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.It was pitch black.“When Flavius and Wulfila arrive, send them in here after us.I want back up.”“Sure thing, chief,” Mattias said.Casca lit a rag and wrapped it around a stout length of wood he’d picked up that morning.Using it as a torch, he led Gerontius in after him, both men bending down to fit.Above them, the wall of the ‘palace’ rose in a sheer solid stone cliff, at least thirty feet in height.The drain was reasonably dry, with just a touch of water at the very bottom.There were a few items lying on the ground, unidentifiable and probably just as well that they were.Casca led his companion on for twenty feet, and he guessed they were now well inside the building.Side tunnels the size of a man’s head began to appear, but they were too narrow to fit in.Then the drain passed under a grille.Casca looked up.There was a rotting ladder against the side, completely unsafe, but the grille was only eight feet above their heads.“Is this the way up?” Gerontius whispered.“It is.Get up on my shoulders.The grille should be no problem.”While Casca bent down, Gerontius took the torch and then got onto Casca’s shoulders.Taking the strain, Casca straightened, and Gerontius rose up in the shaft, heading for the grille.The shaft was just wide enough to take a man and allow for a bit of space.Gerontius found the grille was within arm’s length and pushed.The grille resisted for a moment, then with a groan it lifted from the floor.Gerontius pushed it aside and scrambled up into a chamber with a stone flagged floor.It was cold.He leaned down and took Casca’s hand and pulled.Casca was heavy but he made it, and soon both men were looking round at what clearly had been a prison at some time.It was uninhabited but some of the previous occupants appeared to be still there, judging by the skeletons.The cells were covered in webs, dust, filth and detritus.There was a channel cut in the floor and this led to the grille.Casca took the torch and led Gerontius to the stone steps off to one side.They went up slowly, swords drawn.At the top there was a door, banded in iron and with a large circular iron handle.Casca cautiously tried it and strained, his neck cords showing.Suddenly the rust gave and the handle turned slowly, screeching.The two men looked at one another and grimaced.There was nothing to it but to carry on.The door gave inwards and the two men stepped out into a passageway.Nobody was there.The passage was illuminated by a couple of torches set in the walls, one at either end.Gerontius nudged Casca.“Want to bet it’s a trap?”Casca said nothing.He looked left and right.This was clearly a store area, for some of the doors along the sides of the passageway were open and amphorae, pots and baskets could be seen, some tipped onto their sides.Casca peered into the nearest.The pots there had been smashed and their contents spilled or scattered.Evidence of the fall of the town to the Alemanni earlier in the year.Nobody had yet got organized enough to clear up the mess.But the passageway was used.The torches were evidence of that.One end had a stone staircase leading up while the other turned right out of sight.Gerontius waited.“Next level up I would say,” he suggested.“Of course,” Casca said irritably.“What was that about a trap?”The other man shrugged.“It’s too quiet.Somebody may well have tipped Reikhars off, you know.”“You can back out if it’s too dangerous for you, Gerontius.”“Don’t be stupid, Longinus.I’m in no matter what.I’m doing this for my master, and his daughter.”“You want to marry her?” Casca needled the Roman.Gerontius said nothing but gave Casca an odd look the Eternal Mercenary couldn’t work out, but he had an idea he’d said the wrong thing.“Ah shit,” Casca said, ending the awkward silence.“Let’s go up.Nice and quietly.”They made their way up, seeing another door at the top.Light was spilling in under it into the passageway and it was clear the room was occupied on the other side.Casca gripped his sword tightly and slowly depressed the iron handle, pulling the door open, allowing more light to spill across their faces.He peered into a well lit room.Standing there, waiting for him to open the door, were ten fully armed warriors.CHAPTER SIXTEENWordlessly, Casca and Gerontius walked into the guard chamber.The Alemanni guards said nothing, but stepped back to allow the two intruders to approach the far end where the guard captain waited, a half smile on his be-whiskered face.“So, you come at last,” he growled deeply.“I was beginning to think you were not going to arrive!”“I paid my money, Hrodbehrt,” Casca replied softly, “and I’m damned if I’d just walk away.”Gerontius looked thoughtfully at Casca.“You bribed this man?”“He entered into a contract with me,” Hrodbehrt corrected him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]