noveltune Chapter 44: Firth’s Brilliant Plan
Chapter 44: Firth’s Brilliant Plan
Chapter 44: Firth’s Brilliant Plan
Chapter 44
I was seated between Brutus and Wylie when the city guard announced the enemy had arrived. Brutus murmured, “Damn, they must have run here to arrive so quickly.”
Wylie gave his opinion, “No, it is probably just the lead elements. Two days and mounted men could have easily made a hundred miles on the road.”
Brutus jested, “While as long as the horses can’t fly, it won’t matter. The regulars can hold the walls. It will all come down to how many mages they brought with them. Eryk, you were not here when Castile and Gregor were arguing over the city’s defense. Durandus may have been a greedy fool, but he was a powerful wizard. From the shouts raining down the stairs, I guess things are not pretty.”
Wylie added, “Do not worry, Brutus. I am sure Castile has a plan to keep most of us alive,” he added jovially, while shoveling food into his face. I disliked that Wylie said, ‘most of us.’T/his chapter is updated by
During the meal, Castile left with Adrian for the lower city to further strategize with Gregor and the Army’s General at the Legion Hall. After dinner, my patrol was merged with Firth’s patrol to give us eight legionaries. Firth took the lead, so I was removed from having to think too much. We did not talk much as we walked. I was slightly caught off guard when Firth did not lead us to our assigned patrol route of Venus Street and Vesta Street. Instead, we went into the lower city, and Firth guided us into an alley.
He talked softly to the seven of us, “I know where some Bartirdian collaborators are. I know you all want to get some revenge for Flans’ death.” Murmurs of agreement answered him. “Good. Now we will go in and search the house for the unaccounted-for Bartiadian soldiers.” Nods of agreement and excitement swelled among our number. Firth added, “Hold your blade unless attacked. No killing unless necessary.”
We left our spears in the alley, and Firth’s plan was simple. Four of us would rush to the second floor, and four of us would search the first floor and then the basement. I was part of the second group with Brutus, Mateo, and Wylie.
We walked out into the street, leaving our spears in the alley as they would be difficult to use in a house. Firth walked four houses down and indicated a door. The houses in this section of the city were well maintained but not opulent like our patrol routes in the upper city. Brutus and Mateo rushed the door together and shouldered it open, storming into the dark house. Those of us who had glow stones held them for light.
Footsteps and curses could be heard on the second floor. Brutus went right, and Mateo left as they started their search of the first floor. I found the basement door while Firth and the others thundered up the stairs.
The basement was locked, and as I shouldered it, I could hear harsh whispering below. Just great, we had struck gold. I was at the forefront again. I heard fighting on the second floor as I struggled with my own door. Mateo arrived and heaved to no success. He pulled a hand axe on his belt and began hacking around the hinges, taking chunks of the door with each swing. Wylie and Brutus arrived as well, the first-floor search complete.
I whispered loudly, “Definitely some people down there. Last time, there were seven, and we took them unaware. They know we are coming.” I looked at our small bucklers and wished we had taken the medium shields for the patrol. There was no time. The two hinges were free of the frame, and we removed the door from the other side.
A quarrel bolt thudded into Wylie’s stomach as the door cleared the opening. Brutus did not hesitate to go first, tossing his glow stone and racing down the stairs after the man who shot Wylie. Mateo was behind him, and I quickly kneeled next to Wylie. It looked like a straight gut shot. “Don’t move Wylie. Just lay down; you don’t want the head shifting around inside of you. After the fighting, we can get the last healing potion from Linus and get you patched up.” He nodded and moved to get comfortable.
I walked cautiously and stiffly, as too much range of motion really fucking hurt. The shock from the injury and my training had killed the pain momentarily, but it was slowly magnifying with time. I found a broom and used the handle to tease the ball out from between the crates. I held it in front of me and admired it, getting lost in its soft glow and the movement of the metallic swirls. The allure of the power it contained was muted slightly by how I had obtained it. The wooden stairs shook as someone descended, and I sent the apex essence and the collector to my space. I could have gotten more from the warriors if I had not dawdled.
It was Firth coming down the stairs, and he voiced his anger on seeing my injury, “Bloody harpies tits, three injured. Castile is going to be pissed.”
“I sent Brutus to find Linus,” I said with effort.
“Good man,” he looked around the room. “Well, that makes eight total. This might have been the last of them in the city, so there is that. Didn’t expect to find them here, though. I just hoped to get information on where they were hiding from the collaborators.” He shook his head, “Let us get you upstairs with Wylie and Lysander. Lysander got stabbed in the thigh, all the way to the bone. He can not walk.”
I hobbled up the stairs carefully to find Wylie lying on the kitchen table, still with a bolt sticking out of his stomach, and Lysander sitting with a bloody wrap around his leg. Wylie chuckled, “Come to join the infirmary?”
I gingerly pulled a stool and sat carefully. “Yep, looks like no one died. Should we wrestle for the last healing potion?”
Lysander scoffed, and Wylie clucked with mirth, “The way our night has gone, it was probably already used on someone else.”
Linus came rushing in a few minutes later and assessed all of us before dealing with Wylie first. He cut the shaft, pulled it through, and then administered the last healing potion to him. He came to me next, “Eryk, that was a broadhead quarrel. It missed the bone, but your muscles are cut to shit, and the bleeding might drain into the chest cavity. If you have trouble breathing, let someone know immediately. You need a full healing potion for the extent of the damage. If we used a lesser potion, then the muscles might not knit themselves back together properly.”
He turned to Lysander, “You will not be doing any cooking on that leg,” he smiled at the terrible cook. “One of the lesser potions should heal you up as just one muscle was sliced. Castille keeps one on her person; if not, we will find one in the city.”
It was almost two hours before Castile, Adrian, Delmar, and Konstantin arrived. They had been hunting for the very men we found. Castile was beyond angry at Firth. She knew the healing mage was still in the city and planned to capture and use him during the siege to heal our men. Now, he was dead.
I did learn that two hours was too long to wait to harvest essence, as Castile did not even try. After Castile yelled at Firth in a lengthy tirade, she said to everyone present, “I am going to go beat some potions out of Gregor. Get these two to the villa in a cart.”
As dawn broke, I was seated in a wagon being pulled by a mule. Lysander was sleeping in the wagon bed and somehow snoring, even with the bumpy ride and his wound, he was still able to sleep. I watched the civilians braving the morning streets to stare in awe at me while sitting on the tail of the wagon. I still had a frigging arrow through my shoulder.