Infinite Courage by J. Clifton Slater

Author:J. Clifton Slater [Slater, J. Clifton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-28T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18 – The God Dolos

As if the gentle grade of the approach road along the spine of the ridge was a jest, once through the gate, the punchline burst on the travelers. A half a block from the walls, the Legionaries were forced to lift their forward foot to take a step. Doorways at boot level seemed mismatched with the adjacent store entrances just one building up the grade.

“I’ve hunted mountain rams,” Tescum related. “And I don’t remember the climb or the stalk being this difficult.”

“It’s as if Centuripe was built on a set of massive steps carved out by a titan,” Palinurus offered. “The siege by the Legion is going to be bad. But the house to house fighting to secure the city is going to cost a lot of Legionaries their lives.”

Before anyone could comment on the usually slow Legionary’s remarks, Palinurus turned off the road and ducked down an alleyway. Alerio and Tescum, walking a couple of steps in front of him, had to turn back before hurrying to catch up with the Private.

“Where are you going?” Alerio asked.

The stone pavers in the alley stretched out flat and the two normal sized men found themselves jogging to keep pace with the long-legged stonemason.

“Palinurus. What’s the rush?” Tescum demanded.

“I’m losing the light,” Palinurus said without breaking stride.

They left the alley, crossed a road, and reentered the alleyway on the other side. A quick glance up the road showed the terrain continuing to climb. Four cross streets later, Palinurus hooked a right and rushed downhill. He reached the city wall, studied the stones on the street, turned, and passed Alerio and Tescum as he walked back to the mouth of the alley.

“I’m tempted to find a pub and have him come to us when he finds what he’s looking for,” suggested Tescum.

Alerio started to agree when the stonemason vanished off to the right. By the time the Corporal and Tescum reached the end of the alleyway, Palinurus was downhill and nearing the city’s defensive wall.

The stonemason Legionary stomped his feet on the stones covering the street, then with a satisfying grin on his face, crossed his arms, and leaned against the rocks of the wall.

“The tunnel will come up here,” Palinurus announced. “These pavers are larger than standard and roughly laid. The subsurface isn’t properly compacted.”

“What does that mean?” questioned Alerio.

“It means the repair crew from the city did a poor job repairing the storm damage,” Tescum informed Alerio. “It’ll be easy to dig our way up but someone will have to pry loose the pavers and roll them out of the way.”

“If not?”

“The pavers will fall down the hole and take out the squads doing the digging,” Tescum replied. “Seeing as that includes me, Tesserarius, I’d appreciate a promise that you’ll move the stones.”

Alerio glanced around at the stone buildings bordering the wall. Most were the lower backs of structures, their entrances higher up and facing the alleyway. Only a few had doorways for root cellars or rear stairs.

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