Adventures of David Clarkson

David Clarkson follows the woman down into the tunnel, ducking under wet beams as the storehouse fades behind him. The passage is low and choking, packed with mud, old runoff, and the stench of rot.

The ceiling dips, then opens into a wider undercroft beneath the street. A black seam of water runs along the stones, and faint daylight seeps through cracks above.

David steps into the undercroft beside them. Ahead, the tunnel bends toward a half-choked drain opening, just wide enough for one man at a time. Behind, the cellar stone feels suddenly smaller, as if the city itself is pressing in.

David slips into the drain passage, shoulders turned sideways, and the tunnel narrows around him like a fist.

The Woman at the Window waits at the bend, then steps in behind him, keeping the ledgers close to her body.

The Reed Man moves up last, silent as before, one hand on the oilcloth bundle while the other steadies him on the wet stone.

Above them, a dull tremor passes through the masonry, and grit sifts from the seam in the ceiling.

They press on into the dark, the water at David's boots running faster toward an unseen mouth ahead.

David keeps his shoulder to the wall and pushes on. The passage pinches tighter, then loosens as the black water drops away beneath a cracked lip of stone.

A gust of colder air spills up from ahead, sour with mud and river rot. The outer ditch lies just beyond the bend.

David clears the worst of the squeeze, but the turn catches his staff and scrapes loudly against the tunnel wall. Fine grit showers his sleeve.

The Reed Man tightens his grip on the oilcloth bundle and hurries after him. Behind them, a thin crack ticks through the masonry, then settles.

David reaches the mouth of the drainage run and sees the ditch light ahead, low and pale. Mud sucks at his boots, and the scrape has cost him a fresh tear in his sleeve.

David steps out of the mouth and onto the outer ditch bank. The cold air opens around him, rank with reeds and wet earth, and the tunnel falls behind him in a black slit of stone.

The Woman at the Window follows through first, then checks the dark over her shoulder before easing the weight of the ledgers into the open air.

The Reed Man comes out last, bundle hugged tight against his chest, careful not to let it brush the mud.

Behind them, a soft rumble stirs in the tunnel mouth, and a trickle of grit spills from the lip into the ditch.

David is clear of the undercroft now, with the city behind one wall of stone and the open ditch ahead. The ledgers are in hand, but the ground to the outskirts is still dark and treacherous.