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Sebastian let out a patter of laughter and didn’t say anything, but he glanced back a few more times, and Leon could see the smile playing around his lips and what looked like a little red on the back of his neck, though it was hard to make out in the harsh electric lantern light.
Just as Leon’s enjoyment with the march was starting to tip back over into actual exertion, Sebastian stopped at a narrow grate hidden in a shadowy alcove.
“Here we are.” He passed Leon his flashlight. “Hold this for me, would you? Aim it here.”
Leon aimed the wide beam of light at the muck-covered floor where a series of iron bars had been driven into the stone to block up the grate.
“Alright, let’s see here…” Sebastian muttered to himself as he squatted down, grasped the bottom of one of the bars, and started tugging and pulling at it. “This first one’s always the worst; I can never quite get the right—there we go.”
The bar’s tip suddenly slid through a muck-hidden groove on a slight diagonal, and Sebastian pulled it free. He leaned it against the alcove wall and then did the same to two more bars set into furrows at slightly different angles.
“That should do it.” He stood and twisted his torso to crack his lower back with a grunt. “You go first; I’ll close it up after us.”
The gap where the three bars had been was just wide enough for Leon to get his chest through if he took off his pack and shimmied sideways. He did so and then pulled his and Sebastian’s pack in after him.
It took Sebastian a couple of moments to slide the bars back into place, and then he smeared the mud and grime back into the grooves to hide them. He gave the bars a final shake to make sure they held.
“Perfect.” Sebastian wiped his dirty hands on his pants and took his pack and flashlight back from Leon. “Entrance is just at the end of this hall.”
“Do you know all these tunnels from memory?” Leon asked as Sebastian took the lead again.
Sebastian shrugged a shoulder. “Almost, but not quite. I leave a lot of marks at intersections for myself so I know where I am and where I’m going.”
“I didn’t see any.” Leon frowned as he thought back and tried to remember anything that looked like a man-made mark. But then again, he’d been mostly focused on the man himself.
“Well I don’t make them obvious.” Sebastian laughed. “Last thing I want is to help out some Klah’Eel spy.”
They came to a dead end, and Leon almost asked if they’d made a wrong turn after all when Sebastian flipped his flashlight to point up, and Leon saw the outline of a trap door. Leon reached up, and sure enough, without jumping or a pole, the door was just out of the reach of his fingertips.
“Yup.” Sebastian chuckled. “It was a bitch to use back when I was in that tiny body. You remember it?”
Leon let out a laugh as he remembered the slight brunet Sebastian had occupied for a time a couple years ago. He’d been feistier and more caustic than normal when he’d been stuck in that diminutive frame, and Leon laughed again as he imagined Sebastian in the little body jumping at this trap door, swearing and cursing.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Luckily, this body is taller. And I have you anyway. Give me a boost.”
Leon nodded, dropped to a knee, and braced his other leg to take Sebastian’s weight. He grunted as Sebastian launched himself high enough to grab the underside of the trap door and keep himself balanced on Leon’s thigh.
Sebastian gritted his teeth and pushed. Then he growled and adjusted his grip and pushed again, face scrunching up with the strain. “Oh goddammit, I think something’s blocking it.”
Leon grimaced as his leg reminded him that Sebastian wasn’t exactly light. “Could it be locked?”
“No, it doesn’t lock. The closet that it opens into locks.” He banged his fist a few times, hard and rapid, against the heavy metal. “Hey! Hey! Anyone in there?”
“Fuck.” Leon winced as Sebastian’s shout echoed and clanged down the tunnels. “What if someone hears you?”
“That’s the point.” Sebastian flipped the flashlight in his grip and banged the metal end against the door, filling the tunnels with a deafening cacophony. “Hey! Pay attention in there! Someone open up! Let us in! Ah, there we go.”
Sebastian’s voice fell to a normal volume, and he stepped off Leon’s leg and onto the ground. Leon tried subtly rubbing the feeling back into his knee as he stood, but Sebastian saw and crinkled his nose apologetically.
As the echoes of Sebastian’s screaming faded, thuds, muffled shouts, and some scraping came from above them, and then a slow creaking and grinding as a crack of light appeared around the edge of the trap door.
“Hess?” The voice of a young man came from the backlit silhouette above them, and Leon turned his flashlight up to see the face of a soldier he recognized, though Leon didn’t know his name. “Hess!” The man disappeared, but Leon heard him shout back into the building, “It’s Hess.”
A flurry of commotion followed, and a ladder lowered down to them. Leon waited for Sebastian to climb up, but Sebastian just planted a hand on a cocked hip and motioned with his other for Leon to get a move on. The soldier at the top let out a delighted laugh at the sight.
“Sebastian?”
Sebastian grinned up at the man, and Leon’s heart thudded to see the open happiness and ease on his face. “Hey, Jason!”
