Red Hood's Revenge

Fortunately, they’re cowards. They’ll attack a lone target, but an armed group should send them running. Probably.”
    Roudette readied her hammer as an animal scream filled the tunnel. The cries of sewer goblins reminded Talia a little of cats in heat. Another scream answered far behind them.
    “This place just keeps getting better,” said Snow.
    Talia hurried forward, but the goblin was gone by the time she reached the other tunnel. Fading splashes marked its retreat. Talia kept walking until she reached a square column of sunlight that marked another grate. She listened for a moment, trying to make sure she hadn’t lost her bearings. Dark stains marked the walls, random lines and smears with no meaning to anyone except the goblins who had drawn them.
    “At least they’re running away,” said Danielle.
    “Maybe.” Sewer goblins could move through the muck without a sound. The only reason to raise such a racket was to lure their prey after them. “Or else they’re running to fetch reinforcements.”
    The mansion was only a short distance away, but movement was slower in the cramped tunnels. The stones of the ledges were slick and occasionally loose. One gave way beneath Talia’s foot, splashing into the water. Without her gifts, she could have easily broken an ankle.
    “Stay in the middle of the tunnel,” Talia said, splashing forward. She wouldn’t put it past the goblins to have loosened certain stones deliberately as traps. She paused at another junction, hesitating only a moment before choosing the upstream tunnel. The water flowed more strongly here, meaning she was getting closer to the raikh’s personal reservoir.
    Roudette’s hammer scraped the wall as she turned. “More of them coming up behind us. This place is worse than the Fairy Queen’s labyrinth.”
    The water was higher here but also cleaner, the smell of human waste less overpowering. Sewer goblins continued to cry out, the sounds echoing all around them. More importantly, their screams blocked out the more subtle noises of their fellow goblins sneaking up the tunnels.
    “Should we remind them we’re armed?” Snow asked. “Someone once told me that should be enough to send them running.”
    “There are more than I remember.” Talia peeked around another bend in the tunnel. “They’ve never been this bold before.”
    Roudette turned around and roared, the sound so unexpected Talia nearly planted a knife in her throat. It was enough to scare the goblins into silence.
    “Don’t do that again.” Talia pressed herself against the wall. Up ahead, she heard a faint dripping sound, almost like rain. “The whole point of taking the sewers was to sneak in. The goblins are bad enough, but their cries shouldn’t draw much attention. They shout and fuss every time they find something larger than a rat. But if anyone hears you, we’ll find ourselves climbing right into a group of Rajil’s guards.”
    She turned right, and the flow grew strong enough to wash most of the filth from her sandals. Beams of light from overhead marked another sewage grate, this one carved like a sun with nine wavy beams. That sun meant they had crossed beneath the wall and were within the boundaries of the raikh’s home. “We’re close.”
    The goblins still hadn’t made a sound. Either Roudette had cowed them into silence, or else they had finished moving into position for their ambush. A sprinkling sound like a light rain came from directly ahead. That would be the reservoir.
    Talia crept forward. The tunnel grew tighter, the ceiling lowering until she had to crouch. The archway into the reservoir was little more than a window, with water flowing into the tunnel as though pouring over a miniature waterfall. Roudette and her cape would be a tight fit.
    Talia reached back to snag Snow, dragging her to the archway until her choker’s light shone into the reservoir. Beyond was a wide, round cavern, filled with water. Were Talia to float on her back, she would be able to touch the cave roof without straightening her arm. Water dripped from thousands of tiny stalactites, like stone icicles covering the roof. There was no way to guess how far down the water went, though most of the reservoirs were at least twice as deep as the average home.
    As she watched, a single goblin floated into view on the far side of the archway, clutching what might charitably be called a raft. Bits of wood and cloth were all snarled together, floating just well enough to