Read Online The Centurion's Empire by Sean McMullen - Free Book Online Page A

scrolls that had been kept near the cold store. Some were in Latin, some in a language like Greek. There were notes about the purity of oils and how many tuhs of snow insects had been collected by the slaves. Method and Usage of Venenum: these were instructions about the philter! Such incredible good fortune, thought Lars, surely some god was smiling on him—a loud clack echoed through the darkened room.
    Lars froze for an instant, then rammed the glowing phial under his cloak. No movement, no light. He hastily folded the scroll into his pouch. The clack had come from the ice tub in the floor, yet he had put everything back as he had found it—but not quite. He dropped to his knees and let a little of the phial's glow leak between his fingers. He had not bent the triplever back to its former position, and now the rod that it would have pressed against protruded a handspan from the wall: the accursed device not only warned when the cover had been lifted, it could also be used to remotely check that the lever was pinned in place!
    Where was it controlled from? How far away? How soon would they check? How many guards would come? Lars fought down his panic. The rod would be to check if the trap had been set in the first place, it was only a guard against carelessness, he decided. They would come without suspicion, intending to merely reset the trap. He strung his bow and stepped outside. Behind the dead wolves was a column that would cast a shadow from the lamp of anyone approaching. After a minute two figures appeared, both carrying thumblamps.
    Lars watched as they rattled at the bolt. Once inside they would see the scrolls that he had not had time to tidy away. The first stepped through the door as he raised his bow and shot the figure behind him. The man sprawled, dead before he hit the snow. The other turned.
    "Mind that step—" he began, but was silenced as a second arrow took him in the eye. At such close range Lars's aim was deadly. He dragged the bodies inside and removed the arrows. Perhaps they would soon be missed—he needed a diversion rather than a silent escape. One of the thumb-lamps continued to burn where it had fallen on the doorstep. Lars picked it up and poured a little olive oil on the scrolls. Sputtery flames blazed up. He dangled a cloth strip in burning oil, then set more fires.
    Lars climbed back onto a nearby roof. He took several items of stolen armor and clothing from his pack, and dressed himself to look like an overweight guard. He tried to move quickly; he was aware that the flames would soon be noticed. A tile suddenly broke beneath his weight and his leg plunged through the roof. Somewhere in the distance men were shouting. The security imposed by the Immortals hindered them now. Lars watched as a dozen of them ran back and forth with buckets while the flames spread as if the place had been drenched in olive oil. An explosion suddenly blasted out the side of the venendarium as an amphora of
    something volatile detonated. The roof collapsed in a spark-studded, swirling cloud.
    Lars noticed that guards from outside had now joined the Immortals. He dropped to the ground and went limping toward the gate, waving a bloodied arm for attention as more guards came streaming in.
    "Sheepskins, soak sheepskins in water and bring them, quickly!"
    The advice was sensible. Several guards turned and ran with him back to the outer part of the palace, then turned off for a storehouse. Lars made for the shadows, scaled the palace wall and clambered down the outer face with the aid of a rope. The path to the crane was not long, and was by now unguarded. Lars swung the arm out over the edge and chopped the
    .pulley free with his gladius. The rope rattled out to its full six-hundred-foot extension and the wicker hand crashed to the altar below. He began by climbing down hand over hand, but as his fatigue increased he dropped longer and longer distances, until his leather mittens were smoking with the friction. Near