were too many eyes further up the hill or on the neighbouring one.

The only option Aerin had come up with so far was to do it as quickly as possible. Smash the door in, grab what they could and run. But they would need a lot of people to grab all the valuable stuff. It was unlikely Garret would want to share this job with the other eight keepers.

And someone would know the moment anyone touched the door. If only they had more time, they could make a small fortune. This was the problem with houses in the upper city. Nobles could afford extra security. A spell or two that alerted its conjurer, a silent alarm.

Lost deep in thought, Aerin heard someone sneeze. Will had returned. He had his cloak wrapped around tight and his arms deep in the pockets. "How are you not cold? The weather turned." Will asked Aerin.

Aerin shrugged and turned her gaze back to the city.

She saw a few people here and there. These autumn days were like that. A hollow feeling lingered in her mind when looking at this bastion of humanity. Ironcourt was a vast city, but it seemed to have lost its grandeur Ages past.

"Well? What do you reckon?" She drawled with a sigh.

"There might be something on the street below it." Will jumped on the spot and blew air into his hands. "How are you not cold right now? Or were you this frigid to start w... OW!" Will rubbed his side, tender from the punch.

"Damn it, it was supposed to be a joke. Follow me. It might be warmer downhill, and I need your help to check out that spot I saw." Aerin's mood was still sour. Same old Will, though. He had already forgotten the fight earlier. If only he listened to her more. Aerin was convinced she knew best.

It did not take long to reach the spot Will had mentioned. "A park?" Aerin had not been here before.

"Yeah, the back end of this is a cliff. Something caught my eye. Didn't have a chance to look closer, you're better at climbing than I am."

Will was mumbling something. Counting steps. Aerin looked behind them and saw that the road had forked. "Thirty-eight. Do you see that? Wonder why no one lights these lanterns here?"

Aerin squinted at the almost vertical cliffside.

It was quite a way up to the next level. Branches, leaves and other small vegetation, not to mention the patches of dirt, gravel and protruding edges, covering the cliff face made it hard to see what Will was looking for. The park was gloomy, the trees and bushes overgrown and wild.

"There! Isn't that a grate under the vines? Cellar ventilation, maybe? Or the waterways?"

"The waterways don't open up in the side of the upper city." Aerin could not see what Will was pointing at but a rusted grate cover stuck in the vines caught her attention. She then cast a look at Will, who was now pacing back and forth, still rubbing his hands together and occasionally jumping. "Are you okay? Not that cold, you know."

"It's damned freezing." Will stammered a reply.

The icy wind that had risen was blowing strong, but Aerin did not mind it this time. Usually, it was her who was whining about the cold weather.

"Never mind. I'm sure I'll be fine. Now climb up that tree. You should be able to reach that opening from there." Will rubbed his hands and blew air on them before moving into position under the tree to boost Aerin up.

The first branches were high up. She could probably make the jump with Will's help. But she was still angry at him. She was reluctant to continue any further tonight.

"Garret told us to find a way, not go right on in." Aerin drawled, to spite Will.

"And we're nowhere close to the entrance. We need to make sure we can get where we want to from there. Now get up there so I can throw you the rope."

"What rope?" Will's words confused Aerin. They did not bring any gear along tonight.

"Don't you worry about that, now get up there or are you going to keep me squatting like this for the rest of the night here?" Looking closely, Will was outright shivering. Aerin sighed and went for it.

With Will's help, it was easy to jump and grab hold of the branches above and hoist herself up. Now crouched on a sturdier branch she could see the opening better. A rectangular hole was hidden in a nook of the cliff face, just above the cover stuck in the vines. A protruding rock below hid it from view. And a small gutter was visible on the hole's bottom edge.

It looked promising, large enough to crawl through and it led into the cliff, roughly the direction of the residential area above. But Aerin was not entirely certain as to what would need such a large ventilation or drainage shaft. She had never seen one of these elsewhere in the city.

But looking from here, she realised, she would have to somehow jump headfirst into that small hole. The branches did not quite reach where she wanted them, and those vines would not hold her full weight. She held doubts about the stability of the gravel and dirt covered cliff as well. But the grate had fallen off and the hole was clear of any major obstacles. No point in whining too much about it. A job needed doing.

She had to land on her chest. It struck the breath from her lungs and hurt. But she had made it just enough inside to scramble further. She could feel her feet kicking showers of dirt and pebbles loose off the cliff face.

There was not much headroom in the tunnel. It looked like parts of this shaft were ready to fall apart. Here and there were a few stone plates and bits of metal jutting out of the wall. You could still go through most on all fours.

Only a thin layer of moist dirt lined the bottom of the gutter running through the middle of the shaft. If anything it looked suspiciously clean. There were no signs of vermin or bugs.

Suddenly a rope tied to a rock flew in through the tunnel opening. A sequence of quiet whistles followed shortly.

"Tie it down and help?" She looked around the tunnel. A piece of reinforcing metal from the wall would have to do.

It took a while, but finally, Will was crouching beside her. "Doesn't look too good."

"It's this or try a less subtle approach. This way we might have time to work inside the house. Let's hope they only warded the doors. If this even takes us where we want to." Aerin crawled along the tunnel. Behind her, she could hear Will follow.

Although her mood was still sour, other thoughts were bugging her mind. "Where did you get the rope? I didn't know we had a stash in this area."

"It's Orion. He does more than speak to us. He teaches those with even a shred of potential inside them. I might not be a mage yet, but I will be one someday."

"You can conjure rope? Fancy that." A hint of surprise was in Aerin's voice.

"I can't conjure rope. But I can hide it and lots of other things where you'd least expect it." Some of that usual smugness had returned to Will's voice.

"Ow!"

Aerin had hit her head. Light in the small shaft was at an increasingly uncomfortable angle, distorting shadows and shapes. Although the shaft went in a straight line, the limited room made it difficult to react to sudden obstacles. She had hit the edge of a stone slab that had slightly peeled away from the ceiling.

"Not sure if this tunnel is a good way to get in either. Feels like we've gone too far inside the hill. Hey, Aerin? You sure about this?"

"You were the one who got us in here. We'll go as far as we can. If we hit a dead end we have to back out."

"Hold on. I think I just... Yep. I did!" Will's voice suddenly came from behind a corner.

"What?" She heard Will grunt and something metallic grinding on stone.

"A cover. Shaft leads up." Will was panting from the effort. Aerin could barely guess the struggling figure behind her. As a heavy thud sounded somewhere above the two of them, a series of louder thuds startled Aerin down in the tunnel. Dust struck her face just as she realised slabs of stone were falling from the tunnel ceiling.