The Walls of Sparta (Forgotten Heroes of Rome Book 6) by Autieri Jerry

Author:Autieri, Jerry [Autieri, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-14T00:00:00+00:00

17

F alco balled his fists as he stared at the impervious walls of Sparta. Had the gods constructed this place? The walls stretched up to the heavens and threatened the stars floating in the sky. It seemed they might collide with the parapets as they wheeled across the night. Worse still, it seemed King Nabis had increased his guards atop the walls. For now they no longer patrolled but were stationed to look out across the plains. Each one carried a torch, which he could drop to illuminate anything that stirred near the walls.

He sighed, then wondered if he could bait enough of them into dropping torches that the whole place might burn to the ground. Surely Varro could find his way out during the confusion.

“We can’t sit here all night,” Curio whispered, crouched next to him in the darkness. “We’re not going to stare a hole through the walls, though that seems to be your plan.”

They had circled the entire city during the day seeking a way inside. But traffic was all funneled through the main gate, and while Curio and he could have attempted to pass inside unseen, they had not found the chance. Only the column of soldiers and their carts returned from the mountains. Cages mounted on the beds were empty and rattled loud enough that he could hear them from his hiding spot in reeds below the bridge. Whatever they had set out to capture, they had returned empty-handed. Once the gates closed on that column, they did not open again.

“It all seemed possible in my head,” Falco said. “But it’s not working out.”

Curio snorted. “You’ve got a good imagination, Centurion Falco. Were you hoping they left that rope ladder for us?”

“They might’ve forgotten it.” He felt Curio’s eyes on him as he stared at the walls and the points of yellow light lining it. “You know, someone always fucks up. Just not this time.”

“No, we fucked up,” Curio said. “We had one chance to get inside when those carriages returned from the mountains. Now we’re stuck out here. It’s nighttime, and we’ve no means of scaling the wall. Tomorrow, we have to sneak inside with whatever traffic they’re allowing in. If the consul is near, no one will be allowed inside at all.”

“Are you giving up?”

Curio did not answer. Falco knew he could not admit it. Neither could he. Varro would not have given up on them. But he was nowhere near as clever as Varro. When he saw a wall, he thought about smashing it down. If Varro were here, he’d have a plan to get over or around it or otherwise make the wall unimportant to their plan. But for Falco, all he saw was a wall that required siege engines to bring down.

“Well, we can’t fly and it’s not like someone left the back door open. We’re not trying to break into someone’s woodshed. We’re trying to break into Sparta. It’s different.”

“Are you convincing yourself or me?” Curio shifted back to sitting in the tall grass.

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