The Wolf of Rimini by Peter Darman

Author:Peter Darman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mercenaries, military hero, fiction action, swiss guard
Publisher: Peter Darman

Chapter 12

The sweat was pouring off Leon, running off his forehead to sting his eyes and down his neck. His torso was drenched in perspiration and there was nothing he could do to alleviate his discomfort, and neither could the men packed like salted fish in a barrel around him. It was a warm day in late spring and the sun was beating down from a cloudless sky. It was a beautiful day in Lombardy but for Captain Leon Muller it was torture. It had been three weeks since he had met the Archbishop of Milan in his sumptuous palace and the current discomfort he found himself in was a direct consequence of that meeting. Commander Thyg had jumped at the chance to capture Piacenza, especially as his meeting with Francesco Sforza had resulted in no gunpowder or cannonballs being delivered to Marignano. Worse, the food merchants had not reduced their prices and the treasure that the commander had amassed in the Rhine Valley and hauled to Italy was slowly being whittled away. Thyg realised the contract he had signed with Sforza had been to the great disadvantage to the Swiss, so when he was given an opportunity to rectify the adverse financial situation he and his men found themselves in, he jumped at the chance.

The plan was simple enough. Leon and his company would sail down the Po to enter the northern-most, unused sewer in two riverboats, their presence being concealed from prying eyes by canvas sheeting thrown over the fifty men as they sailed down the river, though drifted would be a more accurate description given the faint breeze that was blowing. There were no rivers in the Swiss cantons but in northern Italy they were more important than roads, which often became quagmires in winter and autumn and made travel difficult if not impossible. Rivers only froze in severe winters and so goods and people could be transported along waterways all year round. Leon had been amazed by the volume of traffic on the Po, which was northern Italy’s main waterway. It was thronged with rowing boats, sail boats, barges and even war galleys, travelling east and west along the waterway. The galleys all flew the flag of the Republic of Venice, which was why Leon and his men had to remain hidden. The riverboats would sail along the Po and then divert south to sail along the River Trebbia a mile west of Piacenza, thereafter sailing up the Trebbia for just over a mile to deposit Leon and his men on the western bank at the point where a ditch entered the river. That ditch was manmade and had been created to allow the effluent from the newly built sewer to flow into the Trebbia. Fortunately for the Swiss, the foliage on either side of the ditch was overgrown enough to provide cover for Leon and his men to access the sewer under the city walls and streets, a rusted metal grill baring entry, which Rampini had assured Leon could easily be forced open.

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