"I hate reptiles."
"I'm sure they hate you too, lad." Brynjolf makes a face somewhere between annoyed and disgusted as he wades through the water, ducking to avoid the tunnel roof overhead. The curve makes Thade uncomfortable; nearly bent double, he feels vulnerable, but they're hunting. They have to keep moving.
"You should've sent Kincaid down here. He's tiny, he could flush it out."
"He'd also get eaten." Thade figures that's neither here nor there but Brynjolf sounds a little annoyed at the suggestion. The tunnel widens out and raises as they come to the aquifer, the water rushing past their knees, the hole in the middle of the room waterlogged and smelling of something close to death.
The rasp of scales against concrete made them freeze. Thade had a knife as long as his forearm out (guns were useless against something with a thick hide like that), which Brynjolf wanted nothing to do with.
"How did you convince me to come down here, anyway?" He's staying back, of half a mind to call Ria, but she's handling the other damn lizard that's been hiding out in the school. Arguably the more important job.
"Something about impressing a lady." Thade grins at him, tight and vicious and the thief has a split second to think oh fuck before he's launched himself off the damn lip of the waterlogged hole and straight down. There's a hiss and a thud and an ungodly yowl, something which reverberates around in his chest and has him scrambling for the tranq gun. They don't want to kill it. Relocation's the best bet, but if they don't have a choice they can take the eggs, if the fight doesn't crush them.
The only monsters Thade really wants to kill are wolves. He'll leave everything else alive if he can, and they're not threatening people who can't defend themselves. It seems like a stupid idea now that he can see Thade being flung up, blade and face coated in blue-black blood as he's followed by a long, heavy snout and far too many teeth.
"Having fun in there?" He asks, and Thade swears at him all the way back down.