Wisehart, Michael - Street Rats of Aramoor 04 - Sandstorm by Wisehart Michael

Author:Wisehart, Michael [Wisehart, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Easthaven Publishing
Published: 2022-01-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

BY THE TIME WE MADE it back to the garrison and unloaded Fipple into his bed, the lunch bell was ringing. The rest of us grabbed a quick lunch, even Gellar, though he used a cane to keep as much weight off his leg as possible. Whatever poultice Reevie had used on the men was doing a remarkable job. The fact that Gellar was able to be up and about so quickly was testament to it. It also helped that Gellar’s determination not to be left in the room was as fiery as his hair.

“What do we do after lunch?” I asked.

Barthol looked up from his seat directly across the table. “What’s today? Seconday?”

“Thirday,” Waylen said on Barthol’s right. He was busy stuffing another helping of beans and rice into his mouth while trying to swallow his last spoonful. His movements were stiff, as he didn’t want to open the wound on his back. He stabbed a piece of meat on his plate and lifted it with a grin. “We get pork on Thirdays.”

Barthol scratched at his beard. “Then we have drills and training this afternoon, and this evening . . . work duty.” He frowned.

“What’s work duty?” I asked, noticing the sour disposition on all their faces, even Waylen’s.

“Could be anything,” Stumpy said from beside me on the bench. He tended to eat slower than the rest, making sure to keep his food spread apart on his plate, not letting the different groups touch. “We could be placed on one of the cleaning crews—”

“Let’s hope it’s not mucking,” Gellar said, trying to keep his braided beard out of his plate. “I hate shoveling poo.”

“I doubt you’ll be shoveling much of anything,” Stumpy said. “Not with that leg of yours.”

Gellar smiled. “The only upside to getting shot, I guess.”

Stumpy shook his head. “There’s more to clean than just the stables.”

Barthol finished the rest of his pork and pointed his knife at us. “I’d take mucking the stalls to cleaning the latrines any day.”

The others shivered and nodded.

Stumpy looked my way. “Each barracks is required to keep their own latrines cleaned. Two rooms are chosen each week for that privilege. Lucky for you, we had our turn in rotation the week before last, so it will be a while before our room comes back around.”

I smiled. That was lucky. The thought of cleaning out the latrines for the entire barracks had me wanting to shiver as well. I suddenly had a special appreciation for our cleaners back at the Temple. Perhaps I should speak with Reevie and Sapphire about setting up a similar kind of system. It didn’t seem all that fair to place latrine duty solely on the cleaners. In fact, it wouldn’t hurt to set up some kind of rotation for all our kids, give each of them the opportunity to see what the other duties were like.

“. . . not as much fun during the colder months,” Waylen said, pulling me from my contemplations. Waylen stared at his plate as though hoping it would refill itself.

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