Chapter Thirty-four – This how you use them
Andin awoke next to Fake in a large empty room. Cold, grey marble gave him a chill. To the prince’s horror every effort made to move was fruitless. Fake was still asleep, Andin tried to call to his friend only to find he couldn’t speak either. A familiar voice spoke from behind Andin.
“If Garruk’s portal opens to where you say it will thousands will die. He needs to be stopped.” Andin knew immediately it was his father who spoke from behind them. The prince understood now, he was dreaming. He wished nothing more than to embrace his father, to tell him of all he had accomplished and was going to accomplish.
When Andin awoke he knew waiting for the portal to open in Torment was no longer an option. They had to act as soon as they could. Fake awoke an hour later and saw Andin’s brooding face, “What is it?”
Andin stared at his friend and said, “No more waiting.”
Another month in hurried secrecy passed in Torment. Their preparations finally finished, the boys were beyond restless; there was only one way they saw to get to Garruk’s tower. Andin drew his finger along the sewer map, “Starting at this tier the patrols begin.” Fake watched carefully, they would only get one chance. “The circling legs have platforms we can stand on, but the branches that push further inward are straight pipe.”
Fake interjected, “Hiding two people is going to be nearly impossible with running water.”
“We’ll just have to be quick.”
“If they see us?”
“We can’t take chances on any alarms; once we cross to the seventh tier we kill any who might get in our way,” said Andin resolutely. The prince went on, “This is where we’re going to be improvising,” he traced the blank space where Garruk’s tower sat.
Fake’s sand shifted into disguises of Sadist officers and maintenance workers, “I prefer it.” Fake asked, “How much time are you giving yourself to get into the basement?”
“Half an hour quietly, any more and I’ll rip the foundation out if I have to.”
They continued rehearsing the plan, discussing any and every contingency they could imagine. Fake’s diligent stakeouts provided valuable insight into how the Sadists operated their forces and would likely react to the assassins. “It’s an unbendingly rigid system; I spent a day in one of their children’s ‘schools’ – one day was enough,” said Fake.
“We know how they operate; we can deal with them easily enough. He is the big question mark,” replied Andin.
“There are two of us, we have the element of surprise, the Tormenter will die at our hands,” reassured Fake.