Author's Note: I apologize for my absence for the last who knows how long. I've been busy with life, in general, and I've not had any time to even think of story concepts and such. I'm not completely back to writing at the same pace as I used to, and my style might be different than it was when this story (or any of my stories) first started. However, I will try and push releases out once a month, though I cannot guarantee it.

I've had a little bit of free time to write recently, and I threw together this concept over the last week or so. Also, I've been reading the light novels, but I will try not to let it influence my writing for the sake of spoilers.

Thanks, as always for reading!

Until next time,

~TabiNoTochuu

"It has been a long time since I have last choked. But I remember it was on a potato. Perhaps I do not do so well with this vegetable. Stupid Potato!"

~Horo

Chapter 5 - Wolf and The Daring Escape 2

I took a deep breath and slid down the narrow grating, taking care not to cut myself on the jagged metal at the end of the small hole into the sewers. I landed with a light jump onto the stone walkway in the cool sewer air. The sound of my feet hitting the ground echoed around me, slowly fading away into the distance. I shook away my sense of unease and turned around to help the others down into the sewer.

We huddled around each other as Alice removed two handmade torches from her bag and lit them with a few quick motions of flint on steel. I accepted one of the torches from her, welcoming the faint warmth that it provided. As we prepared to set off, a small breeze blew through the sewer, and Horo wrinkled her nose at the scent it brought with it. "Ugh. This smells worse than that prison..."

Alice shrugged apologetically. "I'm sorry, but we've got no other choice. If the smell bothers you too much, crush some of these leaves and hold them under your nose."

She passed all of us a small leather bag of green leaves. Even from a distance, the faint smell of mint was clear, even in the stink of the sewers. Horo immediately crushed a few leaves and stuck them under her nose, sighing with relief as the scent of mint blocked out the smell of the sewers. I grinned at her expression, and got a sharp jab to the side as Horo glared at me.

Hefting our torches, and following the directions of Alice as she stared at the map in her hand, we ventured deep into the bowels of the town's sewer system.

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

As far as I could figure, we had been walking for at least a half hour before we came to a sort of intersection. Four other paths branched off from the circular room, and we took a much needed rest while Alice consulted her map. "This feels odd. We should be staying roughly at the same level, but it feels like we've begun going deeper and deeper into the earth." I shuddered. "It makes me uncomfortable, it does."

Doran nodded and sighed tiredly. "It just doesn't feel natural not being able to see the sky." A loud squeak rang through the room as he kicked a rat away from where it had been chewing on his boot. "And I could do without all these rats around. Rats are never a good omen."

Horo nodded, then pulled me close to her. "Lawrence... I don't know if you've noticed, but I've noticed another presence around us."

I glanced around, then nodded. "I've felt it too, just a while ago. Whatever it is, it only seems to be watching us. And it might sound strange, but I do not believe that it means us harm."

To my surprise, Horo smiled softly. "It would seem that spending enough time with me has sharpened your mind, if only just a little." She glanced down the passageways, and narrowed her eyes, peering into the darkness beyond the light of our torches. "The presence... it feels warm, comforting. As if it was protecting us from... something."

I could tell she was frustrated to not know what was observing them, but there was little we could do about it right now. But still... what could possibly be watching us? Is it a person who lives in the sewers? Or perhaps we're just imagining things, and it's just a rat... I shook the thoughts away and addressed Alice. "Do we have a path to follow?"

Alice lowered her map and shook her head. "This area wasn't on my map. It must have been added after this map was made... I'm sorry. I never considered the possibility that something like this might have happened." Her arms hung limply at her sides. "I guess we should head back. We can take our chances through a different way."

Horo shook her head and pointed at the corridor from where we had come. "They've already discovered the entrance to the sewer. A small group of people, maybe 6-8, have been sent to check the sewers. We'd never sneak past them."

Alice stared at Horo. "How could you know that? Are your ears really that good? Or are you just giving me false information so that we might keep moving forward?"

I could see dislike spark in Horo's eyes as she struggled to keep her voice level. "I need you to trust me. If we stay here, they will find us in time. If we try and go back, they will catch us. Our only option is to keep moving forward. Past here, at least they would have to split up to try and find us. We might not be able to overpower 6-8 people, but we can certainly beat 1-2."

Alice scoffed. "IF the men the council sent are even in the sewers."

I saw that the situation was quickly growing out of hand, and I stepped between the two. "Uh. This might sound stupid, but she has very good ears, and she takes pride in them."

Alice looked at me like I was a madman. "And pray tell, Master Lawrence, what did she do to get such incredible hearing that she can hear the subtle movement of men twenty to thirty minutes away from us?"

"Uh... Potatoes. Lots of potatoes."

"Potatoes."

I tried to ignore Horo's expression of outrage. "Y-Yeah. Where we come from, we grew a species of potato that had incredible effects on improving hearing. Eating enough can give your hearing a boost above what you would normally be able to hear at."

Horo's fingers dug into my arm as she leaned around me to look at Alice. "That's right. I just loved the... the p-potatoes from my hometown."

Alice looked confused, but sighed and waved at Horo. "So, which way do we go?"

Horo pointed down the left-most passageway. "I think we should go down this way. The air smells cleaner."

With a final sigh, Alice proceeded down the passageway, with Doran close behind her. As I moved to enter the narrow passageway, Horo suddenly grabbed me and pulled my face down to her eye level. "... Not a word to anyone about the potatoes."

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

We had barely gone for a few hundred meters when the tunnel began to narrow quickly, until it was just wide enough for us to walk through, and low enough that Doran and I had to walk slightly hunched over. Alice stopped, and our ragtag group bumped into each other. Horo rubbed her nose, grumbling at my back. "Why have we stopped?"

Alice stared straight ahead, straining her eyes in the dim torchlight. "... There's something different about the tunnel ahead. It looks like... there's dirt up ahead."

Doran frowned. "A dirt tunnel? Impossible. These sewers were made in stone. Even the air ducts and escape passages were made of stone. There shouldn't be a speck of dirt around..."

But, a few more minutes of walking later, it became clear that Alice was right. The tunnel around us changed from smooth tiled stone to rough, uneven dirt. We continued to walk, and once again, I felt the uncomfortable presence of a pair of eyes on me.

"... There's a light up ahead. I think we're almost out of this!"

Alice rushed forwards, and the rest of us hurried along. We stumbled out of the tunnel into a massive cave, with a singular hole above us, from which the sky could be seen. My heart dropped immediately. There was no way up to the hole. The walls of the cave were smooth and offered no hand or footholds that I could see. I heard the dull thud of something hitting the floor, and turned to see that Alice had fallen to her knees, the torch dropping from her hands. "... it's impossible... We're stuck here." She glanced at the three of us, then up at the hole in the cave's ceiling. "So close... I was so certain that we were about to arrive at the surface, that I failed to consider any other scenarios. I'm sorry for raising your hopes."

Doran plopped down on a rock nearby and sighed tiredly. "What now? If we head back, we might be able to beat the council's men and head down another tunnel. But without any idea where we might be going, we might end up in a worse place than this. However, if we stay here, they'll find us eventually, if we don't starve to death first."

Horo picked up the torch and glanced around the cave. She pulled my sleeve, and motioned for me to join her. I nodded and together, we walked toward where the circle of moonlight lay. "What will we do, Horo? I see no way for us to get out of this."

She shook her head in mock indignation. "When will you learn to stop looking back, Lawrence? Take a look around us. What do you see?"

I slowly looked around. "Nothing. Just sheer walls as far as the eye can see."

"Look closer."

A section of wall near the other side of the cave caught my attention. It was too far to make out any details, but it looked almost like... "Is that... a door?"

Horo grinned triumphantly. "See? Once you learn to see past what you think you know, the truth becomes apparent."

"But... where does it lead?"

Her smile faded. "I'm not sure, though I have a good theory. However, I do not think it is wise to voice it until I am sure." She turned back to where Alice and Doran were. "Let's get moving. It's going to take a while before we can get there."

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

To my surprise, the other two were surprisingly eager to try the door. Knowing that we had no real alternatives, any chance that we might yet be saved was a hope they had to cling to. Upon arriving at the other side of the cave, I realized just how large the door really was. It was at least twenty to thirty feet tall, with enough room for ten fully grown men to walk side by side. I brushed at the dust that had gathered on the door, squinting at the symbols carved into the wood. It was an older version of writing, and it took me some time to read. "... May those who enter come with a pure heart, else be cleansed by the purifying flame." I glanced around me. "Well... that sounds cheery."

Horo shrugged and motioned at the door. "We have no choice but to try."

I touched the door handle, then strengthened my resolve and gave a firm push. I yelped as the door slid forward much more easily than I had anticipated, and only the quick reactions of Horo managed to save me from falling face-first onto the floor. "... Thanks."

The four of us quickly entered the doorway, closing the door behind us so that we would leave no trace of our escape behind. However, upon closing the door, we were faced with another problem. "It's pitch black in here... what happened to the torches?"

I could hear Alice fumbling with her bag. "I think there was a draft from the door closing. Oh, where did I put that accursed flint..."

A few small bursts of sparks briefly lit the darkness before a small flame flickered into existence. The smell of burning pitch reached my nose as I glanced at the corridor we were now in. Completely nondescript, the only thing was another set of doors at the other end.

Upon reaching the doors, I noticed that another message had been carved into the door, with a picture of what looked to be a large bird. However, the words were so worn by time that they were unreadable. I shrugged and pushed open the door, and we stepped from a corridor into a paradise.

I gaped at the sight in front of me. Instead of dusty rooms and empty halls, the room in front of me was filled with green vegetation. A small fountain at the corner of the room brought clean, fresh water into a small pond at the center of the room. The entire area was lit by sets of intricately made torches. "W-What is this place?"

Alice and Doran looked similarly astounded. It was clear that they had not expected to find a room like this down in a cave. Even Horo, who normally managed to keep her emotions from showing on her face, couldn't help the showing her surprise.

"H-Hello? Is there anyone there?"

Receiving no answer, I turned to the others. "I think we should hole up here for a little bit. We can take stock of our situation here in at least some safety. Perhaps this is the place where those who live in the sewers reside. In any case, let's explore a little bit. Look for people; I'd rather us not steal from whoever lives here."

Alice raised a hand. "Shouldn't we stick together? Despite everything, we still don't know who, or what, lives here. It might be best if we don't separate, in case we discover... something unpleasant."

I thought about it and nodded. "Good point. We have plenty of time, anyways. In that case, we'll start with that hallway to our left. It looks like a storage area. Let's go search it."

We began to pick through the rooms, and I began to feel something off. Even though every indication was that someone or a group of people were living here, the entire area felt empty. There were food supplies, running water, and living quarters for a dozen people. All the while, the presence that I felt in the sewers seemed to be around us, continuing to watch, silently, from the shadows.

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

30 Minutes later

We sat down in what appeared to be a dining room and took stock of our situation. "I think there's no one here. Despite the fact that there is fresh food and water, there's no indication that anyone's lived here in some time. The fireplaces are cold from disuse, and there is no sign of people leaving."

Alice frowned. "Then what could all this be here for? An emergency shelter? But it makes no sense to put a shelter in such an inaccessible location... Perhaps it was built and then forgotten?"

I shook my head. "The food in the pantry was too fresh for that. And the torches in the main room have to be refilled. Someone's been maintaining this place, but for what, I do not know."

I glanced at Horo, and she nodded at me. "Also... I don't know if you two have noticed, but Horo and I have felt something watching us for a while now. I'm not sure what it is, but it seems to have kept a watchful eye on us this entire time."

"Ever since we entered this place?"

"No... Ever since we entered the sewers, I think."

Doran looked alarmed, while Alice seemed to be thinking. Slowly, she said, "When I was a little girl, I remember a story my father told me about a mysterious creature in this land. It's tears could cure any illness, and it could never die from old age or from wounds. Seeing the carvings on the outside door got me thinking... Perhaps this is a shrine to that creature."

"And you would be correct."

All of us cried out in surprise as a young girl's voice rang out from behind us. We turned to see a girl, maybe fifteen to sixteen years of age, standing in the doorway, dressed in robes of white, gold, and red. She laughed, and for some reason, the sound put me at ease. "I'm sorry, did I startle you? I noticed you earlier while I was doing some cleaning, and I decided to come see who you were."

Her eyes hardened slightly as she looked us over. "I do hope that you are not thieves. This is a sacred place, and normal robbers dare not even approach. However, those foolish enough to try have never escaped this shrine's defenses."

Alice quickly stood up, placating the young girl with hands raised. "W-We are not thieves. We were being chased, and stumbled upon this place. I-If it is permittable, would we be allowed to stay here until our pursuers have given up?"

The girl glanced at Alice. "And why should I? You could be lying, in an attempt to put me off my guard. Otherwise, what if those chasing you decide to come in here to look?"

Alice had tears in her eyes as she walked towards the mysterious girl. "Please, I'm begging you. If we are captured, I am certain all of us will be killed. I do not wish for that to happen. I've burdened Masters Lawrence and Horo with my requests, and I do not want harm to come to them due to my own actions."

The girl's eyes flashed, and for a brief second, so quickly I thought I had imagined it, there was fire reflected in her eyes. "... I know who it is that chases you." She reached up and loosened the robes at her neck, revealing a thin metal collar. "It seems... that you truly mean no harm. I will allow you to stay, under one condition."

The girl looked at each of us for a few seconds, then smiled brilliantly. "Stay here and tell me your stories. The caretaker of this shrine grows lonely and bored. Your tales would be ample payment for as long as you need to stay for. However, the council does send men down here from time to time, to bring more supplies, and to check the rooms for people. You must leave before then, or we all risk the council's wrath."

She waved off our words of gratitude, and waved for us to follow her to another section of the temple. She seemed far more animated now that we had earned her trust, and she struck up a conversation with Alice and Doran about the news of the world, while Horo and I trailed back slightly. "Horo... What do you think of her?"

Horo narrowed her eyes at the back of the girl in front of us. "... I'm not sure. She seems like a normal person, but her actions do not fit her age. Perhaps it is just the way that they train the caretakers of this shrine, and I am just over thinking it. Or... She is not who she says she is."

I groaned and rubbed the back of my neck. "Just what we need. Another mystery to solve. At the very least, we can get some rest and see if there is another way out. If the council does know that this shrine is here, we can expect visitors within a day or two. We need to have a plan for when that comes to pass."

Horo's eyes glinted and she bared her teeth at me. "I've been wordlessly accepting the meager portions of food that Alice gives us. Perhaps I will eat some of the men who come to find us."

"You wouldn't."

She sniffed and turned away. "Maybe you're right. You men are smelly creatures after all. Eating one of you would give me indigestion for weeks."

I stared at her in disbelief. "That's what you're worried about?!"

Chapter 5 - Wolf and The Daring Escape 2