A Soldier's Life

Chapter 48: Rats Again?

Chapter 48

After the wall watch, I tried to find Castile to talk with her, but she was not at the villa. The other men thought she was with Delmar in the city, making more preparations. After lunch, I took a nap in my room as I needed the rest, even with my anxiety about Castile’s knowledge—or maybe guess she was guessing I was an other worlder?

My dreams were filled with nightmares. Konstantin presented me bound and gagged before an ancient-looking woman who was the Praetorian Guard he served. Delmar ordered me to attack the invading army by myself while completely naked, with just a bow and no arrows. Adrian sent me into the sewers to look for the last two Bartiradian soldiers we suspected of being in the city. Castile immobilized me with her shadow chains and then used her collector on me to harvest an essence.

I woke in a hot sweat in my bed. My sheets were soaked, and I drank an entire canteen of water to replace the water. My sweat was not just from the dreams, though. I walked out to the kitchen, and it was stifling, and none of the ovens were being used. It was still a few hours to dinner, and Lirkin was not around. I went out back to find a few men sitting in the shade and joined them, “Is it just me, or is it extra stifling hot out today?” I said, sitting with Brutus and Felix under a cherry tree.

Felix piped up, “Nope, it is not just you. Castile left an hour ago with Adrian and Delmar. She thinks the Bartiradian have set up a weather array around the city. Guess they plan to cook us alive.”

“What? I thought they were not going to hurt the civilians?” I wiped the salt stinging my eyes away.

“Most have left the city already. Most likely, they can only get it so hot in here. It is probably just a scare tactic,” Brutus contributed.

Felix spat a filmy mass of something he had been chewing on, “Well, I am already scared, so it is working.”

Brutus said, “Heard Konstantin talking to Lirkin in the kitchen. He is planning to go into the sewers tonight to look for the monster in the city. He thinks it is a lycanthrope.” I realized one of my nightmares may have been from overhearing the conversation while I was sleeping.

“No, Konstantin thinks it is smaller than a werewolf. He thinks maybe a wererat or werebadger. He found two spots it was heading in and out the sewers today,” Brutus elaborated.

Felix drank deeply from his canteen to clean his mouth, “Does Konstantin ever sleep?”

“He is napping right now. Plans to put together his sewer squad at dinner,” Brutus took the canteen from Felix and drank.

I joked, “So if we skip dinner, we won’t be selected? Guess I am not feeling hungry.” We all laughed and went inside. I invited them to the basement larder to cool off, and we found Lirkin down there doing his prep work for dinner. The heat had not penetrated here yet. We all helped him prepare the food. Cold sandwiches and vegetables marinated in vinegar and olive oil. Olive oil was a luxury item as the only orchards existed around the capital, according to Lirkin. He only found one small cask liberated from the Citadel stores and planned to use it all.

We helped carry up dinner to the dining room, and everyone had a sheen of sweat and looked miserable. Konstantin was talking with Delmar, and I did not see Adrian or Castile. The mood was subdued as we ate. Castile and Adrian entered and took some food as well. Castile spoke before Adrian announced the deployment for the night.

“This is the magical weather of the Bartiradians. They are trying to soften us up a bit. I suspect they will try to freeze us when the sun sets.” Some groans echoed among us, including me. “Bring your thermals with you on gate duty and patrol,” she continued. “Adrian and I will be moving to the Legion Hall after tonight to be closer to Trader’s Gate to respond faster in the event of an attack.” Everyone was silent as we assumed our days in the comfortable villa were numbered.

Adrian stepped forward. “We will continue to keep you quartered here.” Some sighs of relief, “Tonight we have four inner city gates to watch, and Konstantin is taking five with him into the sewers,” a panic rippled through the men, and some swore softly. “It is not that bad, men. The city has half as many people, and the damaged aqueduct flow has been flooding the sewers, cleaning it out some.”

Wylie chirped, “So you are volunteering?”

Adrian held up his parchment and made a show of crossing off a name and writing a new one. He announced, “Konstantin’s squad is Wylie,” the men laughed as Wylie’s mouth had gotten him in trouble. “Brutus, Mateo, Felix and Eryk.”

Really, frigging selected again? I did the only thing I could and asked a stupid question, “With the aqueduct damaged, how are we going to get clean when we get out?” Apparently, it was not as stupid a question as I thought it was, as there were murmurs of agreement. Adrian looked to Castile, who went contemplative for a moment.

Castile smiled thinly and said, “The Citadel has its own reservoir for its baths. I will arrange for you to use the Count’s baths when you return.” That got murmurs of appreciation.

It looked like I would not be able to talk with Castile, and instead, I would be wading through shit and piss tonight. Konstantin brought the unfortunate ones who were following him off to the side. “We are looking for a wererat in the sewers. It has killed at least four within the city in the last week. Most likely, it is feeding a brood, so it is imperative we find the nest.”

Thankfully, Brutus asked the question I was thinking, “Should we be worrying about this during the siege?”

Konstantin’s glare made me glad I had not asked the question. “Wererats can become a plague in no time. One can become a dozen in a month. Now to the hunt. We are going to stop in the Citadel. We will be coating our blades in silver. In case you were not aware. Normal steel can cut, but it heals rapidly as do all lycanthrope species.”

Mateo focused a question on the hunt, “Is there going to be more than one? Are they hard to kill?”

Konstantin nodded at the sensible question, “As long as they are struck with silver, they will die like any other creature. Silver is a strong poison to them. Now, I selected this group because you all have glowstones. Make sure Eryk tops off their charge.” Stones started to be held in my direction, and Konstantin continued, “Although only one has been seen in the city, I suspect there are more. Not many, but more. My best guess is whatever their food source was, it has dried up since many of the citizens have left, so it was forced to take people from the streets to feed its young.”

Konstantin then advised us, “Leave your lower body armor and get some wraps for the top of your boots. You don’t want them filling up with sewer water.” We all suited up and went to the Citadel.

The silver coating of the blades was simpler than I had thought. The smith had a boiling vat of thin adhesive. Our blades were dipped and then quickly had silver dust added to the blade. It was set on oiled stones to dry for a few minutes. When I got my short sword and dagger back they looked like they had been coated in fine glitter.

The smith advised us, “The glue will deteriorate in about a week. But even before then, the silver will be deposited in wounds made with the blade. It is much more effective than dipping a blade in molten silver to coat it.”

Konstantin added with mirth, “And it takes a lot less silver, so the lords can save a little coin.”

As we stepped outside the Citadel, it was as Castile had predicted. The temperature had plummeted. It was close to freezing, and the city was bathed in a rising fog. Konstantin paused at seeing it, “Ogre’s piss.” He signaled for us to be silent, and we all listened intently in the night air.

After a minute, he voiced his concern, “The Bartiradians are going to attack tomorrow. Should have realized all the aether they were burning to cook us was for a reason. One more cycle of a hot, humid day and cold night will make the fog too thick to see twenty feet in front of you. If they were attacking tonight, then it would have already started.”

Wylie added his thoughts, “I vote we give them the city and let them take care of the rat problem.” We laughed, but Konstantin’s hard eyes made us stop. It looked like we were going into the sewers whether we wanted to or not.

The access we were entering the sewers had a barred iron gate. Two city guards stood near it, and one nodded to Konstantin, “We were told to expect you. Thank you for taking care of this legionnaire. Virgil was a good friend of mine, and I want him avenged. His wife thanks you as well.” Konstantin just nodded and went through the gate, and we followed.

With glowstones out, we moved into the sewers. The sewers were about six feet wide, with a two-foot channel of murky water flowing in the center. The smell was rancid and reminded me of urine mixed with acidic vomit. We stopped at the first intersection, and Konstantin used a scarf to cover his mouth and nose. He handed us each one as well. It was coated in something; all I could smell was a strong, minty scent. We now looked like a bunch of bandits trying to rob the sewer.

Konstantin went into teaching mode, “Notice the flow of the sludge. You can follow that to the refuse chamber. There will be four or five city guards there guarding that entrance. If you get separated, head there to get out. Most of the entrances are barred, with no guards to let you out. The only other threat I know down here is the green slimes. They usually stay in the channels and are harmless unless you touch them. They can dissolve your skin after a few minutes. Just leave them alone, and they will not bother you.” With those words of wisdom, we followed Konstantin into the winding tunnels.

This did not seem so bad. I had thought we were going to walk through sewer waste. “Look, a slime,” Wylie pointed out with his glow stone. An amorphous, murky green blob was crawling along the filthy channel.

Brutus was ready to swing his blade, and Konstantin barked, “Hold, legionnaire! You do not want to lose the silver coating on your blade. Slimes are important to the city as well. They help compost the waste, kill rats, and contain disease. Leave it be.”

We continued to follow the flow of the waste and spotted a few more slimes. We came to another intersection. This one is blocked by a gate. On the other side of the grate, the sewer no longer had a channel down the middle. Konstantin produced a key, played with the lock, and the gate swung open. I was not sure he actually used the key as he had shielded us from its use. I guessed it was just for show, as he used his spell form.

He turned to us, “We are going into the lower city sewers. There are a lot of side rooms from basements of the old city before they built the sewers. They should have all been sealed off, but many of the walls have collapsed over time. I believe the wererat is nesting in one of these. Look for small passages, loose bricks, and anything odd.”

Konstantin stepped into the passage, and he was ankle-deep in green-brown muck. He started walking, and we all followed reluctantly. Mateo stepped on a submerged slime and slipped backward into the waste. We would have all been laughing at him but were instead spitting and cursing from getting splashed. I had been two men back and was fortunate not to get any on my face. Others were not as lucky.

Konstantin just shook his head, “Slid-step as you go. There are slimes in the sludge and probably a few deep voids in the floor as well.” Mateo cursed that the advice was offered a little late.

After a number of turns at intersections, I was thoroughly lost and happy that I knew all I had to do was follow the flow if I got lost. We started encountering the side chambers like Konstantin had mentioned. The first one had cots set up in it, and there was mold growing everywhere. Konstantin spoke, “This has not been used in years. Probably a refuge from the last time the city was taken.” We searched the room anyway and only found some cracked pottery.

The next entrance was just a few bricks missing at the bottom of the sealed room. Mateo, already filthy from his fall, was volunteered to check it out. He got a slight scare from a slime on the other side but no other threats. It was a small room on the other side with shelving covered in dust. A few rusted tools, and that was it. These side rooms only flooded during torrential rains, but the slimes cleaned them well. Konstantin seemed sure his quarry was in this part of the sewers, so we continued to search.

We searched over a dozen alcoves, old sealed-off basements, storage rooms, and overflow chambers. We were covered in things I care not to talk about. Even though the muck level never passed my knees, the splashing and wicking action had my pants soaked. The wetness seeped into my underwear as well, and I was ready to be done with this.

We turned at a Y-intersection, and Konstantin rasped, “Found you, you little devil.” He turned to us, “Just caught sight of it. It ducked into the side archway ahead!” Even the prospect of a coming fight was welcome as long as we could get out of the nastiness of the sewers and hours of trudging through other people’s shit.

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