They’d made the change on final approach into Bucharest. Darsal had given Johnis lessons on aiming and firing the guns, and she assured him that after fighting the Horde, it was child’s play. Just point and shoot, and brace for a slight kick.

The stone mansion stood dark against a starry sky in the center of the clearing they faced. Asleep by all exterior indications. No lights, no smoke from chimneys, no guards, no sounds but the nearby chirping of crickets.

“Follow closely!” she whispered, breaking from the tree line.

Darsal ran in a crouch, ahead and to his right. They flew through the grass like crows from above. Crossed the hundred yards of cleared ground in a matter of seconds.

They stopped with their backs to the rear wall, listening. Nothing.

Darsal pointed to a stone well they’d passed twenty feet away. “We’re going down.”

“Into the well?”

But she was going already.

Darsal slipped like a cat over the lip of the well, gripped a rope hung at the center, and disappeared into the earth.

A quick tug convinced Johnis the rope would hold them both. He swung out into the well and lowered himself after her.

Down. A hundred feet. Into utter darkness.

It occurred to him that there was no scent of water. A dry well then?

“Here!” Her hands tugged at his shirt and stopped his descent. She pulled him into a tunnel built into the wall. “Water was drawn here when the well was operational. Stay close.”

They hurried through the darkness, using their hands to guide them along the wall. He could hear her breathing, the sound of her boots padding on the rock. But he still could see nothing.

She stopped and put her hand on his shoulder. “Okay?”

“Okay.”

“There’s only one way to do this, and it won’t be fun. A ventilation shaft runs down to the right just ahead. It leads to the gateway chamber. There aren’t any gates to stop us.”

She said it as if this alone weren’t good news. “But?”

“But there are worms.” She pulled something from her pack and handed it to him. “It’s a raincoat with a hood. You’re going to need it.”

They slipped into the plastic suits, and she pulled him forward. “The more speed you hit them with, the easier it will be to get through. You don’t want to get stuck in the middle. Trust me.”

So. This is why she’d been coy about the details of their rescue attempt. They were going to try to slide through a nest of worms. The thought made him shudder.

He smelled the terrible scent of rotten eggs before he felt the hole open on his right. Slime on the walls confirmed they’d reached the air vent in question.

“You’ve done this?”