Chapter Forty-Four
I peered at Admon’s map in the guttering torchlight. Namir held the crackling torch over my shoulder, waiting for my decision. He, Tahlia, and I stood at a branching in the path. Three tunnels lay before us, each one leading in a different direction. The scent of rotting garbage mingled with human waste filled the air, but I had become numb to it at least an hour ago. Beyond the light of the torch, darkness surrounded us within the cool, dank stone of the city’s sewer system. Somewhere in the shadows, I heard the scratch of rat claws and perhaps the scuffle of a boot. My free hand drifted to my mother’s dagger at my belt.
Namir handed the torch to Tahlia with a silent nod and drifted into the darkness to investigate. The priest Talib had sent with us wasn’t much for co
