You're not letting Orestes get away

Let Orestes get away when you are this close? No way!

"I'm coming with you, give me just a moment." You tell him and see a look of hope and surprise in Iola's expressive eyes. It is still unclear to you why she has such faith in you, but you feel a warmth that you haven't felt in years, perhaps not since your mother died. Are you going to let Iola's little sister be defiled by whatever Orestes has planned for her? Damn it! With a slap of your thigh you stand up and head back to the hall where Scar-face and Quintus lay dead, you take an oil-lamp and an small amphora of olive oil to burn, noticing the curious stares of Iola and Lykaios behind you.

"I've heard that some of those things burn like sundried horseshit, I want to be prepared if I meet one." You ignore the sparkle of excitement in Iola's face, but when Lykaios raises an eyebrow in a silent inquiry you shrug in response and pick up Scarface's short spear wrapping some of the cotton bedding tightly around the blade. "This should do the trick, you announce hopefully as you pour a healthy amount of oil onto the wrapped fabric.

"You're the best Salara!" Iola bubbles as she skips towards you, slowing slightly and grimacing as she feels the discomfort from her groin.

"Easy girl," you laugh as she hugs you and then add quietly so none of the men can hear. "Don't worry, the pain doesn't last long and the next time you find yourself riding Lykaios' fat cock it's gonna feel even better." The sheltered young woman is still innocent enough to blush fiercely at your words but she gives you a soft kiss just below your ear which doesn't help ease the itch in your loins that has been troubling you all night long. With that, the two of you make your way back to Lykaios where you light the lamp and hand it carefully to Iola. "Don't drop this sweatheart, and if you see one of those beast things be ready to light my spear before you do anything else." She nods somberly at you and then steps closer to Lykaios as he and Darius open the heavy black gates that lead into the darkness. A sudden feeling of gloom tightens around your throat, it is a combination of dread, fear and nausea, like walking into a morgue or Orestes' sick **** chamber where you discovered Iola.

The narrow passageway led deeper and deeper into the darkness below the city. There were no turns, no doors and you made good time but after a few minutes you find another gate, this one unlike anything you have seen in Athenapolis. The gate is taller than you and is beaten from bronze beams as thick as your arm, the forged metal is shaped in indecipherable glyphs and unfamiliar symbols. In the center of the two doors is a large circular wheel that turns stiffly to release the latch. Although the bronze is now green with age, the heavy doors swing open silently when Lykaios puts his broad shoulder to the task.

On the far side of the bronze gates is an oval shaped room with a raised platform in its center and a pole sprouting from its center. Almost immediately your attention is drawn to a bloody figure lying at the base of the pillar. The man's face was badly deformed, it looked as if a giant claw had ripped off much of his cheek and jaw but even so you recognize the man, it was the hated Orestes. To your surprise the body had not yet stiffened, in fact it was still a little warm and the blood on the floor although no longer flowing had yet to to dry.

"Oh Goddess!" You hear Iola's startled cry from the raised platform. She is holding loops of chains and a single slipper in her hands. "She was here! She was chained like Andromeda to this pole, but now she's gone." You turn your attention to searching the area and are relieved to find neither blood nor the shredded remains of the young girl's clothing; you do however find several pearls lying on the raised stone dais.

"How are we going to find her?" Iola asks the question that everyone has been thinking, you can see the unnatural oppressive gloom is effecting her too, but she refuses to let her spirits be dampened.

"Don't know yet," the grizzled veteran grunts, "but I could never live with myself if I didn't try." It turns out to be simpler than you thought. Twenty paces into the tunnel you spot another pearl sitting on the tiled floor, could Airlia be dropping them on purpose? Or are they dropping off randomly from the torn string of pearls that Quintus had looped around her neck? Either way, this trail of pearls is as good a lead as any and soon the three of you are jogging along the old through-way buried under Athenapolis. You see occasional rats and spiders scurrying from the light but other than that nothing disturbs your passage. The only thing that slows your progress is that at each major intersection you have to slow and look for the markers that guide your path. Each time you find a single pearl when you continue straight and the two times the path turned you find two or three pearls marking the new direction.

"She's alive!" Iola announces the second time you find the extra beads, "She's alive and she knows we're coming for her!" It is a good sign, you agree, but the suspicious part of your mind pictures a tentacled monster with bulging eyes and a great tooth-filled maw carefully laying out the pearls on the tiles to lure you into its trap. A thought like that is not worth sharing but it does make you smile, in spite of the pervasive oppression that you've been feeling since entering the catacombs. After about three minutes, six intersections and twelve pearls, Lykaios stiffens and lowers his frame to his knees as he peers into the darkness ahead.