Vidar followed down the ladder. Each rung was separate and bolted into the side of the wall. They were all rusty and cold enough to make his very soul shiver as he hurriedly made his way down, following in his friend’s footsteps.

  Wind from the open sea blew at his back, tearing at his coat like it was trying to push him off the ladder. Vidar cursed under his breath but kept going down. Thankfully, it wasn’t too long of a climb, and Alvarn grabbed him at the bottom. Their feet slipped a little on the ice-covered walkway. Here, at least, there was a railing to hold on to. Without it, they’d both be doomed.

  The sea rose and swelled with what felt like raging intent, like it was trying to rise up far enough to grab hold of Vidar and pull him out into the water and then under before bashing him against the rocky sidewall. So far, it hadn’t touched the walkway, but it was not far off. The crashing sound was deafening, even more so than what’d assaulted his senses down in the sewers once he neared one of those water intakes.

  Alvarn shouted near Vidar’s ear, pointing to a dark spot farther off before starting the perilous walk to their destination. Vidar didn’t hear a word of what he’d been saying, but he followed nonetheless, wondering why they hadn’t just blown open a regular opening to squeeze Alvarn’s stomach down into the sewers. He knew it wouldn’t have worked, not with how long the climb down was, but still. There had to be a better way of reaching one of these water intakes.

  With fingers too numb to even feel the cold, Vidar made his way to their right, shuffling sideways while facing the cliff wall. What felt like an eternity later, he bumped into Alvarn.

  “It’s here!” he yelled.

  Vidar shook his head to bring himself out of the brain fog brought on by the cold. A large door was set right into the wall with perfectly rectangular rocks surrounding it and separating the metal from the dirt, stone, and whatever else the ground was made out of.

  “Give me the key and I’ll open it!” Alvarn shouted. “You’re on the wrong side of me!”

  Vidar violently shook his head. A wave of dizziness hit and he had to close his eyes and take a few deep breaths to regain his senses.

  Alvarn leaned out from the wall, putting far too much faith in the railing.

  “Do you want to pass me, then?”

  Swallowing hard, Vidar peered at the small gap between Alvarn and the wall. He did not want to attempt that. Carefully, ever so carefully, he withdrew the key while clinging desperately to the railing. He handed it to Alvarn, who put it between his teeth while inching closer to the door.

  It didn’t fit. The key did not go into the hole.

  They both stared, dumbfounded, for a minute before Vidar realized what was wrong. He screamed with all he was worth to have the words carry in the blasting wind. “SOWILO!”

  Alvarn shook his head, unable to hear despite the relatively short distance between them.

  Vidar sighed and steadied himself as much as possible on the narrow walkway before releasing one hand. With one finger out, as if using it to write, he made the symbol for the warmth rune in the air between them.

  Four lines.

  Alvarn’s eyes widened. He understood.

  The lock was frozen. Alvarn needed to thaw it. With the key still in his mouth, Alvarn wobbled precariously as he fished through his coat pockets, questing for a sowilo rune. He removed a wooden disc and brought it up to his face before discarding it. On the second attempt, he got the right one, pressing it against the lock.

  Even from way back where Vidar was hanging on by a thread, he felt the heat rippling through the air. He marveled at the strength of it and at how expertly Alvarn wielded the tool under such dire circumstances. A few seconds was all it took. The incredible heat melted the ice, allowing the key to reach the mechanism embedded deep inside.

  The howling gale whipping around them obliterated any chance of Vidar hearing the key turn in the lock, but he thought he felt the mechanism thud open through his numb fingers holding on to the thin railing.

  With no moment to spare, Alvarn threw himself through the door as soon as he managed to push it open, leaving Vidar utterly alone. Then Alvarn leaned out, looking back and waving for Vidar to come along.

  Each step was agony. The sea rose just barely far enough to cover the walkway in one massive push. Even with toes already beyond frozen, he still felt this new chill grab hold of him. In that moment, he didn’t think it would ever let go.

  With only a few steps left, Vidar’s leading foot slipped. The imbalance was too much for his other leg to correct, and he went down, painfully striking his knee against the stone. Pain surged up his leg. Vidar wanted to cry. He never should’ve come here. He didn’t need to enter through here. No, he could’ve taken the nearest entrance and met up with Alvarn. It would’ve been so easy.

  He gritted his teeth. Even if he found a nearby entrance, there was no telling how simple it would be to meet up. Vidar needed to do this, and he needed to do it now. If he lagged for much longer, the sea would end up claiming him.

  With unintelligible words of encouragement shouted by Alvarn, Vidar got to his feet. For the briefest moment, Vidar was afraid his hands were frozen, stuck to the railing, but he managed to pull them free just enough to move them. His fingers would not straighten. In his inner eye, he imagined someone striking his hand with a hammer, shattering it into a million frozen pieces. Then he was near enough. Alvarn reached out and grabbed him, pulling Vidar back and in before kicking the heavy metal door closed.

  It shut out the wind. For a moment, silence reigned.

  “I-I think my fingers are going to f-fall off,” Vidar shuddered out once the worst shock had worn off.

  “I’m going to give us some light. Close your eyes.”

  The brightness was still almost painful through Vidar’s closed eyes, but he welcomed it. They were in a small chamber—more of a hallway, really—going straight from the door outside to a second door a few long strides farther in. The ceiling, walls, and floor were all the same bare, flat rock he was used to in the sewers. Other than a small area around the door they’d just gone through, the place was dry. Heat rose from the floor.

  Vidar put his face and hands to the warm stone, sighing contentedly before the pain set in. His fingers and ears throbbed and stung to the point of tears. Holding them over an open flame couldn’t be much worse than this. He suppressed a sob and gritted his teeth.

  “I think I’m dying.”

  “Sorry, should’ve warned you,” Alvarn said, placing and triggering a few sowilo runes around them. “The excitement drove me. That, and the beer. Don’t worry, the pain will subside soon, I’m pretty sure.”

  “The water intake is down under the water?” Vidar asked, trying to keep his mind off the searing pain.

  “It is. From what I’ve pieced together, this place is one of three still operational intakes where salt water is made drinkable. The entrance to one of the others is buried under a mountain of rubble and the second I’ve been unable to locate an entrance for.”

  “How have you found all this out? I barely knew these sewers existed until a few days ago.”

  “How did you think water was able to flow into your kitchen?”

  Vidar shrugged the one shoulder not against the floor. “Magic?”

  “Many things throughout the ages have been branded as magic. If it’s too advanced for the common man to understand, they are quick to use that word.”

  “Like the runes,” Vidar suggested.

  “They are no more magic than the sun in the sky. If the mechanisms behind the runes were fully understood, more people would be inclined to learn how to use them, I think.”

  Vidar carefully, and very stiffly, closed and opened his hand. “Didn’t think you wanted that.”

  “Not as it stands today, but the guild’s iron grip would shatter in an instant if the knowledge spread across our country and the rest of the world. Then, people would be able to learn in a safe and controlled manner.”

  He gave a sharp look as he said that last bit, but Vidar chose to ignore it. “By the tone of your voice, that almost sounds like a mission.”

  “This power could help so many if it was not kept by a select few. Your act of rebellion by learning rune craft is almost inspiring, in a twisted and reckless sort of way.”

  Alvarn sighed, then continued. “How are your hands?”

  “Fine, I think,” Vidar said, extending his fingers before making a fist again. “My joints are creaking, and it hurts a lot, but I’ll be fine. Let’s continue.”

  The key fit in the lock by the second door as well, but Vidar stopped Alvarn before he got the chance to turn it. “The sound will be even worse than what we experienced out there, once we get close to the intake.”

  “So we will not be able to talk.”

  “That’s right,” Vidar said. “So, before we go in. What are we doing here?”

  Alvarn withdrew a book from an inside pocket in his brown coat. It was wrapped in treated leather to keep the pages dry. He opened it and flipped to a page in the middle. The cramped handwriting was impossible to read at a moment’s notice, but Alvarn pointed to an illustration.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “From what I’ve been able to gather, the intake should look something like this. The still surviving notes are few and unspecified, however, so we can’t be sure.”

  The questioning look from Vidar made Alvarn continue. “We will need to figure out how everything works and find any runes. If I’m right, we will soon discover at least one rune no one has seen in a long, long while. Once we figure out its use, the possibilities could be endless.”

  Excitement bloomed in Vidar’s chest at the thought of discovering lost secrets. His mind immediately went back to the dead beast and its glinting eyes, but a new rune no one else knew about might just be even more valuable. One thing about what Alvarn just said gave him pause, however.

  “What do you mean, figure out its use? Can’t we just test it?”

  Alvarn’s eyes widened. “No, oh no. Not at all. Everything we know of runes, what little that is, tells us that we join our essence to the symbol and the knowledge. That point is very clear.”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “If we don’t know what the rune will do, using it will result in unintended consequences.”

  “Like what?” Vidar asked.

  Alvarn shrugged. “Since no runes have been discovered or created in forever, with most rune scribes vehemently pushing the idea that no other runes exist, no one knows for certain. My guess is the rune will either explode in your face or drain all your essence in an instant and kill you.”

  “So what you’re saying is if I didn’t know a sowilo rune would give off warmth when I trigger or rejuvenate it, it wouldn’t work?”

  “That is correct, Vidar. The knowledge must carry through in all steps. Crafting, rejuvenating, and triggering.”

  “Wild,” Vidar grunted. He wasn’t fully convinced of the argument, but this was not the time to argue. “Let’s continue.”

  Vidar turned the key, opening the second door.

  A low rumble rushed up a set of stairs leading into complete darkness. They each held a kenaz rune aloft to give themselves light as they carefully descended. These steps were solid stone in good condition, making the going a breeze. With the sound from below growing with every step, they were soon unable to hear themselves speaking. After five floors without a single exit, they made it to the bottom. Here, in a small room with a single exit, the ground was wet and slippery. The low roof meant Alvarn didn’t clear the ceiling, and quite a bit of hunching over was required for him to exit into the main pathways.

  Vidar felt strangely at home in the tunnel. Rather than the perilous cliff face or the creepy stairs, this was a place he knew the dangers of. As long as he was careful, nothing here would hurt him. Well, as long as whatever made that grinding noise he’d heard in the darkness a few times didn’t turn out to be some hideous beast, nothing would hurt him.

  Water rushed past in a powerful stream through the recessed floor in the middle of the tunnel. Here, there was no walkway on the opposite side, just a blank wall.

  Alvarn took in their surroundings with wide, awed eyes before getting down to one knee, touching the water. The strong current surprised him, and he wobbled a little, almost losing balance, before Vidar grabbed hold of his coat to stabilize his friend.

  He should’ve given Alvarn some instruction on what to expect down there, Vidar realized. Well, it was too late now. With Vidar’s help, Alvarn reached down again and scooped a handful of water to his mouth, tasting it.

  Alvarn grinned and nodded. The water was safe to drink.

  With that confirmation, they headed in the direction of the sea, where they’d find the intake. Judging by the immense sound of crashing water, they were not far from their destination.

  It didn’t take long before Vidar spotted a change up ahead. The light coming from the kenaz rune bounced off a thousand tiny particles deeper up the tunnel. He narrowed his eyes, not understanding what he was seeing.

  “What is that?” he asked himself.

  Alvarn looked over Vidar’s shoulder. He mumbled something Vidar couldn’t hear over the sound of water, then he shouted a single word, a question, right by Vidar’s ear. “Rain?”

  “That can’t be right. It doesn’t rain inside,” Vidar said, continuing forward.

  As they drew closer to this new phenomenon, they could both confirm it was, in fact, rain. The sound was distinct, and soon they both felt drops against their cheeks. With their light runes that much closer, there was no denying what was before them. Rain.

  The tunnel widened, seemingly to catch the falling rain and carry it inland. It was raining, but the sheer amount of rain made it almost akin to a waterfall. Never before in his life had Vidar seen that much rain fall naturally outside. Here, it poured down from a dark hole in the ceiling.

  A handrail, not unlike the one by the cliffside, appeared by the walkway as it narrowed. Again, they needed to sidestep to continue their path up the tunnel. The shape of the hole above them directed the falling rain away from the walkway. Without that, they’d both get swept away in an instant. Instead, they were merely drenched before they even made it a couple of steps into the area.

  Seeing past the water was impossible at first, but once Vidar kept going, his rune, now kept in his mouth between his teeth, since there was no way he was only traversing that narrow walkway with a single hand on the railing, showed a solid-looking wall. A dead end.

  Vidar’s stomach dropped, but he refused to stop. He’d come this far. With wet hair slick against his scalp and his clothes heavy with water, he pushed ahead. The wall was within arm’s reach. Another step, and then he gently pressed his forehead against the solid stone that’d probably stood untouched for generations.

  He groaned and turned his head to the left. Then he saw it. In his surprise, Vidar almost slipped off the wet stone. He turned and pointed to Alvarn, whose face looked like a sad puppy’s. Life returned to his eyes as he, too, spotted it. A path forward. The walkway continued along the wall in front of them. At the other side of the tunnel, darkness gaped from an empty space.

  Careful not to slip, Vidar made his way and confirmed his first instinct. It was the way forward. Darkness gave way to a short tunnel under the light of the kenaz rune. Once Alvarn caught up, they kept going together.

  The tunnel was short and twisty, forcing them to turn again and again, almost after every step. It didn’t take long for the crashing sound of the rain to lessen. By the time they exited the tunnel, they were able to speak without raising their voices.

  “Where was that rain coming from?” Vidar asked.

  Alvarn hurried forward and stepped up on a raised platform to peer out through an opening in the wall. “From here,” he said, pointing at something beyond.

  Approaching, Vidar saw a glass window in the opening of the stone wall. He peered out and down, unable to understand what he was seeing at first through the blurred condensation on the glass. Kenaz runes were affixed in the ceiling, showering light over a basin of clear water, filling the entire chamber beneath them. At first, he thought it was running water, like a river, but the bubbling and roiling painted another picture, along with the steam rising above the surface. Beneath the surface, painted on the stone floor of the basin, was the largest sowilo rune he’d ever seen. It covered the entirety of the floor and was warm enough to set all the cold seawater in the basin boiling.

  “Is it… boiling?”

  “It is,” Alvarn confirmed. “It’s set to boiling and then the vapors rise up into the ceiling. My guess is there are isaz runes up there somewhere, cooling the water again to make it rain down past the wall, like we saw.”

  “That’s it? You brought me all this way for a sowilo rune and chill runes we can’t even see?”

  Alvarn jumped down from the raised platform. “Not quite. Don’t you see what’s interesting about the sowilo rune down there?”

  Looking back down through the window, Vidar scratched at his chin, thinking. His eyes widened, and he turned back to his friend. “How is it still active?”

  “Exactly right.”

  Vidar sped past his friend to peer out the second window. This one wasn’t misted over with condensation, making it much easier to see past the glass. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to actually see. Below him, dirty seawater rushed about, coming in from the left to swirl in a circular pattern before going past three stone pillars sticking out over the surface. To the right was another stone wall.

  “There’s nothing here,” Vidar said.

  Alvarn was already by the third and final window. “Come here, then. This is interesting.”

  “It spins,” Vidar said, having approached. It was a wooden structure in the middle of a basin. Water rushed in from the left, presumably from the sea, and then struck the structure, making it spin in place. He narrowed his eyes. “I think there are symbols on the wood, but I can’t make them out.”

  “The seawater enters through here,” Alvarn said, pointing to the left. “This thing in front of us rotates.”

  “Why?”

  Alvarn pursed his lips. “I’m not sure how it works, but I think it’s what powers the runes. What else could rejuvenate them for hundreds of years?”

  “The wood should not be able to withstand all that pressure, not for this long.”

  “You’re right,” Alvarn agreed. “We need to get a closer look.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  Alvarn peered out through the second window. “Vidar! There’s not nothing here. Look at the water!”

  “What about it?” Vidar asked.

  “Once it’s pushed past that spinning thing, it comes into the second chamber. When the water reaches the front of the pillars, it’s violently pushed away from them, don’t you see?”

  Vidar peered down. Just as Alvarn said, the water did look like it was being pushed by something.

  “Another rune?”

  Alvarn brought out a notebook and scribbled furiously. “I think it’s pushed through something in the wall here,” he said, pointing to the wall to the right of the second chamber. “Perhaps it does something to the water, perhaps not. Then it reaches the third chamber with the sowilo rune, where the water boils and turns into rain.”

  “I guess so,” Vidar said.

  “Don’t you see? It’s genius.”

  “You could just boil a pot of water on your stove at home.”

  Alvarn put his notebook back and looked up. “You’re not wrong, but then everyone would have to do so for every pot of water. This way, the whole city is provided for. Also, I’m not sure just boiling it is enough. There’s something at play with the water flowing through the wall as well. Like a sieve, perhaps.”

  “You’re saying it’s cleaned before going into the boiling water?”

  “At least partially,” Alvarn said. He grunted. “Wish I could take apart this entire thing and examine it.”

  “I just want the runes,” Vidar said.

  “Yes. We cannot leave without them.”

  “Any ideas?” Vidar asked.

  Alvarn pulled out a rope from his bag. “You fit through those windows, don’t you?”

  “You must be joking.”

  He took a step closer, hoisting the rope. “The glass must be sturdy to have survived this long, but I’m sure we’ll be able to break them.”

  “The spinning thing would thump me to death in an instant.”

  Alvarn laughed. “You thought I meant you jumping down into the water? No, no.”

  “What, then?”

  “You lean out to get a closer look. From what I can tell, the symbol is etched into every plank. If you focus on a specific point in the air, you should be able to make it out.”

  Something had nagged at Vidar since he saw the water flowing from the stone pillars, and the idea finally shook loose just then.

  “The rain,” he muttered.

  “What’s that?” Alvarn asked, lowering the rope.

  “The rain has no business making the water flow that fast.” Vidar was at the wall separating the sowilo rune from the rain. “Over there, I mean.”

  “You’re right. That means it has to be a?—”

  “One of those pushing runes, or many of them,” Vidar finished Alvarn’s point. “Tie that rope around me. I’m getting a closer look!”

  With that security measure in place, they traced their steps back through the short tunnel and back to the rain. Just like he’d thought, the water flowed away much too fast. On closer inspection, and them now knowing what to look for, it was obvious. There were runes at work here.

  “Hold me tight,” Vidar said, getting down to his knees. He ignored the water soaking through his pants and braced himself against the walkway as he leaned forward and down. Then he stopped and chuckled to himself as he repositioned a little to the right. Leaning down right into the current might’ve not have been the best idea.

  From the side, he clearly saw a rune beneath the surface, but the extreme downpour of rain and the moving current proved too much of a hindrance to get a clear view. To combat this, he held on to his nose and moved forward a little more before dropping his head down and into the water.

  There it was. Clear as day. Then Vidar slid forward and fell in.