Relic Hunters, Tome 2 : Sword of Darkness

It was my worst nightmare come to life.

A ladder, leading down into the deep darkness of an underground tunnel.

In truth, it wasn’t so much the ladder or even the tunnel that scared me, though as a member of one of the taller branches of pixies, the cramped and often dangerous conditions in Deva’s ancient tunnels did put them on my list of least favorite places to be.

No, the problem lay with the critters that so often used the tunnels as a highway to get around.

Rats, to be precise.

“Are you coming down or what?” The gruff voice rose from the dark depths below. “We ain’t gotta whole lot of time to play with here.”

“There’re no rats, Beth,” a second voice said.

That one belonged to my brother, Lugh, a six-foot-six giant of a man who had very little fear of anything. But then, he hadn’t woken to discover the beady-eyed bastards running over him as a kid.

I glanced at the woman waiting on the other side of the heavy metal plate we’d moved to access the ladder. She had a thick-set body, heavily wrinkled pale features, brown eyes that looked less than pleased right now, and a long plait of silver hair that ran down her back to her butt. She was also married to the impatient man below, though from the little Lugh had said about dwarven tunneling teams—whether they were freelancers or working for the National Fae Museum like these two—being married was an exception rather than the rule.

“Is that true, Brega?” I couldn’t keep the trepidation from my voice. “I know these are military tunnels rather than sewers, but I can’t imagine they’d be totally rat free.”

She sniffed. It was a sound that managed to be both impatient and amused. “There are rats everywhere in this city, but as far as tunnels go, these are fairly clean.” She looked me up and down. “Why the hell is a long streak of pixie such as yourself scared of them little things?”