Chapter 2 - Blood, Wood, Stone Not!
Palinus deflated as he realised he had been caught out already. He had forgotten that his sandals and feet were filthy already from the morning’s jaunt which gave away the game straight away to the observant Bruchts. He was in fact a dirty boy and his shame was written in leather soaked in sewerage.
Quickly understanding the comment Rufian picked up on what Bruchts was saying.
“You're out looking for the same stash, haha.” Rufian laughed as he figured out Palinus’s game, “Damn Marius has a big mouth!”
“Ugh…” Palinus was frustrated with the situation. Marius was one of the aides at the Gymnasium, he was in the auxilia and was involved with logistics for the city militia. Palinus thought he was close to the man but apparently this friendship was not exclusive.
“Well, you can saunter off like a proper young citizen and we won’t tell anyone you roll in shit for fun.” Rufi tried to dismiss Palinus..
“We can split the profits if you help me haul the bolts up to the road. I have a buyer and I’ve arranged transport to come pick them up…” Palinus scrambled to try and save his skin, he’d give up his share if he had to rather than be in debt to his buyer.
“Ah yes, the bolts…”
“...” Palinus realised too late. “You were looking for something else…”
“Maybe…” Rufian had a glimmer in his eye. “Alright, an even three way split on the cloth. We help you, and you help us.”
Palinus had the composure to consider the other boy’s counter and weigh it up quickly. The other boy's help would be valuable to him, and he was even more interested in making them complicit, preventing them from telling the world.
The quick counter offer also made Palinus curious and recalling the bickering he overheard earlier it seemed like Rufian might be getting desperate for help. It sounded like they were looking for something valuable.
“The cloth is worth at least 10 denarius and maybe more. It’ll be heavy, and as I said I have a buyer picking it up with the coin tonight. I might agree to a three way split on the whole haul if you’ll cut me in on what you’re looking for?”
The amount visibly piqued Rufian’s interest. Palinus knew that he liked to drink, and wine in Erulea was expensive for a teenager.
“I’ll have to consult with my learned colleague.” Rufi feigned disinterest with a joke as he turned to Bruchts. He was on the hook.
After a whispered conversation Rufi gestured for Palinus to join their huddle.
“Your in, and you won't believe it..." Rufi whispered excitedly. "Marius said the 7th Hill Militia had dumped some old fulmination wands,”
“Fire and blood.... Yes.” Excitement lit up Palinus's face. The wands might be worth even more than the fabric if they could find a purchaser. But even more exciting than the potential profit: fulmination wands shot explosive bolts.
The three did a thorough search of the area around the road. They quickly realised that the bolts of cloth were obviously not here but searched a bit longer for the wands.
“Looks like they didn’t dump anything we are after here.” Palinus called the others in from their search.
“Marius said the wand contract always goes to the Pansa brothers, and their workshop is just there above the shop.” Rufian sighed.
“Yeah he said the lazy porters just dump stuff here rather than take it back to the storehouse. But let’s go check there, I don’t think they’ll be posting a guard out the back and I know how we can get around there through the backways.” Palinus suggested
“We’ll have a quick look. But my father is expecting us back soon, he knows we’ll be wasting time but there is a limit to his patience.” Rufian said with a quick glance at the sun just past its peak in the sky.
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Palinus guided the boys up the backways through a series of turns and under another road. Soon they came to a corner of a high wall that loomed over the two story workshops and warehouses in the area.
“This is the 7th Hill Militia barracks. Their storage yard is just over the other side of the wall and there’s a gate around the corner so this would be a prime dumping spot. I don’t think they’ll be guarding their rubbish, but be ready to run. We need to be quiet as they might decide to rough us up if we draw attention to ourselves.” Palinus warned.
The two boys followed Palinus as quietly as they could, hugging the massive wall and trying to be stealthy. They didn’t have his experienced step but managed to avoid making too much noise. As they rounded the corner Palinus could see his target immediately. Stacked haphazardly next to a heavy bronze gate a dozen massive bolts of treated wool sat against the wall. Palinus breathed a sigh of relief confirming they were there and gave himself a mental salute for bringing help along, he couldn’t have lifted these easily alone.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
As they neared the gates and wool, Palinus reminded the boys with a signal to be quiet and pulled them into a huddle.
“Ok, you two start hauling these bolts. They are way bigger than I thought and we are going to need two people to carry them back to the road we just passed.” Palinus whispered.
Rufian started to object before Palinus mollified him.
“Just think of how much wine you can buy with like 5 denarai, besides you two are stronger than me and will be able to carry them easily. I will start a thorough search for the wands. They aren’t out in the open that I can see so they might not be here, or they were hidden to keep them from degenerates like you.”
He made a rude gesture, but with uncharacteristic seriousness moved to get started with the cloth. As Bruchts and Rufian carried the first bolt around the corner back to the steps up to the road, Palinus had already started his search with a mental map of the area.
In his way and filling much of the alleyway were several mounds of food scraps piled high. The militiaman who did the waste management was an artist with a handcart and clearly enjoyed making precariously tall piles of food scraps. It also looked like the mess hall was generous with their portions and not afraid of waste. These teetering piles were a potential spot to hide something dangerous like the wands but he put them at bottom of the search list as they would take a considerable length of time to go through.
Just next to the gate was a pile of discarded camp fittings: broken frames for tents, several rusty cooking stands with crusty pots and cookware. Palinus made a mental note that some of the utensils might be worth coming back for another day, iron was expensive. He did a quick poke through but didn’t see any likely spots to hide a stash of wands.
Part of the problem he was facing is that he didn’t know exactly what he was looking for. He assumed that the wands would be in a box, but they could equally be just bundled in a pile and he didn’t really know how big the box or pile might be.
As he looked back down the alley the other boys came back for another bolt. Palinus shook his head that he hadn’t found the wands as yet.
As he had been looking around his eye kept being drawn to a culvert that led from the barracks to the sewerage channel. The barracks, like most government buildings, was plumbed and the waste came out of the narrow chute of carved albumstone. As he looked closer at the outflow he noticed that there was only a narrow trickle of sludge as if something was blocking it. He steeled himself to climb down and get closer to the foul odour.
Crouching down he looked up the culvert and he could see down the passage there was something square shaped sitting in the channel. It was well out of arms reach and he was definitely not sticking his arm down this sewerage outlet. He considered leaving it for later or getting one of the other boys to do it, but something gave him a strong feeling he had found what they were looking for. A mix of curiosity and avarice pushed him to action.
He grabbed one of the spars off a broken tent and used it to poke up towards the blockage. Tapping the blockage he could hear a wooden thump with a hollow sound which excited the teenager and further convinced him he was on the right track. As he carefully started trying to wedge the length of wood he had around the side of the object he was careful not to push the object further down the pipe.
He found some purchase and was able to wiggle the spar down the side of the blockage. The object shifted and with a bigger opening some of the blocked up waste was released. A gush of chunky fluid with an awful smell rushed straight towards Palinus. He jerked himself away managing to get out of the sewerage drain before he slipped, falling to the ground as he started heaving up the bile in his empty stomach.
Standing over him Rufian let out a snort of laughter that he barely muffled at Palinus’s misfortune as Bruchts came over to help him up.
“Nice trip, Fallinus?” Rufian quipped.
“I think I’ve found it!” Palinus was too excited to care, gesturing excitedly to the other boys “Look down there.”
Bruchts carefully pulled out the tent spar Palinus had left wedged in there and barely gagged as he looked up the culvert towards the blockage. His eyes twinkled and he gave Palinus a thumbs up as he moved out to let Rufian look.
“Blood and flame, I reckon this is it!” Rufian cheered.
The practical Bruchts came back with another two tent spars and wedged them into the pipe on opposite sides. Palinus saw what he was trying to do and grabbed one of the spars. Together they were able to move the box further towards them but it was stuck fast an arms length down and no amount of wiggling was able to get it out.
The boys looked at each other. Someone had to put their arm in.
“Blood, Wood, Stone not!” Rufian childishly chanted, putting his finger to his ear.
“Blood, Wood, Stone not!” Palinus quickly joined.
Unimpressed with the childishness Bruchts just glared back at them but ultimately started moving, not to the pipe but towards the pile of camp stuff next to the gate. He grabbed out a bit of iron with a spike on the end, some sort of fire poker or pot holder.
As he retrieved his tool from the pile they heard a gruff voice from the other side of the gate yelling.
“Get out of it you urchins!”
There was a rattling as the man undid the fastenings on the other side of the gate. The boys had gotten excited and were making far too much noise to avoid attention.
Quick off the mark Bruchts and Rufian started running immediately. Palinus had started after them a moment later but the greedy voice in his head shouted at him to stop and that he was so close.
Fully commiting he quickly dove for the culvert and he shoved his arm in. The adrenaline helped him ignore the squelching sensation of his body sliding into the semi solid liquid and the squishing between his fingers as he grasped for the box.
The heavy gates let out a creaking squeal, protesting being opened.
With some wild grasping Palinus was able to get his hand around the corner of the box and he tugged it. It twisted and his one hand grip was lost as he jammed the box against the side of the curved channel.
He could see a gap in the gate as it started opening and the vague outline of a man tugging one side of the gate open, swearing as he worked at it.
Palinus doubled down on getting the box out, he reached his other arm in and crawling both arms forward on his elbows he was able to get a grip with both hands on the box. He pulled again and with a squelch and gushing release of blocked effluent the box came out.
He tucked it under his arm and started running. Jubilant, but literally covered in shit.
Looking over his shoulder he could see the militia guard was through the gate behind him. The man got a good look at Palinus and could see what he had pulled out of the culvert.
“Stop boy, those are dangerous!”
The miltia guardsman was running after him, his hand on his gladius as it slapped against his thigh.