Subterranean Ingress

Slipping my frame sideways between the cold cast-iron bars of the storm grate, I lowered myself into the subterranean chamber. My clawed boots touched down silently upon the dry, swept concrete floor. Deep below the alley surface, the rushing night wind gave way to total stillness. In the recessed corner of the basin, half-buried in dry sand, lay a heavy glass marble veined with amber ribbons. Kneeling in the shadows, I turned the dense sphere across my clawed gauntlet, testing its weight and smooth contour. With disciplined pressure, I set the glass orb into a circular masonry pocket along the wall. A low click rattled in my throat. The lower redoubt is marked.

1 Nauk