“There it is. I can see it,” he said as the others waded into the room. He pointed to a trap door in the floor. An iron pull-ring was barely visible in its center.
“Caramon?” Tanis stood back.
“Bah!” Flint snorted. “If a gully dwarf can open this, I can open it. Stand aside.” The dwarf elbowed everyone back, plunged his hand into the water, and heaved. There was a moment’s silence. Flint grunted, his face turned red. He stopped, straightened up with a gasp, then reached down and tried again. There wasn’t a creak. The door remained shut.
Tanis put his hand on the dwarf’s shoulder. “Flint, Bupu says she only goes down during the dry season. You’re trying to lift half of Newsea along with the door.”
“Well”-the dwarf puffed for breath-“why didn’t you say so? Let the big ox try his luck.”
Caramon stepped forward. He reached down into the water and gave a heave. His shoulder muscles bulged, and veins in his neck stood out. There was a sucking sound, then the suction was released so suddenly that the big warrior nearly fell over backwards. Water drained from the room as Caramon eased the wooden plank door over. Tanis held his torch down to see. A four-foot-square shaft gaped in the floor; a narrow iron ladder descended into the shaft.
“What’s the count?” Tanis asked, his throat dry.
“Four hundred and three,” answered Slurm’s deep voice.
“Four hundred and four.”
The companions stood around the trap door, shivering in the chill air, hearing nothing but the sound of water pouring down the shaft.
“Four hundred and fifty-one,” noted the knight calmly.
Tanis scratched his beard. Caramon coughed twice, as though reminding them of his absent brother. Flint fidgeted and dropped his axe in the water. Tas absent-mindedly chewed on the end of his topknot. Goldmoon, pale but composed, drew near Riverwind, the nondescript brown staff in her hand. He put his arm around her. Nothing was worse than waiting.
“Five hundred,” said Sturm finally.
“About time!” Tasslehoff swung himself down onto the ladder. Tanis went next, holding his torch to light the way for Goldmoon, who came after him. The others followed, climbing slowly down into an access shaft of the city sewage system. The shaft ran about twenty feet straight down, then opened up into a five-foot-wide tunnel that ran north and south.
“Check the depth of the water,” Tanis warned the kender as Tas was about to let go of the ladder. The kender, hanging onto the last rung with one hand, lowered his hoopak staff into the dark, swirling water below him. The staff sank about half-way.
“Two feet,” said Tas cheerfully. He dropped in with a splash, the water hitting him around the thighs. He looked up at Tanis inquiringly.
“That way,” Tanis pointed. “South.”
Holding his staff in the air, Tasslehoff let the current sweep him along.
“Where’s that diversion?” Sturm asked, his voice echoing.
Tanis had been wondering that himself. “We probably won’t be able to hear anything down here.” He hoped that was true.
“Raist’ll come through. Don’t worry,” Caramon said grimly.
“Tanis!” Tasslehoff fell back into the half-elf. “There’s something down here! I felt it go by my feet.”
“Just keep moving,” Tanis muttered, “and hope it isn’t hungry-”
They waded on in silence, the torchlight flickering off the walls, creating illusions in the mind’s eye. More than once, Tanis saw something reach out for him, only to realize it was the shadow cast by Caramon’s helm or Tas’s hoopak.
The tunnel ran straight south for about two hundred feet, then turned east. The companions stopped. Down the eastern arm of the sewer glimmered a column of dim light, filtering down from above. This-according to Bupu-marked the dragon’s lair.
“Douse the torches!” Tanis hissed, plunging his torch in the water. Touching the slimy wall, Tanis followed the kender- Tas’s red outline showing up vividly to his elven eyes-through the tunnel. Behind him he heard Flint complaining about the effects of water on his rheumatism.
“Shhhh,” Tanis whispered as they drew near the light. Trying to be silent in spite of clanking armor, they soon stood by a slender ladder that ran up to an iron grating.