The Gate Below
The drain mouth sat beneath the north gate where the stonework dipped toward the valley. Cobalt fog collected there, blue against the black masonry. Kaelen crouched and pushed the lantern inside. The passage sloped under the wall, its floor wet with a narrow run of water.
Oren held the lantern steady. “Wide enough.”
“Wide enough for one.” Kaelen lowered his hand to the stone lip. The damp grit clung to his glove. “You saw the tracks?”
“Scratches on the far side. I thought they were from the flood gate.” Oren leaned closer. “There should be an iron sluice here. The old records say it was closed after the first winter.”
The records had not kept it closed. Kaelen lifted the lantern and found a rusted chain disappearing into a slot in the wall. It ran down into the drain. Something had bent the lower link outward.
He took the iron bar from Oren and eased himself into the passage. The stone ceiling scraped his shoulders. Behind him, Oren followed with a coil of rope looped over one arm.
Water ran over Kaelen’s boots. The air smelled of wet ash and metal. He kept the lantern low, watching the channel. Halfway through, black flakes clung to the wall at the height of a crouched body. A few had caught in the chain.
“It came through here,” Oren said from behind him.
Kaelen touched one flake with the bar. It broke to powder. “Yes.”
The drain opened into a small chamber beneath the gatehouse. The sluice hung above the channel, a grid of thick iron bars. Its lower edge had jammed against a stone shelf, leaving a gap wide enough for a Skahl-skin to crawl through. The chain mechanism was above them, inside the wall.
Oren set down the rope and examined the winch. Its teeth were rusted together. “If we free the wheel, the gate should drop.”
“Should.”
“There’s a catch on the other side.” Oren pointed through the bars. “I can reach it from the channel.”
Kaelen measured the space. Oren could fit beneath the raised sluice, but only just. “I’ll hold the chain.”
Oren looked at the iron bar in Kaelen’s hand, then at the chain. He nodded and crawled into the shallow channel. Kaelen braced his boots against the wall and took the chain in both hands.
Oren reached through the bars. “The catch is bent.”
“Can you lift it?”
“I can try.”
Kaelen pulled against the chain. The links shifted a finger’s width and stopped. He set his shoulder under it. Metal groaned in the stone slot.
Next
The drain is sealed, but the fire line has a wider dark stretch now, leaving Kaelen to face the next attack with less protection before the bell’s deeper toll becomes unavoidable.