He spun, his eyes rolling up into his head, and collapsed heavily to the ground.
She stared down at him for a long moment, stunned by the sudden violence and then, slowly, the pain in her fingers began to make itself known. Shaking her head to clear it, she stared out into the darkness past the fire. Even with her hampered night vision, she could see the gap where the attacker had removed a single board in their fire shield. He had been alone.
Grimacing, she stepped out of the gatehouse and edged round the corner into the darkness where she would be less visible and scanned the gloom for a further sign of her two friends. After a long moment, she saw Salonius creeping along the wall of the central building and then he disappeared around the far corner and into the darkness. She heaved a slow breath and then settled down to wait, her ears pricked for any sign of movement.
Varro and Salonius clambered to the top of the wall walk. The flight of steps they had found was missing a number of stones and covered with creeping undergrowth, rubble and dust. Slowly and carefully they approached the battlements and peered cautiously around the merlon.
“Shit!”
Instantly, the pair ducked back into the protection of the walls. Below and perhaps fifty yards from the walls scattered soldiers sat astride their horses.
“How many d’you reckon?” Salonius whispered.
Varro shook his head.
“I’d say about ten down there, but you can bet we’re surrounded, so we’re looking at forty or so. Shit, shit, shit!”
Salonius nodded.
“Shit indeed.”
They stood crouched for a moment, deep in thought, and then raised their heads in unison.
“Catilina!” they both whispered.
Moments later they were scrambling down the stairs and running across the rough grass towards the gatehouse, all concerns over being observed forgotten.
As they approached the great defensive structure, Varro’s heart leapt into his throat. The archway, lit by the flickering flames, was empty. He and Salonius slid to a halt just as Catilina stepped out from the shadows by the gate.
Varro visibly jumped at her sudden appearance.
“Shit, don’t do that!”
Salonius flexed his shoulders.
“Varro…”
The captain turned to find his companion pointing at the blood-soaked body lying next to the fire. He turned to Catilina and raised his eyebrows.
“Lucky.” She said, flatly, cradling her sore fingers in her other hand.
“I think our luck might be running out” Varro replied. “Looks like there’s several dozen men out there, waiting for us.”
Catilina frowned.
“Do you suppose Cristus is there with them?”
“I doubt it,” Varro grumbled. “This is dirty work. His sort doesn’t do dirty work.”
Salonius nodded.
“Then we’ve got to get away from here” Catilina replied, scratching her neck carefully and noticing once again the blood trails across her hand. “I think we can distract them.”
She crouched near the fire and found a patch of dry, dusty ground. Retrieving a stick from the grass with her good hand, she drew a rough square on the floor and marked their location with an ‘x’.
“We’re here, yes?”
Varro nodded.
She used the stick to draw a line of dots around the square, marking the presumed location of the soldiers.
“I assume they’re all round us?”
Salonius sighed. “We haven’t actually checked, but they’d be stupid to concentrate on one side and leave the others empty.”
“Alright then.“ Catilina cleared her throat. “Before we do this, you need to check all four walls. We’ll need to know all possible ways out, and where their cordon is weakest.”
“What’s the plan?” Salonius muttered quietly.
“They sent men in here to get us. We need to distract them. I suggest we dress three of them in our clothes, strap them to horses and send them running out of one of the exits.”
Varro frowned.
“And what happens if they manage to stop the three ‘riders’ just outside the walls?”
Catilina shrugged.
“Then we’re in the same amount of trouble as we are now.”
Varro stared at her and then shrugged.
“I suppose it’s better than just fighting our way out. Salonius? We need to check the lay of the land from each wall.”
He paused for a moment.
“Salonius?”
Turning at the continued silence, he regarded the young soldier with a raised eyebrow. Salonius was staring off into the distance thoughtfully, his index finger pressed against his chin.
“Salonius?” he repeated, slightly louder.
“Huh?” The young man shook his head and focussed on the captain.
“Sorry… Thinking. There might be a better way.”
The other two waited expectantly and after a moment, Salonius removed his finger from his chin and used it to point at the ruins at the centre of the complex.
“What we need is a distraction.”
“And?” Varro was becoming frustrated.
Salonius shrugged.
“We need to get them to come here. If most of them are inside, they’ll be thinly spread out there and it’ll be easier to slip past them.”
“Granted,” Varro nodded, “but they’ll try and cover the perimeter anyway, and with so many of them milling about within the walls, how would we get outside? And what are you planning for your distraction?”
Salonius frowned in concentration.
“It’s all nice and logical. There are large sections of the central villa that are on the verge of collapse. A good tug with a rope and we could start around a quarter of the structure imploding, I reckon. That should bring them running. In the meantime, we need to head over to the section of walls near where I used the sling. I checked the wall out while we were over there and there’s a postern gate that’s caved in. Just off to the side is a section of fallen wall that collapsed inwards. We can hide in the overhang of the postern while they come to investigate. Then, while they’re busy, we nip out, over the fallen wall, and off into the countryside.”
Varro growled. “And what if we cross the wall and they’re covering that spot?”
Salonius shrugged.
“I don’t believe they will be. If they’re spread thinly, they’ll be concentrating on the gateways and the holes in the walls. That section will still have a drop at the other side maybe as high as ten feet. They’ll likely assume the inside is equally vertical. We’d be crazy to try leaving there, so they’ll write that off.”
“You mean we’ll have to jump the horses down a ten foot drop?” Catilina queried, staring at him. “You’re quite right we’d be crazy!”
“I’m afraid so; maybe even more. But within the next ten feet there’s what’s left of the defensive ditch too, so if we do it right we can land on the ditch slope and save the horses. It’s a long shot, but then that’s why I don’t think it’ll be watched.”
Varro and Catilina exchanged glances and their shoulders sagged. Varro cleared his throat. “You really think
