[quote]She thrust her hand out to her side, feeding that rage into the symbols tattooed into her right hand. As always before, her blade extended without a sound, ready to slice apart anything she needed it to.

She brought her hand across in front of her, swinging her hand with all her might through the bars that blocked her.[/quote]

The roaring water pressed against her, surging waist-high, threatening to fling her any moment off the platform and into the splashing crowd below. The blade of light shimmered at Feela's wrist, ripe for violence, and effortlessly sliced through the bars that separated her from the outside world. With a few more strokes, neat sections of the bars suddenly launched outward with the rush of the water and flung down among the screeching people, sloshing hurriedly through the water to avoid being hit by the projectiles. But Feela had opened a way out, even if it was a narrow passage filled with rushing water. There was no way the children or the elderly could hope to traverse it without being overwhelmed -- but Feela would have only small difficulty scaling the slick rapids alone.

Not far along the passage there was a ladder that led up to a manhole cover and the empty street above -- she would be free. If she were to emerge here into the street, she might glimpse a small group of people in white cloaks -- like those of the people who had condemned the refugees below to a watery grave -- rushing northward, to disappear around a corner.

Should she continue against the water in the dark, thus letting the white-cloaks get away, she would emerge at one of the four tunnels that opened onto the reservoir and invited an endless torrent of water. At the mouth of the tunnel was a thick metal door which could be sealed with the turn of a huge wheel-crank.

[hr][quote]Maybe the old man was right and there was nothing but death at Sorrow's Deep. But Meryn had never let fear of death stop her.

Meryn dropped the charcoal and put on the mask. She turned from the old man and moved to the spiral staircase.[/quote]

The old man watched her back, and he stared down at the map again. Cogswall was gone. Spook was gone. Hope was . . . on her shoulders, it seemed. The one who didn't speak understood far more of what was going on than most of the people he'd known. His eyes traced the black line toward Enn, glanced at the other towns that dotted the continent in the path of the blight, and he thought that he, too, might understand. His dreams took on a solemn and deep-blue appearance, sharp and firm in shape.

He laid his gnarled hand on the drawing, stared at it intently -- then huffed a defeated and frustrated sigh. After yanking the map off the table he strode angrily after Meryn, to grasp the back of her shirt and shove the map into her hands. "Don't be stupid," he admonished her. "There's nothing you can do alone except get yerself killed. Get help. The Prophet's up in An'Hiket, it's a sanctuary for the crystal-skins and the best place to find allies, if you're going to Sorrow's Deep like a lunatic." He let go of her and grumbled to himself. "Don't say I didn't warn ya."

Outside the bell tower, the city was eerily quiet, gray and still. Broken mechs and robots whirred and shifted endlessly. Steam hissed out of broken pipes. Fires burned quietly where buildings once stood. Bodies smoldered. There was no more sign of people, cloaked or otherwise.

The low clop of hooves echoed through the street -- a horse or two might be found wandering the wreckage among the dogs and rats that had escaped the disease, having broken out of their stables.

If Meryn were to listen carefully, she might hear rushing water underneath the street, and the echoes of screams.