We will not find out!
Valerius took off after Illarion who was already wrenching open the metal doors. There was a tearing, shrieking sound as the doors came off their rusted hinges. Illarion tossed them to the side as if they were made of paper.
“Your legs are still shaking,” Illarion muttered as the two of them strode into the muted darkness of the tunnel.
“I’m fine,” Valerius growled.
He wasn’t. But he was getting better. He could stand on his own. That feeling of terror, the helplessness, flooded him again. He gritted his teeth. Caden needed him. He would fight through this weakness to strength. But they had to be smart too.
“Ah, it reeks in here!” Illarion waved a hand in front of his face.
The strange ozone-like scent that the Behemoth gave off flooded Valerius’ nostrils and he grimaced.
“It will make tracking them potentially easier,” Valerius said.
Illarion grunted. “Can you run?” Valerius wondered if he could. “I can go ahead--”
“No, splitting up is a bad idea, Illarion. I can keep up,” Valerius said. “We’ve already misjudged this creature.”
Illarion grunted again, his eyes running up and down Valerius’ form, clearly disbelieving that he could keep up. The two of them started to jog. Valerius thought that Illarion, too, was still recovering from the gas otherwise he would have left him in his dust.
The Behemoth was just five or ten minutes ahead of them. The amount of people that it possessed would make moving through the tunnels likely slower. He and Illarion might be able to catch up.
Slowly but surely, their rate of speed increased. They were flat out running once the end of the tunnel disappeared behind them. The stink of the Behemoth was everywhere. It clogged his nostrils. He was nearly gagging from it.
They slowed, then stopped, before three tunnels that branched off from the current one they were on. The central passage went straight ahead while the tunnel to the left slanted upwards and the tunnel to the right spiraled down.
Which way did they go?
“Gah! Even the rotting garbage smells better than it!” Illarion brought a hand to his nose. “Which way do we go? Every tunnel stinks equally.”
Illarion was correct. It was clear that the Behemoth had been using all of these tunnels recently. He drew in a deep breath from each. He studied the garbage-strewn floor for any fresh footmarks. What he discovered wasn’t comforting. The stench seemed to equally waft from all three tunnels and there were footmarks going down each.
“They split up to confuse us,” Valerius remarked.
“Clever pig that Behemoth,” Illarion spat.
“Yes, it is.”
The Behemoth had had a long time to think and plan and know these tunnels. It had obsessed itself with revenge. They were just handling this on the fly.
Caden? Caden, can you hear me? Valerius sent out. He thought he heard the faintest pulse of a response as if Caden were roused slightly from deep sleep.
“Well?” Illarion stamped his foot. “Which way? We should split up--”
“Quiet! I’m listening!” Valerius growled.
He shut his eyes and concentrated.
Caden, can you hear me? Valerius asked. Open your eyes, baby. Show me where you are!
For a moment, he thought he saw a curved stone ceiling with the construction lights every few meters. But that looked like every other ceiling. But he had heard something through Caden’s ears.
Listen hard, Caden. Listen with all your might, Valerius told him.
And he heard the splashing of water very distinctly. Not just a drip-drip-drip but an almost waterfall of liquid falling into liquid and he knew where they must be.
“Down!” Valerius cried as his eyelids shot open.
