The corridor delved deep into the crumbling underbelly of Scara Brae. Ten feet wide and fifteen tall, it had been built in the old warrens of the Innari shortly after their exile from the five duchies. The Scourge had discovered them and turned them to their advantage, as they started by the docklands and travelled under the capital deep into the centre of the island and emerged near Valeena Lake.

“It always amazes me nobody else has stumbled across them.” Lilith ran a finger along the roughshod, brittle red brick and took a deep breath. The air was dry and smelt like ash.

“The Knights of Brae know where some of the entrances are in the city, but we go to great lengths to make sure anyone who finds their way in here receives an induction into a new occupation.” Arden smirked. Before he had infiltrated the Scourge, they would simply kill wanders and leave their bodies to rot in the catacombs. Now they were subverted, and found a new life in the service of their Queen.

“Do you have a witty name for them?”

“Some of the lesser enlightened runners call them troglodytes.”

Lilith sniggered.

“Which only makes them some of the hardest working and determined of our number.”

“You pay them too much.”

“Valeena’s insistence. She doesn’t want her ‘secret police’ to run on fear and fear alone.”

They continued down a slope and emerged in a small ante chamber filled only with a rectangle of deep, abyssal water. A canal ran into the northern wall and disappeared beneath a damp and rotten sluice-gate. Lilith inspected the heavy chain hanging from the eaves and guessed they were set to continue by water.

“She’s such a charitable old goat.” The assassin folded her arms across her chest and watched her brother work the chain and open the gate. Beyond, the canal was less than inviting, but the tail end of the chain pulled a small row boat into view and set it adrift in the pool.

“Just get in, we have all night to debate the finer points of the royal household.” Arden pointed at the point and held it steady so that Lilith could climb in without getting wet. “Or at least do it to her face.” He hopped in after her and whistled.

“Oh, I intend to.” She smirked again, humour covering the fact that she was nervous about the days ahead.

Another chain, submerged until the cog works caused it to tighten and make the boat lurch dragged them into the shadows. The torchlight faded, casting them in darkness until Lilith drew a kanji in the air and illuminated them both in purple twilight. The brickwork of the tunnels was absent in the canal, and the smooth, damp rock showed signs of the many layers of construction that had been buried over the many reinventions of their home. Pallid mosaics and thick columns dotted the dense black peat that threatened to cave in and smother them at a moment’s notice. Here, as though mocking them, was the history of the island they were about to right – many wrongs buried that would soon be set free.