Drainage Main 14 was a building relic of the pre-Rift era. A huge, vaulted underground aqueduct built from heavy glassy brick and heavy iron arches. Measuring thirty feet across and twenty feet from invert to crown, it had once carried the heavy-duty wastewater of seven mega-districts toward the outer straining beds. Now, it was a stinking, flooded underground highway for horrors.
The squad moved in single-file through knee-deep, thick, sticky black sludge that smelled of petroleum, sewage, and the choking, stone sweetness of Gorgon slime. The only light came from the narrow, focused beam of Arthur’s headlamp and the gentle, golden radiance shining from Pip’s feathers as the crow perched alertly on the barrel of Arthur’s carbine.
Titus led the advance, his broad shell nearly filling the center of the arched channel. His heavy hind legs churned through the thick muck with slow, rhythmic power, his front claws gouging deep grooves into the century-old brick invert to maintain traction. Behind Titus walked Arthur and Valerie, their weapons raised at low-ready, while Toby and Morrigan Calder stayed close to the tortoise’s rear flank, their boots splashing softly in the dark.
Grimm didn’t walk in the muck. The Great Shadow Panther prowled along the narrow, slippery brick upkeep ledge that ran along the channel wall five feet above the waterline. His paws made zero sound. He stepped over rusted iron rungs and rotting channel cables, his black coat blending so thoroughly with the slime-stained brickwork that only the pale, shiny gold of…
