The city of Eldingholt took the idea of “urban planning” to a whole new level.
Centuries ago, when the arches of the magic wall were being planned by the emperor and architects of the time, they had rightly predicted that once the walls had been built, there would be no way to expand them. At least not without exorbitant costs, considering the insane resources being poured into the walls to begin with. So, to make sure there would be plenty of room for growth within the walls, the city’s buildings had been built on solid foundations that stretched deep underground. This was to allow for a great deal of upward expansion, a feat of engineering that few other cities could match. It was thanks to that foresight that Eldingholt was able to house its massive population so well over the many years. However, the construction of the city’s foundations had an unexpected side effect.
The undercity.
“This isn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Jay commented as she looked around at the buildings lining the avenue.
“What were you expecting?” Kerr asked as she paced beside her. “Garbage all over the streets? Soot and filth on the walls? Drunkards lying in puddles of their own piss and vomit?”
“Well, yeah, kinda,” Jay shrugged. “At least a little of that, I guess.”
“Maybe in other cities,” Kerr snickered, “but not in the imperial capital. Too many priests to let something like real slums form. Anyone who’s that bad off will have the temples swoop down on them like oiseaux de proie, only with food and clothing instead of, you know, death.”
That was good to hear. While her stay in the temple district had made it clear to Jadis that the priests certainly indulged in a degree of luxury, they also didn’t come across as corrupt. Lyssandria’s temple was filled with statues and expensive goods, but that seemed to be more a product of their patron’s aspects of beauty and art instead of any kind of greed. Temples like Charos or Metethys were imposing and well-crafted, but practically austere in their decoration. It seemed the temples actually used the money donated to them for the betterment of people in need, rather than to line the pockets of the higher-ranking priests. A nice change of pace, Jadis had to say, compared to what she knew was all too common back on Earth.
In any case, the streets of the undercity were fairly clean and the people walking them looked well-kept, though their clothes made it obvious they were in a lower income bracket compared to most of the people Jadis had seen on the streets at ground level. There was definitely a different feel to the area compared to above, though, and it wasn’t just because there was no visible sky.
The undercity had started as networks of tunnels that had been dug when the architects of old had dug out the foundations of the great city above. Those tunnels had expanded over time as the city’s infrastructure was improved, leading to huge open areas that were just below the surface. Some of those areas had been filled with the expansive sewage and drainage systems, as well as some more magic-based systems that were in place to help increase the stability of city’s towers and walls. Between those systems, though, mundane sorts of buildings had been constructed over time. Shops, businesses, and homes had filled all the available space in ways that looked less planned and more haphazard than elsewhere in Eldingholt. The top level of the city had a clean congruity to it, with the various buildings all matching in style so that if one had been built a hundred or a thousand years ago, there would be no visual indication to tell one way or the other. In the undercity, though, it was clear that buildings had popped up like mushrooms over time, their different styles and shapes frequently warring with each other.
At least there were plenty of streetlamps along the walkways to make up for the lack of natural sunlight.
“Fiona’s street should be just around the corner,” Terrance announced as he led the group through the undercity. “Her building is on the end, near the aqueduct.”
“This is a long walk for such a young kid,” Dys commented as she strode just behind the bald man. “I’m surprised she came all the way to our building from here.”
To get from Fortune’s Favored headquarters, they had been forced to walk many streets over to get to a large stairwell that led down to the street below. To Jadis, it felt a bit like walking down into a subway station, except instead of train tracks there were just more streets and buildings.
“Well, it’s not actually that far if you look at it from a vertical perspective,” he said conversationally. “The street your headquarters are on is right above us,” Terrance pointed towards the dimly lit ceiling. “If we could go straight up, we’d be back in no time at all.”
“Not an option for us, I guess,” Dys looked upwards speculatively, “Not unless I want to break through rock and stone to get there. But I guess the kids found a way.”
“So it seems,” Terrance chuckled.
It was quite the lucky circumstance that Terrance had been at the base for his interview at the same time Tegwyn had caught the little gnome, Fiona. If he hadn’t been there, it probably would have taken a long time to either calm the crying girl down enough to get answers or search out her home on their own. Fortunately, Terrance was a runner, and specifically he was a runner whose clients were mostly on this side of the city. He knew the streets around the crafter and merchant districts like the back of his hand. He also had a good memory for people’s names and faces, which helped with his business of delivering letters and packages. As such, he knew where Fiona lived because he’d passed by her home many times and even delivered to her parents in the past.
The street in the undercity where Terrance led them was wide and well lit despite being completely underground. Tall buildings lined the road on either side, with the ones on the left clearly intended for residential purposes while the ones on the right looked like workshops. At the far end of the row of buildings was a massive, open-top aqueduct that continued off into the distance heading in either direction. On the right side of the street directly adjacent to the aqueduct was a building constructed in a design that mirrored the buildings on the surface, as opposed to the more basic construction of the rest of the buildings in the row. From what Jadis had been told, that was likely some kind of official city-works station that was there to monitor the water and sewer systems. All the other buildings would have been built up around it over the centuries.
“Are you going to tell Momma I was in the tunnels?”
“Yes, I think we’ll probably have to do that,” Sabina nodded to the little gnome’s question. “What you and your friends are doing in the tunnels isn’t safe because you might get lost or you might get stuck somewhere you can’t get out, or worse, it might rain and then you might get washed away and drown. I don’t think anyone wants to see a bunch of innocent little kids get drowned in a storm drain so you really need to stay out of them, so we’ll tell your mother so she can keep an eye out for you and the other kids you were playing with.”
“…You talk too fast,” Fiona said as she frowned at Sabina.
“Yes, that’s true, I do,” Sabina agreed without taking offense. “Here, have another candied fruit.”
The child took the candy happily, though before she popped it into her little mouth, she eyed the sweet treat with some suspicion.
“Are you sure it won’t turn me into a demon?”
“It won’t turn you into anything,” Sabina said before playfully biting the yellow fruit out of the girl’s hands and showing it between her teeth. “See?”
The little girl laughed as Sabina pulled another candied fruit from her pocket and gave it to her and they both enjoyed their little treats together.
Syd watched their antics with amusement, though she did feel some mild frustration. Despite finally calming down, little Fiona continued to throw wary looks at her, even as she ate the candy that she’d been given.
When Terrance had told them where they could find the tiny gnome’s home, he’d been able to calm the girl down as he was a somewhat familiar face. Once she wasn’t crying, Sabina had been able to tempt her into talking with various sweets and treats. What the girl had revealed was, in a way, unsurprising, but still incredibly annoying.
It seemed that Fiona and all the kids from her little neighborhood were under the strong impression that Jadis was a Demon. More specifically, the three giant pale women were Demon possessed monsters that were in the city to turn people into Demons. Or make them become possessed. Or maybe feed them to Demons? The theories on what the Nephilim were there to do were pretty varied and more than a little muddled since the six-year-old child wasn’t terribly coherent in her storytelling.
Whatever misinformed belief the kids were going by, Fiona and the older kids she followed around had been delighted to find out that the terrifying and evil Nephilim had moved in right above their homes. It was quite the exciting event to learn that such boogeymen had turned up in one of the places the gaggle of children liked to play. Jadis got the impression that the stories were probably all kids stuff; the kind of things kids told their friends to scare each other, and it was doubtful any of them believed it. However, Fiona was just young enough to believe everything she heard. So, when Tegwyn had caught her, the little girl had assumed she was about to be turned into a Demon. Or possessed. Or eaten. At least one of those outcomes.
Jadis had judiciously decided to avoid introducing Alex to the kid after that revelation.
“So, not a lot of people around here, huh?” Dys asked as they neared the end of the street where Fiona was supposed to live.
“Many of the men around here joined the army when the demonic invasion began,” Terrance explained as he led the way. “Along with a few women. It’s mostly just those who are too old to easily get a secondary class or those much too young to unlock their primary class left.”
Indeed, the people Jadis could see in the workshops on the righthand side of the street were all older folk, more than a few of them with graying hair. There were a few people who were younger, but they were definitely in the minority.
As they neared the end of the street, Dys slowed to look up at the three-story building that Fiona’s family shared with several other families from what Terrance had told her.
“Alright, now we just have to hope her parents are home. Or someone who knows her is around,” Dys said aloud. “How about we—”
“Hey!” A loud, angry voice called out. “Let go of my cousin!”
Jadis turned her multiple gazes to see a short, purple-skinned woman wielding a broom rushing towards Syd. It took half a second for Jadis to assess the situation, but she quickly realized that the woman wasn’t actually heading for Syd, but for Sabina and the little girl she held in her arms. Either way, the woman didn’t really look like much of a threat, so Syd casually moved to interpose herself between Sabina and the broom-wielding woman.
Roy and his knights, however, reacted far more decisively.
In a flash, the goblin paladin and two of his human-sized knights in full plate armor were standing in front of the purple woman, blocking her way. The speed at which they moved was slow compared to what Jadis was capable of, but they were still far faster than any normal person would be capable of. From the woman’s perspective, Jadis was sure it was like the three had simply materialized in front of her.
“Please set the broom down, ma’am,” Roy asked in a calm, professional tone. “Or we’ll be forced to take it from you.”
“I’ll have you lot set down my cousin first!” the young woman shouted with some bravado, though it was pretty clear by her body language that she was intimidated by the knights. “I won’t let some upper-crust slimes kidnap my family!”
As Jadis watched Roy and the purple woman confront each other, she noticed a few other people had gathered around. There were a handful of older folk sticking their heads out of doors and windows, the shouting having no doubt caught their attention. But more than that, there was a group of children who looked like they were ranging from Fiona’s age to early teens. They were all staring at the confrontation with wide eyes, and more than a few were pointing at Fiona.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Syd said as she stepped forward to loom behind Roy. “If we were kidnapping her, why would we be walking her back to her house?”
The short, purple woman blinked up at Syd, clearly thrown off by the logical inconsistency. That, or she was just freaked out by speaking to someone who was more than twice her height. As she stood there, gaping up at Syd’s towering figure, a small voice that came from behind Syd caught her attention.
“Violetta,” Fiona said with a small child’s unshakable authority. “Don’t worry. They aren’t demons. They have candy.”
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