“Your name, Ally of the Golden Valley?” a woman’s voice asked.
“You’re Dulce Pugno,” Alerio said. When she didn’t reply, he answered, “I know. You don’t use that name in the city. I’m Alerio Sisera and I thank you.”
“Are you injured?” the assassin from the Sweet Fist inquired.
“I am uninjured thanks to you,” Alerio reported.
“Follow the roof line. You’ll come to a low building. On the far side, it’s a short jump to a set of stairs,” the assassin explained. “You will find an inn three blocks from there.”
Then she rose to her feet and in four steps was swallowed by the night. Alerio waited for his heart rate to slow and his breathing to return to normal. Then he stood and walked off in the opposite direction.
Chapter – 31 The Altar of Syracuse
Alerio woke when sunlight touched the windowsill. He rolled out of the cot, poured water from a pitcher, and washed his face in the bowl. Once dressed in the workmen’s clothing and with the felt petasos set on his head at a rakish angle, he took the stairs down and left the inn.
By keeping the rising sun to his right, he navigated northward through the dense streets of the city. Several blocks from the inn, he allowed his nose to guide him to the west and a market. Vendors offered baked yams and other cooked vegetables. At other tents, he found lamb, beef, and fish on sticks turning over open flames. All the odors made his mouth water and after wandering between vendors, he bought a baked yam and several large slices of lamb. One more stop to secure a wooden mug of cider, and he headed north once again seeking a place to sit and eat.
Ten blocks from the market, he came upon a wall and approached a grassy area. Above the wall, he could see the upper section of a tall structure constructed with granite stones. As if a giant doorway had been removed to reveal a curved but shallow room, columns on each side framed the decorative arched wall to the rear. Alerio sat, leaned his back against the wall and began peeling back the burnt skin of the yam.
***
“There he is!” a voice called out in a breathy flat tone.
Alerio glanced up to see a man standing on the street pointing at him. The man had tiny pieces of cloth stuffed in each nostril of a badly swollen nose. Recognizing one of the street thugs from last night, he took a bite of the yam and tossed it away. Then with a slice of lamb clutched in his teeth, he jumped to his feet and ran along the wall. The mug of cider sat in the grass untouched.
This wasn’t turning out to be a quiet information gathering mission. At a gate, he passed under an arched opening and stopped. In front of him was the curved structure. Acting as giant steps, huge granite blocks tiered from the ground to the floor of the curved room. Off to his right, rows of seating wrapped around an amphitheater cascading down to a performance stage. Neither building caused him to stop.
A long flat stone surface spanned the entire distance between the theater and the monument. Knee high walls with access ports cut in at areas along the wall showed steps leading up to the flat stones. Priests in ceremonial robes walked behind the walls sacrificing oxen.
Alerio had seen the death of oxen offered to the Gods before. But, never in this volume. A quick count and he arrived at two hundred oxen laying side by side on the flat rocks of the altar. Blood flowed behind the low wall and down the steps. It ran like water into drain channels keeping the blood off any of the assembled crowd who wanted to avoid it. For those seeking a blessing, all it took was to dip a few fingers into the sacrificial blood as it flowed by.
The crowd of witnesses was divided into four layers. To the rear were visitors, workmen, and slaves. Next were citizens while closer to the massive alter the Syracusan military stood in ranks. The area in front of them held noblemen, senior staff officers, and advisers. One man, in ornate armor, stood on a step. With arms outstretched, he looked towards the sky while an ankle-deep flood of blood washed his lower legs.
When the street urchin mentioned a gate near an altar, he was referring to the Altar of Syracuse. Glancing back through the arched gateway, Alerio saw five men clustered together. Two were speaking and one mimicked touching the brim of a hat.
“That’s how he recognized me,’ Alerio thought as he stepped away from the opening, pulled off the petasos and stuffed it into his pack.
Walking rapidly, he made his way to the end of the workmen and side stepped into that section of the crowd.
***
“Mighty Zeus, we ask you to accept this sacrifice. Grant us your blessing,” the man standing in the blood shouted. He reached down and dipped both hands into the flow. With fresh blood streaming off his hands, he turned to the crowd. “And powerful Nike. We beseech you to carry us to Victory!”
The crowd roared back its approval.
“At least there will be plenty of meat,” a workman mumbled.
“That’s if King Hiero shares it,” another craftsman added. “After salting some for the army, and feeding his troops, we’ll be lucky if there’s any sacrifice left for common folks.”
Considering the large sacrifice, the call to the Goddess of Victory, the assembled troops, and the workman’s comment about salting the meat, Alerio realized the army was only a few weeks from marching to war. But, marching to where?
Two rows in front, a soldier turned and glared at the speakers. Talking while the King called to the Gods was frowned upon. Then the soldier shifted his eyes and they locked on Alerio. A nudge and a tilt of his chin caused another soldier to look back. He also zeroed in on the Legionary.
‘With the hat on, the street thugs recognize me,’ pondered Alerio. ‘Without it, the soldiers recognize me. This mission is going bad fast.’
King Hiero the Second called for blessings from other Gods. And why not? His priests had sacrificed enough oxen to cover all the Gods and Goddesses on Mount Olympus as well as a host of minor deities.
Somewhere during the necessary plea to Poseidon, Syracuse being a deep harbor city and always in need of protection by the God of the Sea, Alerio slipped back into of the crowd.
Chapter – 32 Run, Hide, Escape or Die
Once out of sight of the soldiers and the street thugs, he moved to the fringe of the praying crowd. When out of sight from both the street thugs and the soldiers, Alerio ran to the perimeter wall and followed it to the end. Then, he jogged into a wooded area. On the far side, he entered a street and strolled through the upper section of Syracuse. He didn’t see anyone following and was happy when he approached the massive city wall.
The street followed the wall and soon he came to a portal. A bored guard stood against the open gate and barely acknowledged Alerio when he walked by and left the city. Beyond the city’s defensive wall was a military camp.
Southward and far from the last tent, marsh grass and swampland ran to the sea far in the distance. To the north, cultivated farmland stretched between crops of trees. Alerio had an idea of when the army would march but no clue as to its destination. He turned south and followed the defensive wall along the outer edge of the military camp.
About halfway down the line of tents, he noticed a few soldiers basking in the warm sunlight. One of them raised up and grabbed a wineskin. After a long stream of vino, the soldier lowered his head and looked directly at Alerio.
Lieutenant Macario Hicetus of the mounted Signal Corps did a double take before slamming a fist into another soldier. Alerio didn’t wait to see the result of the alert. He ran.
At the next gate, Alerio slowed and walked through with a nod to the guard. As soon as he was out of sight of the gate, he broke into a jog. A few heartbeats later, four mounted cavalrymen charged by the surprised guard. Luckily for Alerio, none stopped to question the soldier on gate duty.
They split up in four directions and trotted down the streets hunting the man who attacked Lieutenant Hicetus.
***
Alerio pushed into the crowd at the market. Glancing around, he felt safe with no cavalry in sight and his head bare. Until he saw the proprietor
of the pub where he’d taken Hicetus. Standing with two men by a bronze figurine stall, the tavern owner pointed out Alerio and in exchange, he received a full purse. Now, petasos or not, the street thugs knew him.
A man on the side of the market began keeping pace with him. A quick look to the other side and he spotted a second man doing the same. Both were wearing worn and dirty clothing, so he assumed they were street thugs.
It was decision time. Run and try to stay ahead of them until he reached the harbor? Or, find a place to take a stand and fight them. Considering the on-the-take guards at the docks were probably on the thugs’ payroll, Alerio pulled his bedroll around. He decided to look for a dead end. A hidden corner of the city where a few bodies wouldn’t be noticed.
But first, he needed to get out of the market. It was too easy for an enemy to slip up behind him in the crowd and shove a dagger in his back. Seeing a narrow street between three-story buildings, Alerio walked until he was past the street. Once the men following him also passed the street, he stooped down and ducked behind a vendor’s tent. A quick run back, a hook around another tent and, while still stooped, he cut across the market. He gained the narrow street, stood upright, and ran.
Chapter – 33 Aphrodite’s, The Pub, Not the Temple
The plan was to make the first corner and get out of the line-of-sight from the market and the thugs. His legs churning and his arms pumping, he reached the intersecting street and veered south. Then he pivoted and ran back to the intersection. Down the block and walking his horse was a cavalryman. He was staring into alleyways and side streets as his horse moved. Thankfully, he didn’t see Alerio.
Back on the narrow street, Alerio ran for the next intersection.
***
He could see the next street was a wide boulevard. At first, he decided to skip it and move to the next intersection. But as Alerio started to cross the expanse, he noticed the boulevard was empty. Not just lightly traveled, it was deserted. Glancing to the south, he realized why.
A few blocks down, tall temples occupied both sides of the boulevard. With the massive sacrifice in progress, every Priest and disciple for every God or Goddess would be at the massive altar helping to butcher oxen. Changing his mind, the Legionary headed south on the temple street. Staying to the side of the boulevard, he swiftly reached the temple structures.
Maybe he could duck into one and hide until dark. But what then? He still needed to discover the target of King Hiero’s army. Behind him, he heard yelling and a quick look back showed seven men rushing into the intersection. They pointed at him and he responded by running.
Alerio swung into the first street he came to and didn’t break stride until he heard music. Not an angelic choir or chants one would hear from a temple. This was drunken, boisterous voices accompanied by strings and drums. Following in the direction of the music, he continued down the street.
Aphrodite’s Wine and Food occupied a section in the center of the block. Alerio bypassed the street leading to the establishment and ran to the next intersection. Taking the parallel street behind Aphrodite’s, Alerio smiled.
Warehouses for temple supplies lined one side of the street. It wasn’t the warehouses that caused him to smile. It was the corrals and empty wagon yards between the storage buildings. Figuring the sacrifices would keep the wagon drivers busy until after dark, Alerio stopped and listened to a song.
Oh, the Goddess Aphrodite.
Oh, she of love and beauty.
She of pleasure, and procreation.
Ah, procreation!
My wife is like the goddess, let me tell you why.
Showers me with Love, she does. She does!
Ere I come home late, after fellowship and wine.
She blesses me with wash water, or words that ain’t refined.
Calling endearments like drunk, rogue, and swine.
It’s love like Aphrodite, from that true love of mine.
Oh, the Goddess Aphrodite.
Oh, she of love and beauty.
She of pleasure, and procreation.
Ah, procreation!
My wife is like the goddess, let me tell you why.
Shows me her Beauty, she does. She does!
Beyond description I say, is the sight of my own lady.
Sagging in places that shouldn’t, all droopy and toothy.
Bowed legs and mention not, the size of her booty.
She’s blessed like Aphrodite, my own plumpish cutie.
Oh, the Goddess Aphrodite.
Oh, she of love and beauty.
She of pleasure, and procreation.
Ah, procreation!
My wife is like the goddess, let me tell you why.
Soothes me with Pleasure, she does. She does!
Look in the cooking pot, it’s a smoldering gastric affair.
Dinner at home is burnt, not always worth the dare.
It’s a wonder I don’t expire, eating my good wife’s fair.
She’s special like Aphrodite, for the woman does care.
Oh, the Goddess Aphrodite.
Oh, she of love and beauty.
She of pleasure, and procreation.
Ah, procreation!
My wife is like the goddess, let me tell you why.
Sprinkles me with Procreation, she does. She does!
She’s as cold as a granite statue, if I desire Procreation.
If I’m feeling amorous, she displays one of our children.
They’re always under foot, the fruit of our union.
She’s honored Aphrodite, by birthing an even dozen.
Oh, the Goddess Aphrodite.
Oh, she of love and beauty.
She of pleasure, and procreation.
Ah, procreation!
Alerio stopped at a wagon yard, unhooked the latch and pushed the gate open. Then, he walked to the center of the street and waited. While he waited, he sang along with the music drifting from Aphrodite’s courtyard.
Oh, the Goddess Aphrodite, Oh she of love and beauty.
The seven men came into the intersection and spotted him.
She of pleasure, and procreation. Ah, procreation!
Alerio sang and waved at the seven street thugs when they burst into the intersection. Then, as they ran to him, he strolled through the gate and walked to the center of the wagon yard.
Chapter – 34 Open Field Tactics
Alerio learned the gladius and shield from Legion veterans. Every harvest, a Sergeant, and a Centurion came to work on his father’s farm. While there, they taught him sword skills as well as tactics. If your mission was to guard or protect a fixed position, you wanted to funnel your enemy and prevent them from surrounding you. If you were attacking, you needed to avoid a funnel which narrowed your line of attack. A third option dealt with a broken Legion line.
If you found yourself separated and fighting multiple barbarians, get to open ground. Any boulder, tree, or wall could be used by them to sneak up on your blind side. Or trap you where the enemy had the advantage of attrition while your back was to a wall. Open field tactics allowed you freedom of movement to fight on many fronts.
The empty wagon yard fit the need and Alerio pulled off his pack and tossed it to the corral fence. Next, he loosened the flaps and rested the bedroll on the ground between his feet.
“My wife is like the goddess, let me tell you why,” Alerio sang. “Showers me with Love, she does. She does!”
The seven men rushed through the gate and one stopped to close and latch it.
“Ere I come home late, after fellowship and wine,” Alerio smiled while he sang and waited for the men to get closer. “She blesses me with wash water, or words that ain’t refined.”
“You interfered last night, stranger,” a big man advised Alerio. He was better dressed than the rest and had a short sword hanging from his hip.
“Calling endearments like drunk, rogue, and swine,” Alerio voiced without acknowledging the man. “It’s love like Aphrodite, from that true love of mine
.”
“I’m speaking to you, lad,” the man said raising his voice.
So Alerio sang louder, “Oh the Goddess Aphrodite. Oh, she of love and beauty. She of pleasure, and procreation. Ah, procreation!”
“Teach this ignorant Latin to respect his betters,” the leader of the street thugs roared.
The six thugs responded to the order. They pulled knives and rushed at Alerio.
“My wife is like the goddess, let me tell you why,” Alerio crooned as he dipped both hands into the end of the bedroll. “Shows me her Beauty, she does. She does!”
The fastest are not always the smartest or the most skilled. Many times, according to Alerio’s teachers, they are just that, fast.
Alerio’s hands emerged with the two swords. Both thugs, expecting to strike a standing man were not prepared for the flashes of steel that slit one’s belly open and peeled off the side of the other’s face.
Suddenly the thugs were down to five and their victim stood with one sword extended and another hanging above his head like a scorpion’s tail.
“Beyond description I say, is the sight of my own lady,” Alerio sang. “Sagging in places that shouldn’t, all droopy and toothy.”
The thugs, realizing they faced a swordsman, spread out. Even the big one in the nice clothing moved forward. He held his sword’s point low.
“Bowed legs and mention not, the size of her booty,” Alerio sang as he stood still letting the thugs close the distance. “She’s blessed like Aphrodite, my own plumpish cutie.”
Two moved shoulder to shoulder on Alerio’s left. They came in fast before waiting for the other three.
“Oh, the Goddess Aphrodite,” Alerio bellowed as he spun to face them while scissoring his blades. “Oh, she of love and beauty.”
Their rush brought them into range of the swirling sword tips. Both men received lacerations to their chests and thighs. But, none of the cuts prevented them from retreating from the crossing and uncrossing steel blades.
Clay Warrior Stories Boxset 2 Page 16
