Other London: An Uncanny Kingdom Urban Fantasy by M.V. Stott & David Bussell

Author:M.V. Stott & David Bussell [Stott, M.V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Uncanny Kingdom
Published: 2020-08-09T16:00:00+00:00

8

It was the cell door creaking open that woke Verity.

‘Up you get,’ said a small man with a pointed face and waxy skin.

‘Where are you taking me?’ she asked as a second man entered, small as the first, his hair slicked back, buck teeth jutting forward.

‘Got to move you,’ said the first man as his buck-toothed partner nodded, his eyes darting restlessly, his trench coat two sizes too big.

Verity followed them out of the cell, happy to see that the corridor beyond did not look like the one in the Exchequer’s house this time. The two diminutive men hustled her past the other cells, bowler hats pulled low.

‘Through, now,’ said the pointy-faced man as he led her down a staircase to a door that opened into a back alley. It was early, the sun just beginning to chase away the night.

The man with the buck teeth dropped to his haunches and pulled open a manhole cover. A rank waft emerged from the sewer below, wrinkling Verity’s nose.

‘What is going on? Exactly?’

Buck teeth was already disappearing through the opening, his pointy-faced partner gesturing for her to follow.

‘I’m sorry, you want me to go into a sewer? I think I’d prefer my cell, thanks.’

‘Hurry,’ said the pointy-faced man, eyes darting up and down the alleyway.

‘No,’ said Verity. ‘Tell me what’s happening.’

‘Shh!’ The man turned in tight, panicked circles. ‘Escape! We escape you!’

‘You’re… breaking me out? Why?’

‘Just go! Hurry, hurry! No time!’

Verity considered her options for a moment, and then, with a grimace and one last breath of clean air, lowered herself into the sewer, clambering down metal rungs bolted to crumbling bricks. As she descended, she glanced below and saw buck teeth at least five metres below her already, moving with swift grace. The sewer floor was hidden by gloom.

‘How far down is it?’ Verity’s voice quavered as she clung to the cold metal rungs, unable to continue her descent into the stale stink.

‘Far, very far, hurry,’ replied the pointy-faced man above her, dragging the manhole cover back into place above his head

The dark dropped so suddenly that Verity cried out and seized up. A foot landed on her scalp.

‘Down. Keep going. He is waiting.’

‘Who’s waiting?’

‘The man who saved you. Go, go.’

A calming breath, and then, rung by rung, Verity began to descend once more. When she finally, gratefully, reached the bottom, Verity felt like kissing the ground in relief. Though she didn’t, as she was in a sewer and that would be disgusting.

The strange little men led her through a dizzying warren of brick tunnels and chambers. As far as Verity could tell, there was no rhyme or reason to the route they took, yet her guides never faltered as they navigated the maze.

‘Who’s the man who saved me?’ Verity asked.

‘You’ll see,’ said the pointy-faced man, smiling faintly. As he looked at her, Verity noticed that his eyes glowed with a weak yellow light. These were eyes made to see in the dark. Rat’s eyes. That’s what the two men reminded Verity of.

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