The Wings of Mercury
Copyright© 2025 by Lumpy
Chapter 20
Sardinia
Medb was back in a dark room, the windows shuttered against the outside world, partially for secrecy but also to keep the noxious smell of fish and salt out of her nose. She’d never loved ships and tried to stay on dry land as much as possible, but she hadn’t realized her dislike of it would translate to docks as well.
Of course, she rarely spent much time at them, aside from getting to and from whatever ship she’d been forced to take. Now, not only had she been forced to spend a week stuck here, but she’d made arrangements to stay in a less than savory place far down from the Britannian mission, above a fishmonger’s warehouse.
The smell was putrid. The warehouse was also extremely busy, doing a very lively business. She knew that others in her profession would have frowned on such a thing. After all, how could you conduct secret meetings in a place with so many eyes? Ramirus, however, had given her very good advice when he’d started teaching her the intricacies of the trade.
“People see what they want to see and only really notice things that are out of place. So a quiet building, with no one around except for one room with people coming and going would draw suspicion, but a place with strangers coming from all over the city to buy wares and both fishermen and passing traders stopping to do business meant that there were always people around, always going in different directions, with so much happening that it would be hard to track where any one person was headed.
So her little rented room, arranged by intermediaries renting it to use temporarily for managing a flow of workers into the harbor during the particularly busy shipping season, which this was, would gain little notice. She’d also made sure it was down a long hallway, around a corner from any open spaces, in a building where the layout meant no other doors were around the same corner, which meant no through traffic and nothing for people to notice if they had noticed the influx of people through her small room.
And people certainly influxed. She’d used a Britannian porter Llassar had befriended early on for the first stages of her plan, but that had just been to hire people more suitable for the work she needed to do but couldn’t do in person. Unlike Llassar, who was the face of Britannia here, she wanted to leave her options open, based on what she found, which meant operating in secret.
Speaking of more suitable people, a knock at the door told her one of those men had finally finished his latest task.
“Come,” she said, not getting up.
The door opened, revealing a nondescript man that Medb knew was much more deadly than his plain exterior indicated. Which is exactly what she liked. Some people would go for the big brutes, a scar over one eye, speaking to a career of life-or-death situations, and those men had their places, but for her money, they stood out too much. Men like Melsar were much better for most of the work she needed.
In front of Melsar was a nervous-looking man, suggesting her associate had found it necessary to prove his bona fides to him. Good. She wanted this man nervous.
“Thank you, Melsar. Wait outside, would you?”
The beady-eyed man grunted an acknowledgment and closed the door, leaving Medb alone with her new guest. The smaller man’s eyes darted around the sparse room, his fingers fidgeting with the frayed edges of his tunic.
“What do you want with me?”
“What I want, Berith, is to have a little chat about your financial situation.”
“What financial situation? I don’t even know you, how do you know...”
“I actually know quite a bit about you, Berith. I know that you are single since your wife left you and ran to the mainland. I know that your brother stopped talking to you after you borrowed money from him and then failed to pay him back a year ago. And I know about the debts you were supposed to pay back with that money but used for more gambling instead. Money you still owe Nurakes.”
“Did Nurakes send you? I told him...”
“I do not work for Nurakes, but I did have a nice conversation with him about your situation. He was very concerned about how far behind you were on paying him back, and I think he was considering fairly extreme tactics to get that money back. Lucky for you, I convinced him to sell me your debt instead.”
“What ... Why would you do that? If you know I couldn’t pay?”
“Because I don’t want coin from you, Berith. I’m after something far more valuable than that.”
“What ... what do you mean?”
“Information,” Medb said simply. “You tell me what I want to know, and I’ll consider your debt paid in full.”
He looked surprised, probably trying to figure out why anyone would come to him for information.
“What kind of information?”
“Information about your master, Nuraian.”
Another look of surprise. Whatever he had been expecting from Medb, that was clearly not it.
“Nuraian? He is just a businessman. What could you possibly want to know about him?”
“You are not so naive that you believe that, Berith. I think you know there is more to it than that. You are in his house. You see the people he has coming in and out of it. Nuraian has been quite involved in Sardinian politics recently, with all sorts of people around, talking to him. Lots of people from the cities, other farmers. I would like to know what he is so interested in, and I would like for you to tell me.”
“I ... I only keep his house, do repairs. I do not know anything about his interests or business dealings.”
“Come now, Berith. We both know your position gives you far more access than most. You are around; you see who comes and goes. You are exactly who I am looking for. I know about his normal business interests, but what I want to hear about are the unusual people who started to come by his home over the last six months or so. The types of people you do not remember seeing before then.”
Berith blanched, shaking his head vigorously. “No, I cannot ... I will not betray my master’s trust. He would have my head!”
“And what do you think I will do, Berith. That was a lot of money I paid to Nurakes for your debts. Do you think it is only your head I will take? Should I call my man back in here and give you a taste of what you could lose?”
He did not say anything right away, just looked from her to the door and back again.
“No,” he finally said sheepishly.
“Then tell me what I want to hear. Has there been anything unusual happening at your master’s house recently? Something out of the ordinary, more visitors than normal, or visitors that perhaps stood out a little?”
“Yes, there has been an increase in shipments. A lot of wagons coming in full and leaving full, although always covered. Sometimes dozens in a day, although we are not allowed to go near the area where those goods are being delivered to and held.”
“What about the people bringing those goods in? Were they foreigners?”
“Yes,” he said, clearly a little surprised at her guess.
“Greeks? Egyptians? Maybe more unusual types from further east?”
“No,” he said, confused now rather than surprised. “Mostly Britons speaking Latin, which I do not know well, so I couldn’t really make out what they were saying. If I had to guess, though, I’d say they were Romans from their dress.”
Medb kept her face neutral. That it was a surprise to her as much as her earlier questions were a surprise to him was not something he needed to know. Details like that were best left unspoken.
“I see. And you have no idea what they were bringing?”
“No, but it seemed important.”
Medb studied him for a moment, considering whether to push him further. It would be useful for him to sneak into the area where the goods were held, perhaps get a peek at them. She almost instantly discarded that idea. He was much too jittery to be given a more strenuous task. He would almost certainly be caught easily, and she needed more time before she did anything to alert Nuraian that she was looking into him.
Better to leave things as they were. Just knowing the men were Britons was enough to give her a place to start looking.
“Thank you for your help, Berith. You are to keep this meeting to yourself,” she said, making sure he saw the look in her eyes and took her very seriously. “Not a word about talking to me. To anyone. Unless, of course, you want a visit from my man.”
Berith nodded vigorously, eyes going back to the door again. “No, my lady. I mean yes. I mean, I won’t say anything. I swear it. But ... my debt...?”
“If the information you’ve given me is accurate, and if you keep your mouth closed, your debt will be settled. But cross me, Berith, and you’ll wish Nurakes was the one you had to worry about.”
“I won’t.”
Medb dismissed him with a wave, watching as he scurried out of the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Romans in Sardinia.
That was interesting.
North of Port Vikhavn
Li Shu crept through the dense jungle, his cotton tunic clinging to his sweat-soaked skin. He hated this place. It was hot and wet, the air feeling like porridge around him, his nostrils filled with the smell of decayed vegetation mixed with salt water.
It was beyond foul.
He had been happy to finally be allowed off the ship the officials had crammed so many of them into. They weren’t sailors and Li had never even been on a ship before a few months ago, when they sailed him what seemed like around the entire world. He had been forced to hide below decks while the ships were being ripped apart by cannon shells and men sent to the bottom of the sea, drowning.
Now, he was not so sure the ships were all that bad. Insects kept biting him, tearing at his skin. Worse, they were lost. He knew it. They had changed direction multiple times and he could swear they had even gone backward a few times, although it was very hard to tell. The jungle was very thick, and he couldn’t even really see the moon or stars with what light they did cast becoming scattered through the trees, creating shadows everywhere.
They had stopped again with their leader, who was in the rear as was befitting his station, talking with several of his senior men. They were arguing, each pointing in one direction or another. Li didn’t like being in this small clearing. It made him feel exposed.
“We’ve been wandering for hours,” Wei, a man standing a few steps from him, said. “He’s lost again.”
“Quiet,” someone hissed. “He’ll hear you.”
“I don’t care. We should run back to the beach and leave this cursed place.”
“And face execution? No thank you.”
“Silence in the ranks! The next man who speaks dies where he stands,” the commander said, his voice a little louder than Li would have liked.
They all fell silent, but Wei wasn’t wrong. They were nowhere near the cursed westerner fort. A rustle in the underbrush caught Li Shu’s attention. He raised his musket instinctively, but couldn’t pinpoint the source of the noise. Several other men followed suit, although he was pretty sure they were mimicking him.
Everyone was nervous and on edge.
“I saw something in the trees,” a man said, pointing off to the right.
“It’s an animal, you idiot. Be silent,” the commander said, before going back to his argument.
It probably was an animal. They had nearly opened fire several times already, mistaking wildlife for the enemy. They all knew they had to be quiet. Firing a rifle would certainly let the enemy know they were there, but it had been very close at times. There were animals everywhere it seemed, and they all sounded like an army sneaking up to kill them.
And then the night erupted into chaos. It took a second for Li’s brain to register what was happening as tongues of fire leaped out of the jungle all around them, as if they’d angered a nest of dragons that spewed their displeasure.
It wasn’t dragons, though. It was firearms of some kind, and the shots were coming from all around them. Bullets ripped into the tightly packed men, sending some of his comrades crumpling to the ground.
“Ambush!” someone screamed.
“Form a line! Return fire!” the commander shrieked.
It took a moment for the under-commanders to shake their men out of the absolute shock they were in and get them moving into formation. Li scrambled to obey, his fingers fumbling with his weapon as he tried to align himself with the others. The air was already clogged with the acrid smoke from the weapons firing at them, the hazy fog making the jungle even darker, which Li hadn’t thought possible.
“Fire!” the under commander shouted.
Li and the other men in line let loose a thundering volley into the darkness in front of them. There was no musket fire from in front, but it continued to come in from the sides in sporadic shots.
“Did we hit anyone?” Wei asked.
As if in answer, tongues of flame leaped out of the forest in front of them again, proving that at least some of the attackers in that direction were still alive. The man beside him crumpled, clutching his chest.
“Again!” the commander bellowed. “Fire another volley!”
Li finished reloading and lifted his rifle. He didn’t even wait for the others, firing into the darkness. A few of his comrades did the same, while others just stood there in shock, not even having reloaded. If the first volley had been ineffective, this one was almost certainly not going to stop the assault.
Li started to reload again.
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