[center][i]Part two of the Windhelm Sewer trilogy, featuring[/i] [@MacabreFox][/center]
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Peeking through the bars, Farid confirmed Leif's sighting. He proceeded to locate the correct key in order to open up the cell. While doing so, Farid thought back to the sentry. That individual would be waiting outside; would they have fallen victim to the cave-in? Either way, would anyone come down to rescue them? Did anybody know him, Leif and Ander were down below? "What if this doesn't work? How can we get out then?" Farid wandered aloud. Ander said nothing.

Carving into the wall is right. There looked to be a deep dent on the cell's side. Layers of stone had been peeled away in a downward fashion. What constituted the dent were not larger marks, instead, numerous small, coin-sized craters stacked unevenly on top of one another. Over the top of the dent laid two hooks drilled into the wall, and on the hooks still attached studs of blanket wool. Rest of the blanket sat crumbled on the floor, apparently ripped out of its former place, which was likely used to cover the dig. In the middle was a rusty metal object; a spoon. Edges of the spoon worn out beyond typical use, and the coatings on its broad sides peeled off from heavy use. Across from dented portion was a body half rotten. Despite being so far down underground, flies have managed to find their feast on this dead person. In the lights of two torches, not much could be seen of the dead prisoner. But several locations on the flesh showed lacerations and heavy bruising. For this kind of injury, beaten dead or cut down would be merciful, so bleeding out or slowly fading to infection would make one inhumane execution.

Worst of all? The stench. Everything in the cell reeks of decay. 

"I take it this is the "madwoman"?" Farid guessed, pinching his nose as he took a closer look at the remaining hair on the corpse. "So she dug all that," He shuffled towards the dent, stopping halfway to pickup an aged utensil. "With this; a spoon?" 

"Yes, that would match what I heard at night." Ander nodded. He stood outside of the cell, his movements betrayed fear of the space instead of disgust of the smell. The prisoner, for all likelihood, got used to every foul fume present. However, the aspect of returning to another cell frightened him. "Dig through, so we can leave."

"Wait," Farid held up the spoon. He put it in front of his torch from Leif and himself to see. What they saw was an ordinary utensil nearly destroyed by labor it was not intended for; rock digging. "How long did she dig? This doesn't look something we could finish before we starve." The Redguard emerged from the cell, taking a deep breath and wiping his nose. His typical self-assurance all but gone at this moment.

"How long? She got thrown in here some time after me." Ander scratched his head. Locking empty eyes with Leif temporarily, he recounted. "A whole lot of guard came down a week or something like that ago. They rounded up most of the folks, heard they're killing us off. But the madwoman was supposed to go free, that is, until they tore that down." Ander hinted at the crumpled blanket. "Then there's slashing and bashing. Guess she got the wrong time, if she didn't dig at all, or started sooner..." Ander hung his head.

"That's great." Farid said impatiently. "I still don't think a spoon is going to get us out. Not without whatever miracle your friend worked."

"She had plenty of time to weaken the, what do you call it? Foundations." Ander responded. He shifted his focus to Leif, to his larger frame and his equally sizable weapon. "Just smash it, it'll be thin enough to give out."

The smell alone of the decomposing corpse was enough to make his stomach turn, and his eyes stinging from the pungent smell of rotting flesh. His eyes swept over the dead woman, and took note as well, of her heavily bruised body, along with the several lacerations he detected along her forearms, chest, and where her dress had fallen askew, the gaping wounds on her legs. It seemed that the whoever was in charge of the dungeons favored the tactic of torture. Certainly, it was highly effective, but weren't there other ways to go about punishing people? Shifting his gaze to the dent in the wall where the woman had dug at for months, how she managed to get through that much stone with a little, metal spoon baffled him. She must have been desperate to escape, and he pondered quietly as to why she was thrown down here. Even more intriguing, he found Ander's words peculiar, so the guards were rounding up the prisoners and killing them off? What was the reason? Surely not everyone had a death sentence? He had entered the cell with Farid to examine the wall more, and while he could feel the eyes of Ander on his back, Leif couldn't help but feel that maybe this man wasn't to be trusted. Heeding the prisoner's suggestion, Leif knelt by the wall, and pulled off his longsword from his back, where it had remained untouched during the battles, it hadn't seen much use as he had remained on the walls with Sevine, and the idea of putting it to use as a means for their escape from the cave-in, he would not protest. Grasping the hilt in his hand, he aimed the pommel of his sword at the deepest part of the dent. With a quick thrust, the pommel struck stone, and a curious noise resounded, it sounded [i]hollow[/i]...

"Do you hear that?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder at Farid. "It sounds hollow sure enough. I've heard rumors from the lads I used to sail on [i]The Courtesan[/i] with that there were ancient tunnels that ran all along Windhelm, some used for sewage, others used for means of escape in an emergency. I've seen sewer grates of course, but I never thought much of it." 

Once more, Leif positioned the pommel of his sword carefully, and struck again, and again. He kept this up for several minutes before suddenly, the pommel of his sword became lodged in the stone wall, as it broke through to the other side with a successful [i]pop![/i]. Leif wiggled the sword around by grasping what part of the hilt he could, and then placed his foot on the wall, and yanked the sword out. Looking again at Farid, he nodded his head at the wall, "I don't suppose you could give me a hand? If we use the heels of our boots, I'm sure we could kick a hole big enough in the wall, since the stone has weakened it should give way pretty easily." There were already fractures in the stone from the pommel breaking through.

He placed his hand firmly upon the wall before him, and centered the heel of his boot near the hole where the pommel had gone through. Stomping as hard as he could, the energy from his boot sent up a tiny cloud of stone dust as a small piece of stone fell away from the hole he had made.

Putting his weight behind his strong foot, Farid joined in with Leif. He found a weak point caving inward, indicated by a tiny dot of empty space beyond. While booting down the wall, Farid passed his torch to Ander for safekeeping. Like his Nord companion, the Redguard had reservations about Ander as well. "Gods, can't believe this is working." Farid said after giving a second kick, which resulted a foot-sized chunk of stone falling backwards, and downwards. He told Leif to stop kicking, as they might lose their footing and fall forward with the wall crumbling so fast. Kneeling down alongside the opening, Farid then beckoned for Leif to bring forward a torch. His gloved hands peeled away movable pieces till the space of his head was carved out. Wedging his head through,  Farid barely saw anything but darkness below. What did greet him brazenly was another repugnant odor. This time, it was the outhouse stench.

"It's a shithole, literally. " He relayed to Leif, not sure whether the Nord wanted a peek down. He stepped back and took a deep breath, but only finding the taste rotten flesh threaten to drain out his latest meal. "We have to go through sewer, don't we?" He complained.

Leif dropped to his hands and knees alongside Farid when he had stopped kicking down the wall; there alongside him, he poked his head through with the torch in hand, and immediately, the stench of fecal matter made him cough, eyes stinging from the putrid air.  "There's no other way out, we're going to have to do it." Leif said as he pulled his head out of the hole, shaking his head to and fro, trying to clear his senses, as the pungent smell remained in his nose.

"Where else?" Ander shrugged from the doorway. "It is here the madwoman heard the hiss."

"What is this 'hiss' anyways? Some Argonian swimming in piss?" Farid sneered. "Surely even that airhead Utu-ja has finer tastes." To this, Ander did not respond. This was not the first time when Ander ignored Farid. The latter began to think whether the former lost some of his speech abilities, or maybe lost some of his hearing. Farid made a whirling gesture to Leif, hinting the frail person behind them might lack basic problem solving skills. 

"Whatever it is, it doesn't sound good to me one bit. Who knows, if not some rabid Argonian swimming in the sewers, could be anything. Maybe some serpent? I can't think of anything else that would make a hiss." He shuddered at the thought of seeing snakes, Talos guide him, ever since he was bitten by a river-snake just outside the walls of Windhelm, when he used to think swimming in the river was fun, all of that changed when he had almost died from a venomous bite. And if there was anything that he hated seeing more, it certainly was a snake.

"Great work, big man." Farid commented at the wall, which Leif had widened further. The hole expanded to torso-size, also causing nearby sections to dangle off balance. Several fissures formed on top of the crack, and Farid took advantage of this by sticking his dagger into them. He made stones free from one another. With a couple of well-placed pushes, the wall came apart wide enough for a human being to pass through. Roughly a single story below contained murky liquid of undetermined depth. It did not flow very much. Farid sent a small rock over the edge to hear the echoes of it a soft tap against the bottom. The rock floated up afterwards, which meant, when added with sound, they were dealing with shallow water with mushy stuff beneath. 

"Makes me wonder how good of condition the palace is in since we had such good luck knocking out this wall." Leif commented, literally, he felt that it shouldn't have been [i]that[/i] easy to knock down the wall. Then again, there was the factor of the madwoman doing most of the work for them; still, with as old as the palace was, he couldn't help but feel worried at the possibility that the palace would come crashing down on top of them. 

"So-" Farid wanted to ask Leif's opinion, but Ander crept up behind them and was practically waving the two forward. "Someone's eager for a dive." He sighed. "Well, I'll go first. Pass the torches down before you jump. We don't want to put out our only source of light." With that, Farid looked to Ander for something out of the blue. None came from the prisoner so Farid walked up to the edge, taking a deep breath only to gurgle on his bile. Then he carefully lowered himself into the tunnel. Water soaked up above his knees, splashing, as the most foul smelling fluid bounced onto Farid's face. His feet sunk into mud-like substances, it was certain Farid now trudged on human wastes. No longer have the will to stifle his vomit; Farid retched a good portion of his dinner into the waters, adding to the vile mix. Even as the Redguard's stomach emptied of meaningful content, Farid continued to dry heave for a good minute before regaining his posture.

Refraining a chuckle at Farid's disposition at ending up in the cesspit below, Leif quickly realised that he would have to follow suit soon after, and there, he swore silently, cursing Oblivion for letting his curiosity get the better of him. The pay had better be good after all of this...

"Oblivion take this, Sep's balls." Farid cursed, wiping the excess away from his chin with his sleeves. "Your turn, and toss Ander down first. I'll catch him." He announced meagerly, bracing himself against the hole above. While waiting, Farid took account of his surrounding; the prison above bisects the tunnel diagonally. One direction lead left and away, which is deeper in the palace and eventually the headwaters on the mountains. The other leads right and towards where they came from, Farid liked this way, since it would take them back to the city. Of course, the tunnel itself contained barely enough room for two men standing shoulder-by-shoulder. It is of the equal height as width, thanks to its circular shape. The only illumination came from the torches above. As far as ears were concerned, everything was dreadfully silent, though Farid wasn't certain if he heard slithering or merely his brain played tricks on him. 

"Come on, I'm going to chuck you down there, and Farid will catch you. Don't make any fuss now." Leif said, he held the two torches in one hand, and grabbed Ander by the back of his ratty tunic, placing a foot on the edge of the broken wall, Leif put all his weight into tossing Ander down below. "Catch!" He yelled to Farid. Part of him didn't care if he killed the man, but he wanted to get paid, so he had to make sure he hadn't thrown him too haphazardly. 

Dropping to his stomach, Leif leaned his torso half way out of the hole, and dangled the torches for Farid to grab when he had set Ander down. "Come get these when you're ready. I'll jump down right after. As he listened, he found the lack of noise to be unsettling, however, he appropriated it with the fact that nothing lived down here, or so he hoped. The light of the torches illuminated the sewer-way below, and just like Farid had taken note, he saw how the place split off into two separate directions.

True to expectation, Ander weighed like a feather, consistent with his dungeon diet. Farid placed the frail prisoner against the wall, so that Ander would not slip and drown himself in piss. Next came the torches, which were a thousand-fold more useful than Ander. Reaching up to take both torches from Leif's stretched arms, Farid made sure no drop of sewer water were to contaminate the flames. The Redguard, like most of kinsmen, practiced no magic. Neither did the Nord, if assumption prevails, so one dropping out is one-half of their lighting gone. Alas, that did not happen. Farid returned one torch to Leif, keeping the other in his left hand and unsheathing his shortsword in his right. Trudging forward in a miserable pipe is unsafe activity; no shortage of stories both factual and fictional demonstrated outcomes nobody want to befall on themselves. Farid took lead, sticking to the left sewer wall so Leif could move parallel. Ander stumbled behind them. The prisoner's footing frequently gave out, prompting Farid or Leif to slow down and give support. 

It took Leif a few minutes to finish retching up his last meal into the cesspit of the sewer as just like Farid had experienced, the smell was overwhelmingly strong. In fact it smelled worse in the pool of shit and piss, than it had when he poked his head through. After he wiped the spittle from his lips with his shirtsleeve, Leif waded after Farid, waded because it came up to his calves. The idea of shit and piss swimming around his boots sickened him, in fact, he could feel some of the gooey pieces of shit that had leaked into his boots when he had leapt into the pit below.

Several minutes sloshing in pitch darkness, an outline broke out in the distance. For an object to be seen, there has to be another light. "Suppose we're going the right way." Farid muttered.

"The hiss! It's here!" Ander exclaimed out of the blue, almost making Farid jump.

"Shut the-" Farid spun around, intending to hush Ander. However, the prisoner was on to something. Slight movements came from ahead, a quick shadow danced across, accompanied by slick gliding. Farid leaned his torch forward, and without warning, jerked his sword violently. The blade tip ran through a rattlesnake's head. "Morwha's tits, I haven't been jumped like that since the Reach." He cursed, giving the snake three extra stabs to ensure its death, and also venting out that nervous energy. "Just like the slithering buggers back home. Are there lots of snakes around here? I thought they freeze in the cold." He looked to Leif for answers. The Nord seemed shocked, or at least uncomfortable as far as he could tell.

Leif stood trembling at the sight of the snake that Farid had just slain, mouth agape, eyes wide in horror. The warmth lift his hands, causing the torchlight to tremble as he gripped it ever tighter. "Yes..." He managed to choke out from a knot in his throat. "I just didn't expect there to be any down here." He hastily reached for the hilt of his sword, Leif resisted the urge, as he couldn't wield both his sword and the torch. "Most of the snakes hibernate in the winter time, but it is warm enough for them now. Not just in Windhelm, but Skyrim has many snake species." How did he know this? Wherever Leif traveled to, he made sure to avoid places where snakes would call home.

Eventually, the group started moving again. At this point, serious doubt began to ferment in Farid's mind. The closer they got to the light, the more anxiety Ander exhibited. The sight of a passageway expanding into a larger cavern practically had Ander boiling on edge. The prisoner muttered loads of nonsense like "should of listened back there" or "now we become the preys". Exchanging a worried glance with Leif, Farid was about to ask his companion to muzzle the prisoner. But before Leif could answer, another voice rang out.

"Who's there? Trespassers?" An oddly accented voice resonated. It sounded like an Argonian, female and weary with age. "I can hear you." The mysterious figure taunted.

Ander's crazed rantings did nothing to help calm his strained nerves already. It seemed, oddly enough that they moved towards a faint light that grew ever brighter, he certainly didn't like the look this was going to turn out. When the voice came, it lifted hairs on Leif's forearms, his neck, and even down his legs.

Hunkering his back low and bending his knees, the situation tempted Farid to snuff out his fire. On a second thought, that would not be wise, since stealth would be irrelevant if the other party spotted him before he spotted them. Instead, he held his weapon on guard and kept the torch behind in a similar technique employed against Kamals earlier. A few steps later, Farid spotted her. Crude robes poorly stitched together from snake skin, a scaled tail spilled out through the back, the Argonian positioned on wooden planks raised in the cavern center. Farid stood within arm distance to the opening, and in the cavern beyond, three more similar openings connected from each direction. Judging by water color, the cavern floor was equally deep underwater as the tunnel. However, rickety wooden boards lead from the outreaches to the central platform, on which the Argonian started to mobilize. She produced a silvery a flute, then proceeded to play a short tune. Her music was for the purpose of summon, because out of the passageway to the left, a four-meter long snake slithered out.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Leif swore under his breath at the sight of the massive snake, as if this couldn't get any worse! So Ander was right about the hissing, he wasn't a mad man after all, or he hoped he wasn't. He had every notion to go and knock that accursed flute-playing Argonian wench off atop the platform, but there was no way he could get to her without being spotted by the snake, and the muck they had trucked through, turned to dark, deep, foul-smelling water. It had to be deep enough to house a snake that big, and falling into the cesspit water wouldn't be a grand idea. Now, of all times did he wish that Sevine was there, she'd notch up an arrow right quick, and strike the creature dead. 

"Well, this is problematic." Farid blurred out, truth be told, giant snake wasn't that terrifying after facing down snow demons. Nevertheless, a gloomy cavern with only a lamp hanged off the roof sapped courage out like starving mosquitoes extracting blood from exposed skin. Already, Ander was running away like mad. He didn't get off far for a face-plant straight into shit, literally. The prisoner was fine, at least he seemed like it when his raised his filth-covered head above water. One thing's absolutely sure though, counting on Ander for help was out of the picture.

"Yeah you're telling me! I hate snakes Farid! Absolutely hate them!" Glancing around, checking to see if he could find anything to his advantage, there was a rusty iron-hold on the archaic stone wall, meant to hold a torch light. He deposited the light there, and withdrew his sword, clutching it in both hands. So much for having Ander hold onto the torch, the poor bloke was facedown in excrement, coughing and sputtering like a fool. He began to doubt that this adventure was even worth saving this man's life. The pay had better be good, or else he would throttle the man that asked to get his friend out. If they made it out.

"So, lizard and snake." Farid sized up the situation. The snake started to make its way toward the Argonian, and the Argonian spilled a poison vial on her flute's sharp tip. She played again, and the snake moved again. Without musical guidance, the serpent doesn't seem to advance on its own. "Excuse me, could we talk without your pet?" Farid shouted to the Argonian, not sure how serious diplomacy can be with a sewer-dwelling lunatic.

While Farid negotiated with the Argonian woman, Leif knelt his head in prayer, lips moving silently. In times like these, he always found it essential to ask for guidance from Talos. Today might be the last day he would ever draw breath. During the civil war, Leif made certain to pray before battle, no matter the time of day. It helped to calm his nerves, and it gave him faith that Talos watched over him. 

"You shall be purged." The snake whisperer declared. "Soon, we shall purge your vile city as well."

"Why am I not surprised?" Farid frowned, do all the crazies talk like that? He felt himself tensing in anticipation of fighting. Thank the divines Leif came with him. Two slimey creatures versus two human, not the fairest match but he'll make do. "Take one, I'll get the other." The Redguard told his Nord companion.

"Right." He turned his attention to the snake that swayed under the mystical power of the flute that the Argonian woman played. "Get her, she's the one controlling it, I'll distract this snake." He swallowed nervously, going up against a four-meter long snake wasn't the best idea he had had, but he hoped that Farid would be quicker. It seemed that today would be the day that he would have to face his fears, and overcome them enough to at least distract the snake from Farid, if not succeed in killing it. "Go hurry!" He shouted as he pushed Farid onward in the direction of the platform where the Argonian woman continued her song.

"Talos guide me!" Leif clamored as he banged his sword against the stone, metallic noises rang out throughout the stone grotto, his plan was to draw its attention to him, and away from Farid. The snake reared its ugly head at Leif as it swirled around to face him, its black tongue flickering in and out of its mouth, a terrifying [i]hisss[/i] escaped from its mouth before its deadly jaws opened to reveal several rows of razor sharp fangs, curved backwards. For a few brief seconds, Leif stood there motionless, unable to find the courage to react in time to escape the horrendous maws of his foe. A spell of clarity fell over him as he rolled away just in the nick of time as the monster snake struck the spot where he once stood. Large drops of sweat beaded along his brow as the heart-racing encounter made his limbs trembled. He raised his longsword in defense, sinking into a readied striking stance as the snake regained its focus; bashing its head into the wall proved to be very disorientating or so it seemed. With legs spread wide, and his back hunched, Leif kept his eyes locked upon the snake.

If anything, Farid needed to make haste dispatching the snake whisperer. While Leif gave the impression of a fierce fighter with his large weapon, his nervous sweat betrayed the uneasiness of facing such a venomous foe. After a quick scan of the area, Farid found a wooden plank leading towards the cavern center. He waded through the muddy water in the shortest time possible, while staying relatively quiet. Then, he hoisted himself onto the raised surface. In the process of vaulting, Farid's torch fumbled from his hand and extinguished itself in the water. Losing the torch did not deter Farid, who now had a clear line of sight with the Argonian's own lantern hoisted above her. With his left hand free, Farid drew his dagger and cast it to the robe-clad shape. His throw hit the snake whisperer on her thigh, the steel buried through snake-leather and scale, almost but not quite knocking her off balance. 

However, Farid disrupted his adversary from playing the flute. For a few moment, the giant serpent fighting Leif hesitated. Noting his opportunity, Farid let out a savage battle-cry and charged the Argonian with sword raised. He closed the distance in the matter of seconds, running as fast as he could on slippery planks without falling off. He brought his sword high, aimed for the Argonian's neck, and found himself parried by the metallic flute. A loud ping resounded from the clash, making chipped metal fly. Farid came out on better footings, so he pressed his advantage upon the Argonian recoiling rearwards, where he repeated the same stroke to score a successful blow against the Argonian's left shoulder. 

This would be it, Farid thought as he wrenched out his blade. However, he felt an odd, uninvited sensation at his waist. Looking down, he saw the snake whisperer withdrawing her flute. There formed a small hole in his side, where leather and cloth had been pierced by a sharp tip. Farid was stabbed, by a poisonous weapon. The grim realization was accompanied a set of rancorous lizard eyes, who, from preciously one sword's reach beyond, stared back with the same malice as her snake thrall. Anger and distress washed over Farid, his pain would be overridden by a powerful adrenaline rush. He attacked for the second time, bringing to bear utmost ferocity and a uppercut set to bypass the Argonian's defenses. This strike landed across a wide margin; the Argonian's waist all the way up to her right shoulder, where a bloody streak would be torn open. Following through with the same motion, Farid ignored the winding flute to deliver a fatal thrust into snake whisperer's heart. 

The fight ended, the snake whisperer is no more. Farid extracted his blade amidst lizard blood. He noticed he was stabbed yet again, around his midriffs and right above the first entry. Due the fight no longer continuing, Farid's own adrenaline worn down. The poison began pronouncing themselves louder with each passing second. Already, Farid's side tingled with numbness. At this rate, he would be dead before finding the exit. So the Redguard scrambled to the freshly slain foe, perusing the snake skin garment until a green vial appeared in sight. He wasted no time uncorking it, drinking, and as part of the content went down, an involuntary shiver caused him to drop the vial into sewage. 

"What is this sick joke?!" Farid gasped. It was anti-poison alright, which would have fixed the whole problem if he finished consuming everything. Now, the solution lays mixed with the wastewater of Windhelm. 

While the battle carried on above the platform, Leif kept his gaze cemented onto the snake. Its hypnotic gold eyes felt as if it pierced his soul deeply, right to the core. All of the fear he had ever felt when he faced a snake, after the incident when he was a child, left him numb. Yet, as the snake stood staring down at him, Leif realized that indeed, the snake wasn't moving. Taking the opportunity to dispel the risk of being bitten again, or attacked, Leif leapt forward, his longsword aimed upwards, where the head connected to the rest of its body. The tip of his blade penetrated the slimy scales of the gargantuan snake before it had time to react, yet as the blade pushed through the snake, it lost all control over its muscles, as it collapsed backwards into the water. As the two fell, in what seemed like a slow motion of time suspension, Leif made certain that his blade cut through the base of the skull. He kept a firm grip on the hilt of his sword as they crashed into the dark, murky water below. When his head went under, he planted his feet where he had driven his sword through, and with a great heave, pulled it out. Now free, Leif swam to the surface, a short distance away as the dead monster sank to the bottom. When his head broke to the top, he took a gasp of air, relieved to be alive, and swam over to the wooden platform he had stood on just shortly before. Chucking his longsword onto the planks, Leif pulled himself up, and flopped onto his back.

As he lay there, relishing in the fact that he had slayed a creature of his nightmares, it dawned on him that the sound of battle on the platform where the Argonian snake-charmer had ceased. His thoughts went immediately to Farid as he scrambled to his feet, strapping his sword to his back in one quick motion despite his water-logged clothes. 

"Farid!" He shouted, racing up the planks, careful not to fall through to the water below. When he made it to the top, he spotted the Argonian woman dead on the ground, and Farid, shivering a short distance away from her. Dashing to his side, the Nord man knelt alongside his companion, thinking nothing of Ander, but only of Farid. His eyes swept across his body, looking for an entry wound. He found two wounds, and from the way Farid shook and trembled, he presumed that he had been poisoned, he resembled a familiar Sevine who had been struck down in battle with a poisoned sword. While Leif had little training in restoration magick, Orvar Red-Tree, did teach him Healing Hands, a way to heal others that were wounded. Yet as this was poison, he wasn't sure if Farid would be healed. Nonetheless, he would have to try. 

With Farid's side exposed, he held his hands over the wounds, and closed his eyes. A golden light emerged from the palms of his hands, as he focused the energy of the spell onto Farid. In the recess of his mind, he quietly prayed to Talos, hoping his God would lend him aid in a time most dire. If Farid died here and now, Leif would be stuck with Ander in the vast cavern system of sewage-ways beneath the city for god's know how long.