Undorn: The Beginning

Part Twenty

Maxin, the Fort

Location: The Hospital

"God, this is filthy," a disgruntled snort filled Maxin's ears. "Filthy, disgusting, wet, dark, soggy--" Orgon's muttering was interrupted by his own very high-pitched yelp. Quickly, he grabbed a hold of Maxin's arm. "Something just touched me, something ran over my foot, something is down here Maxin--"

It wasn't Maxin who finally told Orgon to get a grip, it was his mother (although Maxin was not far behind her.)

"Orgon Ulric Aldrich, you shut your mouth and stop complaining right this instant! We have had enough!"

Maxin muttered an "Amen," under his breath; Orgon had been an absolute pain for their entire journey. Orgon, of course, thought he was being completely reasonable, so he responded to both of them with an abnormally long deep breath and a string of scoffs varying in pitch and delivery.

"Besides," Catherine cut off Orgon's grumbles, her voice returning to its normal, dreamy harmonic state despite her son still being unbearably annoying. "We're here."

The three of them had been traveling along the Servant's Path in the dead of night to get to the Resistance headquarters, Catherine's one lantern being their only guiding light. The Servant's Path was an underground traveling hub for servants in the Fort to get to Kastali and beyond by foot. It was quick, as only servants used it, and it was extensive, meaning the three of them could get all the way to the compound without being seen.

"This way." Catherine took them down a side pathway. Along one of the walls, Maxin noticed in the dull candlelight, looked like the remains of--or a half-hearted attempt at-- a sign that read National Hospital in white mosaic letters.

From there, they took two more left turns in the span of only a few seconds, and right when Orgon was muttering yet another complaint, this one along the lines of, "Why did you say we were here when we had at least another five minutes to go?" Catherine stopped seemingly at random in the middle of the road.

"Ah, here we are."

There was just enough light coming from the lantern for Orgon and Maxin to see Catherine staring at what looked like a giant storm drain in the middle of the grimy dirt wall. And then, they watched as she pulled a key from a chain around her neck and soon the cover to the drain was being unlocked and pulled open by Catherine, and the two behind her realized this wasn't a storm drain at all. It was--

"Another freakin' pathway!"

"The last one, I promise." Catherine stepped inside, holding the door open, (if one could call a storm drain a door) one arm outstretched, indicating the two of them should clamber in after her. They did, Orgon noisily toting a rather large suitcase filled with his "essentials" (all the articles he's ever written for The Dornish Economy Explained, a lucky set of cufflinks, four three-piece suits, underwear, his entire collection of white cotton t-shirts, and a few of Maxin's daily outfits.)

Once the two had successfully climbed through the door, suitcase and all, Catherine pulled the circular metal closed, expertly handling the locking mechanism before resuming her place at the front of the group.

As Orgon had so elegantly put it, they were in yet another freakin' pathway; this one the same as the ones in the Servant's Path: muggy and full of dirt. Although, at least there were light fixtures cemented to the walls next to them. Granted, the light was only minimal, but it gave Maxin's heart a bit of a break from how fast it had been beating; Maxin wasn't too fond of the dark.

The group only had to take just a few steps before they reached another door. This one was regular-sized, metal, and had no handle--just a strange metal box sitting to the left of it.