Milc/C.J. Milnes
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Chapter 44 - We need more buckets!
🕑 Added 2025-04-28 18:59:06 +0000 UTCJanko and Herpatik were infiltrating a city by night. Glimpse was watching over them, keeping low but occasionally rising up to give me a birds-eye view of the city. Like most ancient cities that didn’t have a coastal port, it was built along a river. It was likely a tributary of the Jerul that joined the main flow after it passed Settal.
The city itself was much the same as Settal, albeit slightly smaller. A multi-storey keep rose by the bank of the murky water, jetties and pontoons extending out from the nearby dock district. The houses had stone lower floors and wooden upper levels, giving it a rustic look to my modern tastes.
The rest of the kill team had gone to the other city under Powtu’s watchful eyes. The two who had proven themselves against the army in the north had been trusted to take on the smaller city alone.
The pair was skulking through the taller grass along the river as they made their way closer. Janko tapped Herpatik on the shoulder and pointed up at the flaming torches the guards carried as they patrolled the walls. He covered his eyes for a moment, then grinned savagely. Herpatik snorted softly and nodded. Stupid guards only made their job easier.
It was late into the night, or early in the morning depending on your perspective, when the pair arrived at the foot of the wall. They’d gradually worked their way to a point equidistant between the nearest towers. Herpatik crept away from the wall and looked up at the crenellations. He waited until the glow of the guards were as far as possible from their planned point of entry, then waved a hand at his companion.
A tear in reality opened up, faintly outlined in purple-pink light. Herpatik sprinted over and dived through just after Janko strolled through and to one side. They emerged in a quiet street lined with simple houses. The road ran around the inside of the wall, a great ring of rough cobbles that would allow rapid redeployment of troops from one side of the city to the other.
Glimpse landed on a nearby thatched roof and cawed quietly. The two men slipped into the shadows of a nearby building and took stock of their situation.
“West, then?” whispered Janko as they stripped off their dark cloaks and donned rough-spun peasant garb.
“Granary is in the centre of the city, hit there first, then move against the lord.” Herpatik glanced down at his boots and grimaced. “Fuckin’ shit-sitters!”
“Birdy! Keep an eye out for us?” called Janko softly, earning another quiet caw in confirmation. “Right, let's go. Getting out might be easier than getting in!”
“Don’t beggar fate, you idiot!”
The pair moved towards the centre of town, creeping and slipping from shadow to shadow. The moon was gibbous, but it was low in the sky. Despite the lack of clouds to soften the night, they had no trouble passing unnoticed through the sleeping city. The granary was a large, tower-like building nearly four storeys tall and made entirely of stone. Fire was always a danger when you stored grains. The dust would build up, and it was highly combustible, even explosive under the right conditions.
Far to the north, I smiled to myself and tried to shuffle Fay’s head off my shoulder as the pressure had made my arm go to sleep before the rest of me.
The pair of assassin-saboteurs stopped as they came to the street that let out into the plaza outside the granary. Over the last couple of days, while Glimpse was performing reconnaissance, I’d seen this place bustle during the day. Stalls would be set up with weights and scales, and measures would be shared out. It was the centre of the city's fragile system of food distribution. Simple tread cranes were positioned on the roof, used to haul heavy sacks of grain up high, where they could be poured into the main storage areas.
Three guards watched from the main door to the granary. “Watched” would perhaps be a little generous. One was almost certainly asleep, while the other two were playing a game that involved tossing small wooden sticks and gambling on the outcome. If they worked for me, they’d be digging latrines until they figured out that slacking off on guard duty was a very stupid idea.
The sleeping man might be a problem. Glimpse could see red letters floating over his head. Only D ranked in body and F in mind, but that made him a significant threat to my pet killers.
A complicated series of caws, some long and some short, echoed out as Glimpse used the limited codes he had to communicate with the men to explain the danger. They backed off down the street and ducked into a dark alley to confer. Glimpse landed on Janko’s shoulder, and the man absently raised a hand to pet the bird.
“Birdy says there’s a soulbound there. Unless he’s the sleepy one we’re fucked,” whispered Janko.
“Is it the sleeper?” asked Herpatik, and Glimpse nodded. “We can do it. We need to blow the doors anyway.”
“No we fucking don’t. Use a portal spell instead?”
“Janko, we’ve still got to hit the keep, and that will be a lot better guarded than the granary.”
“Something’s off. They can’t be this stupid, can they? They know the warriors are coming, right? Why are they so lax?”
“They’re shit-sitters, fat, dumb, and happy behind their walls!” snapped Herpatik. “How many times did we just walk into those camps and poison their supplies? The city air makes them stupid.”
Glimpse hopped over from Janko with a brief flap of midnight wings and pecked Herpatik on the ear.
“Dammit! Fine. Don’t underestimate the enemy. I hadn’t forgotten what the Lord told me…”
“So we sneak in then? Ignore the guards?” Janko asked, and Herpatik nodded in reply. They moved away from the granary and circled to approach the granary from a different angle.
The stone was poorly cut and fitted, rough-hewn and badly mortared together. But it still presented a solid obstacle to the two men. There was no point climbing; the windows higher up were all too narrow for them to squeeze through. Another portal of pink and purple appeared, and the pair hurried through, only to find themselves in pitch darkness as reality healed itself.
“Feel like a rat in a trap?” asked Janko. He pulled a pebble from his pocket and activated a light spell. It glowed faintly, and they moved through the storeroom to the main space. A series of chutes and trapdoors lined one end of the hall, thick wooden floorboards supporting the weight of the grain above them.
“I feel like I’m staring up at a rock falling on my head. How do these people live like this? It’s not natural. Please give me a thick felt tent any day. It’s never going to crush me if it breaks! Here, let’s chuck these and get the hell out of this cave.” Herpatik passed Janko three small pebbles and kept three for himself. They spread out, whispering about the best places to throw them, and when they made up their minds, they retreated back to the door to the store room.
Three quick throws and walls of incandescent white fire erupted and spread out randomly across the lower floor. The two men dived through a portal and ran west, keeping to the shadows. Glimpse watched them emerge and cast his own Firewall spell on the grains that had been dumped into the top of the granary during the day, but hadn't been shoveled into the sub chambers for long-term storage.
The crow flew off after the men as they headed towards the keep. A few shouts quickly grew into a number of frantic screams behind them. The city grew a little brighter as the dried food in the granary caught fire, and flames reached into the sky from the top of the building.
My killers slipped into an alley and turned to watch, Glimpse flapping down to land on Janko’s shoulder as they observed the mayhem they’d caused.
“Now that’s a bonfire! Aresk’s hairy back! Look at it burn!” muttered Herpatik gleefully.
“They won’t be able to get that under control. Job one: done. How do you want to play the keep?”
“Same way we did the army. Use the distraction of the fire to sneak in, poison the shit out of the best looking grub we can see then bugger off. Sounds good?” Janko nodded to his friend in reply, and the pair moved off through the now flickering shadows.
A massive explosion shook the night as the dust at the base of the granary caught and the burning wood of the roof and the cranes was blasted out across the nice, dry thatch of the surrounding buildings. Glimpse circled over to check it had caught, and sure enough, the wildfire was spreading merrily as it consumed the brittle roofs of nearby buildings.
“That’ll have woken everyone up!” muttered Janko.
“They’ll be panicking. Makes our lives easier.
Sure enough, people were boiling out into the streets as a result of the granary going off like a firework. Fire was terrifying in these kinds of cramped and primitive conditions, but it wasn’t unknown. It was also a threat to everyone, so the entire town would rally to form bucket chains and do their best to contain it.
“Over here! We need more buckets!” a man called out as people began to form lines from the river. “Quickly! Half the bloody town’ll burn!”
My assassins hurried along as though they were heading to help at the head of the lines. They weren’t the only ones. Most people were happy to help as long as they stayed as far away from the fire as possible. The keep’s gates had been thrown open, and sleepy-eyed soldiers were boiling out into the streets to help organise the mass of citizens trying to douse nearby buildings. Hooks on ropes were being thrown onto buildings to tear the thatch away, attempting to create a firebreak.
Janko and Herpatik slipped into the keep after a large squad of half-dressed troops had stumbled out, the men staring in shock at the inferno that dominated the centre of town.
“I’ll go deal with the well, go see if you can find the kitchens!” hissed Herpatik, and Janko skulked off to peer in through narrow windows and swing doors open gently to peer quickly inside.
Herpatik ran over and muttered a quick prayer of thanks to Aresk that the river was the logical point to organise a bucket chain from. The well was stone-lined and deep. A broad wooden structure kept the rain off, and there were four crossbars extending out over the black pit, each with a handle and rope attached. He opened his storage and pulled out half a dozen vials of something noxious, tipping them into the well before tossing the bottles in after them.
After a moment's thought, he opened another storage bay and held his hand out below the cranks for the buckets. Half of a dead and rotten vile-cat appeared and fell into the well with a splash.
“I was wondering why you picked that thing up,” muttered Janko as he jogged over, keeping a careful eye on the dark windows. “Glimpse found the stores. Come on!” He padded away, and Herpatik wiped his hands on his tunic, then followed quickly.
The kitchen had a banked fire in the long hearth that lay along the wall furthest from the door. The constant heat probably helped supplement the lesser fires in important rooms during the winter. Despite the arid climate, I was only too aware how cold desert nights could get. Glimpse cawed and landed in front of a door, then pecked at it.
Janko moved the bar, and the door swung open. Back in the north, I made a note to have a chat with Sulk about inventing simple locks. Not that we needed to worry about them much, our homes were simple felt tents after all.
Glimpse hopped through first and began poking around. Sacks of freshly milled flour lined one wall, baskets of vegetables another, and along the far wall, furthest from the fire in the other room, hung various game animals. They were mostly wild fowl, pheasants, and such, with a couple of bunnies at the end. I sent an order to Glimpse not to peck at the meat. They’d be unlikely to eat it if it looked like a pest had been at it.
I am not a pest! The bird sent back, with overtones of annoyance behind the thought.
The vegetables and unground grains all received quick sprays of poison as Herpatik shook a series of small bottles over them. Janko looked into the open sacks of flour and began shoveling handfuls of the powder into his storage space. Then he topped them up very carefully from a clay pot he pulled from another bead. He stirred the potent poison carefully with a dagger.
“Hopefully it won’t kill the cooks before they can serve this stuff to the lord!” he whispered as the pot vanished again. “Get the meat!”
“How do you know that flour was for the lord?” asked Herpatik.
“Fine white flour? That’s only for fancy shit-sitters, Herpa. Did you sleep through all the training?” Herpatik was carefully pouring something horrific from another vial over the hanged meat.
“I’m more of an improviser than a planner, Janko. It works, doesn’t it? Bet you thought I was weird for picking up that vile-cat carcass!”
“I still think you’re fucking weird, brother. Let’s get the fuck out of here. Birdy, want to check out if the exit is clear?” Glimpse nodded and flew back out to leave the men to finish their dastardly deeds. As he soared upwards, the extent of the fire surprised me.
Nearly a quarter of the city's roofs were ablaze, or starting to smoke. The thick smoke was spreading, blown west by the steady breeze, and the far end of the city was lost in its murky depths. A quick sweep, and Glimpse headed back down. He cawed quietly, two quick notes, and the killers jogged out and rushed towards the keep’s entrance.
“You two! What the fuck are you doing?” called a stern voice as they emerged onto the street. “What unit are you with?”
“Lord, we aren’t! We just collect the nightsoil!” Janko said apologetically.
“Sometimes hound master lets us kip in the stable, lord!” Herpatik sounded like he was about to cry. The pair moved closer to the soldier who’d spotted them. To my eyes, it looked like they were predators moving to surround a lamb, but they had hunched their shoulders and moved as though terrified.
“Can’t you see the city’s burning, you fools! Head to the river and lend a hand with the… You! Look up at me! Let me see your face!” He drew his short sword and pointed it at Janko. They were only a few feet apart now. I could feel Glimpse's happiness. He was expecting a new source of eyeballs in his future.
Whatever it was that had raised his suspicion, it was too late. Janko grinned and blurred forward to snatch the guard off his feet by the poor bastard's throat, then yank him back into the keep, away from the street. Herpatik followed quickly, a dagger flashed out and buried itself into the man's neck, angled upwards to pierce the skull for an instant kill.
The body vanished as Herpatik waved a hand in its direction.
“Bet you don’t think I’m weird for storing that body?” he chuckled.
“You’re still fucking weird. Let’s get the hell out of here,” Janko replied.
“You’re too ugly for this work. He could see you weren’t a local from a mile off.”
“Shut up, Herpa.”
The friendly, low-level bickering continued as they ran through the streets towards the nearest wall, and with another rip of pink and purple light, they were outside and safely jogging away into the night, a burning city and a hopefully-soon-to-be poisoned set of lords in their wake.
I rolled over, almost hugging Fay, then carefully eased her off my arm and settled in to sleep. I was starting to think I wouldn’t need the army for much. A handful of psychos with borrowed power could easily ruin any city we came up against.
