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.The tunnels formed a network that ran under the Euston mainline to beneath Primrose Hill and under Camden Lock Market.When the district was redeveloped back in the Eighties, most of the access routes through old Victorian warehouses disappeared with the demolition rubble.Phirun, Dale, Emma and the others snuck in through the last officially remaining entrance to the labyrinth.It was poorly guarded.Obviously, 232Dragon Streetsby Jeff PearceAragon had found another way.Maybe, as with Lincoln's Inn, there was a whole set of forgotten tunnels he alone knew.The entrance was deceptively bright from the regular overhead grilles.As they passed through an old horse tunnel, they heard the drip and ebb of the canal water in darkness, and Phirun took a breath before he led the way."I hate places like this," he whispered to Dale."You're claustrophobic?""Every leader has his Achilles' heel.""You were fine back in the ghost station.""You were missing, babe," said Phirun."I didn't have time to feel it.""You had strength when I was missing," Dale whispered back."Have strength now that I'm here."And as they turned a corner, away from the others, he stroked Phirun's hair and kissed the back of his neck.Phirun reached back and squeezed his hand.Dale had his own fears to cope with.Vivian Prentice was down in here somewhere, if his guess was right about the fire dragons using the catacombs.He refused to think she might already be dead.But hours down here, where brick sweated and there was filth and cold, hours alone with Aragon and his dragon cousins.She would keep it together if she were conscious.She was strong.But everyone has limits.He was thinking, too, of Aragon's end game.Of course, it involved Lens and the power of dream visions, which meant Dale had to master his strange ability and fast.Phirun didn't mention it, talking now only about another skirmish between fire and water.He didn't object to Dale coming along because 233Dragon Streetsby Jeff Pearcehe knew there would be a horrendous argument if he pointed out the obvious: that as a human Dale was fragile, vulnerable.You better believe I'm coming, thought Dale.Even if his lover wouldn't express it or didn't believe it, he knew the battle would come down to the shadow realm of unconscious minds.Phirun's life, Emma's, Vivian's, the lives of all of them might depend on him.Forget your fear of Aragon, he told himself.Forget the PTSD, your confinement and Aragon's dosing of you, forget even the innocents and the octopus reach of the bastard's criminal empire.You'll know what to do when the time comes.You better.All of them kept moving through the tunnel.One of the water dragons carried a knapsack, and Phirun abruptly gestured to the man and made him turn around so he could access the pack.He said to Dale, "Oh, almost forgot.Got you a present.Of sorts."He dumped his gift into Dale's hands, and the other dragons smirked and stifled laughs.Dale looked at the garishly bright green and pink object in his hands.It was one of those toy super-soaker water machine guns for kids."You got to be kidding.""Hey, short of running a fire hose down here, we can't always be expected to save your ass, mate," said Emma."As I recall," replied Dale testily, "last time I saved yours."The other dragons ooohed and laughed, and Phirun told them to pipe down.They couldn't know if the fire-breathers were within earshot.234Dragon Streetsby Jeff Pearce"It's not meant as a put-down at all," Phirun told Dale."You're human, you're not a dragon, and you need a weapon to defend yourself.Never mind them, I want you to come out of this safe."Dale nodded in grudging acknowledgement, and they kissed briefly.A scrape of running shoes, and all of them moved on through the tunnel."And just how do we use those?" asked Dale.They saw two small wooden barges but there were no oars."Old School," said Phirun."Get in."He could have used a trick of the water dragons to propel them, but he explained he didn't want to exhaust his energy before they confronted Aragon.Dale and Phirun climbed onto one barge, while Emma and two more dragons took the second one.The rest of the small army swam behind.Phirun told Dale to lie down on his back and push his legs into the air, his feet touching the brick ceiling.It was slow and painstaking, but he could propel the barge forward by pressing his feet against the yellowed Victorian brickwork.Phirun told Dale this was how the navvies used to do it until later when the barges were towed by small model steamboats."Charming.""Just keep legging it," said Phirun."I got to keep my eye out for our fire-breathing psycho."There were more drips and the squeal of rats mating in corners.The smell was fierce.They passed the skeleton of a stray dog, gray with layers of dust and its jaws open but 235Dragon Streetsby Jeff Pearcesilent in the flashlight beam.It looked very old, a creature that had once loped back here to die in the age of steam and coal fires.A warning that other things could die back here quite noiselessly.After twenty minutes, they reached the end of this stretch of canal basin and could dispose of the barges.Back on cobblestones, Phirun took up the lead again but soon paused.He crouched down and shone his flashlight at a modest pile of yellow and white dust, tiny fragments of stone."Looks reasonably fresh," Dale commented."Yes, it does," said Phirun."This is where Aragon did a bit of remodeling.""Fine, what do we do?" asked Dale."Say 'Open Sesame'?"Phirun swung the flashlight on the wall near the pile of dust."What's wrong with this picture?""I don't know," replied Dale."Look at the bricks.""What do you mean?"Emma's barge banged up against the edge of stone, and she and the other dragons disembarked.Soon the swimmers were out of the canal and joining them, dripping on the cobbles.Emma pointed to the wall."You're the one who's been playing amateur detective so far, Dale.Look at it—it's laid wrong.""It's laid wrong?"She nodded."The bricklaying is all wrong.They didn't have to care about looks, so the walls are done in what they call English bond—alternating course of 'stretchers' and 'headers'.236Dragon Streetsby Jeff PearceYou lay a brick with the longest side exposed, that's your stretcher brick, yeah? Your header brick has the smallest end of the brick exposed to the weather.English bond's easy to lay, good and strong.But see here? What's here is called Flemish bond [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]