A Soldier's Life
Chapter 223: Blood Hunt

Chapter 223: Blood Hunt

Konstantin smiled as the room scrambled to prepare for training to resume. The gleam in his eye told me whatever was planned would not be fun.

“I hope you all enjoyed your time off and followed the first rule of being a Hound.” There was confusion around the room as everyone looked at each other for help. Konstantin resumed with an uncharacteristic smile. “The rule is that you should always be aware of your surroundings. I am sure you all walked the outer wall, explored all the streets in Sierra, and didn’t just spend your coins in the brothel and taverns.” That was exactly what everyone had done, as indicated by the dead silence.

Hearne grinned as he asked, “A Hound never rests and is always on watch. Can anyone name the four streets in the upper district?”

There was a spell of silence, so I offered, “Pegasi Way.” Hearne nodded and waited for more. The thing with Roman cities was that there were no street signs. The city maps named the streets, and the citizens knew them. So, if you didn’t ask the locals, you would never find the names. I had noticed a tiled mosaic of black-winged horses around the fountain at the street’s intersection but couldn’t recall other mosaics at intersections, so I guessed a common street name next, “Fortuna Street.”

Konstantin jumped on the answer to call me out. “Wrong. Fortuna Way is in the lower city. It looks like none of you are prepared to be a Hound yet.” He sighed like a disappointed father and reached into his pocket, producing a silver-plated-looking pocket watch. “This is a blood compass.”

Everyone was instantly mesmerized by the object in his hands. We were finally getting our first Hound artifact, and excitement rippled through the room. Konstantin turned it over in his hand. “It is a simple but powerful tool.”

He flipped open the device like a pocket watch, and I could see the runic workings on the inside. “The best way to use this device is to place a piece of cloth inside with dried blood. Wet blood will tarnish the runes and damage them over time.” He handed the device to Cato.

Cato took it, placed a piece of cloth inside it, and snapped it shut. “One of the requirements for being a Hound is being able to channel aether to activate artifacts.” He held the circular device in his palm, and it jumped toward Hearne. Hearne snatched it out of the air, expecting it. “When you channel aether into the device, the object pulls toward the owner of the blood. The closer the person, the stronger the pull. Never open the compass until you achieve your objective, as the sample will be destroyed.”

Hearne announced, holding up the blood compass. “These also cost dozens of gold to artifice. You break it, and you will never be given another artifact for as long as you are a Hound.”

The threat hung in the air. The Empire had a habit of making legionnaires pay for their own gear. If you lost a blood compass, you would have to spend a lifetime repaying its value as a Hound. Hearne tossed the device in the air and caught it casually, “They are fairly durable, so you would have to do something stupid to break one. Between blood samples, it needs to be cleaned. Place it on your thermal stone for one hour and then use alchemist’s distilled alcohol to clean the runes on the inside before adding a new blood sample.”

“Any questions?” Konstantin barked impatiently. “Normally, I would have one for each of you to practice with, but some of you can’t even charge a glowstone yet.” A few men winced as they couldn’t shape their aether enough to force it into an artifact. Konstantin pulled out four more blood compasses, all of them tarnished and scratched with age.

“Who are we tracking?” Val asked eagerly. Val could already track objects he had touched, but that did not apply to living things.

I thought that was a stupid question, but Jansen confirmed it. “Us, of course. No weapons or Hound armor, just the common clothes you were given. Each of us has a yellow scarf—he held up his wrist to show the scarf wrapped around it. He then tucked it into his sleeve. “Subdue your target, get the scarf, and return here with it. Hopefully, you’re familiar with the city, as we won’t be idle.” His tone turned sardonic at the end. To me, this sounded like a game of Capture the Flag.

Konstantin said, “Three of you will be working alone.” He handed Sigma, Val, and me our own compass. “The rest of you will have to divide into two teams.” I immediately activated my blood compass and felt it pull toward Cato. This was a surprise as I had been certain mine would have been Konstantin. Cato just winked in anticipation at my surprise. Cato was an expert at survival in both the wild and city.

Konstantin continued as everyone got anxious to start, “The city guards are aware we are training in the city. They, however, are free to detain you if you act suspiciously or assault your targets in the open.”

Castian arrogantly said, “We are above the city guards. Why can’t we just tell them to go fuck their ogre of a mother.”

Konstantin shook his head, and sighed clearly expecting the question. “When a Hound operates in the city, no one knows they are there. You will eventually be tasked to locate shapeshifters, follow suspected spies, and watch others who may pose a danger to the Empire. We are trying to squeeze three months of city training into one month. How you do today will help us determine what we must focus on for the little time we have.”

That silenced everyone. Two others were smart enough to activate their compasses before the Hounds started leaving. The last Hound, David, turned over a small hourglass. “Wait fifteen minutes, and then you are free to start.”

I noticed the pompous Castian had taken the blood compass and selected his group members from the remaining pups, leaving the other group to fend for themselves with an unbalanced group.

Castian’s party started leaving after five minutes, the hourglass not even half gone. Sigma tried to stop him, “There is still some time left.”

“They are not going to know,” Castian said haughtily, leading his group out. Was the man an idiot? Of course, Konstantin would know. The other group reluctantly followed the first, leaving just Sigma, Val, and me. We all stared at each other in silence and waited until the last grain of sand fell before racing out the door.

I slowed to a walk in the street as I felt out the blood compass and swore. The fucking thing was oscillating in two directions! Was he tricking the artifact, or did this mean you could leave blood behind to fool it? I chose a random direction and started walking, acting as casually as I could while scanning the streets. Cato had been wearing a heavy tan jacket, deep blue leggings, and black boots. The intensity of the two different signals didn’t change for two blocks. Then, one finally started to overpower the other, taking me toward the city’s eastern gate.

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It was clear the bastard Cato had left the city as I approached. Or was this the false trail? The other signal was in the direction of the Citadel in the upper city. I stopped and thought, WWCD—What Would Cato Do?

Castian and his group were arguing with the gate guards ahead of me, probably following their compass out of the city. I immediately spun and changed my direction. Ten minutes was not enough time to put a decoy outside the walls. He must have given it to whichever Hound Castian’s group was tracking, which I suspected was Konstantin.

As the signal faded behind me, the pull got stronger in the other direction. I just hoped I had guessed right. I scanned the crowd and saw Val race across the intersection ahead of me. Two constable guards were running after him, but he would easily evade them. It was probably some deliberate setup by his Hound target. I guessed from all this activity that during our two days off, the Hounds had been eagerly planning for this.

My compass pulled me to a villa a block from the citadel with two guards out front. I continued walking past and swore. This was not so much about chasing down but locating the Hounds in places we shouldn’t be going. I guess I should be happy it was a villa and not the sewers, not that Sierra had sewers, to my knowledge. The villa shared an eight-foot wall with the adjacent villa that had no guards—it actually looked abandoned with peeling paint and cracked stucco.

The streets only had a few people this early in the morning. After confirming no city guards were among them, I moved into an alcove in the wall and used an air shield to create a step and get over the wall quickly. I landed heavily in overgrown bushes. The small gardens had not been tended in some time and were a tangled maze of tripping hazards as I moved deeper through the brush toward my target.

The compass pull grew stronger, confirming that Cato was indeed in the nearby villa. I utilized an air shield as a platform to climb over the wall. The villa gardens were bare of leaves from winter, yet the paths were well-maintained. In the corner stood a small building that would provide cover if I leaped over the wall. I moved along the wall and climbed up, landing behind the structure. It seemed like some type of open-air building for worship or meditation, featuring an altar with a brazier.

The villa doors were fifty feet away, and I played with the compass, trying to get a vector on Cato’s location. It was pulling to the right and slightly up. So, he was at the front of the villa on the second floor. I admit the blood compass was useful once you got used to deciphering its pulls.

I didn’t see anyone through the minimal windows and considered my entry. I could use air shields and make my way up to a balcony in front of me or in the back. I scanned the villa multiple times before racing across the barren gardens and using three air shields to reach the villa’s balcony in three quick stepping leaps. I crouched on the marble-tiled balcony and listened for an alarm.

Doing this in daylight seemed reckless and we actually had not been given a deadline—too late now. I tried the door and it was unlocked. The hinges glided without a sound as I slipped inside and closed the door silently.

Being here made me rethink everything. I had rushed in and broken into a noble’s home. What if this was the decoy signal, and it was all a setup? The rooms were dark as glass was a luxury item, and the windows were shuttered for the winter. I cracked the hallway door and listened. Some muffled conversation from the first floor. This second floor was currently not heated, so the owners may remain below during the day.

The pull of the compass was much stronger, almost as strong as when I confirmed that Cato was my target. My heart raced as I crept down the hall like a cat and paused just before a thin string pulled a vase over. I felt the slight tension and caught the vase. This simple trap reassured me, and I knew Cato was here.

I was no longer breaking into a random noble house but tracking Cato. I cut the string with my dimensional space, replaced the vase, and crept forward, looking for more traps. There was only one door at the end of the hallway where I was being led.

I checked the compass one last time at the door, and the artifact wanted to jump from my grasp. I gave myself three choices: rush in and tackle Cato to get the yellow scarf, try to sneak in and surprise him, or knock. I thought it out and decided the door was most likely trapped. I decided to knock and, in my best fabricated voice, said, “I have water for you.”

A chair scraping sounded as a man walked toward the door. “I don’t need it, but thank you.” A bolt was released on the door, and it cracked open. “Fuck,” Cato tried to slam and lock the door, but I shouldered it as soon as he saw me. He stumbled back as I took in the room. It was a simple sitting room with a good view of the street. He had been sitting in a chair away from a rare glass window.

We faced each other, both tense and waiting for the other to move. A tiny yellow fabric end poked out his sleeve. I pointed at it, and he shook his head, “Not gonna be that easy, pup. I am already going to hear it from the others for being found so soon.”

“What tricked the blood compass?” I asked conversationally.

“Fresh blood. The compass won't react if it is dried out or is more than a day old. Some mage tried to explain it to me once, but I didn’t understand.” I nodded in appreciation of the information—a long-dead corpse would not resonate with the compass.

I relaxed slightly to set him at ease. “Are you going to call for help from the guards below? Whose residence is this anyway?”

“This is the Druses family villa, my uncle is the head of the family,” he replied conversationally.

“It is nice,” I replied, trying to get him to relax.

Cato shrugged, “My uncle is a successful merchant,” Cato admitted. “They spend the winter in the Capital, and just the caretakers live here in the winter. Spent a few summers here growing up. The two guards below are city guards earning an extra silver on their day off. Looks like I wasted my coin.”

It happened in the blink of an eye as Cato rushed me. He was trying to get past me and to the door. I gave him hope, giving him a false opening so that I could tackle him as he passed. We both rolled to the ground, seeking advantage on the wooden floor. Cato’s problem was he didn’t protect the scarf. I yanked it off quickly and sent it to my dimensional space.

“Jupiter’s wandering cock, Eryk.” He said angrily, pushing me away. There was no reason to fight further as he couldn’t get the scarf in my space. He pleaded, “At least wait an hour before returning to the barracks. Konstantin is not going to be happy. We were supposed to keep you lot running till dark.”

“Who carried your blood outside the city?” I asked, standing and listening for the guards. Yep, they were coming, and by the sounds, both of them. Cato’s face was impassive as he waited for help. Maybe they would throw me in jail, and Cato would still win as I couldn’t return with the prize.

“Konstantin. He plans to jog around the outer city’s walls all day.” I chuckled at that, glad I wasn’t tracking him. I then walked to the window where he had been watching the street, pulling the window inward on hinges. The guards were thundering up the stairs as I committed and jumped.

I used two angled air shields to slow my fall, and I was on the ground with a hard landing that I took into a roll and stood immediately. I almost wanted to shout, “Parkour!” But restrained myself and just moved out into the street and did not look back. More people had joined the flow on the streets, and I blended in with them as I walked back to the barracks to enjoy the rest of my day off.

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