The Morgle Unmasked: Chapter 1, Part 4

14 September 2026

We return to our tale, from the serialization of the third book of The Redemption series, The Morgle Unmasked, as the chosen, with elements from Marilee’s seklesi squad, enter the ruins of Shigmar from below to look for survivors. . . . (18 January 2016) The full ebook version of this book is available for purchase from all ebook sellers. We remind all that the first book in this series, Chosen of the One, and the second book, Staff of Shigmar, are both free from Smashwords! Glossary links: Book 3, Book 2, Book 1

Chapter 1, Part4

“We cannot go up this way,” Tevvy said, “the stairway is blocked by rubble.” They were looking at the stairs where the two city guards had entered the sewers. Marilee, Delgart, Rokwolf, and Blakstar, along with the kailu, Grelsor, and the maghi, Luthina, from Marilee’s squad, stood behind Tevvy. All had their faces covered with cloths, not because of the smell of the sewers beneath Shigmar, but because the air was choked with dust. Tevvy reached out to touch the bars of the iron door, and the door crumbled at his touch, raising more dust in the passageway. The group was surprised to find, when they reached the bridge to meet up with the rest of the squad, that the sewers were empty of water, and Rellik reported that water was no longer falling outside. The reason why no water flowed was easy to see, as all the passages, including the river, were blocked by rubble, as if the entire ceiling had collapsed. Only the passage that ran past the entrance to their sanctuary was open, and only to a point a few yards past the entrance.

“You could send someone to check the dungeon entrance,” Tevvy said, “see if they managed to clear the section that collapsed: we could enter the school that way.”

“Where is it?” Rellik asked.

“About fifty yards east,” Tevvy replied, “a ladder on the right side.”

Marilee nodded to Rellik. “Take two others and go up into the school dungeon.” Rellik nodded and pointed to Grelsor and Reena, who followed him east.

“There is still the grate I used to enter the sewers the first time,” Tevvy said, “at the west end of this passage. It is near Klaybear and Klare’s home, in the southwest quarter of Shigmar.”

“We can go there after Rellik returns,” Marilee said. “Delgart, why don’t you go with Tevvy, Rokwolf, and Blakstar, and take Lidelle, Hrelga, and Kreega, and go check the grate. Wait for us there.”

Tevvy and Delgart nodded, moving west with the others.

They found the ladder; Tevvy climbed up and picked the lock in less than a minute. He waited silently at the top of the ladder, listening for any sounds from above. After a few minutes, he climbed back down.

“I can hear more rumbling sounds from above . . . ,” Tevvy said.

“We can hear them down here,” Blakstar interrupted.

“Yes, of course you can,” Tevvy replied, trying to keep his voice level, “but I hear no sounds of people moving around.”

“It is still very early in the morning,” Blakstar said.

“True,” Lidelle noted, “but this is the quarter of the city where most of the students who live outside the school are housed; many of them have duties that should have them heading from their homes to the school by this time.”

“If any still live,” Tevvy said.

“I saw what it did to anyone who it touched,” Blakstar noted.

“So did we,” Lidelle put in, “we saw our fellows from other squads, along with the purem and ghelem that were in the sewers, literally consumed by the wave. And you say it was caused by Shigmar’s staff? Not the staff of his office, surely.”

“No,” Blakstar said, “it was a staff he made after leaving the school, one that was hidden with him in his tomb.”

“It is called, ‘breath-giver,’ or the staff of life,” Tevvy said.

“Yes, and what has the power to give life, also has the power to take life,” Blakstar added, “and that is precisely what it did.”

“Did you have any idea what would happen if you used this staff?” Lidelle asked.

Both Tevvy and Blakstar shook their heads. “We only knew,” Blakstar said, “that it would save Shigmar.”

“By destroying everyone?” Lidelle said. “That seems to be an odd usage of the word, save.”

“You should speak to Thal, or my twin,” Rokwolf said, “since they both have a better understanding of these keys, as they have been called, but the sense I have gotten from both of them is that neither Shigmar, nor Melbarth, were sure about what the staff would do. Perhaps they believed that only our enemies would be destroyed by the staff.”

Lidelle was shaking his head.

“There is something else that happened,” Blakstar said, “that we have not spoken about: we were captured by a company of purem,” he went on, and explained to them what had happened and how they had been released by the vedem and the enigmatic warning of Neflo.

“The vedem?” Lidelle said, looking surprised. “Why would they set you free, tell you not to use the staff, then clear your way so that you could use it? That doesn’t make sense.”

“We were also surprised by their behavior,” Blakstar noted.

Marilee and the rest of her squad walked up at that point. “Still blocked,” she said. “And this one?”

“It is open,” Tevvy said, “and it sounded like no one was moving around.”

Marilee turned to Reena. “Go ahead, and if the way is clear, open the grate and we will all follow.”

Reena nodded and climbed the ladder. “All clear,” her voice whispered, and they heard the grate being opened.

“Let’s go,” Marilee said.

Tevvy went up next, followed by Marilee and her squad; Blakstar and Rokwolf climbed up last. The air in this part of the city was nearly as dusty as the air below, and all was as silent. They could see the limit of the wave by the houses that had fallen.

Rokwolf touched Tevvy’s shoulder. “We should go check my brother’s house,” he said.

Marilee looked around. “We’ll split into threes, and begin searching the city for survivors, heading toward the school.”

The others nodded, split up, and then began to move in all directions, with Rokwolf, Tevvy, and Blakstar moving toward Klaybear and Klare’s house. The silence surrounding them did not give them any hope that they would find anyone alive.

Come back Wednesday for the conclusion of this first chapter in the third book of this series. Until then, we remind all that the first two books of this series, Chosen of the One and Staff of Shigmar, are free from Smashwords. Get this book, The Morgle Unmasked, from the links provided. Good reading!