The Husband Poisoning Society, Chapter Forty-Two: Back in the Catacombs

“Back in the catacombs,” I said into the darkness. “We see all the tourist spots.”

Amy giggled, but I heard a hitch in her voice as she did. 

The catacombs were pitch black. The air hung, cold and damp, wrapping around us like a wet blanket. In the darkness noises loomed large. The sounds of things scuttling in the darkness echoed down the tunnels, rats or worse. Breezes wafted through the catacombs, carrying a whiff of mold and something wet I couldn’t place. The current tunnel’s ceiling sat two low to stand. And so, again, I found myself crawling on my hands and knees. Soil and gravel scraped and shifted under my palms and I crawled. I felt something sticky on my hands. I suspected that my palms had started bleeding. 

“Now what?” Ada said in the darkness.

Nobody answered. 

Ada spoke again, “Lady Ren. What do we do?”

Lynn was a baroness. By rights Ada should have deferred to her. I was about to say that when Lynn spoke.

“Ren, do you have a plan?”

“Me?” I said.

“You always have a plan. Please say you have a plan.” Amy said.

I pursed my lips and began running through options in my head. 

“Do these catacombs connect back to your longhouse? The men shouldn’t be there if Sven led them all to the church. It would be the last place they’d expect us to go.”

“They’ll figure it out,” Lynn said. “We’ve hidden there before. And other longhouses aren’t likely to let us in. That only delays the inevitable.”

“Even if we only use it as an exit, it’s our best move right now.” I said. 

“That is assuming Laila and I can find our way in the dark.” Ada said. “Laila is still woozy. And I would prefer a torch or a lantern down here.”

“They’re gonna figure out we’re in here. And then they’ll be on us in a flash. We need to be elsewhere.” I said.

“I will try.” Ada answered. 

= = =

“We are lost.” Ada declared ahead of me. 

“Crap.” I said.

Ahead of us in the darkness, I heard a scratching. The scratching was too loud and heavy to be a rat. It was too small to be a human. A wolf? A predatory monster of some sort. My mind raced. We didn’t have Fiona or Vincent. It was nobody but us non combat ladies. I struggled around for my weapons. Nothing. I’d lost them all throughout the night’s trials. 

“What is that?” Ada asked.

“I hoped you’d know.” I said. “Are you armed?”

“A bodice dagger.” Ada answered. “Let’s pray it is enough.”

The scratching approached. It weaved back and forth. And then I heard the sniffing. It was tracking us, whatever it was. A predator then. Crap. Crap crap crap. I cursed in the silence of my own head, not wanting to alarm Amy. 

“What am I hearing?” Laila asked.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. 

Amy spoke up. “Ren? Doesn’t that sound familiar?”

I listened. The sniffing and snuffling did seem familiar. Had I encountered whatever this was before? My mind raced through our cases. And then something clicked.

“Quincy!” I called into the darkness. “Is that you little man?”

A joyous bark sounded ahead of us. And I felt the dachshund wriggle past Ada nuzzle against my face. Quincy barked again. And then he set to work licking my face. 

“How did you find us, little man?”

Monique coughed, “I thought I had lost him. How did he get into the catacombs.”

I smiled in the darkness. “He’s helped me get through catacombs before. Quincy little man, can you get us out?”

“That’s not a command Fiona taught him.” Amy said. 

“Trust Quincy,” I said. “He’ll get us out.”

“How will we see him? We have no lanterns and no torches.” Laila asked. I noted that her voice still wavered. She hadn’t recovered from the blow her father gave her. 

I considered her question. And then I remembered something. I dug into my chatelain bag and produced my lighter. I flicked my thumb across the dial and the lighter bloomed to life. The light it produced was not good, but it would have to do. 

“How long will that last?” Lynn asked.

“No idea,” I answered. “I don’t leave it on like this. So we’ll find out the hard way.”

Quincy stood before me shivering, his tail a blur. 

“Yes little man, show us the way. Go!”

Quincy sprung into a scampering run and began to lead us through the tunnels. 

“Does he understand Ren?” Laila asked Lynn.

“I don’t know. He’s a sweet dog. But I’ve never seen him in an emergency.”

We scuffed and scraped along until the ceiling lifted to the point where we could stand. My lighter illuminated the three feet before me and nothing else. There was enough light that I could see Quincy. He would bound ahead, and then hustle back to check on me.

I didn’t know how long we'd been walking, but I was struggling. I’d been through a lot, and it was starting to exact revenge. I was considering how long I could keep going, when the lighter flickered and went dark.

“That was not as long as I’d hoped.” I said in the darkness. 

Quincy barked and I tapped forward after him with my cane, “I guess we follow the barking.”

“Couldn’t other people hear that and follow it as well?” Amy asked.

I nodded, and then realized nobody could see me. “Yes. but what else are we going to do?”

Nobody had any answers and so we carried on. Time passed. We followed Quincy as he barked. And we cringed at every bark, knowing somebody else might here us. 

Then I spotted slivers of light shining between slats in a trap door in the ceiling. I could make out a ladder against the wall. 

I turned back to the group. “It looks like we've found it, ladies.”

Our battered group headed up the ladder. Ada went first, poking her head into the building above us.

“We are back at my longhouse. It’s empty. Hurry.” 

Inside the longhouse we took stock of our situation. 

“Now we’re all implicated, aren’t we?” Amy said. 

Lynn nodded.

“They already have Vincent and Fiona. Doesn’t it feel like they’re going to catch us? I’m starting to worry that this is pointless. Everyone I love is going to die.”

I shook my head and limped over to Amy. I wrapped her up in a hug. “I don’t know how, but we are saving everyone. We are getting home and we are stopping this war.”

“But what resources do we have left?” Amy asked. 

I released Amy from the hug and looked back at the group to consider. As I did, I noticed Lynn eyeing Ada.

“I have to go back.” Monique said. “I’ll confess and say I did it because I couldn’t stand my new husband. I’ll say nobody else was involved. That should work shouldn’t it?”

“And then fall on your dagger?” Laila asked.

“Yes. Then I end it.” Monique said.