Darvin wasn't sure whether the bluff worked or not, but the result was the same. The sewer rats were chasing Darvin and Fife and the two storytellers were chasing the assassin, trying to make him believe the pack was under their control.

"Run!" Darvin screamed. Behind them, the wall of rats fell over each other as they raced along the partially submerged sewer ledge.

They struck the raging sewer river hard, the cold lacerating them and the turbulence spinning them around. The rushing water caught them in its torrent and Fife scrambled for purchase. His fingers scrabbled slimy brick and then water, and then brick again.

Earth and sky rumbled, the hellish magma-filled fissures radiating out from the necromancer's crumbling manse.