"…it needs to be tonight."

A wave of panic rose in Palinus's chest. He could see that Rufian was serious, and that there was no way he was going to change his friend's mind. His mind worked quickly to try and solve the problem without risking their lives and the success of the team.

"What if we created a distraction on the march tomorrow?" He suggested

"That might work, but we don't know exactly where the taverna is…" Rufian had clearly thought this through as he spoke with an unusual calm seriousness. "If we can't get in tonight we use that as Plan B."

"We should ask Selina-"

"She won't let us do this, but I need that calculus… and to get it I need your help." Rufian asking for help like this was totaly out of character, it instantly made Palinus serious about the request.

"I can drop a smoke veil and we run out of camp, but that's going to be pretty obvious-"

"I've got some help for that part…" Rufian went on to explain that he had a plan for escaping the camp. Palinus would be using his ars to help, but he seemed to think they had another trump card he didn't reveal.

The plan for getting into the city was where Rufian really needed Palinus's help, and the reasoning came out of nowhere.

"Why do you think I know the Commodus smugglers?" He was surprised at Rufian's veiled accusation of his former misdeeds.

"Come on Pal, I saw the markings on those wine amphora… it didn't make sense why you were collecting amphora from down south. But then I realised that's how the Commoduses get them for their watered down knock off wine." Rufian accused Palinus calmly. "I was there when Domitia came to meet you, she wouldn't come herself unless you were a known asset."

The accusation stung and brought back a feeling of guilt and shame.

"How do you know so much about the Families?" he questioned back. "Aren't you the son of a wainwright?"

"The Remoras, my family, were one of the original tribes of the seven hills." Rufian began slowly. "We were the msot powerful family on the Seventh Hill and were known through Erulea for our carpentry and building skills. When the city got bigger and the tribes became the Families we always had jobs for migrants, like Brucht's family. They provided muscle… we provided 'protection.'"

"I haven't heard of the Remoras." Palinus replied.

Rufian's head jerked as if the comment was a blow.

"It's… complicated. Dad says it's political, since the family has always been aligned with the old ways and the second empire is all about dismantling them. But I think that there just isn't as much work… construction mostly uses albumstone these days and without the work there is no money, so no men… and no muscle."

The longing in his friend's voice echoed something within Palinus and reaffirmed his resolve to help if he could.

"I have never left Erulea…" he hedged.

"But..."

"I… know a bit about the Commodus wine business, and their smuggling ring," Palinus admitted, telling his friend what he knew.

"That's perfect! I'll wake you when it's time to go."

With the plan in motion Palinus struggled to get to sleep. He couldn't help but think that they had skipped a few steps and were relying on second hand knowledge and more than a bit of luck.

"... time to go." The whispered instruction came with a jostling hand to wake Palinus from far to little sleep.

" - out by the river… yeah, at the edge of the copse…" Rufian whispered to someone moving away in the dark as Palinus climbed out of his camp roll and strapped on his sandals.

"Who are you-?" Palinus began to ask.

"Quiet!" Rufian whispered back urgently. "Quickly, Pal!"

Following the more muscular boy with a stifled groan they snuck quietly out of the tent. They had to be careful not to wake any of their more rule-abiding team members: Bruchts and Seline. Once they exited the tent the two darted through the camp as stealthily as they could.

Suddenly Palinus saw the light of a flickering torch behind a tent ahead of them and he quickly grabbed Rufian to pulled him into a nearby tent.

"Shh," he silenced the start of an objection from the other boy.

Silently as they could they sat in the eave of one of the large regular legionnaires' tents. These ones housed a full decio of ten soldiers and the snores of the big tent indicated that this one was full. They held their breath as they waited for the torch light to pass.

If the torch was coming into this tent or if they woke one of the sleeping soldiers they would be caught. Being caught inside another tent was seen as an attempted theft and would be punished nearly as badly as deserting.

The torchstone light walked past agonisingly slowly. Almost as if they were trying to punish the boys. Once the light finally faded past the entrance to the tent Palinus let out the breath he held.

"Why are they so slow?" Palinus whispered his complaint as they crept out of the tent.

"Most of the legion soldiers are unformed - they aren't rift empowered yet." Rufian answered. "It's like they are walking through mud."

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

They chuckled together as they continued their mission towards the river that passed through the city.

In a few swift moments of darting between tents they reached the corner of the last tent without incident and Rufian gave Palinus a wave of encouragement as they broke away from the cover of the tents and scampered down the bank to the edge of the river.

Together they crouched low and moved quickly along the edge of the river. The river was low due to the long summer and they ran along baked and cracked clay. Without any cover ahead of them the boys stayed low trying to hide themselves below the eroded lip of the river bank as they moved.

"Now." Rufian whispered, spotting something ahead of them.

Ready for the order, Palinus was quick to channel the Saturnine Veil. He was surprised to find as he cast it that his essentia felt thicker and responded more quickly than the last time he had used it in the overworld.

"Huh," He articulated quietly, as he speculated that it might have something to do with tiering up. The changes to his stats hadn't felt as painful as going from Tier 0 to Tier 1, but they suddenly felt significant as he noticed the smoke from his ars felt thicker and the speed boost was slightly more.

With the extra speed and the cover of the smoke the boys stood up to run.

Standing up with a full view over the lip of the bank, Palinus could see what had spooked Rufian. Ahead and just off the road a dozen or so meters away they could see a pair of patrolling legionaries. They held a torchstone aloft and with the sudden appearance of the smoke obscuring the light were pulling out their weapons.

"Who goes there?" one of the legionaries shouted out.

From the faintly glowing sword Palinus recognised the young man as the swordsmen from their first rift in the Inter Cohort Battle. He couldn't remember his name, but winced as he suddenly worried about the boy being able to shoot his sword beam at them.

"Wait." Rufian suddenly stopped them as they reached a stand of trees that provided some additional cover.

The thumping of Palinus's heart made it hard for him to stand still, and despite the cover of the smoke he worried that the patrol knew exactly where they were.

Through the swirling smoke they saw a figure approach the two sentries.

"Thanks, Palinus!" The figure shouted back from the direction they had come.

His thumping heart instantly felt cold as he recognized the voice as belonging to Vesuvia, had she just called him out?

"Hi big guy!" She sashayed up to the glowing swordsman who stood slack jawed at her sudden appearance, his sword losing its glowing effect.

At the last moment she pulled a bait and switch and ran her hand down the second sentry's arm. The boy visibly gulped as the sword he carried dropped as well.

"You look so serious! I wouldn't want to be caught sneaking around with you two standing lookout…"

The chuckle from Rufian steadied Palinus's nerves. This must have been part of his plan. Vesuvia using the cover of the Saturnine Veil to flirt was just stupid enough to work.

The boys broke back into a run and were soon through the edge of the veil. As they burst through the smoke they found themselves only a short distance from the walls of the city. The thick stone wall jutting out well into the river even now with its low late summer flow.

"Are you sure this is the spot?" Rufian said with concern as they jogged up to the stone wall.

"I am sure this was the spot that Domitia bragged about, but no… I don't know if this is going to work." Palinus admitted, "Did you keep the torchstone?"

"Yep, but it is running out of juice. Will it still work?" Rufian said as he passed Palinus a leather pouch.

"I. Don't. Know." Palinus said, his frustration growing with his friend. As he pulled the stone out of the pouch he gave Rufian a shove as he crowded too close. "Move over a bit to block the light."

With the light of the stone he began to inspect the stonework of the wall. He noted that the torchstone was dimming visibly as he held it and he hurried as he tried to find what he was looking for.

The stones of the wall looked like they fit together perfectly. There were barely any gaps between their rounded edges and there wasn't any visible mortar or any holes to speak of.

Palinus felt the smoke veil behind them finish it's run and fade away and his panic raised another level. Forcing himself to calm down and blocking out the noises of concern and frustration from Rufian he stopped his random searching and returned to the area of the wall closest to the water.

With a careful methodology he crouched low and traced the edge of the stones in sequence going from near the bottom to slightly above chest height.

"Hurry Pal!" Rufian was getting agitated and Palinus could see him out of the corner of his eye looking back towards the camp sentries and Vesuvia.

Pushing down his own agitation, Palinus kept up his patient search.

"Maybe we should swim around?" Rufian suggested.

"You can't swim can you?" Palinus couldn't help but take a jab at his friend.

"I can swim!"

"You can paddle, and you probably couldn't do it in that armor…"

"I'd rather risk that than-"

"Got it!" Palinus cheered as he spotted a glint of the torchstone light reflecting back at him through a crack in the stone. Now that he saw it he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it earlier.

He held the torchstone over the crack and waited.

"Do you think it will take long?" Rufian asked urgently. "I think we've been noticed."

Looking over his shoulder Palinus could see the light of the two legionnaires from their century coming towards them.

Just as he was considering running for the river he heard a thunk and then a grinding sound from within the wall. A faint bluish white light lit the stones in the wall and they slowly lowered themselves down into the floor to reveal a dark and narrow tunnel.

The boys quickly climbed into the tunnel and Palinus fiddled with the torchstone to try and find a way to close the doorway behind them.

On the right side of the tunnel there was a series of tubes, a lever and several dials. He grasped the lever and pulled it down towards them as hard as he could.

The stone doorway rumbled and started to move back into place incredibly slowly.

"Blood and stone, do you think they could have made it close any slower?" Rufian whispered as they watched the light of the torchstone approach.

"We've got to keep running." Palinus said as he took his advice and turned to move up the tunnel. "Surely they won't follow us in here…"

"Um, they were pretty pissed off at us..." Rufian speculated as they climbed through the narrow tunnel, "and your ars is fairly distinctive."

"They wouldn't have been able to identify us from where they were." Palinus replied.

They quickly reached the end of the tunnel and in the dying light of the torchstone they could make out a thick wooden door.

With a shared look and a grimace they wordlessly pushed open the door together.

As the door swung open the room they squinted as they found themselves in a brightly lit room. Ahead of them a fire was lit in a roaring hearth and several couches sat around it. As his vision cleared and Palinus noticed the figure sitting on one of the couches drinking from a gaudy cup he felt his heart sink.

"Welcome to Tremona, little shitbird!" Domitia Commodus simpered with her saccharine voice.

Palinus recognised the slightly too loud laugh from the other couch and as they stepped into the room he was perplexed to confirm who sat across from the scary woman.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

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