“What about the guard at the corner?” Ceyx asked. “If you start killing too early, you’ll ruin our element of surprise.”
“How many guards on the roof patio?” Alerio asked interrupting the Scouts.
“No more than two will bother you,” Wido promised. “Sergeant Horus sent me two squads of Archers. They’re hidden on the roofs of buildings across from the warehouse. Once you call out, the patio will become a kill zone. As far as the guard near the booth? I’ll distract him.”
Lance Corporal Wido pulled a wine skin from his side, uncorked it and poured a spurt across his face. “Instant drunk,” he announced. “Everybody needs to have a drink with a fun loving drunk. When you’re ready Lance Corporal Eolus.”
Chapter 53 - The Rebel Warehouse
Alerio watched as Lance Corporal Wido staggered down the center of the street. A soft tune, unevenly whistled and slurred, emitted from his lips between squirts of vino.
“Yo friend,” he mumbled as he approached the guard “It was a good catch and I’m celebrating. Have a drink with me.”
“Go away,” the guard whispered. Obviously, he didn’t want to draw attention to himself or his duties.
While waving the wine skin around, Wido jingled a coin purse on his hip to show his earnings. Once he was sure the thug had seen the bulging coin pouch, he shrugged, spun too fast and almost fell. In order to keep his balance, he stumbled to the other side of the street. There, he leaned against the wall.
As the drunk with the heavy purse slumped, the guard looked around. It was too easy. He pulled his knife and deserted his post.
Ceyx tapped Alerio on the shoulder and the two men moved forward staying in the deep shadows. As Wido sank to the pavers, he rolled over on the coin purse, and began snoring loudly. The guard leaned over and shook the drunk. As he busied himself with trying to roll over the large, passed out fisherman, Ceyx and Alerio reached the low roof of the booth.
The covering was only head height and the two-man entry team easily vaulted to the top. With cautious steps, they crossed to the corner of the warehouse. A hip high ledge created where the thick lower wall ended, left a one brick wide shelf.
Ceyx placed a hand on Alerio’s shoulder and stepped up with his left foot. Slowly, he brought the right foot around and placed it on the ledge. Shuffling his feet and hugging the wall so closely he scraped his cheek, Ceyx inched along until the fingers on his right hand curved around an opening in the bricks.
There were three openings in the upper wall. These allowed air flow into the warehouse at night and released heat during the day. The holes were circular with a diameter of thirty inches. Above the openings, the wall continued upward creating the retaining wall of the roof patio just a few feet above Ceyx.
While Ceyx could easily slip through the hole, he worried about two immediate issues. What if the big Legionary didn’t fit? The other issue was could Alerio cling to the shelf? If Alerio fell, it would tip their hand and their task of getting silently to the Centurion would fail. With his finger cupping the edge of the air hole, Eolus reached out with his left hand.
The second issue resolved itself. Ignoring the outstretched hand, Alerio stepped up on the ledge without assistance. He shuffled rapidly until Ceyx had to move further down so both men could use the opening as a hand hold.
When Alerio was too young to remove stones from the fields or to construct walls, his father would lift him to the top of a finished section.
“A well stacked wall will stand for centuries,” the elder Sisera would say. “Just piling up loose rocks and it will fall in a season.”
Alerio would walk each course and tell his father where a stone rocked or slid. His father would dutifully reset the stone so the wall rose solid and strong. When Alerio grew older and could participate in preparing the fields, he would lay a course of newly dug up stones, jump up on the wall, and walk it to test for stability. The brick wide shelf on the warehouse wasn’t a problem for the surefooted farmer’s son.
Ceyx pulled himself up and into the air passageway. He needed to get a view of the warehouse’s interior. If required, they’d scoot to the next hole to find the second floor landing. It was dangerous but not as dangerous as falling two stories to the warehouse floor. The plan was for him to peek and find out where the landing was located.
Alerio watched as the Scout set his hands on the passageway and pulled himself up. First one elbow vanished into the hole then the other. A kick of his legs for momentum and Ceyx shimmied into the air shaft. Suddenly, all of Ceyx’s body was swallowed by the short passageway.
Shuffling quickly so he was directly under the hole, Alerio got a grip and pulled himself up. Where the Scout had fit easily, Alerio needed to place one elbow over the other. He raised up on his elbows high enough for his shoulders to fit the round opening. Keeping the high profile, he walked with his forearms while dragging his lower half into the circular air vent.
Shouting reached him as he struggled to squeeze through. The duel sword rig scraped against the upper section and his forearms left a trail of skin and blood on the rough clay bricks as he rushed to catch up with the Scout. A shout hastened his movements.
“For the Republic,” Ceyx bellowed. “For the Republic.”
Alerio, still in the air vent, repeated the yell to alert the Legionaries outside the warehouse. The assault on the warehouse had commenced with one man in the building and another still in the air vent. It wasn’t the plan.
Chapter 54 - A Rescue and a Prisoner
Lance Corporal Ceyx Eolus held his gladius and a curved dagger. Three men were rushing towards him. The two bodies lying beside him were the reasons for his hasty entrance.
When Ceyx reached the end of the passageway, he first noticed the solid wood flooring. A partial second floor extended from the wall where the legs of the roof ladder rested to the other side of the warehouse. The wood flooring extended out for fifteen feet and had a railing for observing the storage space below. At the other wall, an opening in the planking gave access to the warehouse floor. The end of a ladder jutted through the hole.
Upon peering into the warehouse from the end of the vent, his first emotion was relief. He and Alerio wouldn’t have to heel and toe it on the narrow ledge to reach the next air passageway. His second emotion was horror.
Speckled Pheasant, the Rebel Captain, had a knife in one hand and was pulling on Centurion Stylianus’ ear with the other. It was obvious the Rebel leader was going to saw off the ear. Whether to show his resolve when he demanded the Night Bees, or because he was a sadist, didn’t matter. Ceyx reacted by yelling and jumping from the passageway.
Speckled Pheasant released the ear and danced back. For a fat man, he moved quickly. He avoided Ceyx’s gladius but the two holding the unconscious Centurion were standing close to the wall with no room to retreat. Plus, their hands were busy holding the limp Centurion. They weren’t quick enough to drop the Legion Officer and draw their weapons. Ceyx’s blades slashed and stabbed. The men were still falling when Ceyx turned to face the Rebel Captain.
The Rebel commander was screaming for his guards and stepping back. One second he was upright, the next he tumbled over a chair. In four steps, Ceyx had the tip of his blade at the obese Rebel’s throat. Encouraging the Captain to stand and move with the point of his knife, Ceyx guided Speckled Pheasant back to where the Centurion lay. The hilt of his gladius swung around and connected with the Rebel’s head.
That’s how two unconscious men ended up beside the Scout. The three rushing towards him had come from the roof patio. He’d have to have a talk with Lance Corporal Wido about his ineffective placement of the Archers.
Right now, Ceyx faced three armed men, and from the sounds, more were climbing the ladder from the warehouse floor. And there was no sign of Private Sisera.
Alerio reached the end of the passageway and scanned the scene. Two men were down, and based on the amount of blood, dead. Two others were crumbled in a pile. One displayed bruising on his fac
e, chest and arms. The other was fat and wearing a gaudy vest encrusted with multicolored stones. Lance Corporal Eolus was standing beside them with a gladius in one hand and a wicked looking knife in the other.
The three armed men were five paces from Ceyx when Alerio launched himself from the passageway. It would have been heroic for him to landed on his feet in front of the men. It would have been except his heels collided with the top of the passageway. He was in mid jump when the bump flipped him over.
Ceyx crouched with weapons extended ready to meet the charge. At four paces and closing fast, it was going to be a short and deadly encounter. The Scout didn’t have much hope of surviving. Then, the big body of Private Sisera flipped over his head and crashed, back first, into the three Rebels.
The three men toppled over as if someone had tossed an oversized sack of grain at them. In this case, the sack was a dark cloak and it came up swinging elbows, fists and knees. Ceyx stepped forward and carefully stabbed between the flurry of flying limbs and took a Rebel out of the fight. Alerio gained his footing before the last two Rebels and he made sure they didn’t get up.
“Nice entrance,” Ceyx said while tilting his head and looking askew at the young Legionary. “Kind of reminds me of a circus tumbler I once saw. Except, he landed on his feet.”
Before Alerio could reply, Rebels began streaming up the ladder from the warehouse floor. He reached over his shoulders and pulled both gladii from his back.
“I’d love to stay and reminisce about the circus, Lance Corporal Ceyx Eolus,” Alerio said as he swung the swords to loosen up his shoulders. “But I’ve got to go and save your life again.”
“What do you meant again?” Ceyx replied. But he was speaking to the young swordsman’s back. Alerio had already turned to face the ladder and the first of the Rebel’s reinforcements.
Chapter 55 - Fight in the Warehouse
Five thugs leaped from the ladder and spread out. It was a good strategy. One at a time and they’d be cut down. Attacking in line would allow them to swarm the two Legionaries.
Ceyx was mid step in following Alerio towards the fight when Speckled Pheasant moaned. He couldn’t leave an enemy combatant in his rear, so he stopped.
While he rushed to cut lengths of cloth from his cloak, Ceyx watched in frustration as the young Legionary shuffled forward, alone, to face five armed assailants. Right away, he judged Sisera’s opening move to be a mistake.
Alerio held his gladii together with bent arms as if he were preparing to offer the weapons to the Rebels. The Legionary slid his left leg far out front putting him off balance if attacked from the side. And his flanks would certainly be attacked when the men enveloped him.
Ceyx’s fingers fumbled with the knot as he bound Speckled Pheasant’s hands. Once they were secured, he rushed to tie the Captain’s legs.
The Rebels faced a young man holding two swords outward with one foot extended out in front of the rear foot. His feet were a ridiculous distance apart with the front knee bent as if he were about to do calisthenics. Seeing the odd stance confused the five and they hesitated. When Alerio’s swords parted at a less than impressive rate, the Rebels simply leaned back to avoid the moving tips.
Ceyx watched the unorthodox stance and his heart sank at the halfhearted opening swings. Maybe, he thought, it had been wrong to bring such a young, inexperienced Legionary on the rescue operation.
Suddenly, Alerio’s right leg whipped forward. As it passed the bent left knee, he flicked the swords an inch forward and nicked two of the thugs. The right foot continued on its path and kicked the center Rebel in the chest.
Air expelled from the thug’s lungs as he flew back. Another Rebel at the top of the ladder only managed to see the arrangement of the fighters on the second story before the thug landed in his arms. Both men fell screaming to the warehouse floor. Another, climbing the ladder lost his grip when the falling men clipped him. He ended up hanging precariously from the side of the ladder with one hand. The flow of reinforcements stopped as the man fought to regain his grip on the rungs.
Alerio finished the kick, slammed his right foot to the floor and pivoted on it. As he spun, his gladii acted as sickles slicing deeply into two of the thugs.
From either side, the Rebels with the nicks dove at him. One received the end of a hilt to the back of his head. He landed unconscious against Alerio’s foot. The other lost three teeth when his face connected with a knee before his arms could wrap around the swordsman’s legs.
Dancing between the four downed men, Alerio skewed and sliced to be sure they were all permanently out of the fight. Then leisurely, he rolled one of the bodies to the top of the ladder. He kicked it. The body fell and landed on the man who was trying to regain his hand hold. The unbalanced Rebel, and another Rebel from the ladder screamed as they toppled with the dead body to the warehouse floor.
By the time the Rebels reorganized and commenced climbing again, Alerio had stacked two more bodies at the opening for the ladder.
“Are you going to kick the other bodies down as well?” Ceyx asked.
Ceyx was leaning casually on the wall behind the hog tied Rebel and the unconscious Centurion.
“No. They’ll learn to duck if I do it again,” Alerio turned his head and replied. He snapped his head around and jammed his left gladius into the ladder opening. A man screamed and others cursed as the wounded man fell into those attempting to climb up behind him. “The bodies will act as barricades in case they start shooting arrows,” Alerio said looking over his shoulder. He winked at the Scout and apologized. “Excuse me.”
He twisted around and slashed downward with his right gladius. The chorus of pain and complaining rose again.
On the warehouse floor, the Rebels were crawling over each other trying to gain a place on the ladder. Behind the mob, Speckled Pheasant’s Lieutenants were urging them forward with kicks and threats. A banging noise drew their attention and they stopped shoving and spun their heads around.
One entire wall of the warehouse had tall doors set between columns of clay bricks. At the next bang, all the doors flew open.
Eolus and Sisera could hear two voices raised above the yelling of fighters and the screams of the dying. Both voices were calling out the same thing.
“Watch for our men,” Corporal Thornernus and Sergeant Horus were calling out. “Watch for our men!”
The two-man rescue team agreed it was a grand idea. Still, they were glad they were on the second floor. Below them in the warehouse, the Legion’s Heavy Infantrymen stabbed with their gladii, slammed with their shields, and stomped with their right feet. As taught in recruit training, the stomp was as much of a weapon as their javelins, gladii, and shields.
Anything under the hobnailed boots got smashed. Ankles, feet, legs, chests and heads, anything on the ground become neutralized pulp. In a fight, a Legionary’s vision was restricted by the helmet and shield. They wouldn’t necessarily recognize a Lance Corporal and a Private guarding a rescued Centurion. So being on the second floor was a stroke of luck. Below, all the Rebels in the warehouse were butchered by the partially blind meat grinder of the Legion.
Chapter 56 - Medic up, Medic up
It ended quickly. Other than the heavy breathing of a warehouse full of Legionaries, the large space was quiet.
Sergeant Horus called out hopefully, “Eolus. Sisera. Lance Corporal Eolus. Private Sisera. Report.” He looked around for a signal before lifting his eyes to the balcony on the second floor.
Ceyx and Alerio were peering over the railing and down at the carnage. When Horus spotted them, they waved causally to the Sergeant.
“Did you locate Centurion Stylianus?” the Sergeant called up to the smiling men. “Do you require medical assistance?”
“The Centurion needs looking at,” Ceyx shouted. Before he could explain, the Sergeant began yelling, “Medic up! Medic up!”
The call was repeated by a squad’s Lance Corporal and by Corporal Thornernus, “Medic up. Medic up.”
/>
As if created by the bow of a ship at sea, the Legionaries parted and two Medics rushed for the ladder.
“Let’s dismantle your barricade before the Medics trip over the bodies,” suggested Ceyx.
By the time the first Medic’s head appeared in the ladder’s opening, the bodies had been dragged to the side. Though the flooring in front of the opening was covered in slices of skin, bone, and an inch of blood. It resembled the aftermath of an epic battle.
“Hurry,” the Medic called down to his compatriot. “It’s a blood bath.”
He expected to find the rescue team cut and bleeding. Instead, he found a shaken and bruised Centurion and two grinning Legionaries. The only wounds were to Alerio’s forearms. Red and raw as if a cheese grater had been employed, they oozed drops of blood.
Sergeant Horus climbed up next and he swore as his boots sloshed through the gore. Spying the Medics surrounding the Centurion, he rushed to check on the Officer.
“We’re fine Sergeant,” Ceyx informed the NCO as he raced to the Centurion’s side. “If anybody is interested?”
Chapter 57 - Cleaning Up and Clearing Out
Four Legionaries cleared the ladder and Lance Corporal Eolus directed them to the roof ladder.
“Not sure what’s left on the roof,” he said. “But, no Rebel should walk down. Understand?”
They didn’t know the NCO, but, the Sergeant was occupied speaking to a man being attended to by a Medic and ignoring them. So they accepted the orders and hurried towards the roof ladder.
The second Medic realized he wasn’t needed to attend the Centurion. While looking around for something to do, he noticed Alerio’s deep scrapes. After scolding the Legionary for not reporting the injuries, he opened a kit. A light dusting of sterilizing salt was sprinkled on the wounds and the Medic proceeded to bandage Alerio’s forearms.
“I assume that’s Centurion Stylianus,” guessed Alerio using his chin to indicate the direction. “I’ve seen the obese gentleman in the fancy vest before. Isn’t he the Rebel leader?”
Clay Legionary (Clay Warrior Stories Book 1) Page 12
